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Loose Threads
One Hundred Ten
Iain pulled his horse to a halt when he saw the village come into view. He was deep inside the region that would one day be called the Endless Wastes or the Hordelands and the area he was in was savannah prairie with small clumps of trees. This was primarily a human inhabited region, and the ones that lived here tended to be nomadic, claiming a large territory that they traveled through regularly. However, each tribe had a few villages like this within their territory. Mostly populated by outsiders from the human controlled region to the east, the villages were tolerated because of the trade goods they supplied.
Iain twisted in the saddle to loosen up his spine as he watched the village in the early morning light. “Maybe this one is it,” he muttered irritably. The horse’s ears rotated to focus on him before deciding he wasn’t really upset. He loosened up the reins in his hand so the horse could crop grass while he watched the village.
For the last week Iain had been chasing the legend of a ghost from village to village. In each village that he’d visited the result had been the same. He’d seek out the smith, who would reassure him that his search would end in the next village. He’d move on and the process would repeat once he arrived in the new township.
It hadn’t helped that he really hadn’t planned to be out here as long as he had been and so hadn’t brought a pack horse or carried anything close to the proper amount of provisions. It meant that he had to hunt for food as he travelled, which had slowed him down considerably. It didn’t help that he had to be cautious about hunting at all since the nomads could sometimes be testy about someone who wasn’t from their tribe hunting in their territory. He was just passing through their lands and one of the last things he wanted was a running series of battles with the local tribes or their erstwhile allies.
While watching the village, Iain dismounted and got out his canteen shaped decanter of endless water and a deep wooden bowl from his pack. He filled the bowl and watered the horse, refilling the bowl until the horse was done. After restowing the bowl, he drank his fill before remounting. The wind here was constant and dry, and it sucked the water out of a man or horse. There would be a well or perhaps a cistern in the village, but he couldn’t use it unless invited to by a tribesman or a villager. His only other option was to pay to get water. He would go ahead and pay for water if he stayed overnight so his horse would be well taken care of, but otherwise he preferred to keep his silver where it belonged, which was in his pouch.
Finally he grunted sourly. “Well, nobody is going to come out here to tell me if this is my final stop or not, so I guess I have to go find out what village they’re going to send me to next.” He gently kneed the horse into motion.
Most of the villagers wouldn’t be tribal but would instead be merchants and their families and probably the odd farmer who had been given permission to live within the tribe’s lands. There would probably be a few tribesmen who hadn’t managed to find a decent death before age caught up with them and they’d serve as the tribe’s liaison to the merchants. Many of them would be crippled somehow and most of them would be somewhat bitter about their lot, so they were something to be avoided if possible.
Iain stopped at the edge of town and looked at the tribal marker. There was always one outside the northernmost road into every village to denote which tribe the village belonged to. Iain had circled around the village to find it so as not to seem to be avoiding his responsibilities during his travels. What the marker was and how it was set up would vary depending on which tribe had erected it and who had been the chieftain at the time. This marker was a tall wooden pole that had been made from a tree trunk that nobody had bothered to strip the bark from before erecting. At the top, bone gleamed where a black bear’s skull had been attached to the pole with sinew. Its empty eye sockets glared balefully down at him.
Iain bowed, in the saddle, towards the skull and then saluted it with a raised right fist. He hadn’t seen this totem before, the territory he’d been in, the Black Wolves, must have ended between the last village and here. It didn’t matter though. The tribes demanded that everyone, including outsiders, show proper respect for their spirit animals. Neglecting that where one might be seen was just asking for some serious trouble. And since some of the tribespeople could hide in the slightest cover almost as well as the cattle back the Sabine ranch could, Iain carefully saluted every marker he encountered.
Riding his horse into town at an easy walking pace, Iain saw a few villagers, all human and all dressed as outsiders. He nodded to one as he pulled his horse up. “Excuse me.” The man paused, looking curiously at Iain. The villager was wearing a round hat with a conical top that told Iain he was probably a trader from the river folk a month’s travel to the west or had recently done business with a river folk trader. “I didn’t recognize the totem at the edge of town. What tribe owns these lands?”
“This is Running Bear land,” the man replied. “You will have to be careful to remember that since there’s a hunting party in town right now. They like to drink, so I’d recommend staying away from the tavern.”
“I thank you for the news,” Iain replied politely, “but I’m just passing through. Can you direct me to the smith’s shop?”
The man nodded. “Runt’s place is on the other side of town. Keep going in the direction you are currently traveling and you’ll see it just before you leave town.”
“Thank you.” Iain nudged his horse back into a walk. The Running Bears weren’t the worst tribe to run across on this trek, but they were very high on the list of the worst tribes for outsiders to deal with. They were volatile and liked to cause trouble with outsiders. The fact that a hunting party was in the village was unusual and, upon reflection, didn’t make a lot of sense. There wasn’t anything to hunt in the village.
The presence of the hunting party did explain why Iain hadn’t seen a woman since entering the village. If the tribesmen were drinking, nobody in the village was truly safe from their depredations, and that went doubly so for any outsider woman they stumbled across. Most villages kept a small group of prostitutes or slaves available to try and help manage situations like these. It didn’t always work, but it usually helped.
Fortunately, it wasn’t Iain’s problem today since he wasn’t female and didn’t have any females traveling with him. Well, he was riding a mare, but if someone decided they had to have sex with her, he’d deal with it then.
He passed the tavern, noting the group of tribal horses standing outside it. None of them were tied, but that wasn’t unusual. The tribes were, all in all, superb riders, and their trainers were almost without peer. Ground trained to stay in one place, these horses wouldn’t stray until they started to starve.
Out of respect for the flammability of wood and the fact that he had to deal with very hot fires constantly, the smith’s combined residence and shop in any village was either made of brick or stone. Rammed earth would have been just as good, but rammed earth required forms made of wood. All wood had to be imported, sometimes for hundreds of miles, and it was very expensive as a result. Brick also weathered better in a wetter climate. Roof trusses were still made of wood, but even they would have been coated with mud and dried to try and help their fire resistance.
For heat and cooking, pound for pound, coal provided more energy for its cost, so it tended to be used in place of wood. The tribes did maintain herds of horses for their needs, therefore the tribes tended to use dried manure for their fires. This was one of the reasons the villages were allowed since a manure fire would never grow hot enough to work steel and all of the tribes valued steel weapons and equipment.
This village’s smithy was made of worked and fitted stone and, by human standards, it was well made. Iain swung down from his horse and tied it to the hitching post. The smithy itself had huge windows that had been thrown open and Iain could see the smith inside. Unusually, for the region, the smith was a shield dwarf. Iain watched as he operated a bellows to blow air into the fire. He pumped it several times and then stopped to spit into the coals. He waited a few seconds, pumped the bellows another half a dozen times and spat into the coals again. Then he added a handful of coal and pumped the bellows again. On a table to the side lay a blank that, to Iain’s eye, was probably for a longsword.
“If you’re going to stand there and watch, I’m going to charge you for the show,” the dwarf said without looking up from what he was doing. “It’ll be cheaper for you to tell me why you’re here.”
“You’ve got plenty of coal in the fire already,” Iain replied from where he stood. “Adding more just cooled your heat enough that it’ll probably take you ten minutes to get to where you want it to be so you can work that blank.”
The dwarf looked up at Iain’s words. His dark red beard hung to the middle of his chest and was braided in a tribal style that Iain didn’t immediately recognize. His face was slightly ruddy from the heat, which made his grass green eyes shine out startlingly. He looked Iain up and down before snorting. “You are a smith?”
“No, I’m not, but I had to learn some basic smithery as part of my training and the fellow who taught me not only knew what he was doing, he could actually teach it to others.” Iain smiled pleasantly. “How about I operate the bellows while you adjust the coals?”
The dwarf scowled. “I don’t need help.”
“I never said you did. But it’ll mean you can get up to temperature again in less than five minutes.”
The dwarf looked him up and down again before stepping away from the bellows. “Show me that you know what you’re talking about.”
Iain took his place in front of the bellows and gave it an experimental pump. It was smaller than the one he’d used at Elminster’s, but it was solidly built and the leather was well cared for. He set up a steady rhythm of adding air into the fire, adjusting his vision into the infrared and low ultraviolet to monitor the temperature as it rose.
He was aware of the dwarf standing and watching him as he worked. After about three minutes, he saw the color change he was looking for. “It should be ready now.”
The dwarf gave him a glance before stepping forward and spitting into the fire. He glanced at Iain. “I like it hotter but that will work.” He fed the blank into the furnace. “Who are you?”
“Iain Grey.”
“I’m Rardur Darkmore.” Iain smiled inside as the dwarf watched him. Rardur was a tribal name. It was a human name. “They call me Runt.”
“If it’s all the same to you, Master Darkmore, I will not.” Iain gave the bellows one last pump and let go. “But I think I’ve been looking for you.”
Rardur was watching the color creep up the blank. “What I have for sale is inside. I don’t do commissions; I don’t have time to do them right. While I am a dwarf and I am a craftsman, I am not a dwarven craftsman. I still have my pride, however and I refuse to do a shoddy job on a commission. What do you want?”
“I’ve been looking for you because I want to offer you a job.”
“Do those pointed ears work? I just said I don’t take commissions.” Iain went to his saddle and pulled a bottle of brandy from it. He tossed it to Rardur, who caught it with a frown. “What’s this for?”
“It’s yours. All I want in return is for you to listen to me for a few minutes.”
Rardur looked at the blank. “You have until this bar is ready.”
“I know you were adopted as an infant by the leaders of the Snow Leopard tribe,” Iain said. “You were raised as a member of the tribe and trained by the tribes best warriors until you were at least as good as they were. You were sent to apprentice to a smith because they thought that all dwarves had an urge to smith things in their blood. You were part of the tribe until its leader, your adoptive father, was killed alongside your adoptive mother. They had no other children and the elders didn’t want a dwarf anywhere near the tribe’s leadership. They chose a new leader and you were exiled.”
“I was cast out,” Rardur said. “Exile would imply that I’m still part of the tribe and I am not. Going back to Snow Leopard land would cost me my life.” He sneered. “The Running Bears took me in, but there was a price.”
“There always is,” Iain noted. “They insisted that you work for them for free. You can charge everyone else, but what a Running Bear wants becomes his without question.”
“Or hers,” Rardur said. “They have female warriors who like my wares too.”
Iain nodded. “True. I understand you’re essentially a weapon master among the Snow Leopards and I’d like to test your skills and, if they’re sufficient, I’d like to offer you a job and a place to live. I have some dwarves who, like you, weren’t raised among dwarves and know nothing about dwarven society. According to Solnys, their leader, they’re not interested in becoming dwarves, either. But they have formed a militia and, honestly, they’re terrible at it.” Rardur laughed. “Yeah. I’d like to bring you to my clan’s home and have you train them. I’ll train you in anything I think you need to teach them that you don’t already know and you can train me in what you know that I don’t.”
Rardur frowned. “How long would this training last? If I am gone too long, I’ll lose my place here.”
“I must not have been clear, Master Darkmore. This will take the rest of your life. I want you to join my clan and live with us. Hopefully you’ll marry into the clan and have little Darkmores to carry on your bloodline.”
“Why don’t you teach them if you’re so knowledgeable?”
“I don’t have time to do it right. You, I can work with because you’re already trained and you’ll pick things up quickly. They won’t.”
Rardur looked down at the blank. “How many are there?”
“Fifty seven, with more in years to come. There are also kobolds and a drow, along with me.”
“Where did they come from, that they are like me and don’t know anything about dwarves?”
“Do you know what the drow are?” Rardur shook his head. “They’re elves with black skin and white hair who live far underground and make war against the dwarves from time to time. They take slaves and the dwarves in my clan were born into that slavery and lived in a drow city until they managed to escape and ended up with me. Others later joined us after I purchased them from drow slave markets. The one drow who lives with us isn’t like the others so she’s welcome.”
“You said there are kobolds. Will I be training them?”
“Not in the beginning, but I plan that eventually yes. I want everyone trained to the same standard so they can work together like my clan is supposed to.”
Rardur pulled the blank out of the fire and laid it to the side. “Come with me.” He led Iain into an area set up as a shop. “I’ll get some practice weapons so I can see if you’re skilled at all. Sword or axe?”
Iain smiled. “I can use either.”
“Think well of yourself, I see.”
Iain’s smile widened. “Over the years, I’ve faced a lot of people who wanted to kill me. As you can see, I’m here and they’re not.”
“That is what counts. Wait here.”
Iain looked around while Rardur was gone. There were weapons and tools on display. All of them looked to be made with good, solid construction. He touched the edge of a sword and nodded. It wasn’t too sharp or too dull for the hard kind of use expected in the field.
A few minutes later Rardur returned. He was carrying a sack over one shoulder that was obviously filled with heavy things that clanged metallically as he walked, had a kite shield in each hand and had a helmet on his head that he hadn’t been wearing when he left. “I saw you have armor on your horse. Get your helm.”
Iain nodded and headed outside. The tribes did not like wizards and most of them claimed to not like magic at all, although he’d never heard of any tribesman turning down a magic weapon. Since he didn’t want to summon his armor in front of one of them and be branded a wizard, he’d strapped a basic set of studded leather armor to his horse. He could put it on in less than a minute if he thought he’d need it.
The armor was attached to the bedroll in a net bag that was fastened to the saddle with leather ties for ease of access. Iain opened the bag and retrieved his helmet. He quickly braided his hair into a single plait and slid the helmet onto his head, adjusting the plait to be where it was most comfortable.
Rardur had stopped in the smithy and had dumped out the bag to reveal a small collection of battered looking swords and axes. He picked up a sword. “Choose your weapon and take the shield.” He smiled grimly at Iain. “If you are offering me a way to leave this place I certainly don’t want to cripple you today.”
Iain picked up a sword and hefted it experimentally. It weighed around ten pounds or four and a half kilos, roughly three times the weight of a normal sword. “Later, maybe?” The shield weighed nearly twenty pounds, again much heavier than a regular shield. Practice gear was often heavier than regular to work on strengthening a new fighter. Like most shields, it was built for a right handed fighter and Iain put down the sword to shift it to his left arm before picking up the sword again.
The dwarf chuckled. “Maybe. Come with me.” He headed outside.
Iain spun the sword to loosen up his wrist as he followed Rardur. His practice weapons were usually made of osmium and an equivalent sword would weigh around twelve and a half kilograms, so this wasn’t going to be an issue. Fighting right handed wouldn’t be an issue either since Iain normally trained ambidextrously for emergencies.
Rardur led him to an open area beside the smithy and turned to face Iain, raising his shield and sword into a ready position. “Attack me.”
The dwarf was open down low and Iain knew the hole was probably deliberate but thrust for it anyway. As expected, Rardur deflected the strike and counterattacked. Iain blocked the attack and struck.
The two were feeling each other out and so the fighting was nonlethal, but they were also aggressive and motivated, so the attacks and counterattacks came in flurries as they circled, minutes passing as they advanced and retreated in the sunlight, each seeking the opening to put his opponent at his mercy. The clangor of metal striking metal filled the air and drew the attention of people as they passed by.
Iain stepped back, lifting his sword from the ready in an invitation. Rardur nodded and stepped back too, letting his sword arm drop to his side. Iain smiled. “You’re as skilled as I’d hoped.” He was sweaty from the exercise, but nothing like Radnar, whose shirt and apron were soaked through.
Rardur shook his head, sweat flying from his face and beard. He was blowing air and his face was red from exertion. “You have some small talent as well,” he admitted. “Why aren’t you exhausted like I am?”
“I have been working out more recently than you and my training is more intense than this,” Iain said. He was breathing hard, but nothing more. “You’ve been standing in front of that forge for too long, but you’ll get the conditioning you need when we get to my valley.” He smiled. “If you accept my offer.”
“The Running Bears aren’t going to want me to leave. I’m the best smith in their land.”
Iain smiled. “I wasn’t planning on asking them if you could leave. They don’t own you and I don’t care otherwise unless you are somehow sworn into their service.”
Rardur scowled and spat on the ground. “I am sworn to no man.” He gave a half apologetic smile and a shrug. “I would have sworn myself to my father, but he required no oath from me and none of them since have been worthy of that kind of loyalty since they never showed it to me. Do I have to swear an oath to you?”
Iain laughed. “You have no idea if I’m worthy of that oath yet. You’ll come to live with us as an outlander and train my clanswomen in the ways of war. While doing so, you will see what being clan is all about. If you decide to stay and become clan, it’ll be because we are worthy of that loyalty.” His smile vanished. “If you do become clan, you will swear an oath of loyalty to the clan and to me as its head and living representative.”
Rardur took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. “I accept your offer.” He looked at the smithy. “What about this?”
“Do you want to continue as a smith while you live with us?”
“I enjoy making things with my hands.”
“Do you want this place to come with us?”
Rardur’s eyebrows rose. “Is that even possible?”
“You are going to find that I use magic. Sometimes I use a lot of magic. I have some magical servants who could come here tonight and clean this place out. If you want, I could have them take the building too, although the smithy will have to be rebuilt underground since I don’t want any extra buildings in my valley.”
“I don’t value the building all that much except for the anvil and the forge, but I laid the foundation and I built the walls and everything else you see. I hate the idea of the Running Bears installing someone else here to enjoy slaving for them as little as I did. Could your servants tear it down?”
Viersunuth chuckled in Iain’s head from where she rode on his right shoulder blade. My lord, if you say the word, I will turn what we don’t take from this building into gravel and sawdust. The rest of the village too, if you wish.
You will leave the village alone for now. “That is definitely possible,” Iain told Rardur.
“Come inside and have a drink while we discuss our agreement.”
***
Nishiko closed the door and resisted the urge to reopen it to see if the portal had closed behind them. She knew that it had, but her paranoia was ingrained from years of protecting Kasumi and she knew that knowing and seeing were not the same thing in her mind.
Theodora appeared as Ayame shifted the pack full of Dikon balls on her shoulder. The Dikon contained most of the items they’d acquired during their trip to Kasumi’s home world. “Ladies, it’s good to see you safely back on the Danger Room. Where are Kozakura and Yuko?”
Giselle held out her hand. “Ma’am, I’ll take your pack.”
Kasumi smiled as she handed it to her. “Thank you.” She turned to Theodora. “My grandmother and daughter have decided to stay at my parent’s home for a while longer. Kozakura thinks she may have found a male who might turn out to be interesting enough for her to spend some time getting to know while my grandmother is helping Akane, my mother and Yuko Tendo with some ideas about renovating the school.” She ran a hand lovingly over her stomach. “Is Ninhursag available? I want to talk to her before I see Iain again.”
“Ninhursag left me instructions to inform her as soon as you had returned and I have carried them out. She is currently in Thistle with Lucifer but will return in two hours. That will give everyone time to go to medical for their return checkups and be released to meet with her.”
The four women exchanged confused looks. “We’ve never done this before,” Nishiko noted.
“The requirement was instituted after you’d left. Some of the discussions with Iain about where he was going were the catalyst for the requirement, which is not optional.”
Kasumi shrugged. “We’d like a guide, please, as well as a little more detail about this new requirement on the trip.”
A blue globe of light appeared in front of Giselle and headed for the exit to the room. Everyone followed it as Theodora began explaining. “What it boiled down to is that twee, as useful as they are, are technological in nature, just like I am. They are incredibly useful in fighting viruses, bacteria, toxins and other foreign material intrusions and, in many cases, can make the host almost completely immune to such things since they can repair damage at a genetic level if required. They can even keep a critically injured host alive while signaling for an emergency recovery in the event of a complete disaster.” A door slid open and Kasumi and her guards followed the light into a room filled with medics. Against one wall was an odd looking contraption made out of metal, leather, bone and what looked like ether gems or pieces of glass. “Please strip. You’ll go through the medics first and then the analyzer.”
Kasumi folded her arms as her face set. “Please finish your explanation first.”
“Many of the worlds we visit, including Six, your home universe, have a medium to strong magical presence, including a tradition of varied forms of magic using creatures as well as magically influenced environments. These creatures are capable of casting various spells or have magical abilities that can change or control individuals or, in some cases, groups. In addition, it is possible that these magical environments could produce the magical equivalent of diseases or parasites. Twee are ill equipped to detect any of these things even if they may be able to treat or identify some of the symptoms.”
“I see,” Kasumi murmured quietly.
“I thought you would. After some discussion, new protocols were implemented and universally applied since many of these creatures have the potential to travel to universes where magic isn’t as prevalent and still be a cause of concern to us while inhabiting them. All arrivals will undergo a complete physical administered by either me or Daya, looking for gross physical changes or manifestations. Memories will be uploaded and reviewed for alteration or suppression. After this exam, regardless of the results, all arrivals will then be asked to grasp the analyzer’s handle,” a leather wrapped piece of the contraption about ten centimeters long glowed white for an instant to draw attention to itself. “They will be scanned for magical issues such as curses, possession and any other potential negative effects. This scan will be reviewed in conjunction with a review of the medical workup for a definitive finding. If any potential issues are detected, it will result in the entire group being isolated in quarantine until Mielikki can arrive to examine them more closely.” She smiled. “Unless Mielikki has to become involved, all results of all exams are held under privacy for a year and then deleted unless the patient requests otherwise. If nothing is found, all I or Daya can tell Ninhursag or anyone else is that the patient passed the scan satisfactorily.”
“If Mielikki must become involved if you determine that there might be a problem,” Giselle said, “why not have her scan us from the beginning? Surely it would be faster than this.”
“Undoubtedly it would be,” Theodora said. “Mielikki has her own responsibilities and they take up much more of the day than you are aware of. I will not pull her away from them unless there is a good reason to do so. You not wanting to follow protocol is not a good reason.” She gestured at some storage lockers. “Please remove your clothing and place them in the lockers so that we can get this done expeditiously.” She waited for a second and her smile faded when nobody moved. “Please understand that you are going to go through this process. Refusing to do so is one of the conditions that raises multiple red flags and, if necessary, I will be forced to sedate you and load you into the medics to find out why you’re resisting. If that happens, I will not bother to undress you and the medic will disassemble everything on and inside your body in case there is a cursed object in your possession that must remain in contact with your body in order to control you. That will include tattoos, piercings and anything else you didn’t have on your person before you left.”
Kasumi scowled. “I want to talk to Ninhursag.”
“I said she’s in Thistle. I believe she wants to talk to you when she returns, but that won’t be for another two hours.”
“Then I want to talk to Iain.”
“Iain is on his mission and will not return for at least another three days.”
Kasumi’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You knew when he was scheduled to leave.”
“I did and that’s why I sent a message asking him to wait until I returned. I got a message saying it arrived here.”
“It did and Iain received it. But all four of you spent time with him before he left, when he was making the rounds to spend time with everyone. Nightraven is not someone to keep waiting. Because of that, it was felt that he couldn’t wait longer, especially since you didn’t say when you would be returning.”
Kasumi’s eyes narrowed. “Word should have been sent to me.”
“Believe it or not, we were a mite busy over here and you knew his schedule. You shouldn’t have left until after he was gone,” Theodora shot back. “Now, am I going to sedate you or not?”
Kasumi let out air in a hiss and began to undress. The others joined her. “Understand that I am not happy about this.”
Theodora nodded. “I can sympathize, but I have my orders and they leave me little latitude in this situation.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “And I wish to apologize for taking my frustration out on you.”
Kasumi frowned. “You are frustrated?”
“I miss Iain too and I understand more than most just how much he will have changed when he returns. I am frustrated because I should be there with him. I’m afraid it makes me short with people who want to argue with me. I shouldn’t have snapped at you and I apologize for my behavior.”
Kasumi smiled. “I accept your apology, even if it won’t stop you from carrying out your orders. Now let us get this done so that I can speak with Ninhursag and let my frustration out on her.”
***
Rardur looked down at his plate and up at Iain. “I will happily admit that whoever prepared this meal is a much better cook than I am.”
Iain had made a rule that when he was in the valley which he called home, he would eat dinner with the leaders of the dwarves who were off shift and not sleeping. Once the dwarves got used to the idea, he planned to expand the meal to include all of the awake and off shift dwarves so he could spend time with them. He wanted to set something similar up with the kobolds, but they tended to eat when they were hungry and wherever they happened to be when they were. Right now he was instead considering digging a large communal hot bath and bathing with them a few times a week to give them a chance to talk to him. He also thought it might not hurt to do something similar with the dwarves. For them, though, he’d probably have to set it up more along the lines of a Nipponese public bath and then spend time as a female elf so he could bathe with the female dwarves. He’d really like one set of baths for both the dwarves and the kobolds, but that would take some time since dwarves did still segregate themselves by gender and kobolds didn’t. But then he had seven hundred years to work on the issue.
Jinnura was one of the original dwarves who had arrived with Zilvra’s group and she was currently the off duty shift commander, which explained her presence at the table with them. She chuckled. “Between us and the kobolds we have grown enough to have full time cooks in the kitchen. I will be happy to pass your praise on to them.”
Rardur looked down at his plate again. “This is a normal dinner?” He shook his head. “I’m going to have to get a lot more active or I’ll get fat.”
“I understand,” Iain replied. “What I find amusing is that before I came here I helped with most of the meals at my home. I like cooking. If I go into the kitchen here I get politely but firmly asked what I want to eat and then ushered out as quickly as possible.” He chuckled. “That’s why I have my own kitchen where I can putter when I want to make cookies and other things.”
Jinnura smiled. “Sir, can anyone use your kitchen if they want to, ah, putter?”
Iain shook his head. “My kitchen is part of my workshop and I have too many different types of poisons and venoms inside there for me to feel comfortable letting anyone else use it. If there are people who’d like a place to do some cooking on their own and I discover that there are enough of them, we’ll put in a small kitchen someplace for them to try their hand at it. They will, however, be expected to clean up when they’re done and if they don’t, I’ll shut it down for a long, long time or remove it entirely.”
Rardur frowned. “Aren’t poisons and venoms the same thing?”
“No, they’re both toxins but they’re very different. A quick and dirty method of thinking about it is if you bite it and you die, it’s poisonous. If it bites you and you die, it’s venomous. The first definition includes created poisons and anything else you can ingest. It also includes any poison you could absorb through your skin without the skin being broken. The second one includes things like envenomed knives and arrows since their stab is the same thing as being bitten. I believe that the technical terminology would define poisons as toxins that are ingested and venoms as toxins that are injected.”
Rardur shook his head. “Wizards. Even the tribal shamans have too many strange powders and liquids that can kill you. Nobody should have all that just sitting around.”
“It isn’t sitting around,” Jinnura said primly. “Iain’s workshop is locked with a lock that is extremely complicated. I don’t think it can be picked.”
“Any lock can be picked,” Iain disagreed quietly. “I’ll admit some of my locks will be harder than most to pick, but even they can eventually be picked. However, in the time it would take to pick them, someone trying to do that should be noticed.”
“Just use an axe,” Rardur muttered.
“The interior of that door is lined with half an inch of steel just for people who think like you,” Iain replied. “And the wood I used is hard enough to dull any axe that hasn’t been enchanted. Finally, the lock mechanism not only locks the door conventionally, it lowers a bar into place behind it to keep people from smashing through my nice door.” He smiled. “I can’t stop someone from breaking into my laboratory, but I can certainly make them work for it.”
Zilvra raised an eyebrow. “Have you warded and trapped the door too?”
“I don’t want someone accidentally blowing themselves into bits so I have not trapped the outside of the door,” Iain explained quietly. “It is magically locked and warded, however, and has an alarm on it that will inform me if someone is trying to unlock it without my key.” His lab also had cameras as well as infrared, ultraviolet and sonic motion detectors for that well equipped would be thief.
Rardur grinned suddenly. “I remember hearing a story about a chieftain of the Black Wolves spending a bunch of money to have a chest crafted with a lock that couldn’t be picked. It was made of a metal that couldn’t be cut or torn open. According to the story, this chest was invulnerable to magic, too. If someone even attempted to pick or otherwise bypass the lock, the chest would start making a horrendous noise that could be heard a mile away and it still couldn’t be opened. Only the key that was crafted with the lock could unlock it. This chieftain placed his most valuable possessions inside the chest.” His smile turned evil. “And then he lost the key.”
Jinnura gasped in surprise.
Iain laughed. “I’ve heard different versions of that story with different people having a chest like that one made for most of my life. I do doubt that a Black Wolf would do that since they hate everything except tribal magic and tribal mages tend to be shamans, who don’t enchant items other than their personal equipment.” He pushed his plate away and stood. “And I’m done with dinner.” He looked at Jinnura. “It was very good, by the way.”
She nodded. “I’ll let the cooks know, sir.”
Zilvra also stood. “Can I walk with you, Iain?”
“I’m just going to my room, but sure.” He nodded to Jinnura and Rardur. “I’ll see you two later.” Zilvra moved to walk beside him as he left. “Is there a problem?”
“Do you intend for me to train with Rardur too?”
“I hoped you would. He knows some tricks that I don’t know so I’ll be training with him for a while.”
“Then I will. I still want to train with you, though.”
Iain shrugged. “All we’ve been doing so far is lifting weights in double gravity.”
Zilvra glanced at him. “I know you train harder when I’m not there but I’m getting stronger and I want to keep doing that.”
“Zilvra, if you want to keep lifting weights with me then you can.”
She nodded. “Good. Later, when I’m ready, I want you to teach me what you know about combat.”
“That might be a while.”
She smiled. “The Lady is trying to teach me patience.” They walked together in silence for a few minutes. “Can I help you with your plans?” Iain glanced at her and she shrugged. “I wish to contribute more than I have. I have many misdeeds that I must atone for and helping you will start me on the path to do that.”
It was very odd to hear a drow say things like that. He shouldn’t be surprised since Eilistraee wanted her worshippers to be helpful but still, it was odd. The villagers of Ilhar Mrimm never tried to be helpful to him, probably because he was a priestess too or because he wasn’t really a member of the village. “Have you decided to become clan?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I’m still learning what it means and it’s a decision I don’t want to rush.”
“Is it that you just enjoy needling Solnys with your status as our only guest?” Princess Shatris had been called home a few weeks ago. Iain had taken her back to her father’s castle where he’d learned she hoped to return soon. Considering she was an elf, soon could mean sometime in the next few years, so Iain wasn’t going to hold his breath.
She chuckled. “That is something I enjoy, I’ll admit. She thinks she is so sophisticated in her attempts to drive me away, yet she is but a stripling compared to the politicians who trained me.”
“You could teach her more about how to play the game.”
Zilvra’s chuckle became a laugh. “She sees herself as my opponent. I am not going to teach her how to be a better one.”
“Her relationship with you might become less adversarial if you did join us formally.” Iain cocked his head to regard her thoughtfully. “Or is that part of the reason you are putting off making a real decision either way?” She smirked at him and he sighed. “It would be better for me if you two became friends.”
“Tell that to Solnys.”
“I have. It’s not that she dislikes you specifically, it’s she hates the drow in general. Since you’re an outlander, you’re still a drow, even if you are a priestess of the Lady Dancer. That’s actually why I think she’ll become less adversarial if you did join the clan.”
Zilvra turned to face him. “Is my little entertainment with Solnys annoying you?”
“I think it’s a waste of her time as well as yours.”
Zilvra shrugged. “Very little of my time is not wasted right now, Iain. That’s why I’d like to help with more of your plans.” Iain just stood, looking at her, until she frowned. “What is it?”
“I’m considering your request.” He shook his head once. “How well are you known outside of Guallidurth?”
“I seldom left the city. I was my mother’s heir and, until I accepted Eilistraee’s call, was working hard to advance my position as well as that of House Khaven while keeping my sister subordinate to me so she would not seek to supplant me while I was building my own power base.” She smiled. “After all, I was going to become matron as soon as I could and Briza was my principal rival in attaining that goal. I did many things I regret in pursuit of that goal, but I did them well.”
“Are you willing to play the role of a commoner?”
“I don’t think I can, Iain. Any drow who is the slightest bit perceptive will realize I’m not a commoner fairly quickly. I have a lifetime of being and behaving like the heir of one of the most powerful houses in the most powerful city in the Underdark. I wouldn’t even recognize the mistakes I’d be making in attempting to act like a common drow.”
Iain had thought so too but need to know for certain. “Are you willing to travel in order to help me with some of my projects?”
“I am.”
“Would working with undead bother you?”
Zilvra’s eyebrows shot up. “I haven’t seen any undead around here.”
“No, and you probably won’t see them, around here, unless we end up in an emergency that’s so critical that I have to deploy them here.” He smiled. “But I do have some undead who could be useful as guards for you while you’re being a noble drow on walkabout.”
She frowned. “What is walkabout?”
“It’s slang for being on a journey.”
“You have many slang words for things.”
Iain shrugged. “I do. I was asking about you and undead, remember?”
“I do not dislike undead but they do not make very capable guards. Skeletons and zombies are not very intelligent. They cannot anticipate events and are slow to react to intruders.”
Iain smiled. “These seem alive and you’re the only one who will know that they’re undead. They’ll also be very good at protecting you.”
Zilvra snorted. “I am best at protecting me.”
Iain didn’t smile. That sentence was essentially the mantra all drow recited eternally. “True, but they’ll give you prestige while you’re traveling.”
“Are these undead drow?”
“Some of them are. Some of the others are human and some are creatures you’ve never seen before. You guards will probably be drow. I want you safe, not memorable, and people like Rhea are just a bit too memorable for what I’m going to have you doing.” He frowned. “Are you willing to learn to do new things?”
“That depends on what this new thing is, but I am willing to see what you want me to do before I refuse to do it.”
“That’s fair enough,” Iain admitted. They’d walked to his bedroom. He cracked the door open. “Now I’ll wish you a good day. I’m going to work out and then take a bath.”
“I thought you normally exercise in the morning.”
“I do, with you. I do my personal exercises in the evening before I get ready for bed.”
Zilvra nodded. “When will you tell me more about this walkabout?”
“Let’s exercise together in the morning and we can discuss what you can do to help after breakfast.”
She smiled. “I’ll see you at first light.” She headed off as he went inside.
***
Iain stood under the spray of hot water as it hammered his back and sluiced down his body. After finishing training, Iain was working on his endurance by staying in the higher gravity environment for a few hours since walking around in it was still training. He’d cut the power of the gravitational field in half from his training gravity, but that was because his training level was brutally punishing for anything he did in it.
It did give the word hammering a new perspective since the spray from the shower was just as affected by gravity as he was and was definitely hitting him harder as it fell.
Finished rinsing, Iain turned off the water and stood for a moment, listening to the drip of the water as it fell from his body.
“It’s about time you finished.” The speaker grabbed the curtain and jerked it open. Iain found himself looking up into the face of Eilistraee. The drow goddess blinked and slowly looked him up and down with a growing smile. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were nude.”
“I don’t normally shower in my clothing,” Iain noted quietly. “Would you like to examine me some more or would you be so kind as to hand me the towel that’s hanging behind you?”
Eilistraee’s smile became a grin for a second before she reached behind her and pulled the towel off its hook. She held it out to him and frowned. “Why is everything around here so heavy?”
Iain took the towel and began drying off. “I’m still in my training environment and you’re inside the field too. Just a moment.” He knelt and picked up a metallic wristband, touched a blue gem on it and the gravity returned to normal. “There you go, Lady.” He put the wristband back on the floor of the shower and stood to finish drying.
Eilistraee was still frowning. “What was that effect?”
“Please don’t be insulted at the question, but do you know what gravity is?” There wasn’t a word in elven for gravity, so Iain spoke in English for that one word.
Eilistraee shook her head. “I do not.”
“Have you ever been off planet, out into the void between this planet and the others in the Toril crystal sphere?”
“I have not.”
Iain nodded and began drying his hair. “Please, still don’t be insulted, but I am going to use a simplistic explanation that works without being very accurate. Later, if you’re interested, we can get into the details of what gravity is. In layman’s terms, gravity is the force that pulls us down to the ground and keeps us from floating away without using some kind of flying mechanism such as wings or magic. In the void, gravity is less powerful and you can float. Other places have more gravity than this place and I was using magic to simulate the gravity of one of those other places here so I could use it to get stronger while I train.” He gestured down towards the wristband. “That’s the controller I’m using.”
“Why do you keep it there on the floor?”
Iain grinned. “If I lose control and collapse, that’s where I’ll end up. It’s where I’m most likely to need it.” He knelt again and picked up the wristband so he could slip it onto his right wrist. “Now, good evening, Lady Eilistraee. Would you like some refreshments?”
She smiled. “I would, but it will have to wait until my next visit since time is short.”
Iain nodded and stepped past her to grab his clothes. “I’ll be dressed in just a moment. What would you have me do, my lady?”
She chuckled. “If only all of my priestesses were as quick as you to understand.” Her smile vanished. “Laelra has given birth to her daughter.”
Iain was throwing on his clothes. “I’d offer congratulations, but I’ll just ask what the problem is.”
“She cannot care for Sabnae and the child is dying. I do not wish to punish the child for the mother’s failings so you will care for the child.”
“Not teach Laelra how to care for her child?”
“Laelra feels the child is weak. You may not be able to convince her otherwise. Drow children that are weak are left to die.” Eilistraee’s mouth set. “In many cases, their death is expedited. My priestess still have that mindset in many cases.”
Iain began braiding up his still wet hair, knowing later he’d pay for how he was abusing his hair. “You want me to take the child and raise her?”
“If that is necessary. You could also find her a foster mother.”
“I’ll have to take her.” Iain finished braiding his hair and tied it with a black silk ribbon. He looked up to see Eilistraee watching him with a curious expression. “What is it?”
“I expected you to do as much as you could to find another solution and to argue with me about taking the child yourself.”
“Some women that I love want me to make my relationship with you work. That means I won’t argue with you just to do so. You are not sending me to kill the child, but to save her and saving a child is a good thing. I couldn’t find a dragoness who would raise the half breed child of Laraxithious. While I like Laraxithious for the most part, he is unlikely to care about the infant.” Iain grabbed his boots and sat down on a nearby chair to pull them on. “Even if he did, he’s kind of clueless about a lot of things. That leaves me as the only viable alternative.”
“What is clueless?”
“A clue is something that guides you to the solution of a problem or a mystery,” Iain replied. “Laraxithious is greatly without clue about children.”
“Clueless,” Eilistraee said slowly. “I like that word. May I use it too?”
“Free to a good home.” He looked up to see her looking at him bemusedly. “Yes.”
“Thank you. Can you raise an infant?”
Iain chuckled. “Infants are easy.”
“They are?”
“Sure. You put food in the hole that makes loud noises and clean up the other end when it gets messy. It’s when they hit puberty that their chances of survival drop dramatically.”
Eilistraee frowned. “Why is that?”
“Because that’s when they become so bloody intolerable that you just want to strangle them and hide the body.” He smirked. “At least that’s what I wanted to do with my sisters.”
“You are a strange man.”
Iain laughed as he stood. “That I am. Are there any other instructions?”
“You are not to tell Laelra that I sent you.”
“I kind of figured you’d want that. Telling the high priestess of your shrine that her goddess isn’t pleased with something she did is likely to cause trouble.” He smiled. “And if I am the person who tells her that, it pretty much ensures she never goes back to bed with me.”
“You have other lovers.”
Iain smiled slightly. “No, I don’t have any lovers right now. The word lover suggests I love that person, or at least I have strong affection for her. None of the women I’m currently fucking fit that definition.” His smile widened when Eilistraee frowned at him. “It’s all right. You’re just too much of a drow.”
“I am what?”
“I don’t know much about the culture that the dark elves had before Corellon shit all over them, but you were their patroness and I have read the religious writings that were written during the time when you were part of the Seldarine. You were happy and so were they. Now they are the drow and they’ve been shaped by too long under your mother’s thumb. Gods tell worshippers what to do and shape the religion that way, but there is a feedback loop in that worshippers can adjust a deity over time in how they worship and which aspects of a god they focus most on. Thanks to your mother, the drow, in general, are never happy. Thanks to the drow never being happy, their gods are never happy. That means you’re never happy either. Unhappy people are usually incapable of having true romantic relationships, so you’ve gotten out of the practice of experiencing them.”
“Are you happy?”
Iain’s smile faded. “That’s complicated. I am here on a mission I don’t really want to do for a woman I’m not sure I’m all that fond of. I have no choice in this mission. I like making my own decisions. Because of that mission, I must spend time away from my family and the people I do love. Also, the time I have to spend here on this mission will eventually surpass the time I have been alive by a factor of seven. I am not happy about any of that.” His smile returned. “However, I am going to do my damnedest to find happiness in as many of the moments I have to pass through between the time I left my family and the time I see April’s face again as I can. If I don’t, I will go completely psychotic. In that situation, you will reject me and the only source of entertainment I’m likely to find will involve torturing and murdering people on my slightest whim. If I become that person, my family will not want me back and I absolutely will not let that happen.” He shrugged. “So I’m not happy about a lot of the shit that’s going on in my life, but I’m going to be as happy as I can and take as much amusement from my surroundings, including a really tall naked drow goddess who ogles me while I’m bathing.”
“I was not ogling you. I do not desire you.”
Iain laughed. “Damn, that just crushes my ego. Guess I’ll have to go steal a baby from someone to compensate for the pain.” He frowned. “Do I have time to get my ship and fly to Ilhar Mrimm or do I have to be there in the next five minutes?”
“Time is of the essence, Iain. The sooner you can arrive in Ilhar Mrimm, the better.”
“Then I’ll shadow walk there since it’s faster than almost anything else.” He stopped and turned to face Eilistraee. “Is there anything else before I go do your bidding, Lady?”
“There is. Why did you leave Quendar and Cazna alive?”
Iain’s smile faded. “I am not a good person and we both know it. There are some who might even characterize me as evil, although I don’t think I’m that either. While Quendar and Cazna are werewolves and werewolves are widely considered to be evil, pretty much by definition, those two hadn’t done anything that was evil. I don’t want to go around killing people just because others consider them evil without them having performed any evil acts.” He shrugged. “First of all, my women wouldn’t want me to do that and second, if I destroy someone just because they might do something evil in the future, that would legitimize someone else trying to kill me for the same reason. I don’t think that’s a valid reason to try and kill me.”
Eilistraee was watching him with a slightly amused expression. “And if I told you I wanted you to kill them?”
“I’d ask if you wanted them dead before or after I went and picked up the infant you’ve tasked me with. Either way, I’d do your bidding. Is that your will?”
“It is not, Iain.”
He nodded and opened the door to the bathroom. Eilistraee followed him as he stepped into his bedroom. “If that changes, let me know.” He paused for a moment, looking at his pack, before shaking his head. “If I need it I’ll come back for it.” He glanced at Eilistraee. “Is there anything else you require before I leave?” She shook her head and he moved to where a tapestry decorated one wall of the chamber. He pulled the tapestry aside to reveal a doorway had been cut into the rock and a stone door hung in the frame.
Iain placed his palm against the door and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he pulled the door open to reveal the interior of his bedroom in Ilhar Mrimm.
Eilistraee raised an eyebrow. “Interesting spell. I don’t know that one.”
“I can teach it to you later, if you’d like.”
“I would. Now go and do as I ask.” She vanished.
***
Iain closed the door behind him, letting the spell dissipate. That way, when he opened the door again, it behaved normally as he entered the living area. It was dark, being nearly midnight, and he switched to his night vision as his mind cataloged the scene. Fireplace ready for lighting, check. Very tiny naked infant laid out and resting on a small blanket on his table, check.
What?
Iain looked again. There was a naked infant lying on his table. It was still and a quick check with infrared showed it was only marginally warmer than ambient. “If you’re the one I’m here for I may have cut this a little too fine.” He put his hand on its chest and scanned it. “You’re still alive. Ah, you’re very premature.” He murmured softly, placing the infant in temporal stasis. He wrapped the infant up in its blanket and carefully placed the bundle on his bed. Then he went looking for Laelra.
He found her in the tunnels of the shrine. She was watching a pair of worshippers who were sweeping the floors. Every person in the village spent some time at the shrine doing various chores which freed up the priestesses to concentrate on the religious matters that only they could perform. Iain stopped nearby and waited. It took several minutes before she realized someone was standing nearby and looked in his direction. Her face tightened. “Iain.”
“Let’s go outside,” he said quietly. She nodded and followed him outside and to somewhere they couldn’t be observed. He turned and took her in his arms, holding her tightly. Her body still showed signs of her pregnancy. Milk from her breasts had soaked through her blouse and he could feel wetness from them on his skin.
She resisted for a second before sagging against him. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anyplace else to leave her.” She looked up at him. “She was born too early. There’s nothing my magic can do for her. Is she dead yet?”
Iain pulled her head back down to his chest. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I don’t understand what happened,” she said, her voice muffled against his shirt. “I have never had this happen before. All of my other children were born on time and were healthy. I’m not that much older than I was when I had my last child.”
“Sometimes this happens when the child is half dragon,” Iain replied. “Does she have a name?”
“We don’t name our babies until we know they will live but I was going to call her Sabnae.” She raised her head again to look up at him. “She doesn’t need a memorial stone, Iain.”
“I said I’ll take care of it. She’ll be gone when you go back to my house.”
She looked up into his eyes for several seconds before nodding. “Thank you, Iain.” She sighed. “The child isn’t yours.”
“I know. I wouldn’t tell Laraxithious about her if I were you.” In his arms, Laelra went stiff. “He wouldn’t understand and he just finally convinced a dragoness to become his mate. Besides, he was never going to be more than a casual lover for you.”
“How did you know about him?”
“I’ve known since you had sex with him in my bed and didn’t clean up very well. I could smell both of you had been in the bed.”
“Just like you could smell I was pregnant,” she said quietly. “I won’t take anyone else to your house.”
Iain chuckled. “Laelra, you’re my friend. I’m not here often enough to keep up with your libido and there is not a whole lot of privacy around this village. If you want to use my house for your romps, go ahead.”
She looked into his eyes for several seconds. “I’ll clean up better than I did that one time.”
“Now that I would appreciate,” Iain kissed her gently. “I’m sorry your baby was born too early for you to raise.”
“I am too.” She pushed away from him. “I have to go. Will you be staying for long this time?”
“I have things I have to do as well, Laelra. I can come back in a week, if you would like.”
“I would like that very much. I’m not ready for sex yet, but I like your company.”
“You can teach me how more about how to lose at sava.”
She smiled. “Your playing is getting better, Iain.”
“I haven’t won a game against you yet.”
“I am quite a bit older than you and I’ve been playing for centuries, Iain.”
He shrugged. “One day.”
Her smile widened. “You hope.” She kissed him gently. “Thank you for taking care of this and not being angry with me.”
Iain shook his head. “Go do priestess things.” She laughed softly and headed inside the shrine as he turned towards his house and reached out with his twee. Phantasmal Surveyor.
The ship’s response was instant. Sir?
There has been a change of plans and I am going to want a small, modern laboratory with everything that entails, but that’s for the future. Right now I need a medium growth tank with an integral power supply. I have a premature infant that looks like she’s about seven months along. I intend to use the tank to bring her to full term.
What race is she?
She is half drow and half gold dragon.
Sir, I have only minimal data on drow physiology and development. I have only the data that has been gathered from by the tissue samples of the dragons you have provided for analysis, and only two of those samples are from gold dragons.
Iain had been quietly collecting DNA from the villagers at Ilhar Mrimm. As for the gold dragon material, he’d scanned the wing tissue from Laraxithious and collected saliva from Tagiss during her first visit. That should be enough for what I need. I’ll also plan to get you more DNA from both species.
Phantasmal Surveyor wasn’t done yet. I will also need raw material for processing. I can provide the growth tank and ancillary equipment, but my reserves are running low and the few asteroids I have charted seem to be occupied.
Fortunately, Iain had a solution. Harvest raw material from Glyth, the sixth planet in the system. It is inhabited by illithids and you are authorized to harvest them if they get in the way. Just avoid the herds of oortlings. We can’t really help them but they don’t deserve being killed at our hands.
I will begin filling my raw material reserves immediately. The growth tank will be delivered in four hours.
Iain headed into his house. Thank you.
You are welcome, sir.
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth - Vampire
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
73 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Rhea Silvia – Chimera
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Dabria (was Loviatar) – Dark Queen
Omisha (was Hel) – Demoness
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Helesatra Vyshaan half pit fiend (fiend) half sun elf. Princess of the Vyshaantar Empire.
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Selsharra of Evermeet
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)