Barek raised his brows at Jaska. "You remind me of Kailyn when he was younger." He said simply. "He'd constantly ask me to tell him stories. Or read him a book." He pushed his back against the wall. For a moment he seemed to lose himself in thought. After a few minutes he looked back at Jaska and shrugged. "You still like stories? How old are you? Aren't you too old for that stuff?"
---

Zebyvyll's red eyes never dropped from Narya, even when the woman made her request. "I believe we should let Z'tan decide who'd he'd rather put his trust in." She said back, her voice laced with fire.

"No, he lay his rights forfeit." Imorvir interjected. "He is but a male. They do not have that choice." He snarled. "Chose young one, or we will for you!"
He glanced to Narya and offered a reassuring glance.

Jaska glared at Barek when he asked how old he was. "... shouldn't you know that?" He asked, somewhat disbelievingly.
----

Narya narrowed her eyes at Zebyvyll, the serpents on the whip growing more agitated. When Imorvir spoke, she looked over to him, something of a smirk on her face. "He's right, you see? And Z'tan knows better than to speak up now, unlike you! But if you're hesitating, I can just take care of it for you..." The woman started to uncross her arms, then smiled again, "I might lose count, and have to start over. I've never been too terribly good with numbers, you know?"

Barek let out a breathy laugh at the boy's comment. "Guilty as charged..." He said and rubbed his forehead. "I don't like numbers...I'm more of a word person..." He began, "I guess that's not much of an excuse..." He said and closed his eyes. "Anyways, all my stories are either sad or scary. I think that's why Kailyn is so used to that stuff." He gave Jaska a dry smirk.
---
Zebyvyll finally broke her gaze with Narya to turn her eyes onto Imorvir as he spoke. "He is but a male, as are you. So who are you to give a woman orders, or to talk for your," she returned her eyes to Narya, "bitch." She raised one brow and took a step towards the matron. "I wouldn't be surprised if you lost count, you stupid cow." She muttered dangerously.

"Give me the whip." She said, holding out her hand.

Imorvir snarled. "Her lips is Z'tan's punishment! Don't give it to her. She's gone too far." He growled. A part of him did feel bad for Z'tan, but he didn't like that girl at all.

Jaska giggled at Barek when he finally admitted defeat. "Its the third day of spring!" He told him, "And I'm thirteen!" He added, "And its okay. Mom... S'lar... used to tell me all kinds of stories, especially some sad ones. She told me about how the drow got to the under-dark, and how Corvus got to be a wolf, and why she couldn't go back to the Under-dark. Well, the other one was supposed to be scary, but I though it was sad." He looked up at Barek expectantly.
---

Narya merely sneered at Zebyvyll, ignoring Imorvir altogether, "I'm the stupid one? Little girl, you are sentencing the one creature who actually cares for you to death! If you're so great, where is your family, begging for your innocence? Where are your teachers, coming to offer me wealth in return for my forgiveness? They don't exist." She said bluntly, "You're a sad, lonely, rejected freak of nature who's only trying to cover up her own petty insecurities with anger." She shook her head in a false display of pity, "At least I'm not the only one around here..." She smirked, and stepped down towards the girl again.

"Oh, I'll give her the whip, Imorvir. This one." She said, holding out her serpent, "You'll take it, and use it on him, child, or if you walk out that door, I'll beat Z'tan 'till he's dead. And then I'll hang his body outside your quarters, and make you cut it down. I can make your life living hell, child. You thought the streets were bad? I can make your life a hundred times worse in this House, and never let you leave." She laughed, "Or you can whip him, hand me my weapon back, and walk out of here with perhaps a little more self control... Your choice." She told her nonchalantly.

Barek sighed heavily and tilted his head upwards, trying to think of something that wasn't so disheartening to the boy. Finally he looked back. "Want to hear how I met your mother...and killed my own?"
---
Zebyvyll stared at Narya her red eyes never changing. "I've never had a family." She said simply, without any hint of anger or bitterness, only hatred towards Narya. "You call me insecure and lonely, I call myself free and unhindered." She responded with a mature voice.

When Narya held out her own whip she took it without hesitation. "And you are stupid,you should have handed me another whip, not your own." She gave a shrug and turned towards Z'tan. "No, I won't steal it. I don't need it anyways." She then stared down at Z'tan, finally her eyes changed. Something seemed to die and they grew black. Emotion swept from her face and without another hesitation, she lashed the serpent down at Z'tan.

Jaska grinned and nodded, not seeming put off by Barek's description of the story. He'd never heard stories of his real mother before!
-------

Narya merely rolled her eyes at Zebyvyll's comments. If she was so unfettered, she could have chosen to walk out the door, and leave Z'tan to his fate when she'd been summoned at all. And as far as stealing the weapon... that was an insane idea. It would return to her eventually anyways, the snakes had a mind of their own.

She came, stood by Imorvir and watched dispassionately. She no longer needed Z'tan for anything but his use as a powerful tool. She'd see to it that he didn't die from this, but nothing more. In her mind, he deserved every lash he recieved.

Z'tan didn't make a sound, or even flinch as the snakes buried their fangs in his back. This was far from a new sensation.

Barek shook his head at Jaska's anticipation. "You ARE Kailyn..." He said before shrugging again. "Well...when I met your mother I was out on the streets. My own mother was the matron. We didn't get along too well. So I was either constantly thrown out, or left on my own accord. I survived pretty easily on the streets. I grew up there, so I was well known and I knew everyone that had connections with people that I could get things from.

"Your mother on the other hand, she was captured by the Drow. She grew up here in the lands. She didn't know of what troubles were in the underdark, except for what S'lar told her and warned her about. But nothing can prepare you for actually being up against that stuff."
---
Zebyvyll continued to lash Z'tan. When she hit him the tenth time she pulled the whip away and stared down at him, her breathing was deep yet ragged. Finally she turned her head towards Narya. Her eyes were a glowing bright turquoise as she stared at Narya, hate filling their depths. Her hair leaked out all color, turning a pale silver, and if one looked close enough, blueish lines seemed to glow faintly around her eyes and mouth.

"One day all you've done will be returned to you." She said in a deep, powerful, rustic voice that definitely did not belong to a young girl. "And when that day comes I will be watching, laughing. You will be lost, unloved, and empty, more than you are today." She suddenly swallowed heavily and her eyes flashed back to their red color.

With one quick look at Z'tan she left Narya's sight. Once she was around the corner she took off into a run.

Imorvir raised his chin slightly, looking at Z'tan. That was harder to watch then he had expected. He hated the girl even more now...
How could Z'tan weather that for a girl? How could his Matron and Zeb be so...stone hearted. He looked down and adverted his eyes. He was the only one to break after seeing that. Seemingly anyway.

"Why didn't your mom like you?" Jaska asked, interrupting Barek's story.

-------
Narya watched, though her eyes were distant and dark. She flinched only once, when on the sixth strike Zebyvyll seemed to hit something, and Z'tan let out a startled snarl of pain. She could see the effort it took to not retaliate, or simply get up, and she pitied him, though her face didn't show it.

She simply watched Zeb when the girl spoke at the end, then retreated. She looked down at Z'tan as the changeling's footsteps echoed away, and descended down to her old advisor. She knelt in front of him, reaching out and tipping his sweat beaded face up to meet hers.

"Can you get up?" She addressed him, her voice quiet. He shook his head, only once. Narya looked over her shoulder to Imorvir. "Help him to a healer," She instructed, before looking back to Z'tan, "There is something else I must ask of you, but later. You're in no condition to be doing much, at this point. We'll talk more, later." She said, before withdrawing so the Patron could help Z'tan to his feet.

Barek let out a laugh at Jaska's question and raised one brow. "Look at me, no mother could love a face like this." He said sarcastically before shaking his head. "No...first of all I wasn't a daughter, second of all, I wasn't obedient. We were...we believe different things. She wanted me to take a path of her own, I wanted to make my own path, not follow hers. I was also a bastard of sorts." He paused and looked back at Jaska. "It means illegitimate...which means basically...she didn't want anyone to know who my father was. I didn't know who my father was either, until after I started planning how to kill my mom."

Sadness seemed to start to enter his bright eyes as he spoke. "Basically we didn't mesh well. I resented her for everything she did to me. She resented me because I was my father's son. I retaliated at every chance I got, and usually it ended with me being beaten until I was knocked out, or severely weakened. It got me to stay in her sight for a week or so...until I just ran away again." He sighed softly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was forced to grow up fast, faster than any child should have to grow up. I don't think I was ever truly a child." He shrugged feebly.
---
Zebyvyll ran as fast as she could. Whenever someone tried to stop her she merely slipped past them and disappeared. It was only when she was in the slums area that she slowed down. Her hair was black now and her body had grown to a womanly figure. As she reached a dark area she slid down to the ground, trembling, blood spattered on her hands and face. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she pressed her face into her knees.

Imorvir dropped to Z'tan and helped him up. F'sarn taudl ussta ilharn... he spoke softly in his mentors ears. A growing hate rose for Zrbyvyll...and his mentor....who was like his father had to get punished for it. He closed his eyes as he helped Z'tan to the healers, broken and exhausted.

Jaska listened quietly to the explanation Barek gave, looking serious for perhaps the first time as his father became saddened. He moved so that he was leaning up against the drow, and tilted his head up to look at him. "I'm sorry." He said softly, "Did you ever find your dad? Was he mean, too?" He asked.
-------
Narya watched the two men leave, only when they were out of sight letting the frustration and some other unfathomable emotion chase itself across her features. She finally forced herself to retreat back to her quarters.

Z'tan's blind eyes slid over to Imorvir instinctively as he leaned onto the younger warrior. "Don't trouble yourself over it," He rasped in his natural voice. He flinched a little as one of the healers came over, poking at him as she fussed over the fact that he was at least a decade late for his physical, and finally showed up looking like this! She brushed Imorvir aside for the moment, practically pushing Z'tan to sit down on one of the cots, snapping out orders to the various slaves and underlings who scurried off, likely to get bandages, spell components and anti-venom.

Rakesh had followed Zebyvyll, or more precisely, the scatters of blood she left as she ran. The dragon came hesitantly forwards when he finally found her. He gently nosed her back, letting out a canine-like whine of concern. Z'tan would be fine, the dragon knew his elf had been through worse, and was due for some rest to begin with, which hopefully the injuries would force. And he wasn't the one crying in a dilapidated alleyway, either.

Barek laughed emptily. "Don't apologize for something you didn't do." At Jaska's question he merely nodded. "Yeah. I found him. Under my nose the whole time too. He's not mean..." He paused as if trying to figure something out. "He helped me a lot when we got closer. Sometimes I still resent him for sitting by and watching everything happen. But I can understand him better now, understand his decisions a bit more."
---
Zebyvyll jerked back when she felt Rakesh brush against her. Her eyes widened and she moved towards her belt for her knife but froze when her eyes focused on Rakesh. She quickly brushed her tears away and swallowed, trying to look strong. "You scared me." She snapped but softened at his whine.

Slowly she looked away, doing her best to hold back the tears that so wanted to come out. "I'm sorry, I hurt Z'tan." She said simply, furrowing her brows at the shadows. "I won't blame you if you two left me."