A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 89: Century

He bowed in assent. "I assume that message cannot go through me? Unless it can, and you think I should tell her the truth about things. I do not know if that would be wise, though. I will keep an eye on her. If she can be turned enough against her mother to plot a coup, then coming clean and proposing an alliance with the deal that we put her in her mother's place in exchange for her assistance in rebuilding Duskhaven might be a pretty potent deal. We would tie one of the Underdark's wealthiest and most powerful noble houses directly to us. Although, I am not sure how she will take me going with Duskhaven. I think she is becoming much more fond of me than it is wise to be fond of a pleasure slave."

"I trust your discretion. Try to get her a message. If she has become fond of you..." Yet another sigh. There was no time for the speculation she wanted to engage in.

Another sigh, then she leaned in to kiss him. Her lips lingered pressed against his -- how she longed to kiss him more thoroughly than that! Caleldir seemed to feel the same way but acted as restrained as she did. Instead of letting the kiss deepen, she pulled back away from him. "You need to get back. Is there anything you want me to say to the people back home?"

He smoothed his robes again. "Tell them that Jhul'une has been good to me, and not to worry about my health, mental or physical, or safety. If it were not for being separated from you, I would be in a very good situation. But I am separated, and I miss you all."

With that, he bid Selene a final farewell, picked up the plate, and left.

"Farewell, dearest." Selene watched the tent flap closed, gently caressing the fabric of her modest gown over her very slightly distended stomach - still not swollen enough for anyone to be able to immediately know her condition. There was a frown on her face, but it was more tempered with optimism than it had been in the past few cycles.

At least she knew where he was. At least she knew he was safe.

No one stopped Caleldir as he made his way back to Jhul'une. She was still at her place in the tent, and there was a male noble drow there talking to her. Jhul met his eye when he came close and she saw him. Then she made a small motion for him to come and sit in his place behind her. Upon seeing the motion, the drow she had been speaking to looked towards Caleldir, nodded his head in a polite farewell to Jhul and left towards the tables of food.

"There you are, Cal," she said under her breath when he was close enough to hear. She took her plate from his hands and began to daintily eat from it. "Did you run into some trouble?" Her words were casual and a little distracted by the food. She didn't seem particularly worried or angry about anything.

He nodded to Jhul'une. "I did. Hael'yss." He spoke very quietly so that only she could really hear him. "She is becoming more blatant. She tried to ravish me. I escaped due to another guest interfering. They were smart enough to realize that messing with the guest of honor's personal pleasure slave was a stupid idea." He sighed, then perked up. "But! I got away, and know what sorts of areas to avoid now. I had an interesting conversation with a guest that I will tell you later. The one that shooed Hael'yss away. Something for me to report after the party. For now, let's just have some fun!"

A grim look crossed Jhul's face. "She is really getting out of hand. She must have known that you are my property."

"She did know," Caleldir said dryly. "She thought that she could 'show me a better time', or some such. With those spiders, she would have done it too, although how she expected to get away with it is beyond me. I do not think that she thought that you would actually mind. But more on that later."

She let out a heavy sigh and took a couple of bites of her food. Once she was done thoughtfully chewing, she spoke again. "Let us figure out something to do with her. And perhaps thank the person who came to your aid. Yes. I would very much like to know about the drow who prevented Hael'yss from stealing you." Even for the couple minutes, it would take to get herself off and leave. Jhul scanned the crowd for the offending drow -- there, in a pleasure tent, of course, brazenly bouncing on some common pleasure slave's dick. Well. At least she found herself a different target.

'Fun' was perhaps a strong word for the next hour. Jhul ate her food and felt better for it. Then she spoke to several people who wanted to congratulate her on making it to a century. Mostly, they were people who hoped to gain favor with Dinoryn through its heir. Gifts were promised, flirtations were made, bargains attempted to be struck. Jhul showed interest in only a couple of the people who approached her.

House Teken'ath, for instance, was a house that she was very interested in. A young male was the representative from there and was decently handsome. A small deal was struck, an enchantment in exchange for easier access to communications between a particular city deeper within the territories where the House in charge absolutely forbade teleporters. She would have sweetened the deal, but the male made eyes at Caleldir and barely looked at her with any lust at all. So he went off without the meeting becoming more intimate.

Caleldir was quiet, speaking only when addressed, and quietly observing events. He was learning quite a lot about Drow politics and the balance of power among the Noble Houses by noting who offered what and to whom and why. A lot of sexual tension between the petitioners. Drow libido was something else, that was for certain. Thought the representative for Teken'ath disturbed him a bit. He was used to being the target of very insistent women, but not so much used to be flirted with by men. It made him think of the many, many women who had gotten too insistent, and that worried him; the idea of a male getting too insistent... ugh. The revulsion with which he viewed that prospect should have been the revulsion with which he viewed anyone forcing themselves on him like that, and it was not. A roundabout way of reminding him that he actually liked having sex with a lot of women, much as it made him feel really, really guilty.

Unfortunately, that meeting had given Jhul ideas. It was near the end of the first house, and it was her party, damn it, and she might as well enjoy some more of the amenities. No longer was it time to talk. It was time to drink and debauch. "Bring me the strongest drink you can find and meet me at the pleasure tent," Jhul ordered, obviously to Caleldir, since there were no other servants who could hear her. She gestured to one that was only accessible to the richest of noble drow.

"As you will, my lady," he said respectfully. He grabbed a full bottle of some expensive, very potent underwine, and followed her to the tent. He wondered if this would be a good time to broach any of the topics that Selene had brought up. Probably not. Should wait for tonight at the very least. For now, Jhul'une mostly seemed to want to blow off steam.

At first, Jhul walked towards one of the open tents where a couple of noble drow and more prestigious students were enjoying each other and the pleasure slaves that were provided. It was where she'd usually be; it wasn't like she was one of those inordinately shy drow who preferred to hide away the fact that she enjoyed a good fuck on a regular basis.

But, as she was walking, she watched one of the pleasure slaves that was being used for oral pleasures. His head was obediently buried in a female's cunt, but another female came up to him. Positions were changed, and the pleasure slave was promptly servicing both of the women with mouth and dick. Other very similar situations were carried out by a variety of people of both genders.

Caleldir blanched a bit. He did not want to have sex in full view of everyone, nor did he want to participate in the orgy. Orgies unnerved and slightly disgusted him, despite his recent lifestyle sort of relying on engaging in them a lot. Not that he liked to call what he got up to with Selene, Ashyr, R.I.S.A./Risa, and Althaia 'orgies'. What had happened with the various Fae women he had run across definitely qualified, though. And he had not been all that into those.

Jhul blinked, then looked over to Caleldir. No. No, she wanted him all to herself. She didn't want to have to fight back other noble drow who wanted a go at her alluring slave. So she took the alcohol that he brought for her and let him over to a private tent. As she walked, a woman who stared more intently than the rest caught her eye. There was envy in her features, of course, but also... longing. Then the moment passed, and Jhul promptly forgot all about it. She had a slave to be pleasured by. And to pleasure. She took a long swig of her drink and pulled Caleldir by the arm into the privacy of the tent.

Caleldir sighed in relief. He had Selene's permission now to do what had to be done (and 'who' had to be 'done', for that matter) but that did not mean that he was willing to engage in mostly anonymous, completely emotionless and therefore meaningless, fornicating with other drow nobles. Or watch them do that.

That said, he found himself unable to look away from some of those scenes. Damn. That was wicked (hot). Wicked and wrong and he was glad Jhul'une wanted something private because the idea of having sex to a large audience did not titillate him at all. Ugh. So, it actually did. But he did not want it to.

Once the two of them were in the tent, Jhul waved her hand, muttered a few words, and the area was sealed with an extra spell of her own. Because obviously, the one spell wasn't going to keep other people out. Drow were Drow, and prone to snooping. Then, another long swig of her drink that left only the dregs at the bottom. Her glass was promptly forgotten on the low table: the only furnishing in the small tent. Her hands free, she was able to pull her slave down into the pile of pillows on the ground.

The interlude was fairly quick and straight-forward, by the usual standards. Jhul had to get back to her guests, after all. Clothing wasn't even fully removed, just hastily shoved to the side enough that she could ride Caleldir with slightly tipsy enthusiasm. Her mannerisms were slightly more possessive than usual -- she couldn't help the thoughts that ran through her mind about Hael'yss. The idea of that Lolth-cursed woman even temporarily enjoying her Caleldir was enough to make her blood boil with hatred.

Not exactly saying much, for a drow.

Now, though Caleldir generally enjoyed sex (even when he knew that he was not supposed to be enjoying. Heck, especially when he was trying not to enjoy it sometimes) and this interlude was no exception, it did worry him a bit. Because Jhul'une was the wrong woman to get possessive of him. He was, in the end, loyal to House Duskhaven (even more specifically: Ashyr and Selene), not Jhul'une. And he was concerned that her current possessiveness would make his plans to sway her over to Duskhaven just a bit more complicated than they were before.

When the pair of them walked out of the tent a mere quarter of an hour later, Jhul smoothed down the last of her expensive robes. Then it was as if nothing had ever happened. The rest of the celebration dragged by, and, as Jhul'une was determined to keep a closer eye on Caleldir, nothing exciting happened. Just diplomatic maneuver after diplomatic maneuver until the courtyard cleared out.

Not all the guests were gone when Jhul finally made her way back to her rooms. But the guests were all well-occupied with the pretty slaves that filled the pleasure tents. No one noticed nor cared about her departure. She heaved a sigh of relief when she was finally safe within her own personal walls.