Why Hello There My Little Pawn [M] | Celeste Adra

[TheUnforgiving]

"And there she stands, with skin of white and cloak of black
Framed 'gainst the moon, past the rev'rend's shack.
We cannot hide you all, she'll search the houses, one by one
'Til not a soul is left to greet the rising sun
So run, dearest children, don't delay
The Pale Lady comes to take you away."

Gyleon had heard enough by the second verse.  After four, he was about ready to snap.  "By the Stone of Scitha, will you shut it, Helmar?  It's creepy 'nuff out here without your damnable ghost stories."

"'S'no story, Gyleon.  I seen 'er!"

This caused the other three men in the group to groan in exasperation.  Clearly, they had heard the tale too many times already.

"'S'true!" Helmar insisted. 

Gyleon remained caustically skeptical.  "Oh yeah?  If you seen her, what's she look like?"

Helmar warily turned his head as far back as he could without dropping his corner of the load they carried to look at the woman following several paces behind them.  She was dressed in all black, from the lacy veil over her face to her sheet of midnight hair to the boots on her feet.  The thick carpet of leaves on the forest floor made barely a sound as she stepped, as if she was floating just above them.  The only thing distinguishing her from a living shadow was fair, flawless skin and the dark silvery filigree on that covered her outfit and faintly caught the wan moonlight diffused by the fog. 

Her outfit was of some funny fashion, which immediately singled her out as a member of one of Ketra's wealthy families, even if it didn't look much like what most upper-crust women in the city wore.  The corset was worn openly, rather than under or over some kind of dress, leaving a generous expanse of snow-pale chest exposed, the curving filigree creating a striking outline between the black leather and ivory flesh.  She didn't wear a skirt, either.  She wore part of a skirt, cut up the back and completely open in the front, with its hem taken up to the knee, doing more to frame her legs rather than cover them up as a proper lady should.  Only what looked to be some sort of full-body stocking, cut tight to match the shape of the corset and her arms and legs kept her from complete indecency, even if it still left absolutely nothing to the imagination.  The legs of the stocking disappeared into her fancy knee-high boots, their fronts protected by embellished armor plates wrought from the same strange dark silver metal that decorated the corset.  Matching armor covered her upper and lower arms, ending just above leather gloves with pointed metal fingertips and knuckles.  Her collar was outrageously tall, disappearing under her hair in the back and swooping down to follow the sharp lines of her jaw before opening completely at the front, putting her slender neck on clear display for anyone looking.  And though she wasn't particularly tall and was rather spare for a woman in Adela, the six-inch heels on her boots caused her to tower over all four of them and she moved with the confidence and air of natural menace associated with such a height.  Not to mention Gyleon had, on the few occasions he'd crossed into the upper circles, seen what boots like that could do to a woman's shape; it was enough to make him wish she'd taken the lead on their march into the woods. 

They hadn't seen much of her before she glided into the bunkhouse and collected them for this errand, but she stood out in everyone's attention: tall, dark, mysterious, a vision of loveliness.  She looked like all the stories of dark sorceresses and women -- or things that only looked like women -- who tempted men away from their wives to drown them in their own vices.  And, Gyleon had to admit, she could look the part of the Pale Lady.

But Gyleon wasn't some superstitious tribal, oh no.  He was a Ketran man, through-and-through.  This was not some fairy story meant to scare unruly children.  This was real life.  So, like any good Ketran man, Gyleon reached over and smacked Helmar on the back of the head.  "Yer a special kinda daft, y'know that?  Sayin' a Lady looked like some kiddie-eatin' witch.  We was back in town and a guard saw you?  You'd be irons 'fore you could blink."

Helmar ducked his head sheepishly and Gyleon looked back again to address the woman, in a much politer tone.  "Apologies, Lady Alera.  Helmar here has never much used his head.  He didn't mean nuthin' by it."

Her lips curled into a smile behind her veil.  "Relax.  My cousin shan't find out about this."

"Of course, Lady.  Thank you."

"Y-yeah, thank you," Helmar repeated, his voice shaking. 

"Who are ye, again?" asked one of the men at the head of the column, Gauwis, before hastily adding, "If you'll pardon the impert'nce, Lady.  Master Ames di'n't say much about ye before ye showed up, and I don' remember 'im invitin' ye to anythin' before."

"I tend to stay out of family business these days," Alera answered dismissively.  "Particularly in the capital.  My own operations keep me plenty occupied."

Gauwis's response was lost when the wind whispering through the autumn trees surged into a great gust.  The rush of air tore through the carpet of dead leaves on the forest floor, casting them about in a sudden confetti of red, orange, black, and gold.  The men came to an abrupt, staggering halt, almost dropping their load, as the dispersal of the detritus revealed thick, gnarled tree root that arched out of the ground just at ankle height.

"Wolma's teeth!" Gyleon swore as he struggled to adjust his grip on the wrapped corpse while the other three men tried to do the same. "With respect, Lady, how much farther is it?  We're runnin' out of trail."

"Not much further," Alera assured them, the words calm and sweet.  "Far enough that predators won't be attracted too close to town."

"Wha's so special 'bout this stiff that we 'afta carry 'im all this way any'ow?" the last man asked.  "Why can' he just go in the boneyard like everyone else?"

Alera's voice took on a tone of gentle reproof.  "Now, now, mister Bruge.  It is not one's place to question the last wishes of the dying.  He is to be buried in the forest, in a clearing where the moon shines untouched upon the earth."

"Wha' a ponce," Bruge groused.  "No' like the moon'll be shinin' on anythin' in this fog.  Can' 'ardly see where we's goin'.  You sure this's the right way?"

"Worry not, gentlemen; we'll reach our final destination soon."

A new crunch of leaves caught Alera's attention.  Behind them, faint, distant, but repeating and rapid.  Approaching.  Someone was running through the forest behind them, the panicked, frantic sprint of the hunted.  Someone was being driven towards them.  Alera focused her hearing, but could not sense any additional footfalls or voices that would identify they prey's pursuers.

"Most interesting..." Alera muttered.

Though she only said it to herself, it still caught the attention of the men.  Gyleon turned again to look at her, confusion on his face.  "Whassat, Lady?" 

And she wasn't there. 

They were alone.  There was no one behind them, and no indication anyone had been there at all; where Alera had been standing, there was just black mist drifting away on the wind, like a shadow in the fog.

[Celeste Adra]

Drip... drip... drip... the sounds echoed through the cavernous hall. A musty and damp smell was in every dark inch of this place. I couldn't understand it, but I could see clearly even though this place was dark as a midnight black cats coat. I continued to look around, I saw walkways exiting the "room" I was in. I didn't recognize anything here, I didn't know which way was out or in...

My wrists and ankles we bound by shackles. I began to wrinkle my forehead in confusion, "How long had I been in here?" I whispered to myself, for I was alone. No one else was here. I brought my hands up to my face and placed my forehead in them, "Come on ... remember something.... anything... what's your name?!"

It was cold here, I could see my breath float in front of me, but I didn't feel cold. That's odd, right? Why was everything so strange to me? I wondered if I had already woken up once and went through this and somehow forgot or if this was the first time. My instincts said it was the first time. I had nothing else to trust.

I began to wonder, Was my captor coming back? How long did I have? Did they just leave? I had no concept of time here, in fact I wasn't even sure how long I had been conscious. I didn't see anything useful around me, no bowls or buckets for food or water. Just the shackles, a stone bench, and me. I didn't even feel hungry ... was I not here that long then? None of this made any sense and I began to grow increasingly angry. I threw my arms up into the air in frustration, the shackles broke into pieces. I was taken back, how old were these shackles? Old enough for me to just ... break free? I grabbed one of the shackles around my left ankle and pulled, with minimal effort it also bursted open, quickly I moved on to the one around my right ankle.

I was free... right?!

I looked around, no lights around me, no torches, nothing. I had two options in front of me... Option one: I could stay here and wait for whoever or whatever to come back and claim me for whatever they were planning. My other option was to pick a door and hope it was the right one and hopefully make my way to an exit. A door to my left and a door to my right. That's when I heard something off in the distance, even though it was far away I heard it crystal clear. Someone was approaching, footsteps were coming from the left entrance. Looks like i was being forced to use the right passageway.

I stood up, surprisingly I had enough strength to move, in all honesty I didn't feel that weak. Maybe I hadn't been here long at all. I was wearing a very tattered dingy old slip. Once upon a time it was a beautiful rich red maroon color, but now it was faded and torn. Some of the lace was still present on the bottom and top. Whoever was coming, was getting closer. I could smell it,  a thought came to me instant - it isn't human... but how would I know that? It was time to pick up my pace.

I exited through the passage and followed the long dark carved out hall inside this rock prison. As I began to run down the hall, I felt something hitting my collarbone, it was a necklace. I didn't have time to stop and look. I needed to find an exit, fast. No rooms seemed to shoot off of this never ending hall, it just turning and looping. I couldn't tell if I was going further into this fortress or out of it.

That's when I smelled it, fresh air. I was approaching a way out ... this was too easy, but i didn't have time to question it. I could hear nightingales, dusk must be approaching. How did I know they were even nightingales? More confusion swarmed inside of my head. One thing at a time... Just focus on finding help.

I kept running, ignoring the sting of the sharp rocks jabbing into my bare feet. Soon the rocks turned to leaves and grass. I could see the exit, the sun was setting, fog was approaching. Was there even a town anywhere near where I was? I came to a halt, all I saw was forest. Thick, dark, forestry for as far as my eyes could see. I didn't have a choice, forward was the only option.

Into the woodland I ran, but this time my speed increased... what the?! Before I knew it I was deep inside the forest. That's when I smelled something else ... others. Five? That's a pretty large group... should I even approach them? One of them was something else. Something familiar. I slowed down, trying to take smaller steps, but the ground was littered with leaves crunching beneath every single step. Without thinking I grabbed my necklace in my hand, almost like a reflex - something comforting in the action. I began to peer between the shrubs, I saw four men carrying something and a little bewildered. I didn't see the fifth ... but I knew the fifth was there somewhere.... the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on edge.

[TheUnforgiving]

The four men immediately dropped the body in favor of their clubs and axes.  It hit the ground with a dull whump and the crunching of dead leaves, setting off eight crows roosting in a nearby tree, shattering the pall of silence that had fallen across the forest.

Bruge was the first to jump in unpleasant surprise.  "Damn it all.  We ain't gettin' paid 'nuff fer this.  Le's get outta 'ere.  Grab a pint at Lorei's an' ferget this 'ole mess."

"And leave the Lady out here alone?" Gauwis argued, grabbing Bruge's wrist before the big man could take his first step.  "You must be mad.  Who knows wha' could happen to her out here by 'erself"

"Look, she's already gone, like a fookin' ghost.  Prob'ly scampered 'alfway back to town already while we's been flappin' our gums.  We gots no business bein' out 'ere.  Boss's just gonna tan our 'ides when we show up fer shift late."

Gyleon squared on the big dockhand.  "Yeah?  And what do ya think he'll do when you stagger back to your bunk, pissed outta yer skull, and his cousin ain't still with you?"

Bruge glowered down at Gyleon, who refused to back down or step out of his way.  After a moment, the wordless battle of machismo ended and Bruge shouldered his axe.  "Fine.  Bu' if we find 'er cowerin' in a bush or somefin', drinks're on you."  He shifted his voice to project to the group as a whole, even though his gaze remained firmly locked on Gyleon.  "So, how're we doin' it?"

"We spli' up, two n' two," Gauwis said, stepping between the posturing men. "Me 'n Bruge 'n  Gyleon 'n Helmar."

"Spli' up?  On a night like tonight?" Helmar protested.

Gauwis was quick to chastise him, though his own voice held a twinge of trepidation.  "Quit worryin', Helmar.  She can' 'ave gone far."

"Yeah, not in those boots," Gyleon agreed. 

Gauwis pointedly ignored the remark.  "Right, you lot circle west, we'll 'ead east, meet up near the start of the trail."

Even as the pairs started off into the fog, Helmar was already shaking his head.  "We shoul'n' be doin' this.  Not tonight.  Bad moon tonight."

"Ah, shut it," Gyleon snapped.  "If there was anything out here, your simpering would draw it down on us sure as a starving dog to meat.  'Sides, sooner we get on with it, sooner we can get back to the barracks."

Helmar didn't say anything but followed, shaking his head the whole while.

The fog didn't thin as Helmar and Gyleon worked slowly back towards town.  All it did was reshape the shadows and silhouettes of the trees and undergrowth, causing their outlines to shift and run together, even as they flexed in the wind.  The crunching of their boots was the only sound amidst the rustling of leaves.  The wind whipped into another gust, its whisper becoming a moan as it slipped between the branches of the trees.  Only this time, it was accompanied by a sharp crack from back the way they'd come.  Gyleon whirled, the haft of his axe gripped in both hands, ready to strike.  Once again, there was nothing there.  He let out an exasperated huff as he noticed, dimly, there was a branch hanging loose on a tree they had passed a few minutes earlier.  Other than that, there was no more obvious movement than the ever-twisting shadows. 

"Toldja we shouldn'ta done this tonight," Helmar muttered glumly.  "Can' hear anythin'."

"Then maybe you should stop breathing so hard; like I said, there's nothing out here," Gyleon retorted. 

"'Xactly wha' I mean," Helmar said.  "There's nothin' out here.  No noise, no animals, nothin'."

"It's night; all the animals are asleep.  For pity's sake, use your head for once."

Helmar continued without hesitation.  "Yeah, but there should a' least be bats or nightstalkers.  There's...nothin'."

Gyleon thought about that.  It was a disturbingly good point.  That branch snapping should have at least upset an owl or some other sleeping critter.  Instead, now that he was thinking about it, the whole forest seemed...dead.  The wind whispered and the leaves rustled, but not another sound could be heard.  Gyleon had to fight against straining his ear, the well-worn instinct to listen for something, anything when there was nothing to hear; he'd about taken a chunk out of Helmar's face when that branch had broken and the last thing he needed was to be convinced the idiot was right and they needed to head back to town.  He'd rather be dead than deal with the grueling interrogation they'd all face if they went back to town without a merchant lord's cousin. 

So, he straightened his back, mustered his resolve, and carefully gave the head of his axe an exploratory push through another bush.  Where it bumped into something that grunted in discomfort. 

[Celeste Adra]

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump...

What was that sound I was hearing?

I tried to stay quiet, now it was a little faster, and multiple, thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

I shook my head to try and make it stop.

What did those people do to me in that cave? Why can't I remember anything?!

My breathing quickened... I could hear steps approaching, but before I could gather myself enough to react to what was happening, something or someone had hit my head.

I slumped over...unconscious.

Drip... drip... drip...drip...
The light sounds of water falling woke me up. My eye pinged open wide and fast.

Wait... this wasn't the forest I was in...

I squinted my eyes as my forehead winkled. Where Am I, I whispered to myself. 

It appeared to be a cavern, the floors were smooth as marble, which seemed to have been mixed with crystals because it shimmered beautifully. As I looked around me the walls appeared to be oceanic views all the way around me. Which gave the cavern the feeling of being under the ocean. I could see fish, coral, and other creatures of the water swimming, playing and interacting. The sounds lightly echoed through the cavern, sounds of fun and joy. Which seemed so foreign to me, and yet strangely comforting.

If this wasn't strange enough... the water was staying in place, like there was some magical barrier... I walked over and placed my hand on the barrier, a ripple effect began and continued to go outwards into the water. A dolphin came over along with a couple of other fish. They could sense me, or hear me. I don't really know what was going on. I was just about to bring my other hand up to the surface.

Unknowingly, A misty figure approached me from behind and took my hand, "I have much to show you..."

Instantaneously, we were what seemed to be transported to yet another place that didn't make any sense. We were in a small shack, I couldn't tell anything other than whoever lived here were poor and didn't have much.

The door almost flew off the hinges, dust blew into the house "Elise hurry, we don't have much time. Just grab the essentials!"

"Roman, I am trying. Just give me a moment. There is so much going on..." Elise spoke as she grabbed a pack and began filling it with food and flasks of water.

"Elise, we don't have a moment those men will be here any minute! They know that we have her. I told you ..." Roman let out a grunt, "Come on just let's hurry."

I looked over at the misty figure which was fading in and out - it seemed as if these people couldn't see us. I wondered, Who are they?

The misty figure looked down at me and spoke into my mind, Celeste you don't recognize them?

I shook my head no.

Before I knew it I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, as if someone punched me, my body was pulled into a vortex and I opened my eyes again, back in the forest where I began. Except I.... I couldn't move my arms... I was tied up. I struggled, I was still in-between realities. Forest in parts of my vision and a shack house in others. Slowly the shack, Roman, and Elise began to fade away.

I began to panic, my heart rate was already high, but now it almost felt as if my heart was going to burst right out of my chest.

My captors were laughing as they kicked me in my stomach, all of the air was knocked out of my body.

Then that's when I felt it. Something began to surge through my body, an unknown energy, a force, one that was going to be reckoned with. This immense heat was running through my eyes, little did I know they had turned red with yellow in the center. I let out something that was between a scream and an amphibious cry. New teeth sharp were protruding.

My nails transformed into sharp claws, and this strength came over me. I was here, but it was like I was outside of my body, watching this happen to me. I tried to take a swing at the Ogres, but my body went right through them, like I was mist. I truly couldn't be any more confused than I was right in this moment.

Then it happened. I watched myself the strength that has mysteriously entered me I snapped the ropes like they were nothing but twine. I grabbed the two heads of the ogres and smashed them into each other. Skulls crushing and splattering blood all over me and the forest floor.

Before I could even react at the grotesque sequence of events I was witnessing, I was pulled back into my body and there I was .... Feeding on them. Licking blood, biting into the brains and loosing myself in that moment.

[TheUnforgiving]

It was over in a moment, a display of primal violence whose screams fractured the cloying stillness of the night, only to be cut short before the the first echo returned.  From atop a nearby tree, her step so light the branch did not so much as bend, Alera watched the moment unfold with intense interest.  Celeste had been catatonic when Gyleon had found her.  When he and Helmar had tried to pull her to her feet, Celeste's frenzy took them both by surprise.  In a heartbeat, Gyleon's intestines had spilled upon the ground, and in her starved strength Celeste bore Helmar to the ground, fangs tearing into the flesh of his throat.  A frisson ran up Alera's spine as Celeste partook of her grotesque feast, even as the smell of freshly spilt blood wafted up to her.  It had been some time since Alera had observed such an intimate display of savagery from afar and to her the vouyerism of it was deliciously indulgent. 

After savoring the scene for a while longer, Alera faded into mist once more, allowing the wind to carry her down to to forest floor where Celeste was still ravenously sucking dry every artery she could locate on Helmar's body.  The black mist swirled into form once more and Alera stood silent and unmoving over the three others, her black cloak catching on the wind.  The polished leather of her corset and bodysuit and her pale seeming to glow in the diffuse moonlight.  Her appearance was met with a weak gurgle from Gyleon, who yet lived despite his wounds and the blood pooling in his throat and lungs.  Alera ignored him and, with a bit of effort, ignored the thrumming her her body as his blood called to her.  She had fed earlier that evening (another of her distant cousins whose body now lay forgotten where the four laborers had dropped him when Alera had disappeared) and Gyleon's lowborn blood would have tasted positively vile and done little to sate her hunger, no matter how sweet it may have been to drain each of the four men dry as recompense for having to endure their uncouth company for that evening's errand.  Better to let the fledgling have it, Alera thought.  She did not want the girl feral for what she had planned.  So, she stood and waited for Celeste to drink her fill and feed the slavering beast inside her.

[Celeste Adra]

My vision was red, all I saw was red and then black. It was like coming out of a trance and as I opened my eyes it wasn't just red anymore, it was dripping red. The taste of iron was sweet in my mouth, the smell made it even sweeter. My vision began to come into focus as I was taken back by what I saw lay before me. I quickly jolted, clumsily scrambling backwards to give myself distance from the carnage that laid before me, my back met a tree.

What had I just done? I looked down at my hands, they too were covered in the sticky sweet redness. I brought my hand up to my mouth, nearly licking my fingers before I stopped myself and began crying into my hands, only covering my face even more in the blood of my fresh victims.

Body parts flayed laying in puddles of bloody mud. Clothes shredded and jugulars slashed. I realized I had just murdered innocent men, perhaps men who had wives and children, who had family who cared for them. Loved ones who would be waiting the rest of their lives looking down dusty roads hoping that this will be the day they will return. Growing old, fragile and alone. They would die waiting for the never-return of these lost souls.

The many lives I had just impacted with my chaotic actions, I didn't even understand what even happened. I had just been coming up to see what was going on, to see if they could help me figure out where I was. Or even if they knew who was in that caves back to the east... at least I think it was east. What forest was I even in?

So much confusion with overwhelming sense of sadness, I cried more. For the loss of their lives and for the loss of my own. Who was I? What happened to me? Why was I feasting on these men... enjoying their blood. Everything was blank. I tried so hard to remember what happened before I woke up in the cave. I couldn't even tell how long ago that was anymore.

But then something else began to come over me. A strange sense of satisfaction, even slightly sedated. My vision began to blur yet again and before I knew it my body slumped over, the adrenaline had drained me dry as I had drained the men before me. As my head fell it bounced off of a rock, knocking me out cold.

[TheUnforgiving]

Alera made a disgusted sound as Celeste collapsed to the forest floor.  The childe had such promise and yet so little dignity as to strike her head on a rock before finishing her kill.  Alera stared down at the three bodies beneath her and spat a single word: "Pathetic."  Gyleon twitched again, as if startled by the noise, and Alera deigned pay him some of her attention.  She was surprised he still clung to life after most men would have slipped their mortal coil.  A quick look informed, however, that was barely the case.  The life in his eyes had faded and he otherwise offered no recognition of the world he was leaving.  Just shallow breaths and the occasional spasm of a mind shutting down.  Alera had half a mind to stamp him out like the dying insect he was.  But he wasn't worth that much effort. 

Instead, she reached down, seized Celeste by the hair, and hauled the girl roughly to her feet.  She dangled limply from Alera's grip like a puppet, and given the height difference between them, her toes barely scraped the leaves on the ground as Alera stalked away from the tree under which Celeste had collapsed.  Her stride was precise but impatient, for her patiences with the childe had run out.  It had been test enough to suffer the vapid company of her dear cousin and his endless talk of grain, the most dreay of trades, while she'd waited out the daylight.  To have come all the way to Ketra and gone to such effort only for her prize to faint like a frightened goat was an irredeemable waste of immortality.  So much effort only to find out how much more would be required for the childe to be useful.  With an exasperated gesture, Alera summoned forth the dark mist once again and wrapped it around herself and Celeste, dematerializing their forms and allowing them to take flight into the midnight sky and streak south towards the Thunderblack Mountains.

The mist coalesced directly above the bloodsoaked crest sunk into the stone floor just beyond the threshold of Apocrypha's great entry doors.  Alera drifted ceremoniously down the last few centimeters as she retook human form, her stilleto boots clicking lightly on the two-meter glass panel that covered the crest and enabled entrants to the castle to walk over it.  The silent soldiers on watch around the entry hall snapped to attention at once, as if they had anticipated her arrival.  Though Alera could not see their faces through the fiersome helmets of their uniform, they all still averted their eyes that they might not meet her gaze only to have her find something she decided displeased her.  Or, perhaps, pleased her altogether too much.  Alera's senechal also stood ready, the toes of his leather shoes precisely at the edge of the crest, gloved hands clapsed over his navel, awaiting her whim.  Alera did not move to look at any of those assembled, or even so much as seem register their presence until she dropped Celeste's unconscious body like an unwanted sack and spoke.

"Have it cleaned up and given prepared chambers.  None are to visit.  I will see to it personally."

The senechal nodded his compliance, but Alera was already walking away as she made known her will.  Personally indeed, since entrusting Celeste to even a devotee she thought competent had still required her direct involvement in the end.  Still, Celeste would not wake for some time, and unlike other immortals, Alera was not wont to simply sit upon her throne and await the unfolding of events.  She walked through the castle as its mistress and owner would, seeing everything but acknowledging nothing, placing her expectations upon those slaves and soldiers she passed. 

And what slaves their were.  The vast multitudes of mortalkind, all represented in some form or another.  Specimens of all races and peoples served at Alera's command, for her tastes, broadly speaking, did little to discriminate.  She simply desired the finest specimens: the most handsome, beautiful, muscular, svelte, exotic, intelligent, charming, brash, demure. A seemingly endless supply of mortal flesh for even the most discerning of desires bustled about the gothic stone corridors of the castle, seeing to all its needs and those of its inhabitants.  They all bowed in reverence and lowered their eyes as Alera made her way to the east wing.  She could have simply returned to mist and glided unnoticed through the castle's shadowy rafters and labyrinth of secret passages, she had no intention of stewing in her frustration in the quiet solitude of her chambers.  No, the frustrations of the day would wash away much more pleasantly in the warmth of another.  And while an entire section of the east wing had been given over to facilities for perusing such "anothers", Alera would occasionally find one that suited her fancy amongst the plebians in the halls.  She would never know if she did not look. 

As she passed the apothecarium, her eye caught a dark-skinned elf who was busy refilling the censers used to mask the noxious fumes from the experiments Alera's alchemists were conducting.  She stopped, suddenly, but coolly and precisely, and turned to examine the slave, from their long shining black hair to the navel-deep neckline of their purple tunic.  The slave froze in place, pinned on the spot by her glowing stare, and waited, barely breathing.  The long match in their fingers, still lit, burned slowly downward, but they were too transfixed to notice.

"You," Alera said at last. "Make yourself ready and go to my chambers.  I would have you for dinner."

The slave did not register her words for a moment, then their eyes went wide as if they had been blessed personally by a deity from on high.  For in the slave's mind, that is what Alera was.  Unfortunately for them, like all the others, in their blind ignorance, they could not grasp the truth of her words and intentions.