a surprising evening

Today was the day of the great ball in House Navere. It was everything I had expected and much more than I feared. I began my day by greeting the drow troops I had rescued. They had healed up well and were ready to return home. I outfited them in the finest of the drow armor I'd taken in battle and then we marched to the castle to get Autumn. After that it was a simple matter of a portal and we were at House Navere.

Valkryn and Gia proved to be excellent hosts once I had picked them out among the crowd. I soon noticed others as well. Grim and Amara were there and so was Alais, who I immediately went over to. I met another friend of her's, an Oregen Fielddancer, and we hgung out until the dancing began.

Ali tried to hold us both back since the dance was more a ritual than a normal dance. It was very like an elven revel but turned into something more drow. I was compelled to join in but Oregen took Alais for a round and so I sat it out, all be it with some effort.

A strange woman named Ira appeared and began talking to me since we were the only ones outside the swirling circle of dancers, already begining to sweat and to move more swiftly than was normal due to the music and the magic being cast.

Fianlly she was pulled in by Valas, the prince of House Navere, and I eventually got caught up in it was well though I managed to pull myself out when I saw two very familiar faces. Siona ahd appeared and I rushed over to hug her. She seemed distant though and very troubled, as well as terribly weak. I decided to stay near her for the rest of the night.

R was there too and I intoduced her to Siona once more. I had almost expected a fight because Siona had always kind of looked up to and even flirted with R's husband Raven who we were to attack soon. But they actually got along really well. R couldnt stay long and was soon gone back to the church to let me tend to Siona.

And that proved to be quite a job. The dancing broke up and Alais, Siona and I formed a little group off to the sides while Valkryn led a game of sling the fae, which is similiar to the surface game of spin the bottle except evil.

I soon recognized Valas and managed to get him to come over to us on one pretense or another, mainly by telling him what I knew of an event that occured in teh inn against his mother. He seems a good fellow and very agreeable. I can see he absorbed some of Alais' spirit.

This was of course the main reason I'd wanted to talk to him. Alais and he hadnt been allowed to converse much since his return and so I gave him reason to come over to her and before long they had walked away to chat leaving Siona and I alone.

Siona's ex boyfriend, Angelus, came in and that was a bit of a surprise. Even as tightly as I held Siona she still threw a weak attack at him but I managed to keep mostly between them.

Angelus finally made Siona tell him whetyher or not she still loved him and the answer was no. There was a tension in the air for so long and finally he simply left and I ended up holding Siona on my lap and doing everything I could to console her. She had often been the one to do such for me and so I considered it something I owed to her to make her feel better.

Bt the time I had managed to calm her down something new happened. Ira, the woman I'd spoken with earlier,. was creeping Si out. No matter how I tried to get her mind off of it she was still worried. The woman started to move up towards Gia and I only got more nervous. Gia has at least one enemy that seems to want her dead as I discovered the poison incident at the inn had been against her. And she also destroyed the house that had taken Valas so if any of them had survived...

Needless to say I was on my guard while I tried to hold Siona and calm her down. She seems so alone now, something she dosn't deal well with, and I'm determined to be there for her this time to make sure she dosnt lash out again, like she did to Ira...
Ira turned out to be Siona's daughter that she'd sold off, one of two or three children Siona had with Valkryn and then gave to a demon to get back at him. But Ira wasn't at the ball to take vengeance on her mother. She was simply asking for Valkryn's acceptance as her fatrher. I felt sorry for him as I watched him struggle with the truth that he had never dreamed of. He'd been told they were all dead.

Alais too was affected by it all and soon ran off and vomited. Siona was too sick to remain consiopus so I put her to bed and then ran off after Alais. I wanted to explain the thing to the poor Matron who had no idea why any of this was going on but I needed to try to help Alais through her sickness as well so I followed.

I held back her hair and patted her back and all those things a good friend would do until finally she started to cry. That was about the end of my reserves of will power. I had struggled all night to keep Siona in a decent state, to let my friends enjoy the Matron's wonderful event, and to keep the peace, and now it was all shattered.

And I knew that Ira wouldnt have been given up if I had been there to stop Siona, as I should have known what she was like and what she was capable of. I had managed to hide my guilt and frustration so far but seeing Alais crying and knowing I couldnt begin to fix her, I simply did the onl thing I could to help and joined her with my own tears, sitting beside her and sobbing along.

We must have looked a terribly silly pair and soon attracted Ira's attention after she'd finished with Valkryn, her father. She was much more composed and polite than I would have epxected. Kirna went through something not nearly as awful and she's almost completely insane.

Ira managed to console Ali, who was feeling bad because she was apparently bonded to Amy, Ira's godmother, and thus had played a part in the matter as well, though I'm not sure how. For my part I tried to tell the girl what I felt and I begged her not to hate Siona, and she said that she dosn't which is quite a surprise.

Eventually Valkryn and Gia reappeared and Thaydin turned up to make Alais feel better. Ira took off for a guest room in the house and with Ali taken care of I was finally able to pass out, the first natural sleep I've enjoyed since escaping Bane. If you can call falling asleep i nthe middle of a drow courtyard due to emotional and physical exhaustion natural.