Growing Pains

Aurei has a heated discussion with her aunt about the pains of being a Drow woman.

50.

Growing Pains

 

While Eleazar was meeting with the trio at the Ducal Keep, Aurei had hurriedly changed into her serving wench dress and rushed downstairs to begin baking so that the Ducal guards as well as the Royal couple, could have breakfast.

                          

She’d rushed into the dark kitchen and scooped up a huge armful of supplies that she was taking over to the preparation area to begin baking before she saw the red eyes glowing in the dark.   With a shout, she dropped her arm load onto the table, startled for an instant before she realized it was her Aunt Zeatt sitting at the table in the dark.

“Aunt Zeatt, my word you nearly scared me to death!   What in Yesh’s name are you doing down here at this hour sitting in the dark?”

“Waiting for you.”  Zeatt answered and from the look on her face, Aurei immediately knew that - somehow- her aunt had found out about her escapades the night before.  

“What have you heard?” She asked her somewhat annoyed, as she did not have time for any long explanations.

“It’s not what I’ve heard, but what I’ve seen.”   Zeatt recounted to her their search for her the previous night and their encounter with a vampire, then finding her asleep in Eleazar’s arms.

“The Queen saw that too?”   Aurei asked, sick at heart.

“Yes.   Do you see how that appears?”

“Yes, but things are not always as they appear, Aunt Zeatt.”

“Do tell.”

“Do you really think this is the time and place for this conversation?   We had a Vampire nearly attack you and the Queen last night in this very Inn, and we have an important meeting with Sir Alvis very soon.   Add to that, I’ve got to do all the baking this morning because Alis has not made it back yet.   Do we need to discuss this now?”

“I would think you’d like to tell me about it now rather than feel awkward later when you are around the Queen and King.”

“The King?   Surely she didn’t tell him!”

“They share everything through that magic seeing device they wear.”

Aurei groaned, “Yesh, have mercy!   Who else?”

“Aurei, just be honest with me; did you take Sir Eleazar down to the bath house and then up to your room to… sin?”

“I don’t see how it is any of your damn business!”   She snapped; her words surprising even her with their anger.

“Aurei!”

“Well, it’s not!   You have no idea what I’ve been going through, do you?”

“Not if you don’t tell me, I don’t!”

“Well, when you were filling me in on all the joys of being a Drow, you seemed to fail to mention a little thing called Ssinssrigg-Chath!”

Zeatt looked totally shocked, “What?!”

“Ssinssrigg-Chath!   Surely you’ve heard of it?   When were you going to fill me in on this?”

“Ssinssrigg-Chath?  Surely not!”

“Surely so!”  Aurei said hatefully, “How in the world could I have known about that without you telling me about it?   Nobody here knows about Dark Elves!   If it weren’t for Eleazar, I still wouldn’t know about it!”   She angrily started preparing biscuits, taking her frustration out on the dough as she rolled it.

“Aurei, I had no idea you would be going through that!”

“Well why not?!” She snapped, her red eyes glowing, “You went through it, didn’t you?!”

“Heavens, no!”  

“What?”   Her Aunt’s denial deflated her anger.

“Aurei, none of my sisters, not your mother, not even MY mother experienced Ssinssrigg-Chath!”

“None of them?   Well then why in the h- …why in the world, am I going through this?!”  She began crying, still beating the dough ruthlessly.

Zeatt got to her feet and went to her niece, who at first pulled away from her in her emotional state, but then seemed to lose her rage and burst down like a scared child, sobbing on Zeatt’s shoulder.

“It’s alright, child, calm down.”   Zeatt soothed her, maneuvering her into a chair.  

“I can’t sit down, Aunt Zeatt, they’ll be wanting breakfast-“

“Shh!   Sit down and calm down; I’ll help you get breakfast for them... if you’ll show me how to make biscuits.”

She looked up surprised, “You don’t know how?   But what about your children?”

Zeatt shrugged, “I had servants - part of the perks of being an Archbishop.   But don’t worry about that now, I’m a quick learner.   Tell me about what happened to you last night.   I’m not here to judge you; I just need to know the symptoms.”

Aurei told her the whole sordid tale, shamed, but needing her experience, if just as a mother and an older Drow woman, to give her some comfort. 

“-then we fell asleep.   Eleazar didn’t do anything; he was a perfect gentleman, Aunt Zeatt.  But while we slept, we shared a dream.”

“Shared a dream?”

“We were both in the same dream!   It was wonderful, it was as if we were children in this beautiful forest and we spent the whole time we were asleep exploring it.  We didn’t even have to speak, we shared thoughts.  When we awoke it was like I… knew him completely.”

“That doesn’t sound like any incidence of Ssinssrigg-Chath that I’ve ever heard of, Aurei.   I’m not sure what that is.   But Ssinssrigg-Chath is a horrid thing that thankfully, only a few Drow women go through.  Perhaps more go through it then what I know, but many hide the experience, due to the shame that often comes upon a Noble Family.   There was one daughter of a Noble House when I was a girl, who, upon going through the time, fled from her family’s estate, leaving the priestesshood of the Spider Queen, to travel to a neighboring Drow city.   She posed as a common Drow and went to work in a brothel to satisfy her lust.   When her family found her, they had great trouble bringing her home, but once she returned she began sneaking out into the darkest parts of the city and engaging in all sorts of vulgar encounters.   A year later they found her naked and dead in an alleyway, cut in hundreds of pieces.   No-one knows what happened.”

“You said ‘A year later’; please tell me it doesn’t last that long!”

“It can, Aurei, sometimes even longer.   It marks the beginning of womanhood.”

“Then why didn’t any of your family go through it?   Why don’t all Drow girls go through it?”

“I don’t know, child.   My mother and I were both pregnant by the time we reached 80, which is the average time for it to occur, so that may have kept either one of us from going through it.   As for your mother and my sisters, I don’t know; I’d say only about one in four Drow women experience it.”

“Lucky me.   I’m sorry, Aunt Zeatt, for cursing at you.”

“I understand, child.    Maybe not exactly, but I understand.”

“Well, how is your addiction battle going?”

“Oh!   I was going to tell you about that!”   Zeatt excitedly told her about the Faesidhe leaf tea that Eioldth had given to her.

“It seems to work, too.   After finding you last night, I came down here and brewed up some of the tea.   Three kettles worth, in fact.   Thank Yesh the Queen has plenty of leaves from the tree.   I sat in the dark all night drinking that tea, and the urges were greatly subdued.   Though after drinking that much tea, I visited the privy so often I probably wore a path in the floor.”

Aurei laughed with a sniffle, “I am so glad that it works.   But whatever will I do, Aunt Zeatt?   I don’t think I can face the King and Queen now.   Eleazar said he was going to speak to them and resign his position and title.”

“Resign?   Why?”

“For me.” She smiled sadly, “He doesn’t want to seem to be a hypocrite.   He suspects he’ll have his Paladin abilities taken from him by Yesh for his involvement with me last night, though he really didn’t do anything other than kiss me.”

“Well, I don’t think Yesh is against kissing, Aurei.”

“Well, that’s good, but Aunt Zeatt, I must be honest with you; I plan on staying with Eleazar from now on.   At night.”

“Sleeping?” 

“Dreaming together.   Eleazar told me that if Ssinssrigg-Chath rears up and takes over again, he’s going to dump me out in the snow.”

“Well, that sounds good, but I suspect he won’t be able to resist for long, child.   Drow men are not the strongest in that area.”

“Ah, but he is, because he’s only half-Drow and half-Faesidhe.”  Her eyes began glowing hot red and she squirmed slightly in her seat, “He’s strong in a lot of ways.   …And really muscular.  Oh no…”

“Relax, child, stay calm, it will pass in a moment.   Focus on your work; show me how to roll dough.”

“I can’t believe you don’t know how to do that!”

“We lived in a Manor house in Aeropolis - all the highest level clerics did.   I only learned how to brew tea last night!”

“Oh now you’re pulling my leg!”

“I’m serious, Aurei, I wouldn’t make a very good tavern wench… or housewife, I’d say.”

Aurei followed Zeatt’s advice and decided to focus on getting her work done, as she taught her Aunt the joys of baking.   After several rounds of biscuits went into the enchanted ovens, and Zeatt had given her a drink of the Faesidhe Leaf Tea, Aurei felt the intense feelings from the Ssinssrigg-Chath begin to subside. She wondered though how long she’d experience it, and how long it would be before Eleazar gave in to her.