Chapter Text
Her tenth birthday had finally arrived; today was the day she will finally meet Mother; The Hero, The Slayer of dragons. Ariel felt excitement bubbling through her, however besides her excitement she also felt fear and anxiety. What if Mother did think her not good enough? Not trained enough? Not worthy enough to be acknowledged as her daughter? Even worse; found her a freak, just like Syphile always told her to be?
Ariel swallowed with some difficulty while following her caretaker through the hallways, towards the throne room. Her scalp hurt and itched, and Ariel could feel a headache coming; Syphile had pulled her hair yet again, too tightly up into a ponytail. The young drowloath despised this particular hairstyle; it made her look too similar as her caretaker, especially after Syphile forced Ariel to wear a cloak, one that looked like a mini version of Syphile's. She'd already tried to pull out her hair-tie once. That resulted a quiet of a scolding and nearly a slap on the back of her head, but at the last moment, Syphile decided just to tie up the hair again. She'd made sure it was fastened extra tight, ensuring the hair tugged painfully at its roots. Ariel couldn't wait to pull that Sharess-damned hair-tie loose again.
When Syphile and her charge arrived at the end of the grey-stoned hallway, the heavy-set doors were pulled open by Quain'tana's Wolf-guards, showing the grand throne-room. In the back of the room, there was a small group of discussing drowloath. Nearing the small group, Ariel could discern about four short drows; well short compared to the two fully red-armed drow-females, to whom they were slightly bowing to. One of the females stood at least 2 heads taller than the shorter ones, had orange-coloured hair peeking out of her helmet and, Ariel noticed with a start, three markings on both of her cheeks. The marked female looked interested at the wares that was presented before her. Contrary the other, an even taller female, glanced disapproving over the wares, scoffed at them even. This female had red streaks in her white-grey hair, wore a dark-metalled circlet with a few dark-red gems and stood proud with her head up high. There was no doubt: it was Quain'tana... her Mother.
The excitement Ariel just had felt a few moments ago vanished, instead there was only fear and anxiety. While slinking behind Syphile, Ariel eyed around her in search of her older brother. To her disappointment, Kel'noz was nowhere to be seen. Her brother always made her feel better about anything, always lifted up her spirit. For a couple of seconds, she wondered why her brother wasn't there for her presentation and review. Surely, he would have wanted to be present for Mother's judgement of his youngest sister?
“Ahem, my Ill'haress.” Syphile spoke in an insecure voice
The chattering immediately stopped and all of the drow stared at the flinching pair. Syphile stood in absolute stillness, like a prey not daring to move in fear of being detected and Ariel cringing further behind her caretaker. Quain'tana began to scowl at the sight in front of her.
“What is it, Syphile?”
“Ill'haress Quain'tana, I hope you are doing well...”
“To the point, Syphile!”, commanded The Mercenary Queen with a great dose of impatience.
“Ah, yes...”, after clearing her throat, Syphile continued: “It's your daughter's tenth birthday. Ariel is ready for your review and decision regarding her fate, -”. Syphile reached out behind her, grabbing Ariel near her neck in a vice-like grip and pushed the young girl in front of her. “And my future. If you could spare some of your precious time.” Syphile tried to smile sweetly, but it came across as fearful.
Stern faced and raising her hand, Quain'tana ordered: “You are dismissed. Return to your duties, Koil'dorath”, and eyes fixed at the four in front of her added, “We'll talk later, once this business is over.”
With a nonchalant “Okay” from Koil'dorath and more reverent “As you wish, Ill'haress Quain'tana” from the merchants, they left the throne-room. The doors closed with a final thud, shutting in the two young agitated drows with the Ill'haress.
Syphile took a few steps backwards, giving Quain'tana more room to circle around her potential daughter. Ariel felt like she was some kind of small tik'tikki, while her Mother was a larger-than-life figure. The young child felt the inspecting gaze upon her, scrutinising every little detail about her. Again, Ariel wished her brother was here with her, at least she would have felt a smidgen of self-confidence. At the moment, she didn't even dare to glance up at her Mother.
After what would have felt like cycles to Ariel, during the time she'd tried to contain her fidgeting, Quain'tana finished her inspection; in a gruff tone she enquired:
“Is she Normal?”
“Yes, my Ill'haress! She is!”, Syphile hurried to reply. Ariel barely succeeded not to stare in astonishment at her caretaker; for years Syphile sneered and yelled at her how she was an abnormal freak, a monstrous child, and how she had ruined lives. Even went so far as to have done it in presence of an audience (slaves and servants mostly, nevertheless, it made Ariel feel extremely humiliated). Now, for the first time in her life, she heard her 'sister' claim to somebody that she was normal.
“Lies”, a small voice whispered in her head, “She's telling lies... She doesn't want to tell Mother how much of a freak you are...”. All of sudden, Ariel felt rage, a boiling hot resentment towards Syphile, nearly just as strong when she had cradled the lifeless but still warm body of Fuzzy. In her anger, she'd nearly missed Quain'tana's question.
“Child, what is your most desired goal? The one you would dedicate your life to achieve? Something worth risking your life many times?”
During the questioning, Quain'tana calmly strolled towards her throne and then stood in front of it, looking at it while waiting for Ariel's answer.
After she stared a few seconds in shock at her mother's back, the young drow tried to think hard about how she should answer it. Her dream had always been to meet Mother and be recognised as her daughter. Then again, she also desperately wanted to see the world outside the fortress, away from her colourless cell of a room. Discovering new lands, probably with some fierce and trusty comrades, just as Quain'tana had done before her. At the thought of fierce and trusty comrades, in an instant her mind provided the image of a dead and bloodied Fuzzy lying in her arms. She remembered the snarling and agonising sounds Fuzzy made while dangling from his tail in Syphile's fist and the loud crack when Syphile smashed the kitty's head against the wall. The resentment for her 'sister' returned tenfold, even transforming into full-blown hate. Unconsciously she reached for her hair tie, (I Hate her, she had killed him), grasped it (I HATE her) and pulled her hair loose (I know; I-I want, I want to...).
“I WANT TO KILL SYPHILE!”
The moment the words left her mouth, Ariel realised what she'd actually said. Of all the things, why had she said, no screamed it out?
Meanwhile, Ariel's object of hatred just stood there, with her mouth wide open, looking in bewilderment of the sheer absurdness of the situation.
Quain'tana abruptly turned around and pointed at Syphile commanding in a loud, clear voice:
“Then do it, she's right there!”
Syphile jumped in fear at the command, large eyes fixed at the giant female.
“Accomplish your heart's desire!”
Feeling her rage rapidly being replaced by anxiety, Ariel stared at the Ill'haress. She even felt herself beginning to tremble. I can't do it, I can't do this...She took a quick glance at the very nervous looking Syphile, who was nearly twice her height. I can never defeat her.
“I... I can't! I'm too small! I'm just a child!”; beseeched Ariel.
While Syphile sighed relieved, Quain'tana's expression became truly dark and disapproving. Towering over Ariel, her steel-hard eyes raked over the trembling girl and she spoke in a stern manner: “Know this child, if you cannot face enemies stronger than you. If you do not even try to defy what fate has given you, you are not worthy to bear my name.”
At this statement, Ariel began to shake even more. Every sentence that the Ill’haress uttered felt like a blow to her fragile self-worth.
“The enemies you will face in life will often be stronger than you, and they will not stop just because you are small. They will have allies, ready to outnumber and kill you. Those enemies will not have any mercy for you, and NOR SHALL I!”
After the last sentence, Ariel couldn't do anything but stare blankly at the ground. Numb and trembling, Ariel found it very hard to even focus what was happening at the moment. The only thing that ran through her mind were the words of her Mother. The words that were drenched with pure displeasure and anger; aside from Syphile, Quain'tana was the first other person who had told Ariel what a failure she has become. While Ariel tried to process everything, she heard Quain'tana in the background, scolding and belittling her caretaker in an extreme harsh manner. In a normal situation, it would have filled the young girl with glee to hear any tongue lashing towards Syphile, but now, it felt so – meaningless.
With a start, Ariel awoke from her daze, just in time to hear her Mother's declaration: “As for the child, she is not recognised as my daughter. Someone else will be assigned as her tutor and that person will train her to be a proper Sarghress.”
At that precise moment, all of Ariel's hopes and dreams shattered into a thousand pieces. Her Mother rejected her, thought her unfit as her daughter, cast away just like Mel'arnach; the mad traitor sister, who dwelled in the underground caverns and fed upon the unsuspecting drow.
No more, I won't go back to that cell. I don't want another Syphile! Tears formed in her eyes, threating to spill out and she pressed her eyes close in an attempt to hide them.
“Child, go to the guard. Tell him to bring the Lady from the Tower.” Quain'tana ordered her sharply. “As for you Syphile, we'll talk while she is gone.”
Wordlessly, numb inside, Ariel obeyed.