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[Shri'hrae]

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-Many, many, many years ago-

High pitched screeches echoed off the cavern walls. Somewhere nearby the lava lizard making the sound was either writhing in agony or writhing in lust. Those were the only possible explanations for the hideous noise that the two young drow had heard every day for the past week.

“Why doesn’t it just get it over already?” Thirteen year old Shri-hrae tossed the question out in a half whisper half sigh. If thirteen year old Vryn had had the answer he would have given it to her. Patience, he had come to realize, was not one of the Princesses strong suits.

Clad in neck to toe suits of leather the pair had been wandering the southwest side of the caverns near the manor house all morning. Currently three quarters of the way up the side of one of the jagged walls they were matching foothold for foothold. Shri would reach a hand up and as she moved her foot in unison, Vryn would take the spot with one of his hands. Every few feet they would adjust and shimmy sideways for a better position on the rock face. 132 feet off the ground nestled deeply within the cavern and straight up the solid surface currently cutting into their hands was a cave.

2 hours later Shri gripped the smooth surface of the cave floor and pulled herself up off the side and into it. Vryn followed suit. Feeling smug and superior to the abyss and its many facets Shri stood just beyond the mouth of the cave. Above them bits and pieces broke off and crumbled to the ground below shaking dust and smaller pieces of rock raining down on them.

A look of triumph on her face, she pushed an errant strand of dust covered white hair out of her eyes and grinned at Vryn. He had just enough time to bite out the words, “Shri, DON’T,” before she did the one thing she shouldn’t have.

At the top of her lungs she yelled, “WE WIN!” Her superior look was taken almost instantly by the rumbling beneath their feet. It was the first time Shri would hear her Poppet cuss. What had been smaller pieces of rock and dust falling had suddenly become boulders and sheets of dirt. A split second later Shri felt herself shoved toward the back of the cave by the force of Vryn’s weight as they barely missed the avalanche of solid surface cascading down on them.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Shri'hrae]

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She shook off the dizziness as best she could. Blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust she scanned the now thoroughly enclosed room. It wasn’t the darkness that had her eyes off keel, but the enormous amount of rock and dust still lingering dangerously in the air as if every molecule were no longer vapor but solid mass to breathe in.

The ice cold pin pricks of fear grated against her spine. Poppet. Where was Poppet? The atmosphere pressed down on her accentuating the panic. Pushing herself up to a kneeling position she called out into the cave. “Poppet?” When the first beckon failed the second raised quickly in both tone and force. “POPPET, ANSWER ME!!!”

The seconds dragged slowly as if time itself were laughing at her. Obviously this was punishment for boasting. And the longer it took for Poppet to respond, the worse the punishment. Somewhere within her she knew he was at least alive. The cord of silver she had always imagined radiating between them since their first meeting still strung itself tightly to her soul.

“POPPET? DAMMIT VRYN!” If she had thought about the fact that screaming got them into this mess she might not have yelled. But she wasn’t thinking, not anymore. Terror had gripped her heart. And it was that terror that elicited a small guttural moan from less than 2 feet away from her. Throwing down her hands onto the floor she crawled to the source of the sound.

Crumpled with one foot twisted almost all the way around and a knee bent haphazardly on the granite slab was the stick thin figure of Vryn. His normally well groomed mop of White hair was matted with blood and dust and his red eyes, typically so full of curiosity seemed dim and waning. The very real concept of cause and effect settled on Shri. She was the cause. Poppet’s pain was the effect.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Vryn Vhae'Naliek]

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Light was dangerous here.

It attracted unwanted attentions.

It threw shadows were there should be none.

It gave you away.

The most poisonous mushrooms, the most poisonous lichen were always the most accesible, and the most luminous.

Vryn tried to move, tried to see, tried to stand.

There was pain, and a dizzying nausea. A warmth he knew was wrong.

His head swam, and refused to focus, and the world burst with flashes of light.

Light was dangerous here.

[Shri'hrae]

---

*Flash Forward to Present Day*

"Dismount, Take off the robe." Vryn's voice was cold and slightly detached as he gave commands to a now 100 year-old Shri'hrae. She paused a moment debating how she was going to make him pay for the orders later. Maybe a basket of ice when he sleeps she thought. Sighing heavily she obliged him. Putting one finger into the air he motioned for her to turn.

"Am I a trained monkey now?" She bit in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Do you want to do this or not?" He was getting exasperated with her, she could tell.

"It's a must." And with that comment she turned round with her arms outstretched. His eyes examined her from head to toe slowly. Once she had come to a complete stop he moved to her and requested to turn away from him. Nimble fingers moved deftly across the back of her armor. She felt a tug and a tightening around her ribs as he pulled it together more securely. Making sure all was as it needed to be, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Shri'hrae felt it linger momentraily before his thoughts broke off and he abruptly moved it. She stifled a grin as she turned back around. With a nod of approval he gave her the choice of location.

"Ilshenar, Honor shrine."

Seconds later they were both remounted, and both through the gate and into the grass. Past the swamp and into the caves they went. Overseer's and Enslaved Gargoyles seemed to be a dime a dozen. Charging ahead Shri pulled back her staff and smacked at them before calling upon her spells.

"Why don't you let me be bait and you deal the damage from farther back." Vryn's voice could be heard above the commotion. He was right of course. This was cemented in stone twenty minutes later when once again she charged in only this time into a pit of freshly spawned Arch Demon's and Bog Things.

"Can you hide?" She nodded in answer to his question and took off to do just that. Thrusting and parrying at a speed that was almost a blur to her, Vryn kept the pack at bay waiting for her to comply. This was not the first time he had told her what to do. The 100 year-old version of Poppet faded into the background, having hidden himself, as memories of a dusty cave and a blood covered floor raced through her mind.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Vryn Vhae'Naliek]

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The pain and blood pulled at Vryn mercilessly.

Shri'hrae paced the confines of the cave with a frenetic energy; alternating between yelling, cursing, checking on Vryn, and striking the bare,cold rock with her hands until they bled with a rawness best described in heat rather than color. Her eyes glowing with a powerless, impotent anger. Her voice filling the small, deadly space completely.

Fighting the dizzying pain, and nausea, Vryn grasped out for her, trying desperately to snag hold of something as she stalked past, shouting at the deaf and dumb stone which entombed them both. The feral foundling in him stepping forward in his thoughts. Reminding him that to lose one's head in the Great Dark was to embrace a lonely death.

Here was not the place for fine clothes, and spoiled princesses entertaining fleeting whims.

"Poppet...Oh! Poppet..."

How the name grated on him here!

For the first time since Shri'hrae had found him, had named him, the silver tether that had bound them together, soul to soul, was slowly strangling him.

"Waele elg'caress!," he hissed loudly through gritted teeth, and using up a great deal of his waning strength, "Vrine' winith ul mubar lo' doer. Ghil."

[Shri'hrae]

---

Her head snapped around and all sound ceased coming from her mouth. Anger strangled her vocal chords. He had never dared speak to her in that tone and he had certainly never crossed the line with those words before. Her head told her this was unacceptable.

"Dos orn naut kl'ae nindyn wiles." She bit it out between clenched teeth. Her violet eyes with their red flecks flashed. The audacity ripplied through her as if a stone had fallen from the walls into her very core. Maybe if she hadn't been so worked up the deeper emotions behind his words would have sunken in quicker. Instead they slowly dawned as if creeping up from her soul. In that instant of recognition she knew she needed to listen more and talk less. A bitter seed to swallow she shoved at her anger, pushing it to the side. There would be time for anger later. There was no such luxury right now. "Vel'bol xun dos ssinssrin uns'aa ulu xun," she said calmly.

Crossing the cavern she leaned down next to him. The stench of freely flowing blood seared her nose. This was not like the animals she and Grandpa often hunted together. This was Drow blood, Poppet's blood, and it was exiting his body at a faster rate than either of them wanted to see. She wanted to close her eyes, to make the smell and the faint image of a crumbled and broken Poppet disappear.

That wasn't going to happen though. And she knew it. This was very real. This was not something either of them was going to wake up from anytime soon.

“We can't move these rocks with our hands Shri, they're too heavy. So we're going to have to do it some other way. “ His voice was hard but clear, much clearer than most of his body was to her eyes. The stone and dust lingered in the air like the smoke of an enclosed fire. It ripped at their lungs, stung their eyes, and made visibility almost impossible.

“If we can't dig out, how do you expect us to fix this?”

The Us in her sentence sent a shockwave through him. His nerves already frail weren't going to let her out of this one. “Us! Us? This wasn't an US fault Shri'hrae. This was your fault. And you're going to help me fix it. Now grow up and listen to me!"
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Shri'hrae]

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By Vhaeraun's Will, he was infuriating. She knelt down next to him in silence. Her lungs burned now as equally as her eyes did. She could hear his breathing getting more and more labored. That alone was probably the sole reason she hadn't tried to reach out and strangle him. Silently she vowed to herself, if they somehow made it out of here alive, she would kill him then just to bring him back and do it again for scaring her this way.

His eyes closed for the moment, she "Felt" more than "heard" him try to steady his voice. "You remember levitation lessons? How you started with small things, like your toys?"

Shri'hrae spread out her hands on her knees and tilted her head to the side in thought. "Of course I do."

"Those...... rocks....aren't .... any... different..." Each word seemed to take an eternity now to pass through Vryn's lips. With each bout of silence, the panic in Shri'hrae only seemed to raise another notch. "If.... you... can..... move....the.... rocks...."

"Then we can get out of here." She finished his sentence. He had just enough time to shake his head in confirmation before the air went still as he slipped helplessly into unconsciousness. The silver cord, strung so tightly between them seemed to vibrate violently and subside into stillness. Her heart gave a cry as half of it's very soul sat just on the edge of nothingness.

"POPPET!!!!" "POPPET!!!" She screamed until she was hoarse. For now, there would be no answer.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Shri'hrae]

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Present Day

He'd thrown his wall up. “You aren't going to fix this by looking for a hug Shri.” His words were heated with ice beneath them.

Truth be told she would more likely come close to hitting him right now if she thought she could. Reality settled into the pit of her stomach. “I can't dig myself out of this one alone, Poppet.”

- - - - - - - - -


Thirteen year old Vryn lay unconcious on the cavern floor. Blood, cuts, scrapes and scars lined Shri's hands from where she had been digging at the boulders. Every callous on her hands had been split wide open. It would take weeks to grow back. If they ever got the chance at more weeks, she thought. At the sound of a small moan of pain Shri turned her head. Deep red eyes connected with her own violet pair in a glance that suggested life was only half there.

Time had no meaning at the moment other than the fact they were running out of it. The silver cord that seemed to keep them connected tinged and faded with each passing moment. Wiping her sweat drenched brow she went over to sit beside him, taking hold of his hand. There was no argument left between them anymore. Whatever fight they had was singular, the rocks and the walls of the cavern keeping them imprisoned.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*

[Shri'hrae]

---

Bloody, battered, beaten and broken. That's what they were in that cave and that's what they were now. The only differences were that this time they were doing it to themselves and that this time the wounds weren't visible to an outsider. A wound that festered and oozed from two sides of the coin and the silver cord in between feeding it.

For the thirteen year old pair, running on what was left of their adrenaline and all of their faith in each other, it was through a catalyst effect. Shri's magic gripped tight to Vryn's will much as their joined hands gripped each other. Rock by rock was moved to the other side of the cave leaving an opening just big enough to crawl through. The concentration and the desperation fueled by a known fact that they were out of time.

Crawl through, wiggle room. The phrase played over and over in her mind. Vhaeraun just give me some wiggle room, the adult Shri'hrae prayed silently. But if he heard her she couldn't tell. Would he even care to listen? She was a daughter of a Lloth household, a daughter of a Vhaeraun household, and the Viceroy of Bucs Den. Hopefully those all counted for something.
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*Kitrye Ilhar's Yathrin, Kitrye Ilharn's Mirshann, Jal degahr*