Revelation

It happens on their watch together as they leave Brindol behind.

Valnorin gets a bit fidgety, which is abnormal for him, before he suddenly speaks up... "Charlotte, remember how you told us about your past earlier today?"

"I do, yes," Charlotte replies, poking at her goggles. She's still getting used to the feeling of them on her face and over her eyes.

He's a bit flustered... "Well of course you remember, but... afterwards, I said something about us all having hidden scars. Like you, I have had a... difficult childhood you might say. Now, this is not something I usually share, but it is something we sort of have in common." A small pause. "What do you know of the Drow?"

Charlotte turns, giving her complete attention to Val. At the question about Drow, she replies: "Some of the people in my old guild were Drow, there are also quite a few Harpers that are Drow."

"Really?" Valnorin is a bit taken aback at this.

"Yes. I've met all kinds of people throughout my life."

"Killed even more," she murmured to herself, poking at her mask.

"I would not have expected that many of them to be prevalent in the surface society."

"Well, the Harpers and the Zentharim both usually work underground," she tells him. "They're both a secretive kind of group, but with completely different goals."

"So what is your experience with them? The Drow I mean?"

Charlotte purses her lips beneath her mask. "The Drow of the Zentharim were not very nice to me or others in general, as you can probably imagine. But the Drow of the Harpers have always been very kind to everyone. Some of them could be a bit surly and anti-social, but most of them were good people. So I guess you could say, I know the side of both coins to a lot of people, not just the Drow," she added as an afterthought.

"My own experience with them has been nothing but cruel really... even my own father..." Val draws a long breath and gathers himself a bit. Quietly observing Charlotte's reflex reaction.

"A hundred and fifty years ago the Drow held one of their surface raids. They do this from time to time, come up to the surface during the night, they mostly stay away from sunlight. Fun fact, sunlight actually harms a lot of their equipment. Anyway," Valnorin clears his throat. "A hundred and fifty years ago they raided the surface, and amongst others, they captured an elf by the name of Miraleth Syllanann. I am not completely sure how it came about, whether some sort of love was involved or not at all, but a Drow high mage by the name of Duneth Wharreil, more or less entered a union with Miraleth for a couple of years. Of course, it was not something that could last. He left her in the slave pits where he found her after a short time. He took with him their newborn. I grew up in a sort of slavery, as a house servant. Being of half Drow descent, I suppose I held a special role or position if you will... I was not at all a Drow, being half-elf, but neither was I treated quite how the other slaves were. In some ways it was better, in others I had more of an opportunity to screw up and get personally noticed by the more influential Drow, and thereby punished harshly." Valnorin looks a bit lost in time, his gaze unfocused and staring off into the woods, not quite meeting Charlotte's eyes.

"There was a bright presence in my life though. Nykasys Briskgrace. She was the housekeeper of the noble house I was a servant in. A gnome woman. She filled my life with the love of a mother I did not have. My own mother was a slave elsewhere in the city, her mind broken..."

Valnorin smiles at the mention of Nykasys, then shortly turns a bit emotionless and flat when he mentions his own mother.

"Anyway. I was a house servant for a while. Served as a sparring partner for the noble Drow sons growing up. Then it turned out I had more potential than they did in the art of fencing, and I was stupid enough to show off one day, beating them soundly. We were all punished afterwards. By their mothers and aunts. Priestesses of Lolth."