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Beleth sat in one of the more seclusive cages of the slaves' market, her short but growing brown hair barely hiding the green eyes that watched the drow pass by, occasionally taking glances at her or examining her further. She remained as stiff as a rock, almost frightened in fact. She was born as a hybrid between a human and elf, so with that kind of blood in her veins, she would be thankful for her rarity in this place and the high price that was demanded of her.

But then again, if she wasn't bought by one of the drow soon enough, she could possibly be 'put down', or worse; be used as some kind of dummy for one of their sick rituals. She only heard about these rituals in the stories of survivors and escapees, but none were pleasant. Just the idea of being subjected made her skin crawl...

Beleth soon perked up as one more seemed to be coming in her direction. She wasn't sure if this would be the one who would buy her, and her anxiety split into two; one part of her wished that he didn't buy her out of fear for the drow's treatment of those unlike themselves; another worried that if he didn't buy her...

Izz'yrr of the Hla'tlar House made his way through the slave market, his red eyes carefully examining each "specimen" as he passed it. Most of the lot were rather miserable looking, and appeared to have lost all hope and seemed almost lost to whatever fate awaited them at the hands of the drow who were examining them. Izz'yrr couldn't help but feel a slight almost fleeting tinge of pity for them. He shook it off as he neared the last slave, trying to appear as aloof and superior as he could. It wouldn't do to give himself away, especially after his facade had worked for so many years now.

He was rather surprised and even intrigued by the exotic looking female. She appeared more alive than the others, not to mention that strange look in her eyes. It was almost as if she were begging for him to buy her and not to buy her. Strange indeed.

Izz'yrr motioned for the slave auctioneer to come over, and keenly examined the female from his position across from her. She appeared as though she were in good health, and there were no signs of her having been beaten so that was in her favor. Her green eyes seemed almost frantic with worry and fear so much so that Izz'yrr wished he could drop his facade and assure her that there was nothing to be so fearful about. Of course, that would have to wait until he got her back to his rooms.

The auctioneer, and slaver approached with a good natured smile on his face, Izz'yrr figured it was because he was hoping for a good sum for the female.

"Ah, so you have your eye on this little lady, eh?" the slaver asked, looking over the female with a keen eye. "I was hoping to get high dollar for her in the auction, so if you want to buy her before it starts I'm going to have to ask you for more."

Izz'yrr folded his arms and eyed the fellow shrewdly. "500 platinum and that's the highest I'll go."

The slaver's eyes narrowed on the offer. "Why, I figured I could at least get 1200 platinum for her, seeing as she's so exotic looking."

Izz'yrr sighed as though he were bored, and adjusted the long sleeves of his tunic. "650."

"I'll go as low as 1000 for you, seeing as you've got an eye on her." the Slaver said interjected, and reached over and stroked the female's hair.

Izz'yrr's eyes flashed, and reached over and moved the slaver's hand from the female's head.
"I will pay you 800 and you will accept." he practically sneered, "the Hla'tlar House has plans for her."

The slaver's eyes widened at the mention of his house, and he backed away slightly. "You should have said so in the first place," he muttered, and untied the female's ropes and handed them over to Izz'yrr. "just pay the collector on the way out."

Izz'yrr took the ropes, a triumphant gleam in his eyes and tugged on the ropes slightly to get the female walking. "the Hla'tlar House thanks you."

Beleth seemed to blink as the potential buyer came to her cage. She wasn't sure what to think of him; the superiority he gave off made her think that she wouldn't be able to trust him any better than the others. Then, her eyes widened as he called the slaver - the one who captured her, and the auctioneer over.

'This can't be any good, I am finally going to be bought...' she worried in her mind as she overheard a haggling going on from outside the cage. The auctioneers were driving a high price, but the potential buyer seemed determined to keep the price low. She then winced as the slaver reached out to stroke her, only... for his hand to be held back by the buyer...? She was surprised; he almost seemed trustworthy, after all.

Even more surprising was that the buyer mentioned... the Hla'tlar House? What was that, something to be feared? It appeared so due to the responces on the faces of the auctioneer and slaver. And finally, they both gave in. Still, she was uncertain if she should be glad or not...

Taken out of her cage with the ropes still tied to her tugged, Beleth had to adjust to walking all over again, and quickly. The clothes she wore, which bore a mediocre amount of flesh, were worn, so as to measure time between first entering the drows' domain up until now, which appeared to be a while.

Izz'tyrr distastefully eyed the clothing that the slave was wearing. They were practically in shreds, not to mention rather nasty smelling. He was definitely going to have to procure some clothing, and a bath for her before he brought her into the house. Otherwise he would probably not hear the end of it from his sisters and his Matron.

The house Hla'tlar was best known for educating and teaching slaves to become performers and entertainers for private occasions. They took in the most bedraggled looking specimen and turned them into prized possessions. Izz'tyrr was normally the one sent, because he seemed to have an eye for rare beauty, as well as a good head and poker face for bargaining with the slavers.

He paused, and allowed the slave to catch up with him. He almost wished he hadn't when he got a whiff of her scent. Gods! Did she ever smell nasty! He covered his nose and tried to hide the disgusted expression from her.

"I think you could use a bath, and some new clothes, halfling." He murmured in a low tone to her, before he once more started walking.

Noticing a responce from her buyer, Beleth couldn't help but feel shame for her condition. It wasn't from her time spent cramped inside her cage, poked and ridiculed at that she had gotten herself into this condition. Before being captured, she had been in near-death experiences with the creatures of the caves. She must of gathered their scents during that time, which made her want to hurry home and have a nice bath...

That sort of rash thinking about herself was what got her captured.

And here she was, a terrible mess of rags and stench, following her new buyer as best as she could seeing as it was her first time walking in who knew how long... She barely had the faintest idea what time it even was right now, though she was certain it was weeks or even months since she first set foot inside the caves...

Izz'tyrr felt rather horrible for being so blunt with her, but figured it wouldn't be too smart to let his true feelings show. The crowd of drow around them would have noticed and he would have been carted off to the clerics at the temple for relearning. Of course that would probably result in his death or worse, an eternity spent as a drider. Izz'tyrr shuddered at the thought.

Even though he chose to follow the goddess Eilistraee there was no way he was going to let it be found out, especially not because of the halfling. At least if he could help it. He would have to refrain from looking at her and allowing the pity he felt to show on his features. And she was a pitiful thing to look at. Scrawny and malnourished, the slave was only a few days from looking like death warmed over. At least she would experience true pampering at the hands of his sisters and his Matron while they worked with her.

If all went according to plan, no one would think anything of the individual he found to buy her at the end of the whole beautifying process. He had used the same ploy before with much success; though he wasn't so sure if anyone had started to suspect or wonder just were the slaves were ending up. So far he had helped at least a dozen or more slaves back to the surface world and to freedom.

Izz'tyrr stopped in front of the private bathhouse the Hla'tlar House had a standing contract with and rang the bell hanging on the gate. A few moments later three burly looking females strode out of the building and unlocked the gate and ushered them in.

"Same as usual, Lord Izz'tyrr?" One of the females asked, eying the slave with a look of contempt in her eyes.

"Enough oogling, Dia'dre," Izz'tyrr admonished with a glare at her, and looked over the small female for a few moments. "Actually I think this one is going to need the full deal, try and be as gentle as possible. The Matron will have my ass if there's nary a bruise on her."

"As you wish Lord Izz'tyrr." the female replied with a slight nod of her head, taking the lead rope from Izz'tyrr's hand and gently tugged on them to get the female to move forward.

Beleth was wondering where her new... master would be taking her. She began to think that the word 'master' would be thought of with much dislike once he was done with her, if there ever was a time. However, their destination wasn't what she thought it would be... a bathhouse? She was certainly surprised at this.

Once the two were let inside, Beleth looked around with a bit of confusion, especially at the three females. She thought that elven women, let alone drow, were slender with athletic, if any muscle. She was proven to be a bit wrong.

She overheard the brief exchange that was going on... a full package? Beleth was a bit surprised.. just what exactly was this drow master that bought her...?

When the female didn't budge at the gentle tugging on her ropes, Izz'tyrr frowned. Was he going to have to babysit her through the whole process after all? Perhaps if he could get her attention and tell her what was expected of her she might go willingly with the females.

"Best be going with them, I gather you don't want to wallow in that stench any longer than you really have to." He said, brushing his hair out of his eyes impatiently searching her brown eyes with his own.

The female with the ropes in her hands frowned slightly looking down at the ropes.
"Perhaps if you removed these she would be more willing to go with us. You can count on us keeping her from escaping."

Izz'tyrr considered the females words for a moment, before he relented, and bent over the slave's wrists and attempted to untie the ropes. Unfortunately the ropes wouldn't come untied, as they had been knotted for too long. Izz'tyrr pulled a dagger out of his robes and sliced through the ropes quickly until all of them, even the one around her neck were loosened.

"Mind them, or I will come back there to deal with you myself." Izz'tyrr warned her with a slight spark in his red eyes.

Beleth blinked at the responce. Was she too distracted to come willingly with the women..? No.. perhaps they interpreted that as reluctance, which might be what she was feeling more...

However, she went unpunished for that, to her surprise; instead her master attempted to remove the ropes around her neck so as to coax her. She gasped only lightly when he pulled out the knife to cut the ropes, and held still as possible until they were all cut off.

She sighed afterwards in relief after they were cut off, and finally was able to follow the women further inside.

Izz'tyrr hung around for a few moments, a bit worried about how the female would take being handled by the three burly females. When he didn't hear any sounds from inside, he felt a bit relieved. He was rather thankful that the girl had ended up going wit them and that he wasn't going to have to stick around. That would have been rather uncomfortable...as he didn't want to be around when any of the females were stripped and plunged into the warm soapy water.

He left the bathhouse by the front gate, leaving word with the male at the gate that he would be returning shortly. Then he walked off towards the inner city shops, with a slight spring to his step. Now..what color of cloth should he get for the slave girl? Brown? No..maybe carmel. It would make her eyes pop out more and not be too over the top for a slave girl to wear. He'd probably want to get some sort of neck collar, so he wouldn't have to retye the rope around her neck..and have it wear away the skin around her neck. It would also make it perfectly clear to her not to get any ideas that she was being treated any differently than any other slave.

He walked up the wooden steps into a clothing store, and slowly perused the items hanging on the long racks inside. he couldn't help but frown at the poor manufacturing of the clothing..but wasn't about to say anything. It was a store that mainly sold the type and style of clothing that was acceptable for a slave to wear. He browsed through the short dresses until he finally came across one that was halfway acceptable to him. He picked it up, and made his way over to the owner and plopped the dress down on the counter.

"I'll give you 3 gold for it." he murmured, as he eyed the small assortment of slave collars hanging up behind the man. "And I'd like one of those with a leash." he added, pointing to a collar that appeared to be slightly big enough to go around the female's neck without being abrasive or too tight.

The owner complied with his order, pulling the collar and a leash out and laying them across the dress on the counter.
"I'll sell the lot to you for 20 gold." He returned with a sly grin on his face.

"8 and not a penny more," Izz'tyrr replied in a bored clipped tone.

The other male scowled slightly at the named price but shrugged his shoulders and held out his hand for the money. Izz'tyrr dropped it in the hand, swept up his purchases and then turned and strode out of the building muttering under his breath about exorbitant prices for shoddy work.

The time Beleth spent inside the Bathhouse was, in a way, far different than the treatment she was given prior to being bought. She was given a bath, massage along with a manicure and pedicure, among a few others as part of the 'whole package' that was arranged for her. If she weren't so alienated by the sudden change, she would of thought that she was treated like a member of nobility. The women who tended to her only threw off her reception of the place further, where she was passively obeying their instructions.

That wasn't to say she didn't enjoy it in the end, however. At long last, after all this time, she was finally clean, all traces of smells from before but gone. At that, she found some relief.

For now until her master returned, Beleth patiently waited, unsure if she was allowed to leave in only the silken robe she wore... But she found it safe to assume it would be best to stay inside the bathhouse, rather than leave and risk anything even more unpleasant.

Izz'tyrr brightened slightly when the spa came into sight, he couldn't help but wonder what sort of transformation the female might have undergone in the capable hands of the workers. This part of the job was one of his favorites, as he loved to see how a slave normally looked out of under all the grub and dirt they accumulated. It was also a time for him to see if his gut instinct was right about the slave.

He rang the front bell, and a moment later the gates opened to emit him inside. One of the females from earlier stepped out and ushered him inside the building. They walked in silence down the hallway to where the workers had left the slave to wait for his arrival. The female came to a stop in front of one door, and Izz'tyrr slipped her the payment and then entered the room.

"You look much better now," Izz'tyrr said eyeing her closely. "Here, put this on." He added, slipping the dress out of the bag and handing it over to her.

Beleth continued to wait until she noticed her buyer walk back inside, with a bag of sorts. She did feel better when he complimented on how better she looked, until she noticed that he pulled out a dress for her to wear.

She began to feel a little strange, taking a dress from him like this, but she took it anyway, turning around so that she could put the dress on. In a few moments, the dress was on her, though it did seem to show her skin a bit more than what she was wearing previously.

Izz'tyrr turned slightly adverting his eyes to the ground in order to give the slave a bit of privacy as she changed. Thankfully she didn't take long in getting the dress on, and he had to admit she cleaned up rather nicely. Though to his trained eye she seemed too thin and waif like in the dress. He shrugged his shoulders, ah well..the Matron and the females of the Hla'tlar House would just have to tone her up a bit.

"Now..there's the matter of putting this thing on you," Izz'tyrr said as he pulled the collar out of the bag and stepped over to her holding it out in front of him. "turn around please."

He rather hated having to put a collar back on that lovely neck of hers, but it had to be done. As much as he would like to just whisk her out to safety right then and there, he knew it would end in a terrible end for them both. He just hoped that she would be as tough as he figured her to be. He would hate for her to not last the three months training regime the Hla'tlar House was so famous for. He hoped he had made the right bet and chosen the right slave.

Beleth sighed a bit, feeling the dress a bit more looser than what she wore. Most likely because of the lack of food she recieved prior to being bought by him. She just hoped the treatment she would recieve where he lived would be better...

She then noticed him pull something else out of the bag; a collar of sorts..? She could only give a mental sigh; of course, she was expected to wear something around her neck, still... So relunctantly, she turned around so that he might be able to put the collar on her.

Izz'tyrr undid the collar, put it around the slave's throat and tightened it up again..leaving enough room for her not to feel choked. He was about to attach the leash, when a sudden thought came to him. He had been thinking of her as a slave, and not the individual she was. How much better was he than any other drow? He sighed, and attached the leash and asked in a low tone.

"I imagine that you have a name, perhaps you could share it with me."

Beleth waited with a bit nervously as he attached the leash to her collar, to a bit of disdain. She then heard him ask for... her name? That was a bit unusual; most masters wouldn't bother to ask for someone's name... on another hand, it was most likely an excuse to replace that name with a more derogatory one they have thought up on the spot.

"..Beleth.." She replied, a bit nervously.

"Interesting," Izz'tyrr murmured to himself in a low voice. "Well then Beleth, let's get moving. The Matron will be getting antsy to see who I've chosen for them to work with this time. You needn't be afraid. You are quite fortunate, as your future won't be as horrible as it would have been had someone else snatched you up. You will be undergoing training to be an entertainer, which will take several months of work. If you do well, you won't have many beatings or corrections. And..corrections are just as bad if not worse than beatings." He told her, with a serious expression on his face.

"Time to go." he added a moment later, figuring it would be best to let it all sink in before explaining exactly what kind of entertainer she would become.

Beleth blinked a bit as she was told all about her future ahead of her. An entertainer...? She wasn't sure if it would be less worse than any other treatment... she wasn't sure how she would be able to 'entertain' anyone, but it seemed to be clear that it wasn't going to be easy, most obviously... especially for her.

She soon began to follow him to where she would be staying for the next 'several months'...

Izz'tyrr slowly made his way out of the room and down the hall towards the front door, the leash loose in his hand. Thankfully Beleth kept up with his pace, so there was no need for him to tug or jerk on the leash. He sometimes wondered how slaves managed to endure living like they did. They didn't really have any freedoms, or privacy, or any assurances of a future. A slave's life could be snuffed out as quickly and as efficiently as a candle. It made Izz'tyrr rather sad that so many lives had been destroyed all for the sake of making drow lives much easier to live.

He almost snorted at the thought. A drow's life, was pretty much the same as a slaves. They didn't have any assurances to how long they would live or when they would die. Though..they did have the freedom to make their own choices. Even if those choices were wrong ones and led to sudden death. Though..the depravities that slaves had to endure were much more harsh than what drow had to endure. That had been enough for Izz'tyrr to turn to serving the much kinder goddess Eilistraee over twenty years before.

The walk through the streets of the Underdark was a rather short one. Izz'tyrr could see that Beleth wouldn't be able to make it the entire way back to the House on foot, so he waved down a cab and gave the driver the directions to the House. Only a short time later, the cab pulled up to the immense illustrious Hla'tlar House. Izz'tyrr climbed out of the iron carriage, and helped Beleth out of it and made his way over to the immense iron wrought gates that surrounded the courtyard of his House. He raised a hand, chanted several words in a sing-song voice and the gates creaked and opened of their own accord.

If he had waited for one of the guards or the gatekeeper to show up to open the gates, it would have been another twenty minutes at the least. Thankfully though, Izz'tyrr knew an opening spell that worked on the gates whenever he was in a hurry. Once inside the courtyard, he turned back around and closed the gates manually this time, and then chanted the protective spell that kept intruders and thieves from gaining entrance. Once this was done, he turned to take a look at Beleth, who appeared to be in shock at the sight of the immense stone house.

"This will be your new home for the next 6 months, better get used to it." He told her, feeling rather amused by her expression.

Beleth was, indeed, in shock at the appearance of the place. She had heard of the drow's Houses, but this was beyond her expectations. It was a bit grandoise... even provided that she could start to make out some patterns of spiders and their webbing amongst the architecture.

Beleth could hear his words alright... for the next six monts..? That would be a long time, especially to her.

Six months had passed, and not only was Izz'tyrr amazed at how the slave progressed but so was the rest of his family. It seemed Beleth had been meant to be an entertainer and it was in her blood and her soul. Of course it hadn't been easy finding what area Beleth was gifted in, they had gone through several of them the first day before they had all given up and sent Beleth back to her quarters to rest up.

The following day, when the dance instructor had arrived and derisively eyed her closely Izz'tyrr had been certain that dance would be an area that she would fail in like the other areas. He and the others had been pleasantly surprised when she proved them wrong. She had danced like a woman possessed with passion and fervor. Something that had pleased his matron immensely. Even the dance instructor had been impressed, and Izz knew that it took a lot to impress the strict overbearing female.

The months following had been a whirlwind of events and learning experiences for Beleth, as well as Izz'tyrr. The etiquette lessons had gone well, when Beleth wasn't being yelled at. It seemed that if one became too loud, Beleth would go rigid with fright and not be able to function very well under pressure. Of course this meant that she would have to learn how to properly function in drow society. In time, Beleth grew used to being yelled at, and sometimes if her ire was brought up she would yell back.

Izz'tyrr hadn't realized it until it was too late, but he had fallen for Beleth. He was fortunate enough to keep anyone in the House from finding out. However, he couldn't help but wonder and fret over his plans. If something were to go wrong and Beleth were to fall into real danger he would be at his wits end. Well not literally or anything, but it would be a very bad blow to him personally.

So far, everything had gone as planned. With no one any the wiser. A buyer, had arrived at the house a few days before and examined Beleth and had been entertained by her. Of course, the buyer was a friend of his, and was merely standing in and making the whole deal appear as real as any of the other transactions had gone before. A price had been decided between the "buyer" and his Matron and Izz'tyrr was to deliver Beleth to him on the morrow and retrieve the payment for her.

Izz'tyrr just had to reveal to Beleth, before they headed out what was really going on. That he was going to guide her to a place where she was going to hide out until he could come back and help her escape to the surface. He just hoped that she didn't think it was some sort of trap, since he hadn't really given her any inclination that this was coming.

Izz'tyrr walked down the hallway of the House; and came to a stop outside of Beleth's quarters and knocked on the door lightly.
"Beleth are you in there? I need to have a talk with you."

Beleth was inside her room, tidying herself up after yet another long day in the house. She heard the knock; she thought that noone would come at this time, so that surprised her a little. She gathered herself a bit and replied.

"Yes, please come in."

Izz'tyrr was rather relieved when Beleth answered, albeit rather surprised by the sound of her response that he was there to talk to her.

Izz turned the nob of the door, and slid into the room quietly shutting the door behind him. His eyes slowly wandered around the room until they finally cam to a stop resting on the thin frame of Beleth.

"Did I disturb you?" Izz asked, raising an eyebrow in question as he eyed her. She looked as though she were tired and ready to turn in for the night. "I truly didn't mean to bother you as you were getting ready for bed, but there is something that I really do need to tell you tonight before I escort you to your new owner tomorrow."

"No, you didn't." Beleth shook her head. "I was only getting ready for bed. What did you want to talk to me about?" She asked, wondering why he would want to come to her room to tell her something.