[Attalus]

ILLEK (Glares at Sanael, then shifts his gaze to Verloren. He speaks as if to her, only) "One day, long ago, I was returning from a jaunt into the woods of Killalu, a forest of wondrous dimension, I could walk for days without seeing another, Elf or any. I was glad, so, to meet a fellow creature, a woman, elven by her size, and deeply hooded, though the weather was fine. I hailed her, gladly, for I was a bit lonely, and conversation with another of my race seemed a fine thing. She returned my greeting, but with a strange accent that made the hairs on the back of my neck lift, though I knew not why. She then threw back her hood, rather defiantly, and I saw that, though lovely beyond compare, she was a Drow, the sworn enemy of my race. I was armed, though only against animals, not for war, and I pulled my boar spear to the ready. She, though, gently reached out her hand and turned the spear aside, and I, fool that I was, let her. The look in her eyes was not one that I should have expected in any Drow, especially one of the women, fierce in the service of their foul goddess Lloth. She then spoke, her voice again thrilling me. "A surface elf? Ah, my luck is as bad as ever. Sometimes I think that when I denounced Lloth and left the Underdark, that she cursed me, never to have any good thing happen. But, you do not attack me? Here I am, defenceless. You could strike that spear into my heart and have a fine story to tell your Elven King. But your eyes are as kind as your face is fair."
Her eyes were not Drow black, but deep violet, and when I looked within them, I was lost. I stayed with her that night, and fell in love, as I thought. She told me that her name was Chorania LeMieux, and that she had fled the Underdark because she could stomach Lloth's rule no longer. She had made friends on the surface, a great mage in one of the cities of the south, but had wanted to travel, and had ended up being hounded by people who saw her only as a Drow. She begged me to get her through the kingdom, so that she could take ship and go back to her friends. I was besotted, and stole a gem from a temple that disguised her as one of my people. I got her on board a ship, but, just as it sailed into the distance, there were two priests, who had divined who had stolen their gem, and why. I was imprisoned, tried, and exiled, and had to take to whatever fed and clothed me. That is my tale, believe me or no." He stood, looking into Verloren's eyes, awaiting a verdict.)