Aleksei, in a grand show of sloshed concern, attempted a comforting phrase of some sort. "Ne to, chtoby boleznennyj, ne tak li?"
"Ye gods- the drunk wants to take care of me," Ylyssa managed, her voice muffled by her arms. "But my own mate won't."
"Now, Ylyssa," Syjen began from the back of the room.
"What?" she shot back, sitting straight and turning around to glare at him. "What do you want to say about this?"
"How long has it been since we've actually turned a profit?" A brave question indeed, asked from twenty feet across the room.
Ylyssa snorted contemptuously. "You're not after profit. Had you been, you could have sold your damned pet before we even got her all the way here. Don't give me that!"
"Net neobhodimosti krichat'," Aleksei ventured, unwinding himself from around me and using the wall to get up. "Vse v porjadke."
Some change began to darken the sea green Eladrin's normally self-satisfied face. He came forward, possibly more to make an impression on Aleksei than on his mate. "Ylyssa, those men had all paid to be here. If I'd managed to sell Aleksei or the witch, so much the better, but I was charging an entrance fee. Would you like to see the ledger, or the receipts?"
"Vse jeto bezopasno, i nikto ne postradal," Aleksei protested, ignoring Syjen's forward movement. It seemed that all his attention was focused on Ylyssa, who made absolutely no motion to discourage him. "Nikto ne vredil nikomu pravil'no."
"Aleksei, move aside," Syjen crabbed at last, glaring up at a beast that was easily twice his size. "What is he saying, anyway?"
Aleksei turned a terrifying glare down on Syjen, a look so charged with a bone chilling hate that I could feel myself cringe. For a moment, I genuinely feared what he could do. "Ja zhelaju chto ja smoglo tashhit' vas k adu s mnoj."
Finally and at last, Ylyssa turned a weary gaze upon the towering Dragonborn. "Dovol'no, dovol'no. Nikto ne budet tjanut' nikto v ad segodnja. Vy pravy. Kazhdyj celymi i nevredimymi. Ja slishkom jemocional'no reagiruet, pozhalujsta, lech' v postel', eh?" Aleksei turned to Ylyssa and began to move toward her, only to be checked by a single, slender upraised finger. "Ne oshibites'. Ja supruga drugogo cheloveka. Ja mogu predostavit' vam druguju piva, no jeto vse. Obeshhaj mne, chto vy budete vesti sebja vezhlivo."
With a comfortingly intoxicated smirk, Aleksei sat down where he was with a thump that resounded in the room. "Ja obeshhaju chto vy ne zametite moe plohoe povedenie."
Ylyssa seemed to chuckle to herself for a second, then turned to go toward the other side of the room.
"You do remember that I don't speak a word of that gibberish?" Syjen frowned, put off by the clear display of playfulness between Aleksei and Ylyssa. "He'll never learn Common if you-"
"And what should he learn Common for?" Ylyssa demanded, shuffling things around in a corner too far for me to see. Since it was the same area that the stew had come from, I could only assume that someone was getting fed.
"So he can reliably communicate with whomever owns him," Syjen shot back, now putting himself firmly between a frozen Silveredge and the reclining Aleksei. Aleksei looked up at him with total contempt. "I doubt we'll be selling him back to someone who speaks whatever language that is, since they would be a Dragonborn themselves, wouldn't they?"
I'd been wrong about the food. Instead, Ylyssa brought back a steaming cup, which she and Aleksei shared a smirk about.
"You can't sell him," Ylyssa sighed once the cup had been handed off. "There's no market for him anywhere, unless you want to give him back his weapons and let him be a mercenary. Esli vy mechtaete obo mne, vy ne mozhete byt' obvinen. Vy mozhete mechtat'. Ja tozhe."
Syjen whipped around, grabbed Silveredge, and shoved her forward. The intent may have been to get her between Aleksei and Ylyssa, but since Silveredge was a dancer, she simply regained balance a few steps away. "I can sell them," Syjen growled. "All of them, and you too, if I wanted. Working with Uirrigaen has taken its toll on you, making you forget your place."
"My place? My place." Ylyssa pushed a gutteral laugh out of her body and crossed her arms over her chest. "I've been in my place. It's you who have forgotten what fidelity and loyalty are. Had I desired to leave my place, you wouldn't have to worry about what to do with the Dragonborn."
"What would he do to you that he hasn't already done with me?" Syjen smiled grimly. "I command well enough, spell or no."
"If you forgot, there's at least one piece of merchandice that's completely in her right mind," I finally piped up. "I don't care who does what to whom, but what I do care about is being continuously lied to. So somebody is going to finally tell me what is really going on here, or there will be consequences."
Aleksei, who'd finished whatever was in his cup with an alarming speed, pushed out a threateningly gurgling belch. He sat all the way up with some effort, then sighed his contentment. "Dajte mne devushek i pogovorite k vashemu suprugu," he suggested with a smile. "Vozmozhno, jeto budet razdrazhat' ego dostatochno, chtoby obratit' vnimanie na vy."
"Well?" Ylyssa demanded, stretching an arm toward me. "The witch asked you to tell her the truth. And I'd like to hear what you tell her."
"You already know the truth, Infernal," Syjen spat disgustedly. "As soon as I find a buyer for you, you're off."
"Same spot as Bahlzair and Aleksei are in, huh?" I probed, closing my eyes.
"That's right," Ylyssa stated flatly. I could just imagine the scowl that went with that affirmation.
"That's interesting, because I can see that they've been here a while- a long while. That either makes you a pretty abominable salesman, or a liar." I opened my eyes and looked from a highly amused Aleksei to the two Eladrin. "You're really just amusing yourselves with your toys. A little pass time for the jailors."
"And there you have it," Ylyssa said in a mockingly congratulatory tone. "Are we keeping this one now, too? What harm will it do to-"
"Irrepairable damage, Ylyssane, to the clan," Syjengen stormed, suprising me. "I will not be responsible for its defamation. She stays with Aleksei, in the same room. He can sport himself with her tonight."
"He's practically twice her-" Ylyssa began.
"Only if my woman comes too," I demanded suddenly. "I- I've missed her."
And it was Ylyssa, not Syjen, who shot me a look of pure understanding.
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