With a gasp of air and a rush of water, Jhsandra Tanor'Thyrr emerged from the scrying pool. She panted for air, standing in the waist-deep water of the magically-charged basin. The return to physical form was always a jarring shift. She could see the world returning as her eyes slowly shifted from a milky white to their usual black with golden irises. She shivered, looking about the empty cavern. The ceiling domed above her head, the pool only taking up a portion of the circular chamber, was raised by a few steps all around.

Jhsandra took another deep breath and waded to the edge of the pool before she carefully stepped out. She grit her teeth against the cool air of the underground cavern. Her naked skin covered in goosebumps before she found the towel she'd left for herself. The woman dried herself slowly and carefully. The adjustment back to a physical shape leaving her sensitive to every feeling. The towel wicking the water away from her dark purple skin. She ran the towel through her white hair before tossing it aside and grabbing for her robe. The soft silken texture offering a warm barrier between herself and the cold of the scrying room.

Jhsandra sighed, partially out of respite and partially frustration. Her visions had divined nothing that was clear enough to be directly useful. The same vague images and messages she'd received each of the past several times she entered her scrying pool.Gritting her teeth, she went to the large door on the opposite side of the room and pressed her hand against it. A rune appeared on the surface, spider-like tendrils extending from it across the surface of the door. With a thought, the rune fell away like dust, disappearing before it landed on the floor. The tendrils dissipated as the spell was broken and the door unsealed. One could never be too careful while performing magic. Especially someone in a position like Jhsandra.

The woman walked back through the carefully carved corridors of the House Tanor'Thyrr. Her ancestral home was carefully kept, mosaics of her ancestors and their deeds carved into the walls on either side of Jhsandra. Beautifully intricate detailed reliefs depicting acts of heroism, cunning and debauchery. The drow woman walked past without so much as a glance; she had more pressing matters than the prior exploits of her family and her clan.

She walked alone, the lights set into the smooth walls of the corridor dim as the luminescent fungus glowed a soft blue. She'd fecided to sue her pool well into the evening, after the house was at rest. Anyone who might know of her recent exploits in the scrying pool was a potential threat, and she'd rather not take chances. Even the leader of a clan as powerful as Clan Tanor was not untouchable.

Finally, Jhsandra came upon her chambers. The doors adorned by magic seals that only Jhsandra could see, only visible to the one who cast them. These would brook no curiosity. Of course she kept her door protected, she'd be a fool not to.

Jhsandra quietly slipped into her chambers. The lights rose slowly as the woman entered, revealing the extravagant suite of rooms to the Matriarch. She looked lingingly at her large bed but instead turned towards her small library, a doorway in the Wall beckoning her. Jhsandra felt robe flap a bit as a side door was opened, revealing a glimpse of the ageless woman's beautiful body.

Jhsandra looked up to see who had disturbed her, gazing at another drow woman standing by the door. She was completely nude, save for a long sheer white loincloth and the chain around her throat. An attached pendant bearing the seal of Jhsandra's house. The drow woman kept her eyes down, "I'm sorryl, Matriarch. I hope I didn't disturb you" She spoke softly, a hint of fear in her tone. "I... I saw you weren't here earlier and I thought to ensure you were comfortable upon your return."

The nobleman didn't respond for a few minutes, gazing over the other woman's body. Jhsandra usually kept her slaves nude. Partially to ensure they bore no weapons or poisons, and partially to benefit her own tastes. Like all of her kin, trapped in their Hollows, Jhsandra had her vices. Hers just happened to be the pleasures of flesh.

Upon closer examination of the woman, Jhsandra recognized her as the wife of a former adversary. A man who'd decided to betray the matriarch and paid the price for it. His wife had no love for him, and now proved a good servant to her new ruler. All the same, Jhsandra's eyes narrowed. She couldn't trust that the other drow's intentions were as pure as she claimed.

"Oh, thank you. I was just restless. A short walk to help clear my head." Jhsandra didn't want to dally. She would rather not discuss what she was doing. "Perhaps you can help me. Fetch me some entertainment... Whatever you think I might enjoy." She waved her hand, indicating the woman to leave.

The other drow slipped out the way she had come and Jhsandra sighed. She made a mental note to have that one watched more closely, then turned to head towards her library.

Jhsandra figured that with such a broad approach, it would take the other woman a little while to choose some slave to serve her matriarchal carnal needs. The drow woman ran her fingers over her tomes until she came upon the tight one. She pulled it down and casually set it aside, her fingers finding a stone behind it and pulling this away. From the false back, she washed our a smaller book. One she'd been careful was protected and out of the eyes of interlopers.

She sat down and began to write, dipping into an inkwell to begin penning down everything she had seen in her visions this time. Jhsandra's notes were meticulous. As well written and thorough as she could manage. No detail was left unwritten. She sat there for some time, first writing it all down and then flipping back through page after page or scrying sessions and research. Searching for any common thread. Something to guide her. Her mid strayed a moment to what might be brought to appease her, and Jhsandra felt her core growing warm. Her carnal hungers growing more genuinely now as her frustrating lack of progress came to a head.

The book was replaced in its hidden space, and the larger tome placed back on her shelf. Jhsandra walked back to her bedroom and poured herself a chalice of wine. She took a long whiff, enjoying the aroma. A commodity that only came from the occasional raids on the surface. Perhaps she was working too hard. Something to help her relax might be just the thing she needed. After all, her work would still be there in a few hours..~