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"Do we have further business, then?" the drow asked "Or is this to be a social gathering?"

"Are you so eager to leave?"

"Not at all," Jarlaxle cheerily replied, and he rested back and lifted his brandy in a toast to his host

Parise, too, settled back "If our bargain is approved by your compatriot Kimmuriel and by my peers, then I suspect that you and I will find many such occasions to sip brandy and siiven me your assurances, after all, that you will personally see to es"

Jarlaxle nodded "Perhaps ill becoreat friends in the years to conized sos

"Perhaps," Parise agreed, and his tone showed that he understood Jarlaxle’s inflection, and didn’t seem to wish to disavow Jarlaxle of his suspicions

There was reereement had, after all, been fairly settled in the first days of Jarlaxle’s visit, and most of the "concerns" and "issues" that held back the inevitable handshake had appeared to hi tactics

Jarlaxle had seen this type of negotiating many times before, in his early years in Menzoberranzan, and ale--a House war, typically

The Netherese lord refilled his cup and Jarlaxle’s

"Do you miss the Underdark?" he asked "Or do you venture there often?"

"I have come to prefer the surface," Jarlaxle ad to me because it is not as familiar as deep caverns"

"I have not been to the Shadowfell in a year," Parise ad nod

"Well, you and yours have done a grand job of bringing the darkness here, after all"

That brought a chuckle

"We did not facilitate the Spellplague," Parise said more seriously, and Jarlaxle perked up "Nor the link between the Shadowfell and the sunlight of Toril"

Jarlaxle thought he heard an adnments and the fall of the Weave were not as permanent or controllable as some had postulated, and he tried to put the curious re the years to coh He let Parise’s words hang in the air for a long while

"You are not as you pretend," Parise finally said, as he lass of brandy for both of them

Jarlaxle looked at hian D’aerthe?" Parise clarified

"Truly"

"More than that"

"How so?"

"I have been told that the band is yours to control"

"It’s far more complicated than that," Jarlaxle ado to pursue other interests"

"Such as?"

Jarlaxle shrugged as if it hardly mattered

"You are more than a servant of Kimmuriel"

"I am not a servant of Kimmuriel," Jarlaxle was quick to correct "As I said, it is complicated" He took a sip of his drink, his one eye that was not covered by the ever-present eyepatch staring at Parise unblinkingly "Yet I aan D’aerthe"

"Why you and not Ki that question, and indeed, this entire line of questioning, for this was the first time such matters had come up so blatantly

"Trust uest to that one," Jarlaxle said "He is races of a cultured Netherese lord"

Parise o beyond your leadership of the mercenary band, yes?" he asked

"I lived there for most of my life"

"With which House?"

"None"

"But surely you were born into a House--one of the iven your stature in the society of that hierarchical city"

Jarlaxle tried not to reveal his growing annoyance

"Why did you not tell me?"

"Tell you?"

"That you were a son of House Baenre"

Jarlaxle stared at hilass of brandy

"I am not without resources, of course," the Netherese lord re past"

"But you still have the ear of Menzoberranzan’s matron mother?"

Jarlaxle considered the question for a moment, then nodded

"Your sister?"