Kalortah had made his acquisition at the market, quite a good one. The merchant was none the wiser to the stone's nature. To blame for the poor appraisal by the merchant, the porous nature of transformation gems. It was simple to get them dirty, not as easy to polish to where they could retain their luster. Still, he'd acquired a good little shard of rainbow, and he knew exactly what he intended to use this one for.
After having the gem cut properly, and set in one of his jewels that he'd collected over the years, he stowed it away in his satchel, and then lifted off from the commercial market in the docks where he made contact with the finder of the stone.
He flew over the Gold Gate, and into the Floating Temple, landing just above the cloudline. Beyond the cloudline, he dipped down and began soaring over the low buildings of the Silk Burho, which lay just a bit to the north of central Yaralon. There, he had a modest house that he'd rented out for them all. To anyone it would've been considered a palace ,but Kalortah had seen bigger and more impressive, such as his Aeyrie in the Empire.
He landed on the narrow, second story window, clutching the edges of the threshold with his hands as he clung to it. He stuck his head to peer in, only to see
Lotema
on her belly, cooing over their child. She widened her smile, to reveal a row of onyx nels that she'd carefully placed over her teeth. It was a strange and disgusting habit she'd picked up along the way since falling in with Kalortah, and availing herself of his hard earned fortunes. The child of course, was scandalized by his mother's teeth of black onyx, and clapped, laughing raucously. Kalortah wished he could ban that game from their household, but it cheered the child enough to mitigate his nightly crying fits, and Lotema didn't ask him for pocket change while she had hold of those several onyx coins. He'd simply remind her that they existed.As Kalortah edged off of the thershold into the room, He sighed, and lowered himself into the chamber. This was more or less a common sleeping area for the Avriel in his entourage, Lotema and the Child.
Weep
had her own private quarters, which she'd earned through good service. There, the child
stretched its right wing, an then looked curiously over its shoulder with a high pitched squeal when it saw Kalortah. The avriel was always disarmed by the child's excitement, particularly when it was directed at his return. It was very vexing, and he didn't like it. And yet.... Looking away, and maintaining a calm veneer and with great discipline and self-control he was able to maintain decorum around the cherub.By the time he'd stuffed away his melting emotions, he turned back around, to see Lotema smiling still with her onyx nels, some of them dribbling out of her mouth in a manner that would've been amusing if it wasn't making light of all that Kalortah did for her. Even so, he was glad to have a familiar face in the city. He didn't realize in the stifling atmosphere of the Eternal Empire, how much he'd miss having the semi-domestic situation with Lotema, or Lotema herself. Weep even had been welcomed with open arms when they sent away for her, to come join them in Yaralon.
And how they'd arrived... well best leave that untouched. Rest assured it was a proper humiliation of Kalortah's self-image.
