![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aithneHad to split this one into two, i fear, as it ran long.
(The Lady Of Pain Dramatis Personae)
Imryne, of House Melrae
Book Two: The Lady Of Pain
Chapter Six: Comfortless Hours
Ah thy people, thy children, thy chosen,
Marked cross from the womb and perverse!
They have found out the secret to cozen
The gods that constrain us and curse;
They alone, they are wise, and none other;
Give me place, even me, in their train,
O my sister, my spouse, and my mother,
Our Lady of Pain.
For the crown of our life as it closes
Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust;
No thorns go as deep as a rose’s,
And love is more cruel than lust.
Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.
And pale from the past we draw nigh thee,
And satiate with comfortless hours;
And we know thee, how all men belie thee,
And we gather the fruit of thy flowers;
The passion that slays and recovers,
The pangs and the kisses that rain
On the lips and the limbs of thy lovers,
Our Lady of Pain.
--Swinburne, Dolores
(Imryne, in House Melrae)
Imryne padded around the main room in the set in a robe and bare feet, thinking. She heard muffled thumps from the roof, where Jevan was doing his usual morning exercises, and soft noises from behind the doors of the childrens' rooms.
She needed to tell the children about Ulitree before they saw her; otherwise, at least Lesrak and Faeryl were still young enough to be honest about their initial reactions to her. She sighed; Challay would be the easiest, and from the sound of it, she was getting dressed.
There was a sound behind her, and Imryne turned to see Jevan come in the window, landing on the floor with a precisely controlled movement, his coat settling around him as he turned off the flight on it. She came over to kiss him, smelling the sweat on him, mixed with the smell of lovemaking that still clung to him this morning. "Need help?" he asked her.
She must have had a look on her face that had given away her trepidation. "Actually, yes. Could you go wake up Ulitree for me? I need to talk to the children about her, and then I'd like them to meet her."
"I will get her, and get her dressed," he said. "You go talk to the kids." Imryne nodded and went to talk to Challay. She tailored the explanation of her to each child, warning them that she looked strange and emphasizing the need to not even tell their cousins about her. Then she brought them out into the main room of the set, and Jevan led Ulitree out.
She was wearing an old, much-mended work shirt of Ilfryn's with holes cut for her spider legs, and an skirt of Faeryl's that that waist could be adjusted to accommodate the spider legs coming from her hips. She hid briefly behind Jevan, but she came out when she was introduced to Lesrak, Faeryl, and Challay. Faeryl had to stifle a gasp, and Challay bit her lip in a familiar gesture. Lesrak, however, was fascinated by this shabby, strange little girl, though he kept his questions to himself for the moment. "Off with you three now," she said. "Go have first meal with your grandmother. Tell her I'll be in to talk with her afterwards."
They nodded and left, Lesrak pausing to find an errant shoe. Jevan and Imryne sat down, and gestured at one of the chairs in the main room of the set. Ulitree sat gingerly, her spider legs drawn in close to her body and transparent eyelids flicking across the surface of her faceted eyes nervously. "Can I ask you a few questions, Ulitree?" Imryne asked. Ulitree nodded. "Can you tell us a little bit about what happened to you, how you ended up living with the outcasts?"
The girl took a sharp breath. "My childminder took me out of my bed one night and took me downstairs. We met with a male and his friends. She gave me to them. I had a gag on and I was taken to another house. I stayed there for a day, I think. Then I was moved to another house." Her voice was soft, uncertain, and she searched both Imryne and Jevan's faces, for what she didn't know. "There was a male there, his face was kind but he was forced to give us stuff and we were forced to drink it. Then a lady came and cast things on us. Then I started to change.
The kind face gave me another drink and said this was the last one. My eyes wouldn't close and I could hear but I couldn't move. He said I was dead along with a bunch of others, we were tossed down a chute that runs into out of the city. It was slimy from dead people rotting." She was shivering, just a little. "I landed in a pile of people and things. I tried to cry but couldn't and then suddenly I blinked. I sat up and others were sitting up and then Balok came and took me to his people. I started changing the next day. The legs came and my eyes changed."
"Did the others go with Balok, too?" Imryne asked.
Ulitree nodded. "They did. All males, one was very close to drider just missing two legs. But he was already formed."
Imryne considered this. "Do you know the names of the two houses you were taken to, or did you see any house symbols?"
"First one was Claddeth, second was Kilsek," she said. "From the house symbols we learned in school."
"Who was forcing the man with the kind face to give you things? Was it the lady you mentioned?" she asked.
At the mention of the lady, Ulitree's face went silent and still. "Yes. The one casting spells. Her name was Eleria or something like that."
"Can you tell me anything else about the man? Did he say anything to you?"
"He said he was sorry. The lady called him Chakos, I think," Ulitree said.
"Well, then. You'll stay here for a little while at least, we're going to try to figure out how to get you back to the way you were," she said. "Let's get you settled in your room and find you some books."
After Ulitree was settled, Imryne went to peek into the bedroom. Tar and Ilfryn were awake, and had evidently been listening. "I need a bath, and then I need to go talk to my mother," she said. Should we all go use the bathing room?"
Tar stretched, and there was a look on her face that Imryne had not seen for a while, a sort of sleek contentedness and fulfillment. "You two go first," she said. "I want to lie here for a little longer."
Imryne laughed and she and Jevan went to take a bath, which took a bit longer than Imryne had expected due to Jevan talking her into a bit of lovemaking while they were bathing. But she did present herself after first meal to her mother, still a bit damp but at least clean. "Mother, I have some...interesting news," she said once they were seated.
"You usually do," Triel said dryly.
"The outcasts have been growing in number quite a bit since the last time I saw them. They even tried to make a young female into one of them. They also know where the camp of the transformed and of the collective is, and will be dealing with the transformed." She firmed her jaw a bit. "The leader of the outcasts asked me to bring the girl back with us, partially for her own safety, and partially as an advantage to us. She should be able to see through the illithids' drow disguises. I brought her into the house last night."
She could see Triel's eyes widen, taken aback. "What did you have to promise them?"
"I promised them that we would find a cure for them," she said. "They understand that it will probably take decades."
"Interesting as well," her mother said, "How badly deformed is the girl, and do you know who she is?"
"It's not as bad as it might be," Imryne said. "She's mobile, and still intelligent. She has two spider legs coming out from her hips, another pair under her arms, and her eyes are multi-faceted. She's about Nendra's age. Her name is Ulitree, of House Noquar."
Triel's eyes narrowed, and Imryne could almost see her thinking. "Noquar gave up a daughter? Willingly or unwillingly?"
"Unwillingly, I think. She says her nanny took her from her bed in the middle of the night and gave her to, she says, a man and his friends. They brought her to Claddeth, who then took her to Kilsek. That sounds like a kidnapping, to me." She swallowed. "It also sounds like what happened to Ryld, in a way."
Her mother nodded. "Time to do something disgusting. Let's think like Greyanna and Elerra."
"I hate doing that, it always makes me feel so dirty afterwards," Imryne said. "You're trying to make a better breed of drider, and the thought occurs that maybe you're not using the right sex of drow to start with. So you need a female, one that either nobody will miss or that you think will adapt particularly well to the change. You can't use any of the females of your own house, so you look outside. So, why kidnap the daughter of another house? A hostage?"
Triel's eyes slitted briefly in amusement, and then her serious demeanor returned. "That's interesting but not where I was going. You need a spy in the house of Melrae. You don't want to use your own daughter, so you force another house to steal a daughter. Why use a daughter? Because you know the outcasts can't keep her. They are all male, and the house you are wanting to get into just lost a daughter. Sympathy? I would doubt she or the outcasts even know, but now you have a spy inside your enemies' bedroom."
Imryne sat frozen, and her mind went over the logic of it. She sighed, and her shoulders rounded. This is why she is the matron mother. "You're right. I'd hate to try to give her back to her house, though. I don't know if they'd even keep her alive."
"I doubt it. I hate to say that you are going to have to keep her isolated." Triel's voice made it clear that this was not merely a suggestion but an order. "She may not be a spy but she might well be. You or Tar or even Ilfryn may be able to tell if she is connected like Phaere is."
"If she is, well, we have rooms she can live in," she said. "What I want to know is how Xalyth or Kilsek found out that we have a connection to the outcasts, if they have."
Triel shook her head. "I would bet they found out Chakos was dumping still living people out, and they followed them. Or they inserted a spy into the outcasts."
"Either is a possibility. Or Greyanna made Ryld tell her," Imryne said. "The illithid, maybe. In which case, the attack against the transformed may not go as planned."
"May send them into a trap," Triel said contemplatively.
Imryne nodded, chewing briefly on the inside of her cheek as she thought. "Well, we've possibly been outmaneuvered. How to salvage the situation, though? I could contact them and call them back, tell them they may be compromised."
"No, let them go this time, I think," Triel said gently. "It's cruel, maybe, but any damage they can do to Xalyth is to our benefit, and death may be better than the life they lead."
She thought of Balok, the look on his half-transformed face when he had asked for a cure. She nodded shallowly. "I feel like I've failed them."
"Even if you can save just her and any future outcasts, you have saved them. Life down there is hard. In the decades to come, how many would have survived to see a cure?"
She sighed, giving in. "Not many. And until the upper houses fall, there will always be more."
"Yes, there will be," Triel said. "And if you do find a cure, we can add all those loyal males to our house. And that will be very unnerving to all the rest."
"It will, won't it?" Imryne said. Right now, she liked the idea of unnerving the upper houses. "The other thing we should watch for is if Ulitree is a spy and it's believed she's not being effective, Greyanna may just tell Noquar that we have their daughter. I don't even know if she's a daughter of the mother, or a granddaughter."
"That's true but we can hide her. They will have to tear down our walls to find her," Triel said, and her tone said let them try. "Something that they may wish to do, but without proof they will not. It may cause a rift between us and Noquar if they believe her. But they are Lloth and we aren't; the rift exists anyway." She paused, taking a long breath. "Anything else, daughter? How do you feel?"
"A bit of a fool, to be honest," she said, ducking her head a little. "I should have seen the danger Ulitree represented. Instead, all I saw was a little girl who's been badly mistreated. I hate being forced to be paranoid like this."
"The end to the paranoia is what we fight for," Triel said. "We are closer now than we have been in centuries."
"We are. Still quite some distance away, though."
"Yes but even if we fail--if the house survives they will carry on." Triel said, with absolute conviction. "Fanaedar will someday be ours again for the goddess, the right one."
"It will be." Imryne took a long breath. "And then what? Have we learned any lessons from the Lloth houses taking over, other than how to be paranoid like them?"
Triel gave Imryne a penetrating look. "Then we try another way," she said. "Even if we have to rule like Xalyth does, we will still temper it with emotion and less greed. If we follow the tenets of Ellistraee and try not to stray, life will be better for all."
Imryne shifted in her seat, and tried not to frown. There were so many other questions--but now was not the time. "I hope so, at least. It's why I'm still down here, working towards this. I wish it were possible for us to live with the Lloth people, but it's not."
"I have never found a way," her mother said. "If we lose, we will do as Arabani did. Escape to the surface and live among the elves."
"It can be done. I wish it were safe for you to leave the house, Mother. I'd like you to meet Jevan's family some day."
Her mother's fingers went to the sapphire and emerald ring on her hand, and she rubbed the gems. "Someday, daughter, but I am a prisoner much like Tar. As are all the matron mothers."
It was one of the central contradictions of life here, that the females with the most power also had the least personal freedom. It had been centuries since Triel had stepped outside of the compound for reasons other than the burial rites of her sons that had died, and on rare occasions for ritual. Imryne swallowed, thinking of the trap that House Melrae would become should Triel die and leave her as matron mother. "That's something I hope to change," she said quietly. Else I may go mad.
"I hope so, it would be nice to walk the city without a contingent of bodyguards," Triel said, a bit wistfully. She had friends in other households that she now only corresponded with by letter instead of going to see. Imryne thought of her mother, tried to imagine her Challay's age, running with her friends and playing the games of love that all children played before they settled down with lovers.
"We'll see," Imryne said. She got up to hug her mother. "I'll get Ulitree moved."
"Good luck, daughter," Triel said, and Imryne thanked her and was off. She spoke to the house staff about having a room like Phaere's set up, complete with locks on the door, and then went to take Ulitree to her new, hopefully temporary, home. A childminder was assigned to her, as well as a pair of guards.
Once she was done with moving Ulitree, she went to find Tar, Ilfryn, and Jevan. Ilfryn was in conference with some of the house mages in the communal laboratories, Jevan was drilling with the house guards, and Imryne spent almost half of a bell looking for Tar before discovering her helping with the repainting of the ceiling of the largest of Melrae's Ellistraee sanctuaries. She floated when she saw Imryne, coming over to give her a hug. She had a dab of paint on her nose.
Imryne brought everyone back to the set, and Tar washed up and joined them. "I just spoke to my mother about Ulitree," Imryne said. "There's a good chance I wasn't nearly paranoid enough last night."
"No?" Tar asked.
"Mother pointed out a perfectly plausible chain of events where Ulitree is like Phaere, able to let someone from Kilsek or Xalyth look through her eyes," she said. "She's potentially a spy, though an unwitting one."
Jevan said, "Should have thought of that. It makes sense. Which is why you moved her. Now what?"
"Now, we keep her in the house, but not in these rooms, and let Tar continue to try to bring her back to what she was. And perhaps find out if she does have a connection to someone--and if we can use that connection for our own ends."
Tar nodded. "I think I can find a way to see if she has a connection, and who to." She sighed. "It will take awhile for a cure, I am sure. She may be fully grown by the time I can get rid of it. Lloth's work in these. All the mage spells that could reverse it are useless."
"I'd volunteer to help, but for the moment I'm not nearly a good enough priestess to be of any real use," Imryne said. "As long as she's not a spy, a cure can take as long as it takes, and she can grow up here."
"I will work on it," Tar said.
Ilfryn had been watching the rest of them silently, and spoke up now. "I will have your potions ready by the time you meet with Sorn again. I am wondering about the target, though. All the new mates to Greyanna are allies of ours. We will be killing a lot of our allies' family and the blame could fall on another house."
"We don't have to use them until the time is right, and maybe Sorn would have an idea of who the latest torture victim of Greyanna is," Jevan said. "I would bet that Vandree is that list."
"Might well be," Imryne said. "We can wait for an opening, there. Though...interesting. There's an idea in there, about the one daughter of Greyanna's who is still in Xalyth and that Greyanna talks to. I'm not sure it would work, though, and it would be a lot to ask of our contact."
"To use her and kill Greyanna's last daughter?" Jevan asked.
She nodded. "And possibly Greyanna with her. It would have to be very, very carefully framed, though. But it's an idea to look at. It would make Greyanna nervous, and I wonder how much more nervous Greyanna can get before she falls apart? I'll listen for an opening, there. Talabrina needs to have no real idea what she's doing."
"Too many illithids wandering around for her to know for sure," he said. "What do we focus on? There is too much going on."
"Maya," Tar said instantly.
Imryne reached out to Tar, stroked her forehead, her hand brushing the tip of Tar's ear. "I have to agree, there. We need to find out how Greyanna is holding that illithid. Once we find that out, other things will fall into place."
"Sounds like a mutual thing, Jevan said. "But the illithids have to be getting more than food from this deal."
"Xalyth must be promising them something. What do illithids want? Territory, possibly better or tastier food..." Imryne shuddered a bit. "Maybe trying to give them a way to breed faster, or giving them magic they don't already have. Mother was also speculating that us sending the outcasts against the transformed was engineered by Xalyth. Maybe that's part of it. Or maybe they're promising a section of the city to them."
"I don't know, we might need one to talk to," Ilfryn said.
"There's an unappetizing prospect. Even if we capture one, is there any way to keep it from talking to its fellows?"
Ilfryn shook his head. "I don't know." The other two were shaking their head, as well.
"Who would know? Anyone in T'sarran?" Imryne asked.
"My mother, maybe," Ilfryn said thoughtfully. "Oblodra, probably."
"Well, there's something to do. I can see if T'sarran is willing to join in an alliance between us and Oblodra. Oblodra likes magic, and they'd probably enjoy the prospect of allying with the other well-known mage house. I'd like to see if they might be interested."
"If Melrae needs it, Mother will do all she can," Ilfryn said.
"I'll ask them, and then send a message to Oblodra." She stretched. "Might as well do that now."
And so it passed that Imryne and Jevan and Ilfryn went to House T'sarran. Ilfryn stayed long enough to kiss his mother hello, and then went to see his brothers and sisters. T'sarran Gaussra invited them into a reception room in the outer house, and they all sat down together.
Imryne had always liked Gaussra, who was older than Triel by a few centuries. Ilfryn took after her strongly, both in looks and in her calm, thoughtful temperament. "House Melrae sends its regards. I've come to talk with you about a matter of alliance," Imryne said.
Gaussra looked interested. "We have one. So another?"
"Another, yes. We're looking for an alliance with house Oblodra, and we think that if we can offer alliance with both Melrae and T'sarran, it might prove tempting for them," she said. "We think, though we can't tell for sure, that they're followers of Indran."
"Two mage houses together," Gaussra said. "If we form an alliance, Xalyth will certainly not be amused. So where do we begin? Indran and Ellistraee have always gotten along. We have a few differences, but less so than Lloth and Indran."
Imryne nodded, pleased. "I'll send a message to Oblodra Pellanistra, tell her that Melrae and T'sarran would like to talk alliance. If we get even a slightly warm reception, I'll consider it a success for the moment. Their house and hours do have similar interests, I just have to manage to hint at it without giving it all away. If nothing else, we have common enemies, though Oblodra seems to not worry themselves much about those."
"With that many mages, I wouldn't worry that much either, or at least a lot less," Gaussra said. "Let me know how it goes, but you have, as always, our full support."
"Thank you, Gaussra," Imryne said. They said their goodbyes, collected Ilfryn, and went back home. Imryne spent the next hour composing a message to House Oblodra, finally settling on a message that said, after the usual formal greetings, House Melrae and House T'sarran would like to speak of the possibility of alliance with you, as we have interests in common and resources that may be more effective if we work together.
A reply came soon after. Respect to houses Melrae and T'sarran. A meeting time one hour before last meal is the best time for House Oblodra. Please bring representatives from both houses. Respect, Oblodra Pellanistra.
It was a more positive response than Imryne had ever imagined they would get. Imryne arranged to meet T'sarran Jhulae and her guards at the gate of House Oblodra at the appointed hour, and then commenced fretting herself into knots.
A distraction arrived in the form of another message, this one from Balok. Camp was trapped, we lost many, so did they. Confirmed drow kills, 23. Confirmed illithid kills, 3. On the trail of one that escaped.
"Can he capture it? Or bring back a body. Can you or Tar talk to it dead?" Jevan asked when she told him about the message.
Imryne frowned. "I don't think that illithids even use their mouths to talk. I think they just think at you. But I'll ask him to capture it if he can."
"We could use one to find out what's really going on."
She agreed, and when she sent the request along, Balok responded with, We will try.
Tar came in right afterwards. "I have been with Ulitree," she said, dropping into a chair across from Jevan and Imryne. "Your mother's paranoia was right, she has the same thing Phaere does. A link established. I am still working on who the end is."
Imryne saw how tight Tar's shoulders were, how her expression was so closed that she could barely tell how she was feeling. "Do you think you'll be able to tell?"
She nodded. "Might be a few days, but I am sure I can tell you who. It's just a matter of their next contact with Ulitree."
"Good work, Tar," she said, and got up to hug Tar. Tar returned her hug, but there was still something wrong. "How are you doing, love?" Imryne asked gently.
Tar set her forehead against Imryne's shoulders. "The ache is less, but the anger is more."
"We will get Maya back, Tar," Imryne said.
"I know, I just want her back now and people that took her to die."
She let out a careful breath. "Eventually. Maybe even sooner than eventually. I know it's hard, but we have to try to be patient. Personally, I seriously consider strangling Greyanna with my bare hands every time I see her."
Tar nodded shallowly, but the tension in her small body did not slacken. "I know love, it's tough on you too. Ulitree is a good distraction for now."
Imryne wondered if her wife believed that. But she let it be for the moment, and went to prepare for her meeting with House Oblodra.
(Imryne, in House Oblodra)
The meeting hall of House Oblodra was large, warmed by a magical fire in a massive stone niche at one end, lined with shelves and shelves of books and scrolls. There was a long table in the center that, from the look of it, had been grown out of the stone below by someone talented in shaping stone.
Seconds after they arrived, Oblodra Pellanistra walked in through the doorways at the inner end of the room, flanked by two guards who carried no weapons and wore the white throat-bands of master mages. Pellanistra herself was tall and heavily built, more like a warrior than a mage, but something in how she walked made Imryne suspect that she was handier with a spell than a sword.
She motioned for them to sit, and they did. Pellanistra had her mother's arched eyebrows and high forehead, as well as her long nose. It was a little creepy, Imryne admitted to herself. "Houses Melrae and T'sarran," Pellanistra said abruptly. "An alliance is what you are looking for?"
"Yes, we are. I believe we have at least a few of the same enemies," Imryne said.
"We have very few enemies, but if you are speaking of my mother, then we have one in common," the matron mother said.
"That is who I was thinking of."
Pellanistra snorted. "Don't dance around words, Melrae. Lay it out, what do you need and what do you have to offer?"
Startled, Imryne gaped for a moment and then answered, "An alliance of your house to ours would be enough to make even the most powerful houses sit up and take notice. We have been rising quickly through the ranks. What we need is magical expertise; Greyanna has pet illithids, and we need to find ways to combat them, among other things. What we have to offer is physical strength on Melrae's part, and exchange of magical knowledge on T'sarran's part. Our houses might learn much from each other."
The matron mother's eyes were hooded. "Illithids, fun. But they can be dealt with. What other things?"
"You know that the upper houses create driders, yes?" Imryne asked.
"Yes. Not with much success."
"We are trying to find a way to reverse the process among those it's gone wrong with," Imryne said. "And liberate the mage who is being forced to create new ones."
Sharply, Pellanistra said, "The mage that can create can undo it. Though there's likely a priestess spell of Lloth's in there too, that is more difficult to unravel. You need help with getting him out or unraveling the process?"
"Either will work, though unraveling the process is the easier end to start on," she said. "Those who hold the mage know exactly what they have, and have very likely taken precautions."
"That it or more?"
Imryne quirked her mouth. "A case of induced madness. Done by the same person who is creating the driders. Complete with a connection to let someone else look through the afflicted's eyes. We have no end of pretty puzzles, really."
Pellanistra chuckled. "Nice, in deep Melrae. Fine, we pick and choose what we help with and when. In return, I want three sons of House T'sarran, and when we attack Vandree, your houses will contribute all you can to the effort. Agreed?" She narrowed her eyes, looking at Jevan. "Including the wonder boy behind you, Melrae."
Imryne tried not to show her dismay. Giving three sons to Oblodra would leave House T'sarran with none to spare that were not either dead or already married out. She looked at Jhulae, who appeared to be balancing the figures in her head. Jhulae gave Imryne a nod in return.
"We agree," Imryne said.
Pellanistra smiled. "Done, then. Thank you both. The males, if you would, tomorrow. Tell them that they will be husbands to my daughters and we have a bit different life than they are used to. One woman, one man. They stray, they die."
Jhulae and Imryne exchanged a long look. Then Imryne's mouth twitched again, jus barely, and she said to Pellanistra, "I'm sure Jhulae will be able to explain it to them."
"Good, your illithid problem is where we will start," the matron mother said. "What do you need? Protection from?"
"Yes. And we may well be able to capture one. We need a way to talk to it without letting it speak to others of its own kind."
She nodded sharply. "When you get it, send me a message on where to find it. We will meet you there. I can make it think at you truthfully."
"Soon, I hope," Imryne said.
"Thank you for coming. We will be in touch," Pellanistra said, and got to her feet. With only the barest of leave-taking rituals, they were out the door and then out of the gates.
As the gates of House Oblodra clanged shut behind them, Jhulae muttered, "Pleasant woman."
"I liked her, actually," Imryne said. "She's a nice change from some of the people I have to deal with daily."
"Well, that worked out. I will inform my brothers of their soon to be nearly celibate lives." Jhulae twisted her mouth.
"I feel a bit sorry for them, but I'm sure they'll find some consolations. There's much to learn inside that house," Imryne told her.
Jhulae's nod was slow. "There is. Well, see you in council." She gestured to her guards, and led them away.
Imryne headed in the other direction, towards House Melrae. As she lifted off the ground, heading for the level above, Jevan said, "One step closer."
"A large step," she said. "Let's go home."
But before they made it, Imryne's head rang with the familiar pressure of a message spell. It was Talabrina. Can we meet?
Imryne held a hand up to Jevan, and ducked between a pair of market stalls. She shaped a quiet spell in her mind. Yes, name the place.
The response came quickly. Deep side, place near the slave markets. Kithorn Street.
I'll be there, Imryne sent. To Jevan, she said, "Well, we're off again, this time to meet Talabrina."
"Think it's safe?" Jevan asked.
Imryne snorted gently, and straightened. "Is anything we do safe? No, not really. I was going to stop and tell Tar and Ilfryn where we're going, and maybe get Ilfryn to come with us."
"Or Zyn," he suggested.
"There's an idea. I have no idea what's waiting for us," she said. "Let me go talk to Zyn. If nothing else, that's not exactly the nicest section of town. I also want to drop by my mother's, let her know what's going on."
Back at Melrae, Zyn agreed to follow them at a discreet distance, and Imryne let Tar and Ilfryn know where they were going. She gave her mother an update on Oblodra, what they were doing, and what they had agreed to.
Down in the deep side, on a street that was almost a tunnel from the buildings leaning across the street to touch each other, Talabrina was waiting with one visible guard. Imryne was trying not to jump out of her skin; she still remembered Jevan being kidnapped from a neighborhood better than this one. But there was nothing besides the usual nasty crowd, and Jevan was keeping his distance from everyone but Imryne.
They stepped into a niche made by two buildings meeting at a cockeyed angle, pressed closely enough that they might have been mistaken for lovers meeting. Their respective guards took up positions nearby. "What's going on?" Imryne asked in a low voice.
"You told me you had a baby die, yes?" Talabrina asked. There were lines of strain at the corners of her mouth.
She nodded. "We did, yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Well...not entirely. There was evidently something amiss with the body that was found, but without a ransom demand, we didn't think it was likely to be a kidnapping," she said.
Talabrina took a shaking breath. "I saw today that my mother's sister, the youngest of our family, has a child. She wasn't pregnant a week ago. Especially not with a blue-eyed one."
Imryne smothered her sudden wild hope. "Blue eyes. Yes, if the baby's the right age...that might be her."
"Not walking yet, maybe three skeins at most."
"That's about right, she's about eight months old now," Imryne said. She was shaking, she discovered, and put her hand against the wall to steady herself. Maya. "She might be alive. Well."
"So Greyanna kidnapped your child. Why would she do that?" Talabrina asked.
Imryne looked down, trying to decide how to frame this. "It's...a little complicated. There is a young male in your household who is damaged, yes? Sits in a wheeled chair all day, hardly speaks?"
"Imbros, and what does he have to do with this? They take the child to him and his keeper daily, and they both start screaming."
Goddess, Ryld, Maya... She mastered her shaking shoulders and kept going. "Once upon a time, he was of Melrae. Given to Xalyth by my sister. I thought he, too, had died. He's Maya's older brother. If Greyanna has her, she may hope that he will grow into the same abilities he has."
"Greyanna must have her, and the keeper is doing something to the both of them," Talabrina said, her voice low. "Imbros, I know, has been difficult lately, hence the keeper. If that is his sister, they are torturing her to make him talk."
There was a cold, empty feeling in the pit of Imryne's stomach. "Goddess. And here I thought Greyanna could go no lower."
"If you are going to try to get her out, sooner rather than later," Talabrina said.
"We're working on it. Have you found anything else out about the keeper, what kind of leash is on it?"
Talabrina shook her head. "It seems to be working for my mother. But its body stiffens whenever she is around, like it doesn't like her and it follows one of husbands around. The Melrae husband, actually."
"And here I thought he was just being paranoid. Strange."
"Zeerith, my aunt, seems uncomfortable with this arrangement as well," the other female said, shifting. "Greyanna comes screaming through the hallways shouting for her to bring the baby. Zeerith is...unwilling, to say the least."
"Sounds like a pleasant place to live, all right," Imryne said dryly. "Well, I think we may have to move some things up a bit. Depending on what happens--is there a possibility you could bring Maya out along with your children when we bring you out?"
"That could end in two ways. I will have to kill Zeerith or have to bring her with me. If its the latter, can you accept that?" she asked.
Imryne thought. "What's she like? How similar to Greyanna is she?"
"She was very similar to Greyanna, but she has changed recently," Talabrina told her. "She is currently acting very unlike herself. New child, maybe, only child that she has. Maternal instincts, maybe. If the Imbros and this baby are related, something that this child can do?" she speculated.
"That's somewhat possible. I'll tell you the truth, and say that Zeerith may be problematic for us. If this change in her isn't permanent...there's likely to be trouble. Is Zeerith a priestess at all, or a mage?" Imryne paused, and added, "And you said this is her only child. Is she barren?"
"Priestess of Lloth, yes. She has never had a child, and does not seem to be able to carry one."
And that's why Greyanna thought she might like Maya. Sounds like it's backfiring on her. "I'm not certain if we can accept her into the household. But, if you have to bring her, bring her," Imryne said aloud.
"If you have to kill her, I understand." Talabrina's shoulders were rounded, just a little. "I will do my best, and if I can't get her out with me?"
"Then we have another plan forming for getting Maya out. I would rather have you bring her, but the other way might well work," Imryne told her.
"I will do what I can. If the opportunity arises, I will take her and leave."
It was as much of a promise as Imryne was going to get right now. "Thank you. We'll let you know if the other plan begins to happen."
The other female gave Imryne a tremulous smile. "Time for me to head back, before they find me missing." She left, collecting her guard and slipping off into the crowd.
Imryne nodded to Jevan, who glanced at Zyn. They headed into the crowd, but barely made it ten steps before there was a pressure inside Imryne's head. It was Balok's voice that sounded. We have your illithid, it's still alive for now.
She tried not to look too startled and ducked briefly into a stinking alley. "Where are you, and how long do we have before it dies?" she sent back.
We can make it the gallery of the dead, an hour maybe.
"We will meet you there. I'll be bringing some others with me, I suggest having those you don't need to subdue the creature hidden."
She received acknowledgement, then sent a message to Pellanistra Oblodra. We have the illithid. Meet us at the entrance to the gallery of the dead, as soon as you can. We have limited time. Another acknowledgement, and Imryne stepped out of the alley, to interrogatory looks from both Zyn and Jevan that were alike enough to make Imryne chuckle. "Change of plans. We have a guest at the gallery. Let's go."
Down they went, down the tunnels to the galleries that should be silent but were instead alive with sound, so alive that Imryne wondered if there was carrion down here other than drow bodies sealed behind closed doors. She forgot to wonder when she saw Pellanistra standing over the body of an illithid, its tentacled face writhing feebly. She had the same two mages with her that they had seen before.
There was no sign of Balok. "Greetings, House Oblodra," Imryne said. "Is it still conscious?"
"It is now," Pellanistra said. The illithid stirred, opened pupilless green-black eyes. Its skin was slick with fluid, either mucus or whatever passed for blood with it. "It needed some tending to get it to that point, but it could survive these wounds now."
"And it'll answer questions truthfully?" she asked.
"It will in a minute." Pellanistra gestured at one of her mages, who swiftly knelt by the illithid's side and took two of the tentacles that surrounded its beaklike mouth, which wriggled in a fashion that suggested panic. The mage started to cast, and Imryne listened; it was like no spell she had ever heard, and as she watched she saw that the mage's throat-band was glowing softly, silver threads that had previously been invisible in the fabric shining like starlight. Indran was mentioned by name in the entwined spell that the male was casting, and if Imryne had not known before about the religious leanings of House Oblodra, she did now.
She could not keep her eyes off the male, fascinated not by his looks but by the magic he was casting. Finally, he looked up and nodded to Pellanistra. "Go ahead, my son will find your answers," the matron mother said.
Imryne smiled in thanks. "I want to know the entire truth of the illithids' deal with House Xalyth," she said to the nameless son.
The illithid's eyes rolled, and the son answered. "Food, protection from the houses that wish to destroy us in exchange for one of us to probe the mind of a child and probe the minds of the cities of drow. House Xalyth will provide a barrier around our current territory to guard against any future problems after we have helped eliminate the problem houses."
"And the food? Is it just orcs, or are they providing something else?" Imryne asked.
The answer from the son's mouth sounded reluctant. "When the houses fall, we will receive the drow that survive if any and any future houses that are problems we may consume them as well."
"There is one of your number residing in house Xalyth. Is it under some sort of control? If so, what control?"
"It is under no control but the threat of House Melrae and Xalyth's pledge to protect us." The voice sounded strange, somehow. Imryne supposed that illithids would have alien emotions, or that the son was not conveying quite everything. "If it fails to do as Xalyth wants, then we will be destroyed by Xalyth enemies."
Imryne narrowed her eyes. "Is it truly a member of the third sex?"
"It is," was the answer.
"Why does it not want to have contact with Xalyth Greyanna?"
The creature's hands opened and closed, fruitlessly grasping. "Xalyth Greyanna is forcing it to actions it finds disgusting."
"Such as?" she asked.
The illithid's green-black, depthless eyes opened and looked at her, and Imryne found herself somehow feeling small under that gaze. It was a feeling she did not like, one bit. "Ripping information from the minds of drow young," the son said.
Imryne forced her anger down and away, forcing it quiet. "Would the illithids be open to a new agreement, with a new house, if it were more advantageous?"
Clench of gloved hands; unclench. "We only are looking to survive from the drow monsters."
Well, if they are monsters to us, we must be monsters to them, she thought with dark humor. "What would be a better guarantee of survival? A pact of nonaggression? If there was an agreement that the changed ones would not attack your home?"
There was a pause, a long one. "The drow lie even to themselves in their minds. We know Xalyth is bad but they are the strongest. If we align with another house, against them, we will die. No drow house will protect us for an agreement. If we stop helping Xalyth they will kill us all. Only the destruction of Xalyth would be our hope of survival."
Imryne blinked, and then considered the creature under the hands of the son of House Oblodra carefully. "And until Xalyth falls, you cannot make agreements with other houses. Is there a chance for you to move so that Xalyth could not find you? Or are places you can live too rare? And if you found a place, would you go?"
"Finding such a place is rare. We have been looking. Yes, we would go."
Was she really contemplating what she thought she was? Yes. Goddess, what have you brought me? "Do you know why the one in House Xalyth is following one of Greyanna's husbands around?" she asked.
The son frowned, opening his mouth and closing it, seeming to be casting about for the proper words. "It gives information from its mind that is truth, as it knows it."
"And the one in the house...enjoys this?" she asked, taken aback.
"It seeks understanding, and sees hope for your species."
Sorn, Sorn, I am so sorry. You are a far better person than I ever gave you credit for. "Does it understand that it is frightening that one nearly to death?"
"It does, but its mind is cracking anyway. Soon it will spill its secrets to Greyanna, about the religious war that exists betweens the houses of Xalyth and Melrae." The son's voice paused, then added, "Ours seeks to kill it before that happens."
Imryne nodded, feeling a swift sorrow. "About what it is being made to do--pulling information from the minds of drow young. It would stop this, if it could?"
"If possible, yes. The young should not be involved in such things, no matter what species."
"Would it assist in placing them out of reach, if no blame would fall on it?" Imryne asked carefully.
The son nodded, and Imryne saw that the illithid's tentacles had wrapped loosely around the hands that were holding them, in a grip that looked oddly tentative. "It would, then there would be no reason for us to be inside."
"Is there a way to contact that one?"
"We are always in contact with all," it said.
They had an audience, then, of much more than those who were here. Imryne took a shaky breath. "So speak to one, speak to you all. How much of what you see is reported to Greyanna?"
"Very little," the son said, and there was just the edge of disdain in his voice.
"Does she know she is getting very little from you?" she asked.
"She thinks the child Ryld is withholding but he is not, he can't withhold," the son said. "It is we that withhold, and that causes pain to the child Ryld and the child Maya."
Imryne fought the urge to double over, and wished desperately right now that she could step into Jevan's embrace, enjoy a few minutes of silence before continuing with this interview. But there was no recourse to that, not with house Oblodra watching. "I understand. So she blames Ryld, but it is really your working."
"It is, but we have no choice." Was that really regret in the son's voice? Were illithids capable of feeling that emotion? "It reveals that which House Melrae is and they will attack to destroy, then they will turn their attention to us and we will be destroyed. Her mind has already said that. We seek only stability and balance, to save our race."
"Then the solution is to remove the children. Easier said than done, but we will find a way," she said.
"The collective wishes the same," the son said, and the embrace that the tentacles that wrapped his wrist was held in was no longer tentative. "Heal me, and I will be your contact in your house. The mind to the other."
Imryne could not hide her brief gape. Oh dear goddess, my mother is going to kill me dead if I do this. But still. An alliance with the illithids would be genuinely useful, and she thought that they might have goals truly in common. She glanced at Pellanistra. "You're sure it tells the truth?"
"It can not lie," she replied, and her demeanor was calm, solid as a rock face.
She returned her attention to the illithid, meeting its eyes. "Do your people hold to agreements they have made? Do you have things you consider holy, to swear on?"
"Our honor is our life," the son replied.
"Then would you swear not to harm any of the house, once inside?" she asked. "I understand that you need living food, but that can be arranged."
A pause, this time longer. "The collective agrees. We will help you, to help ourselves."
Imryne nodded. "And you pass on nothing you learn from us to Xalyth, or to any other house."
"We agree."
She breathed out. "I will heal what I can, and call for help if your injuries are beyond what I can manage," Imryne said. The son released the illithid's tentacles, and Imryne came to crouch by the illithid. First Ulitree, now an illithid, she thought, a little amused.
She checked its wounds, and then called on the goddess, asking for help. The power flowed into her hands, and the illithid's wounds closed the rest of the way. It sat up, and she got to her feet and offered it a hand, which it took.
Its hand had three fingers, she realized, and it was that and not the writhing tentacles that now hid its beak or the slippery-looking skin on its head that set all of her nerves screaming alien! She gritted her teeth and willed the panic to go. She wondered if it had the same reaction to her, if the way the skin of its scalp rippled slightly was a sign of panic or disgust.
"Stay close to me," she told it. "I need to disguise you."
It nodded, and Pellanistra and her son--sons, she thought, though the older one might be a husband--departed silently. Back to House Melrae they went, Jevan at her left, the illithid at her right, Zyn a silently disapproving glower behind them.
(The Lady Of Pain Dramatis Personae)
Imryne, of House Melrae
Book Two: The Lady Of Pain
Chapter Six: Comfortless Hours
Ah thy people, thy children, thy chosen,
Marked cross from the womb and perverse!
They have found out the secret to cozen
The gods that constrain us and curse;
They alone, they are wise, and none other;
Give me place, even me, in their train,
O my sister, my spouse, and my mother,
Our Lady of Pain.
For the crown of our life as it closes
Is darkness, the fruit thereof dust;
No thorns go as deep as a rose’s,
And love is more cruel than lust.
Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives.
And pale from the past we draw nigh thee,
And satiate with comfortless hours;
And we know thee, how all men belie thee,
And we gather the fruit of thy flowers;
The passion that slays and recovers,
The pangs and the kisses that rain
On the lips and the limbs of thy lovers,
Our Lady of Pain.
--Swinburne, Dolores
(Imryne, in House Melrae)
Imryne padded around the main room in the set in a robe and bare feet, thinking. She heard muffled thumps from the roof, where Jevan was doing his usual morning exercises, and soft noises from behind the doors of the childrens' rooms.
She needed to tell the children about Ulitree before they saw her; otherwise, at least Lesrak and Faeryl were still young enough to be honest about their initial reactions to her. She sighed; Challay would be the easiest, and from the sound of it, she was getting dressed.
There was a sound behind her, and Imryne turned to see Jevan come in the window, landing on the floor with a precisely controlled movement, his coat settling around him as he turned off the flight on it. She came over to kiss him, smelling the sweat on him, mixed with the smell of lovemaking that still clung to him this morning. "Need help?" he asked her.
She must have had a look on her face that had given away her trepidation. "Actually, yes. Could you go wake up Ulitree for me? I need to talk to the children about her, and then I'd like them to meet her."
"I will get her, and get her dressed," he said. "You go talk to the kids." Imryne nodded and went to talk to Challay. She tailored the explanation of her to each child, warning them that she looked strange and emphasizing the need to not even tell their cousins about her. Then she brought them out into the main room of the set, and Jevan led Ulitree out.
She was wearing an old, much-mended work shirt of Ilfryn's with holes cut for her spider legs, and an skirt of Faeryl's that that waist could be adjusted to accommodate the spider legs coming from her hips. She hid briefly behind Jevan, but she came out when she was introduced to Lesrak, Faeryl, and Challay. Faeryl had to stifle a gasp, and Challay bit her lip in a familiar gesture. Lesrak, however, was fascinated by this shabby, strange little girl, though he kept his questions to himself for the moment. "Off with you three now," she said. "Go have first meal with your grandmother. Tell her I'll be in to talk with her afterwards."
They nodded and left, Lesrak pausing to find an errant shoe. Jevan and Imryne sat down, and gestured at one of the chairs in the main room of the set. Ulitree sat gingerly, her spider legs drawn in close to her body and transparent eyelids flicking across the surface of her faceted eyes nervously. "Can I ask you a few questions, Ulitree?" Imryne asked. Ulitree nodded. "Can you tell us a little bit about what happened to you, how you ended up living with the outcasts?"
The girl took a sharp breath. "My childminder took me out of my bed one night and took me downstairs. We met with a male and his friends. She gave me to them. I had a gag on and I was taken to another house. I stayed there for a day, I think. Then I was moved to another house." Her voice was soft, uncertain, and she searched both Imryne and Jevan's faces, for what she didn't know. "There was a male there, his face was kind but he was forced to give us stuff and we were forced to drink it. Then a lady came and cast things on us. Then I started to change.
The kind face gave me another drink and said this was the last one. My eyes wouldn't close and I could hear but I couldn't move. He said I was dead along with a bunch of others, we were tossed down a chute that runs into out of the city. It was slimy from dead people rotting." She was shivering, just a little. "I landed in a pile of people and things. I tried to cry but couldn't and then suddenly I blinked. I sat up and others were sitting up and then Balok came and took me to his people. I started changing the next day. The legs came and my eyes changed."
"Did the others go with Balok, too?" Imryne asked.
Ulitree nodded. "They did. All males, one was very close to drider just missing two legs. But he was already formed."
Imryne considered this. "Do you know the names of the two houses you were taken to, or did you see any house symbols?"
"First one was Claddeth, second was Kilsek," she said. "From the house symbols we learned in school."
"Who was forcing the man with the kind face to give you things? Was it the lady you mentioned?" she asked.
At the mention of the lady, Ulitree's face went silent and still. "Yes. The one casting spells. Her name was Eleria or something like that."
"Can you tell me anything else about the man? Did he say anything to you?"
"He said he was sorry. The lady called him Chakos, I think," Ulitree said.
"Well, then. You'll stay here for a little while at least, we're going to try to figure out how to get you back to the way you were," she said. "Let's get you settled in your room and find you some books."
After Ulitree was settled, Imryne went to peek into the bedroom. Tar and Ilfryn were awake, and had evidently been listening. "I need a bath, and then I need to go talk to my mother," she said. Should we all go use the bathing room?"
Tar stretched, and there was a look on her face that Imryne had not seen for a while, a sort of sleek contentedness and fulfillment. "You two go first," she said. "I want to lie here for a little longer."
Imryne laughed and she and Jevan went to take a bath, which took a bit longer than Imryne had expected due to Jevan talking her into a bit of lovemaking while they were bathing. But she did present herself after first meal to her mother, still a bit damp but at least clean. "Mother, I have some...interesting news," she said once they were seated.
"You usually do," Triel said dryly.
"The outcasts have been growing in number quite a bit since the last time I saw them. They even tried to make a young female into one of them. They also know where the camp of the transformed and of the collective is, and will be dealing with the transformed." She firmed her jaw a bit. "The leader of the outcasts asked me to bring the girl back with us, partially for her own safety, and partially as an advantage to us. She should be able to see through the illithids' drow disguises. I brought her into the house last night."
She could see Triel's eyes widen, taken aback. "What did you have to promise them?"
"I promised them that we would find a cure for them," she said. "They understand that it will probably take decades."
"Interesting as well," her mother said, "How badly deformed is the girl, and do you know who she is?"
"It's not as bad as it might be," Imryne said. "She's mobile, and still intelligent. She has two spider legs coming out from her hips, another pair under her arms, and her eyes are multi-faceted. She's about Nendra's age. Her name is Ulitree, of House Noquar."
Triel's eyes narrowed, and Imryne could almost see her thinking. "Noquar gave up a daughter? Willingly or unwillingly?"
"Unwillingly, I think. She says her nanny took her from her bed in the middle of the night and gave her to, she says, a man and his friends. They brought her to Claddeth, who then took her to Kilsek. That sounds like a kidnapping, to me." She swallowed. "It also sounds like what happened to Ryld, in a way."
Her mother nodded. "Time to do something disgusting. Let's think like Greyanna and Elerra."
"I hate doing that, it always makes me feel so dirty afterwards," Imryne said. "You're trying to make a better breed of drider, and the thought occurs that maybe you're not using the right sex of drow to start with. So you need a female, one that either nobody will miss or that you think will adapt particularly well to the change. You can't use any of the females of your own house, so you look outside. So, why kidnap the daughter of another house? A hostage?"
Triel's eyes slitted briefly in amusement, and then her serious demeanor returned. "That's interesting but not where I was going. You need a spy in the house of Melrae. You don't want to use your own daughter, so you force another house to steal a daughter. Why use a daughter? Because you know the outcasts can't keep her. They are all male, and the house you are wanting to get into just lost a daughter. Sympathy? I would doubt she or the outcasts even know, but now you have a spy inside your enemies' bedroom."
Imryne sat frozen, and her mind went over the logic of it. She sighed, and her shoulders rounded. This is why she is the matron mother. "You're right. I'd hate to try to give her back to her house, though. I don't know if they'd even keep her alive."
"I doubt it. I hate to say that you are going to have to keep her isolated." Triel's voice made it clear that this was not merely a suggestion but an order. "She may not be a spy but she might well be. You or Tar or even Ilfryn may be able to tell if she is connected like Phaere is."
"If she is, well, we have rooms she can live in," she said. "What I want to know is how Xalyth or Kilsek found out that we have a connection to the outcasts, if they have."
Triel shook her head. "I would bet they found out Chakos was dumping still living people out, and they followed them. Or they inserted a spy into the outcasts."
"Either is a possibility. Or Greyanna made Ryld tell her," Imryne said. "The illithid, maybe. In which case, the attack against the transformed may not go as planned."
"May send them into a trap," Triel said contemplatively.
Imryne nodded, chewing briefly on the inside of her cheek as she thought. "Well, we've possibly been outmaneuvered. How to salvage the situation, though? I could contact them and call them back, tell them they may be compromised."
"No, let them go this time, I think," Triel said gently. "It's cruel, maybe, but any damage they can do to Xalyth is to our benefit, and death may be better than the life they lead."
She thought of Balok, the look on his half-transformed face when he had asked for a cure. She nodded shallowly. "I feel like I've failed them."
"Even if you can save just her and any future outcasts, you have saved them. Life down there is hard. In the decades to come, how many would have survived to see a cure?"
She sighed, giving in. "Not many. And until the upper houses fall, there will always be more."
"Yes, there will be," Triel said. "And if you do find a cure, we can add all those loyal males to our house. And that will be very unnerving to all the rest."
"It will, won't it?" Imryne said. Right now, she liked the idea of unnerving the upper houses. "The other thing we should watch for is if Ulitree is a spy and it's believed she's not being effective, Greyanna may just tell Noquar that we have their daughter. I don't even know if she's a daughter of the mother, or a granddaughter."
"That's true but we can hide her. They will have to tear down our walls to find her," Triel said, and her tone said let them try. "Something that they may wish to do, but without proof they will not. It may cause a rift between us and Noquar if they believe her. But they are Lloth and we aren't; the rift exists anyway." She paused, taking a long breath. "Anything else, daughter? How do you feel?"
"A bit of a fool, to be honest," she said, ducking her head a little. "I should have seen the danger Ulitree represented. Instead, all I saw was a little girl who's been badly mistreated. I hate being forced to be paranoid like this."
"The end to the paranoia is what we fight for," Triel said. "We are closer now than we have been in centuries."
"We are. Still quite some distance away, though."
"Yes but even if we fail--if the house survives they will carry on." Triel said, with absolute conviction. "Fanaedar will someday be ours again for the goddess, the right one."
"It will be." Imryne took a long breath. "And then what? Have we learned any lessons from the Lloth houses taking over, other than how to be paranoid like them?"
Triel gave Imryne a penetrating look. "Then we try another way," she said. "Even if we have to rule like Xalyth does, we will still temper it with emotion and less greed. If we follow the tenets of Ellistraee and try not to stray, life will be better for all."
Imryne shifted in her seat, and tried not to frown. There were so many other questions--but now was not the time. "I hope so, at least. It's why I'm still down here, working towards this. I wish it were possible for us to live with the Lloth people, but it's not."
"I have never found a way," her mother said. "If we lose, we will do as Arabani did. Escape to the surface and live among the elves."
"It can be done. I wish it were safe for you to leave the house, Mother. I'd like you to meet Jevan's family some day."
Her mother's fingers went to the sapphire and emerald ring on her hand, and she rubbed the gems. "Someday, daughter, but I am a prisoner much like Tar. As are all the matron mothers."
It was one of the central contradictions of life here, that the females with the most power also had the least personal freedom. It had been centuries since Triel had stepped outside of the compound for reasons other than the burial rites of her sons that had died, and on rare occasions for ritual. Imryne swallowed, thinking of the trap that House Melrae would become should Triel die and leave her as matron mother. "That's something I hope to change," she said quietly. Else I may go mad.
"I hope so, it would be nice to walk the city without a contingent of bodyguards," Triel said, a bit wistfully. She had friends in other households that she now only corresponded with by letter instead of going to see. Imryne thought of her mother, tried to imagine her Challay's age, running with her friends and playing the games of love that all children played before they settled down with lovers.
"We'll see," Imryne said. She got up to hug her mother. "I'll get Ulitree moved."
"Good luck, daughter," Triel said, and Imryne thanked her and was off. She spoke to the house staff about having a room like Phaere's set up, complete with locks on the door, and then went to take Ulitree to her new, hopefully temporary, home. A childminder was assigned to her, as well as a pair of guards.
Once she was done with moving Ulitree, she went to find Tar, Ilfryn, and Jevan. Ilfryn was in conference with some of the house mages in the communal laboratories, Jevan was drilling with the house guards, and Imryne spent almost half of a bell looking for Tar before discovering her helping with the repainting of the ceiling of the largest of Melrae's Ellistraee sanctuaries. She floated when she saw Imryne, coming over to give her a hug. She had a dab of paint on her nose.
Imryne brought everyone back to the set, and Tar washed up and joined them. "I just spoke to my mother about Ulitree," Imryne said. "There's a good chance I wasn't nearly paranoid enough last night."
"No?" Tar asked.
"Mother pointed out a perfectly plausible chain of events where Ulitree is like Phaere, able to let someone from Kilsek or Xalyth look through her eyes," she said. "She's potentially a spy, though an unwitting one."
Jevan said, "Should have thought of that. It makes sense. Which is why you moved her. Now what?"
"Now, we keep her in the house, but not in these rooms, and let Tar continue to try to bring her back to what she was. And perhaps find out if she does have a connection to someone--and if we can use that connection for our own ends."
Tar nodded. "I think I can find a way to see if she has a connection, and who to." She sighed. "It will take awhile for a cure, I am sure. She may be fully grown by the time I can get rid of it. Lloth's work in these. All the mage spells that could reverse it are useless."
"I'd volunteer to help, but for the moment I'm not nearly a good enough priestess to be of any real use," Imryne said. "As long as she's not a spy, a cure can take as long as it takes, and she can grow up here."
"I will work on it," Tar said.
Ilfryn had been watching the rest of them silently, and spoke up now. "I will have your potions ready by the time you meet with Sorn again. I am wondering about the target, though. All the new mates to Greyanna are allies of ours. We will be killing a lot of our allies' family and the blame could fall on another house."
"We don't have to use them until the time is right, and maybe Sorn would have an idea of who the latest torture victim of Greyanna is," Jevan said. "I would bet that Vandree is that list."
"Might well be," Imryne said. "We can wait for an opening, there. Though...interesting. There's an idea in there, about the one daughter of Greyanna's who is still in Xalyth and that Greyanna talks to. I'm not sure it would work, though, and it would be a lot to ask of our contact."
"To use her and kill Greyanna's last daughter?" Jevan asked.
She nodded. "And possibly Greyanna with her. It would have to be very, very carefully framed, though. But it's an idea to look at. It would make Greyanna nervous, and I wonder how much more nervous Greyanna can get before she falls apart? I'll listen for an opening, there. Talabrina needs to have no real idea what she's doing."
"Too many illithids wandering around for her to know for sure," he said. "What do we focus on? There is too much going on."
"Maya," Tar said instantly.
Imryne reached out to Tar, stroked her forehead, her hand brushing the tip of Tar's ear. "I have to agree, there. We need to find out how Greyanna is holding that illithid. Once we find that out, other things will fall into place."
"Sounds like a mutual thing, Jevan said. "But the illithids have to be getting more than food from this deal."
"Xalyth must be promising them something. What do illithids want? Territory, possibly better or tastier food..." Imryne shuddered a bit. "Maybe trying to give them a way to breed faster, or giving them magic they don't already have. Mother was also speculating that us sending the outcasts against the transformed was engineered by Xalyth. Maybe that's part of it. Or maybe they're promising a section of the city to them."
"I don't know, we might need one to talk to," Ilfryn said.
"There's an unappetizing prospect. Even if we capture one, is there any way to keep it from talking to its fellows?"
Ilfryn shook his head. "I don't know." The other two were shaking their head, as well.
"Who would know? Anyone in T'sarran?" Imryne asked.
"My mother, maybe," Ilfryn said thoughtfully. "Oblodra, probably."
"Well, there's something to do. I can see if T'sarran is willing to join in an alliance between us and Oblodra. Oblodra likes magic, and they'd probably enjoy the prospect of allying with the other well-known mage house. I'd like to see if they might be interested."
"If Melrae needs it, Mother will do all she can," Ilfryn said.
"I'll ask them, and then send a message to Oblodra." She stretched. "Might as well do that now."
And so it passed that Imryne and Jevan and Ilfryn went to House T'sarran. Ilfryn stayed long enough to kiss his mother hello, and then went to see his brothers and sisters. T'sarran Gaussra invited them into a reception room in the outer house, and they all sat down together.
Imryne had always liked Gaussra, who was older than Triel by a few centuries. Ilfryn took after her strongly, both in looks and in her calm, thoughtful temperament. "House Melrae sends its regards. I've come to talk with you about a matter of alliance," Imryne said.
Gaussra looked interested. "We have one. So another?"
"Another, yes. We're looking for an alliance with house Oblodra, and we think that if we can offer alliance with both Melrae and T'sarran, it might prove tempting for them," she said. "We think, though we can't tell for sure, that they're followers of Indran."
"Two mage houses together," Gaussra said. "If we form an alliance, Xalyth will certainly not be amused. So where do we begin? Indran and Ellistraee have always gotten along. We have a few differences, but less so than Lloth and Indran."
Imryne nodded, pleased. "I'll send a message to Oblodra Pellanistra, tell her that Melrae and T'sarran would like to talk alliance. If we get even a slightly warm reception, I'll consider it a success for the moment. Their house and hours do have similar interests, I just have to manage to hint at it without giving it all away. If nothing else, we have common enemies, though Oblodra seems to not worry themselves much about those."
"With that many mages, I wouldn't worry that much either, or at least a lot less," Gaussra said. "Let me know how it goes, but you have, as always, our full support."
"Thank you, Gaussra," Imryne said. They said their goodbyes, collected Ilfryn, and went back home. Imryne spent the next hour composing a message to House Oblodra, finally settling on a message that said, after the usual formal greetings, House Melrae and House T'sarran would like to speak of the possibility of alliance with you, as we have interests in common and resources that may be more effective if we work together.
A reply came soon after. Respect to houses Melrae and T'sarran. A meeting time one hour before last meal is the best time for House Oblodra. Please bring representatives from both houses. Respect, Oblodra Pellanistra.
It was a more positive response than Imryne had ever imagined they would get. Imryne arranged to meet T'sarran Jhulae and her guards at the gate of House Oblodra at the appointed hour, and then commenced fretting herself into knots.
A distraction arrived in the form of another message, this one from Balok. Camp was trapped, we lost many, so did they. Confirmed drow kills, 23. Confirmed illithid kills, 3. On the trail of one that escaped.
"Can he capture it? Or bring back a body. Can you or Tar talk to it dead?" Jevan asked when she told him about the message.
Imryne frowned. "I don't think that illithids even use their mouths to talk. I think they just think at you. But I'll ask him to capture it if he can."
"We could use one to find out what's really going on."
She agreed, and when she sent the request along, Balok responded with, We will try.
Tar came in right afterwards. "I have been with Ulitree," she said, dropping into a chair across from Jevan and Imryne. "Your mother's paranoia was right, she has the same thing Phaere does. A link established. I am still working on who the end is."
Imryne saw how tight Tar's shoulders were, how her expression was so closed that she could barely tell how she was feeling. "Do you think you'll be able to tell?"
She nodded. "Might be a few days, but I am sure I can tell you who. It's just a matter of their next contact with Ulitree."
"Good work, Tar," she said, and got up to hug Tar. Tar returned her hug, but there was still something wrong. "How are you doing, love?" Imryne asked gently.
Tar set her forehead against Imryne's shoulders. "The ache is less, but the anger is more."
"We will get Maya back, Tar," Imryne said.
"I know, I just want her back now and people that took her to die."
She let out a careful breath. "Eventually. Maybe even sooner than eventually. I know it's hard, but we have to try to be patient. Personally, I seriously consider strangling Greyanna with my bare hands every time I see her."
Tar nodded shallowly, but the tension in her small body did not slacken. "I know love, it's tough on you too. Ulitree is a good distraction for now."
Imryne wondered if her wife believed that. But she let it be for the moment, and went to prepare for her meeting with House Oblodra.
(Imryne, in House Oblodra)
The meeting hall of House Oblodra was large, warmed by a magical fire in a massive stone niche at one end, lined with shelves and shelves of books and scrolls. There was a long table in the center that, from the look of it, had been grown out of the stone below by someone talented in shaping stone.
Seconds after they arrived, Oblodra Pellanistra walked in through the doorways at the inner end of the room, flanked by two guards who carried no weapons and wore the white throat-bands of master mages. Pellanistra herself was tall and heavily built, more like a warrior than a mage, but something in how she walked made Imryne suspect that she was handier with a spell than a sword.
She motioned for them to sit, and they did. Pellanistra had her mother's arched eyebrows and high forehead, as well as her long nose. It was a little creepy, Imryne admitted to herself. "Houses Melrae and T'sarran," Pellanistra said abruptly. "An alliance is what you are looking for?"
"Yes, we are. I believe we have at least a few of the same enemies," Imryne said.
"We have very few enemies, but if you are speaking of my mother, then we have one in common," the matron mother said.
"That is who I was thinking of."
Pellanistra snorted. "Don't dance around words, Melrae. Lay it out, what do you need and what do you have to offer?"
Startled, Imryne gaped for a moment and then answered, "An alliance of your house to ours would be enough to make even the most powerful houses sit up and take notice. We have been rising quickly through the ranks. What we need is magical expertise; Greyanna has pet illithids, and we need to find ways to combat them, among other things. What we have to offer is physical strength on Melrae's part, and exchange of magical knowledge on T'sarran's part. Our houses might learn much from each other."
The matron mother's eyes were hooded. "Illithids, fun. But they can be dealt with. What other things?"
"You know that the upper houses create driders, yes?" Imryne asked.
"Yes. Not with much success."
"We are trying to find a way to reverse the process among those it's gone wrong with," Imryne said. "And liberate the mage who is being forced to create new ones."
Sharply, Pellanistra said, "The mage that can create can undo it. Though there's likely a priestess spell of Lloth's in there too, that is more difficult to unravel. You need help with getting him out or unraveling the process?"
"Either will work, though unraveling the process is the easier end to start on," she said. "Those who hold the mage know exactly what they have, and have very likely taken precautions."
"That it or more?"
Imryne quirked her mouth. "A case of induced madness. Done by the same person who is creating the driders. Complete with a connection to let someone else look through the afflicted's eyes. We have no end of pretty puzzles, really."
Pellanistra chuckled. "Nice, in deep Melrae. Fine, we pick and choose what we help with and when. In return, I want three sons of House T'sarran, and when we attack Vandree, your houses will contribute all you can to the effort. Agreed?" She narrowed her eyes, looking at Jevan. "Including the wonder boy behind you, Melrae."
Imryne tried not to show her dismay. Giving three sons to Oblodra would leave House T'sarran with none to spare that were not either dead or already married out. She looked at Jhulae, who appeared to be balancing the figures in her head. Jhulae gave Imryne a nod in return.
"We agree," Imryne said.
Pellanistra smiled. "Done, then. Thank you both. The males, if you would, tomorrow. Tell them that they will be husbands to my daughters and we have a bit different life than they are used to. One woman, one man. They stray, they die."
Jhulae and Imryne exchanged a long look. Then Imryne's mouth twitched again, jus barely, and she said to Pellanistra, "I'm sure Jhulae will be able to explain it to them."
"Good, your illithid problem is where we will start," the matron mother said. "What do you need? Protection from?"
"Yes. And we may well be able to capture one. We need a way to talk to it without letting it speak to others of its own kind."
She nodded sharply. "When you get it, send me a message on where to find it. We will meet you there. I can make it think at you truthfully."
"Soon, I hope," Imryne said.
"Thank you for coming. We will be in touch," Pellanistra said, and got to her feet. With only the barest of leave-taking rituals, they were out the door and then out of the gates.
As the gates of House Oblodra clanged shut behind them, Jhulae muttered, "Pleasant woman."
"I liked her, actually," Imryne said. "She's a nice change from some of the people I have to deal with daily."
"Well, that worked out. I will inform my brothers of their soon to be nearly celibate lives." Jhulae twisted her mouth.
"I feel a bit sorry for them, but I'm sure they'll find some consolations. There's much to learn inside that house," Imryne told her.
Jhulae's nod was slow. "There is. Well, see you in council." She gestured to her guards, and led them away.
Imryne headed in the other direction, towards House Melrae. As she lifted off the ground, heading for the level above, Jevan said, "One step closer."
"A large step," she said. "Let's go home."
But before they made it, Imryne's head rang with the familiar pressure of a message spell. It was Talabrina. Can we meet?
Imryne held a hand up to Jevan, and ducked between a pair of market stalls. She shaped a quiet spell in her mind. Yes, name the place.
The response came quickly. Deep side, place near the slave markets. Kithorn Street.
I'll be there, Imryne sent. To Jevan, she said, "Well, we're off again, this time to meet Talabrina."
"Think it's safe?" Jevan asked.
Imryne snorted gently, and straightened. "Is anything we do safe? No, not really. I was going to stop and tell Tar and Ilfryn where we're going, and maybe get Ilfryn to come with us."
"Or Zyn," he suggested.
"There's an idea. I have no idea what's waiting for us," she said. "Let me go talk to Zyn. If nothing else, that's not exactly the nicest section of town. I also want to drop by my mother's, let her know what's going on."
Back at Melrae, Zyn agreed to follow them at a discreet distance, and Imryne let Tar and Ilfryn know where they were going. She gave her mother an update on Oblodra, what they were doing, and what they had agreed to.
Down in the deep side, on a street that was almost a tunnel from the buildings leaning across the street to touch each other, Talabrina was waiting with one visible guard. Imryne was trying not to jump out of her skin; she still remembered Jevan being kidnapped from a neighborhood better than this one. But there was nothing besides the usual nasty crowd, and Jevan was keeping his distance from everyone but Imryne.
They stepped into a niche made by two buildings meeting at a cockeyed angle, pressed closely enough that they might have been mistaken for lovers meeting. Their respective guards took up positions nearby. "What's going on?" Imryne asked in a low voice.
"You told me you had a baby die, yes?" Talabrina asked. There were lines of strain at the corners of her mouth.
She nodded. "We did, yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Well...not entirely. There was evidently something amiss with the body that was found, but without a ransom demand, we didn't think it was likely to be a kidnapping," she said.
Talabrina took a shaking breath. "I saw today that my mother's sister, the youngest of our family, has a child. She wasn't pregnant a week ago. Especially not with a blue-eyed one."
Imryne smothered her sudden wild hope. "Blue eyes. Yes, if the baby's the right age...that might be her."
"Not walking yet, maybe three skeins at most."
"That's about right, she's about eight months old now," Imryne said. She was shaking, she discovered, and put her hand against the wall to steady herself. Maya. "She might be alive. Well."
"So Greyanna kidnapped your child. Why would she do that?" Talabrina asked.
Imryne looked down, trying to decide how to frame this. "It's...a little complicated. There is a young male in your household who is damaged, yes? Sits in a wheeled chair all day, hardly speaks?"
"Imbros, and what does he have to do with this? They take the child to him and his keeper daily, and they both start screaming."
Goddess, Ryld, Maya... She mastered her shaking shoulders and kept going. "Once upon a time, he was of Melrae. Given to Xalyth by my sister. I thought he, too, had died. He's Maya's older brother. If Greyanna has her, she may hope that he will grow into the same abilities he has."
"Greyanna must have her, and the keeper is doing something to the both of them," Talabrina said, her voice low. "Imbros, I know, has been difficult lately, hence the keeper. If that is his sister, they are torturing her to make him talk."
There was a cold, empty feeling in the pit of Imryne's stomach. "Goddess. And here I thought Greyanna could go no lower."
"If you are going to try to get her out, sooner rather than later," Talabrina said.
"We're working on it. Have you found anything else out about the keeper, what kind of leash is on it?"
Talabrina shook her head. "It seems to be working for my mother. But its body stiffens whenever she is around, like it doesn't like her and it follows one of husbands around. The Melrae husband, actually."
"And here I thought he was just being paranoid. Strange."
"Zeerith, my aunt, seems uncomfortable with this arrangement as well," the other female said, shifting. "Greyanna comes screaming through the hallways shouting for her to bring the baby. Zeerith is...unwilling, to say the least."
"Sounds like a pleasant place to live, all right," Imryne said dryly. "Well, I think we may have to move some things up a bit. Depending on what happens--is there a possibility you could bring Maya out along with your children when we bring you out?"
"That could end in two ways. I will have to kill Zeerith or have to bring her with me. If its the latter, can you accept that?" she asked.
Imryne thought. "What's she like? How similar to Greyanna is she?"
"She was very similar to Greyanna, but she has changed recently," Talabrina told her. "She is currently acting very unlike herself. New child, maybe, only child that she has. Maternal instincts, maybe. If the Imbros and this baby are related, something that this child can do?" she speculated.
"That's somewhat possible. I'll tell you the truth, and say that Zeerith may be problematic for us. If this change in her isn't permanent...there's likely to be trouble. Is Zeerith a priestess at all, or a mage?" Imryne paused, and added, "And you said this is her only child. Is she barren?"
"Priestess of Lloth, yes. She has never had a child, and does not seem to be able to carry one."
And that's why Greyanna thought she might like Maya. Sounds like it's backfiring on her. "I'm not certain if we can accept her into the household. But, if you have to bring her, bring her," Imryne said aloud.
"If you have to kill her, I understand." Talabrina's shoulders were rounded, just a little. "I will do my best, and if I can't get her out with me?"
"Then we have another plan forming for getting Maya out. I would rather have you bring her, but the other way might well work," Imryne told her.
"I will do what I can. If the opportunity arises, I will take her and leave."
It was as much of a promise as Imryne was going to get right now. "Thank you. We'll let you know if the other plan begins to happen."
The other female gave Imryne a tremulous smile. "Time for me to head back, before they find me missing." She left, collecting her guard and slipping off into the crowd.
Imryne nodded to Jevan, who glanced at Zyn. They headed into the crowd, but barely made it ten steps before there was a pressure inside Imryne's head. It was Balok's voice that sounded. We have your illithid, it's still alive for now.
She tried not to look too startled and ducked briefly into a stinking alley. "Where are you, and how long do we have before it dies?" she sent back.
We can make it the gallery of the dead, an hour maybe.
"We will meet you there. I'll be bringing some others with me, I suggest having those you don't need to subdue the creature hidden."
She received acknowledgement, then sent a message to Pellanistra Oblodra. We have the illithid. Meet us at the entrance to the gallery of the dead, as soon as you can. We have limited time. Another acknowledgement, and Imryne stepped out of the alley, to interrogatory looks from both Zyn and Jevan that were alike enough to make Imryne chuckle. "Change of plans. We have a guest at the gallery. Let's go."
Down they went, down the tunnels to the galleries that should be silent but were instead alive with sound, so alive that Imryne wondered if there was carrion down here other than drow bodies sealed behind closed doors. She forgot to wonder when she saw Pellanistra standing over the body of an illithid, its tentacled face writhing feebly. She had the same two mages with her that they had seen before.
There was no sign of Balok. "Greetings, House Oblodra," Imryne said. "Is it still conscious?"
"It is now," Pellanistra said. The illithid stirred, opened pupilless green-black eyes. Its skin was slick with fluid, either mucus or whatever passed for blood with it. "It needed some tending to get it to that point, but it could survive these wounds now."
"And it'll answer questions truthfully?" she asked.
"It will in a minute." Pellanistra gestured at one of her mages, who swiftly knelt by the illithid's side and took two of the tentacles that surrounded its beaklike mouth, which wriggled in a fashion that suggested panic. The mage started to cast, and Imryne listened; it was like no spell she had ever heard, and as she watched she saw that the mage's throat-band was glowing softly, silver threads that had previously been invisible in the fabric shining like starlight. Indran was mentioned by name in the entwined spell that the male was casting, and if Imryne had not known before about the religious leanings of House Oblodra, she did now.
She could not keep her eyes off the male, fascinated not by his looks but by the magic he was casting. Finally, he looked up and nodded to Pellanistra. "Go ahead, my son will find your answers," the matron mother said.
Imryne smiled in thanks. "I want to know the entire truth of the illithids' deal with House Xalyth," she said to the nameless son.
The illithid's eyes rolled, and the son answered. "Food, protection from the houses that wish to destroy us in exchange for one of us to probe the mind of a child and probe the minds of the cities of drow. House Xalyth will provide a barrier around our current territory to guard against any future problems after we have helped eliminate the problem houses."
"And the food? Is it just orcs, or are they providing something else?" Imryne asked.
The answer from the son's mouth sounded reluctant. "When the houses fall, we will receive the drow that survive if any and any future houses that are problems we may consume them as well."
"There is one of your number residing in house Xalyth. Is it under some sort of control? If so, what control?"
"It is under no control but the threat of House Melrae and Xalyth's pledge to protect us." The voice sounded strange, somehow. Imryne supposed that illithids would have alien emotions, or that the son was not conveying quite everything. "If it fails to do as Xalyth wants, then we will be destroyed by Xalyth enemies."
Imryne narrowed her eyes. "Is it truly a member of the third sex?"
"It is," was the answer.
"Why does it not want to have contact with Xalyth Greyanna?"
The creature's hands opened and closed, fruitlessly grasping. "Xalyth Greyanna is forcing it to actions it finds disgusting."
"Such as?" she asked.
The illithid's green-black, depthless eyes opened and looked at her, and Imryne found herself somehow feeling small under that gaze. It was a feeling she did not like, one bit. "Ripping information from the minds of drow young," the son said.
Imryne forced her anger down and away, forcing it quiet. "Would the illithids be open to a new agreement, with a new house, if it were more advantageous?"
Clench of gloved hands; unclench. "We only are looking to survive from the drow monsters."
Well, if they are monsters to us, we must be monsters to them, she thought with dark humor. "What would be a better guarantee of survival? A pact of nonaggression? If there was an agreement that the changed ones would not attack your home?"
There was a pause, a long one. "The drow lie even to themselves in their minds. We know Xalyth is bad but they are the strongest. If we align with another house, against them, we will die. No drow house will protect us for an agreement. If we stop helping Xalyth they will kill us all. Only the destruction of Xalyth would be our hope of survival."
Imryne blinked, and then considered the creature under the hands of the son of House Oblodra carefully. "And until Xalyth falls, you cannot make agreements with other houses. Is there a chance for you to move so that Xalyth could not find you? Or are places you can live too rare? And if you found a place, would you go?"
"Finding such a place is rare. We have been looking. Yes, we would go."
Was she really contemplating what she thought she was? Yes. Goddess, what have you brought me? "Do you know why the one in House Xalyth is following one of Greyanna's husbands around?" she asked.
The son frowned, opening his mouth and closing it, seeming to be casting about for the proper words. "It gives information from its mind that is truth, as it knows it."
"And the one in the house...enjoys this?" she asked, taken aback.
"It seeks understanding, and sees hope for your species."
Sorn, Sorn, I am so sorry. You are a far better person than I ever gave you credit for. "Does it understand that it is frightening that one nearly to death?"
"It does, but its mind is cracking anyway. Soon it will spill its secrets to Greyanna, about the religious war that exists betweens the houses of Xalyth and Melrae." The son's voice paused, then added, "Ours seeks to kill it before that happens."
Imryne nodded, feeling a swift sorrow. "About what it is being made to do--pulling information from the minds of drow young. It would stop this, if it could?"
"If possible, yes. The young should not be involved in such things, no matter what species."
"Would it assist in placing them out of reach, if no blame would fall on it?" Imryne asked carefully.
The son nodded, and Imryne saw that the illithid's tentacles had wrapped loosely around the hands that were holding them, in a grip that looked oddly tentative. "It would, then there would be no reason for us to be inside."
"Is there a way to contact that one?"
"We are always in contact with all," it said.
They had an audience, then, of much more than those who were here. Imryne took a shaky breath. "So speak to one, speak to you all. How much of what you see is reported to Greyanna?"
"Very little," the son said, and there was just the edge of disdain in his voice.
"Does she know she is getting very little from you?" she asked.
"She thinks the child Ryld is withholding but he is not, he can't withhold," the son said. "It is we that withhold, and that causes pain to the child Ryld and the child Maya."
Imryne fought the urge to double over, and wished desperately right now that she could step into Jevan's embrace, enjoy a few minutes of silence before continuing with this interview. But there was no recourse to that, not with house Oblodra watching. "I understand. So she blames Ryld, but it is really your working."
"It is, but we have no choice." Was that really regret in the son's voice? Were illithids capable of feeling that emotion? "It reveals that which House Melrae is and they will attack to destroy, then they will turn their attention to us and we will be destroyed. Her mind has already said that. We seek only stability and balance, to save our race."
"Then the solution is to remove the children. Easier said than done, but we will find a way," she said.
"The collective wishes the same," the son said, and the embrace that the tentacles that wrapped his wrist was held in was no longer tentative. "Heal me, and I will be your contact in your house. The mind to the other."
Imryne could not hide her brief gape. Oh dear goddess, my mother is going to kill me dead if I do this. But still. An alliance with the illithids would be genuinely useful, and she thought that they might have goals truly in common. She glanced at Pellanistra. "You're sure it tells the truth?"
"It can not lie," she replied, and her demeanor was calm, solid as a rock face.
She returned her attention to the illithid, meeting its eyes. "Do your people hold to agreements they have made? Do you have things you consider holy, to swear on?"
"Our honor is our life," the son replied.
"Then would you swear not to harm any of the house, once inside?" she asked. "I understand that you need living food, but that can be arranged."
A pause, this time longer. "The collective agrees. We will help you, to help ourselves."
Imryne nodded. "And you pass on nothing you learn from us to Xalyth, or to any other house."
"We agree."
She breathed out. "I will heal what I can, and call for help if your injuries are beyond what I can manage," Imryne said. The son released the illithid's tentacles, and Imryne came to crouch by the illithid. First Ulitree, now an illithid, she thought, a little amused.
She checked its wounds, and then called on the goddess, asking for help. The power flowed into her hands, and the illithid's wounds closed the rest of the way. It sat up, and she got to her feet and offered it a hand, which it took.
Its hand had three fingers, she realized, and it was that and not the writhing tentacles that now hid its beak or the slippery-looking skin on its head that set all of her nerves screaming alien! She gritted her teeth and willed the panic to go. She wondered if it had the same reaction to her, if the way the skin of its scalp rippled slightly was a sign of panic or disgust.
"Stay close to me," she told it. "I need to disguise you."
It nodded, and Pellanistra and her son--sons, she thought, though the older one might be a husband--departed silently. Back to House Melrae they went, Jevan at her left, the illithid at her right, Zyn a silently disapproving glower behind them.
