Imryne, of House Melrae: Strange Allies

[aithne]

And this ends The Lady of Pain.

(The Lady Of Pain Dramatis Personae)



Imryne, of House Melrae
Book Two: The Lady Of Pain

Chapter Eight: Strange Allies


Enter.

Imryne paused, hand raised to knock on the illithid's door. Then she dropped her hand and raised the latch, stepping inside. The illithid was sitting at the table, hood raised, only the edges of its tentacles showing underneath.

"Greetings. I had a few questions for you, and a favor to ask," she said.

It raised a gloved, three-fingered hand and gestured at the chair across from it. Please.

She sat down, moving carefully. "I was wondering--I know you can sort through people's memories. Does doing that hurt the one you're doing it to?"

Only if they fight me, it said. And even then that only causes a severe headache for a time. They usually give up quickly.

"Can you tell if someone has a block on certain parts of their memories, or if they've had their mind tampered with?" Imryne asked. The illithid inclined its head silently, it was as much Yes as she was going to get from it. "In that case, the favor I'd like to ask is this. We have someone in the household from an enemy house, who seems to be honest about her intentions in coming here. We suspect a trap. I'd like to bring her in here and have you see if she's been tampered with, and what, if anything, she's hiding from us."

Easily. If you could remain present to ask questions that would be helpful.

Imryne relaxed, just a little. "I was intending to do so, yes."

Just the one? Or others as well? it asked.

She thought about it briefly. "I wonder if my brother would consent. And just to be safe, I should probably bring in Maya to you, as long as you're sure it won't hurt her."

No, it will not hurt her. The illithid's mental voice was firm.

"I'll bring Maya, then, if I can convince her mother it's necessary," she said. Fortunately, Tar was amenable. Jevan, though, was adamant that the illithid come nowhere near his daughter. She finally convinced him to give it a try, saying that they really needed to know if Maya had been tampered with. Imryne hoped that the illithid was telling the truth; if it hurt Maya, it would probably die before Imryne could intervene.

Maya was awake but quiet as Tar carried her into the outer house. "You got so big!" Tar said, fussing fondly. "What were they feeding you?" The infant cooed, seemingly in response, and then made a hiccupping sound like a laugh.

In the illithid's room, Tar stopped by the door, tightening her grip on Maya and shifting uneasily. Jevan was at her shoulder, his eyes hard. She gave Maya over to Imryne easily enough, though she kept an eye on the illithid. Please lay her on the table. I will need to touch her head, I will not harm her.

Imryne laid Maya in the center of the table. The illithid removed its glove, revealing skin leathery and cracked, flaking and dry. She stayed within arm's reach, as did Jevan, just hands on his swords.

The illithid laid its three-fingered hand on Maya's brow. Imryne noticed that it had no fingernails. Maya's eyes snapped open, focusing upward on the creature touching it, and though she did not make a sound Imryne could almost swear she was angry. The illithid flinched. "What's wrong?" Imryne asked, alarmed.

How old is this child? it asked.

"Half a cycle," she said. "Why?"

She has been taught to block and is strong enough to block me and feed the pain back to me. Something normally done only by another illithid.

"Do you know if the one of your kind in Xalyth taught her that? If it wasn't that one, it might have been Ryld."

It paused, as if for thought. The other says no, but he encountered the same problem.

Imryne laid a finger on Maya's soft cheek. "Ryld, would be my guess. And I'm not sure she'd understand if we asked her to let you in. But if she can block you, how likely is it that anyone else would have been able to tamper with her mind?"

Very unlikely. Not with that mind. The illithid paused, and turned its head a little. It seemed to be regarding Jevan with a thoughtful stare, though Imryne couldn't see its eyes. Ask her to trust me. She is afraid of the other one, she thinks I am it.

"Ah," Imryne said, still petting Maya's cheek. The baby looked up at her, blinking. "Maya, little one. This is a different one. Trust it, please? I promise he won't hurt you if you let him in."

There was another small silence, and Imryne heard the rustling of Tar shifting from foot to foot. Jevan kept his eyes on his daughter, and Maya, for her part was watching Imryne now. She has no blocks, nor any memory tamperings. Not for lack of trying by Greyanna though. She was fed a great many potions to loosen her control and the other was forced to batter at her mind.

Maya reached for Imryne's finger, and pulled it into her mouth, gumming it enthusiastically. "And she still managed to resist?" Imryne asked.

Yes, with no damage that I can tell.

She breathed out, watching Maya gnaw on her finger. "Oh, good. We knew she was extraordinary. I didn't suspect how much."

The illithid's body swayed forward. She will be something when she grows up. But for now she is a baby with a very strong mind and will.

"Who is loved very much by her family." Imryne let out a breath, and the illithid took its hand away from Maya. "Well, it's a relief that Greyanna didn't manage to damage her."

Remarkable. Please bring the next, if you would like to continue.

Imryne scooped Maya up and handed her to Jevan, and said, "I'll be back soon." Jevan and Tar kissed her and went back to the set, and Imryne went to get Talabrina.

The guards on her door seemed surprised to see Imryne, but let her through without argument. Talabrina looked surprised as well, and when Imryne handed her a blindfold and told her to put it on, she almost balked.

A look at Imryne's face, though, and she quieted and obediently wrapped the cloth around her head, covering her eyes. Imryne tied it for her, standing close enough to smell her damp hair. "We have someone who will scan your mind to make sure that you have no memory blocks or triggers buried in your mind," Imryne said to her as she led her down the hallway. "Step down here. I've been assured that it won't hurt unless you fight it."

"I understand," Talabrina said quietly. Under the white of the blindfold, her the curve of her cheek down to her pointed chin was lovely, and it was with some discomfort that Imryne noted that she rather liked Talabrina's hand on her arm.

She shook her head to clear it of those thoughts, and took Talabrina to the illithid's room. She at the other woman down, staying standing. What am I looking for? the illithid asked.

"Places where she's been tampered with, memory blocks, actions that may be triggered by whatever spells have been put on her. I can start with some basic questions, if that helps."

Please, it replied. It laid a three-fingered hand on Talabrina's head, and she jumped but didn't make a sound.

"Talabrina, could you tell me about your relationship with your mother?" she asked.

Talabrina did not speak, but Imryne heard the illithid's voice in her head. Terrible fights, beatings, arguments. Much pain.

"What did you fight about?"

Many things, my attitude, my hatred of torture. My dislike of religion. The illithid's voice was changing in Imryne's mind, sounding like Talabrina's.

Imryne cocked her head. "You dislike religion in general, or your mother's in particular?"

Now Talabrina was speaking aloud, her voice echoed inside of Imryne's mind. "I never knew anything but Lloth. I would like to believe in something greater, but not in such an evil, vindictive goddess."

"Were you surprised when you saw the inner house of Melrae?" Imryne asked.

Talabrina was slowly wringing her hands. "I was and wasn't. My mother suspects but can't prove your allegiance to Ellistraee. I was unsure that I would see Ellistraee worshipped here."

"Out of curiosity, do you have any idea why your mother keeps trying to bring my brother Zyn out of House Melrae?"

She took a shallow breath. "She is trying to kill him for a past wrong. I don't know what it is, but she hates him for it."

Unsure what to think, Imryne shifted her stance, drawing in a breath. Talabrina's face turned towards her, just a little, and Imryne thought she saw worry in the set of her lips. "Well, Talabrina. My mother mentioned that you might be trying to hide something from us, something personal. While usually we let people keep their secrets, we can't really in your case. Are you trying to keep something from us?"

The other female shrank back into her chair. "Please, no. It's painful."

Do I proceed? the illithid asked.

Following an impulse, Imryne knelt next to Talabrina's chair and took both of the female's hands in hers. "I'm sorry, Talabrina. I need to know. If it helps, what is shared here will only go beyond this room if it's necessary to protect our house." She nodded to the illithid.

Talabrina's face crumpled, and she began to cry. Her father is of Kilsek House, so her mother told her. Talabrina has had five children, only the last child was not fathered by her own father. This is why she left them behind.

Imryne's breath stopped. Dear goddess, you poor thing. It was one of the things that was not allowed in any drow household, to share lovers between generations in the same house. And none were supposed to be forced to carry children unwilling. There were half-moons of dampness appearing on Talabrina's blindfold, and her shoulders shook. "The last one was fathered by someone else?" she asked quietly.

Yes, it was fathered by a guard, she took him one night to prevent the return of her own father. The illithid's voice was neutral, but Imryne fancied she could hear the edge of sympathy in it. She wanted one child not of an incestuous birth. This one was taken from her by her mother. She assumes it died because it was not her father's child.

And that was the infant that had shown up dead in Phaere's arms. She gathered Talabrina up into her arms, wondering if she was going to object. But far from resisting, Talabrina instead clung to Imryne hard, coming off of her chair and down onto the floor with Imryne. It was almost as if she had never been hugged before. "It's all right, Talabrina. I won't tell anyone unless you want me to," Imryne said, petting Talabrina's hair. To the illithid, she said, "Did you find any indication of memory blocks?"

Her memory is clean and intact. There is more, just a bit. Greyanna was abusing her daughter to see if an incestuous birth could create another Imbros.

Imryne swallowed hard and put her cheek down on the top of Talabrina's head. Is that how Greyanna thinks Imbros came by his differences? Incest? she asked silently.

The illithid rose, looking down on the two of them. From this angle, Imryne could see the writhing tentacles on the lower half of its face, catching glimpses of its beak-like, segmented mouth. She assumes from the light skin it may have been a drow/elven cross but she was testing the possibility that it might not have been. That another could be have been created in this manner.

I know it shouldn't surprise me to know what Greyanna thinks we're capable of, but it often does, Imryne said. She was starting to get the hang of communicating with the illithid without speaking, she thought. So, if she hasn't been tampered with, I think we're done.

She will need help to get through that which I have released, the illithid said, tilting its body slightly to the left.

She wondered what that particular piece of body language meant. What kind of help?

Her mind was holding that back, trying not to deal with it. She was capable of continuing with the secret in check. I have released it, and she is going to think about it more and more, and about abandoning her children.

Talabrina was still clinging to Imryne hard, still crying. And that is going to pull her down into very dark places. I understand.

Yes, I can help if you allow it by either blocking it myself or helping her through the darker places. It is possible, and forgive me for this as I have been treating Phaere, that the potion you gave Phaere may help her as well.

Imryne stiffened and then relaxed. Ah. That. Yes, it would help her, but it's not permanent. It would just buy her time to deal with it. We can give her a dose, if you're willing to help her through the places she's going to need to go. I can help as well, if she'll let me. I have some experience with those places.

If you are willing to risk certain attachments that are already forming, the illithid pointed out.

She glanced down at Talabrina, who had buried her face against Imryne's chest. Attachments?

She already thinks of you as her savior. It would not be long before she believed she was in love with you. You are the first to show her kindness.

Oh. That. Whether or not that love was real, or just infatuation. I understand. I'm willing to risk it.

That is your choice, the illithid said. I suggest a dose of that potion if you have more to spare and then my help daily for a few weeks. If you can speak to her weekly, that would be helpful.

At least that much. All of that can be arranged, she replied.

The illithid bobbed its head briefly. You have another?

I do, if I can convince him. I will be back. "Up, little one," she said aloud, her tone soft. "I want you to meet someone." She pulled Talabrina to her feet, and untied her blindfold.

Talabrina wobbled, and blinked. She shrank back as she recognized the shrouded figure in the room with them for what it was. "But--what--"

"This one volunteered to come live in the house here," Imryne said. "The illithids work for your mother only to save their skins, and we made a deal with them." She smiled briefly. "As well, I think they like to keep an eye on us. It pledged not to harm you, and it has not."

The other female seemed to be regaining her feet, and she gave the illithid a long look. She didn't let go of Imryne's arm. "Oh," she said in a soft voice. "Very well."

Imryne nodded to the illithid and returned Talabrina to her room, trying not to think about the disturbing implications of what the illithid had uncovered. Accidental incest was monstrous enough that there were strong taboos against sharing lovers across generations. To make it deliberate...

She shook her head, nausea rising at the back of her throat. Greyanna was insane, she had known that, but she hadn't known to just what lengths she was willing to go.

Her next stop was to talk to Zyn, and ask him if he would mind having his mind probed, and any memory blocks removed. "I'm curious now," he said, putting away the sword he had been using to teach a group of young warriors a few minutes earlier. "Let's go." Imryne told him that Talabrina had been through the same process as they walked towards the illithid's room. She mentioned that the illithid had uncovered some upsetting but not dangerous information, though she left out what that information had been.

Zyn looked thoughtful as he walked beside her with a warrior's definite gait. He always seemed to take up more space than he really did, and with his build, that was a considerable amount of air occupied by her brother. "I searched her, after she came into the house," he said. "She was afraid--who wouldn't be, considering what had happened?--but she was quiet and didn't resist. I think she'll fit in well once she gets used to it here. Not what I expected from a Xalyth."

"Me either," Imryne said. "Look, we're here."

If Zyn felt any revulsion towards the illithid has he sat down in the chair that Talabrina had occupied, he hid it as well as he hid all of his feelings. The illithid ungloved its hand and laid it on Zyn's forehead. He has two blocks of memory cut off from him.

"Done by the same person?"

Yes, Greyanna and Rauva, it said.

"Either of them likely to hurt him if they're released?" she asked, uneasy.

Both of them will cause a lot of pain. I would suggest that we tie him down if we are to proceed. He may become violent.

Imryne's gaze rested on her brother. "Zyn, your choice. You don't have to do this."

Zyn was looking at the illithid, and glanced up at Imryne. "Better to know than to not. If the first is too painful we can wait on the second."

"All right. We'll tie you down, then." She went to get some rope, and secured Zyn to the table.

"You've got that loop too loose," he pointed out as he tested the bonds. "The one right by my left hand. If I pull too hard I'll come right out."

"Since when are you an authority on being tied up?" she teased him as she retied the knot he'd indicated.

He gave her a sly sidelong look, a glimmer of humor showing in his forever-serious eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."

She laughed and patted the knot. "Better?"

Zyn pulled. "Better. Let's do this."

He will scream a lot, I believe, then he should settle out, the illithid said. I will convey his memories behind the blocks to you.

"Thank you," she said. "Start with one, and if it's too bad, we won't do the other."

The illithid's only response was to lay its hand on Zyn's forehead. The scream that burst from Zyn was like no sound she had ever heard from him, an animal howl of pain and fear, his body convulsing and struggling. Imryne stood and watched, her hands pressed to her mouth, watching her brother's scarred face contort and his body writhe. His long braid flopped over the side of the table.

His screams finally died to whimpers, and then into silence. Imryne put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I think." Zyn's voice was hoarse, a little cracked and ragged.

His memories are returning, the illithid told her. Do you wish to see them, or have me recite them?

"I can see them? I'd like that," she said.

Take my other hand. It extended the appendage, now ungloved, and Imryne put her hand in its. Its skin felt as rough as it looked, and the hand itself was surprisingly large, easily closing around Imryne's.

She closed her eyes, and she was abruptly in Zyn's memories.

"Are you sure we should be in here, Zyn?"

The female was pretty, small, somehow a little familiar. She was standing in the center of a large space with Ellistraee symbols painted and carved on the walls, looking around with an anxious look on her face. "It looks so old, and what if someone catches us?"

Imryne was aware, oddly, of being within Zyn, of how he was standing, how he was feeling towards the female. He loved her, felt protective towards her, was nervous and proud when he looked at her. He was so happy to have brought her down here, pleased to finally share this secret place with someone. "It's fine, Sassandra, no one is going to catch us. It's long been abandoned."

"If someone catches us in an Ellistraee temple, the other houses will kill us," Sassandra said, looking doubtful.

A new voice cracked through the space. "Quite right, Sassandra of Hune." Greyanna stepped into the room through the arched doorway. "And look who is with her. Zyn of Melrae."

Rauva was behind Greyanna, peering anxiously over her shoulder. "Zyn, what are you doing?"

"Kill the Hune, her house is falling as we speak," Greyanna said, and through the doorway poured warriors in the uniforms of both Xalyth and Telenna. They came between Sassandra and Zyn, and Imryne felt his heart pounding as he began killing warriors, trying to get to Sassandra's side. She screamed and fell beneath the swords of the warriors, and Zyn was borne to the ground, struggling, seven warriors holding him down, one with a forearm across Zyn's throat.

"Kill him, too," Greyanna ordered.

Rauva was pulling on Greyanna's arm, fear distorting her face. "No, that will cause more trouble than we can afford, love. Use the memory block on him. He won't remember a thing, including his lover."

Zyn fought, but darkness descended.

He woke in his bed with what felt like a monstrous hangover. There was wailing in the house, and the smell of smoke in the air. House Hune had fallen. And Hune Sassandra no longer existed for him, had never existed. He had never tasted the salt and sweet of her, never touched her soft curves.

There was nothing but his spare, hard room, and the headache.

Imryne surfaced with a gasp. That's the older block. There is another, the illithid said.

She nodded to the illithid, and asked Zyn, "How are you doing?"

His eyes were open, looking up at the ceiling. "The pain is fine, that memory not so good."

Continue?

"It's your call, Zyn. Do you want to go on?"

Zyn nodded, closing his eyes. The illithid's hand touched his forehead again, and this time Zyn screamed a little less and calmed more quickly.

Once again, Imryne opened her eyes to see things from Zyn's perspective. He was following Rauva, who had slipped out of the house during the third period. He didn't know where she was going, but Mother had told him to keep an eye on her, so he would.

Down they went and down, to a place that seemed strangely familiar, a large place that looked like an old temple. He stopped in the doorway and watched as Rauva crossed the floor to meet Greyanna. They murmured to each other, kissing passionately, their dresses beginning to come off.

Zyn's anger was growing and growing. He wasn't sure why he was so angry, but it was burning in him, filming his vision with red. He snarled silently, and Imryne realized that he didn't have the scar. The muscles of his face moved normally.

Without thinking Zyn strode into the old temple, boots ringing on the stone. Rauva gasped and squeaked, jumping away from Greyanna, pulling her dress up over her shoulders. Zyn backhanded Greyanna across the face, sending her spinning away, and his sword almost leaped into his hand, sliding under her throat, leaving a line of blood that beaded and then dripped with blood. "You dare spoil her with your poisons, Xalyth? I will kill you now."

From the side, a blow--Rauva was tall, and as she threw herself at Zyn her weight was enough to send him staggering. "Don't, I love her!" his sister cried.

Zyn shoved Rauva away. "It's incapable of love." He came around advancing on Greyanna, who had scrambled away towards the back wall. The cut on her throat was bleeding freely. He moved, and sword and muscle and bone were all part of the same impulse. He wanted her heart, but she moved at the last moment, and the sword punctured her shoulder, punching through to her back.

"I can't let you do this!"

There was a flash then, just a flash, of Rauva with a large, jagged rock on her hand, Then a sense of pressure, of tearing, and he was falling away and blood was sheeting down his face, in his mouth I can't breathe--

There was a sensation of lifting as the illithid separated Imryne from her brother's memories. That's all, it said.

Zyn's hair was clinging to his scalp, soaked with sweat, and there were small tremors passing through his body. "Dear goddess. Zyn, how did you think you got that scar?"

He didn't open his eyes. "I don't know. I thought it was in battle in the underdark."

Imryne remembered him showing up at home one day with that scar, jagged but already healed too much for Triel to do anything but order the priestesses to make salves to keep the scar tissue supple. It had been--eighteen cycles, she thought. Maybe. After House Hune had fallen, and after she'd had Challay, time had gotten a little fuzzy for a while. "No wonder Greyanna would dearly love to see you dead," she said, and then bent to start untying her brother. "Are you all right, Zyn?"

"Physically fine. Mentally exhausted," Zyn said. He sat up, rubbing his wrists, as Imryne finished untying his hands and got to work on his legs. "I can't believe I forgot Sassandra."

"I know the feeling," Imryne said, sympathetically. She picked at the knots; Zyn had thrashed enough that he had tightened them quite a bit.

"It was Telenna and Xalyth that killed House Hune," he said. "With Rauva gone, she wants revenge on me now that she can."

"It certainly looks that way. Though--how long ago was that? Hune fell just over twenty cycles ago now. Was there another attack on Hune, earlier?" She freed one knot and unwrapped the rope from Zyn's ankle, then went to work on the other.

"No, that was the night," he said. She glanced up, and saw him looking down at the backs of his scarred hands. "It looks like I didn't age well."

"I was thinking you seemed a lot younger, then." The second knot came free more easily, and Imryne stood.

Zyn wriggled his foot, and smiled weakly at Imryne. "I felt that way then."

"Love does that to us, sometimes," she said. "I'm sorry, Zyn."

"We have all had losses," he said. "You more than your share."

"Also more than my share of joy," she pointed out. Because which of us is sitting here spouseless, and which of us has three?

"I think I missed that part. I have been bitter for a while now and didn't know why," he admitted.

The moment felt fragile, and Imryne was at a loss for words. "I think we just found out," she said at last. "Are you going to talk to Mother about what happened?"

"I think so, too. She probably needs to know, especially if that old temple still exists."

Imryne nodded. "She probably ought to hear it from you."

Zyn ran a hand over his hair. "I will tell her. I am not sure that helped you much in what you are doing, but it's good to know that my thoughts are my own, and what really happened."

"Every new piece of knowledge helps. Even the most minor. And I'm glad you don't regret going through with this."

He gave her a crooked smile. "I might later."

The block on the first was extensive but that was the point it was blocked. His relationship with the girl will come back slowly, the illithid broadcast to them. Zyn glanced at the creature as if he couldn't decide if he was more grateful than disgusted by it.

"Thank you," Imryne said. She looked at her brother and took a breath. "Zyn, if you need someone to talk to, I'm generally around."

"I know, sister. Thank you." He smiled briefly, his scar twisting his lips. "But you have the weight of the world on you now. Maybe later." He stood, shaking out his legs.

"There's always enough left over to listen to family members. Especially my favorite brother." She smiled at Zyn.

He looked briefly startled. "That works both ways," he said, her quiet brother who was so focused.

"Thank you, Zyn," she told him. "Go talk to Mother, and then I think you have a battle to get ready for. Good luck, and come back to us safe." She stepped over to him and pulled him into an embrace.

In a most un-Zyn-like moment, he hugged her back, holding on to her hard for a moment as tears stung Imryne's eyes. I love you, big brother, she thought, and then released him as he released her. He left, and Imryne sat down, feeling exhausted.

"Thank you for your help," she told the illithid after she took a moment to breathe. "I don't know if it was painful for you to do that, but I apologize if it was. It was very helpful."

It is only painful to watch, for me.

The implications of that statement sank in as Imryne frowned. "A lot of pain was uncovered today. I think it's for the best, but it's still difficult. I did have one last request for you. I know I've had at least one block done on my memories, which has been broken. I was wondering if you might be willing to look at me and tell me if I have any other blocks that were missed."

It inclined its body forward. Of course. It reached its hand to Imryne, and she closed her eyes and let it touch her forehead. That block has been removed and there are no others, it said and took its hand away. You have questions about me, I think.

How to put it? "I do. I know this is going to sound odd, but...your people aren't known for either kindness or compassion. But it certainly seems like you possess both qualities. Are our perceptions of you simply that far off?"

Your perceptions are based on our food source, it said. I will see if I can make you understand. You eat your cattle called rothe. Do you think about that much?

She shook her head. "No, not really."

We try not to eat the more sentient races, but we need some sentience to survive. Goblin, orc, we think nothing of that either. We can survive on others, drow, elven, human but for you it would be like killing and eating an elf. It will sustain you, but you would find it very distasteful.

"I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the fact that it was a thinking being I had eaten," Imryne said.

It inclined its body again. So it is the same with us. We do it only to survive if we absolutely must. There are those in the collective now that will die before they eat of a drow, elf, or whatever. The process by which we eat is also distasteful for you, I am sure, but believe me that they don't die in pain, only pleasure. It paused, and the tentacles in the shadow of its hood seemed to be more restless than they had before. We stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain to thousands of orgasms before we sever the spinal nerves, they feel only pleasure and no pain. Then the brain is liquefied by our digestive juices in the skull and sucked out by the tentacles. They are dead before this happens, and only in self defense do we do it before they are dead. We like to think that our way is better than a knife and a slit throat for your food. Kindness and compassion for what we do to our food runs deep in the collective, it crosses over to our lives a lot.

Imryne was listening, fascinated. "Do happy brains taste better? Do you even have a perception of taste?"

It seemed almost amused. That is why we pleasure them. The release of such pleasure in the food makes it into the transfer of food, which causes us pleasure. Taste as you perceive it, no.

"It's strange. I think we in this house in some ways have more in common with your people than we do with those in, say, House Xalyth," she said. She raised a hand to her forehead; she had a headache starting.

Xalyth likes pain and causing it, it is the way of their goddess. Your goddess likes pleasure. We are much the same in that respect.

"Very true. And so you find yourself in here, helping remove blocks on memories from drow."

The illithid paused. Its tentacles were briefly more agitated, and then calmed. And you find yourself having to become one of them to survive in their world, while trying to change it. It is why you separate your person into two.

She took a breath, abruptly wary, then deliberately let go of her fear. She should have anticipated that the illithid would see the division in herself; she had invited it to look at her, after all. "Yes. I have to do some exceedingly awful things, pretend to be something terrible, to survive and to help my house survive. Thinking of myself as two separate people lets me do what I need to do and not become one of them entirely." She gave a tired smile, and then wondered if the illithid even knew what a smile meant. "It is not without its price."

It is not. I see that. We hope that it will soon be over, but I fear that it won't.

She wished Ilfryn were here; she thought that he would have appreciated the fine irony of her speaking so openly to an illithid. "We have a long way to go, yet. I'd like our house to survive. I'm not sure I will."

I am not sure either, but I will try to help as best I can.

"Thank you," she said, and sighed. "I need to go check on Talabrina and let her know what the side effects of that potion are, so she can be braced for it."

I suggest that you stay away after she takes it and leave her alone, it said. All of your house.

Imryne nodded. Her headache was promising a return, and she had much more to do before the day was out yet. "That's what I was thinking. She only trusts me here, and offering her someone who's a stranger to her to help her with it would only make things worse and might undo the good the potion will do her." Though Imryne hated to think of anyone alone with the effects of the star dance potion, it was better for her to be alone with it, right now.

I would have to agree. Her mind is fragile enough.

She remembered the way Talabrina had clung to her like a lost child. "There will still be guards on the door, but they'll have instructions not to go in." She rubbed her forehead. "Thank you. Do you need anything? Did you get the orc I ordered sent?"

I did, thank you.

She pressed her lips together, thinking about the curiosity that was nagging at her. She gave in, finally. "If this is a rude question, forgive me, but...which sex are you?"

Its tentacles writhed and then calmed. I am of the sex that contributes the active impulse that sparks the young. It's the rough equivalent of male in your biology.

"You're a he, then," she said to the illithid.

In a manner of speaking.

"Well." She breathed in. "I'll probably be by to talk to you later." She took her leave, heading back to the set for a dose of the potion and then stopping by Talabrina's room to give it too her. Talabrina looked like she had been having a difficult time, her eyes puffy and her hands shaking. Imryne described the effects of the potion and its side effects, and Talabrina said she understood.

She left instructions with the guards and went to find her mother. She was in her study, Imryne's youngest brother Nimruil with her. Nimruil was a bit younger than Challay, and with his stocky build he was bidding fair to become a copy of his older brother Zyn. He was holding a book, and had evidently been reading aloud and pacing. Imryne tilted her head a bit and saw that the book had the elaborate cover decoration of a holy book of Ellistraee.

"We can continue this later. I need to talk to your sister," Triel said gently to Nimruil. The boy nodded and closed the book, nodding to Imryne and then leaving the study, closing the door after himself. Triel smiled. "That boy is bidding fair for the priesthood. He wanted to argue theology with me. I'm afraid I have him at a disadvantage. What can I do for you, Imryne?"

"Did Zyn come and talk to you?" Imryne asked.

"He did, very interesting and possibly useful." Triel smiled briefly. "He's gone to prepare to lead the house's troops to war."

"I remember Sassandra," Imryne said. "Tar's older sister. I always liked her, but I had no idea she and Zyn were involved."

"Nor did I. Zyn hides himself well. Always has." Triel had an fond look in her eye; she, too, was fond of her stoic third son. "But that temple, if he can lead us to it again, might be of great value."

"Something to look into when he comes back. Might be an idea to go look at it while everyone's distracted."

Triel nodded. "I think so. It may contain more to someone that actually worships Ellistraee than a Lloth follower can find, just like Lloth temples usually feel dead to us. Well worth looking into. What's your next step, daughter?"

She took a deep breath and forced her thoughts into order. "I want to focus on the lower houses, either on allying with them or eliminating them. As we move up, we're going to need to bring onto the council new allies. We have a few more that break our block. Phaundal, for one, but there is a plan there. DeVir, Argith, Eilservs, Melarn, and Druu'giir are the houses I want to take a closer look at."

"Devir and Argith are being courted by Kilsek, as we know," her mother said. "We should probably start there. I know little of them, but I will find out more for you."

"That would be very helpful. I can concentrate on the others for the moment," Imryne said. "I don't expect to be able to do anything right away, but at least we can be looking."

Unexpectedly, her mother rose, and came around the table to take Imryne's hand. Her mother's skin was cool, her skin smooth. "I would like you to rest, daughter, if your mind will allow it. It's been a terrible few days. Take today if nothing else, stay with your family. The world will wait for you today, if there is nothing else that forces you out."

The headache that had been incipient was now gaining force, gathering at the back of Imryne's head. "That would be good, I think. I've only just started repairing things with Jevan. Having some more time with him would be good." She paused, trying to remember what else she needed to tell her mother. "Oh, I was going to tell you. I found out what Talabrina was hiding. And I ended up giving her a dose of the star dance potion, because it was very personal and very painful."

"I am curious, but if it is very personal and painful and I don't need to know, then I can live with my curiosity," Triel said.

Imryne nodded. "I promised her that I would only tell anyone if it threatened the security of this house. The only thing that's probably relevant is that Greyanna was trying to create another Ryld, through practices that were truly reprehensible. That's all I can really tell you. Maybe Talabrina will be able to tell you herself, some day. The illithid didn't uncover any falsehood in her."

"Go, daughter, be with Jevan." But then Triel paused, struck by a thought. "Have you thought of bothering Greyanna more?"

"I have, but I haven't had any workable ideas, I'm still too angry to be that devious," she said with a small smile.

"After tomorrow Zyn will effectively be dead," she said. "House Melrae will be without a weaponsmaster. Now a slave can be a weaponsmaster, as Shobalar proved. Weaponsmasters don't have to be drow and don't have to be noble. Released as a slave but still with a house, Jevan would be as close to a drow as is possible, with all the rights of respect accorded to a drow. Including the ability to marry whoever he chooses." Triel smiled, and Imryne's breath caught in her throat. "Or is chosen by."

Thoughtfully, Imryne said, "He could be my husband in public as well as in private. That would annoy Greyanna."

"So very very much." Her mother's voice held savage humor. "And it avoids the complication of you taking another husband, who we may not be able to trust in this game we play."

Another husband? Imryne realized that her mother was right. If all went well, Imryne would be pregnant in a few cycles. With no official husbands, talk would soon start, wondering if Imryne was sleeping with the only male who was constantly with her--her elven bodyguard. She would have to take another husband to avoid the talk, and even if she really wanted another male in her bed so soon after she'd lost Ilfryn, there were very few houses with eligible males to choose from that she could trust. "I hadn't even thought about that, but I would have had to have taken another husband once it got out that Ilfryn had died, wouldn't I?"

"You wouldn't have to, you have an heir already, but it would seem unusual."

Only heirs, as Imryne had reason to know, tended to die, or be traded away to other houses, or be kidnapped. She did not want to think about something happening to Challay, but she knew well that it might. "Unusual is an understatement. Scandalous is more like it. It's still going to be scandalous--and it's as much as declaring we're an Ellistraee house," she said. "But it's not like Greyanna doesn't know that, even if she can't prove it."

"No she can't, and if asked you can just say that he has talents that should be bred into the drow, as they have all seen," Triel suggested with no small amount of dry humor.

"Oh, that would annoy her," Imryne said, and smiled. "I like it. I'm tired of cringing for her, I think it's about time I pushed her. And, well, I like the idea of not having to hide what Jevan and I are to each other."

"I thought you might," Triel said, pleased. "It also sends the message that House Melrae is not afraid of Xalyth and their rules. Which might be a dangerous message, but one that will make others think. And I bet that as soon as you do that, House Vandree will be calling."

"That would be my guess. We're going to have to become a rallying point, I think.
Wait till I tell Jevan. I think--hope--he'll be pleased," Imryne said. I truly hope so.

Triel squeezed Imryne's hand. "I think so, it sends a message also that maybe will encourage the hidden Ellistraee houses to come out. It is crazy, and could cause more harm than good, but I think it's worth the risk. How about you?"

Imryne thought about it, and nodded. "I think so, too. I think at this point we're enough of a power that a message like this will work."

"Considering how many Xalyth lost on the streets while you and Jevan were fighting." Triel's smile was just slightly sharp-edged. "I assume that was him?"

Imryne flushed a bit. "Yes. Nearly got himself killed. I'm so very glad he didn't. I'm not sure what I'd have done if he'd gone out and not come back."

"Well maybe you should fight more often. It makes Xalyth nervous." Triel smiled again, and Imryne smiled back, a bit relieved that her mother wasn't angry.

"How about he kills Xalyth people without the fighting with me?" she asked, chuckling.

"Might be best for the both of you," Triel said. "Go home, daughter, unless there is more."

"No, I don't think so. I'll see you later, Mother."

"Good sex, daughter." Triel was almost grinning now, and Imryne returned the expression.

"It will be," she said, and she was off to find Tar and Jevan. Tar was feeding Maya when Imryne returned. After the baby was full, she fell asleep, and the three of them retired to bed for a while. Imryne was surprised to realize that it was almost time for the younger children to go to bed anyway. Challay was still out and about.

At first, they simply lay embraced, Tar between Jevan and Imryne, Imryne's eyes closed tightly. Ilfryn's absence was still a weight on them all, but Imryne tried to lay her grief aside for a moment and just enjoy her lovers who were still alive.

She was successful, if only a little, though it felt a bit like betrayal to enjoy Tar's small, solid body pressed against hers, Jevan's calloused hand on her upper back. Just because Ilfryn is dead, does not mean I am, she reminded herself.

Imryne lifted her head to kiss the tip of Tar's ear. "Turn over," she murmured. "I have an idea."

"Am I going to like this idea?" Tar asked, but turned over anyway.

Imryne smiled and said, "I hope so." She started kissing her way down Tar's body, pausing to linger over the places where she knew Tar was especially sensitive. Tar made moans of pleasure that got louder when Jevan joined in. Imryne and Jevan worked together, occasionally glancing at each other over Tar's body, communicating silently with slight motions of their heads and eyes.

Imryne buried her nose in the damp juncture of Tar's legs and breathed in, inhaling her wife's salty, musky fragrance, her white curls tickling Imryne's nose. Tar made a frustrated noise, and chuckling, Imryne lowered her mouth to explore the dark folds of her most intimate flesh.

She could lose herself for hours in Tar sometimes, and this time was no exception. Tar's body writhed and shivered with orgasm after orgasm, and Imryne heard Jevan's voice murmuring to her, telling her how beautiful she was. Finally, Tar cried for mercy, and Imryne let up, grinning.

Of course, as soon as she sat up Jevan was there, kissing her, and far from lying still to recover Tar was up as well, wrapping an arm around Imryne's back and lowering her mouth to her breast. Jevan's hand traced a line of fire down Imryne's lower back, circling around to her hip.

Faced with such an onslaught, Imryne gave in utterly, drowning grief for the moment in pleasure, so happy to have at least two lovers with her. It was for the moment as if Ilfryn had simply stepped out of the room, as if he might be back at any moment. It was all right that he was not there, that he was an absence instead of a presence. He would be home soon.

It was the closest to peace Imryne had gotten for the last few days, and as she threw herself wholeheartedly into making love with her spouses, it was something close to oblivion. The three of them made quite a lot of noise, especially when Imryne found herself in the center of a sandwich, one hand enveloped in Tar, Jevan deep inside of her, all three of them in such a state that the slightest motion was enough to send tremors from one end of the entity they had created to the other. Imryne found herself howling, giving vent to pleasure and grief, letting go of the pressure inside of her.

After they had extricated themselves from each other, sated for the moment, Imryne told Jevan and Tar about the plan her mother had proposed, for her to take Jevan as her husband in public as well as in private. "What do you think?" she asked Jevan, a little anxious.

"It's good and bad," he said, thoughtful. "It will get the desired effect, but will it cause more trouble? I doubt any council house has ever had a weaponsmaster that was elven. Will it turn the houses of Lloth into a united front, and will it splinter our group of houses?"

"I think, with as strong as we are together, it won't. There's a good likelihood that most of the matron mothers of our allies will be secretly envious of me. It does increase the danger of us or a lower house allied with us being exposed. A bit of public discord within our ranks wouldn't necessarily go entirely amiss, though." She shifted so Tar's head was on her shoulder instead of her breast. "If the other houses see what they think is weakness, they'll be less threatened. I can certainly meet with our allies and find out who's got a problem with it. My real doubt here is Oblodra."

Jevan nodded. He'd propped himself up on one elbow and was looking fondly at Imryne and Tar, who where loosely entangled. "Being Ellistraee, you are probably right. They will flock to you, for you are going against Xalyth and its rules. Oblodra was my worry. That much mage power is a shame to lose because of me."

"Then again, Oblodra Pellanistra doesn't seem like she's much of one for the rules either," Imryne said, and grinned. "I can talk to her about it before I go public."

"I think that would be best and then announce. Let Xalyth draw conclusions from there, if we change our outside patterns to more inside the house ones," he said.

"It'll annoy Greyanna, at the very least," Imryne said. She laid a hand on Jevan's chest, feeling the warmth and solidity of him, the heartbeat under the scarred skin. "Of course, annoying Greyanna's only lagniappe, really. It lets me be honest to the rest of this city about what you are to me."

"Freedom," he said as if it were one of the sweetest words in the language. He used the elven term rather than the drow, a word connected with sky and air. "And me to you. Let's talk to Oblodra and find out if that is going to cause a split. And then if we are going to die, we can at least die with the world knowing about us."

"I like it. So, no objections? I was hoping the idea of no longer having to pose as a slave might please you."

The smile on his face was balm to a torn and aching heart. "It would. In your culture, males still defer to females, but I am more comfortable with that than acting like a slave."

She smiled, and sat up. Tar hand her head in Imryne's lap now, her silky hair spilling over Imryne's thighs and tickling the sensitive skin pleasantly. "Oh, good. And, well. I think in your culture it's customary for one partner to ask the other if they wish to marry them, yes?"

Jevan looked, oddly, both cautious and curious. "In mine, it's me. How about yours?"

"Ah, usually it's arranged by the mothers, and the male generally doesn't have a lot of choice in the matter, except for the power to ask for a provisional contract if they have doubts," she said, remembering Ilfryn.

He frowned. "Provisional contract?"

"If things aren't working out and the marriage is contracted as provisional, the male can return home within a cycle with no blame attached to either side," she said. "If he doesn't, the marriage becomes permanent after the cycle. It's generally only done between houses that are near-equal in power. Ilfryn's marriage to me was originally provisional, since he didn't know me all that well at the time my mother contacted his."

"I don't think we need one of those. Marry me?" he asked.

She took a breath, and smiled again. "Of course, Jevan. Of course." Imryne leaned over and kissed him quite soundly. "Might want to ask Tar while you're at it, too," she pointed out after they came up for air.

He promptly did, and Tar said a quite enthusiastic yes. That yes tumbled into making love again, all of them taken by a keen hunger for one another, for life, for pleasure.

It was a long night, and they got little sleep.

It is worth it, Imryne thought to herself, sleepily, as she glanced over to see that the timepiece was blushing indigo and signaling that a new ilit was about to begin. To have one more day with my family, my children...

It is worth it, to love one another one more day.

At peace, if even momentarily, she rose to face the day.