Imryne, of House Melrae: Epilogue: The Light and Darkness of the World

[aithne]

(The Hierophant of Fanaedar Dramatis Personae)

Imryne, of House Melrae
Book Four: The Hierophant of Fanaedar

 

Epilogue: The Light and Darkness of the World

    

 Set fast between the ridged and foamless waves
       Of earth more fierce and fluctuant than the sea,
     The fearless town of towers that hails and braves
       The heights that gird, the sun that brands Le Puy;

     The huddled churches clinging on the cliffs
       As birds alighting might for storm's sake cling,
     Moored to the rocks as tempest-harried skiffs
       To perilous refuge from the loud wind's wing;

     The stairs on stairs that wind and change and climb
       Even up to the utmost crag's edge curved and curled,
     More bright than vision, more than faith sublime,
       Strange as the light and darkness of the world;

     Strange as are night and morning, stars and sun,
       And washed from west and east by day's deep tide.
     Shine yet less fair, when all their heights are won,
       Than sundawn shows thy pillared mountain-side.

Swinburne, Elegy

 

 

(Imryne, in House Melrae)

"Matron mother," the runner said, bowing low.  "There are visitors.  Zyn has shown them in to the reception hall and asks you to come quickly."

"I'll be right there," she said.  "Find Challay, tell her to meet me there."  She leaned over to kiss Yvonnel, who was perched in a chair next to her, and told her, "I need to go, sweetling."  She had been attempting to work, but teaching Yvonnel about the basics of relating numbers reported by suppliers to the ebb and flow of Melrae's wealth had turned out to be more interesting than balancing ledgers.  I have got to find some accountants I can trust, she thought.

Yvonnel made a murmur of protest and wiggled around, putting her arms around Imryne and burying her face in the laces between her mother's breasts.  Imryne chuckled and disentangled herself from her small daughter.  "Go see if Sabal is awake and whether he needs anything."

The girl brightened; she adored her older brother and loved to run errands for him.  "Love you, Mother," she said and kissed Imryne on the cheek, then slid off of her chair and ran out of the room.  She was already growing tall, half a head now above most of her agemates.  Imryne walked out of her office into the matron's apartments, and out into the corridor. 

Even after five strands in the new House, Imryne still wasn't used to the newness of the place, how it smelled, the stone that had not yet been worn smooth by grand cycles of hands and feet.  But then again, everything about Fanaedar seemed new and strange, now.  The abrupt presence of daylight had caused the glowing slime that had plagued the city since the circulation fans had broken down to die back into a foul brown sludge that stained whatever it touched, and ruined the small gardens of fungus that the poor grew to supplement their diets.  Time, too, was a problem.  An ilit was twenty-seven hours long, an above-day twenty-four; that meant that after a few ilit it was noon above while the drow below were attempting to sleep during what should have been the quiet hours of the night.   Imryne was trying to figure out the best way of simply converting Fanaedar to the elven calendar.  It was more complicated than she had initially thought; not only did timepieces, some of them very large and very delicate, need to be adjusted, but everyone who kept records of any sort needed to convert their records to the new calendar and mages had to adjust spellbooks.  Knowledge of the complicated elven calendar had once been the province of those who studied the habits and cultures of their surface counterparts.  Imryne was still not certain that she really wanted to impose it on Fanaedar, but something was going to have to be done, and soon.

She took a wrong turn and found herself pointed away from the outer house.  Grumbling, she backtracked and made it back to the main corridor that led to the outer house.  There was so much work to be done.  Over half of the population of the city had fled into the darkness on the day Imrae had died, which left them with a critical shortage of hands that could be turned to work.  And work was needed; that much was proved by what had happened when it had rained above for two days, three strands ago.  Fanaedar had not been built with rain in mind; there were no gutters, stone roofs were not watertight, and major causeways became waterfalls after a day of rain.  The slave grounds had flooded, and the sewers had backed up.  It had, overall, been entirely unpleasant.  That was in addition to what had become clear was a legacy of long neglect of the buildings in the lower city, and some in the upper.   The roof of House Jusztiirn had collapsed entirely; fortunately, it was abandoned.

In short, everything was falling apart.

And it was up to House Melrae, now first house, to lead the repairs.

Imryne made it through the carved doors that still smelled of the surface and into the outer house.  The reception hall opened out onto the outermost courtyard, and it was quite a walk from the inner house.  Having elbow room was one thing, but Imryne could hardly imagine having enough family that they didn't rattle around in this place like a few grains of sand in a large pitcher. 

Jevan joined her at the door.  "I can't wait to hear what you think about these," he murmured to her. 

In the reception hall stood six people, and Imryne blinked.  One of the two females in front, the older, was the spitting image of Pellanistra; the other was likely Challay's age and had a distinctly Vandree cast to her features.  "I am Matron Mother Oblodra Vhondryl, and this is my daughter and heir Charlindra," the older one said.  "Matron Mother Imryne, I presume."

There was a motion behind her; Challay and Kethan had arrived.  "I am," Imryne said.  "My husband Jevan, and my daughter Challay and her husband Kethan.  The rest of you are…?"

Vhondryl introduced in turn her husband and her daughter's, as well as the other male and female as young members of House Oblodra, Tebryn and Xullrae respectively.  "We are calling as a courtesy, to let you know that House Oblodra has returned from exile," Vhondryl said. 

"We welcome House Oblodra, and are glad to see you return," Imryne replied.  "Your mother and her mages fought very well against Imrae.  We owe House Oblodra a great debt."

"That debt is part of the reason why we're here," Vhondryl said with a half-smile.  "House Oblodra takes care of its own, but we have a pair of problems we cannot solve on our own.  Xullrae and Tebryn are with us because they have shown…proclivities…that are at odds with our values.  For their own good, we need them out of the house sooner rather than later." 

Imryne raised an eyebrow; Vhondryl had inherited her mother's habit of plain speaking.  "You want them married out."

Vhondryl shrugged.  "Married, adopted, we don't care.  Just get them out.  Xullrae is my youngest sister.  Tebryn is my fourth son.  Both of them have been disruptive influences."

"What my mother means," Charlindra said, "is that they were organizing orgies.  Several times."  She shot a dark look at Tebryn, who set his jaw and did not have the courtesy to look abashed.

"We will take them," Imryne said hastily, trying to forestall what looked like it was an ongoing argument.  "Is there anyone you would want in return?"

Vhondryl looked speculative.  "None that you would willingly part with," she said, her gaze resting on Jevan.  "Simply removing these two and letting us get on with our lives would be a great service.  We will speak later, of course.  We have ideas for transportation from here to the surface and back."

"Of course.  Challay, would you show these two to quarters in the outer house?"  Challay nodded, and she and Kethan led the two Oblodra younglings away while Imryne made formal farewells to the representatives of House Oblodra.  Later that day, she ran across Challay sitting in the cathedral with Xullrae, the two of them talking animatedly about some minor point of magical theory.  Imryne hid her smile and left her daughter alone to flirt.

 

*****

 

Time moved on.  Buildings were shored up, gutters dug, roofs repaired.  Houses Q'Xorlarrin and Oblodra together built an ingenious system to transport people and goods between the surface and Fanaedar that involved moving platforms, seemingly countless pulleys, and ropes made of refined metal.  Imryne didn't even pretend to understand it, but it worked well.  The village that had been founded when the outcasts had retreated to the surface moved, re-founding itself where the transportation system came out onto the surface.  It seemed that Jevan had dropped a word in his father's ear about the fact that Fanaedar was both ridiculously rich in mineral wealth and hungry for the things that the surface could provide: exotic foods, fabrics that were both inexpensive and relatively sturdy, spices that had once been the province of a very few houses to import.  As word spread, elven Ellistraee worshipers began to arrive in Deep Edge and begin to build houses and farm the land.

Imryne quietly spread the word that, if slave raids were to be undertaken, they should be done at a reasonable distance from their new neighbors on the surface.  While Ellistraee worshipers generally would not enslave elves, humans and other intelligent species were often considered fair game.   Orcs and the goblin races were considered pests by most surface-dwellers, and Imryne encouraged her fellow matron mothers to limit their slaving to those races.

Being subject to rain was one thing.  Snow was something else entirely.  The temperature had always been constant in Fanaedar, but now when winter came the air was sometimes cold enough to bring snow all the way down to them, and leave it lying around for a day or two before it melted.  Jevan instructed the children of Melrae in what he assured them was a fine and longstanding tradition of something called a snowball fight.  Cold was a new and rather unwelcome phenomenon, though it did inspire the seamstresses of the noble houses to compete with each other to make the most fantastical winter outfits.

The lower ranks of houses were filling up once more; just after the event that most simply called the Opening, there had been only twenty-four total.  Two years after the Opening, there were thirty-six, and some of those had resurrected old names.  Houses Hune, Rhomduil, Nurbonnis, and Millithor stood once more, founded by females who had tenuous blood ties to those old names.  House Argith returned soon after Oblodra did.  Despana Narcelia was in contact with Imryne, and she thought that Despana might return after some time had passed and Despana decided where their loyalties truly lay.  Naerth Xune died in her sleep, taken by the same bad heart that had caused her own mother to die too young.  Rather than taking power, her heir Erakasyne arranged for her house and House T'sarran to combine and then split off a myriad of lower houses.   Naerth had taken very heavy casualties during the battle with Vandree, and Naerth and T'sarran were intermarried so heavily that it simply made sense for the two houses to become one. 

The illithid that had lived in House Melrae and had injured Ulitree so badly had died just after the battle, slain by his own people who had evidently passed a death sentence on him.  The illithids offered to replace him with another representative of their kind, but Imryne graciously refused.  The illithids were even more sensitive to sunlight than Lloth-worshiping drow, and Imryne had come to the conclusion that illithids and drow were always a terrible combination.  They remained allies, though Imryne rarely contacted them.

Within Melrae, Sabal made the choice to continue living after the cycle that he had given Imryne was over.  With his father's coat and dedicated work by Faeryl on healing at least some of his spine, he had gotten to the point where he was relatively mobile and had control over his bodily functions.  Faeryl even confided to Imryne that she was reasonably certain that Sabal would be able to have sex, given a few years and some more work on her part, and he should be able to father children if he desired.  "He's not at the point yet where he's ready to consider the idea," Faeryl had added, offhand.  "But some day, he will be."  He and Maya remained close as always, and though Tar occasionally fussed at her daughter that she should find herself some partners and settle down, Maya seemed content to attend ritual on the surface and leave marriage until later.  Her wooden leg was made of a rare black wood imported from a long way away, and she used a cane made from the same wood.

Alystin had accompanied Jevan and Imryne into the new House Melrae the night after the Opening, and though they intended to initially set her up with her own quarters, they never seemed to get around to it.  While their relationship was not without its problems—Alystin had missed Jevan in particular very, very badly, and when she came into Melrae she quickly came into her season—they got past them.  About a year after the Opening, Alystin began to bring males from other households to share meals with them a few times a week.  One of them, Valas, was a member of a cadet line of House Aleanrahel and had a sweet temperament—not an advantage in Aleanrahel, which was a warrior house.  He also showed very little tendency to be attracted to males, which eased Jevan's mind considerably.  While Jevan had adapted well to drow life, there were a few things that were never going to be easy for him, and Imryne had long ago decided not to push him on those things.

Valas attended dinner three times in as many strands.  During the fourth dinner, they asked him to stay the night.  A few strands later, Imryne traded a priestess for him, and he moved into their quarters.  Having another male in their marriage made things considerably easier. 

To absolutely nobody's surprise, Challay and Kethan married Xullrae after only a few strands.  They needed the support; as Imryne turned her attention to leading Fanaedar, Challay took over the running of the house.  Imryne had asked her if she might want her own house, but she refused.  Imryne was happy to see her stay.

Children of mixed blood continued to be born, but after the Lloth crystal was destroyed, they no longer needed the help of the Star Dance to be born healthy.  They were also usually quite normal.  Some were born with strange powers on occasion, but it became rarer as the years went by.

Some of the Lloth houses that had fled Fanaedar settled in the dead city of Chaulssin.  Others contacted House Arabani and departed for wherever that house had gone.  Those who settled in Chaulssin negotiated tenuous trade agreements with Fanaedar.  Imryne encouraged this. Fanaedar was safe for the moment; no Lloth worshiper would want a city open to the sky.

So Imryne's life became occupied with sewers and treaties, children and grandchildren, studies of magic and the goddess, peacekeeping and lovemaking.  And slowly, so slowly, the city healed around them.

 

*****

 

(twenty surface years later)

"What have you brought me this time?" Imryne asked Zyn.  "Another fortune-seeker?"

Her brother grimaced.  "I spank those and send them back to the surface now.  I tell you, we should have killed the first ones.  Word might have spread that we're not here to be gawked at.  This one's not one of them.  It's a male human, and Ulitree appears to have made a pet of it. She's the one who brought it down to see you."

Imryne rolled her eyes.  "Ulitree and her pets.  Fine, I'll go see him.  Kophyn, you have your assignment."  Kophyn made a noise of acknowledgement, not looking up from his book.  Imryne smiled a little.  He reminded her so much of Ilfryn at times like these, when he had been given a new puzzle to solve.  She got up from her chair and walked out of the mage lab, Zyn beside her.

Ulitree stood in the reception hall, a tall, bearded human next to her.  She had her head cocked, and when Imryne approached, a broad smile spread over her face.  "Matron Mother Imryne," she said.  "This is Síthech.  He's a druid."

The elven word druid was one that Imryne recognized, barely.  "A…priest of plants?" she hazarded.  "Why have you brought it to us?"

"Síthech is a he, matron mother," Ulitree said primly.  "I checked.  Closely."  The human coughed, and Imryne thought she saw a flush on its pale skin.  "I've taught him to speak our language over the last few years, and he asked to see you, so I brought him down."

Imryne eyed the human, who looked nervous.  "What do you want?" she asked.

The human coughed.  "Word of your city has spread even to us."  His accent was atrocious, it sounded like he was gargling with rocks.  "The leader of our order sent me with orders to live among you and learn about you.  I ask permission to do just that."

"Where is your…order?" she asked. 

"West of here, a very long way," Síthech replied.

"He's from a big island in the ocean to the west," Ulitree added.  "I think it's near the Burning Deep, if I have the geography right."

"I thought the Burning Deep was a myth," Zyn muttered.

"Depends on who you ask," Imryne said.  "Why would a human want to learn about drow?" she asked the human.

Síthech spread his hands.  "All knowledge is valuable.  I would be here for a few years, and then return to my order."

Ulitree grinned.  "And what he's not telling you is that he's promised to take me with him when he goes.  Just think, I might be the first drow to set foot over the Burning Deep!"  The corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled.  "We might take a few people with us.  It's a big world up there, almost as big as the one down here."

Imryne closed her mouth and gave Ulitree a hard look that the young woman could not see.  Then she took a breath, and shook her head.  "You can live among us, druid.  Though not in this house.  I will determine which house might be persuaded to give you shelter.  This is all conditional on Ulitree coming down here with you.  She will be responsible for your safety, and will be the guarantor of your actions."

"I told you!" Ulitree said to Síthech.  "We need to go tell everyone that we're coming down to live here."  She bounced forward, running into Imryne and throwing her arms around her.  "Thank you, Mother."

Imryne returned Ulitree's hug, then released her.  "Zyn will take you back to the lift platform," she said.  "Off with you."  Ulitree returned to the side of her human, and he took her hand.  Zyn led them out with a dubious glance at Imryne.

There were footsteps behind her, and she turned.  Jevan was there, and she opened her arms to him, putting her chin on his shoulder.  "I think I may regret that," she said, turning her head to kiss his neck, her nose rubbing against the soft cloth of his throat-band.

His arms tightened around her.  "It will be what it is," he said quietly.  "We've had enough regret for a pair of lifetimes already.  Besides, I saw how happy Ulitree looks.  She'll be on to some new fascination a long time before the human leaves."

"We can only hope," Imryne said.

After all, that was all they had begun with, and all they would end with.

Hope.