-Nyadenalan-

I was in serious trouble, and I knew it.

From the moment I had helped to facilitate Nysta's escape, I had known that I was in a risky position, but I had never anticipated trouble like this, especially more than three tendays after her departure.

You brought this upon yourself, I chided myself mentally. I had indeed made the voluntary choice to drag the girl here from her own world, although I still wasn't really sure why. Part of me, the magician part who had been top graduate at Sorcere, told me it was simply to use her as a test subject, to investigate the reactions of a being not from this world under subjection to extreme circumstances. That part of me wanted to add magical variables, to test Nysta in every way possible, to make her life a nightmare.

The other part of me, and the part that I would like to think was dominant, told me otherwise. The human girl was kind, loyal, and trustworthy, but what really made her stand out amongst every other candidate was her ability to put things in perspective. She could look at a situation and turn it from a mountain into a molehill or vice versa, and she always seemed to know when such clarity was needed.

She was intuitive.

I shook myself from my reverie. No time for deep thinking now, I had to try to dig myself out of this pit that I had dug myself into.

I straightened my robes, although they were already pristine, and began the long walk down the series of corridors that led to the House chapel. With each step, my boots seemed to grow heavier, but I was determined to face my own consequences, if only to find some way to escape punishment.

Finally, after what seemed like hundreds of steps through gelatinous goop, I arrived at the doors to the chapel. I walked in without a word, my eyes instantly going to the ground. I fought to raise my gaze. My time as a page prince under my older sister Hyrith had been particularly demanding and cruel, and even now, nearly a century old, I had to struggle to look a female in the eye.

Matron Adrys and Nelthiel were both in the room, the matron mother sitting in the large chair and my younger sister by her side. I walked to the proper position before the chair, bowed low, and said, "Matron Mother."

"Nyadenalan," Matron Adrys replied smoothly. Nothing was said for a few tense moments, and the silence seemed to stretch to the point of snapping. Finally, the outburst came, but not from my mother.

"Where is Nysta?" shouted Nelthiel. "What have you done with her, you wretched…"

"Enough, Nelthiel," reprimanded Adrys, raising a hand. Nelthiel instantly fell silent, but continued to cast a hateful gaze my way.

Adrys regarded me with a calm look that scared me even more than Nelthiel's fury. I could not read the expression behind her eyes. Finally, she asked, "Where is my youngest daughter, Nyadenalan. Do not lie, for I will know."

"She is in the wilds of the Underdark," I replied truthfully. I could afford to reveal that much; the wilds were very large and it would take quite an effort to find her.

"What?" gasped Adrys, a very rare flash of emotion crossing her face, although she calmed quickly. That was obviously not the answer she had expected.

"How long has she been out there?" the matron demanded.

"Over three tendays," I replied. Another truthful answer, but still I saw no harm to Nysta. My spirits began to lift; perhaps I was not in as deep a pit as I had first believed.

"Did you have anything to do with this?" Adrys asked me sharply, cutting the thin string of my hopes. I felt them plummet down into my boots.

I was trapped.

-Nysta-

I sat at the window, watching Drizzt interact with the young svirfnebli. He seemed so animated in his gestures, and for the first time in a long time, a smile seemed to be slowly growing upon his face. I was glad to see him smile; after the incident with the basilisk statue, I had been afraid for his recovery.

I was still lost in thought when I felt a touch on my shoulder. Jumping with fright, I turned around to find Belwar regarding me with a kindly expression.

"You should be out there with him," he said in Drow. I could tell what language it was by the fact that I could understand it; apparently Nyadenalan's enchantment did not encompass universal translations.

After collecting my nerves, I replied, "I don't think they trust me like they trust him. Even after the…mishap, they are willing to forgive him because he is male. He has less chaotic tendencies. But me… even though I am different, I am still female. They are not so easy to trust."

Belwar snorted. "Magga cammara," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" I asked.

"It means 'by the stones,'" he told me.

"Why did you say that?" I asked him. I knew the expression, but I wasn't clear on the cause of its use just then.

"You're scared," he said simply.

Heat began to boil in my cheeks, and if drow could blush, I certainly did at that moment. It was the best thing he could have, said, though, for I began to reflect on my decisions since coming to Blingdenstone.

Was I scared?

Maybe, I decided, but what was there to be afraid of? The svirfnebli certainly wouldn't harm me, not with the sponsorship of their Most Honored Burrow Warden laid firmly and securely upon my head.

What was it, then?

I tried to clear my mind, to rack my thoughts for something, anything, that could cause an irrational fear. I glanced up at the window, and saw the youths all staring wide-eyed at a now-grinning, animated Drizzt, who was obviously telling them a story. A flicker of jealousy sparked in my brain, and then I had it.

I was afraid of rejection.

I hope this satisfies the need for more interaction with Nyadenalan's motivation… I will try to return more to that subject in detail. Again, thanks for the input and reviews!