Chapter Eighteen: Strings
It was easier than Kesrith anticipated to leave the house.
The little patio was covered in trees and bushes that concealed her and the fence was low so it was a simple climb.
The man they had assigned to watch over her was too busy staring at some strange books covered in pictures of pale elves to be paying attention to her.
She needed to get away. From that bizarre male who claimed he was her sire. From her idiot heretic mother who'd stolen her from all she knew. From all of the drow who followed her father's commands. These people were wrong. Everything they thought and did were wrong.
Someway, somehow, she would find a way back home.
After all, she had been led by Lolth, and that strange, pale-gold servant into the Underdark when she was younger. Why couldn't Lolth lead her home?
She would only have to find a way back into the Underdark somewhere. It couldn't be that hard.
As soon as she was beyond the garden, Kesrith squinted and shielded her eyes. She hadn't been in full sunlight before and it nearly blinded her with searing light. The darkened lenses that Jarlaxle had given her were a great help, but she spent most of her time looking down at the cobblestones as she trudged along.
Looking up through her lashes, she studied her surroundings. Tall houses loomed over a courtyard, with a fountain in the center. Trees and flowers decorated the space. So where would a door to her home be? Nothing like this was familiar to her. She turned in each direction and spotted some darker buildings in the distance. That might be the way.
It was farther than she had thought, and now her feet hurt, her eyes burned and she was getting very hungry. The smell of searing meat and fresh-baked bread assaulted her senses as she made her way past the market stalls. At least there was some protection from the sun here. The tall iblith gawked at her, but otherwise didn't bother her.
She couldn't see how this place could lead back to Menzoberranzan, even though there were several drow there, hawking their wares alongside the humans. A few of them pointed at her and yelled or used hand sign for her to come to them, but she ignored them. She didn't know if they were her father's servants, or if they somehow served a a rival house and she didn't want to find out.
The buildings were becoming more and more dilapidated as she walked along. She could hear the swish-swish of the ocean.
That meant that she was going the wrong way.
She wouldn't ever find a path home if she just relied on a miracle from the goddess. She would have to use her Gift, and that wasn't something she really wanted to do. The last time she'd used it, she hadn't been able to turn it off until the priestess had given her a drug. The images had been so confusing, and vivid, that she lost the ability to enter Reverie, or even to sleep like a human. Grandmother had punished her severely for the resulting collapse and afterwards, Kesrith remained wary of using it, even when instructed to do so.
She closed her eyes and tried to feel the right direction. It took a few moments and her head was starting to hurt, but she saw the strands brighten into existence. She had practiced with the priestesses who had told her that these were the threads of Lolth's web, and that everyone and everything was contained within.
All futures, all pasts. All possibilities.
All Kesrith needed was to find the right future - the one in which she returned to her rightful place at her grandmother's side.
She imagined her grandmother's face, her stern mouth looking down at her. Her grandmother's exquisite gowns covered in jewels and her throne which rose far above her white head. Soon something brightened behind her and she was able to see strand glowing off in the distance. Faint, but still standing out from the rest, it seemed that this was her path. A way back home would be revealed to her, one way or another.
She was preparing to step forward on the long journey home when a large hand landed on her shoulder.