Tarlyn began to write in tiny, precise letters that flowed across the page quickly as Tali spoke. "Either way," she said softly and a little sadly, "…it was a long, long time ago. My mother Nal'Chea T'Sarran, a young priestess, was chosen to lead the graduation ceremony for her class at the academy."
Tarlyn's pen paused, and he looked up and stared at her. "But… I knew Nal'Chea! You must… but…" He stopped himself, shaking his head, and muttered under his breath, "Oh, shut up, Tarlyn, and write." As the rows of tiny letters flowed from his pen, he marveled. This goddess was younger than his father, it seemed, and he wasn't sure how that could be possible. It piqued his curiosity. His writing wound effortlessly around the stains and tears in the pages, and he remarked offhandedly, "I've heard rumors about what happens in those."
A wry little smirk curled Tali's lips as she glanced over at him, and she laughed. "Yes. I'm that young. Younger than a good many of those I'm trying to take care of, now that I find myself here." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, then nodded a little. "Yeah." She was silent for a few minutes, and when she finally did speak again, it was with some difficulty.
Her voice was heavy with disgust and emotion as she said haltingly, "Most of what you've heard… was probably quite true." She shuddered deeply, eyes still closed, and continued, "You see, at the climax of the ceremony… the one chosen to lead it was called upon to summon a thing… a demon, a horrible monster, from the Abyss, and…" She bit her lip and swallowed. "…and give herself to it. That… is what my mother did."
He looked up at her, aghast, but never stopped writing. He was simultaneously fascinated and horrified as he realized that his was the hand finally documenting Lolth's insanity. "She was insane," he stated in quiet horror as he wrote. "Insane. Why would a daughter of the priesthood be ordered to surrender herself to a monster? A male monster, no less?"
Eyes still closed, Tali nodded and murmured. "Yes, she was insane. There was never any logic to it. For someone who was supposed to spend life ruling over males, being raped by a monster was a badge of honor. Why? Because she said so. Conceiving from it was an even greater mark of favor. Why? Because she said so."
The anger rose in her voice, breaking past the careful restraint, and she picked up a rock and threw it at the opposite wall of the cave, where it shattered. "That… is what I was supposed to be. A perfect abomination. But there was something else waiting, and scheming, and biding his time until the call came… something much more cunning and powerful and evil than the stupid, snarling monstrosities the summoning was supposed to call up. Something that thought having a child in the mortal world would be the perfect way to gain a foothold for his own plans."
Tarlyn did not interrupt, he simply took down every word, flinching only a little as stone struck stone. Occasionally, he flicked his eyes over to look at the goddess out of the corner of his eyes, scribbling notes about her voice and her expression as she spoke.
Tali shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut, and slammed a fist against her knee. "And that's why I was born," she spat. "A daughter, so I could take my proper place in the so-called ruling class of our society… Drow, to all outward appearance…" She shrugged a little and sighed softly. "As far as my mother knew, she had failed, and I was just the child of one of her lovers. I was a girl, though, so I was kept, and raised to become a priestess myself when the time came."
She opened her eyes, smirked, and bent a little without rising to her feet, sweeping one arm out to her side in a grandiose half-bow. She cleared her throat and spoke the old formal words of introduction, but with a bitter, mocking edge in her voice. "My name is Talisantia T'Sarran, noble daughter of House T'Sarran, of the great City of Spiders, Menzoberranzan." She shrugged and laughed. "Or I was, once."
Tarlyn caught up, then stopped and stared up at her, blinking. "You mean you're… oh my." He blinked again, and shifted the book on his lap. "Well. I'm supposed to kill you on sight. But that's all right, really. You're supposed to kill me, too." He chuckled dryly and eyed the implement in his hand, then grinned and added, "Besides which, I don't think this pen can do much damage." He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his writing. "So. So no one knew, then. Since you know it now, I assume you found out later?"
Tali laughed merrily as she reached over and brushed a lock of hair back from Tarlyn's eyes. "Oh, you have nothing to fear from me. I prefer to get to know someone before I decide whether to kill them. Besides, I like you, so far, and I don't think you want to kill me quite yet." She winked and nudged his shoulder, then cleared her throat and settled back again, nodding. "I learned it all, over time, and a lot of it only recently."
She shrugged quietly. "So, since you know my name, and you know you're supposed to kill me, I assume you know about the fall of my family, my escape from the city, and the murder of my mother and my brother at the hands of the priestesses." She toyed with one end of her cord belt, smiling crookedly. "I gather I was blamed for the whole thing, and I know I was marked for death in every Drow civilization from here to Krynn to Oerth and back again…"
Tarlyn grinned brightly as he slipped into the easy camaraderie of a fellow outcast, and nodded emphatically. "Yes. When, of course, they were all killed by the priestesses to atone for your so-called crimes. He nodded, and laughed a small, bitter laugh. "Amazing. She couldn't even keep one city sane, but she sure could manage to warn even the…" He stopped, looked up, and stared with wide azure eyes at Tali. "Wait a minute. Krynn… you mean you've been there? Slax, they always told me it was a children's story!"
Tali sat up straighter, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. "It's real. I've been there. There are huge sailing ships that travel between worlds, between the stars… they're called spelljammers. I sailed on them for a hundred years." She raised one hand and gestured up toward the sky. "I've been to Krynn… to a place called Greyhawk, once… and the Rock, oh the things I saw! There are so many worlds out there… so many stories… I even found a world I loved, and settled down to live there, for a time…"
She sighed wistfully and smiled at Tarlyn. "There are things out there that you would never believe until you saw them. Things that Drow have never laid eyes on because they're too afraid to leave their own cities and face the light of day." She laughed softly as she reminisced, then sighed. "So, yes. That's what I did with myself, once I got used to life on the surface world, and mastered the one useful talent my father's blood gave me."
Tarlyn's eyes shimmered with moisture, then he blinked it away and said slowly and hopefully, "You're telling me it's all real? It's not just a story for children, there really is a Skysea, and there really are worlds hidden up among the stars?" He marveled, and as a single tear streaked down his cheek, he chuckled softly. "Next I know, you'll be telling me you've seen Blackmoor…"
Tali smiled and reached over to brush the tear away, then murmured, "It's real, Tarlyn. It's all real. So much of what we dismissed as children's stories is completely true…" She smiled wryly and added, "And so much of what we accepted to be gospel truth was completely wrong. I imagine you've learned a lot of that already, haven't you?" She lit up again, and sighed wistfully. "Blackmoor… It must have been incredible once. It's a ruin now, if a beautiful one. I didn't get to stay there very long. The place is so heavy with archmages, I was terrified of being discovered."
He nodded and turned the page silently. Eventually, he said softly, "The world is full of answers, if you look for them. They told me that the sunlight would burn through my skin, too, and all it did was make me more curious. They told me there was no such thing as a glacier…" He glanced down at the page, and allowed himself a small, proud smile. "Hell, they told me bread was poisonous to men…" He shook his head and blinked back more tears. "It must have been beautiful…"
Tali nodded softly, reached out, and brushed away his tears with a single fingertip. "The whole world can be beautiful, if you only look at it in wonder and curiosity, instead of fear and loathing." She chuckled and whispered, "You're only the second of our kind that I've ever known who learned that."
Tarlyn's ears flushed pink again, and he tried to shrug it off. "That's why I travel," he said quietly. "I want to see it all. All of it. I've stood on the slopes of the Dragonspires and watched the cranes load cargo in the ports of Cormyr…" He grinned proudly. "I've even…" He fell silent for a moment and looked into her eyes, then realized that she was probably the only person he could tell. "…I've been to Evermeet."
Her eyes widened, and she stared, letting out a slow, quiet breath. "You… oh. Oh! Oh, it must have been so beautiful…" She shrugged and sighed wistfully. "They don't really welcome me there, though some of their people have called to me by other names, the way you did." She laughed and murmured, "I am… both healing and retribution. There were those who called me an avenging angel, even when I was…" She paused, and shrugged again. "…alive, I guess, is the best word for it."
Tarlyn blinked, and lowered his eyes. "Things are changing there." he said quietly. "You'd be surprised. I bet they know about you already." He looked down, then reached into the neck of his tunic, and withdrew something on a simple thin chain, though the chain was clearly something above and beyond the craftsmanship of this world. "Here. I don't know if it'll be helpful to you, but I wasn't planning on going anyway, and..." He placed it on the ground, in front of her. It was a tiny mithril unicorn, its horn carved from a shell of particularly exquisite abalone. "...you should go there and speak to them. That'll...get you there." He looked up at her. "Go talk to them, Lady. See how they receive you."
Tali gasped softly, "You would… I could… oh, Tarlyn, how beautiful…" She reached out to touch it with a fingertip carefully, as if the carved image might bite her, and her voice wavered, becoming soft and mournful as her eyes shimmered as she bit back her own tears. "Drizzt wore one just like it. He never took it off…"
Tarlyn stared up at her, his pen pausing again. "You knew Drizzt?" he asked, incredulously. This lady was full of surprises, it seemed. He chuckled and remarked, "I guess you really got around." He blinked, then, and shrugged. "I… well, it's the least I could do. You saved my life." He smiled a strange, quiet, thoughtful little smile and murmured, "It's not every day you get to meet a goddess."
Tali smiled fondly and warmly in spite of the tears that trickled down her cheeks. "My starlight…" she whispered faintly and gazed silently into the distance. When she was finally certain that her voice wouldn't break, she continued, "He's on the other side now. He died the way he wanted to… a hero. But that was a long, long time ago." She picked up the chain and wound it around her fingers, letting the unicorn lay in the palm of her hand. As she admired it, she said proudly, "If you'll come back to the city with me – and I sincerely hope you will – I'll introduce you to our daughter."
She paused and regarded him with a raised eyebrow and a crooked little smile. At last, she laughed quietly. "No? No. I guess you don't, do you? But I still haven't gotten used to thinking of myself that way. I'm… just Tali."
He gasped, and this time, actually dropped his pen. As he fumbled on the ground beside him for it, he asked in a shaky voice, "You… want me to come back to Menzoberranzan?" He laughed and shook his head as he stammered in disbelief. "Oh, but they'd kill me… and… I mean… I… Well, I guess…" He raised his eyes to hers, bit his lip, and asked with a hopeful smile, "For a while?"
Tali nodded eagerly and reassured him, "Yes. Yes, I want you to. Please come back with me." She laughed, and murmured, "No one will harm you, I promise." Grinning brightly, she reached out and brushed the back of one hand softly along his cheek. "Who would dare, when I'm the one bringing you back? Come with me… stay with me… stay for a while, for as long as you like." Her own smile grew hopeful, and her voice dropped to a shy little whisper. "I'd love to have the company of one of my own… especially one like you…"
For several long, silent minutes, the two stared into each other's eyes. At last, Tarlyn broke the silence by whispering, "Lady… I'd follow you into the dungeons of Thay if you asked me."
[Still to be continued…]
Tarlyn's pen paused, and he looked up and stared at her. "But… I knew Nal'Chea! You must… but…" He stopped himself, shaking his head, and muttered under his breath, "Oh, shut up, Tarlyn, and write." As the rows of tiny letters flowed from his pen, he marveled. This goddess was younger than his father, it seemed, and he wasn't sure how that could be possible. It piqued his curiosity. His writing wound effortlessly around the stains and tears in the pages, and he remarked offhandedly, "I've heard rumors about what happens in those."
A wry little smirk curled Tali's lips as she glanced over at him, and she laughed. "Yes. I'm that young. Younger than a good many of those I'm trying to take care of, now that I find myself here." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, then nodded a little. "Yeah." She was silent for a few minutes, and when she finally did speak again, it was with some difficulty.
Her voice was heavy with disgust and emotion as she said haltingly, "Most of what you've heard… was probably quite true." She shuddered deeply, eyes still closed, and continued, "You see, at the climax of the ceremony… the one chosen to lead it was called upon to summon a thing… a demon, a horrible monster, from the Abyss, and…" She bit her lip and swallowed. "…and give herself to it. That… is what my mother did."
He looked up at her, aghast, but never stopped writing. He was simultaneously fascinated and horrified as he realized that his was the hand finally documenting Lolth's insanity. "She was insane," he stated in quiet horror as he wrote. "Insane. Why would a daughter of the priesthood be ordered to surrender herself to a monster? A male monster, no less?"
Eyes still closed, Tali nodded and murmured. "Yes, she was insane. There was never any logic to it. For someone who was supposed to spend life ruling over males, being raped by a monster was a badge of honor. Why? Because she said so. Conceiving from it was an even greater mark of favor. Why? Because she said so."
The anger rose in her voice, breaking past the careful restraint, and she picked up a rock and threw it at the opposite wall of the cave, where it shattered. "That… is what I was supposed to be. A perfect abomination. But there was something else waiting, and scheming, and biding his time until the call came… something much more cunning and powerful and evil than the stupid, snarling monstrosities the summoning was supposed to call up. Something that thought having a child in the mortal world would be the perfect way to gain a foothold for his own plans."
Tarlyn did not interrupt, he simply took down every word, flinching only a little as stone struck stone. Occasionally, he flicked his eyes over to look at the goddess out of the corner of his eyes, scribbling notes about her voice and her expression as she spoke.
Tali shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut, and slammed a fist against her knee. "And that's why I was born," she spat. "A daughter, so I could take my proper place in the so-called ruling class of our society… Drow, to all outward appearance…" She shrugged a little and sighed softly. "As far as my mother knew, she had failed, and I was just the child of one of her lovers. I was a girl, though, so I was kept, and raised to become a priestess myself when the time came."
She opened her eyes, smirked, and bent a little without rising to her feet, sweeping one arm out to her side in a grandiose half-bow. She cleared her throat and spoke the old formal words of introduction, but with a bitter, mocking edge in her voice. "My name is Talisantia T'Sarran, noble daughter of House T'Sarran, of the great City of Spiders, Menzoberranzan." She shrugged and laughed. "Or I was, once."
Tarlyn caught up, then stopped and stared up at her, blinking. "You mean you're… oh my." He blinked again, and shifted the book on his lap. "Well. I'm supposed to kill you on sight. But that's all right, really. You're supposed to kill me, too." He chuckled dryly and eyed the implement in his hand, then grinned and added, "Besides which, I don't think this pen can do much damage." He cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his writing. "So. So no one knew, then. Since you know it now, I assume you found out later?"
Tali laughed merrily as she reached over and brushed a lock of hair back from Tarlyn's eyes. "Oh, you have nothing to fear from me. I prefer to get to know someone before I decide whether to kill them. Besides, I like you, so far, and I don't think you want to kill me quite yet." She winked and nudged his shoulder, then cleared her throat and settled back again, nodding. "I learned it all, over time, and a lot of it only recently."
She shrugged quietly. "So, since you know my name, and you know you're supposed to kill me, I assume you know about the fall of my family, my escape from the city, and the murder of my mother and my brother at the hands of the priestesses." She toyed with one end of her cord belt, smiling crookedly. "I gather I was blamed for the whole thing, and I know I was marked for death in every Drow civilization from here to Krynn to Oerth and back again…"
Tarlyn grinned brightly as he slipped into the easy camaraderie of a fellow outcast, and nodded emphatically. "Yes. When, of course, they were all killed by the priestesses to atone for your so-called crimes. He nodded, and laughed a small, bitter laugh. "Amazing. She couldn't even keep one city sane, but she sure could manage to warn even the…" He stopped, looked up, and stared with wide azure eyes at Tali. "Wait a minute. Krynn… you mean you've been there? Slax, they always told me it was a children's story!"
Tali sat up straighter, her eyes lighting up with enthusiasm. "It's real. I've been there. There are huge sailing ships that travel between worlds, between the stars… they're called spelljammers. I sailed on them for a hundred years." She raised one hand and gestured up toward the sky. "I've been to Krynn… to a place called Greyhawk, once… and the Rock, oh the things I saw! There are so many worlds out there… so many stories… I even found a world I loved, and settled down to live there, for a time…"
She sighed wistfully and smiled at Tarlyn. "There are things out there that you would never believe until you saw them. Things that Drow have never laid eyes on because they're too afraid to leave their own cities and face the light of day." She laughed softly as she reminisced, then sighed. "So, yes. That's what I did with myself, once I got used to life on the surface world, and mastered the one useful talent my father's blood gave me."
Tarlyn's eyes shimmered with moisture, then he blinked it away and said slowly and hopefully, "You're telling me it's all real? It's not just a story for children, there really is a Skysea, and there really are worlds hidden up among the stars?" He marveled, and as a single tear streaked down his cheek, he chuckled softly. "Next I know, you'll be telling me you've seen Blackmoor…"
Tali smiled and reached over to brush the tear away, then murmured, "It's real, Tarlyn. It's all real. So much of what we dismissed as children's stories is completely true…" She smiled wryly and added, "And so much of what we accepted to be gospel truth was completely wrong. I imagine you've learned a lot of that already, haven't you?" She lit up again, and sighed wistfully. "Blackmoor… It must have been incredible once. It's a ruin now, if a beautiful one. I didn't get to stay there very long. The place is so heavy with archmages, I was terrified of being discovered."
He nodded and turned the page silently. Eventually, he said softly, "The world is full of answers, if you look for them. They told me that the sunlight would burn through my skin, too, and all it did was make me more curious. They told me there was no such thing as a glacier…" He glanced down at the page, and allowed himself a small, proud smile. "Hell, they told me bread was poisonous to men…" He shook his head and blinked back more tears. "It must have been beautiful…"
Tali nodded softly, reached out, and brushed away his tears with a single fingertip. "The whole world can be beautiful, if you only look at it in wonder and curiosity, instead of fear and loathing." She chuckled and whispered, "You're only the second of our kind that I've ever known who learned that."
Tarlyn's ears flushed pink again, and he tried to shrug it off. "That's why I travel," he said quietly. "I want to see it all. All of it. I've stood on the slopes of the Dragonspires and watched the cranes load cargo in the ports of Cormyr…" He grinned proudly. "I've even…" He fell silent for a moment and looked into her eyes, then realized that she was probably the only person he could tell. "…I've been to Evermeet."
Her eyes widened, and she stared, letting out a slow, quiet breath. "You… oh. Oh! Oh, it must have been so beautiful…" She shrugged and sighed wistfully. "They don't really welcome me there, though some of their people have called to me by other names, the way you did." She laughed and murmured, "I am… both healing and retribution. There were those who called me an avenging angel, even when I was…" She paused, and shrugged again. "…alive, I guess, is the best word for it."
Tarlyn blinked, and lowered his eyes. "Things are changing there." he said quietly. "You'd be surprised. I bet they know about you already." He looked down, then reached into the neck of his tunic, and withdrew something on a simple thin chain, though the chain was clearly something above and beyond the craftsmanship of this world. "Here. I don't know if it'll be helpful to you, but I wasn't planning on going anyway, and..." He placed it on the ground, in front of her. It was a tiny mithril unicorn, its horn carved from a shell of particularly exquisite abalone. "...you should go there and speak to them. That'll...get you there." He looked up at her. "Go talk to them, Lady. See how they receive you."
Tali gasped softly, "You would… I could… oh, Tarlyn, how beautiful…" She reached out to touch it with a fingertip carefully, as if the carved image might bite her, and her voice wavered, becoming soft and mournful as her eyes shimmered as she bit back her own tears. "Drizzt wore one just like it. He never took it off…"
Tarlyn stared up at her, his pen pausing again. "You knew Drizzt?" he asked, incredulously. This lady was full of surprises, it seemed. He chuckled and remarked, "I guess you really got around." He blinked, then, and shrugged. "I… well, it's the least I could do. You saved my life." He smiled a strange, quiet, thoughtful little smile and murmured, "It's not every day you get to meet a goddess."
Tali smiled fondly and warmly in spite of the tears that trickled down her cheeks. "My starlight…" she whispered faintly and gazed silently into the distance. When she was finally certain that her voice wouldn't break, she continued, "He's on the other side now. He died the way he wanted to… a hero. But that was a long, long time ago." She picked up the chain and wound it around her fingers, letting the unicorn lay in the palm of her hand. As she admired it, she said proudly, "If you'll come back to the city with me – and I sincerely hope you will – I'll introduce you to our daughter."
She paused and regarded him with a raised eyebrow and a crooked little smile. At last, she laughed quietly. "No? No. I guess you don't, do you? But I still haven't gotten used to thinking of myself that way. I'm… just Tali."
He gasped, and this time, actually dropped his pen. As he fumbled on the ground beside him for it, he asked in a shaky voice, "You… want me to come back to Menzoberranzan?" He laughed and shook his head as he stammered in disbelief. "Oh, but they'd kill me… and… I mean… I… Well, I guess…" He raised his eyes to hers, bit his lip, and asked with a hopeful smile, "For a while?"
Tali nodded eagerly and reassured him, "Yes. Yes, I want you to. Please come back with me." She laughed, and murmured, "No one will harm you, I promise." Grinning brightly, she reached out and brushed the back of one hand softly along his cheek. "Who would dare, when I'm the one bringing you back? Come with me… stay with me… stay for a while, for as long as you like." Her own smile grew hopeful, and her voice dropped to a shy little whisper. "I'd love to have the company of one of my own… especially one like you…"
For several long, silent minutes, the two stared into each other's eyes. At last, Tarlyn broke the silence by whispering, "Lady… I'd follow you into the dungeons of Thay if you asked me."
[Still to be continued…]