Disclaimer: don't own, ladi-dadi-dee, don't own 'cept MY CHARACTERS.
Thanks to all reviews and please please read.
Silken Words
"Izil nind lil'alure harl lil drathir,
Nind sila haruk.
Uk lar ilta abbil
Lueth telanth uk orn thir'ku.
Il lar ukta abbil
Jhal uk golhyrr 'sohna."
Jhaelriina smoothed the girl's hair back from her face. Examining it in the pale light cast by the lamps, the pale, copper-colored tresses shined prettily against the child's dark face. Jhaelriina sighed softly.
She remembered being that young, as young as the dark-faced child before her. She remembered the streets. She remembered the trials she had faced, the obstacles she had overcome, the inner demons she had fought.
She remembered the screams she had heard.
Sighing again, the cleric pushed her own white hair out of her pale, green eyes, and stared down at the girl. Her 'sister.' Her thoughts turned back to another sister she had had, before she had been plucked from the streets . . . and why . . .
"Jhaelriina! Wait for me!" the green-eyed drowling rushed to catch up with her elder sister as the two young females raced through the streets.
"Qilmur'ss!" the elder scolded. "Run faster, if you can't keep up! We have to be home by the time Narbondel reaches it's peak."
Qilmur'ss nodded, her hair flying wildly. "Yes, dalninil, I know."
The two children hurried along the alleys, under the dark stares of so many guards. Shying away from the flickering light of faerie fire, the girls - appearing as a twelve-year-old and a four-year-old to human eyes - ran on, the elder clutching a dirty bag to her chest.
They reached home: a crowded two-story commoner's home in the Bazaar filled with drow, those drow who, like the two girls, were Houseless commoners. Females and males of all ages huddled around tables or in corners, the males with eyes that seemed perpetually lowered, the females with the harried expressions of mothers. Children scrambled everywhere, frantically attempting to stay out from underfoot.
These were merchants or their servants, those who did not live in a House. Jhaelriina recognized Micaraufein Hlamtor, one of the former, and Vuzas, one of the latter. Micaraufein was one of the few to have a last name - most had just their first.
But she must not dally: she must go. Grabbing Qilmur'ss's wrist Jhaelriina tugged and dragged her sister through the crowd to the stairs to the second floor, where those who could afford it slept. Her parents, Rilistor and Zesrae,were servents of the wealthy merchant Chaszven Hun'afin, along with three more drow. The children - three other small ones besides Jhaelriina and Qilmur'ss and two older males - were included among the servants.
Chaszven Hun'afin lived in three rooms of the small six-room space; the other three were divided into the males' room, the females' room, and the kitchen. Jhaelriina had been sent to fetch something - she did not know what - for her Jabbuk. She moved past the males' room and to the females', searching for her Ilhar.
Zesrae, an exceptionally small, thin drow with the poison-green eyes of her children, nodded jerkily at the sight of her eldest female child and held out her hand. "Did you get it?" she snapped.
"Xas, Ilhar." the young girl quickly handed the dirty sack to her mother.
"No problems?" Zesrae turned away from Jhaelriina, not truly caring.
"No, ma'am." Jhaelriina, with childish naivete, replied. Zesrae scowled and left the room, setting the bag down on a table.
From the other room came a crash and a bang and a scream. Jhaelriina ran into the room to see, Qilmur'ss and another young female at her heels. Unnoticed by any of them, Jhaelriina tipped over the spindly table, dropping the small bag into her pocket.
In the small males' room, which housed seven drow - three grown, two adolescent, andtwo children - plus two cots, three bedrolls, and several washing materials and other furniture, was the shattered pieces of a clay basin. Standing over the basin was the elder male child, looking scared. The younger one cowered in a corner. Luaintra, the other adult female, came running past Jhaelriina, took in the situation with a glance and began shouting.
"You idiotic male!" she screamed at the child. "Clumsy! Mal'ai fa'la zatoast!" The child cowered on the floor before her wrath and bent to pick the shredded pieces up.
"Do so!"Luaintra shrilled. "And may they cut you and drive into your thick skull the importance of not running in the house!"
The littler male tried to creep away, but Luaintra caught sight of him and seized his wrist. "Leave! Get out!" looking around, she spied Jhaelriina and hurled the male at her. "You, girl - take this one and the other two and leave!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Jhaelriina hurridly cried, not wanting to give vicious Luaintra cause to yell at her. Grabbing the little male - she recalled his name was Nalztar - in one and and the younger female, Baedrilna, in the other. She sped out of the room with these two in tow and Qilmur'ss running after the trio.
Outside the four wandered around the Bazaar, huddling by walls and lowering their eyes. Jhaelriina did not know when Luaintra would deem it time to return, and the four simply strayed around until, a few hours later, a large group of older drow ran down the street, plowing through the children. Jhaelriina stagged off too the side, clutching the two girls as she fell down.
Getting up, she rubbed her arm where'd she fallen and scowled. Qilmur'ss let out a wail and the other female whimpered. Jhaelriina noticed, with anger, that they were hurt; Qilmur'ss's ankle was twisted slightly and Baedrilna's arm cut. Luaintra would have her head; that was a new shirt!
Jhaelriina suddenly noticed that Nalztar was gone. Swiftly looking around, she took Baedrilna's and Qilmur'ss's wrists in one hand and hauled them off, ignoring their pleas.
"Nalztar!" she called out, searching wildly around, and the two girls joined in. None of them wanted to return to Luaintra without the male servant and risk Chaszven's ire. Or Luaintra's, for that matter.
A scream - the scream of a male child - cut through the air, and Jhaelriina whirled about to see the male lying far off in the street. Releasing the two girls the elder ran to him, taking no heed of the younger females' cries as they ran to keep up with her.
He was injured, stabbed in the stomach. Probably, Jhaelriina reflected sourly, by one of the drow that had separated them. She looked around for some way to heal him, knowing for sure what would happen if she went home without him. She had been beaten once as a little child and had no desire to be beaten again.
She plunged her hands into her pockets - and felt them curl around something. She yanked it out, and felt her eyes widen as she realized what it was. The sack! How, how, howhad it came to be there?
No matter. She'd deal with it later. Ignoring Qilmur'ss's questions of what she had, Jhaelriina opened the bag, heedless of any traps, and dug around.
She produced a wand.
What kind of wand? she thought, but realized, as Nalztar gasped wetly, that it did not matter that much. She pointed it at the child: if it was a wand of fire or ice or something else unpleasent, well, he was dying anyway, and she could say he was blasted by a priestess or wizard. If it was a wand of healing, she could return to her home with all the servent-children at hand and get her supper.
Aiming at the slash, she spoke one word, sincerely hoping it was the trigger; "Yshar!"
As the word - the Drow word for 'heal' - left her lips, so did a black light leave the wand, shooting at Nalztar. The child screamed as flesh knitted back together and blood ceased to flow as the wand healed him.
Jhaelriina sighed in relief - she could return without the fear of being beaten. The sound of running footsteps reached her ears, and the child spun about to see a priestess running - no, gliding, for her feet were not upon the ground - towards her.
"How did you do that?" she demanded.
"I-I, I took the wand and I pointed it and said 'heal,'" Jhaelriina stammered, taken aback by the drow's interest. What did a Priestess of the Almighty Spider Queen want with a dirty peasent girl?
"Who are you?" the female demanded.
"Jhaelriina, jabbress." Jhaelriina lowered her eyes. "Servant of Chaszven Hun'afin."
"A servant?" murmered the priestess. She drew herself up. "I am LiNeerithra Qed-Vursys, Daughter of House Qed'Vursys . . . come with me."
"But . . . the others . . ."
"No buts." the female scowled. "You are to come with me. No ordinary servant-child could have been able to activate that wand."
Jhaelriina's eyes fell to the shimmering blood-red spider upon the priestess's robes.
"Yes, yathrin." she murmered, following the priestess, leaving Qilmur'ss and Baedrilna standing alone with Nalztar in the streets.
The Silken Rack rested in the north of the Bazaar, a one-story, low, long building that was separated into two sections: the female section and the male. The large, long pool in which Arduldriira rested was in the female section.
The room itself was large and hot and humid, with gentle, warm, magical breezes that danced across the scented, oiled water, carrying the delicious sent of spices. The pool was a large oval, with hot, scented water that slid like silk over the bodies of the dark elves that happened to be in it now. Native Underdark vines and plants, pleasing to the drow eye, along with beautiful stone and gem carvings that rested on silver disks that floated on the water, illuminated with dancing faerie fire and soft green glows, drifted by, shedding enough light for the slave children - mostly human females, for no male of any status was allowed in the female section, that crawled around the edges of the pool on the knees, offering spiced wines and delicious morsels of food, as well as ornate bottles of oils and scented water, to the drow resting in the pool - to see by, yet little enough for the drow to remain comfortably in infravision, if they so desired.
Only three drow rested in the pool this day; Arduldriira, white hair spreading out in soft waves, naked legs treading water, rested on the cushioned side of the pool, all but her neck and head submerged in water; Vrae'Jysala, gliding silently from spot to spot; and LiNeerithra, nervously moving her arms and legs in slow circles as she went. Of the three drow, only Arduldriira was truly relaxed - Vrae'Jysala was close, while LiNeerithra was on tension's edge. The three waited.
"Do you believe this is wise?" LiNeerithra inquired Arduldriira in the drow tongue. The slave children, unable to speak drow, could not understand and therefor could not repeat, thus she spoke in normal tones.
"Xas." the relaxed drow opened her eyes halfway, gazing with amusement at the impatient drow while lazily windmilling her legs. "Relax, dalninil. You are on edge. Enjoy this, for Lolth's sake! It's perfectly wise."
"How so?"
"You never give up, do you?" Arduldriira signaled one of the slave children, a human girl of about eight or nine with nondescript brown hair and white, flaky skin that longed for the sunlight. The girl hastily crawled over to the drow, moving on her scraped knees, her head bowed. Reaching Arduldriira, she lowered her chest to the stone floor, arms extended in a grovel.
The drow priestess waved her hand and spoke in the girl's slavish tongue. "More wine, rivvil wanre, the dark red kind. And ready for another who will be here soon. Meanwhile, bring some more ssinjin challin. See to it that it arrives swiftly. I do not like to be kept waiting."
The girl nodded enthusiastically, rising back up but remaining on her knees and bowing low as she went.
Vrae'Jysala watched the girl scuttle away with amused eyes. "Who else is arriving, may I ask?"
"A friend, dalninil. That is all you need to know." Arduldriira selected a glass bottle from a selection that another slave girl held and motion to the girl, this one with short yellow hair and large dark eyes of about ten years. The slave swiftly removed the stopper and poured the golden-amber oil onto her hands, scrubbed pink and clean by the overseer, and began to rub Arduldriira's shoulders and neck with her oiled hands. Though no masseur, the girl's touch was gentle, if clumsy, and Arduldriira savored it as much as she would.
Vrae'Jysala sipped a cup of dark green, spiced wine, rolling it on her tongue. "Does Matron Phyrbreena know we are here?"
"What the Ilharess does not know won't harm her." Arduldriira replied. She motioned to another slave, this one a gnomish girl with a decanter of wine. The girl crawled over, and Arduldriira eyed her a moment before half-lifting herself from the pool and selecting a vial from under her towel. Unstopping the vial, which was full of black liquid, she poured a few drops into the wine.
"You would be advised to serve only this wine for this meeting." she informed the surprised girl in her own Gnomish tongue. Settling back in the water, she waved the girl aside and turned to her sisters. "And you would be advised not to drink from that decanter."
Vrae'Jysala, hardly surprised and cooly in control, merely nodded and resumed her bath. LiNeerithra raised a snowy eyebrow but accepting this turn with a shrug.
"Ah." Arduldriira grinned wickedly. "I believe that is her now . . . all in place?"
Vrae'Jysala, for all the world looking the part of the innocent observer, nodded, her dark maroon eyes half-closed as she allowed herself to drift beneath the oiled, hot water for a moment, her skin glistening in the light of the faerie fire. LiNeerithra looked slightly more uneasy that the other two, but shrugged again. These two had been playing this game for decades. She was simply here to learn, she reflected as she tucked her item beneath her own pillow.
And not a minute too soon. Another slave, this one a cross between a gnome and a human, entered, and with her a young female. Vrae'Jysala studied her from beneath her lashes; the girl was small and gangly, lacking grace and beauty. And obviously wisdom, if she was so naieve as to simply walk into the spiders' web.
And the spiders had venom.
"First Daughter Drisnolu Tovsr'raen, welcome." Arduldriira flashed a gleaming smile at the girl, she hesitatingly grinned back. Viewing her in the light of the faerie fires, LiNeerithra lifted a sculpted hand to her face to hide her disgust. This female was lacking in the beauty section as well as the wisdom, she reflected. With her too-long ears, skin that was an unhealthy dark grey instead of the usual shining black, pale red eyes, and pale yellow hair that hung down in straggly waves, Drisnolu was not exactly the epitome of feminine beauty.
Ignorant of this, the girl - she was not even out of the Academy! - cautiously slipped into the pool, shedding her clothes in an unseemly pile on the edge. LiNeeithra noted that she was skinny as well.
"May I introduce myself." Arduldriira lazily waved her hand through the water. "I am Arduldriira, Second Daughter of House Qed'Vursys, Eleventh House of Menzoberranzan. This is my sister, Vrae'Jysala, and my adopted sister, LiNeerithra."
The silly Tovsr'raen nodded and smiled.
"Wine?" Vrae'Jysala suggested lazily, motioning to the gnome, who came forward with the decanter. Again the Tovsr'raen nodded, and took the cup in trembling hands, drowing it in one gulp. Vrae'Jysala wrinkled her nose, wondering if the girl was unlucky enough to have human ancestors.
"So, Drisnolu . . . tell us of your plans, your House. Is it as beautiful as they say?" LiNeerithra asked politely.
"Oh, yes!" Drisnolu nodded. "Quite lovely. Prettier than yours."
LiNeerithra stiffened slightly and Vrae'Jysala narrowed her eyes at the insult. Arduldriira, ignoring it, waved her hand.
"I have heard of your lovely gate."
"I should think you have. It's the prettiest one in Menzoberranzan, carved with Lolth's grace."
Lack of beauty combined with pride and vainity. Not a good combination, girl. Vrae'Jysala thought.
"Aren't they all?" Arduldriira smiled that winning, gleaming smile that had beguiled so many. "But I understand that we have House merchants that wish to buy from your House. How are they to get in?"
"That is easy!" Drisnolu smirked. "Simply say, 'And to Lolth does only Lolth appear!' "
Arduldriira, in any other case, would have throught this simply too easy. However,since the girl's naievete was helped along by the truth potion, it was understandable. She inclined her head ever-so-slightlyas Vrae'Jysala, unnoticed, completed her spell and shook her head. The stupid wretch wasn't lying, apparently.
That was all Arduldriira needed to know. Bowing her head defferently, she grinned. "Those who reveal their secrets are revealed themselves, you do know."
"Yes, of cour-" Drisnolu stopped abruptly, gasping. Her eyes locked and she slid upwards, onto the floor.
"I accept no accolades." Vrae'Jysala remarked as she ran her knife along the girl's arm, the blade stained with blood. "Too easy."
"She was too ugly to keep as a prize." LiNeerithra remarked.
"No loss." Arduldriira remarked. "Indeed, Ibelieve theSpider Queen may be pleased that we have rid her ranks of this wretched girl. She was weak."
"And stupid." LiNeerithra scowled.
"Burn her." instructed Arduldriira indifferently. "I don't appreciate blood in my bath."
Vrae'Jysala did as she was told, watching idly as the dark flames engulf the body, burning away even the ashes, leaving only a charred spot on the floor.
"Now, sisters," Arduldriira grinned, sinking down in the pool. "Let's enjoy this bath."
Ahh . . . sorry about lack of updates. See my profile.
I forgot which House House Qued'Vursys was so I put in 'eleventh.'
Please review! And yes, it IS supposed to be 'accession' not 'asension.' The Priestesses are accessing a new adult. For lack of better title.