A/N: Well, this is the second version of Ch.2. I went on a bit of a vacation recently so I got time to fix it up, and I hope this version is better. It's a little longer, and has more description, etc. Let me know what you think about this version as oppposed to the previous one.
Chapter Two
" We will be taking her as a battle captive, of course." Matron Kailai Irzyln said with a false smile. The matron of House Irzyln lounged on a throne-like divan in her reception hall, which was lavishly decorated in a spider theme, showing off their wealth and devotion to the goddess.Kailai was playing a dangerous game, even though nominally she outranked this girl, House Melarn was much more powerful, and she owed their victory over the Yauntyrr to them. " Master Kelhirr captured her, and has made us a very generous offer." The other drow laughed.
" The Yauntyrr? He's selling his sister, after all. His house has been destroyed, certainly he's made a generous offer. What, a position as a mage in your house in return for the girl?" The Melarn girl gave a flippant wave of her hand. "I can make a much better one." Kailai narrowed her eyes, trying to hide her resentment of this upstart daughter of Matron Melarn's. She had waltzed in, a few moments earlier and had demanded one of the survivors of the raid that had demolished House Yauntyrr for a battle captive. She treated Kailai like the first daughter of a lesser-ranked house, and gave her none of the respect that she, as a matron, felt was her due. And what was worse, Kailai could do nothing about it.
"I'm sure you can, Mistress Melarn, but will Matron Melarn stand for it? Exactly how much bargaining power do you have?" Halisstra Melarn, First Daughter of House Melarn frowned slightly, then schooled her features back into a semblance of pleasantness. She surveyed the hall, from the guards and servants ranged at intervals around Matron Irzyln,to her eldest daughter who sat indolently in a chair near the throne, looking bored. Halisstra calculated her answer carefully, weighing how much she could risk, and how angry it would make her mother, if Matron Irzyln took her up on her offer.
" Enough, Matron, to offer you a year less servitude in exchange."Halisstra replied, and Matron Kailai scoffed openly.
"A year? Off of three hundred? It is a pittance you offer. I won't settle for less than five."
" Do not forget whom you owe your victory! Without House Melarn you would still be a house of jumped-up merchants masquerading as nobles! You will pay for your aid, and if Matron Melarn desires it you will give us the girl!" Halisstra snarled at her. Halisstra, of course, had no intention of bringing up the subject of one battle captive to her mother. First daughter or no, Halisstra was not Drisinil's favorite, and she didn't dare push such foolish matters on her mother. She wasn't really going to grant them freedom from their servitude a year early, either. It was all a ploy to cow Kailai. She would then simply take the girl as her personal servant, just as she had planned, and while surely Drisinil would know, it would not cause her any inconvenience. " You would do well to remember, Matron, that I commanded the siege of House Yauntyrr, not your honored self, nor your own first daughter, " she eyed the girl ironically. Kailai was displeased with her first daughter, who proved to have little ambition to rise above her already exalted position in the house. She was also, it was rumored, a bit of an imbecile by drow standards, and that Kailai looked away far more often than most Matrons would at the attempts to assassinate her first-born. " My service, as you yourself stated, was without flaw, and the raids, to the very last, were completely successful. You owe my mother, most certainly, but you also owe something small to me, at least, for the quality of my services." She spoke mildly, but with a hint of irony that made Kailai fume. She recovered herself, but less quickly than before, and attempted to change tactics. Halisstra waited patiently for the matron to gather her thoughts, but did not keep a hint of superior amusement from her face that bordered on the insubordinate.
" Why do you want this girl so much, hmm?" Kailai said smoothly. She was trying to embarrass Halisstra, make it seem odd that she was fighting so for a slave.
" It is my due." Halisstra replied haughtily. " I need a servant that is completely mine. She was the only suitable one in this lot. And I'm sure you won't mind providing her for me." She smiled, and it didn't reach her eyes. " As undoubtedly Matron Melarn would not look well on disobedience so early on in your…servitude." That did the trick. The muscles in Kailai's face tightened, as though she where fighting with something. Halisstra laughed in her mind. She is so easy to manipulate. That weakling will never rise high enough in Lloth's graces to achieve her ambitions. Halisstra thought the matron a fool. She had given up three hundred years of her house's reign for a raise in station she would never fully enjoy. Her house would fall as soon as it rose once House Melarn withdrew its protection, if it remained under Kailai's leadership, and from the looks of things, it would be even worse under the rule of the first daughter, though her ever seeing the throne was unlikely. Halisstra had carefully watched the dynamics between the matron and her two eldest daughters, and if the first was idiotic, the second was barely short of brilliant. She would not put it past the girl to overthrow her older sister and her mother, and could quite possibly secure the house's survival. She would bear watching.
" Fine. Take her. " Matron Irzyln snapped. Her face contorted, anger written plainly all over her. She composed herself with great effort. There was no hint of subservience in her voice, and her eyes spoke of the torments she'd like to inflict on the impertinent Melarn daughter, but she spoke calmly and respectfully, though Halisstra could practically feel the hate behind every word. No drow liked to lose. " In fact, please accept her as a gesture of …" she paused here, as though struggling to get the words out. Halisstra was disgusted. No subtlety, she thought as the Matron continued, "thanks and subservience from House Irzyln." Halisstra nodded.
" I will be sure to convey to Matron Melarn how willing you were to fulfill your duty to House Melarn." She said, grinning as she twisted the word. Matron Irzyln paled slightly, knowing that what Halisstra told her mother would be far from good. " Now, with your permission, I must collect the captive, then report to Matron Melarn." Kailai nodded, eager to see the other priestess go. Halisstra bowed and left, followed by her guard, her boots clicking on the stone floor of Matron Irzyln's audience chamber with each step, and smiled as the doors closed behind her.