„...is most likely a Dragon"
„Address her 'my lady' or Adalon by choice. She has been a friend for svirfnebli for long, surely she knows a way to Ust Natha, the city of drow, where the vampire and the mage you seek headed not that long ago" the deep gnome was boring them, repeating the same thing over and over again as they walked, as if he was trying to hide that he himself wasn't completely sure of this solution.
"Is she a deep gnome, like you?" Imoen asked, curious. He was shuffling her feet as she walked trying to draw attention to the new robes with irrationally long trouser legs only she could walk in without stumbling every few steps.
"No, of course not. She's a creature of great beauty and wisdom. Show her proper respect. Here" Goldander, the leader of the deep gnomes in the settlement, placed a golden gem, shining with its own light on Daria's palm, and they could finally see their destination – a cave far from the hidden entrance to the svirfnebli town it took them almost a full day to reach.
"From here you have to go on your own" the gnome signaled the rest of the patrol who led them here that it's time to head back. Daria didn't pay them any attention, looking at the wall of living shadows that seemed awfully familiar, though the last one she saw was much smaller. The barrier was as high as the cave, opening far up and disappearing into the darkness further than her eyes could reach. The elf threw a skeptical look at the small gem, not much more than a worthless bauble, only sparkling lightly. The walls of shadow they have so far encountered, the ones in Amaunator's forgotten temple, weren't much bigger than normal house doors. Those shadows were huge and much, much denser.
She shrugged, lifted the gem up and began to walk. There was no point in imagining trouble without at least trying to pass through. Her companions obediently hobbled behind her without saying a single world. Only Imoen was making the effort to lighten the atmosphere, but the moment they immersed into the barrier of darkness even her easy-going sister lost the courage to speak.
Before the half-goddess a cavern opened, or perhaps more like a hall. It was enormous, even for Underdark standards, a place that was itself one giant cave. The walls of the chamber were richly sculpted, though it appeared more as if various humanoid creatures, perhaps drow, were trapped in stone and now tried to break free, seeking their release in the empty space before them, with their faces twisted in some strange yearning. A gentle white curtain of frost was covering the unfortunate beings, like last chains they couldn't break on their way to freedom. The floor was slippery, also covered with ice, though barely visible from under milk-colored mist, crawling beneath their feet, retreating only slightly at their advance. All of it created an eerie and surreal atmosphere.
A dragon stood in the middle of the antechamber, a silver beast, more ancient than the walls surrounding it. Only compared to the giant lizard the sculpted hall didn't seem that huge, a suitable space for a dragon to spread its magnificent wings unhindered. The chill radiating even beyond the darkened entrance was seeping from the metallic silver scales.
"Adalon, I presume?" Daria stepped forward, addressing the dragoness directly. Imoen flinched when her sister's voice echoed from the walls. Just looking at the dragoness made one feel the cold crawling under the clothes.
"Welcome in my cave" the dark eyes of Adalon the dragoness rested on the tiny in comparison shape of the Bhaalspawn. Frosty dragon breath brushed elf's skin, but Daria didn't shudder. A very nasty smile began to form on her lips, removing the amazed expression she wore when first looking at the sparkling scales of silver dragon.
"I am Daria of Candlekeep. Me and my companions are looking for Irenicus the mage, and Bodhi the vampiress. We were told that you may help us." The small elf introduced her purpose.
"I know the ones you speak of and I know they cannot be easily reached" the dragoness replied, as if she was expecting the question and knew all about their goals in advance. "The ones you seek are allies of drow and went to Ust Natha, the city of the dark elves nearby. Without my help they will remain beyond your reach. I will aid you, however I require a service in return."
"There is nothing for free in this world" Daria stated with a hint of amusement. The great dragoness needed her help… "Ask and I will listen."
"Silence!" Adalon roared and the walls trembled. Icy mist shifted to envelop the diviner, but then withdrew when the air around her seethed with something not from this world. "I will tell you when you are allowed to speak." The dragoness' eyes with its needle-like pupils stopped for a split second on each of the adventurers who invaded her lair. No one dared to object.
"I am a guardian here, not the first, but the history of this place is known to me. Ages ago this was the place where the dark elves descended below the surface, to become drow. It is a symbol of for their dark descendants, the symbol of their Fall, though they themselves don't realize it. An outpost is located here – the city of Ust Natha, for the drow to never abandon this place of darkness. But it has been long since any conflict with the surface elves occurred. I am a guardian of the gates and the drow respect the border, never daring to attack stronger than in small raids, or disturb my lair. It was so until he came, Irenicus."
Daria clenched her fists very purposefully.
"He invaded my cave and stole my most precious treasure – my eggs! Now I cannot protect the gates to the surface, I cannot leave my lair, or they will be destroyed. It is most foul treason, the last straw after long list of sins and felonies the drow committed! This can be no longer!" the dragoness raised her voice, the voice of a despairing mother. All of sudden Daria got a fleeting impression as if she wasn't talking with a dragon at all. It was very strange since Adalon was as much a dragon, with her piercing voice and arrogant superior posture, as possible. She was strong… but she had a weakness. All as Viconia said.
"You must save my eggs, rescue them from Ust Natha, where Irenicus left them for the drow. Then I will open the door for you, the door leading where he went."
"You want us to get your eggs from the city of drow?" Daria asked for conformation listlessly. Did she have enough power already?
"You don't need to storm the city, Daria of Candlekeep. There are more subtle methods…"
"We are to enter Veldrin. Remember what I taught you. You are a female, you have a dominating position in drow society. Let no lowly male look down on you."
"I remember" Daria answered in fluent drow, noticing a guard standing by the gates leading inside the city. Seeing a sun elf before the gates the guard would immediately sound the alarm and move to stop them, but Daria didn't look like a sun elf anymore. Although the features of her face remained the same, only slightly slimmer as befit her new form, her skin was now much darker, black instead of well-tanned brown, her hair falling in white mess on her back rather than chestnut brown locks she rarely brushed. No longer violet, her eyes scanned the first creations of dark elven architecture Viconia told her so much about. Much more red eyes looked at her from the shadows. She answered the glare with her own red irises glowing in the dark, full of superior pride she gained practicing with the Shar's priestess in their camp, while repeating most common insults and ways to address her superiors and equals.
"We're doomed" a drow high-mage standing behind them, dressed in ornamented purple robes, groaned with Xan's voice. "It cannot possibly work… It simply won't work…" he kept mumbling.
"Who are you? There were no patrols scheduled for today! Identify yourselves!" Daria's brow furrowed when the male by the gates addressed her with such an obvious sign of disrespect.
"Silence, male worm!" she raised her voice. "I am Veldrin of Ched Nasad. Now hurry and open the gates!"
"Good" she heard Viconia mutter.
"Forgive me, by questioning you I was only fulfilling my duty. You were expected. Solaufein from the Society is waiting for you." The male bowed, but she noticed that his respect was far from sincere.
"Show me the way" Veldrin barked an order.
"I'm sorry I'm not allowed to leave my post…" he stopped smiling, already feeling complications were near.
"You dare to refuse?" The woman's tone rose to a shriek. That she also practiced.
"I… No, honored female. Please follow me." At last he did what he should, obeying respectfully. Males could be so hard to work with… Daria want as far as to think like a drow female. Up to now it seemed that visiting Ust Natha was going to be a good source of entertainment.
Jaheira watched her ward merging into the drow society barely able to keep her face as emotionless as was to be expected from a dark elf. Daria she knew, she taught, was changing just before her eyes, as if she was a completely different person. She used to be a good student, a good person, she listened when Jaheira taught her about balance, didn't make hasty decisions based on assumptions, always considered every aspect, seeking counsel when the situation wasn't clear. Headstrong she was and sometimes careless, but never meaninglessly cruel or manipulative. Gorion's teachings weren't lost in her... But when the Slayer came it simply stopped to matter.
Like a wild animal they desperately tried to tame, she began to shred all her civility, all of her mortal nature from the first step she made into wilderness. Faster and faster, each and every attachment and emotion were being cast away, like useless pageants Gorion spent his lifetime trying to train into his step-daughter, to cloak her hidden nature. Politeness, gentleness, care... Jaheira took up the same task after old mage's unfortunate death, becoming the new guardian for the sun elf. From the very beginning she was first and foremost meant to protect her from was inside her, rather than the outside world. And she thought that it wouldn't be easy, but she'd manage.
But in the end a wild animal could never be truly tamed. In a matter of days a careful well-mannered girl turned into blood-thirsty monster, uncaring for anything or anyone, with her power impossible to leash. And all Jaheira could do now was doubt herself, her beliefs, doubt if she did the right thing betraying Harpers. At the moment it seemed the right choice, Galvarey's reasons were selfish and ignorant, but that didn't make his decisions wrong. Daria was half-divine, and instrument of destiny, on a path of a prophecy which heralded death and destruction to entire Toril. She wasn't an evil person, but maybe that didn't matter as much as Jaheira hoped. Perhaps mortal's will couldn't leash the power of divine's blood and in the end all the druidess accomplished at was breaking her own heart, by calling a Daughter of Murder her own.
Jaheira struggled to keep her face emotionless. There was no one she could confess her worries, death took so many of her trusted friends already, many from the ones she loved. It would take her too, the protector of a Child of Bhaal, but that was her own choice. She would follow Daria till her very end.