All That Glitters...18

Chapter Eighteen

That night, it rained. But merely saying that it rained would be like describing Sune as just pretty. Water splashed down in what seemed like solid sheets, battering at every tent in the Promenade. The Promenade's construction turned every level into a waterfall, with rain pouring down over every door. Inside the Den of the Seven Vales, it was warm, but the growls of thunder and the faint sounds of running water could be heard easily, even over the tavern chatter coming from below.

Fortunately for Kal's gold pouch, the customers had returned sooner than Missus Patricia had thought. Minsc had promised that Boo would remind him not to cut any more tables in half. Yoshimo was out gathering information again despite the rain - he claimed that rainy nights were even better since people tended to stay longer, drink deeper, and say more on rainy nights - and this was about as rainy as they got.

Kal was in his room, polishing Daystar - which, unlike Cel, didn't have the minor enchantment that kept blood from sticking to the blade. The rags he carried with him did an adequate temporary job, but he had been taught long ago about proper cleaning and the pitfalls of gummy scabbards by Khalid.

As he polished it, he found a few specks of blood on the crossguard. This would not normally be hard to remove, but Daystar's delicate-looking golden weave made for many small indentations that it was hard to get the blood out of. As he forced the cloth into one of the indentations, he noticed something odd. The twists of gold were masterfully crafted, but their design contained four large gaps positioned equally far apart around the blade. Not that gaps were unusual, and in a twisting weave pattern like that used around Daystar's hilt - Almost a basket hilt, he thought - there were many more, but these were larger than what he might expect, and since basket hilts were designed against thinner blades, specifically to disarm, they were too large - a thin blade snared in one of those gaps would be able to slide out even if Daystar was twisted away to the side. Struck by an idea, Kal fished into his backpack and took out the blue gem he had found in Irenicus' dungeon and tried to push it into one of the gaps, but it was a poor fit.

"You know, I wouldn't particularly appreciate someone trying to ram a gem into my hilt pattern," Cel noted in an amused tone.

"Well...doesn't it look like to you like something's missing?"

"Hmmm...." Cel paused speculatively. "Well, you're right...it does. Come to think of it, it reminds me of the gems I was missing when you first met me. But I don't know what gems exactly - and that gem's obviously not it. It looks like a pommel gem. You should get Aerie to take a look at it."

"Yeah, I'll add it to the list. Still...I wonder if there's anyone we could ask about this. Remind me to talk to Yoshimo when he gets back."

"Kalvorin...am I...interrupting?" Viconia said from behind the door with uncommon courtesy. Then she poked her head around the door anyway, seeing Kal sitting on a chair with two swords beside him.

"No, not at all," Kal said. "I was just talking to Cel."

"Oh, just talking to your sword," Viconia said, seeming a bit relieved, oddly. "I...I told you back in the Temple District that...that how I escaped from the Underdark was a story for another time. I...I am willing to tell it now, if you would hear."

"Of course."

"Come, then. I wish to speak away from the ears of others."

Kal looked around the room. "Seems like conditions are perfect."

"Not quite." Viconia narrowed her eyes and stared at Cel's pommel gem. "I am not yet ready to have my story recorded for the next hundred millennia. I would surmise that the sword does not forget things."

"No, no I don't," Cel said. "Feel free to go, but Viconia - my name is Celestis, Cel for short - not ‘the sword'. I'm not calling you ‘the dark elf'."

"Very...very well, Celestis," Viconia said, a little uneasily. Kal got up, then, and they left the room.

The tavern was hardly away from others' ears, nor were the other rooms, and what started out as a quick step outside became a fifteen minute long search for a suitably secluded place. The search eventually turned up a rather cramped storage area, two floors above the tavern, accessed by a ladder and a hatch, where blankets and linens were kept. As Kal settled on to a convenient pile of blankets, Viconia secured the hatch, then sat on another pile of blankets. A few minutes passed, Viconia wrestling with her desire to speak, and Kal unsure of what he should say, if anything. A few more minutes passed with nothing but the sound of running water to keep them company.

"I had worshipped the Spider Queen for an age and a half," she began suddenly. "Longer than you have been alive, but there came a time when my faith in Lolth was no more."

She remained silent for a few moments. "And then?" Kal asked softly.

"I...I lapsed when a child...a baby...was to die: it would not have made Lolth stronger or more influential or made her a greater deity. Nor did any of the other sacrifices, but I knew that if I slew them not some other would. I could not have done anything to save them."

Kal nodded. He had read a little about the religion of Lolth. Few books on the drow culture had been written - little was known outside their societies - but a few enterprising authors, cloaked in powerful magics, had done some investigating. That was to say that a few had escaped - many others had found their powerful magics not quite powerful enough and had died upon the bloody altars. Viconia spoke again.

"It...it should have been the same for the baby, but I could not...could not bring myself to do it. It was the last step in the bloody mass of deaths that I had caused in Lolth's name, and I could not do it. It was...wrong."

Wrong...it was a new word, for Viconia. Raised in a society where there was no wrong, only punishment for what you could not get away with, even the idea of wrong was foreign. Yet she reached for the surface word and the surface idea to express the disgust, that very sense of revulsion, she had gotten from the thought of the act.

Viconia drew a deep breath. "It mattered not to the child, as I knew. A lesser priestess took advantage of my indecision and killed the child herself, eager to gain favour with Lolth."

She looked out the small window, on the outside edge of the Promenade. It displayed the flickering glow of lanterns mounted throughout the rest of the city, though heavy rain blurred it. The flash of a brief burst of lightning occasionally lit up part of the room. "My hesitation cost our house the favour of Lolth. A lesser house began a war with us, and our house had to fight back twice as hard to regain Lolth's favour. The matron made sacrifices of gold and slaves, but Lolth would have none of it - she wanted me to recant, to beg forgiveness for my ‘error'. I...I would not. In my naivete I thought that I could somehow escape such an act with no consequences."

"You escaped to reach here," Kal said.

"I...I survived. To escape would be to say that I was able to preserve myself intact. But I...I lost much when I fled the Underdark." She fell silent again, and stared out the window. Strain was evident on her expression, but she controlled it with effort.

"My...mother...did the only thing she knew to do - what she had been taught to do. She ordered me sacrificed to the Spider Queen. And who is to say that, given the situation, that it was not the right thing to do? In Menzoberranzan, the favor of Lolth is life. And Lolth is amused by petty, little things - such as mothers sacrificing daughters. So I was dragged to the altar to be given to the Spider Queen."

She took another deep breath, fighting to keep herself calm. "I would have died, if not for my brother...my poor, foolish brother."

"Brother?" Kal asked in surprise.

"Tell me, Kal," Viconia said abruptly, "how much of a family did you have? By surfacer standards, I mean."

"Not much," Kal replied, not seeing how the question connected but answering just the same. "I always thought of Gorion as a father and Imoen as my sister, but it's hardly the family relationship that comes easily to mind. I never got to know my mother except as a kind of abstract ‘someone-who-was'. Rather unconventional."

"Yes...yes, I suppose your experience has not been typical for a surface dweller or their parents and siblings, but you have had something similar, it seems. And part of the reason you call Gorion and Imoen your family is because of your closeness with them, correct? Drow families are...different. I told you already about how one promotes oneself by slaying those in your way. I had many sisters, fourteen - but every one was a danger to me, and I a danger to them. The mother encourages it; the father is irrelevant or dead. Brothers are meaningless."

"Usually," Kal said perceptively.

"Usually," she agreed. "My brother, Valas, was an exception to the standard drow male. He was my childhood friend...and perhaps my only friend, after all is said. Instead of a simple, expendable warrior, he was a powerful wizard, and so my mother kept him around. Entirely out of necessity, for each of the other Great Houses had its house wizard, as well, and to lack one would be to weaken ourselves in the eyes of the others. We were friendly as children, already forbidden - and as we grew, we watched over each other in differing ways."

"And he saved you from being sacrificed?"

"Such...such as it was. You know that the drow are, to greater or lesser degree, resistant to magic. This breeds a certain complacency. However, there are ways for priestesses of Lolth to bypass any drow's resistance...and there are ways for wizards to do so as well."

She paused to let that sink in, then continued. "Our mother would never have thought that Valas could do such a thing, but he could. Unleashing the mightiest of his powers, Valas killed all of the soldiers and the slaves holding me to the altar. He killed the sister of ours that stood with the knife ready. And when our mother tried to interfere, he killed her, as well. Lolth was not pleased."

"And what did she do, then?" Kal prompted softly.

"What she does to all males who defy her. She transformed him into a drider, a half-drow half-spider creature of pure malice and base instinct. Valas was wiped away, replaced by this...monstrous thing. I cursed Lolth's name for what she had done to him. I renounced the Dark Queen with every fibre of my being...and she was not pleased. In an instant, she withdrew her power, even as Valas' last spell transported me outside the city. From there, I escaped." She shrugged, once, sadly. "You wished to know how I left the Underdark. There is the tale."

Kal's heart filled with sympathy. "That's...that's horrible. I'm sorry if my asking brought up...unpleasant memories."

Viconia waved it away. "Think...nothing of it. It is..comforting, in a way, to tell someone. I have not related this to anyone else. Sometimes it is...almost too much for one to bear." She swallowed uncomfortably. "Thank...thank you for listening."

Viconia looked as if she was going to say something else, then shook her head, almost to herself, opened the hatch and climbed down. Kal climbed down after her...to see Jaheira raise her other eyebrow in even more surprise as she saw him. She had apparently been about to ask Viconia a question about being in the linen storage, but a more important target had just climbed down into her sight.

"I had been looking for you. What exactly were you two doing in the linen storage room?"

"It is none of your business, mongrel," Viconia said with a slight smile, enjoying the prospect of her simple statement touching off images in Jaheira's mind.

"She wanted to talk. I wanted to listen," Kal said honestly. He didn't quite see the problem.

Jaheira's eyebrows lowered in a glare. "Talk." The amount of meaning she could put into a word was remarkable.

"Well...yes, talk," Kal answered, somewhat confused.

"I would ask Cel for a clarification, but she seems not to be with you."

"There were things I did not want recorded for posterity over the next thousand years," Viconia said with a positively devilish grin. She knew what effect those words would have. Jaheira did not see the grin - she was busy turning a dark, dangerous gaze towards Kal, who noticed it but didn't understand.

"Really." Jaheira's voice was thick with sarcasm and not-so-veiled hostility.

"Indeed. In any case, I think I will sleep early tonight...I am just exhausted. Rest well, Kalvorin." With that, Viconia bit her lip to avoid laughing out loud, and entered her room, closing the door firmly.

Outside, in the hall, Jaheira was giving Kal a glare that should have been enough to melt him into the floor. He had already unconsciously backed up against the wall. She advanced toward him, threateningly.

"I cannot believe that you would...of all things and of all places and of all times! With her, of all people!"

"That I would what?" Kal asked, now fully confused.

"Don't play the innocent with me," she snapped, then swung herself viciously up the ladder. Kal followed, unsure of exactly what was going on.

"THIS is wha –" she began, then took a look around.

"What is what?" Kal demanded, his confusion reaching unprecedented heights.

"It smells...like clean cloth. And the blankets and linens...they are folded up and...in order," Jaheira said to herself in a quiet voice.

Kal couldn't follow the strange detour of thought. "Why shouldn't they be?"

There was a pause.

Then the light dawned, several minutes late. "JAHEIRA!" Kal gasped, face turning the reddish copper tone of his blush. "I wouldn't...I mean, I'd never...I - I didn't...JAHEIRA!" He couldn't manage anything more coherent, but it was now his turn to glare, and Jaheira looked very guilty for all of ten seconds. But just ten seconds.

"Blast that filthy dark elf!" she yelled, kicking over an unoffending pile of linens. "She said that...all of her suggestions, just to make me think...I swear, I will kill her!"

"Easy, Jaheira. Calm down, no harm done."

"No harm? I will...! She was...!" Jaheira sputtered, hands still clenched into fists.

"She was teasing, as she tends to do. Why are you getting so worked up about this?"

"I am...I am...." And then it was Jaheira's turn to blush. "Just...concerned. Yes, that is it. Concerned."

"Jaheira, I'm a big boy now. You don't have to watch out for me anymore. Relax."

"I...I...." She thought for a few moments, then smiled a little. "I suppose...old habits die hard."

Kal smiled back. "Not a problem. I'm almost used to hearing it - not that it's a good thing! - but it doesn't bother me that much."

"Thank you for your understanding." Jaheira's eyes drifted to the little window. The flashes of light coming through it naturally drew the eyes. "This...this is a dangerous life we seem to lead, it does seem. I wonder if you always think it will be so?"

Kal sat back down on a pile of linens and leaned against the wall. "I don't really know. I can't imagine settling down, as I am. From the moment I left Candlekeep it's been life at a dizzying pace."

"Nor can I, but the inevitable must happen," Jaheira said with a shrug. "Bones grow weary and battle becomes foolhardy. I...I would not wish it any time soon, but someday...."

"Of course, eventually."

"Have...have you given any thought to this?" Jaheira turned, a burst of lightning illuminating her face.

"Not very much," Kal admitted. "But then again, it's hard to plan a future when not everyone who's planning is at the table."

"True...true enough. Your...particular heritage adds a complicating factor, I suppose. You have a birthright, of a sort. I wonder what happens when...when it comes due."

"I don't think anyone knows what will happen. Whatever the case, I intend to live a long, normal life. I'll not let my heritages - either of them - rule me."

"A fine aspiration, if not the king's choice. I know very few kings that live in peace. Equally few inspire true loyalty in followers, or their... companions."

"Then," Kal said, "I am glad I am not a king. Being so alone...is not for me."

"I...being alone is not for me, either." Jaheira returned to staring out the window. "So, what do you think of Amn so far?"

"Amn? Well, I...I haven't had too much time to form an impression, really," Kal answered.

"I suppose so. But you have certainly had the opportunity to see its charms, and its hardships as well."

"I have, but they affect my view too much, I think. There have been far more hardships than charms lately, despite our small victories." Kal stretched back on his pile of linens again, then leaned forward and shrugged. "I am afraid that I haven't seen enough of its charms to judge fairly."

"Perhaps you have not. As many people have not. It has always been so, but there are many things of merit here, some which are not so easily seen. Perhaps not in the cities," she said, flinging a dismissive wave at the view through the window, "but the forests are a great treasure."

"A shame I haven't the opportunity to see them, then," Kal offered.

"Then I will show you when we have the time. I will take you through the deepest lands, and you will see the beauty that I know is there," Jaheira said with a hint of eagerness creeping into her voice. She then stopped, as if catching herself, and hesitantly added, "That is, if you have not tired of my company yet."

"Tired? Come on, Jaheira, you know better than to ask that. I would miss you very much if you were gone."

Jaheira turned a little pink - although it was hard to see in the faint light. "W...well. I would...I would miss your company too, Kal...." She cleared her throat. "In...in any case, I...I think we should go to sleep soon. I mean...I should go to sleep soon, before we waste the sleeping hours in idle chatter."

"Of course. Sleep well, Jaheira." Kal got up and opened the hatch, motioning for Jaheira to go on ahead of him. Jaheira climbed down quickly, and Kal followed, just as he heard the intake of breath from someone downstairs. He hopped off the ladder and turned - and instantly realized that following her wasn't the best thing he could have done.

Aerie had apparently been ready to say something to Jaheira, undoubtedly about her presence in the linen storage, when Kal had unwisely appeared. "What...what were you doing up there?"

"We were talking," Kal said, but he knew it was futile even as the words left his mouth.

"Talking." Aerie's voice took on a very unfamiliar sarcastic tone, and her expression became uncharacteristically angry.

Kal could not suppress the thought. Merciful Tyr - not again!