A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 38: Revelations

The real question was how Ashyr would handle it, though. It was the older drow that had real claim on Caleldir. Would she resent Selene for possibly carrying a child that was only there because she'd raped Ashyr's mate? Such awkward events were unprecedented.

Selene's words had the desired effect on Caleldir. He paled a bit. "Please do not tell her that." Caleldir whispered urgently to her. In Undercommon. "If Naliira suspects anything she will never let me out of her sight again. My feelings towards the poor madwoman are mixed, but I would rather by far be with you and Ashyr." He shuddered, before he realized that she was just needling him out of revenge. With that realization, he relaxed.

The laugh that came from Selene's lips was dangerously close to a cackle. She got a petty sort of satisfaction at his temporary panic. Somewhere deep down she knew that Caleldir was not at fault for what happened between him and the dryad. It didn't change the fact that Selene hated it and wanted to lash out at something - anything - because of it. She had to figure out something to do other than burning the crazy bitch to the ground. If that meant poking a little fun at Caleldir's expense, well, it was a small price to pay.

"Heh. You got me." He wiped the tears from her dark face. "You are still mad about that, I see. Well, I deserve some of your anger. But there was nothing I could do to get away. I tried pretty much everything, and she kept me fast. If not for you and your flames, I would likely be a prisoner forever."

Gently letting Selene go, Caleldir returned to the table and sat down heavily. All of the new information was exhausting. "I suppose we will have to tell Ashyr. Once we are out of this place, that is. Telling her with the dryad around is asking for trouble." He let out a long sigh. "We need to get to the monastery more urgently now than ever before. How much longer will those two be?"

Selene was sorely tempted to settled down in his lap and continue the hug that had so far felt so good. That, however, would be something the dryad would find suspicious. Caleldir was right that they didn't want to make Naliira rethink her decision to let her 'husband' go adventuring with the drow. So Selene was forced to content herself with sitting back down at the table. An uncomfortable look flashed across her face as she rubbed at her stomach again. She was beginning to feel sick again, and the only semi-permanent solution would be food. As much as she didn't like seeing that awful dryad, she wished Ashyr and she would return.

A growl erupted from Caleldir's stomach. "If only I knew some useful magic, like food conjuration." He complained. He wanted to talk about the most pressing piece of information, obviously, but that was not something that he was comfortable talking about without Ashyr around to mediate. And react. Besides, even though it should not matter to a real hero, he still needed to know who's the child was before he knew how to properly react. So, he tried to shift the conversation to something far more mundane: food. Also, he was genuinely hungry, so there was that. "I wonder what sort of success they are having on their hunt." He mused.

Something occurred to Selene as she thought about Naliira. It was a very paranoid, very drow sort of thought. "Cal... what if she follows us by melding through the trees or something? She went quite far to get you, and who knows how long she was following us before then? Are we really safe to act as we did before once you get out of this damned tree?"

Caleldir looked surprised, blinking once. "I... I had not thought of that." He admitted. "You are right. She knew exactly where we were, and exactly when to strike. She has massive power, that is not in doubt." He let out a reluctant sigh. "Your drow instincts are correct. Until we leave the woods, we cannot be as... close as we were. Shi-" Caleldir almost swore. "...Crap, I mean." He amended. "That is an annoyance indeed."

An elegant eyebrow rose. Mostly, she was looking at him funny for apparently almost swearing, then refraining from doing so. Ashyr really picked a strange male for herself. If she felt like being verbose at that moment, half the words out of her mouth would be profanity. But that all seemed like a lot of effort, and she was hungry, sick, and both physically and emotionally tired. Selene didn't feel like doing much of anything. With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the table and rested her head on her arms. She actually dropped off to sleep in the next few moments.

Caleldir was inclined to follow the pregnant drow's example. A quick rest seemed like just the thing. He was not as tired as her, after all, it was not his body in which a child by rape was growing, even if it might have been his child by his rape by her. But he had long ago come to terms with Selene's ravishment of him, so the memory was more pleasant than anything else. Even if it had given him a fetish that he did not want.

Yawning, he leaned down and closed his eyes. He quickly followed the drow to dreamland. What those dreams were he could never remember again, but they were not altogether pleasant nor fully unpleasant.