Drow's Dilemma Ep. 104: Moving

"I suppose a name will come with time, then," Selene said with a sigh. "He won't notice or care about being nameless for a while. Selene's lips thinned, and she looked back down at the infant in her arms. He was actually rather adorable for a half-demon. One might not even be able to tell that his father wasn't drow, except that maybe he was a bit pale. That would change when his horns came in, she supposed. At that point, there were only the faintest of marks that one really had to look for where his horns would be.

He gave the little one a careful look. Hmmm... those little bumps on his forehead... that could be something that he could focus on. Something less emotional and more up his alley. "I should probably find a way of removing those horns as painlessly as possible before they grow in. Such growths can be incredibly painful when they break through the skin. I will add that to my list of fixes to do once we get around to removing the major defects from his evil nature."

"Teeth are painful, too, when they come in. That isn't a good enough reason to alter him like that." She rubbed one of the barely noticeable protrusions. "It's very likely that these will just keep growing no matter what we do with them. If he doesn't like them when he's older, he can have them ground down. Er... what do you think, Ashyr?"

The new mother shrugged, looking bewildered. A son. A name. A decision about how her son would look for the rest of his life. She was still having problems believing that this all wasn't a long, convoluted dream and she was still imprisoned back there. She reached out her hands to take her child back, and Selene quickly relinquished him. That seemed to provide some measure of comfort to Ashyr.

"Teeth are painful, I know, but horns will make him look far less elven and be a constant reminder of his ancestry," Caleldir responded. "I really think it would be for the best if we removed all aesthetic indications that he is anything other than drow. It would make his life much easier to not have people think that he is demonic. Cambions can get away with some demonic traits, due to the fact that succubi are the least scorned of all demons and are always exceptionally comely, but other tieflings and half-fiends generally face enormous prejudice and (usually justified) suspicion even in the most tolerant societies. And his father destroyed Duskhaven, killed a huge portion of the population, and so on. It would be for the best that we erased all evidence of his true parentage."

He furrowed his brow, thinking. "Heck, splice some of my genetics into him and pretend he is my son." He took a deep death. "But if we went that route, a complete remaking, we would need Archmage Birchborn and the Geneforge to do it. That is beyond my skill." The very idea cheered him up a bit, though. A full genetic adoption, an erasure of the evidence of Ashyr's ordeal. Stealing away Xalthylth's influence and legacy completely. What a revenge that would be!

"You have a point there," Selene noted, smiling. "He will not be well-liked if people suspect his sire. It is best that we hide his parentage. But if it's possible to add your genetics to the child, and adopt him in truth..." The mage looked toward her cousin to see Ashyr's reaction to things. Ever since she was rescued, she was uncharacteristically quiet - especially for a female undergoing childbirth - and often responded to things unexpectedly.

This time, however, Ashyr actually appeared to be relieved. "What a revenge that would be," she agreed in the soft tone she spoke on the rare occasion she did use her voice.

Caleldir relaxed a bit when Selene and Ashyr both agreed to his idea. Not that he thought they would not, more that it was an incredibly difficult proposition. It involved most likely having to fight an evil stillborn goddess abomination in order to free a centuries-old archmage. Who herself would need to be fought and defeated. "Very much possible. Extremely difficult. As I said, post-birth genetic manipulation is far beyond my abilities. But Birchborn will know how. That much I am certain of."

"You're going to have to sleep soon, though," Selene said gently, placing an arm on Ashyr's shoulder.

Ashyr twitched away from the touch, her eyes going wild for a moment. Then she let out a long, shaking breath to try to calm herself. "Yes. I am tired, and I don't want to crush him," she agreed in a barely audible voice. Ashyr kissed his forehead, and again the half-drow was handed over to Selene, who put him in the cot recently placed next to the bed. The baby made soft noises of protest for being moved around so much but settled down happily in his new bed. That done, Selene cautiously joined Ashyr under the covers of the bed, completely naked by the time she settled close to but not quite touching her cousin.

Caleldir settled in on the other side of Ashyr. He decided to wear his smallclothes, for he meant to sleep, but if Ashyr wanted to cuddle up next to him he would be pleased.

Ashyr accepted the arrangement for only a minute or two. Then she insisted that they shift positions until she could be next to her baby. Selene attempted to gently insist that she could wake and hand him over when he needed Ashyr so that Ashyr could sleep next to herself and Caleldir for the first time in months (from Ashyr's perspective), but she knew the attempt was doomed from the start. So it was Caleldir in the middle, like old times.

Throughout the night, Ashyr kept herself distant from the other two, as she seemed to not like being touched by anyone except her son. The infant, of course, woke up several times throughout the night to be fed and cuddled. Bard, who had been in the room curled up in a corner the whole time, was a great help with that. He took watch over the baby and nudged Ashyr awake before he made too much noise. Selene managed to sleep soundly throughout the entire night, thanks to the nanny wolf.

And so, the night went on. A bit awkwardly, but Caleldir was hopeful that things would return to somewhat sort of normal with time. Hopefully. He slept fairly soundly even with all the strangeness.

He awoke to Risa walking into the room, yawning. "Good... morning, I suppose we can call it," she said. "Time for Caleldir and Selene, at least, to rise and shine and consider further how to deal with this mass of people in my dimension. I am afraid my subsystems were not clear with you how very stressful creating life-support for this crowd is on my system. I am going to have to start burning space again just to keep them alive."

Selene pulled away from her position snuggling Caleldir tightly, her expression sleepily worried. This was obviously not a permanent solution, and they would have to figure out said solution quickly. Or else boot everyone back out again. Selene sighed and rubbed her face. "Will the succubi be of any help to you?" she asked. "I'm sure they're up by now. Maybe they can help you harness some orgy power? You mentioned that sort of thing being difficult for you to use."

The ranger had already been awake for a while and was in the process of giving her child his breakfast. She ignored Bard's tail that thumped against her upon seeing Risa walk into the room. What she couldn't ignore was all that talk about succubi. "You captured succubi?" she asked softly. "Why did you do that?"

The younger drow paused in the process of getting out of the bed and making herself presentable for the upcoming summit. "A lot has happened since you were gone, dearest." Selene looked over to Risa. "Do we have time to fill her in, or is it going to have to wait until later? How anxious are the people right now?"

Risa rubbed her forehead. "The succubi are awake, but though I can definitely pull power from them having sex, - with me or other people - it will not be enough to do more than buy me time. The big issue is that I can only pull in a limited amount of power at once, and the maximum I can take in right now will not be enough to offset the power drain from life support for this group. If I anchored the dimension to a single point on the material plane instead of leaving it unmoored, I could support them forever without any power addition, but we are mobile. Which normally is not a problem. But right now..."

"Makes sense," Caleldir nodded. He then turned to Ashyr. "We employed a Seduction of succubi to search the lower planes for you. Risa figured that they would be more able to navigate those planes than us."

"Huh. Must have been Risa's idea," Ashyr noted. There was no grin on her face, but there was the barest sparkle of mirth in her countenance, so subtle for Ashyr that it was difficult to see even for those who knew her.

"Yes. Summoning a succubus was Risa's idea," Risa confirmed. She turned to Selene. "We have time to fill in Ashyr with whatever we need to. People are anxious but reasonably stable at the moment. The stress is currently more on me than them."

"Ashyr... one of them - the first one we hired - got her hands on Caleldir first. Dahlia-"

"Speak of the devil, and she arrives!" interrupted Dahlia, who had poofed on the end of the bed. "Risa, that was some trick you pulled." She pouted. "And I am horny." Horny, apparently, but in a good mood. Everyone was rescued and they were safe from the demigod. Even Caleldir's mate was back, which was cause for happiness. And extreme awkwardness, apparently. Dahlia wasn't sure what to make of it all.

Automatically, Ashyr scooted as far away from the demon as she could, and curled slightly around her son in a protective embrace. She watched with wary eyes as an equally wary Bard promptly sat between her and the succubus. Neither were acting particularly hostile; Ashyr had dealt (and had great fun with) her kind before. The demonic appearance, however, had been cause for great alarm until it registered that the demon was very obviously female as opposed to male.

"Woah, what's with the baby?" the familiar asked.

"Dahlia, you are not welcome here," Selene said with a touch of anger. "Ashyr, this is Dahlia, Caleldir's accidental familiar. And a great nuisance the majority of the time."

Caleldir sighed and looked longsuffering. "Good morning, Dahlia. Glad to see you recovered, but this is not a good time. Things are emotionally fraught right now."

"Thank you for your help in getting out of there," Risa said a bit more politely. "Dahlia, this young one is Ashyr's son by a very unfortunate father, as you will be able to sense from his aura or I would not tell you. I suggest you keep this information to yourself. We are going to try to transmute him into Caleldir's son through some ancient magic soon."

"Yeah. That." Caleldir said shortly. "Dahlia, I am very sorry, but things are a bit grim for levity at the moment. Ashyr, as Selene said, this is Dahlia. My succubus familiar. Neither of us wanted to be in this particular relationship, but Dahlia accidentally triggered it." He shook his head. "Moving on from that topic, we should get a council of the major players in Duskhaven together and discuss what to do next. We cannot burden Risa much longer."

Dahlia peered a little closer at the child as her eyes flashed with her magical perception. Ashyr allowed it, seeing as she was Caleldir's familiar. This Dahlia was part of the family now, she guessed. Another time, she would have welcomed an additional sexy lady to their growing bedroom. Now, she was just tired.

"It's a cute baby. I've seen waaay worse half-demons in my time," the succubus commented. "But yeah. No one can know about his sire. He's no cambion. I won't tell anyone; you don't have to worry about me. I'll do what I can, of course, to help." She said the words before she even realized the truth of them. Must have been Caleldir's influence. Dahlia shrugged and hopped off the bed. "Risa, us succubi were wondering... Well, I guess what to do with our lives. We don't want to go back to hell. We can't even if we wanted to. I think the destruction leaked. Our Boudoir was destroyed."

Risa blinked. "Where should you..." She thought for a moment. "If you do not mind, I can make a place for you to live here, in my dimension. At the very least temporarily, but we might be able to come to a permanent agreement. For now, just stay in the grotto I dropped you at, but if you wait about three days I will make you a more permanent boudoir." She thought for another moment. "You can meddle with the Duskhaven refugees to get energy, but no killing or breaking up of healthy relationships, or getting caught. Otherwise, I will put the offender in lock-down. Other than that, stay put, stay patient, and when I have the time we can work out an arrangement for your succubi that I think you and they will be very, very pleased with."

Dahlia rolled her shoulders in a half-shrug. "Hey, this place beats hell. As long as we're allowed to feed, I think we can all behave ourselves..." A dubious expression crossed her face when what she just said sunk in. A boudoir of succubi? Behaving themselves? Ha! "Er... most of us will probably behave ourselves. Maybe. I guess it will be my job to keep them in line now, huh... Well, my job would be made so much easier if..." She gave Caleldir an imminently hungry look for a moment before she thought better of it. Not now. "...if I know I have some time to unwind to look forward to." Her expression became merely suggestive, and she waggled her eyebrows at her master.

A different man might have found the part of the Familiar bargain where he was pretty much contractually obligated to have sex with the Succubus and probably several of her Seduction as well to be a perk, but Caleldir was not inclined to view it that way at this moment. Probably because a mixture of guilt and both mental and physical exhaustion. Of course, it had been several days since he had had sex, so his body was ready for it, but his mind was not in the frame of mood to be aroused. "You do have something to look forward to in time," Caleldir whispered to her "And one last thing," He sighed, and continued to Dahlia gloomily. "Ask Selene and Ashyr, but if they approve maybe you can let the rest of your Seduction know they have the same thing to look forward to if they behave themselves." The words were clearly reluctant, and Caleldir seemed to be hoping the Duskhavens would not approve.

Mostly hoping.

Excitement flared within the master-familiar bond. That would be an excellent bargaining chip for keeping her Boudoir in line, and sounded like a fantastic time to boot. As she was sure Caleldir was aware.

Selene ignored the exchange. The introduction of Dahlia had reminded her that there was one more person who Ashyr needed to meet. "Ashyr. When we were trying to find you, we encountered someone being locked up by your brothers. I have another sister alive: Sidhriia. Formerly Felynriia. She... uh, usually sleeps here, in fact. I don't know where she went to since she passed out. Would you like to meet her before we start the summit?"

"Of course! Sidhriia!" Caleldir slapped his head. "Elistraee's oracle!" He let out a long breath. "Yes, we should introduce you two to each other soon." His eyes darted over to the sleeping infant.

Another partner. Ashyr let out a long sigh. How many other things changed while she was... away? At least this one was actually related and had a right to join. "Yes, I suppose. Summon her, would you please, Risa?"

"I can arrange that," Risa said. "Also, that Blackdawn lady really wants to meet with Sidhriia as soon as possible. Her and Althaia have been talking at length." With that, Risa ported away to Sidhriia.

Riia had been put in her temporary, small bedroom. Phanuel had assured that she was resting properly and that she wanted for nothing. It was redundant, of course, as R.I.S.A. could more easily take care of her, but he did so all the same. He slept in the same room on a collapsible cot in his own personal possession. They were awake now, though Riia was still exhausted to the bone.

"This is Sidhriia, Ashyr. She was locked up in a room all her life. You... might be able to see why our family wanted to hide her. Recently, she was being used by the males for her skill at fertility magic," Selene said and she held out a hand to beckon her little sister forward.

The pale drow approached as she was asked and sat down by Ashyr's feet. -It's good to meet you, cousin- she mentally spoke as she signed.

"Oh. She's deaf. It's part of her oracle affliction, I think, since so far we have not been able to find a cure."

Ashyr studied that pale version of Selene's face. It was softer, more youthful, and less weathered by the pain a century and a half of living in the Underdark caused Selene. She was stunningly beautiful, pale skin and all. Ashyr shifted her son so that she could get an arm free. -Good to meet you, too- the ranger signed.

"We have been using psionics to form a link between Sidhriia and the rest of us. We will connect you into the link pretty soon here. Then you can think back and forth much more easily. It is a rather elegant solution to the issue," Caleldir informed Ashyr

Dahlia could wait no longer. She moved over to Selene and Ashyr with a big-eyed, pleading pout and quietly made the request that she and Caleldir had been discussing.

"Do what you must, Caleldir," Selene responded unhappily. She knew how important it was to keep the succubi in line. She looked over to Ashyr, who was apparently a little bit enchanted by her youngest cousin. Then she looked down at the child. Sex was probably not something that was in the cards for the next couple of days, not in that room. The mage sighed. She was used to dry spells that lasted for weeks; why did a couple of nights seem so insurmountable now?

Oh, right. Ashyr was here now. She should have a say. "Is that okay, Ashyr?"

The new mother looked up from her child and Riia. There was a time when such an idea would have been completely out of the question. So much had changed, and quite a bit of it while she was away. "Fine. Whatever is necessary," she said softly. What good was she to him in this state anyway?

Caleldir twitched a bit. "Feh," he muttered. "I suppose that, with my life, that was inevitable." He looked uncomfortable. Which he was, given that he was torn between dreading, looking forward to, and feeling guilty about the event.

"You will be fine, Caleldir," Risa rolled her eyes.

With something to greatly look forward to, Dahlia walked light-footed out of the room to go to try to find the rest of her Boudoir and get to work convincing them to behave. Even with such an incentive laid before them, it would not be the simplest thing in the world. Soon, there were warm sensations of pleasure and arousal coming from her side of the master-familiar bond as she began to 'convince' her seduction to behave.

"Moving on, Althaia and the Blackdawn woman are anxious to talk to Sidhriia. Althaia has several messages from Sune and her court, and Abanonda wishes to put herself under your orders, Sidhriia. And a number of suggestions."

"There's work to be done," Selene agreed, though she wished it were not so. Had she just had a full night's rest? It certainly didn't feel that way. "Come, Sidhriia."

"I will leave Althaia to converse with Sidhriia," Caleldir said. "I can talk to Abanonda. I am pretty sure I know what she is going to suggest." He turned to the others. "The Blackdawns have almost certainly made the defeat of the Unborn Goddess and the release of the curse on Deusterra their primary goal. If we can get both Eilistraee and Sune's Court to collaborate on the project, we can settle the Duskhaven refugees in Deusterra. A purified Deusterra would be a large, heavily defended and fortified country that is mostly empty. A perfect location. I will discuss minor details and intelligence with Lady Blackdawn."