Surfacing Ch. 01

The shock to the system. My teeth, throat, and tongue even ached from the cold. Shyntre had warned us...eating snow, for example, could draw too much body heat away from the core, which was dangerous to survival in cold weather. At the very least, let it melt in the mouth before swallowing.

Now here we were gulping down huge draws of water that had only just melted from higher up. No wonder our stomachs hurt.

*Where are Rausery and Gaelan?* I signed.

*Watching, probably.*

*And you attacked because...?*

*Because you are such a cunt sometimes.* She glared at me, though I knew the subtleties of her face well enough; she wasn't truly angry, only angry at herself for not thinking of the idea first. *When you broke away, Rausery set us to tracking you, but only to watch you. And to learn. Then she disappeared as well.*

We heard a chuckle then and I realized that something I'd taken for a boulder atop the first waterfall when I first arrived was actually a crouching Drow...

Rausery.

She had anticipated my location and could have pounced on me the very first time I tasted the pool. Damn!

Our Elder dropped the two body-lengths down to our level, landing on both feet and bending her knees well, absorbing the impact with no apparent discomfort for the height or unevenness of the rock. At that same moment, Gaelan walked more calmly out of the forest following the game trail.

"Fill your skins, ladies," Rausery said aloud, her grin visible beneath the ever-rising Moon. "Keep it close to your body beneath your cloak to warm."

Jael's stomach growled as the three of us did exactly that, Gaelan drinking what she had first before refilling, and the Elder chuckled again.

"So you've wasted a lot of energy finding this place," she continued as if she hadn't been herding us like so many guarro for a solid hour before I'd actually started tracking a water source, which had taken that amount of time again. "Now. Do you take from your stores or do you forage something edible?"

I reached on my belt for one of my travel bars. Sadly, I was going to need energy to forage for more energy, and I knew it. My mind flicked yet again to the second body growing inside mine, and the choice seemed plain enough to me. The wasted run was a mistake that would cost, but that was why I had the stores in the first place. I bit in.

My Sisters blinked at me as I chewed and Rausery cocked her head a bit.

"Tell us what you're thinking, Sirana," the Elder said, and interestingly spoke in Drow, not the Surface Trade language.

I swallowed and delayed my next bite, answering in Drow. "It took me too long to decide not to follow you at all, and it cost me too much. I have to use my stores, though I know better next time."

Gaelan and Jael both looked confused and a little stunned. Rausery was just grinning, though granted it was in a fashion that implied I just might get that broken jaw.

"So, you say, don't trust me or anything I say from now on?"

"No, Elder," I replied immediately. "Only do what I need to do, use my training. Think for myself. You aren't going to be here long, so I should not rely on you blindly even this first night."

To my relief, she nodded. "Glad to see one of you got it. If you're curious, Shyntre got it in under half an hour."

I know all three of us flushed at that, but I still said, "And the only endurance tests he faced were sexual and he has not likely been under your direct leadership in battle."

Rausery smirked. "So you had more conditioning to overcome, is that it? Nice excuse, Blue Eyes."

I shrugged. "Excuses. Reasoning. Perception. Has it been so different for any before us, Elder?"

The Elder didn't answer that; she moved to punch me in the stomach. My reaction in that mere eye-blink of time startled me: I hunched over and twisted and willingly took the blow to my right breast instead. Granted, I was wearing leather armor and a hit to either location wouldn't have been as bad as fighting nude...but I still couldn't override that base instinct to protect my gut at the expense of some other part of my body. The best I could do to undo my giveaway to my condition was let my arm drop from my abdomen rather than leave it there as I wanted.

I staggered back, gaining distance and watching her, my breast throbbing from the hard strike; I stubbornly kept both fisted hands at my sides. Rausery quirked a brow and shook her head.

"Sloppy," she said, switching back to Surface Trade. Then she gestured for the three of us to follow. "We'll be walking. And foraging. If we pick up a trail, we go stalking, but unfortunately only until midnight, as we must make it back to the cave before sunrise. Conserve energy and be silent as you can."

She turned back to us with a grin. "How does that sound, virgins?"

We all signed an affirmative and continued learning.

******

I noticed quickly that Rausery was more helpful in her advice when I began to do some things on my own over the next few nights: to mend my cloak, try to find a suitable substitute for the fiberstalk bolts used in my hand crossbow from among the twigs and branches, and even pondering a way to either collect more rainwater at our cave site or find a larger storage for what I could carry so we could build a reserve.

That was one of the larger disadvantages of the site: the nearest water was a slough at the mountain's base that was not safe to drink even if it could be used to wash, and the rushing snowmelt was an hour's jog away.

"Are there caves closer to water?" I asked her, speaking Trade as we had been most times we weren't signing. It was getting easier.

She shook her head once. "I've looked before. Unless something opened up in the last twenty years, there is nothing that protects well enough from the day for virgins like you. Which reminds me, we're staying up past daybreak. You'll get your first look at the Sun in the clear, blue Sky...Blue Eyes." She smirked at me.

I felt a thrill both of excitement and fear at that.

Through this night, though, we hunted for food that would sustain us. Rausery focused on the smallest and most ubiquitous: ground and tree rodents, birds, rabbit, eggs, fish, grubs, insects, roots, mushrooms, greens, and in time would come reptiles of both land and water and plant fruits, pods, and nuts. We would use almost anything that came within our senses, and I had no reservation about using Callitro's ring to assure that I hit something moving.

The young mage's ring I knew would prove extremely practical on a daily basis; I could not have known before how much it would help, but I had chosen my "gift" well. I was impressed how much the magical boost in perception and timing improved my overall instincts for this new land, accelerating my adaption ahead of my Sisters.

I could use the small surge of magic a handful of times during a cycle, though not in quick succession. Callitro had been perfectly truthful when he said it only granted me one strike at the time, so make it count. That strike could be by first or blade, or by bolt or even as simple as a slung stone.

Some of the magic bled off into my sapphire, of course, but I had learned to account for it. Ever since the first time that necklace had interfered with the potency of one of Shyntre's spells—shocking the Abyss out of me as we'd wrestled on the floor—it had since then seemed to take only a consistent, small percentage of a spell rather than disrupting the magic entirely.

Shyntre's best guess why that was had been two-fold: first, the stone had only become active at that point, like a catalyst finally introduced to a latent potion, and second, that it had been worn by a magic-user at the time so had that massively reduced effect.

The stone obviously preferred the owner be something else. My academic had not given up until I'd finally told him more of what that "something else" was. He'd heard his mother's oblique references to Rausery about the stone being "useless" to anyone but me, and also that it had to do something with my trials. I had to admire his tenacity, though I only told him in private so that I could extract a trade for that information.

The stone had not just struck by a psionic fist but...possibly interacted with a psionic "ghost" in the wearer as well... What followed was my trying to convince the paranoid wizard that, no, I couldn't read minds, but I had one strong defense against the queen doing such to me.

I sighed at the memory and refocused on the night hunting.

My Sisters and I had our first taste of five of the earliest rodents and small mammals that had come out to forage. They were...alright. Perhaps they would be better if cooked.

"Humans from established villages or towns will focus on the deer and larger creatures," Rausery said as we ate afterward back at the cave. "They are often hunting for more than themselves. They do not place much value on these smallest creatures to sustain their families, but they will sustain you. You will not have a store of travel food after a while; never spurn even a six-legged insect that will give you energy in favor of something much more costly to bring down by yourself. Eat any time you are awake and find something small or large. Your body will do best eating fresh, do not scavenge dead or old or sick, leave it to the native molds, mushrooms, or predators intended for such."

Jael's eyes were narrowed as she listened, concentrating on something as she twisted a skinned rabbit leg to free it from the joint. "What of raiding?"

Rausery smirked. "Stealing a fresh kill from an animal hunter...yes, if you can without injury. Kill it, too, for the added prize. Any furred or feathered creature is good to eat. Consider carefully before you raid a sentient race's stores, especially Human. I've seen a village lie down, allow everything to be taken, and do nothing afterward...and I've seen the most dogged hunts for revenge you could not believe. They vary much and are unpredictable at times. You may be borrowing more trouble than you are capable of handling alone."

"Why, Elder?" Jael asked. "Why would they be hard to predict if they're so primitive?"

"Because they age quickly," Rausery said pointedly, staring hard at her youngest virgin. "It's not them, Jael, it's you. You and the fact that you have already lived longer than most Humans can, yet you are among the youngest of those capable. Humans will be unpredictable to you because you do not have the same understanding of time as they do, and therefore it is harder to tell what any one Human will choose to do with their remaining time when confronted with a threat.

"You won't be able to tell what age a Human actually is unless you find one that will talk with you for days or weeks, and even then that specific Human may be uneducated, or you don't pay good enough attention to subtleties. You likely will never interact with a group of Humans who range from infant to elder. So...they are unpredictable. Do not toss that bit aside."

I stared at our Elder with a bit of wonderment there; her centuries were showing in a way that they usually did not, as the martial expert was much more one for living in the current moment. This was fascinating, though...like a conversation I'd have with Shyntre or D'Shea...

"So comparing that to what we know of the Duergar and Illithids and other races in the Underdark..." I began.

Rausery nodded smartly. "More like us, even if perhaps a bit shorter. The more like us, the more predictable the perception. Most Humans do not live past half a century and those that do depend on the young to sustain them."

We gaped at her and our Elder smirked. We knew about the short lifespan but not that the young worked to feed the old.

She finished off by saying to us, "If you can sustain yourself on the land and remain independent of the settlements, you will be the better for it and your mission less at risk."

I thought next about my run-in with the Duergar, with Kain, trying to steal food and water from him...yes, quite a bit of trouble followed, and that was only one sentient being, not a whole tribe with a much shorter time to make choices.

"So there is magic here and there. Are there any mind-talents up here, like the Illithids?" I asked. "Shyntre did not say."

Rausery's deep crimson eyes slid to me and she pushed a raw muscle sliced from a squirrel's haunch between her lips and chewed slowly, swallowing before she replied. "Stories so far. If they exist, they are far from here, though it is hard to tell when the locals use words like 'witch' and 'demon' to describe anything walking on two legs that is not Human. But yes, I've heard a few stories of mind-talent Humans. I even got a name once: Varasa."

I blinked at the familiar sound. "D'Shea's name? Varessa?"

Rausery shrugged. "Close. Lose the slight roll of the tongue and the stronger hiss. It's choppy. Var. Ah. Sah. Coincidence, I think. Sounds made with tongues are finite, after all."

"What of dwarves?" Gaelan asked. "Those exist for certain in this area."

Rausery nodded. "They guard mountain passes and have trade caravans with Humans, but beyond that, most live beneath their chosen mountain. They do not have a great advantage over the Humans on the Surface for travelling distances and if you find some living in a permanent settlement, they are nowhere near Human settlements."

"Underground but not in the Underdark," Jael murmured just before another bite of rabbit. Some of its juice dripped off her chin.

Rausery nodded. "Better suited for it even than us, were we without our magic."

Which reminded me... I looked at Gaelan. "Have you sensed any ley lines in our hunts?"

She hesitated. "I am not sure..."

"Which direction, even if you're not sure?" I asked.

She pointed out toward the double-waterfall. "Beyond it, I think."

Rausery smiled in approval. "That would be the direction of the Necromancer. Very good."

"Elder...wouldn't it make more sense for Gaelan to go seek the Necromancer if she can sense the ley lines?" Jael asked.

"You suggesting trading missions?" the Elder asked casually.

"Well...."

"Which would you take, young one?"

"Um..." Jael bit her lower lip then blurted, "I don't know, they are magical! They're the strongest of magic in this area and that is why the queen wants them gone. But we need...the other's talents to combat them."

The Elder waited in silence, watching her. We all waited, and eventually the youngest continued.

"Gaelan to sense the ley lines and use magic, me for reconnaissance, Sirana to plan ahead and lead us, all of us to fight..."

Jael swallowed, and I supposed it did not surprise me that Jael would defer to me to lead a small unit...and Gaelan wouldn't challenge it. I'd been doing as much before directing them on how to have sex...

Rausery nodded thoughtfully. "Say you succeed that way. All three missions with all three of you together. Now what? Would you return?"

"We have to," Gaelan said quietly. "We have no place up here, we could not survive Winter in the mountains...and we belong with the Sisterhood."

"Alright. And now you face the Prime and the Valsharess with your report. Know that the Valsharess uses spells to see your memories or thoughts. What now?"

We were all silent at that one. We had already heard the queen's writ on that.

"You abandon the Sisterhood and live elsewhere, or you do your mission alone, just as you did before in your wilderness trial," Rausery said, though from her tone, she wasn't any happier about this particular situation than any of us.

I felt something in my chest, then, a burning. I knew it was because I resented the word of one Drow wasting resources and pressing a stupid, impossible task on some of Her most promising servants...all for Sanctuary politics. Weren't we worth more than that?

Apparently no more than those expendable in the regular army...

"There must be a way," I murmured. I had already finished my double-handful of shrews and picked tiny pieces of bone from my teeth.

"She never said you couldn't attempt to make temporary allies to help you," our Elder said solemnly. "Only no Sisters to help you. That is why we practice the Surface tongue, isn't it? To be able to bargain or interrogate."

"Bargain with magicless, ignorant Humans who squat in villages and hurl 'witch' and 'demon' to all outsiders?" Jael said skeptically.

Elder Rausery smiled. "There are capable mercenaries and some magicians even among Humans, Jael, and they know their land better than you ever will. They are like dragons and dwarves; they like shiny jewels and coins of gold and silver. The value changes with time but that fact has remained for centuries."

"Mostly male mercenaries, isn't it?" I confirmed, unwillingly recalling the half-Drow about whom the queen wanted me to discover more information. The very word "mercenary" had triggered the thought in my mind. "They are larger and more aggressive than the females. We are at a disadvantage bargaining in their land."

"They respect skill and speed the same as any of us. If something can kill them and they know it, the smart ones are wary and will bargain. The stupid ones who do not know it get injured or killed and good riddance."

"And sex?" I asked curiously. "Shyntre said we would be considered very beautiful to most males, even looking so different, and it might trigger interest."

Rausery laughed low. "Persuasion and distraction, perhaps. Interact and you will notice many of them easily distracted by female forms, and their self-control becomes worse the less they think of females as equals, or the more frightened they are by them. The ones you seek as allies are the ones who are not so easily distracted, or even are indifferent. Those are also the ones with whom you want to drive the hardest bargain."

Jael scratched her head. "But we...notice males...and they aren't equal...yet we are skilled and feared and not distracted."

I knew I could make an argument against that one, certainly for me...but held my tongue to hear the Elder continue.

Rausery nodded. "I know. It's a lesson in culture. You want to be careful indulging here even if they are not afraid. Sex has as much value as coins."

Gaelan and I shared a smile and I said, "But they trade sex for coins all the time. A moment's pleasure for an object of value."

Rausery shook her head. "Give too many 'moments' away and they assume you have more to give. They will try to take it for free or extremely cheap. If they succeed, they lose respect because it was too easy, as you have no skill in barter or in protecting what's yours."

Jael chuffed in arrogance, and the Elder looked at her.

"You feel the same about some of your past lovers, don't you, Jael? You sneer when you're given no challenge? Well, imagine your pussy in any bargain as a diamond to a dwarf and use it accordingly—including never reveal that you have such a valuable thing for trade in the first place."

I thought about that. "Or ask a very high price. I have seen before when I can control someone with lust. Why not use that?"

Again Rausery shook her head. "Until or unless you gain experience with the current human population, don't try. Their lives are short, and their society changes too quickly. Just turn it around, Blue Eyes, you'll see what I mean. Say there was an attractive, foreign male certain he could control you with your own desire in the Underdark. His reasoning is simply because he is used to being the one in control in his own homeland. What would you do to him to teach him otherwise?"

I blinked, several graphic methods passing through my mind. "Ah. I see, Elder."

"Yes. This is among the best advice I can give you. Don't discard this, either."

The three of us nodded.

"Where does that male thinking on females come from?" Jael asked. "It seems so strange..."