Surfacing Ch. 09

"Yes. So you don't hate Sirana so much anymore?"

"....no, I don't. Is your mother a Red Sister who had to give birth in the Sanctuary?"

"No. What did Sirana do to earn that change from you?"

"She...ah...she pursued me. She didn't know whose son I was. She tested me on a clean slate and made it a game."

"That's all?"

"Yes, that's all. So who is your mother, Lead?"

"Was, I think. She was pregnant when she entered the Priesthood, but could only ever have the one half-breed son in her duties. She birthed me and I was placed elsewhere in the Sanctuary, away from her. So Sirana softened your hatred with *games*?"

"That's quite a sneer, Lead."

"One more comment such as that, and I'll knock your candle out. Was she always fucking laughing at you?"

Shyntre had to think about it, but he nodded. "Yes, Lead. Frustrating, at first...I couldn't get her to fear anything I did to her. After a time, she even invited me to keep trying."

And that thought stirred up an ill-timed erection for him that he covered with his robe's sleeves.

Qivni's mouth twisted. "Seems we have that in common, mage. Always laughing, taunting, dancing around. I'm not surprised she fell into such trouble as she did with Wilsira and Kerse, after what she did with the Draegloth in her trials."

The wizard swallowed, staring at her fully engaged in the conversation, and knew he'd be thinking about this for a while. "I've seen her serious once. It was the one time I offered to trade with her. She knew she was in trouble with Wilsira, Lead."

"Oh? And she didn't slide around on your agreement?"

"No. She gave me what I asked for. So, how did you become a Red Sister?"

Qivni sighed. "The Prime asked for me as a child, rather than send me to a family cousin to raise. A rare exchange for all the cloister children given to the Priestesses; they finally had one to give back since they didn't realize their newest initiate was pregnant until her training had begun. I couldn't stay regardless."

"Why not?"

"The Valsharess ordered it. I was an unwanted reminder that the Priestesses couldn't have daughters inside the Priesthood. Only sons in the form of Draegloth and the Consorts."

"And the Sisterhood can't have sons, only daughters," he murmured, wondering at the pattern he'd never seen before.

The elder Drow quirked one white brow at him. "Except when one like yourself beats on the door, apparently. You ever regret that move, Shyntre?"

He felt a bit of nausea in his stomach at some of the memories that came back just smelling this place, but he still shook his head. "I don't. No Drow male living knows as much about the power structure as I do, or about the Surface."

"Which is why you're in the Palace under our queen's watchful eye at such a young age, Shyntre. Be careful."

He nodded; he did know the truth of that very well. "So...you grew up in the cloister?"

Qivni nodded. "Not an easy place to be the only youth, but the Prime was pleased with my temperament. I made due. Most of the Red Sisters have been changed out since then, only a few are even old enough to remember. I don't talk about it, and neither will you."

The wizard nodded readily and verbally agreed to that. It explained the differences Shyntre had noticed in this humorless Red Sister, to be raised by the Prime in this place... it also gave him insight as to why he'd always heard of her being called the Collector when no other Lead was. He had heard it was always Qivni who retrieved the recruits when the time came. He supposed there would be no chance of any Drow in the City knowing Qivni from anywhere before when she showed up in scarlet red uniform, unlike Noble recruits, such as Sirana and Jael, who had families...

"So you are curious about Sirana on the Surface, aren't you?" Qivni asked again.

Shyntre felt some tension in his back relax when he stopped fighting that point. "Yes, Lead. But I will do without if Elder Rausery decides I'm simply not to know."

Qivni ignored the last part. "You wanted her saved. The healing Consort was your idea, so you know him, probably from the Sanctuary. So you're the reason Elder D'Shea is keeping him here after the Purge."

The tension returned immediately along with an extra knot he'd probably have to rub out later. He rubbed his face with one hand, his stomach sinking. "You're very astute, Lead. But I do not know to what purpose, I swear to you."

Qivni grunted, stripping a few more seeds from their pods. "It doesn't take much to figure Elder D'Shea wants to get to know you now. Is she holding the Consort as ransom for that?"

"Probably. You heard her yourself, Lead, talking about a meal together. It's not guaranteed to work, though. And I am here primarily to assist Elder Rausery, as always."

The Lead actually smirked, almost a half-smile. "Sure."

They went quiet again, and it was Shyntre who spoke next.

"What did she mean that solitary wasn't secure for the Consort? Did he try to escape?"

Qivni looked at him askance. "No. Even you commented that she also said 'no one' touches him in her quarters, and she's right."

Shyntre looked down to concentrate hard on the seed pod. "What happened, Lead? Is he permanently damaged?"

She sighed with an eyeroll. "No, he's still beautiful. Near perfect. Three Sisters got to him and did what you would expect. Elder D'Shea had her hands full without Elder Rausery, but she still found out about it somehow—had a ward on his cell door, perhaps— and caught them in the act. Punished them right then."

Shyntre couldn't make his hands stop quivering slightly as a part of him felt quite hollow. He wanted to throw up. "Punished them...how?"

"Beat the Drider shit out of them with force spells. Forced a compulsion that prevents them from speaking of what exactly happened. I saw the damage on them, though, talking or not, and I heard Auslan's report with my own ears."

He hesitated to comment at first. "....Who were they?" he almost whispered.

"Why would you want to know?"

"To see if...I remember them. If I see them, I know to be wary."

"No one will touch you on pain of death, Shyntre. That's the order."

"I still want to know. I have a history here, you know that well...it might matter where the Consort is concerned. I'll trade you something, Lead."

Qivni purposed her lips, and sighed. "I'll hold on to that favor for later, right?"

He nodded. "In kind."

"Indeed. Don't try to renege."

"I won't."

"Three under Elder Rausery, but some of ours with the least self-discipline. Thena leading them, Suna and Moria following. Another named Panagan was there but not as badly hurt, just a bruised windpipe."

Shyntre didn't know Panagan or Moria, but he did remember the other two. Clearly. If some of his mother's Red Sisters hadn't come to get him, hadn't challenged them and won, he could have believed that Thena and Suna and their team could have made it last for him for several sleep cycles straight without sleep.

He felt light-headed almost immediately, a high pitch seeming to ring in his ears. *Oh, no...*

Qivni didn't move or pause long in seeding her pods as she watched the wizard scramble over to a bucket intended for refuse and emptied his stomach in several racking, heaving retches. She waited patiently until he was done, gasping and swallowing.

"There's a waterskin hanging to your right."

Shyntre nodded and mumbled an acknowledgement, stretching up to lift one of the three plump containers from the peg. He took a swig and swished, spitting that out into the bucket before swallowing another small sip to test his stomach. The fit seemed to have passed, and he drank a bit more of the cool liquid.

He soon rejoined Qivni, glad for the simple task to do with his hands as he tried to let his mind settle some, although his mind was overtaken with fear for Auslan now. How much had he endured....?

"That bad, huh?" Qivni asked. "When they had you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Then he remembered with a widening of his eyes: "...Lead."

Qivni huffed softly, forgiving the slip. "Might interest you to hear, then, wizard, that same group wouldn't let Sirana sleep for three cycles when they had her, only there were six of them. Somehow even the laughing girl had to be kept from going a killing rage, but I know Gaelan had something to do with that."

Shyntre knew his expression was easy even for Qivni to read: he really wished she hadn't told him that.

She smiled and added: "She had her revenge when Jael was in her place, though. Took on Thena, who challenged her and lost. Sirana humiliated her by using her own tranquilizer powder against her, dumped her fully armored and equipped body in front of her peers, still stark naked, and kept hold on Jael for the rest of the cycle."

The smallest bit of tension in Shyntre's shoulders eased as he felt himself wanting to smile. It explained the camaraderie he'd witnessed between the two youngest Sisters in their pre-Surface training, and it probably explained Jael's own ferocity trying to beat Kerse back from Sirana in that fight.

Then his smile fell.

"Did they know the Consort healed Sirana?" he asked. "Do you think they were taking revenge on him since she wasn't here anymore?"

Qivni thought it over. "Maybe. But I think they would have entered his cell regardless, Shyntre. I'm sort of surprised it took a week after Elder Rausery and the rest of you left the cloister."

"And...Elder D'Shea interrupted them and punished them."

"Yes."

"And you've seen him after that? You know he's whole in body?"

Again Qivni nodded, with a slanted expression Shyntre almost would have called a wry one. "He's still got spirit, too. Milder than Sirana's irritating tease, but the same nature."

Shyntre didn't comment on that. He couldn't really remember that quality in Auslan at all. The Consort had never been a humorous tease, his training had been far too rigid; he could only be obedient, calm, polite.

Had it developed only recently knowing Sirana? How much contact had they had without him knowing? Auslan had told him more about the meeting on the farm since Shyntre knew to ask about it after being with Sirana; the Consort had explained how he'd coped with that, and some about her showing up for information after that...but Shyntre couldn't know every word passed between them.

Still. It could be a good sign. Maybe Thena and the others hadn't broken him. At least, they hadn't had enough time to do it. His mother had stopped them. Shyntre wanted to talk to Auslan first, before he decided how to feel about that. Shyntre couldn't imagine the motive being any other than self-interest...but at least she had done it. At least she had protected him. At least he didn't feel like throwing up again when he imagined his brother frightened, trapped, and helpless in solitary.

At least for Auslan, it hadn't been over and over again.

The wizard said, "You said they have some of the least self-discipline...so why keep them?"

Qivni shot him a sour, somehow cruel look.

"Because they can do what they did to you, to Sirana, to the Consort," she said brusquely. "And they follow the orders of someone stronger. Elder D'Shea proved she was stronger. They're no threat now. It is a recruit like Sirana, who is too smart for her own good, that I distrust the most, Shyntre. Without self-discipline but with far more brains than Thena and her crowd...no telling what she'll decide to do in her own interest. Given enough time."

Shyntre blinked slowly, trying to picture Sirana as that kind of pot-stirrer. Certainly she had been the catalyst for Kerse, but the Illithid hadn't been her fault...

He remembered that Auslan had mentioned she said she would come back for him, would find another place for him. Somehow. Would she? That was an interest distinctly outside the Sisterhood. He couldn't fault Qivni's distrust, because Sirana would do it if she focused on it, perhaps depending on how long she carried the Consort's child, on how long they might have that connection.

This Collector seemed to assume that the young Red Sister acting on this would cause nothing but big trouble for the Sisterhood. It might...and yet Shyntre would be so grateful to her if she did.

*****

Qivni was on her feet before Shyntre even realized Elder Rausery had entered the room, but he got quickly to his feet as well, keeping his eyes below chest-level as they each greeted her.

"Report, Qivni."

Again Shyntre was made to turn around with a blindfold on and to wait while the ranking females communicated in sign. He wasn't nearly as anxious waiting with his back to them as he had been before.

"I'll be in my quarters if you need me," Elder Rausery said to Qivni aloud, then turned eyes on him; he knew it even though he couldn't see it.

"With me, wizard. And take the blind off."

"Yes, Elder."

He followed far enough behind to allow her red cloak to flow through the hallways; he glimpsed some Red Sisters who looked curious, but there was no feeling of threat as before. Mostly. He kept his face placid, his hands relaxed and obvious at his sides, and inched his chin up, straightening his back as he walked.

They stopped briefly at Rausery's door so she could release the protection and let them both in. It was pitch black in her quarters after the door slid closed again, and for the time it took her to remove her cloak to hang and disarm to a comfortable level, Shyntre focused far more on the strong, familiar scent of the place—leather, pressed fiberstalk, ink, metal, and Rausery's particular musky scent—and on the slightly moving air. Soon the shapes of her desk, her somewhat messy shelves of maps and scrolls, her bath, and her bed came into clear view with his darkvision.

He lost all detail the next moment when she summoned a heatless, magical light to sit atop her wide candle's wick, as if it would actually consume it. It mimicked firelight fairly well, and after he even more slowly adjusted back to his color vision, he already knew that Rausery had walked up to him, real close, her aura making it seem that she towered over him.

He blinked and looked up at her, at her face, and she was scrutinizing him with her mouth and jaw set firm. Dark crimson eyes somewhat like his seemed to scrape over what details she could see.

The Elder reached for his left hand and he consciously kept his arm relaxed as she lifted it to up get a good look at the silver ring on his third finger. He made a small, unintended sound of protest when she moved as if to tug it off, and the Elder paused, still watching him. She released his hand and he put his arm back down.

Next Rausery took hold of his chin and studied his face, turning his head to see nearly every angle, then she searched his ears and his mid-length hair with her fingers, tugging out the tie that held it out of his eyes and setting it aside.

"Give me your robe, Shyntre," she said brusquely. "And your sandals."

Suppressing any feeling of awkward embarrassment, he began tugging loose his belt and stripping without trying to convince her it wasn't necessary. He knew his Elder was checking for scrying marks, and that was a good sign as it meant she intended to be honest with him if she found him clean. He was sure that he was.

She looked subtly pleased seeing the emerald still around his neck as he handed her the fine wizard's robe and sandals and watched her check his belongings thoroughly, her way, while standing naked on the stone floor. It did not take long before she was circling his body next, checking every crevice including between his legs and beneath his scrotum. He cleared his throat in apology as he got an unintentional, partial erection.

He submitted to the cavity searches as well, his mouth and his anus, but would definitely bring up the suggestion that Rausery please communicate to D'Shea that this particular search had already been done, and his mother wouldn't be repeating anything like this later on.

"Okay," the Elder said as she lifted his robe and tossed it the short distance to him to catch, passing his sandals next and giving him time to redress. "Anything you'd care to mention first, Shyntre?"

"I'm under no compulsions at this time, Elder."

"The fact that you can even say that is impressive." Rausery nodded her chin while looking at his left hand. "What about that?"

"A way to message the queen directly, Elder, and to track me, should it prove necessary. I've studied it, I don't believe it can do the same as a bloodstone."

"Huh. No compulsions and no passing voices? Not tightening down the leash right off the starting line, is She? Curious. She's waiting to see if you earn it, maybe. I'd figure you've been... cautious about meeting Her expectations?"

Shyntre didn't reply verbally but he let her see his expression; it was the only time he ever dared show the depth of his hatred of his situation. Rausery observed him a moment and gave him a nod; she understood, and she wasn't going to chastise him. That bit of acceptance helped lift the weight of it for a moment.

"And you can't take the ring off," she said.

"No, Elder."

"Gotcha." Rausery pulled out her simple, sturdy fiberstalk chair from her desk, turned it so she wouldn't be behind her desk, and sat facing him. She gestured toward the single spare chair up against her far wall. "Bring that forward and sit."

Shyntre obeyed, placing the chair facing her but a good two paces away; they would be able to see full body language and wouldn't be close enough to touch. He was grateful she wouldn't have him standing the whole time.

Rausery asked, "She using any other wizards like She is you?"

"I saw a few at the last worship ball but I know very little otherwise. I'm...isolated the rest of the time, Elder. I'm no allowed out of my quarters unless summoned."

One side of her mouth lifted. "You don't yearn for group activities anyway. Pretty much dislike and resent all others, don't you?"

He knew only from past experience that Rausery wasn't discounting or dismissing his complaint out of hand; she was trying to get him to think about why he said it at all. He could refuse the challenge and consider her merely cold and unfeeling of his plight...or he could offer more thought about why the isolation bothered him.

"I'm given no challenge except to breed idiot Nobles."

"Ah. There we go. What challenges do you miss, Shyntre?"

"I study very little magic nowadays."

"And Phaelous isn't there to nudge you now and then."

The younger male Drow swallowed and nodded, accepting that. He did miss what his sire had offered. Now and then.

"I also don't expect the Sisterhood will be able to call on me as often for tasks."

"Probably not. You don't care to see what secrets you can tug out of the Nobles sent to you?"

Shyntre felt his middle clutch hotly in disgust and his frown deepened again. "What do any of their secrets matter? I know they're all distractions encouraged by the Valsharess to keep control. For me to care, to get immersed in them, is to grant importance to their antics. And they're not important."

His Elder grinned and her shoulders shook as she chuckled silently. "I like that. Although even I have to keep some tabs on what games they're playing, boy, lest I fall behind."

His eyes went down briefly. "I meant no insult to you, Elder."

"I know. No knowledge is pointless, though. You know that."

He nodded. "Yes, Elder, but...it's also the queen's expectations. I'm to dominate them as other males can't, even break them, not coax them into whispering gossip in my ear."

"Thought I heard something like that," Rausery commented blandly. "You need some pointers on interrogation tactics? Sounds like that's where you're standing in the Palace. As an interrogator."

His brows showed his concern. "I don't like doing it, Elder. I...I get too angry...I might end up killing one of them."