...and play the waiting game

Dirreg's foot had already been bound up when they rejoined the group. He was sitting on a bench in the armory with his leg extended in front of him. His face was pallid and drawn, but he gave Lil'esh and Aliara a smile when they returned.

"Where's the Matron?" Aliara asked. Dirreg shrugged, but one of the other drow pointed.

"She's in one of the inner caves. She said she didn't want to be disturbed."

Screw that, Aliara thought. She set off in the direction the drow had indicated. El'keth scurried to keep up with her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Wait!" she said. "If she wants privacy, then maybe it's for a good reason. We shouldn't..."

"Let go," Aliara growled, wrenching her shoulder free. "El'keth-- you know I like you, but never, ever grab me like that again." She glared so fiercely that the drider shrank back and her lip wobbled.

"I'm sorry!" she mumbled. "I didn't mean to--"

"It's all right," Aliara said with a wave of her hand. "Just keep your hands to yourself. You can come if you want, but stay quiet."

The two of them passed through a succession of small caves. Aliara set a grueling pace, and occasionally El'keth would have to scutter forward to keep up. They passed a few driders, all of whom were wounded in some way: missing legs, broken arms, wounds swaddled in bloody silken bandages. One had a spearpoint and a few inches of splintered shaft still sticking out of her side; one of her sisters was helping to remove it.

One more archway led into a dead-end cave: a small, round grotto with a tiny waterfall at the far end. The water gushed out of a hole in the wall and splashed across a pile of rocks before flowing away through a sinkhole in the floor. The babble of water filled the room an echoed off the stalagmites clustered at the far end.

The closer half of the room was mostly filled by the Matron. She was bent over, with her back to them and her abdomen curled forward. She was evidently busy; her arms pumped back and forth and she swayed slightly from side to side as she worked. Aliara couldn't see past her. She was sure she made no sound, but as she crossed the threshold, the Matron froze.

"Aliara," she said in a sibilant voice. "And El'keth. I ssssssaid I wassssss not to be dissssssturbed."

"I'm sorry, Mother," El'keth began, but Aliara stepped forward and spoke over her.

"I'm not. What are you doing with Teysa, Matron?"

The Matron swiveled around. Her face was as flat and expressionless as ever, but Aliara thought she could see lines in it that hadn't been there before. The Matron looked weary. She was wounded, too-- a long cut ran up her side and along her breast and oozed black ichor, and a large patch of chitin on her abdomen looked splintered. She had tended to Teysa before seeing to her own wounds, Aliara realized. The thought didn't calm her down much, but it was something, at least.

"I have passsssssed to her ssssssome of my essssssence," the Matron said. "I tried to ssssssseal her woundsssss with magic, but they were beyond my artssssssss. My body healssssss quicker than any two-legssssss. Perhapsssss... perhapsssss it will be enough."

Something about that struck Aliara as foreboding, but she pushed down her concerns. What mattered was getting her Teysa back. Everything else was secondary.

"And did it work, Matron?" she asked. "Will she live?"

"I... do not know. The processsss will be hard. She musssssst want to ssssssurvive."

"Why would you say that?" Aliara almost yelled. "Of course she wants to survive! She's a fighter! She's tougher than you know! She'll come back! She won't..."

Her voice trailed off and her chest hitched. She would not cry in front of the Matron. She would not.

When the Matron next spoke, her voice was uncharacteristically gentle. She stepped back, revealing a towering silk cocoon taller than Aliara. "Hyou are correct, Aliara. She isssss a fighter. She issssss in here."

"When will she come out?" Aliara asked.

"A day. A week. A month. Her body musssssst repair itssssself. It will depend on her sssssstrength of will."

"Can she hear me?" Aliara stepped forward and laid one hand against the cocoon's surface. It felt firm and slightly warm, and as she stood there, she thought she felt it pulse like a heart.

"I do not know. It cannot hurt, I ssssssupposssse."

Aliara sat down cross-legged at the base of the cocoon. "I'll wait here for her, then. As long as it takes."

The Matron bowed her head. "Sssssso be it." She beckoned to El'keth then scuttled out of the room. The younger drider looked back once, her face full of fear and sorrow, and then followed.