By appealing to her heart

"Matron..." Teysa began. She trailed off in the face of that implacable blank stare. The Matron's eyes were pools of ink, black on black, as glossy as a beetle's carapace. It was impossible to know for certain where she was looking, but Teysa could feel that gaze riveting her against the far wall. She could see herself reflected in those inky pools, a tiny grey thing swimming in a sea of black. What could she possibly say to such a being? The Matron was older than she, stronger, wiser, greater. She was the will of the warren manifest, a hive queen who cared for nothing in the world but her children.

That was the image she cultivated. But Teysa had seen behind the mask. The ice around the Matron's heart was miles thick, but there was a crack in it, and the ember inside glowed. And any banked fire could be reignited with the right spark.

"I know you want to protect your children," Teysa began. It felt odd to think of herself among that number, but it felt right too, in a way that Teysa could never have explained. She could feel the tethers that bound her to the Matron-- almost physically feel them, as lines as thin and strong as spider-silk. When she turned her head, she felt something brush against her cheek. Love, devotion, loyalty, duty: it all blended together into a web of unfathomable complexity, strands overlaying strands. The pattern repeated endlessly like a fractal, weaving itself anew with each moment. But-- and Teysa saw this clearly now, so clearly that she marveled at her earlier blindness-- the connection between them was not one way. The same strings that bound her to the Matron held fast in both directions. Teysa reached out now and tugged at one.

"They are your children too, Matron." She spoke softly, but with a certainty she hadn't felt in months. "We are made in Lolth's image, but so are they. We are two halves of the same egg. What kind of mother kills one child to save another?" She reached out and laid one of her hands against the Matron's arm, her fingers curling around the larger drider's wrist. "Lolth would not have sent them to you if she did not mean for you to care for them."

The Matron looked from Mish'li to Teysa to Lil'esh and back again. Her face was, as ever, unreadable, but Teysa thought she saw her stony composure crack for just a moment.

She nodded once: brief, curt, severe. "Bring them in," she said. Her tone was flat and monotone, betraying nothing. "Hyou may ssssset up a hossssssspital in the outer granary. I will have it cleared for hyou." She looked at Teysa. "Teysssssa, hyou will ssssssserve assss hosssstessssss. Ensssssssure our guesssssstsssss have everything they require."

Teysa reeled for a moment. She groped for words. "Matron, I--" she began. She looked out at the stream of drow pouring into the chamber. There were more, many more than she'd thought at first. The enormity of her task stretched out before her.

"Do hyou have a problem, Teyssssa?" the Matron asked. "Other dutiesssss hyou would rather focussssss on? Issssss thisssss an imposssssition?" Her tone was sweet, but her smile did not reach her eyes. Teysa swallowed. The message was well taken.

"No, Matron," she said. Even if she had wanted a fight, her earlier defiance had sucked the strength out of her. It was all she could do to keep from bowing. She cupped her hands around her mouth and took a deep breath. "Follow me!" she said. "We'll get you all situated! Everyone is safe now, there's no need to shove!"

A hush fell over the crowd of drow. Teysa couldn't help but notice the way they looked at her: mingled hope and fear, with more of the latter than she had hoped for. Nor did she miss the furtive glances at Lil'esh. The drow woman looked from Teysa to the crowd, then nodded imperceptibly. A wave of relief, almost imperceptibly slight but all the more noticeable for it, washed over them, and they picked up their belongings and looked expectantly at Teysa.

"Lil'esh," Teysa asked, "can you lead them to the granary? You know where it is, right? And the apartments after that."

Lil'esh nodded. "Teysa, there are so many of them? What will we do? How will we feed them all? They won't possibly fit in the apartments, not a chance."

"I'll talk to the Matron," Teysa said grimly. "We'll figure something out. We have to." She laid a hand on Lil'esh's shoulder, and was mildly surprised to see that the drow didn't flinch at all. "Lil'esh, your mother... are you ok?"

Lil'esh nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I will be," she said. "You know, some drow would be jealous of me right now. Killing a parent is the traditional route to ascension in some of the older families." She looked up at Teysa's horrified expression and let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "Gallows humor! If I don't joke I'll go mad. Come on. One thing at a time. Focus on the problem that's in front of you." She turned to the crowd and raised an arm. "Follow me, everyone!" she said. She had a naturally commanding tone, Teysa realized. I guess she was raised to lead.

As the tide of people began to follow Lil'esh deeper into the cave, Teysa turned to the Matron. The great drider was watching them with her arms folded in front of her breasts and a tiny, tight frown creasing her lips. She looked down at Teysa. "Yessssss, Teysssssa? Do hyou not have guessssssstsssss to sssssee too?"

"Yes, Matron," Teysa said in a tiny voice. "Is this... a punishment? Did I speak out of turn? If so, I--"

"A punishment? No," the Matron said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Hyou better undersssstand the caresssssss of two-legssssss than I. And I will be busssssy. We were jussssst attacked, after all. The threat issssss not gone. I musssssssst plan our next move." She paused, then bent down so that her face was very close to Teysa's. "Show them every hossssspitality... but do not take them to sssssssee the broodmothersssssss. Do not sssssspeak of them." Without waiting for an answer, she turned away and marched off into the warren. Jy'ven cast one last look at the drow, then turned and followed her.

That left El'keth and Aliara. Both of them were clustered around the horribly burned Mish'li. The drider looked terrified; Aliara merely looked grim. Teysa scuttled over to see what they were looking at. The priestess was, mercifully, asleep. Her chest rose and fell with a faint whistle. Her remaining hand rested against it. Two robed and shrouded priestesses attended her. They wore veils that covered them from chin to nose, so that only their dark, heavy-lidded eyes peered out from below their arched hoods.

"Will she live?" El'keth asked. Aliara whistled slowly and shook her head.

"I don't know, El'keth," she said. "This is... this is bad. There must be some magic, some healing miracle you can do for her?" This last was addressed at the priestesses. "I thought you robe-and-staff types did that? Healed people? Isn't that what you're for?"

"Li..." Teysa began, and laid a hand on Aliara's shoulder. The half-elf didn't seem to feel it.

"She stood up for you," Aliara said in a voice that trembled ever so slightly. "She suffered for you. To save you from this... this nightmare. You'd better save her, that's all I'm saying." All her good humor from the pool was gone. She felt like a coiled wire beneath Teysa's hand, all tightness and sharp edges. She laid one hand on top of Mish'li's and bowed her head, then turned on her heel and stalked off after Lil'esh. The priestesses hoisted the stretcher between them and, still silent, followed her.

"Teysa..." El'keth began. Teysa had never seen her look so miserable and lost. "What's happened, Teysa? What's happening? It feels like everything's falling apart."

Teysa looked down at herself, at the smooth slate-grey of her arm, the bristly black spider legs of her abdomen. "Things are... changing, El'keth," she said. "That's life. There are challenges. We rise to meet them." In truth, she didn't feel nearly as hopeful as she sounded, but she didn't want to distress the girl further. "Don't worry. We'll figure out what to do. You, me, your mother, Aliara, Lil'esh... we'll figure it out." She began to walk back towards the warren and gestured for El'keth to follow her. "I've faced down some pretty horrible things in my time, El'keth," she said. "You know I used to be an adventurer? Well, one time there was this necromancer who had been raiding the crypts beneath a monastery..."

By the time she had finished her story, El'keth's fear had been replaced by awe. Her eyes were huge, but not as large as her grin. "Teysa, you are so brave!" she squealed. "I don't know how you did all that! And as a human, no less! Just imagine how much more you could do now?"

Teysa had been feeling a tingle of the old excitement, but now it drained away. She looked down at herself again and **** a smile. "Yes, well, I've got other priorities," she said. "I have to make sure the drow are comfortable. We'll need rooms, food... maybe we can sell over some of our silver stocks for grain and meat... the ambrosia mothers can increase production, maybe, but we'll need to feed them more..." She shook her head. Logistics and planning had never been her strong suit, but just one look at the tide of people pouring through the caverns told her that their meager stores were hopelessly inadequate. Disease, too. Fresh water. We'll have to spread them out... not just one cave, a dozen. Two dozen. How are we going to do this?

The answer came to her at once. Somehow. We have to do it somehow. The alternative... the alternative didn't bear thinking about.

El'keth looked over at her quizzically. She must have seen the concentration on Teysa's face. "I want to help, Teysa," she said. "What can I do?"

"Doesn't your mother need you?" Teysa asked. "Maybe you should ask her what she wants."

El'keth set her lip in what she clearly thought was a defiant posture. "Well... maybe she'll ask for me later. But I have to make decisions if I'm going to run the warren someday, right? I have to learn to lead. And part of that is talking to two-legs-- I mean, drow, and other people. So I'm going to help you, and if she has a problem with it..." she trailed off, and finished lamely, "she'll tell me about it, and I guess I'll do what she says."

"Alright then," Teysa said, trying to suppress her grin. "I think I can find a use for you."