She gets confrontational

All of Teysa's frustrations, her fears, her doubts, all boiled to the surface. Before she realized what she was doing, she had taken a step towards the woman. "A hell of a lot more than you!" she snapped. "You spread this poison like it's a game. You don't care that real people are hurt and die because of your lies, do you? You demonize a whole race of people just because they're not like you."

"People?!" the drow snorted. "Look at her! She's a monster. They're kidnappers! They sneak in the dead of night and steal women to sacrifice." She narrowed her eyes. "Why do you defend her, anyways? Are you one of their little slaves? Do you give up your virtue to them, whore?"

Aliara shot her a warning look, but Teysa was already shaking her head. "You don't know anything about the driders. You don't know anything about me. I live with them willingly. I'd much rather live in a cave with driders than share a city with ignorant fearmongers like you. Are you forgetting the word of Mother Lolth so quickly?"

This seemed to agitate the crowd a bit. A few bystanders echoed Teysa's call, but others began to shout at them. Cries of "Murdering beasts!" warred with "Listen to the Goddess!" The guards had heard enough. They started to close in and break up the crowd. The drow woman looked around, then turned back to Teysa and spat theatrically at her feet. "You'll get yours, collaborator," she hissed venomously. "We won't forget who stood with the monsters." Then she was gone, swallowed by the crowd.

"Alright, that's enough," the captain of the guard patrol said. He waved his arms in a shooing gesture. "Move along, people." As Teysa walked past him, he held out a hand. "Hold on a moment, you," he said.

Teysa crossed her arms angrily. "Am I under arrest?" she asked. "For defending my friend in public? For defending a drider?"

What little of the captain's face could be seen under his iron visor looked pained. "No. My job is to keep the peace, and right now, it looks like that's going to be a bit of a problem where you're concerned. So I am just asking you, in a friendly way, what your business is in the City, and whether it's possible to make it go along a little faster."

"We were just heading to the Basilica," Aliara put in. "To see the priestess Mish'li. A friend of ours."

"Is that so?" said the captain. He looked El'keth up and down. Her arms were crossed defensively in front of her and her eyes were screwed shut; she looked like she was trying to hide. He thought for a moment then appeared to reach a conclusion. "All right. But to avoid further ugly incidents, we'll be escorting you. For your own safety. There are parts of this city where she," he jerked his head to indicate El'keth "wouldn't be welcomed."

Teysa fumed, but she could see no way to get out of this without provoking the guard further. "Fine," she said. "We had finished our business here anyways."

Two guards fell in on either side of them, and the captain strode ahead, clearing the crowd out of their way. As they passed, heads turned. Teysa tried not to hear the muttering. She ignored the gestures of warding, the stares that followed them and bored into the back of her neck. El'keth had hunched over, as if to make herself smaller-- a futile gesture, as she still towered over the crowd. A bottle sailed out of the press of people and shattered on the stones between two of the drider's legs. She gasped and reared back. The guards stood to attention, spears raised, and their captain turned to Teysa. His mouth was a tight little line. "See what I mean?" he hissed. "We should hurry."

Once they left the market behind, Teysa began to breathe a little easier. The streets nearest to the market were wide and clean, full of shops and inns, but as they approached the Basilica they grew narrower. Twisty little alleys ran between creaking tenements that leaned drunkenly against each other. Most of the shops around here were boarded up. They were in a kind of no-mans-land, between the prosperous merchants near the walls and the wealthy families whose manor houses clustered around the Basilica. Here, hard eyes followed them from the alleyways and stoops, and beggars sat at every corner with their alms-bowls out. A hunched street cleaner with milky, cataracted eyes stopped sweeping and stared blindly at them until they passed. It seemed that every other property here was abandoned. Their shattered windows gaped open like idiot mouths full of jagged, broken teeth. A child of indeterminate sex, clad only in filthy rags, squatted in a doorway drawing lines in the dust with its finger.

As they passed a wide-mouthed alley, steel jangled against steel. A half-dozen figures stepped forward out of the gloom. One, a wiry drow whose face was a roadmap of scar tissue, was cleaning his fingernails with a dagger.

"Afternoon, gentles," he said. He sounded relaxed, amused. Teysa had heard that tone before. He was toying with them. Her hand went to her mace.

"Afternoon, citizen." The guard captain was on edge too. There was just a hint of fear in his voice.

"You arresting these troublemakers, officer?" the scarred drow asked. "Gonna toss 'em in the clink?"

"No. They're going to meet with a priestess at the Basilica," the captain replied. If he was hoping that the mention of authority would make the drow back off, he was disappointed.

"Seems like a waste of time to me." The drow finished cleaning his fingernails and raised them for inspection. Behind him, the others drew closer. "Probably a crime happening somewhere. Why don't you go look for it and we'll take these fine ladies the rest of the way?" He leered at Teysa, but she had been leered at by experts and returned his gaze coolly. He turned his attention to El'keth, who flinched away.

The guard captain's expression flickered. He looked momentarily uncertain, then frowned and rammed his spear butt on the ground. "That's quite all right, citizen. We'll take them the rest of the way. You be about your business, now."

The drow's face clouded and he bared his teeth in an angry grimace. He looked like he was on the verge of stepping forward, then thought better of it. He smiled and made a show of sheathing his dagger, then held his hands up, palms outward. "No trouble. No trouble. Just trying to do my civic duty and assist the watch. You have a nice day, now." He shuffled backward and his gang followed. The captain watched until they were out of sight, then looked at Teysa. "You see what I mean?" he said. "Come on, let's hurry."

Each alleyway from then on seemed to hold a hint of menace to Teysa, but they were not accosted again. It was only when the streets began to grow wider and the houses finer that she started to breathe easily. Before long, they were walking across fine obsidian cobblestones, and then the buildings parted and the Basilica loomed before them. It was as she remembered, a vast pillared portico carved into the living rock. Before it the plaza was sparsely populated today. The fountains were not flowing, and work crews climbed over them scrubbing and polishing. The guard captain stood stiffly to attention and saluted Teysa. "Be well, visitor. Don't tarry too long." She returned the salute, then watched him and his men until they were out of sight.

"How chivalrous of him," said Aliara with a roll of her eyes. "What do you think the odds are that our friend back there didn't know the lady from the market? Just a coincidence?"

"That's paranoia," said Teysa, but inside she wasn't sure. All her good feeling from the market had evaporated, and she felt lost and scared. She had come this far. Was this a mistake? Would Mish'li even agree to see them?

There was only one way to find out. She set her shoulders and marched across the plaza, Aliara and El'keth drifting in her wake. As they approached the Basilica, they could see it was a hive of activity. The great double doors were flanked on each side by dozens of normal-sized doors, and humanoids of every species were hurrying in and out of them. Most wore the robes of Lolth's clergy, but she saw dwarves, humans, and gnomes, in a dizzying array of ceremonial vestments. Guards stood to attention or clustered in little knots. As the group approached, a female drow in the black armor of the Fangs stopped them with a raised hand.

"Halt," she said. "State your business."

"We're here to see Mish'li," Teysa replied. The drow's eyes narrowed and she studied them briefly. She did not betray any reaction upon seeing El'keth, but her eyes lingered on the drider. "Is she expecting you?" she asked.

"No," said Teysa, a little embarrassed, "but we're friends. Could you see if she's available?"

The Fang kept her expression neutral. "I will see. Wait here by the door." She gestured at a stone bench, then turned on her heel and marched away without waiting for a response.

Aliara stretched out, catlike, on the bench. "I've played this game before," she said. "Get ready to wait for hours. Wake me up if something interesting happens." Teysa sat beside her and laid her hands on her lap. Next to her, El'keth was staring down at her hands. She held her new earrings and was fidgeting with them, passing them back and forth between her palms. She had a pained look on her face, so Teysa patted her on the leg to get her attention and asked "El'keth, is everything alright?"

El'keth looked down at her. Her lip trembled, but her eyes were dry. "Teysa, I am thinking about that woman. In the market. My mother warned me there would be people like that, but still..."

Teysa felt her anger bubble up again, and **** it down. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, El'keth. She was ignorant. There will always be ignorant people out there, who hate you for-"

"But what if she's right?" El'keth burst out. She sounded on the verge of tears. "What if I am a monster? The people in the market thought so!"

Teysa's mouth opened and shut. She finally managed, "But what she said wasn't true! About the woman and her child, I mean. It wasn't, was it?"

El'keth looked horrified. "Of course not! We would never, never in a million years... not even the most savage drider would dare. To sunder the bond between mother and child... unthinkable. No," she shook her head. "Not that part. But she said I was a kidnapper. In a way, she was right. I mean, my mother kidnapped you, didn't she?"

Teysa nodded. "Yes, and that was wrong. But she's changed. I believe she's changed, at least. You all have. You can't be responsible for your mother's sins, and you can't expect someone to be defined by the worst thing they've ever done. You intend to live by Lolth's decree, right? To respect the humanity of the broodmothers, to treat people as people and not things?"

"Of course! But it doesn't matter, does it? Not to people like that. She had never met me. She didn't hate me because of what I'd done, she hated me because of what I am."

"That's true, unfortunately," Teysa admitted. "There will always be people like that. I guess the hope for the future is that there aren't as many of them. The longer this peace lasts, that harder it will be for that attitude to find fertile soil. You can't ever get rid of hateful ideas, but you can at least stop them spreading."

El'keth's fingers closed around her earrings. "Well, then to the nether with her. I will live the way I know to be right. Lolth sees my heart."

Teysa smiled. "That's the right attitude. Set an example, and-"

"Teysa!" a familiar voice cried. Teysa turned around to see Mish'li hurrying towards them. She was a young-looking drow with high cheekbones and deep-set, almond-shaped eyes. She wore priestess's robes, which Teysa noted were much more elaborate than on her last visit. Her hair was piled up in plaits that wound around and through the lattice of a silver tiara. She was smiling, but it was a weary smile, and her face had a drawn tightness to it.

Teysa embraced her, and Mish'li kissed her on the cheek. "And Aliara! My dear, you've come back to us!" Aliara also received her hug and kiss, and then Mish'li turned to El'keth. "You, I do not know, but I welcome you all the same. All of Lolth's daughters are welcome at Her holy house."

"I am El'keth, Your Excellency," said the drider. Mish'li's eyes widened and she laughed. "Excellency! I think the High Priestess would be jealous to hear you say that. No, El'keth, I am but a humble servant of our Mother Below. My name is Mish'li."

"Not that humble," Aliara said. "You look like you've come up in the world a bit since we saw you last."

Mish'li waved a hand dismissively. "There has been a great deal of... reorganization, shall we say, in the past months. We are all servants of Lolth. I was merely in the right place at the right time." She sagged slightly, and all of a sudden she looked very tired. "I apologize for making you wait. There is so much to do lately, and not enough time. What brings you to us?"

"It's... rather sensitive, Mish'li. A problem I thought you might have some insight into. Could we speak in private?"

"Of course!" Mish'li said. "Please, right this way!" She led them towards the gigantic main doors. Nobody gave them a second glance as they passed through. Inside, the antechamber was truly massive, its pillars nearly as large as those outside. El'keth stared at the frescoes that lined the walls. Smaller doors lined the walls. Mish'li led them towards one, an arch large enough to accommodate the drider, which led to a chapel large enough to comfortably seat a village's worth of parishioners. It was empty apart from them. She closed the doors behind her and turned. "What can I do for you, Teysa?" she asked.