Sure thing

"All right, El'keth. Do you need to pack?"

The drider looked away, and Teysa was astonished to see spots of color glowing under her grey cheeks. "I... already did. I am sorry, I should not have presumed, but--"

Teysa couldn't help it-- she laughed in the drider's face. El'keth stared at her in astonishment. It was all too funny. A lifetime ago, a little girl that wanted to be a knight had packed two apples, her favorite doll and her dog-eared storybook into her blanket. When the family had gathered the next morning to see her oldest brother off to the Academe, she had announced she was coming with him. "I'm gonna be a knight too! I already packed 'n everything!" Her mother had gone pale and her father beet red, but Sir Chauncy the recruiter had laughed so hard he almost fell off his horse.

Well, look who's laughing now, sir, Teysa thought. Mom, Dad, is this where you thought I'd end up?

She regained control of herself by degrees. "I'm sorry, El'keth. You just... reminded me of someone, just now. Come along." She slung her pack over her shoulder and headed for the door.

Aliara thought it was much less funny. She smiled sweetly at El'keth and shook her hand, then in saccharine tones that Teysa had come to dread, said "Could you please give Teysa and I a moment alone to talk, dear?"

El'keth nodded enthusiastically. She was all smiles, and Teysa felt a momentary pang of pity for her. She waved goodbye with a frozen grin plastered on her face, then turned as soon as the drider had left the room. As soon as she met Aliara's eyes, her face fell. "Li, I--"

Aliara waved her off. "No, no, stop. I'm not saying no. I'm just saying... why, Tey? What's the deal with this girl? She talks like... like us. Is she a bodyguard, or a translator, or what?"

"No, Li, nothing like that. She's kind of... I dunno, I guess an heir, or something. The Matron's heir. She's modern. Forward-looking. She wants things to change, like we do, and she wants to learn from us." Teysa colored a little. "I think she kind of looks up to me, if you wanna know the truth. The Matron told her all about what we did."

"So she's, what, a princess? Princess of the spider-people? That's nice, I guess. So we're babysitting her?"

"She's going to be in charge one day. Don't you think it would be nice to get to know her? She needs someone to show her the way. All she can learn from the Matron here is what not to do."

"There you go again. 'She needs someone to show her the way.' Does that always have to be you? Or us? I thought we were going to get to relax a little, maybe try to have a sort-of normal life. Or at least, focus on our problems. Don't we have enough on our plates without constantly trying to fix everyone else's lives too?"

"Well, we live here now, don't we?" asked Teysa. "I think that kind of makes her our problem. Or at least, her problems are our problems. Besides, she's kind of sweet. She wants to do the right thing, I can tell. I don't want her to fall under bad influences."

Aliara raised an eyebrow. "Well, you should probably keep her away from me then, no?" She grinned, and Teysa felt a great wave of relief. That was one fight avoided. "So," she asked, trying to keep her voice casual, "it's ok if she comes with us?"

"Eh, why not?" Aliara shrugged. "As long as she doesn't embarrass us. It might be nice to have company on the trail that doesn't snore."

"I do not snore!" Teysa tried to sound indignant, but she couldn't suppress her giggles, especially when Aliara launched into a spirited impression that sounded like a sick boar trying to dislodge a particularly obstinate truffle. Teysa swatted the half-elf on the shoulder. "Come on, I'm already packed. Change into something you can travel in?"

Still mock-snoring, Aliara peeled out of her silk robes and started pulling on her cotton smallclothes. Teysa took a moment to admire the view; after months of exercise, Aliara was regaining her fighting trim, and her toned limbs moved with supple grace. Her small breasts were pert and perky, their beauty marred only by an ugly star-shaped scar between them. The flesh was blackened and twisted in ridges as though burned. The scar was fading, but Teysa still shuddered every time she saw it. She remembered kneeling on the cold stone floor with Aliara's corpse in her arms, wailing in grief and sorrow. Whenever her memories of her time under the earth faded, that scar brought them back into sharp relief.

If she noticed Teysa staring, Aliara did not react. She whistled tunelessly as she bound her long coppery hair back into a ponytail and bound it with a silver clasp. She pulled on a silk tunic, then her brigandine vest and leather trousers, and buckled on her tall black boots. Her belt of daggers was next, and a pair of thin, black elbow-length gloves-- a gift from the matron. Finally, she grabbed a hooded cloak off of a handy stalagmite and swept it over her shoulders, pinning it in front with a silver brooch in the shape of a spider. She swept a couple of changes of clothes into a satchel and slung it over her shoulder. Turning to Teysa, she threw out her arms. "Ready! And I saw you looking, missy. If we're babysitting on the road, then you can look all you want, but no touching. We wouldn't want to set a bad example."

Teysa rolled her eyes. "Come on, Li. Let's get moving."

El'keth was waiting just outside. She started as Teysa and Aliara emerged. "Ready to go?" Aliara asked. She didn't wait for a response, but swept along the corridor with exaggerated strides, forcing Teysa to run a couple of awkward steps to catch up. Behind them, El'keth fell in, the scuttling of her spider legs on the stone a counterpoint to Teysa's heavy steps. They left the warren through a freshly enlarged passageway; previously, it had been wise to keep the approaches from the direction of the City narrow, but defense had given way to diplomacy and now it was practically a thoroughfare. Two driders patrolled the road, but both genuflected as the small party passed. Teysa wasn't sure if they were bowing to her or El'keth, but Aliara loved the attention, gesturing magnanimously each time. By the time they left the boundaries of the warren she was in high spirits. "What a change, huh!" she said. "They all love you now, Tey! We're a big deal now. Well, you are, I'm just your little buddy." Teysa started to protest, but to her surprise, El'keth interrupted her.

"No, Aliara! You are very important to us all! You are touched by the Mother herself, She Who Spins Below! You are our living miracle, brought back from the darkness beyond by Lolth's hand!" She sounded awed. Aliara stared ahead. "Oh. You, uh, you know about that." She shot Teysa a warning glance. She had not wanted the details of her **** and resurrection made public. They were intensely personal, an area that where even Teysa had been able to make no headway. Even the gentlest inquiries were rebuffed with "I don't want to talk about it." Sometimes, Aliara woke up screaming.

"Yes!" continued El'keth, oblivious to the coldness in the half-elf's tone. "My mother told me. She said that you were an example of Lolth's grace and mercy, and that I should never forget the sacrifice you made for the warren."

"I didn't make it for-" Aliara began, and then cut off. "Yes. Well. I appreciate the kind words. Good to know I'm valued. I just... don't like talking about that. So let's not." She spoke gently, but Teysa could sense the rigid self-control behind the words. She quickly cut in before El'keth could ask another question. "So! El'keth, is this your first time leaving the warren?"

The drider nodded. "Yes! And I am very excited. I want very much to see this city. I hear that their cave is twice as big as our largest!" Aliara snorted. "It's... quite a bit larger than that, El'keth," said Teysa carefully. "And there are buildings. Have you seen a building before. El'keth sounded indignant. "Yes! I have seen them in many books. My mo- the Matron says that webs are superior, that buildings are for those who cannot make their own homes, but I would very much like to see one. Will I be allowed inside of a building?"

"If you fit," mumbled Aliara, and Teysa elbowed her in the side. True, it was a concern. El'keth was small for a drider, but she was still over seven feet tall, and her abdomen was at least four feet across. She moved with the same uncanny grace as the rest of her species, so Teysa assumed that she would at least be able to navigate the wide arches and shallow staircases of the Basilica, where Mish'li had set up a provisional government.

Luckily, the remark appeared to have passed over El'keth's head. She was looking around in wonder as they moved through the outer caverns. The warren was a sculpted and carefully maintained environment, designed to balance the driders' needs with the natural beauty of the Underneath. This was raw, rugged and wild. Occasionally they could hear stone scraping, or a distant roar or gibber. Teysa wore her half-plate and carried her mace at her waist, a concession to the dangers of the trip. With the amount of traffic on this route lately an attack was unlikely, but nowhere in the Underneath could be said to be truly "safe."

They had been walking for nearly three hours when Teysa called for a halt. Up ahead, an underground spring fed a round pool, surrounded by flat stones. It was as good a place as any to rest their feet and unwrap some of the traveler's bread Teysa had packed. All three ate with their hands, ripping chunks directly off the loaf and passing it around. The bread was hardy stuff, designed to keep adventurers going for miles at a time. Teysa noticed with some surprise that El'keth was tearing into it with gusto. Though they could digest almost anything, most driders were strict carnivores. El'keth seemed to love the bread, though she was soon coated in a thin layer of crumbs. She smacked her lips as she chewed. "Thif if exfcellent, Teyfa!" she exclaimed through a mouthful. "Did you make it?"

"No, I got it from a trader. We can get more at the City, if you like."

"Yes, please!" El'keth swallowed and wiped her mouth with the back of one hand. "So sweet! It's-"

It was at that moment that the naga attacked.

They must have been waiting in the pool the whole time, their grey-green bodies nearly impossible to see against the stone. The surface of the water exploded as they boiled out of it, slithering over the sides like eels. One, an especially tall brute wearing a giant crab's shell as a breastplate, let out an ululating hiss and pumped his muscular arms in the air. He held a rusty iron trident and a shield that looked to be of dwarven manufacture, though battered and dented almost beyond recognition. The other naga had a variety of piercing and cutting weapons, all of them ancient and pitted but still fearsomely sharp. They spread out around the party and began to close the ring. El'keth yelped in surprise and dropped her bread, but Teysa and Aliara were already moving. Teysa drew her mace while Aliara's daggers seemed to spring into her hands from nowhere.

The large naga with the trident made straight for Teysa, alongside a female companion with a pair of billhooks. She did not wait for them to encircle her but charged forward with her mace drawn. The trident-bearer stabbed at her, but it was a clumsy, telegraphed move and she easily knocked it aside. She could see the female trying to circle behind her. That was no good; even with her advantage in equipment and training, two versus one was not a fair fight. She jumped backward, nearly into the arms of the surprised female, then spun before she could bring her hooks up. Teysa's mace whistled through the air and impacted heavily against the naga's shoulder. She let out a hideous screech and dropped one of her hooks, which Teysa immediately kicked away. The other hook seemed suddenly like a tiny and useless weapon in the face of Teysa's heavy mace. Before the naga could slither away, Teysa stepped forward and reached out with her left hand. It closed on one of the bone spurs pushing out of the naga's forehead crest, and a half-second later the mace came down right on the middle of that crest. There was a sound like a cannonball being dropped onto a tree stump, and the naga's eyes crossed. Teysa let go of her and she collapsed into a boneless heap.

Her combat instincts screamed and Teysa threw herself to the floor just as the trident's blades scythed through the air where she had been standing. The naga brute hissed in rage and stabbed downward, but Teysa rolled out of the way and grabbed the trident behind its head. Her foe wrenched it out of her hand, but she used the momentum to pull herself to her feet and knocked away his next thrust with ease. Her return blow caught his shield, and though her strike had been strong enough to send numbing vibrations up her arm, he did not give ground. The combatants circled, trading blows that rang off steel or whistled through thin air. He was faster than he should be, and fearsomely strong, and his trident gave her superior reach, but it was not quick to change positions, and he often had to over-commit behind a slash or stab. Teysa could taste coppery blood-- at some point she'd bitten her lip or cheek hard enough to break the skin. She spat a wad of pink froth. Her breath rattled in her lungs. Behind her, the naga she had struck down was twitching on the ground, blood leaking from her shattered skull.

Teysa heard a cry to her left, and spared a moment to glance that way. El'keth was being held at bay by two naga, one with a spear and the other carrying a heavy cleaver. They had her backed against the pool, and she had reared up on her hind legs. Both naga recoiled as her front legs flailed at them, but they pressed forward inexorably. Unarmed, El'keth was doing her best to hold them off, but their **** to attack wouldn't last forever.