"You're lying--you've been manipulating me."

“You’re lying,” Teysa said. Those two words were the hardest she’d ever said. Pushing them out felt like lifting a heavy stone. They fell, heavy and leaden, into the gap between her the Goddess, and sat there.

Lolth, to her credit, did not react at once. Teysa could feel the distant echo of the Goddess’s anger, like a molten river beneath a stony crust. There were other feelings mixed in there, too, veins of betrayal and threads of embarrassment. The silence between them stretched out into an abyss.

“What do you mean, child?” Lolth finally said. Her tone was warm and maternal as ever, but Teysa could feel the brittle self-control in it. Tread carefully, Teysa thought. Gods do not like being challenged.

“You said You only want me to do what I know is right,” Teysa said. “But You manipulate. Maybe You can’t help it. But I can feel Your hands on me all the time now. And I think they were there earlier, too, all the way back to the City. I just didn’t recognize them before. Are You guiding me, or are You steering me?”

“You should be honored,” Lolth said. “Prophets hear the word of the Goddess and bring it to their people. You are spreading My word.”

“All this stuff about peace and long lives and nurturing…” Teysa tried to think. “I said that earlier. To El’keth. I didn’t know why I said that. It just felt right. That was You, wasn’t it? You put words in my mouth.”

“I… hope that I have inspired My children,” Lolth said. Her golden eyes flickered.

“This isn’t inspiration, Goddess,” Teysa said. “It’s just possession. Am I Your child now? Am I Your prophet? Or am I Your property?”

“You don’t know what it was like!” Lolth said, and Teysa flinched backwards. The water of the pool rippled and began to rise as though a bubble were forming on its surface. The bubble took shape: a grey-skinned head, white hair, regal features. Teysa scurried back a few steps as the figure continued to grow. Lolth rose up out the pool, naked and glistening. A veil of water rippled and shimmered over Her skin, and Teysa was glad of it. She feared that looking directly on the Goddess this close up, even in a dream, might kill her outright.

“I could hear them, Teysa! For so long! They didn’t believe, not really… they feared Me, they hoped I was listening, but not one in ten really believed. I tried to respond to their prayers, but there were so many, and so many of them were wretched. The things they prayed for, you would not believe them. ****, ****, the worst sins you can imagine, all visited indiscriminately on each other and outsiders. I wanted to tell them no, this is not why I made you, this is not what you were for, but even if they could have heard Me, would they have listened?” There was real pain in Lolth’s voice, real misery, and Teysa caught the edge of it. A tear trickled down one cheek.

“And then you came along, Teysa. I was ready to burn them all, and you came along and showed Me how wrong that was. I realized then that I had a chance. A second chance. Gods do not change Their ways often or easily. But I realized that I could. I could change, and My children could change, and we could all try again to build what we should have built from the beginning. All thanks to you. So yes, you are My prophetess. You spread My word. My new word: peace, love, sisterhood and brotherhood. With your help, the Underneath can be the paradise I always intended it to be.”

The scale of the Goddess’s ambition left Teysa reeling. “Lolth,” she began, her voice quavering. “What you ask of me… it is too much. I am just one woman. I cannot change an entire culture myself. An entire civilization. And I certainly can’t do it overnight.”

“Of course not overnight!” Lolth beamed down at her, extending Her arms. Her flesh was pale grey, almost silver, and shone with its own inner light. “And not by yourself. You bear My word. And I will always be with you to help you spread it.”

“It’s not that easy!” Teysa groped for words, tried to explain. “Drow and driders have worshipped You for generations. Everything they did, they thought they were doing in Your name. You can’t just declare ‘that was all wrong, this is the way things are now.’”

Lolth’s brow furrowed in incomprehension. “Of course I can,” she said. “I am the Goddess Lolth. I do not need to ask mortal permission to change My ways.”

That’s it, isn’t it? Teysa thought. She’s a Goddess. The shortest distance between two points, for Her, will always be a straight line. She’s never had to beg or convince anyone of anything before. Why would She start now?

“Goddess Lolth,” she said, choosing her words with care, “with respect, that is not what I mean. People aren’t sheep. They can’t be driven. They have to be led, if You want them to change.”

“Then you will lead them,” Lolth declared. “Once this crisis has passed, I will decree it. A restructuring of My church. You will be High Priestess and Prophetess.”

“No!” Teysa almost shouted. “No, Lolth, this is what I’m talking about! You don’t ask, You don’t persuade! You assume, and You take!” Anger rippled through her: not Lolth’s reflected anger, but her own, hot and lively. “You stole me! You ripped me away from Agamor! You didn’t ask, You just took! You took _everything _from me! My God, my body, and now Aliara!”

The water covering Lolth churned. She looked surprised, her golden eyes wide. “Stole?” she said. “Teysa, I never meant to harm you. I love you. I owe you a debt of gratitude I can never repay.”

“You want to repay it?” Teysa stood up straight. Certainty flowed into her veins like molten iron, like living lightning, like fresh warm blood. She had felt lost for months, ever since Agamor’s voice had begun to dim. It was so clear in hindsight. Her fall hadn’t been the start of it. That was just the moment her malaise became impossible to ignore.

“If You think You owe me, Goddess, then give me my freedom,” Teysa said. “Let me choose. If You want me to serve You, then give me a reason to! Don’t tell me that I will be Your High Priestess. Tell me why I should be.”

Lolth stared at her, and for a moment, Teysa feared she’d gone too far. The Goddess’s features rippled. The water that covered her cascaded down her sides, splashing against the stone of the cave floor. Lolth’s expression was unreadable, an aristocrat’s haughty stare. She nodded once, quickly, spattering the floor with a spray of droplets.

“I will think on what you’ve said, Teysa.” Lolth’s voice was quiet, constrained. Her emotional corona seemed to recede, too, like a tide going out. Teysa felt them recede and sagged slightly in relief. Her feelings were her own again.

The water trembled and seethed. Little by little, Lolth lost her shape, dissolving into a pillar of water with vaguely feminine curves. Her eyes flashed once, a hint of gold, and then vanished. The pillar hung in the air for a moment and then collapsed onto the floor of the chamber, splashing Teysa’s face with shockingly cold water.

She woke up.