No, they talk to the Matron first

"I guess he'll keep," Aliara admitted. "Plus that way you won't have to talk to him." She was half-joking, but Lil'esh scowled anyways.

"I don't hate him!" she snapped. "I just... it doesn't matter. There is a lot to do." She walked fast for a couple of paces and stuck her nose in the air.

Aliara suppressed a grin and shook her head. She wouldn't be sorry to leave Lil'esh behind. The way she treated poor Rakkec really wasn't fair. Aliara found him a little strange, but harmless enough, and certainly not deserve of Lil'esh's venom. It's just classism, that's all. She grew up with this crap. And she saw her friend die, and he arrived with the army that did it. No wonder she hates him. Still, she found herself feeling oddly protective of the man. She didn't want Lil'esh's scorn to hurt his feelings.

Up ahead, two drider guards flanked the entrance to the Matron's audience chamber. They were lounging against the walls, but snapped to attention at the sight of the little party. Their each carried long leaf-bladed spears, and crossed them to bar Aliara and Lil'esh's path. Aliara waited for them to say something, but they merely stood there impassively. Their grey skin and the uncanny perfection of their faces gave them the aspect of statues, an impression that was helped by their utter stillness. Aliara could not even see them breathing. They seemed to be extensions of the stone around them, extruded from its walls like stalactites.

"We'd like to see the Matron, please," Lil'esh said. She spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable. Her voice was thick with a patrician accent Aliara hadn't heard before. Even the way she held herself was different: she was standing ramrod-straight with her shoulders set, tendons in her neck standing out like cords. Aliara imagined that this was a fearsome sight indeed for a House Riiv servant or a street merchant looking for a deal. The driders, though, were less impressed. The one on Aliara's right merely gave her a tiny shake of her head.

Lil'esh plainly didn't know what to do. She looked from one drider to the other and took a deep breath. "We have to see the Matron!" she said, placing heavy emphasis on the second word. "It's urgent! She knows what's happened, she must be expecting us!"

Another curt shake of the head. Both driders were expressionless, staring straight ahead. They wouldn't even look down at Lil'esh.

Aliara stepped forward. "Are we going to do this?" she sighed. "Are you going to make me ask? Tell you what: we'll wait here and you can go ask the Matron if she'll see Aliara." She paused, waiting for them to react, then added: "Or don't. And then explain why tomorrow."

The driders were silent a moment longer, than the one on the left turned her head down and stared at the elves in front of her. Even the way she moved was unsettling: her motions were smooth, almost liquid, as though she was boneless and simply flowing from place to place. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her. She turned around-- again, that oily smoothness as she stepped from foot to foot-- and scuttled away down the corridor. The remaining guard shifted into the middle of the corridor and held her spear sideways to block the path.

Aliara sat down on a rock to wait. She took the opportunity to look over the young drow. They were all stealing glances at the drider guard, as though afraid to stare. Fear warred with fascination in their eyes. The drider guard overtopped the tallest of them by more than three feet. She wore an iron breastplate and mail skirt, both dark with oil, and an iron half-helm that covered her forehead. Beyond that, though, her torso looked like nothing so much as a massive drow. She had the same silver-white hair and grey skin as the drow. The same cruelty, too, Aliara thought. You're lucky you're meeting her like this. My first encounter was a lot less friendly.

After a minute or two, the other drider reappeared. The sound of her feet preceded her: a rapid scuttle that echoed off the walls, making its source impossible to locate. Even Lil'esh looked disturbed at the sound. The guard reappeared around a bend in the tunnel and approached rapidly, growing larger and larger until she seemed to fill the tunnel. She met her sister's gaze and some wordless communication passed between them, then they took up positions against either wall. The drider who had just returned gestured along the now-open corridor. She still said nothing.

"Thank you," Lil'esh said, and bowed her head a little stiffly. Her young followers imitated her, bobbing and issuing a chorus of muted thanks. Aliara just hopped off her rock and followed the group, ignoring the driders. She thought she had a handle on the Matron, and El'keth was harmless enough, but the guards still bothered her. None of the driders were particularly human, but at least some of them were clearly trying. The guards had, if anything, regressed since the battle in the cavern. These days they barely spoke. They reminded her of hive insects, mere extensions of their Queen's will.

The audience chamber was just a little further along. Stepping across the threshold, Aliara shuddered. The sight of this place dredged up some very unpleasant memories. The room was dominated by a central pillar, like a massive dais, twenty feet across and ten high. A spiraling ramp curled around its rim to allow the Matron access to her throne. All around the outside of the room were a series of smaller pillars, each barely taller than an adult woman and thin enough that Aliara could encircle them with her arms. Each of these was topped by a copper-and-glass jar, and inside each jar was a glowing worm. The grubs crawled slowly around the inside of their prisons, giving the light a flickering quality. The room was utterly silent. A dozen driders stood scattered around, but none of them were talking. They all merely sat and watched the newcomers.

Nobody seeing the Matron now would make that mistake. She was not an animal, but she was most definitely not a person. Her platinum hair was styled into two massive cones, bound by silver wire and silken ribbons. She carried a scepter in one hand, a length of silver the size of Aliara's forearm tipped with a massive ruby, and her other hand rested on the head of a huge steel mace. A silver tiara encircled her forehead and from it hung a gauzy black veil that descended to just above her mouth. Beyond that, though, she wore no other clothing. Thick silver barbels pierced both nipples, standing out against her coal-black flesh like stars against the night sky. An opal spider filled her navel, its golden legs splayed across her muscular stomach. Her eyes were invisible behind the veil, but her lips were slightly parted, revealing fangs the size of a lion's. She was standing statue-still, and from a distance it was hard to get a sense of scale, but as the elves entered her audience chamber she began to descend the ramp. That brought her into focus. She was massive, a head taller than any other drider, but she moved the same way they did: flowing like smoke across the cave floor. A shiver ran up Aliara's spine. She stole a glance at Lil'esh and saw that the drow woman's face had gone rigid, and all the blood had drained from her lips.

As the Matron drew closer, Lil'esh got down on one knee. Aliara wasn't sure if the drow was trying to show respect, or if the spider-woman's presence had become so overpowering that she could no longer stand upright. Either way, the gaggle of young drow quickly followed suit. Aliara sighed. She had no particular desire to abase herself before the Matron, but she didn't want to be the only one standing, either. That would look odd. She sank to one knee and lowered her head.

"Rissssssssse." From the sound of it, the Matron was right overhead. Aliara looked up... and up, and up, until she was staring right into the massive drider's face. The Matron was no more than five feet away from them. She had left her mace behind, but carried her scepter in both hands. It was intimidating enough; forget Aliara's forearm, the thing was closer to the size of her calf. Aliara's mouth went dry. She remembered those hands around her shoulders, the feel of the Matron's clawed fingertips digging into her collarbone, pressing her flat, and then that thing that came out of her...

Enough. The past was the past. With effort, Aliara stood.

Lil'esh stood too. Behind her, the young drow seemed to be having a difficult time. Their first close-up look at their hostess was proving overpowering. Aliara ignored them. She was curious as to what Lil'esh would say.

To her credit, the drow seemed to have retained a good deal of her composure. "Matron," she said, her voice barely cracking at all. "Are we still your guests? The ambassadors?"

"Of coursssssse." The Matron fingered the ruby on the tip of her scepter. "What bringsssssss hyou to my chambersssss?"

"I asked because your guards did not seem to think so. They would not let us pass. Are we prisoners now?"

The Matron reached up and drew her veil out of the way. She stared down at Lil'esh. "I am busssssy, Lil'esh, and they have inssssstructionsssssss to keep away all but the mosssssst pressssssssing inquiriessssss. Doessssss that include hyoursssss?"

Lil'esh took an involuntary step backwards, though the Matron's tone had been calm and level. "Y-yes," she stammered. She paused, swallowed, and drew herself together. Aliara was impressed. The girl had remarkable poise, given her position. The drow had picked her for a reason.

"My people are in the caves by the granary," Lil'esh said. "Those will do for them, to begin with, but they must be made habitable. I have a list of things they need: reeds, cloth, glow-worm jars, food..."

"A lisssssst?" The Matron's mouth drew tight. "I promissssssed hyour people I would take them in. I did not promisssssssse it would be comfortable."

"Milady, we're not asking for comfort," Lil'esh said. "But there are sick people in there. Old people. My sister is pregnant. I can put her in my room, but... if you leave them in a bunch of freezing, lightless caves with nothing to eat, they'll die."

The Matron hesitated. "Thissss lisssssst. Are thessssssse thingsssss hyou have sssssseen around? Do we have everything hyou need?"

"Much of it," Lil'esh said. "And we can work. We can weave, fish, hunt... tend lichen, maybe, the way you had planned. But there are some things we will need from the market."

"We are not wealthy," the Matron chided. "And we have our own needsssssss. Hyou cannot expect me to put hyour people before my own."

"With respect, milady," Lil'esh said, "I thought we were one people now. I thought that was the point."

The Matron was quiet for a long time. When she spoke again, it was in a thoughtful tone. "Give me hyour lissssst," she said. "Write it down if hyou can. I can read hyour language. I will sssssssee what I can do."

"We don't need charity," Lil'esh said. "Some of them brought some treasures with them. Family heirlooms. We can sell those. I wouldn't want to be a burden on you." She couldn't quite keep the venom out of her voice.

"Mind hyour tongue, child," the Matron said, but without rancor. "I did not sssssssay I would not help hyou. But hyou mussssssst undersssssstand, ssssssurvival takes priority over all. We dridersssssss have been surviving for a long, long time. We are very good at it by now."

"I understand," Lil'esh said. "Survival comes first. But beyond that, our lives must be worth living. All of us. My people, and yours."

"Well ssssssssaid." The Matron lowered her veil again and held up her scepter. "Lil'esh, hyou will go to Jez'ria and inform her of what hyou need. Make a lisssssssst. Take what she givessssssss hyou from our sssssstoresssssss, but do not ask for more, even if hyou think we can sssspare it. That will do for now, and the next time she goessss to market, she will take hyou with her."

She waved her scepter back and forth, giving her statement the air of a royal pronouncement. Aliara could tell that their audience was over. Still, something compelled her to speak up.

"And what will you be doing, while we're busy?" She tried to sound more curious than impertinent. The Matron lowered her scepter and tilted her head down. Her eyes were invisible behind their veil, but Aliara could feel them all the same, augering down through cloth and flesh and bone to pin her to the ground. She squirmed uncomfortably but did not look away.

"I will be preparing for war, child."