"Let's go exploring"

"Let's go for a walk. There's so much to see down here! We should take the opportunity while we can, before they need us to..." Teysa blushed and trailed off. Even now, she was too embarrassed to talk about their ordeal. Luckily, for once Aliara didn't push.
"Let's go." She held out her arm jauntily, and with a wry grin Teysa took it.

The two set off through the tunnels. The warren was mainly comprised of these: wide spaces, about twenty feet across, cleared of most rubble and strewn with webs. The driders had no trouble navigating uneven floors with their eight limbs, but the two women had to carefully pick their way across in places. Glow-jars hung on the walls at intervals, providing just enough light to avoid the major hazards. The tunnels were quiet places, the silence broken only by the occasional skitter of a spiderling or rumble of shifting pebbles. Every so often they passed a drider, most of whom went about their business ignoring the human (and demi-human) in their midst.

"This way, Tey. I want to show you something." Aliara tugged insistently on her friend's arm. Teysa followed. "Alrighty, I'm coming! What's so important you have to hurry? Slow down!" she panted. "I'm not as sure-footed as you!"

"Almost there! Come on, you have to see this."

"What are-- oh..." Teysa's voice trailed off. Rounding the last corner she stumbled into a grotto. About thirty feet across, it was dominated by a deep pool of water. The cave floor ended in a semi-circular ledge that projected out over the pool, about five feet above the surface. The pool sat in a cylindrical basin. Aliara was standing triumphantly on the ledge. "See? Whaddya think?"
"It's... beautiful..." Teysa breathed. The walls of the cylinder were rough-hewn geodes. Amethyst, quartz, and topaz sparkled in the dim luminescence. High above, a carpet of glowing blue fungus coated the walls and ceiling, bathing the whole room in an eldritch azure glow. The light glittered off the still surface of the water and coruscated across the geodes, reflecting in a dizzying array of colors that combined and multiplied. The movement of the water made the patterns of light shift like a living thing. Every wall of the cave was lit up by this pattern, like a sheet of multicolored fire; now orange, now blue, now a deep mossy green.

"You haven't seen the best part. Watch!" The half-elf beckoned her friend to the edge of the ledge. She sat down and dangled her legs over the edge, patting the ground next to her invitingly. Teysa sat hesitantly. Next to Aliara was a pyramid of pebbles. The smaller woman grabbed one and tossed it into the pond. The sudden motion made Teysa start. "Hey-"

She got no further. The pebble hit the water with a splash and disappeared, causing rings to ripple outward from its point of impact. As the ripples caught the light they refracted it and caused the patterns on the wall to wobble crazily. What had been a serene rainbow became a frenzy of color. Soon enough it died back to its previous level, but Teysa still stared in awe.

"Now you try it, Tey!"
The paladin hefted a stone and tossed it. Once again the colors went mad. She looked over at her friend. Aliara's face was currently a bright purple, shifting to a greyish-blue even as she watched, and it had one of the biggest grins Teysa had ever seen.

"Thank you for showing me this, Li. This is incredible." Aliara said nothing. Instead, she rested her head on Teysa's shoulder and wrapped one arm around her waist with a contented sigh.
Teysa shivered. The sudden warmth of her friend's body pressing against her was conjuring up confusing feelings. She had been confused for a while, and it seemed to be coming to a head here.

"Li, I want to talk to you." Her voice sounded uncertain, even to herself.
"You're doing it now." Aliara was her sardonic self.

"No, seriously." Teysa pulled away. "Just please be serious, for once? There's something on my mind."
The half-elf withdrew her arm. "I'm sorry, Tey. I will. Did I go too far? With the arm? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable-"

"No," the paladin cut her off, "no, that's not it. Well, it sort of is. I mean..." She took a deep breath and started again. "Li, listen. I know it's been... weird, these past few months. This isn't how I thought my life would go. I'm happy here, though. I'm happy with you. With you, I mean. That is, uh... I mean, I never thought I would, with anyone, but you're... and, I mean, it just happened that we were... you know..." she trailed off, blushing furiously. "I wish I had practiced this. Li, you're incredible. I always knew that. But I never knew how incredible. I want to... be with you. That is, um. If you want me to. Be with you. You know. Like that."

Aliara couldn't conceal her smile by the end. "That was smooth."
Teysa blushed furiously. "Stop it! This is hard for me! Can't you be serious? Just once?"

Her friend was suddenly sober. "I know that was hard for you to say. And I'm a coward. I should have said something myself. But...I never pegged you for the free-loving type. I figured if you eventually retired you'd marry some priest somewhere. You're brave, and you're strong, and you're loyal, and you're really really patient with me. So yes. I do want you to 'um, I mean, you know, um' be with me. Like that."

Relief flooded Teysa. She felt suddenly boneless. "Oh, Li. T-thank you." She suddenly threw her arms around the other woman's neck. Aliara hugged her back, then gently pushed her away by the shoulders. She stared into the paladin's eyes. She has lovely eyes, Teysa thought suddenly. Hazel. Then Aliara was putting her hands on Teysa's cheeks and pulling her close and, quite suddenly, she felt the other woman's lips press against hers.

This is really happening. She felt strange, like she was having an out of body experience. Aliara's tongue parted her lips and she responded clumsily, her own tongue probing, questing inside her partner's mouth. The kiss was awkward, Teysa trying with a **** enthusiasm to make up for years of chaste living. Her hand groped desperately at the folds of the half-elf's robe until the other woman grabbed it and placed it on her breast. She squeezed gently and was rewarded by a gasp from Aliara that broke their kiss. Hungrily Teysa pushed back, unwilling to break the connection.

They continued like this for some time, until Aliara gently pulled herself back. "There'll be time later, Tey. We have all the time in the world. Let's walk."
Teysa stood up, trying to pull herself together. She could feel her desire like a physical thing, a lump in her throat. With difficulty she composed herself. "Right. Later. I think I have a lot to catch up on... later." Aliara giggled and offered her hand. "Milady?"
The two of them wandered for a while longer, not worried about getting lost. There were drider guards posted at the exits to the warren so there was no danger of them leaving entirely. Teysa felt a distinct deja vu-- she couldn't really tell one cave from another, but some of the rock formations were hauntingly familiar. "Li, have we been here before? In this cave, I mean? It feels..."

"Hm," replied the half-elf. "Not sure, but I know what you mean. It's... oh dear..."

Ahead of them the passage ended in a round cave. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling with webbing. Hanging from it were a half dozen indistinct round shapes, but the occasional sight of a foot or a shock of hair revealed them for what they were: broodmothers, women of all different races, each of their bellies gravid with eggs.

As Teysa drew closer to the nearest, she saw it was a female elf, her pale stomach bulging with eggs. Blond tresses hung over her face, obscuring her features. She did not stir as Teysa approached; only the faintest rise and fall of her chest indicated that she still lived. “Hello?” Teysa said softly. She paused and tilted her ear towards the elf. She could hear a soft murmur, a whisper like the sigh of a ghost. Teysa squinted into the darkness. She wasn't sure, but it seemed as though the elf's mouth was moving. Teysa could only see a glimpse of the woman's face beneath her flowing hair, but what she saw looked strong and noble. The elf woman's lips were definitely moving slightly, but her eyes were closed and her face blank and slack. Behind her, Aliara whispered in her ear, "I don't think we should be here, Tey. I don't think we're supposed to be seeing this..."

Before Teysa could respond, a voice called out from the darkness.

"You! Who are you?" The voice sounded female, but rough and husky, with a snarl buried in it. Teysa whirled around. The elf was still lying still and catatonic, but the voice had come from higher up. Teysa craned her neck and looked up and her jaw dropped.

Halfway up the wall, a muscular woman with dark orange skin had propped herself up on her elbows against an outcropping. Her legs were bound by webbing that ran up to her waist, and more ran in ribbons under her armpits and around her hands, encasing them like mittens. Her belly rested on her legs, a swollen orb with a faint trail of dark hair that ran from her navel downward. Her breasts were massive mounds of orange flesh with dark magenta nipples, each pierced with a massive golden ring that Teysa could have worn as a bracelet. The woman's hair was shaggy and brown and it tumbled down her shoulders in a dreadlocked spiral, the locks bound individually with iron bands and red thread. Both ears were tattered and slit and set with gold and silver studs. Her nose had clearly been broken and reset at some point, but even twisted into an angry grimace her features had a kind of savage, feral beauty. Her eyes were red with pinhole pupils that seemed to bore into Teysa's soul. When she opened her mouth, Teysa saw that her lower canine teeth jutted up like rudimentary tusks, while her incisors were hooked like a predator's.

"You! Strangers! What are you doing down here?" The orange woman's voice was hoarse and weak, but the strength and willpower behind it was unmistakable. "Free us at once!"

Teysa instinctively took a half-step backward. The woman was clearly at least a half-orc. Even pinned and engorged with eggs she radiated strength and aggression. She was watching Teysa carefully, the fires in her eyes banked. The paladin tried to find the right words. She settled on the politest tone she could manage. "My name is Teysa. This is Aliara. What is yours?"

"M'naak, Teysa. I am Devto. Cut me down from this wall, quickly, before the spider-demons return. We will escape together!"