Three notes

In the morning, the group discovered a new mark on the pillar. A line of chalk crossed the incomplete circle, then stopped at the lower edge. Nym said she wasn't there the day before. Orven says he had never seen her.

The mark could mean "wait", "detour" or simply indicate a measurement point. No one knew the code. They decided not to engage in the climb without interpreting it.

"We heard three notes," said the merchant. "That's enough to say that someone knows we're here."

"The mark may have been drawn before our arrival," Zaelyra replied.

"The dust underneath is intact," says Nym. "It's recent."

"So someone came to the pillar during the night."

"Yes."

Orven examined the ground. No fingerprint was clearly visible. The person had set foot on the dry stones, then left the same way. She knew the habits of the shelter.

They sent a new signal: a blue light, then three blows spaced on the stone. Then they waited, without repeating.

The first cycle went unanswered. In the second, a voice rose from the climb.

"Orven?"

He got up so fast that his bell finally rang.

"Who is speaking? He shouted.

"The one who told you not to come back without your boots."

He remained motionless. "Mara?"

"Your boots are always bad."

Orven lowered his head. He didn't laugh, but his face had gotten rid of a tension that Zaelyra hadn't noticed until then.

A svirfneblin appeared at the first elbow, leaning on a stick. She was older than Orven, with almost white hair and a strip of yellow fabric tied around her arm. Behind her stood two teenagers wearing crossbows.

"You brought a lot of people," she says.

"They're asking for a passage to the west."

"All?"

"Yes."

"So you brought a lot of questions."

Mara didn't invite them to go up. She first asked Orven why he had left, then why he was coming back now. He replied that he had left the shelter after the community moved. He didn't know where the others had gone. Nara had asked him to guide a group to the stop; he had agreed to lead them there, not to guarantee that they would be received.

Mara nodded her head. "You learned to talk less than you know."

"I'm trying."

She examined Zaelyra and the travelers. When she saw the symbol of the Xil’Nrae House engraved on a buckle, her hand closed on her stick.

"I don't want Menzoberranzan guards here."

"I don't order any," Zaelyra replied.

"But you were formed of it."

"Yes."

"And you ran away?"

"I left the city."

"It's not the same as fleeing."

"No."

Mara doesn't smile. She asked if Drizzt was among them. The question surprised even Orven.

"No," said Zaelyra.

"Do you know him?"

"No."

"Do you wear his sign?"

"No."

"So why does his name come up in the stories that the drows bring?"

Zaelyra hesitated. "Because many need a departure to mean something."

Mara watched him for a long time. "And you?"

"I haven't yet decided what mine means."

"Maybe that's why you don't seem to sell a story."

Mara exchanged a few words with the two young guards. She did not give permission to the group to cross. She gave them only one interview, at the foot of the shelter, the next day. In the meantime, they had to stay in the lower room and not approach the upper rooms.

"Why tomorrow?" asked Kethra.

"Because tonight we have to decide if you're lying, if you're dangerous or if you're just tired."

"What if we leave before?"

"Then you will be tired elsewhere."

Mara made them bring a jug of water and two breads of dried seaweed. She did not share them with them; she put them on the threshold and waited for them to take them. Zaelyra asked who they owed the payment to.

"To no one. This is the meal given to waiting travelers."

"What if we are not received tomorrow?"

"Then you will still have eaten."

They didn't all sleep at once. Orven remained near the entrance, without trying to join his sister. Zaelyra asked him why.

"She asked me to wait."

"You could talk to him."

"She has already spoken to me."

"Isn't that enough?"

"For tonight, yes."

At dawn, Mara led them to a room open to a natural fireplace. A thread of green light fell from a crack so high that we could not distinguish the sky. The room seemed less dark than the galleries, without being bright. The children of the refuge had gathered there, curious about the travelers.

Mara asked them to tell their journey, but forbade Zaelyra to make a speech. Each person had to say what they had seen themselves. Nym described the drafts. The guard spoke of the collapsed bridge. Kethra mentioned Saira's name, specifying that she did not know if the brand was hers. Rhylor told Dhal's signs without saying that his son had traced them.

When Zaelyra spoke, she told Veyr's escape and the map they had built. She did not speak on behalf of those who had remained in the Salines.

"Why are you looking for the west? "Mara asked.

"Because we can't go back to the House."

"It's a reason to leave. Not a reason to come to us."

"We are looking for a place where people can choose their route without a single person owning it."

"That sounds like a good idea. What will you do when two groups want the same gallery?"

Zaelyra had no immediate response. She looked at Nym, then Orven. No one spoke in his place.

"We'll have to negotiate," she finally said. "Or look elsewhere."

"What if elsewhere does not exist?"

"Then we'll have to decide what we can share and what we can't. I won't pretend it will be easy."

Mara considered the children, then the adults gathered behind her. "This is not an answer that guarantees peace."

"No."

"But she is one who does not promise to do it for us."

She gave them the passage to the next stop, with a different guide, chosen by the refuge. Orven would stay by Mara's side. The group could not keep the road beyond this point without coming back to ask for a new agreement.

Kethra asked if they had heard of a drow named Saira.

Mara thinks. "A woman with that name crossed the shelter. She came with a svirfneblin boy and a merchant without a banner. They went west again. It was several years ago."

"Do you remember his face?"

"No."

"From his writing?"

"No."

"The boy?"

"He had a split bell that he refused to leave here."

Mara didn't know if it was Ulven. She did not know the rest of their trip and did not know if anyone had survived beyond the last stop.

Kethra closed her fingers around the repaired buckle.

"She was the first person to tell me she saw her," she whispered.

"This is not the first proof that she is alive today," Zaelyra replied.

"I know."

Mara waited for them to write her testimony and her limits. She checked the wording, then allowed the copy to remain in their notes.

The guide to the refuge was called Veli. He did not carry a weapon, but a clay lantern whose flame was almost white. He showed them a map made of small plates connected by a rope. Each plate represented a stop, a well, a door or an unstable land. Veli detached one and handed it to Zaelyra.

"This one is for the way to the next stop. You will return it when we arrive."

"What if she gets lost?"

"Then you will say it."

"What if you don't believe us?"

"Then we'll look for her."

Zaelyra took the plate. The journey was short on the map, but the rope continued beyond the last knot. She didn't ask what to expect next.

Behind them, Mara and Orven remained at the threshold. The sister did not ask him to come back soon. He didn't promise anything.

The group left west with a road, a guide and a single plate to return.

For the first time since they left Veyr, the map did not belong to them at all.

And yet, they knew where to take the next step.