The tablet of the House

The basalt steps rose in a spiral around a black column. As they gained height, the air became drier. The light filaments disappeared, replaced by a gray dust that stuck to the boots.

Ysil led them to a low door, barred by a bronze grille. Two guards stood on the other side. They recognized the guide and opened it without asking her name.

"The passage is closed to travelers," says one of them. "We are waiting for a delegation."

"From whom?" asked Ysil.

"A house drow."

The group froze. Zaelyra did not touch her gun. Rhylor put his hand on Tazri's shoulder and pushed her back with the others.

A messenger appeared at the top of the steps. He wore a tunic without a badge, but a black tablet hung from his neck. The seal engraved on it was that of the Xil’Nrae House.

He stopped in front of the gate. "Zaelyra Xil’Nrae?"

"Who asks?"

"An emissary of the Matron Zesstra. I carry a summons."

Ysil half closed the grid. "This position is not for the affairs of the Houses."

"The summons concerns a fugitive who travels under false names."

Zaelyra stepped forward. "I didn't use a false name."

"You didn't announce your rank either."

"I didn't ask to be treated according to him."

The messenger bowed his head, as if he recognized a formula he had already heard. He explained that the House had learned of Zaelyra's departure and demanded her return to answer for the loss of the maps and Veyr's incident. He had no order to stop him. He only asked that she follow him to the delegation.

"Where is the delegation?" asked Rhylor.

"Three days from here."

"What if we refuse?"

"I will pass on your answer."

Zaelyra looked at the seal. The black wax had a small oblique notch, an old defect of his mother's punch. She had seen it on dozens of messages. This proved that the tablet came from the House, not that its contents told the whole truth.

"Is my sister with the delegation? She asked.

"Vhaelyn returned to Menzoberranzan. She presented her report."

The word re-entry weighed more than the rest. Zaelyra did not know if her sister had chosen the House or simply joined the only city where she could still act.

"Did she ask me to come back?"

"She asked that you be heard before the Matron pronounces a sanction."

"This is not an answer."

"This is the answer I received."

The messenger took out a second, smaller tablet. It was not sealed by the House, but had a sign engraved at the tip: two parallel lines separated by a notch. Zaelyra recognized a code that Vhaelyn used to mark the maps of their lessons, when they wanted to signal a bifurcation that had not yet been verified.

She didn't take the tablet right away.

"Who gate it to you?"

"Your sister."

"When?"

"Before I left."

"Did you read it?"

"No."

"Do you know what the sign means?"

"No."

She took the tablet. The message was in a line, engraved in a tight writing:

Don't confuse my return with my choice.

Zaelyra rereads the words. They could come from Vhaelyn. They could also have been copied by someone who knew her.

"Do you believe her?" asked Kethra.

"I don't know what she chose."

"But you know what she wanted you to read."

"Yes."

The messenger was waiting. He hadn't asked for the tablet, and Zaelyra didn't return it to him.

"I will not return to the delegation," she said. "You can convey that I will respond to the accusations when I know what precisely I am accused of having done. I don't recognize the loss of maps as a crime. They did not all belong to the House."

"The Matron will ask for a clearer answer."

"It's mine."

"Your sister hoped you would be heard."

"So tell him that I don't confuse being heard with coming back."

The messenger bowed his head again. "I will transmit your words."

Ysil refused to keep the House's tablet in his post. The messenger took it back, but Vhaelyn's small note remained with Zaelyra. The gate did not open further.

"You have to leave," said the guard to the emissary. "And your group too. The council will decide if the road remains accessible to you."

"Doesn't the seal of the House give you authority here?" asked the messenger.

"No."

The emissary did not contest. He went up the steps and disappeared behind the black column.

The delegation had not prosecuted them. Not yet. The message could be a sincere offer, a way to slow them down or an attempt to separate Zaelyra from the group. None of these possibilities were proven.

Ysil made them enter the post, where they had to wait for the council. She did not blame them for attracting the House; she only told them that her community did not want to become the ground for a dispute between drows.

"I understand," says Zaelyra.

"No. You just heard it. You can't yet know what this means to us."

"It's true."

Ysil put the road plate on a table. "The council will have to decide if you can continue. The seal of your House does not change our rule. But it changes the risk."

Zaelyra put Vhaelyn's message away in her coat. She didn't shore it to the others. It was not yet a proof, and his sister had not asked for the note to circulate.

The group waited without dispersing. Outside, the bronze door remained closed.