The return order

The council was held in the workshop, near the central forge. Four representatives surrounded a basalt table. Orsa presided. Hara had brought the track readings; another advisor, a gray-haired drow named Jhaer, held the House's tablet.

"The convocation is authentic," he says. "The Matron asks that Zaelyra return to Menzoberranzan to answer for the loss of House documents and the flight of several subjects."

The word "subjects" moved Rhylor. Zaelyra kept her hands on the table.

"The maps are not all the property of the House," she says. "And the people you're talking about don't belong to him."

"You can challenge the terms to the delegation."

"I will challenge the facts when they are presented to me. I will not go back to hear an accusation that is not written."

Jhaer put down the tablet. "The House can protect those who have returned."

"She can also punish those who are not."

"It depends on their conduct."

"Mine will depend on my choices."

Orsa raised a hand to interrupt the exchange. "We are not a Menzoberranzan court. This advice will only decide whether the group can stay and continue on its path."

She asked Zaelyra to tell Veyr what she had done. Zaelyra talked about the fake map, the flight of the families and the decisions made with Brakka. She didn't claim to have saved everyone. She named the people she knew had stayed and those whose fate she did not know.

Jhaer asked him about Vhaelyn. She replied that she did not know if her sister had returned by choice. She showed the note, but did not give it to the council. She explained the sign and read the sentence.

"This sign can be copied," says Jhaer.

"Yes."

"Then why believe her?"

"I don't believe her yet. I sent him a question."

"You left your sister behind, and you don't know if she wants you to come back."

"That's right."

The council exchanged glances. Orsa asked why Zaelyra did not request their protection against the House.

"Because I don't know what she would do if you accepted. I will not ask you to risk your community for a family you do not know."

"What if the House comes here?"

"You will decide according to your rules."

Orsa put a finger on the black seal. "You understand that the emissary could come back with soldiers."

"Yes."

"You understand that your refusal puts our roads under pressure."

"Yes."

"Then why stay?"

"Because we need to cross, and because we can help you check the wrong passages. But if you ask us to leave, we will leave."

Jhaer shook his head. "Do you think an honest map will be enough to prevent the House from finding you?"

"No."

"So what is it for?"

"Those who follow us know where they put their feet."

One of the representatives, a short-bearded dwarf named Velda, placed a broken plate in front of them. It came from an old rail. A forger's mark had been struck upside down.

"We found this near the north passage," she says. "The punch is from the same family as the fake plates, but not the same tool."

Nym examined the marks. "We made the plates in several workshops."

"Or someone circulated a model," says Hara.

"Can we connect them to Bregan D’aerthe?" asked Jhaer.

Kethra answered from the entrance. She had been allowed to attend the council, but not to speak before she was asked. "Some brokers affiliated with Bregan used a close sign. This does not prove that they made these plates."

"Did you work with them?"

"I dealt with people who claimed their network."

"And you betrayed the group in Veyr."

"Yes."

"Why should we listen to you?"

"You shouldn't. Check what I'm saying."

Velda observed Kethra. "She doesn't ask for our trust."

"She asks that we use her information."

"It's different."

The council does not conclude that Bregan D’aerthe was behind the false passages. He decided to send two observers to check the workshops where the plates had been struck, and to transmit the suspicious signs to the other shelters.

Zaelyra proposed to share the route measurements, but not the names of the travelers. The representatives accepted a copy without personal details. They refused to include the direction of the gallery where she had found the automaton.

"Why? She asked.

"Because we don't know if it still exists," says Orsa. "If you indicate it, someone could look for it."

"Okay."

The council allowed him to stay three days and continue to the next stop with a guide from the Vault. He did not give him the permanent passage. In exchange, the group would participate in the inspection of an old tunnel where several road signs had disappeared.

"Do you want us to look for the thieves?" asked the merchant.

"We want you to observe the tunnel," Velda replied. "The difference is that you will not make an accusation."

The merchant looked at Zaelyra. She nodded. The group could not repair the roads by never looking at what threatened them.

When the council dispersed, Jhaer held Zaelyra.

"Your mother didn't send you this summons to kill you," he says.

"Do you know her?"

"I know the Houses. A summons can be a way to regain control before the scandal grows."

"And Vhaelyn?"

"She asked that your name be removed from the list of people to be forcibly brought back."

Zaelyra felt her breath block. "When?"

"Before the emissary leaves."

"Why didn't he say that?"

"It wasn't in his order."

"Did you see him do it?"

"I read the register."

"Can I check it?"

"No."

"So it's not yet a proof that I can take away."

Jhaer had an almost approving expression. "You could learn to use uncertainty without hiding from it."

"Maybe."

He told him that another messenger would leave for the city in two days. Zaelyra could give him a second ticket, but would not know if Vhaelyn would receive it.

She returned to the group. Kethra asked him what Jhaer had said.

"He claims that Vhaelyn asked that I not be forced back."

"Do you believe it?"

"I think he read something in a register. I don't know what the register said exactly."

"You're going to write to him?"

"Yes."

This time, she did not write a question. She wrote that she continued west, that she would not return to the House upon convocation, and that she would not confuse Vhaelyn's silence with consent. She didn't ask her sister to follow her.

At the bottom of the letter, she drew the two parallel lines and the notch.

Then she closed the ticket and waited for the messenger to be confirmed.