Pathway

Chang Chang sat up and stretched her back. She reached into her spatial sac and brought out a medicinal herb. She'd been too tired the night before to use it. After their audience with the king, Druya had escorted them to a large stone dwelling in one of the smaller caverns. Icelin hadn't known it then, but it was the private residence of the Yellowhorns. Neither Obarn nor Abron had been at home when they arrived, so Druya had led them to a pair of rooms at the back of the house, which faced the cluster of forges in the back of the cavern.

"These are Ongara's rooms." 

Druya had explained. 

"Most of her things have already been moved to the house she and her husband will share, and she's been eating and sleeping at the forges while she finishes her wedding gift, so you're welcome to them. These days, the house is empty. My father and brother are out on patrol for days at a time, and when I'm not with them, I'm at the temple. It'll be nice to have some voices in the house to make it feel lived-in again."

Druya was right. The large, empty rooms felt lonely and neglected. It had taken a long time for the fire to chase the chill away. Chang Chang lifted the water basin and set it before the fire. Whoever had left it for her—Druya had said there was a pair of dwarves, a husband and wife, who looked after the house and would see to their needs—had left a washcloth and soap as well. Druya splashed cold water on her face and used the cloth and soap to clean the sweat and road dust off her. When she'd finished, she slipped quickly into her spare clothes and sat close to the fire to warm herself. Her hair was full of tangles and knots. She leaned over the basin and dipped it into the soapy water. 

Shivering, she wrung out the strands and combed them with her fingers. She pointedly ignored the gray streaks that stood out against the darker black. Wisdom comes with the gray, her great uncle used to say. Icelin wished she could dream about him instead of cryptic images of blank books and disembodied voices. Then again, she rarely slept through the night anymore. Maybe her mystical scar was to blame, or maybe it was just that she wanted to waste as little time sleeping as she could.

Though, what had brought her awake so early this morning wasn't hard to guess. Visions of the Arcane Script Sphere floated in Icelin's mind. Her excitement at learning that the artifact contained a piece of Mystra was eclipsed only by her trepidation when she considered King Laggarma's bargain. Nothing was settled. She could still back out. Would the king be prepared to let her and her friends go if she did? Chang Chang wondered. Or were they only guests here as long as the king got what he wanted from them? They would find out soon enough.

For now, her body refreshed, Chang Chang felt renewed. Druya had tended her needs the previous night, and she must have slept off the last vestiges of the yaomo's poison, for she detected no lingering weakness. Even the wild magic she'd unleashed the day before hadn't left her as weary as she'd thought it would, which was a good sign.

In the next room, there was silence. Ju Feng must be stirring, Chang Chang thought. The king had promised to let her speak to the yaomo today, and Chang Chang was curious to see more of Myria, anyway. The underground city, spread over several large caverns, bore the most intricate carved stonework Icelin had ever seen. Such beauty, all of it buried underground where most of Faerûn would never see it.

She met Ruen in the hall. The rest of the house was quiet. Druya must have already left for the day.

"You ok?" 

Chang Chang asked. 

"I'm fine.," 

Ju Feng replied before looking Chang Chang over carefully..

"Are the effects of the drow poison gone?"

"Gone completely." 

Chang Chang turned in a circle, lifting her hands in the air. 

"What do you think? Am I fit for polite company?"

Ju Feng pursed his lips. 

"Polite company?"

Chang Chang made a face at him before saying. 

"Fit for the king's company, at least, and time's wasting."

The two of them entered the kitchen to see Ongara and Orban taking plates and cups from a shelf, while Abron stoked the kitchen fire. Orban laughed at something his sister said. The boisterous sound echoed in the room, and Icelin marveled at how the humor transformed the dwarf's features. The hard lines at his eyes and lips softened. He stroked his beard excitedly, twirling the mahogany strands around his index finger. He and Ongara laughed like a pair of mischievous children, and they looked and sounded so alike in that breath that Chang Chang, with a sudden insight, realized the two were likely twins.

Chang Chang would have been content to stand in the doorway for a long while, soaking up the dwarves' mirth and good cheer, but Abron looked up from the fire just then and saw the three of them standing there.

"Up at last, are you?" 

He said, giving the fire another good poke. 

"We thought you'd sleep the day away."

Instantly, Orban and Ongara's laughter ceased. An awkward silence fell over the room as dwarves and humans regarded each other, neither seeming to know what to say. For Orban, it was as if a shutter had closed over his face. In silence, he took the rest of the cups and plates from his sister and set them out on a round table across from the fire.

Ju Feng's heart sank a little. Looking at the situation, he regretted them staying now. They'd obviously intruded on a family ritual that was no less sacred for its casualness. Thankfully, the silence didn't last long. 

Ongara broke it. 

"Look at us all, standing around as if we've never had guests in the house before. Come in, all of you. We don't have any food on the table yet, but the fire is warm, and you can have some drink. Father, will you show them?"

"You're very kind," 

Jun Feng said as Abron laid out a pitcher of something that smelled a little too strongly of liquor for her stomach. Wordlessly, Orban handed around cups while Ingara retrieved more chairs from the next room. They were large enough for all. 

"What about those?"

Ju Feng looked at them and asked.

Orban said something under his breath and tipped his cup back, draining its contents. He pursed his lips. 

"We've been conserving supplies in case of a siege, so the fare's been simple of late."

"It won't come to a siege." 

Obarn said quietly. He'd stopped tending the fire and sat at the kitchen table with a clay mug clasped between his hands. The runes tattooed on his cheek emphasized the lines and wrinkles there, and Icelin saw a pair of scars near his left eye that she hadn't noticed before. They distorted the skin and made his eye appear half-closed. 

"The king will throw open the city gates and invite the yaomos in for a bloody battle before he allows them to starve us out like rats." 

Abron said and cobtinued. 

"Better to have one last glorious fight."

Abron raised his cup at that pronouncement. He and his father exchanged a private, knowing glance.

"Myria's outer defenses are formidable." 

Ju Feng said in an attempt to calm their minds.

"The yaomo could lose hundreds, thousands, trying to break through. After that they still have to take the city."

"Their powers are also formidable," 

Ongara said. She reached into her loin pouch and pulled out three objects, which she held up to the firelight. 

"We've been pulling these off of yaomo's corpses."

They were rings, thick gold bands ornamented by a cluster of rubies and onyxes in the shape of a spider. Chang Chang's eyes widened. 

"I know something of appraising. The gems alone would fetch an astounding price at the markets of the upperworld."

"Shame we're so far from Upperworld then," 

Orban said.

Chang Chang ignored him and took one of the rings from Ongara's hand. A tingling sensation danced in her palm, confirming what she already suspected. 

"They're magical." 

Chang Chang said before turning towards Ongara. 

"Have you seen them used in battle?"

Ongara shook her head. 

"Damned yaomo are full of magic, so it's hard to tell where any given mystical arts comes from. You being a blood diviner, I thought maybe you could tell me its powers."

Another heavy silence fell over the group. Chang Chang was beginning to wish she'd taken some of that liquor after all. Her stomach had twisted up into knots. She handed the ring back to Ongara. 

"I'd be happy to come to the forges and examine the rings with you, Ongara." 

Ju Feng who had been watching all the development in silence nodded in agreement.

"I've an interest in seeing this war axe you're forging. Not many times have I seen great weapons being forged. Your weapons are of great quality. In the mortal worlds, they don't get any better than this."

The dwarves looked at Ju Feng and nodded. They must have felt his sincerity, for a bit of the tension slipped out of the air.

Ongara smiled at him and said.

"My thanks, we can go over now, if you like."