A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 35: Domestic

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"Can you do it yet?"

"Ashyr. It'll be another hour, maybe a bit more. Would you calm the fuck down?!"

It was about the fifth time they'd had that exchange that morning, and likely wouldn't be the last. The older drow paced the basement room that Caleldir had found them three nights ago. At that rate, Ashyr would tire herself out before the sun reached its zenith.

The morning before, the drow had woken up very well-rested to one fewer person in their bed. At first, it didn't seem like such a big deal; they'd figured Caleldir had gone out the relieve himself and would be waiting for them outside somewhere. Except then they saw that the blockade they'd moved against the door had not been altered. Then, when they finally made it outdoors, they realized that it was around the same time that they had fallen asleep – which couldn't be right because it felt like they... had slept... for a day... Right. It was cause for great alarm because the drow knew themselves to be both immune to sleep effects and extremely resistant to poisons. Also disturbing was the fact that Caleldir could have been gone for a full day in who knows what direction in an almost impossibly dangerous forest that delighted in getting travelers lost. Not so much a problem for him, but a great problem for the dark elves who didn't know their way around. Ashyr couldn't even pick up a trail that he could have gone down. It was like he'd been floated away from them.

Selene immediately assumed betrayal. This must have all been part of his plan to get back at her for raping him a couple times. The stupid male couldn't bring himself to outright harm her, so he just left her there mostly lost in a very dangerous place. The absolute worst part of that scenario was the small and unexpected ache in her chest when she'd thought of it... which made her extremely grumpy towards the world – including Ashyr.

Ashyr was completely oblivious to the true reason behind Selene's sudden grumpiness. There were plenty of understandable reasons why the younger drow would be grumpy that had nothing to do with character growth. Not that she gave it any thought at all. All she could think about was worry for Caleldir. Surely he wouldn't leave her unless there was a very, very good reason. She demanded immediately that Selene scry on him, which the younger drow agreed to after only a little deliberation. All they saw was him asleep on a bed in a room that seemed to be made out of a living tree. It was not helpful. They might have been comforted by the fact that he looked safe and secure, but it only seemed to confirm Selene's suspicions and sew a seed of doubt in Ashyr. Could he have left of his own accord? The spell fizzled out before they could glean any more information.

Next, they tried asking their tail if they had seen where Caleldir had gone off to, but either the serpent guy was surprisingly good at hiding or he wasn't anywhere near them. Nothing to do but wait until Selene could scry again. So far it had been an arduous time rife with petty squabbling when there wasn't silent brooding. Where the hell was Caleldir?!