With Qilue's permission-and Cavatina was still working on achieving this-the statue would also depict Halisstra, one arm raised, her hand extended from having just passed Cavatina the sword. Halisstra would be carved as she had been before Lolth transformed her: as a drow female. It would be a slight untruth, but no one would be the wiser. Only Cavatina and Qilue had seen the horrible monster Halisstra had become.

Halisstra had disappeared after Selvetarm fell, and even Qilue had been unable to scry her. Cavatina had returned to the Demonweb Pits to search for Halisstra but had found no trace of the former priestess. Cavatina had battled her way past yochlols and questioned lesser demons at the point of her singing sword, but the paths they sent her on led only to the creeping horrors that thrived in Lolth's domain. Halisstra was just… gone. At last acknowledging that, Cavatina had allowed the Darkwatch portal to be sealed.

She sang a soft prayer, imploring Eilistraee to embrace Halisstra's dark soul, should it ever find its way to the goddess's side. Then she joined the others in the sacred hymn.

As always happened when Cavatina visited the Promenade, priestesses found an excuse to join whatever activity she was participating in. Moonrise-the time when most performed the Evensong devotion-was still some time away. Yet novices and higher-ranking priestesses alike were already slipping into the Cavern of Song in ones and twos. Cavatina nodded at each as she entered-but when a Nightshadow slid into the room, furtive as an assassin on the prowl, the hymn she sang died on her lips.

Though the Nightshadow was naked-he'd observed that doctrine, at least-his face was hidden behind his mask. The blade he carried wasn't a sword but an assassin's hollow-bladed dagger. He took up a place near the entrance-his back against the wall-and pointed his dagger at the spot where Eilistraee's moonfire bloomed. Then he began to sing.

As he did, streaks of darkfire threaded their way into Eilistraee's sacred light.

Throughout the cavern, eyes widened and voices faltered. Not once in the twenty-two years since the temple's founding had a male participated in the sacred hymn within the Cavern of Song. Despite the admission of Vhaeraun's clerics to Eilistraee's faith, this tradition still held. Males could pass through the cavern-they had to in order to get from one wing of the Promenade to the next-but the Cavern of Song was the one place in all of Eilistraee's many shrines that the old observances were retained.

But that long tradition had been broken.

Cavatina was appalled by the impudence of the male. The Nightshadows had been given another cavern elsewhere in the Promenade as a place where they might worship according to their traditions. The male should have gone there and honored the goddess in his own peculiar way, shrouded in darkness and silence.

Cavatina realized that the only voice in the cavern was the Nightshadow's. The females had fallen silent. He alone sustained the hymn that had continued, unbroken, since the temple's founding.

Cavatina swallowed-her mouth was suddenly very dry-and immediately began to sing. Her voice battled the Nightshadow's as each attempted to drag the other into a range more suited to the singer's gender. All at once, the other priestesses resumed the hymn, forcing the male to either find the harmony or falter.

Satisfied the song would be sustained without her assistance, Cavatina sheathed her sword and made her way across the cavern to the place where the Nightshadow stood. Aware that all eyes were upon her, she spoke with her hands as she approached him, so that all could "hear" her.

Males do not sing here, she signed with blunt, forceful movements of her fingers. The Cavern of Song is for priestesses only.

The Nightshadow continued to sing. His eyes slid toward her. They crinkled in a smile, puckering the scar next to his left eye.

Suddenly, Cavatina recognized him: the Nightshadow who had helped her battle the revenant in the Shilmista Forest. "Karas!" she said aloud. "What-?"

His free hand answered the question she'd yet to complete. Lady Qilue summoned me to the Promenade. I'll be joining your expedition.

"Then you're under my command," Cavatina said aloud. "And my first order is this: leave the Cavern of Song. At once."

Karas stopped singing in mid-stanza and lowered his dagger. He stared up at her, toying with the weapon as if testing its balance. "I'm not under your command," he said slowly. "I'm to lead the Nightshadows. Ask me to leave the Cavern of Song, and I will. But I won't take orders from you. I am a Black Moon, equivalent in rank to a Darksong Knight-the rank you still hold, Lady Cavatina."

Cavatina stared down at him, her eyes blazing. How dare he? She'd see about this. "Qilue," she said firmly.

A moment later the high priestess answered, mind to mind. Yes, Cavatina?

A male has entered the Cavern of Song, Cavatina thought back at her. The Nightshadow Karas. He-

I sent him to find you, Qilue answered before Cavatina could finish. He has a wealth of knowledge of Kiaransalee's cult. Listen to what he has to offer; you will need it.

Cavatina's jaw clenched. Back in the forest, after Karas had disappeared into the night, she'd chafed at missing an opportunity to hear more about Maerimydra. She should have been more careful about what she wished for. I'll listen to him, but I don't want him on the expedition. He's… ill-suited to taking orders. He thinks he's to command the Nightshadows; he's actually got it into his head that he's to join this expedition as my equal.

He is your equal, Qilue thought back. Female and male, moonlight and darkness, sword and stealth-working hand in hand to return the drow to the World Above, just as the goddess has decreed.

Cavatina winced. Before Eilistraee subsumed Vhaeraun's worshipers, Qilue would have said "up into the light," not, "to the World Above." Cavatina resisted the urge to rub her temples. The thought of what the goddess had become pained her.

You and Karas must work together, Qilue continued.

Cavatina's jaw clenched. If that is your command, Lady Qilue, she answered, I will obey it.

It is.

The fact remains that males are not permitted to sing in the Cavern of Song, Cavatina shot back, still glaring at Karas.

That, too, is something that must change. I will remedy it at once.

Cavatina was furious-but she was smart enough to know she needed to salvage the situation, and quickly. She spoke to Karas in sign. I have spoken to Lady Qilue. You may sing with us. Stay or leave the cavern, as you please.

A moment later, several other priestesses cocked their heads slightly, listening. Cavatina heard the proclamation herself. Qilue told the faithful that Vhaeraun's former clerics-those who had embraced their god in his new aspect of the Masked Lady-were welcome to join the holy chorus in the Cavern of Song.

Karas slid his dagger back into its forearm sheath and inclined his head. Slightly. "I look forward to working with you on our expedition to the Acropolis, Lady Cavatina."

Cavatina's eyes narrowed. Two could play at this match. "As do I," she parried, her voice cold as steel, "with you."