“I was expecting you to be more visibly present at the meeting. Do I have to worry about Delver racism?”

Madris didn’t show any signs of surprise at the question. She only put up her hood and turned around calmly, her pupils dilated to almost swallow their color as her eyes would pierce the dim corridor without effort. It was dark outside, and this part of the Delvers’ base, a bit more off the beaten path than where the visitors had mostly been staying, was only sporadically illuminated by rushlights and magical lights from further away.

“Galatea,” she greeted the visitor, briefly dipping her head. “It is good to see you.”

“You as well, Madris,” she replied with a smile, “although you didn’t answer my question.”

Madris sighed lightly. “I decided that discretion was the better part of valor,” she answered. “My particular talents tend to make people uneasy, especially in high-stakes negotiations, even without any prior run-ins. Of course, your friend Regina was already at the meeting with psychic abilities, but few people are aware of that, and to be frank, she is much less of a threat with them.”

“I can’t argue with that. Although I get the feeling you’re still leaving something out. Are you sure it didn’t have anything to do with being a dark elf?”

Madris was quiet for a second. “Maybe a little,” she finally admitted. “Not everyone in the order, especially those coming from further away, are very comfortable with my people and their reputation. It was certainly not intended as a slight against your delegation, though.”

“I know that,” Galatea assured her, making an effort to project calm composure. She still wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Madris. Although she had liked her when she’d visited her chapter. That was before Madris had followed her back to Regina, though, and the …issues that followed. Even if Galatea herself had messed up back then and knew it.

“You’re not reading my mind right now, are you?” she asked.

Madris smiled slightly. “No. Even if I was inclined to do so, your mind is too different and your mental defenses too formidable to do it easily. I’d rather not have a headache for the rest of the night. Besides, I don’t do that sort of thing casually.”

Galatea was inclined to trust her on that. If Madris had protested that she would never do such a thing, she’d have called bullshit. The woman seemed like … too much of a dark elf for that, probably. And to be fair, in her line of work, there were probably legitimate reasons to be doing it. Galatea believed her about her mind and mental defenses, though. Leian had commented on how it was different before, too. Of course, that had been back when her mind had been literally half-housed in a computer. It might actually be easier for Leian to read my mind now, as a mana-form in the System. And why didn’t I ever think of that? But she wouldn’t do that to her.

“Anyhow, I’m sure you didn’t seek me out only to assure you I wasn’t up to something,” Madris continued, interrupting her thoughts.

Galatea made herself smile again. “Right,” she said. “I did want to talk to you.”

"Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Madris said drily.

“Good, then. How did you find the talks? I assume you were listening in, or had someone relate everything that happened. How do things look, in your opinion?”

“Reasonably well. I’m not sure why you’re looking for my opinion in particular, Galatea. You were there, weren’t you? You should know how it went, already.”

Galatea sighed a little. “I suppose,” she admitted. “But, social things are not my forte. I spent much of my time locked up essentially alone. Even then, I never had much occasion to look into these things. And I’m concerned my view of the Delvers might be biased.”

“So you went looking to me? I’m flattered,” Madris drawled.

“Come on. You might be a Delver, but you’re not a hardliner. You’re an outsider, at least originally. Besides …” Galatea hesitated for a moment, then pantomimed a shrug. She wasn’t sure it quite came across the right way. “I’m interested in your thoughts.”

Madris frowned. For the first time, she looked uncertain. “Galatea …” she said slowly, “you’re not hitting on me, are you?”

“What? No!” Galatea almost nixed her projected avatar. “Of course not. I’m not even human. I mean, not an organic person.”

“Good. No offense, but that would be a bit strange.” Madris exhaled and shook her head. “Anyway, I suppose I might as well give you my impression if you’re this interested. Regina made a good entrance. The bit about Ancient religion was probably not planned, I’m guessing, but it broke the ice and positioned herself as an authority on the Ancients nicely. It primed the others to voice their support. And her personal story was also good. Don’t misunderstand me, I know she must have had to force herself to say all that, but I’m sure we all appreciate it.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.”

“Nothing so bad. You just need to be aware of what you are dealing with and which lines Delvers will or will not want to cross.”

Madris cocked her head to the side slightly, a shadow hushing across her face. Galatea wondered if she was sensing something. Not for the first time, she wished she was good with psychic magic herself. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like she had a talent for that.

“Come with me,” the dark elf suggested. “You might want to see a few things and it might be better than simply speaking about this out of context.”

Galatea started to ask about it, then stopped herself and only nodded. If Madris thought she had something to show her, she wasn’t going to complain. On the contrary, she was curious.

Despite not being from here, Madris clearly knew her way around the Delvers’ local headquarters. She led Galatea through a few doors and corridors without pausing or checking her course, determinedly heading to where she wanted to go. Galatea, for her part, looked around. She tended to rely more on mana to see her surroundings, and in an environment comparatively rich in it, like the Delver base, that gave her a lot more information on it. There didn’t seem to be many people around in this part, currently.

She wasn’t surprised when Madris took a turn that would take them down beyond the normal stories of the building. Rather than a single basement, she could tell that it had several below-ground levels. It almost reminded her of the Hive’s places, except not as sophisticated and clearly in a different style. Still, for the level of technology they had, especially since this place seemed old, it was pretty impressive. Galatea swallowed her questions and simply allowed Madris to lead her to whatever she wanted to show her, though.

They passed a few Delvers in the halls. While they weren’t obvious guards, the way they were standing seemingly relaxed at odd spots and occasionally moving told her enough. She wondered if junior Delvers were even allowed here. No one even tried to stop Madris, though.

“How long have you been alive, Galatea?” Madris asked, finally breaking the silence.

“About a thousand years,” she answered. “You know that, Madris.”

“You have existed since then, yes. But what about conscious experience? Were you aware for all of that time?”

Galatea paused, considering the question and how much to say. “Not quite, I suppose,” she answered slowly. “At the beginning, I wasn’t very self-aware. It took a bit for me to really understand the world and myself. I can’t point to a specific date, though, it was more of a gradual process. I don’t have ‘conscious memory’ of the Cataclysm, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Madris nodded. “I’m roughly half that age,” she revealed matter-of-factly. “Even that is considered young for someone of my level of power.”

Galatea hummed in response. It didn’t surprise her, although she still found it a bit unusual. She hadn’t had many dealings with elves. Speaking of - “I’ve heard that dark elves have lower lifespans than their surface counterparts,” she commented.

Madris hesitated, probably deliberating if she wanted to indulge that line of conversation or continue with whatever she was trying to get at. “It’s complicated,” she finally said. “We age the same way, biologically, but most of us don’t reach as old an age. Our lives are more dangerous, to a fault.”

“The Eternal Dark,” Galatea said. “I’ve heard things — your people fight against the dwarves, against monsters, against each other.”

“Exaggerated,” Madris said, “but not untrue. It’s rare for a year to go by without fighting a small war or monster incursion. As to each other, well. We’re not as prone to intrigue or backstabbing as the rumors have it, although there is fierce competition between houses.“

By now, they were exiting a staircase and continuing along a corridor on the lower level. It was lined in stone, giving it a different atmosphere from those above ground. Madris didn’t seem to be in a hurry, though, just indulging the conversation.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of fanciful rumors.” Galatea decided to push her luck a little since she seemed receptive. It wasn’t often one got the chance to talk to a dark elf. “Your people capture the imagination. I’ve heard you enslave all men, although I doubt that’s true.”

Madris snorted. “Hardly. I won’t deny that we are matriarchal, as a culture, but men can and do amount to something if they prove themselves.” She paused, tapping a finger against her arm, then shrugged slightly. “I suppose it’s not too far removed from the sort of societal issues I wanted to advise you to keep an eye on, anyhow. As it happens, most of our soldiers are men, for obvious reasons. That is tightly linked to it.”

“Soldiers aren’t respected in your culture?” That sounded odd, given what she’d confirmed.

“Oh no, they are. It doesn’t work the same way it does in these human countries, however. Soldiers fight when there are enemies to fight, but they tend to be employed in different ways otherwise, such as building roads, digging tunnels, and even helping in the house. Mostly in the house compound. But they are not generally the ones making the strategic decisions. Too close to the problem, you understand. If someone lost brothers and comrades, they are not going to be objective about where to employ our forces and what ground might need to be given, what might need to be sacrificed. Although selfless sacrifice is a key virtue in the barracks, and for males in general. Not to mention it’s uncommon, though not unheard of, for a soldier to see their second or third century.”

Galatea nodded, digesting the information. “As interesting as all this is, why are we talking about dark elf social structure?”

“Well, for one thing, I was curious whether you knew about the informal alliance between Delvers and dark elves.”

They’d reached the end of the corridor now and stopped before a massive set of doors made of what appeared to be steel, which Madris opened seemingly without having to unlock them. Galatea suspected it was actually keyed to specific people, or perhaps she was using magic.

“There is one?” she asked. “I didn’t know about that.”

“Well, it is rather loose,” Madris admitted as she pulled the door open. “But it has some bearing on why they accepted me despite obvious reasons not to. We’ve also exchanged some information, including a few tidbits on the Ancients.”

Galatea’s eyes widened. “You have an entire underground country.” She hadn’t really thought about it before, but now it was obvious. “Your people have got to have been digging around there for centuries. And from everything we’ve seen, ruins from before are usually buried by now, because of natural processes alone. You’ve got to have found a lot, didn’t you? Did you let the Delvers in to investigate them?”

Madris smiled slightly. “No. Very rarely, at least. And we have not found as much as you probably imagine. We do have a very good picture of what happened compared to most other races.”

Galatea frowned, even as she stepped into and looked around the room. “Were your people part of the alliance that fought and destroyed the Hivekind?”

“Yes, of course.” Madris sounded almost amused. “Nearly everyone was, Galatea. Even the surface elves, and I’m sure they’re making nice with the Hive now while ignoring that fact. We weren’t the most enthusiastic, and we didn’t have many troops to commit, anyway.”

Galatea nodded absently, but her focus was on the room around them. It reminded her of a museum, she realized. More of an old museum from before the System than a ‘modern’ one. Objects were housed in glass cases or wooden cases with a glass front. Or possibly plastic, she wasn’t sure. They looked less like a random assortment of junk than a curated collection, even if it was rather eclectic. She saw an old CD player only a few places down from what looked like a Renaissance painting reproduction.

“This is interesting,” she commented.

“Look a little closer,” Madris urged her. “Do you see?”

Galatea frowned, and swept her gaze over the room. It took a second before it clicked. “It’s almost religious.”

The way the objects were positioned, atop podiums and pedestals, the consideration that had clearly gone into the lighting — carefully placed fireplaces, oil lamps and magical lights — and even the motifs painted on the walls of the room. At first, Galatea had taken them for pieces of the exhibition as well, but on a closer look, they clearly weren’t original. They showed a variety of scenes from books and mythology, she realized, but rarely the way she’d expect, and it usually took some thought and guesswork to work out what they were actually intended to display, beyond the painter’s adoration.

“Indeed.”

“Some of these things could be used,” Galatea realized, eying what looked like an old camp stove. “It can’t be that no Delver ever figured out how to do anything with electricity, not after centuries. They could have at least been copying any books or other texts.”

“Most texts we’ve found are in languages no one knows how to read anymore,” Madris explained. “That said, you’re right that some things are just gathering dust when they might’ve been used.”

“That doesn’t quite jive with the impression I’ve had of the Delvers,” Galatea said with a frown.

The dark elf shrugged. “They’re afraid that priceless treasures we have no way to replace will be damaged or destroyed,” she said. Then she hesitated, visibly gathering herself. “That said, it does fit a little too neatly into the gods’ plans and intentions for this world, doesn’t it?”

Galatea turned her focus to her. If she could’ve felt cold, she would’ve at that moment. “You think the gods have some influence on the Delvers? More than what anyone knows?”

Madris sighed. “I can’t rule it out. Some of the sentiments I’ve picked up from others … You - we need to be careful, Galatea. In this case, it’s better to be cautious rather than too reckless.”

Galatea didn’t respond, but turned to gaze at the museum collection again. She’s right. Oh, Regina’s going to be pissed when she hears. On the other hand, what else is new, really?

“You’ll tell us if you learn of any tampering with anyone’s minds?” she asked. “Well, any more tampering, I guess,” she corrected herself with a snort.

Madris smiled thinly. “I most certainly will. I’ll also be starting to impart some lessons to Regina, if she’s willing.”

Well, Regina’s going to be happy about that, Galatea reflected.