The elder bondmaid gestured for Althalos to stay outside her chambers in order to keep the meeting privately between the two women. He dutifully bowed to her and took up a station by her door, as a guard would. Once inside, she escorted the former thief to some sort of bench-ottoman, most likely.

Esme could see why the bondmaid in front of her was called an elder. She looked like she was closer to whatever the Crystal Queen was than Aelif. Her hair was short, more bristle than tresses. Two growths protruded from her forehead, and waved around like extended fingers. Her curves were a mockery of womanliness, with a thin waist and rounded breast and buttox-off-putting because she wasn't built quite right. The eyes, though, were the confession. This wasn't facets like gemstones, as the Crystal Queen and her descendants were flesh and blood. One thing Esme had become well acquainted with in her time in both bars and a thieve's world was flies. Horrid little creatures, but their multifaceted eyes were eerily close to what the elder had. Her mother had not been like this, which means that the bondmaids lost a lot of the Hive over the generations.

The woman herself smiled-something wrong there, as well, in spite of it being a common trait among the various Aelfine. "No one warned you, did they?"

"I was told that there were remnants in my eyes that mirrored yours, and that bondmaids are removed from your appearance, but that was all. What are you?"

"Besides a woman stuck waiting for what you had foisted on you without any warning?" It was strange to watch this alien face move with emotions, but the Elder did it with such a natural grace that almost masked the Hive in her. "Let's see-I've lived a millennium with no suitable mate. I've traveled the thirteen kingdoms looking for one, and have known an uncommon number of our people while here. Unlike most of us, I'm too close to the original contract to blend in with these Aelifs. I long to return home and leave this exile. But what you need most is that I'm the only creature here with real answers for you. The newest batch are much younger than your mother-their ancestry is in other kingdoms."

"Well then, why do we have a bond when its clear that I came into being because someone ignored theirs?"

"You aren't sure who your mother is, are you?"

Esme shrugged. "I was raised by her, at least."

"Smart to figure out that I meant intimacy and not contact." Again with that smile-Esme knew it would take her a while to grow accustomed to it. The rest of her expressiveness wasn't as bad. "The bond is to ensure that each generation is a more balanced blend than the past. The goal is to become like the Aelif, but not lose ourselves while doing so. You have lost yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"You should know who your mother is because many of her memories should be your own. Not that you would remember them the same way, but the things which make a huge impression on your ancestors should still be with you. You have very little of that about you-perhaps enough to cloud your earliest memories with lies if you are unaware of who it originates in. I can still taste death in the great war at the hands of a barbaric Aelif king after he and his kin slew my ancestor's drones-nothing like these soft-sides on the thrones, now. But I know that it's not my memory, as I'm not old enough to be a part of that war."

"I assume Althalos is more like they were back then?"

"Almost. The look of him is the same but he's got the soft mannerisms of any of these descendants." The creature dipped her head as if she was giving a concession to say that much before switching back into her dissertation. "Your very presence screams that you don't know your ancestors. You have no real commune with the ancient, and in some ways are even more blank than the few humans I tolerate in this kingdom. You're one of us, yet set apart."

"What do you know of my mother, then?"

"We're not of the same line and she comes long after me, for you to be as human as you are. She would know more of me than I of her, if anything. But I have been a guest in this kingdom for over thirty years, and we would have met if she's been a guest, as well. What was her name?"

"I'm not certain as I called her mother. But she's been called a few things in front of me: Ilari, Nameme, Peto, Alianor, Gwenlen..."

"Are you certain that it's Alianor and not Alet-Aramor?" The Elder pursed her lips as she thought back to the bondmiads that once lived amongst the Aelfine.

"I don't know."

"You're hard to reach into. Would you mind if I sifted through your thoughts?"

"How?"

"Normally our people speak through the mind. You're garbled until you voice your words. It's possible that I might understand better with physical contact-much like how the bond works, but not near as permanent, not without the jelly, at least."

"Jelly?" What preserves had to do with this mode of speaking confused the former thief.

"Secretion from the Queen, beyond what Aelif or humans make. We'll make do without it."

Esme nodded and shifted closer to the elder who brought both hands down on top her skull. This called forth a torrent of thoughts, much of it skittering through her head like an angry rodent through the sewers. The elderbeing broke contact first, almost passing out from the shock of it. Esme put out a hand to brace her. "Illes, are you ok?"

"You're like a sponge. All that is us is there, but it has not been fed. What did you grab besides my name?"

"I couldn't make sense of any of it."

"Give it time." Illes gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. "Your mother's true name, Tal-Anan, might be familiar to your mate or his cousin. I suggest mentioning it during your meeting later, but understand if you want to wait a while to speak that name. Now, go. Don't keep your bond waiting. I'll still be here when you make sense of what you have gained."