<br/>(Pronunciation guide: Xia Xiang = See-AH See-AHNG)<br/><br/>Princess Xia lifted a weary blood stained hand up to her temple to push an escaped lock of silky, silvery white hair back behind her dark pointed ear. Her slim dark fingers trembled with fatigue and nervous exhaustion. She sighed in growing frustration and despair as the line of wounded soldiers continued to stream into the temple ward. 'How many more?' she thought angrily. 'How long will this slaughter go on?'<br/><br/>Under her breath she muttered, "Enough of this! Someone must answer for it." Slightly louder, the exhaustion evident in her voice, she said to a nearby acolyte, "Isendryll, take over for me here. I need to speak with the High Priestess."<br/><br/>She wiped her bloody hands on an even bloodier rag, getting the worst of it off, then removed her stained apron, throwing it carelessly onto the growing pile of bodies of those beyond any help. Picking her way through the ward of groaning, wounded and dying soldiers, she left the chambers, headed down a confusing route of several passageways to a part of the temple complex well removed from the smell and sounds of the aftermath of the most recent battle.<br/><br/>Entering an antechamber, she headed straight for the gilded carved ebony doors leading to the High Priestess's personal chambers. A lower lever priestess, one of the third level inner circle of initiates, obviously not recognizing her because of her bloodstained clothes, moved into her path to intercept her. "Stop where you are! You may not enter without an appointment! High Priestess Callandryll is not to be disturbed!"<br/><br/>Xia's fatigue and frustration helped to fuel the flare of her anger at being so addressed. "Hold your tongue! I am no lowly acolyte you address, and I will not be spoken too in such a manner! You may count yourself lucky I have seen more than enough of our people's blood this day, lest I order your offending tongue cut out of your insolent head! Now get out of my way! High Priestess Callandryll will see me!"<br/><br/>The initiate, realizing she spoke to none other than her Highness, Xia Xiang, First Princess of the Underdark Realm, Daughter of Queen Mother Ghedren, bowed prostrate upon the floor, cringing and begging forgiveness. While technically the High Priestess answered only to the Queen herself, Princess Xia was known as someone not to be trifled with. No palace idler was she, no pretty but vapid wastrel. No, this princess involved herself in the people's lives. She insisted on being trained in the arts of combat and self defense, had made herself study and learn all she could about the intricacies of the religion of the Spider Goddess, Lolth, and the workings of the temple.  She even had learned a great deal of the divine magics, which she regularly used to help in the healing wards when the soldiers returned from battles with the High Elves. This princess was no one the initiate wanted to cross.<br/><br/>Xia shoved hard, throwing all of her slight weight against the double doors causing them to burst inward. She didn't slow down, marching straight to the desk behind which the High Priestess sat, a startled and upset look on her face. "Princess Xia, what is it? Why have you entered my chamber in such a way?" Her anger was barely contained, but she had practice keeping her true feelings under control.<br/><br/>High Priestess Callandryll was technically the second most powerful woman in the Underdark, behind only the Queen, as power and influence went. She resented having to be at the whim of what she saw as a bratty whelp of a girl, barely a century and a half old. But she knew that Queen Ghedren was getting older, and someday this girl would rule. Callandryll didn't want to make an enemy of her, but accidents had a way of happening to people Callandryll decided were a threat to her plans.<br/><br/>Xia was angry. Furious might be a better word. And she was frustrated and saddened at the continuing losses sustained by her people. She was young and full of passion, and hadn't learned to possess the necessary tact and deception it took to play courtly politics. "High Priestess, you assured my mother that this battle would be a great victory for our forces. You swore that the Spider Goddess Herself, assured us Her favor, and that She would ensure our triumph. So maybe you could explain to me why streams of our soldiers are filing through the tunnels with the look and stench of defeat clinging to them even as thick as the blood running from their wounds!" She held up her hands, still stained with smeared blood despite wiping them off earlier. "Look! This is not High Elf blood that stains my hands; it is the blood of our soldiers! Where? Where is the great victory we were promised?"<br/><br/>Callandryll swallowed quickly, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She slowly stood and came around from behind the desk, each step helping her to focus herself and put her carefully controlled image into place before responding to the princess' insinuations. "Highness, even Great Lolth, Herself cannot make up for the incompetence of the commanders on the battle field. And I cannot ensure their success if they haven't the will or the courage to defeat our enemies." she answered in a honey smooth melodic voice. Yet somehow, it dripped with a placating patronizing tone.<br/><br/>Xia sputtered in exasperated raw emotion, "I don't have reason to question the courage of our commanders, High Priestess. I've trained with them; I know their quality personally. What I do have reason to question is why you constantly seem to convince my mother to undertake these disastrous endeavors. What does it benefit you? And why is it that your interpretations of our Goddess' messages always seem to support your desire for sending our troops on yet another pointless mission that only gets them killed? Always it is the same; you tell my mother that Lolth guarantees our success, and then always you blame the soldiers or the commanders when they are defeated!"<br/><br/>Callandryll tried to interject, "You give too little credit to our enemies, Princess. Perhaps the High Elves...."<br/><br/>Xia interrupted her, "Damn the High Elves! Lolth take them all, for all I care! I don't care about the cursed High Elves; I care about our own people! You and my mother cannot keep spending their lives as if they don't matter. They are not chattel to be used in such a way!"<br/><br/>The High Priestess had to suppress her evil smile, lest it be misinterpreted by this upstart. Her careful control of her emotions and her appearance always gave her the edge compared to the young passion filled girl whose heart seemed to bleed for the peasant class. The princess' high emotions nearly gave Callandryll what she would need to deal with the girl once and for all. All she would need is to push her a little further. "Be careful, Princess! You come near to speaking treason! If your mother knew...."<br/><br/>Xia sensed the manipulation in the older woman's mind just in time cut off her sharp retort, giving instead an exasperated growl before turning on her heel and leaving.  She made sure to slam the door on her way out.  There would be no answers from the High Priestess, not today or any other day.  Xia didn't know why it served the high priestess' purpose to order these continuing useless raids and attacks, but she knew that the older woman actively used her station to manipulate Xia's mother.  It wasn't right, and someday, when she ascended to the throne, she would put an end to it.<br/><br/>But for now, her weariness hit her all of a sudden, and the fire of her anger left her deflating like a worn out bellows.  She started to trudge back to the ward, but after only a few steps, she realized she could face no more of it today.  Instead she turned down the corridor that would lead her to the palace hot springs.  Maybe a good long soak would soothe her raw edged nerves.  Maybe, just maybe, she could at last get the blood off her hands.<br/><br/>**********<br/>Xia entered the palace gardens treading heavily with fatigue.  The area was softly illuminated by the gentle green glow of the phosphor fungus that grew on the walls and rocks of this part of the cavern.  It was what passed for natural lighting in the Underdark.<br/><br/>Her mind was distracted, reviewing the conversation with the High Priestess she had just confronted.  Could it be that her questioning of this pointless war was considered to be treason?  It's not as if she supported the High Elves in the struggle either.  She just felt that it was a useless waste of lives.  Could her mother condemn her for that?<br/><br/>She passed along the garden path, stooping to collect a few special mushrooms growing there.  Carrying them along with her, she stepped to the edge of the bathing pool.  Fed by the thermal hot springs that flowed through it from one side and emptying out into an underground stream, it would continue through the caverns on its meandering way.  Xia knelt by the pool's edge and placed the mushrooms into a shallow depression in the rocks.  She used a smaller stone to crush them to a fine paste.<br/><br/>Returning to her feet, she began to remove her clothing, revealing ebony skin the texture of silk, flowing over shapely curves.  Her body was athletic but well rounded too.  Slender arms were well toned from hours spent training with the top commanders in the defensive arts.  Modest breasts accentuated a voluptuous torso and flat abdomen which flared into shapely hips in turn.  Graceful but strong thighs tapered down to slender calves and ended in delicate, shapely feet.<br/><br/>She eased into the water delicately, taking time to get used to the temperature.  The water in the pool was high in mineral content and highly oxygenated as well.  It provided not only a stimulating effect, but some minor healing properties as well.  For now, what she needed most was the chance to bathe, relax and forget, if she could.<br/><br/>Her mind was still preoccupied with the sights, smells, and sounds of the wounded and dying men she'd been helping to care for during the last 12 hours.  It prevented her from sensing the thoughts or presence of those who watched her.<br/><br/>Xia ducked down in the pool until the water covered her naked shoulders, wetting her hair with her cupped hands dumping the water over her head.  She stood up to reach for a handful of the grey paste she'd created from the crushed mushrooms.  The water in this part of the pool came up to just below her hips, and the droplets that clung to her gleamed softly in the green glow of the phosphor fungus like little flakes of jade.<br/><br/>Smoothing the paste all over her wet body caused it to lather up in a cleansing, fragrant suds.  After quickly scrubbing the blood from her body and washing her long silky white hair, she eased down into the hot mineral water to relax near the edge of the pool.  She let her head lean back and closed her eyes, luxuriating in the simple pleasure.  For the first time in nearly a week, she was at peace in body, if not in mind.  She sighed a heavy sigh and soon dozed, allowing her mind to finally find some peace.<br/><br/>*****************<br/>(http://forum.literotica.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1215911&stc=1&d=1370213799)<br/><br/>The princess soaked in the pool, trying to leave behind the stress of the recent news she'd received.  Her life was about to change forever, for the good of her people.  It had turned out that the last battle had gone much worse for Drow forces than had been first thought.  And there had been little choice but to sue for some sort of truce.<br/><br/>Though they didn't want to let their enemies know how badly the war had cost them, the Drow ambassadors had met with those of the High Elves in an historical first contact.  That had been almost three months before, and was only the first of many meetings and extensive negotiations.  But a plan for lasting peace had finally been hammered out.  It would put the old prejudices behind both races, but certain sacrifices had to be made.<br/><br/>First of all, the reigning Elvish king, and Queen Mother Ghedren would turn over rule of their respective realms to their heirs and step down from power.  But only after Princess Xia was to be wed to the Elvish Prince.  That was the part that made her heart sink, for it meant that she would have to go to live in the Elvish palace, and become wife to a man she'd never even met.  Their marriage was to be a symbol of the union of their two peoples and lands.  At least that is how it was supposed to be.<br/><br/>But to her, it was little more than a life sentence as the defeated concubine of this Elvish prince.  You could dress it up in fancy language all you liked, but the reality was that the war had spent a large part of the male Drow population.  The matriarchal orientation of their society meant that the males were of secondary importance, but biology was biology, and the males were needed for certain things.  And now there were far fewer of them.<br/><br/>But it wasn't the need for a mate that sealed her fate.  She knew she would be expected to provide an offspring to this Elvish prince, a mix of their blood that would be a living representation of the union of the two races and heir to both kingdoms united.  And to a princess like Xia, to be used as little more than a brood mare, especially to have to submit and surrender her body to her lifelong enemy, was the greatest insult.  But she'd have to do it for the good of her people.<br/><br/>As she let the hot mineral water of the springs soak into her dark flesh, soothing her cares away, she found herself wondering what he would look like, this Elvish prince.  And she wondered if he would be wondering about her too.  In barely two weeks time, the Elvish emissary party would arrive to take her back with them to her destiny.  But for now, she just wanted to forget, and enjoy what little freedom remained to her.  She sunk lower in the hot bubbling mineral water, taking a breath before she slipped beneath the surface into a world of isolation and quiet.<br/><br/><br/><br/>