Chapter Text
"We need dice," Callyss remarked, setting the last brown stone on the large piece of paper that served as their board.
Syllin's blue eyes snapped up from the table, as she rose. She was getting taller, and had taken to rolling up her pant legs rather than have them be awkwardly short. Deep purple socks sewn with stars covered her ankles. "How many?" Afternoon light shone through the sheer curtains in the sitting room, bright but not oppressive.
"Two, eight-sided. If they're numbered, the odds can be blank and evens the Spiders." As she walked to the shelves at the front of the room to look for the pieces, Callyss began setting the uneven blue rocks Syllin had produced on the other side of the makeshift Sava board. It felt oddly revealing to explain the rules. The drow shook his head at himself—it was unlikely she knew enough of the culture to understand what any of it meant.
"Ok," her voice cut into his thoughts, as she slid back into her seat across from him and dropped the plain dice on the table. "And they let you move?"
"No." Callyss took them in hand, feeling the edges as he rolled them across his fingers. "You may trade your move to roll the dice at any point. It's considered offensive to do this before two turns, however." She raised a white eyebrow at him and pursed her lips, but waited silently. Tossing them lightly onto the table, he continued, "Two Spiders—even numbers—allow you to take and use an opponent's piece as your own instead. You may capture pieces the same way you would normally, except that you cannot capture a Mother this way. Blanks are failures, and you then forfeit your turn."
The lighter-skinned elf grabbed the dice for herself, dropping them onto the table. Two Spiders. "Why not Mothers?"
"They are too wary to be taken by betrayal," Callyss remarked, attempting to sound neutral. "Due to the risk of losing a turn, most wait to use the dice until they are trapped. It's a mistake. It's better to use them early, when the stakes are low and the pieces are grouped. You stand a better chance of removing a Priestess or Weaponmaster from the board that way."
"Ok," the girl fidgeted in her seat, meeting his eyes again. "Let's just try it, you can help me."
"I will," he assured her. "Roll the dice, chaos chooses who's first."