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[DalreïDal]

Chapter XL. Return to Neverwinter

When Chama, Valen and Halikouelle reached Neverwinter, everyone in the city seemed to think that Aarin Gend was currently in Luskan spying for Lord Nasher. Knowing Aarin, Chama suspected that it was a ploy on the spymaster?s part who either wished not to be disturbed or wanted one of his suspects? guard to go down a notch. One thing was certain, though; if he was in the city, he would hear about her arrival. She could only hope that he would have forgiven her enough to come speak with her.

Residing in the temple of Tyr being erected in the rebuilding Slums, Aribeth and Somnus were much easier to find than the spymaster. The district, including its temple, had been razed to the ground by Luskan?s armies in the course of the war. Rag-tag huts sprouted everywhere, along with makeshift shelters built out of materials salvaged from the debris. Chama spent the afternoon discussing with the half-elf and planetar, listening as they outlined their plans for the temple in the coming months. They had much to do; they distributed untainted blessings and helped in more material aspects of life such as building the temple and organizing the distribution of food for peasants whose reserves for the winter had been burned down by Luskan?s forces.

Their first night in Neverwinter, Chama sighed forlornly when she ended up alone in her room without even a chance to steal a kiss from Valen; her father had rigidly stood by the side of her door with a pointed glare at the tiefling until she gave up and went inside with just a ?good night?. It seemed Halikouelle had taken Valen?s statement that ?two rooms would do? to heart, and quite a bit more than the tiefling had intended at first.

A soft rapping on her windowsill distracted Chama from her spell study. She looked up distractedly but paid it absolutely no attention? until she heard a soft chuckle and was reminded that she should indeed be more careful. However, she stubbornly refused to lift her eyes from her book; after all, she would recognize that voice anywhere.

?Aarin, that?s not very nice of you to sneak up on your friends like that. What if I had been taking a bath??

Lifting her head at last and scanning the shadows in her room, she could not even spot him despite the fact that he had given away his position mere seconds earlier. From the side of the room opposite to where she searched for him, she heard his teasing voice, ?I took great care to listen for any splashing noises before I climbed here, my dear friend. I would have come up the stairs and knocked, but once I caught a glimpse of the fierce warriors guarding your door, I decided to forego the risk of showing myself as a lone man going to your room at night.?

Relaxed, he leant against the wall in a pose so much like a spymaster that Chama had to shake her head. He was exactly as she remembered him, his crispy black hair plaited down on his head, his dark leather armour over a worn red tunic, his twin scimitars belted at his hips.

?Oh, and how would you know all this? You dared to follow a friend? How rude.?

?I only meant to know if and where you stayed for the night; if you had left the city I would have caught up to you and revealed myself. I wanted to speak with you, but I do not intend to contradict the widespread notion that I am currently in Luskan; trouble is brewing in Castle Never right now, and sometimes people get? less careful when unaware of how close I am to their schemes.?

?And what fierce warriors were you speaking of earlier??

?Well, I have little information besides my own observations. I have seen an elderly elf that seems to be missing his bow greatly, although there is one on his shoulder. The other warrior is a tiefling that made people move out of his way as though their lives depended on it, and he was very good at conveying the feeling that their lives did depend on it. My spies could not tell me much of them besides their names and that you travelled with Valen for a time. I admit the whole thing is rather a mystery to me.?

She lifted an eyebrow. ?Oh, am I stretching your talents, Aarin??

He laughed, a rich sound that warmed her heart; she had been unsure of the welcome she might receive, but if he laughed with her, it meant he did not hold too big of a grudge against her. It was good to have him treat her like a dear friend. It was good to have a friend.

?If I had to hazard a guess, I would suppose that Valen Shadowbreath is smitten with you but currently refrains for a reason outside his control. As for Halikouelle Roscoffense, even his name was unheard of by my spies, so I would suppose he comes from some distance away from Neverwinter. I would say he is your father ? you have the same eyes ? and that he is the reason why Valen??

Suddenly the door exploded in splinters! Chama startled, looking up indignantly from her books ? indignantly, yes, not fearfully; after all, she knew perfectly well who had just broken down her door. Instantly, Aarin was nowhere to be seen, and Valen filled the doorway, eyes red, flail unhooked and tail twitching nervously.

?My lady? I heard a man?s voice in your room. Are you all right??

Lifting an eyebrow, she looked at her father squeezing a look in the doorway besides Valen?s large shoulder. He looked equally worried.

?I am perfectly fine. Between the two of you, I doubt I could ever receive a man in my room in quiet.?

Her father just had the time to frown in puzzlement before the innkeeper showed up and started yelling at them for ruining his door. After silencing him by doubling the three rooms? price, Chama ordered him to give her another room. Just across the hall, he opened a door to reveal one that was both readied and unoccupied. Fortunately, Chama had not had time to unpack her clothes yet, so moving rooms was a simple matter of grabbing her pack and her spellbook. However, the elf crossed the hall carefully slowly, mindful of Aarin who moved slowly under the cover of shadows.

?Did you manage to follow us, or are you stuck in the corridor cursing me under your breath??, she asked the empty air once she?d closed the door behind Valen, Halikouelle and herself.

?I am here. See, you are not straining my talents, my dear friend,? Aarin all but purred as he appeared from the shadows next to her.

Halikouelle gasped and reflexively swung his bow from his shoulder, while Valen growled, ?Who are you??

Grinning, Chama gestured to the spymaster. ?Aarin Gend, Neverwinter?s master of spies, also a shadow dancer and a dear friend.? She turned to her father and lover. ?As for you, I?m afraid introductions are not really necessary.?

Curiously watching Aarin, Valen hooked his flail afain. His voice truly was striking; it was low and rich, just a touch husky. Valen clearly remembered the woman he loved qualifying him as handsome. Now that he had the man under his eyes, he was forced to admit in all honesty that it was still under the truth. However, the pang of jealousy remained tiny; one night Chama had broken down in cries in Aarin?s presence, but she had not told him what tormented her. She had accepted his comforting song, and kept her secret, until later she had chosen to reveal the darkness of her past to Valen.

?You dare to go into my daughter?s room alone??, Halikouelle scoffed.

?I even climbed through the window,? the spymaster confessed shamelessly.

His eyes bulging in indignant fury, Halikouelle suddenly started to cough, an unhealthy red cast appearing on his face. Valen could only grin while patting Halikouelle on the back hard enough to stagger him.

?Father, Aarin didn?t simply come through the door because he?s not supposed to be in the city at the moment.?

Halikouelle sputtered a little, but remained otherwise silent.

?See, even my guess is right,? Aarin pointed out to Chama.

?What guess??, she frowned.

?That he is your father.?

She sighed with a smile. Aarin always knew more than he had a right to. After a curious inquiry by Valen about Aarin?s knowledge of who they were, the four of them spoke for a while, discussing how things fared in Neverwinter, Chama?s most recent adventures in Waterdeep, a bit of Valen?s past as a weapon master in the Abyss, and of the unchanging peace of Halikouelle?s elven village.

At length, Chama exploited a lull in the conversation and pushed Valen and Halikouelle outside of her room. While Valen left peacefully, Chama had to shoo her father away firmly, pretending not to hear his scandalized protests. When she managed to bolt the door closed, she sighed and rolled her eyes, wishing for a second that she had managed to pull that trick with Valen rather than Aarin.

?Aarin, I?m very glad to see you again,? she said then.

He nodded with a smile. ?So am I, my dear friend. I always hoped to hear of you again, although I did not expect it to be from such grand adventures as Undrentide or the rout of drow and Mephistopheles from Waterdeep.?

She sat on her bed and gestured for him to sit next to her, which he did, in such a relaxed manner that she could not help but wonder how many women he had shared a bed with in his life. A most indiscrete and indelicate thing to wonder of a friend, she admonished herself.

?Aarin, I?ve been meaning to apologize to you for a long time.?

He flashed her one of his devastating smiles of enticing white teeth and sparkling hazel eyes. ?Do not apologize, Chama. You have changed much since last I saw you.?

?I don?t think that nullifies the need to apologize,? she frowned.

Tentatively, he took her hand. ?I have seen Aribeth since she returned,? he told her.

?All right? now I don?t follow you. What does that have to do with anything??

?I went to apologize to her,? he went on, ?for not caring for her as I should have; she was my friend and I abandoned her to her nightmares of Morag. She smiled at me and said she forgave me, because I had my own concerns at the time. However, she also said that it warmed her heart to know I cared enough to be sorry for not helping her with her dreams.? Aarin caught Chama?s eyes. ?I feel I have abandoned you too in a way, and I am the one who should apologize.?

?What? But I??

?Just listen to me. You have changed; you are more relaxed, you are no longer cold or strained. You are no longer distant, aloof and cruel. Somehow, you managed to reach out to the world and let it touch your heart. During the last days of your adventures in Neverwinter, Morag?s yoke was heavy, and I had given up on you; I thought you were just some cruel woman. I was wrong; I should have seen that I was wrong, that you were just like everyone else. I should have reached out to you just like I should have to Aribeth. For that, Chama, I apologize.?

She smiled and hugged him tight. He allowed his arms to circle her a brief moment.

?Aarin, I?m not worth your regrets or your apologies. I treated you very badly, and you did nothing to deserve it. I took my revenge on everything and everyone for things someone else had done to me. For that, I apologize to you. Also, you should not say that you did not reach out to me. You came to me that night after I escaped the Worldstone and you offered me a cup of tea. You took me to your house, you sang for me and you spoke with me until morning. And you sent me to Master Drogan.? She took a breath, her eyes filled with tears. ?Aarin, even if you had tried to reach out to me I couldn?t have held on. Too many memories of my evil haunted Neverwinter, and I associated some things with you that would have kept me away from you. When you sent me to Drogan, you sent me to the one person in the world who could help me. You helped me more than you can ever know; I would never have known I could go to Drogan if it wasn?t for you. Aarin, my dear friend, I have to thank you for my life.?

She sniffed a bit, but since he had tears in his eyes as well, her behaviour did not embarrass her too much. Fumbling in her belt of spell components, she quickly found the amulet he had given her so long ago. In an accustomed gesture, she polished the stone gently with her thumb and the room lit with the pearly glow of the moonstone.

?When you gave it to me, you said that the shadows ahead might be too dark for me to find my way back. You don?t know how right you were. You don?t know how many times I used your amulet in Undermountain or in the Underdark, and sometimes even in Hilltop in my candle-lit room in Drogan?s house. I was in darkness when you gave it to me. Now I think I have found my way back from the shadows. I think you could take your mother?s amulet back? It served the purpose for which you had given it to me, and now I feel? I feel that, maybe, there is someone else dear to you that has shadows to walk??

She eyed him pointedly and the spymaster found his emotionless façade creaking before her careful scrutiny.

?See, you should have your amulet back,? she concluded with a grin, and buckled it on around his neck.

He smiled, surprisingly glad to have his mother?s memento back; he had thought it would feel like a spurned and dishonoured gift if ever Chama gave the amulet back to him, but with her change of hearts and her kind words, she made it feel right. Full circle.

?Thank you, Chama. My mother would be glad to know that it helped you.?

She smiled. ?She would be proud of you too, I?m sure. What?s her name??

?Sealemin,? he answered automatically, although he clearly recalled telling Chama his mother?s name before, and the wizard had never, to his knowledge, forgotten something like this before.

Chama laughed. ?I meant your someone-walking-the-shadows? name.?

The elf, with darkvision, could guess a faint blush to Aarin?s cheeks. ?Her name is Keeree.? After a long pause and another pointed stare, he elaborated, ?She is one of my spies? a new recruit. A promising shadow dancer.?

?You are the one teaching her?? He nodded wordlessly. ?Any darkness lying ahead for her??

His stare hardened. ?Her father used to beat her. One of Luskan?s High Captains? he fled his own city just before you set foot in Luskan. Keeree plans on becoming an operative there, since she knows the city, the docks and the pirates like the back of her hand.?

There was an old tune in there, even though it was not sung out completely.

?Your heart tells you to send her on another mission,? Chama surmised, ?somewhere her face won?t be so well known and where there?ll be less danger of being discovered. On the other hand, your mind tells you that, aside from yourself, no one can do a better job in Luskan. Again, you choose duty over your feelings and you put her head in the lion?s mouth.?

Looking despondent, Aarin just sighed and nodded. It was her time to take his hand.

?You know, Aarin, even you can allow other concerns than work into your heart. You won?t be human if you never allow your feelings any sway over you. Believe me, I speak from experience. Maybe you can reach some sort of compromise? Make her serve somewhere else a few years, so she gains experience and confidence, and let her face be forgotten a bit in Luskan, and then send her back there? no doubt she would quickly rebuild any network of contacts in that way.?

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Aarin smiled. ?As always Lord Nasher would be incensed to know how you advise me, Chama.?

She laughed. ?Don?t listen to his every word, Aarin. He?s got a right hand for a reason, you know! He needs someone to think on his own and point out if he makes mistakes.?

?Perhaps, but you will forgive me if I do not tell him that so bluntly.?

Chama smiled and suddenly remembered something. She fumbled in her many bags of holding.

?What are you searching for??, the spymaster asked, his insatiable curiosity aroused.

?Just wait, you?ll see,? she shot over her shoulder with a grin.

Then she extracted a sword from her pack. The scabbard was unadorned, a length of dark red leather tipped with horn, but the curved shape gave away the scimitar beneath.

?I found a few things in Hell that I thought worth keeping. The craziest thoughts have begun to make their way into my mind. Such as, maybe I?ll have a child one day, and he might have different skills than Valen or me. So I kept a few weapons I found. I think there?s a bow in there that would fit my father, but I didn?t want him to risk sending an arrow through Valen?s eye just yet, so I kept it hidden for the time being. And then there?s this.?

She extended the hilt to him. It was covered in steely wire to improve the grip, over a handle of copper dyed in the same deep red as the scabbard. The guard was also in copper, with a graceful but unadorned curve. A hum of power coursed up Aarin?s arm when he took the hilt and pulled the blade free, a deceptively simple and unadorned curve. Only a faint blue hue to the steel betrayed its powerful enchantments.

?It is called Desert Wind. As legend has it, it?s an artefact dating back to the genies that founded Calimshan. It?s been touched up by Rizolvir, a drow master weapon smith of my acquaintance. There is the touch of fire to the blade if you wish it; you wake the desert spirit encased in the weapon with the power word ?Oustoulare?.?

At the power word that Aarin repeated, red and yellow flame started coursing along the blade, searing with concealed heat. The spymaster gave a few experimental thrusts and suddenly found himself fencing friendlily with Chama, who had drawn a glowing red sword to answer to his attacks.

The powerful feel of magic coursing through him had struck Aarin speechless when he had first taken the scimitar out of its scabbard. However, the few thrusts had eased the tension.

?Thank you,? he said, at a loss of what else he was supposed to say after receiving such a gift.

?It is my pleasure to give it to you.?

?You appear tired from your journey, Chama. I will let you rest, lest your fierce guardians seek me out tomorrow to punish me for keeping you awake for so long.?

She grinned. ?Well, I?m sure you can avoid them masterfully; even my father?s keen eyes cannot see you when you are covered in shadows.?

He flashed her another one of his smiles, and it removed a great weight from her shoulders. She had not realized how much guilt she had carried over the way she had treated Aarin.

The spymaster came forward with the quiet assurance of a friend and hugged her.

?Will I see you again??, he asked when he let go.

She shrugged. ?You never know. But I don?t think so. I think? I think I?ll end up in Sigil one day or another.? She blushed; that statement was enough for Aarin to rightfully conclude that she was more than a little smitten with one tiefling.

?Well, send me letters if you ever stop your travels on Toril for long enough for correspondence to be possible.?

?I promise that I will, if you will write back to me.?

?Of course, Chama.?

He sat on the windowsill and slipped his legs outside, effortlessly finding purchase on the wooden wall. He looked up a last time at Chama.

?I wish you well, Aarin,? she whispered with a smile.

?And farewell to you, my dear friend.?

Aarin, his new scimitar belted at his left hip, slipped through the window into the night beyond, and he melted out of sight before he even reached the ground. Chama smiled proudly at him going off into darkness, to some secret task; even her father?s hunter eyes would not have managed to spot him. She shook her head as she closed the window. Surely Neverwinter itself would crumble to the ground if ever he got away from the city for more than a few months at a time.

[DalreïDal]

I admit it, since NWN2 I?ve had a soft spot for rogues, particularly for shadow dancers.  I mean, Hide in Plain Sight combined with Improved Evasion and a ludicrous DEX stat transform a rogue into a juggernaut of destruction capable of holding the front lines.  I know, I know, shadow dancers are supposed to be a rare, why, practically legendary breed of rogues, and so on and so forth, and I just happen to picture two of them in the same story here, so that?s probably anti-cannon or something.  But hey, a shadow dancer?s gotta have an apprentice or two or the breed dies, legendary or not.  So there you have it.  I also hope you?re not tired of shadow dancers by the end of this chapter, ?cause I got a story or two in store with a shadow dancer protagonist?

Chapter XLI. Of the many things that can be called dancing

The construction of the new temple of Tyr in the Beggars? Nest was well underway.  Stone slabs had been cemented together to form a smooth floor, around which wooden walls had been erected already, even though the holes for the windows hung empty for the moment.  Wooden dowels held the roof?s beams into place, and grey-blue slate tiles already covered them in half.  Despite the large crescent of moon, bright enough to cast shadows outside, darkness shrouded the interior of the temple.  Carts filled with tiles, planks, beams and timber, discarded saws, hammers, planes and other tools littered every corner.  A deep layer of slate-dust and wood splinters rested on the ground, keeping trace of innumerable feet trampling the center of the room and the way to the doors.  A careless step would kick up a small cloud of dust.

The place provided a variety of private accesses that were difficult to monitor, was conveniently deserted at night, and possessed many shadows and hiding spots.  All of which made for a perfect playground for an apprentice thief, so Aarin Gend had chosen it to train Keeree.

Beyond its immediate use as a training ground, the temple would be under Aribeth?s responsibility once its construction was completed, so Aarin had struck an arrangement with her to use it as a base of sorts.  He could reside there when he needed to entertain the illusion of his absence from the city, or he could lodge people in need of a safe shelter.

The spymaster was currently entering through one of the windows on the shadowed side, taking advantage of a lone cloud chasing briefly before the moon.  He had warily watched around before slipping through, but had been unable to catch any glimpse nor any trace of Keeree?s passage.  Fierce pride rose in his heart; she was progressing so quickly that she now challenged him on his own ground.  She could glide from shadow to shadow with the grace of an experienced thief, but she added her own feminine touch to it as well.  Less and less often lately, Aarin could stand invisible and hidden, and manage to spot her.  Then he would observe her as she moved slowly, carefully, with a measured economy of movement to each of her steps.  Gifted with a short and slim stature, she hardly left any tracks at all, even without conscious effort.

So many things had been compared to a dance before; Aarin had never dared to voice his thoughts to her, that the way she moved compared to the most graceful choreography he had ever seen being delivered by ladies in their expensive gowns in Castle Never.  Nevertheless, her beauty and grace when she moved in the shadows always reminded him of a dance; he had never seen anyone give more honour to the title of shadow dancer.

He brought his thoughts back to the present; allowing his pride that her passage was undetectable to distract him was a grave mistake.  It should serve as a reminder that he must be even more careful not to let her surprise him.

His feet had just hit the ground soundlessly and without raising a cloud of dust when a gust of air feathered across his neck.  Clinically his mind registered that her guesses of his moves gained in accuracy; she was starting to know him quite well.  His old habit of loneliness in the shadows suddenly reared its ugly head and doused him with irrational fear.  If anyone had a chance to assassinate him, it was this slip of a girl, this young woman whom he loved.  Could he allow himself to love someone who was a match for him?

The thought flashed in his mind in an instant, but his fraction of a second of hesitation was not missed on Keeree?s part.  Her fake slash to his throat faltered in response.

Aarin harshly pulled himself together and ducked his head to the side as he spun, bringing his left hand as a fake dagger aiming for her chest.  Her right hand blocked with lightning speed even as she expertly flipped her left hand to the side, grazing along his forehead over his left eye.  If she had hit with a dagger, the gash would have bled down in his eyes in a most impairing manner.  He jabbed his straight fingers into her left side, but she held herself far enough away to ensure he could inflict nothing more than a flesh wound.

Aarin assessed that the first round was even.  He took a step back, but Keeree knew all too well that he had the advantage when stealth was involved, so she pressed her attack fiercely, driving him back with her superior speed.  With naked hands like this, he could not keep up with her and in merely a minute she sidestepped his delaying guard and struck straight at his heart twice, once with each hand.  Aarin smiled slightly and bowed, acknowledging defeat.

Not a cry, a grunt or a gasp had marked their fight, and they seamlessly melded back into the shadows.  Aarin led her to a corner where crates full of slate made for good seats.  They could speak with little fear of being overheard here, but nevertheless kept their voices low.

?Congratulations,? Aarin began, ?I could not find where you came in and you sidestepped my guard masterfully.  Your training at arms shall have to be with my scimitars soon if I am to hold my ground against you.?

Being a man and a pirate for all those years, Aarin had superior strength and the scimitars were still his weapons of choice.  They afforded him a longer range and more serious wounds, while Keeree rather counted on the advantage of speed with daggers.

Keeree?s fair skin betrayed her blush of pleasure.  ?Thank you, sir.?

None of his operatives but Chama had ever been on a first name basis with him.

?You made one mistake, however, Keeree.?

She frowned in thought as she surveyed in her mind?s eye the earlier engagement.

?I slipped a little too far once, when I feigned towards your thigh, and I could have finished you earlier by slicing across your abdomen when I pushed you off-balance.  Though it makes a lot more blood and the death would have taken more time, so I decided for a clean kill.?

Aarin nodded.  ?That was a good choice and your slip was acceptable.  I was referring to your hesitation at the beginning.?

She paused thoughtfully.  ?Actually, with all due respect, sir, I?m not sure that was entirely a mistake.?

He lifted an amused eyebrow.  ?How so??

?Well, maybe it was a mistake, after all,? she reflected.  ?You told me on my first lesson that to dance with shadows you must trust your instincts and react instantly, rather than rely on your slower thoughts.?

?That I did.?

?Well, for a second there just before I touched you by the window, my guts told me something was wrong.  You were? you were too intense.  I don?t have the words to describe it.  For just a fleeting moment the idea of danger filled my mind, as though you were about to turn and kill me if I tried to touch you.?  Then she lowered her eyes and blushed in earnest.  ?I?m sorry, sir, I know you would never do that.  I just trusted my instincts over my head for a moment out of habit.  I know you would never hurt me willingly.?

Before he even knew he?d decided to begin following Chama?s advice right then and there, Aarin was speaking.  ?Your instincts did not exactly betray you then, Keeree.?

Tensing, she slowly turned towards him, a little like someone who suddenly realizes they are sitting next to a sleeping lion and are afraid to startle him awake with any sudden move.

?Sir??  Guardedly, she got to her feet and scanned the surrounding shadows for any sign of guards or assassins.

?When I slipped inside, I was very proud of you because your tracks were unidentifiable.  I thought you were my best operative now.  Then I felt you move right next to me and realized that you could predict my moves now.  And I thought that if anyone could kill me, it would be you.?

?Sir!?, she stammered.  ?I would never??

?I can?t know that,? he stated gently.

Suddenly her guts were telling her that he was not planning on killing her after all.  Stomping her foot angrily, she glared at him with every ounce of her fury.

?Does that ridiculous accusation have anything to do with the fact that I am a turn-coat??, she demanded imperiously.

He was momentarily bewildered.  ?No, I meant??

And he deserved to get cut off mid-sentence too.  ?Then why in the Abyss do you think I would try to kill you??

?Please, Keeree, do not be angry.  I did not mean to accuse you.  I meant that, in general, we are unaware of people?s motives, so anyone can be betrayed by anyone.?

Still angry, she huffed, ?What a ridiculous principle by which lead one?s life.  People don?t spend their whole lives betraying each other!?

Aarin gazed at her with such sorrow-filled eyes that she was suddenly reminded that he was far older than her.  ?I experienced betrayal in the past, Keeree,? he remarked.

She floundered, ?I?m sorry, sir, just now I didn?t think of Lady Aribeth.?

He sighed.  ?I was not referring to Lady Aribeth; her motives were right before our eyes had we only looked, but that was not what I was getting at.  Earlier, when you moved to strike at me, I thought that if anyone stood a chance of killing me, it was you, and that I have no way of knowing for sure that you would never betray me.  But, in the end, the point is that I chose to trust you.?

There was the slightest of hesitations.  ?Thank you, sir.?

?Keeree, I?m not very good with people??

?That?s not true, sir!  All your spies like to work for you.  You always seem to know everyone and you guess what any target will do by what little information you managed to gather and because you?re a good judge of character.?

He smiled sadly.  ?Thank you, Keeree, but you?ve just confirmed what I meant.  People address me as ?sir? and think of me as ?Neverwinter?s spymaster?, and I have no one to blame but myself? with my conviction that anyone might betray me and my habit of holding everyone at arms? length.?

Keeree watched him silently, and Aarin knew it was unfair to let her struggle to find an answer.

?Keeree? would you do something for me??

?Yes, sir??  her voice faltered on the last word, as though she dared not stray from protocol even though she suspected he disliked the title.

?Would you call me Aarin??

A slow, happy smile blossomed on her lips.  ?Of course.  Aarin.?

?Thank you,? he said quietly.

During the short following silence, Keeree had time to puzzle over what had drove him to such loneliness, and over what had triggered the change of mind.

?You seem in a strange mood tonight,? she observed.  ?Does it have anything to do with the fact that you had to cancel yesterday?s lesson on short notice??

Aarin instantly noticed the change of registry and cursed himself for a fool.  Had Keeree just been awaiting his permission to become closer than one of his operatives?  How many people just waited on him like her?

?I guess so, although I am not aware why.?

She laughed softly at the cryptic answer; he did not even seem to notice the mysteriousness of his words.  ?Do you wish to tell me what happened yesterday, or is it confidential and should I just stop pestering you with my questions??

He answered with utmost serious.  ?If there are things I must keep secret for the sake of Neverwinter, I will tell you so.  As for pestering me with questions, Lord Nasher once told me that if his instincts told him to hound me, then it was faultlessly worth doing so.?

She chuckled.  ?All right.  So what happened yesterday??

?I went to see a dear friend.  By chance I saw her arriving at the gates, and I knew she would not stay for long, so I went to see her yesterday night.?  He glanced at Keeree.  ?You probably have heard something of her.  Her name is Chamaedaphne Indiwasi, but most here, at least for a while, considered her the Hero of Neverwinter.?

Obvious surprise registered on Keeree?s features.  ?She was in Neverwinter yesterday?  How can have I missed such an important person being here?  The whole city must have been in an uproar!?

The spymaster sighed regretfully as he slowly shook his head.  ?The plague swept the city a year and a half ago.  People have short memories, even more so when the memories are sad or unpleasant; most of the people she saved wouldn?t recognize her now.?

?What business did she have in Neverwinter??, Keeree inquired.

?She wanted to check on Aribeth, whom she freed from the Hells?  To think they would meet again beyond the veil?  Chama also wanted to speak with me.  We had a few scores to settle, so to speak.?

Appraisingly, Keeree observed the spymaster.  She had never asked his age, but he seemed about forty years-old.  He was not old; he was still strong and lithe.  His age had added enticing assurance to his charm, and he was a handsome and seductive man.  Even though she had not missed any of this on their first meeting a few months back, she had not allowed herself to dwell on it too much.  This man trained her, and he appeared to be the sort who kept that strictly professional.  As a matter of fact, although she could quite well predict his battle moves and his responses to many professional situations, she knew preciously little about him as a man.

Now that she privately acknowledged that he was seductive, she wondered at the exact nature of his relationship with Chamaedaphne Indiwasi, considering they had scores to settle.

?We owed each other an apology,? he carried on, ?and thanks.  Back when she resided in Neverwinter, I often thought we were not very good or very successful friends, but after talking to her yesterday night, I realized that we might both have learned more than we thought from each other.?

Aarin fell silent, then, and Keeree thought maybe he needed some more prodding.

?How is she like??

The ghost of a mirthless smile crossed Aarin?s face.  ?You mean to ask if she is anything like what the rumours say about her,? he corrected.

?Well, I did not mean to sound disrespectful, but everything that is said about her is very confusing.  I tried asking a few of our own men, but they refused to discuss her.?

?I understand them.  Even I am reluctant to answer that question.  Chama saved Neverwinter, there is no doubt to that.  She secured the academy by herself, she found the cure?s reagents, she conquered Helm?s Hold, she found the location of the cult, she stormed Luskan and its Host Tower, she found the Words of Power, she dealt with Maugrim and Aribeth, and she killed Morag.  She paid in blood for all of those deeds, and she never shied from it.  Still, what Chama did for us, she did not do for our sake.  She did it for gold and for lust of power.  She revelled in battle and she loved the spoils of war.  I think you could describe her as a mercenary.?

Keeree nodded; that was what she had thought to herself after hearing all the tales.  She was not shocked, but still disappointed.  The heroes of old were not mercenaries; Lord Nasher had certainly not been one.  Suddenly she wondered if Aarin had ever been a mercenary, and how such a dutiful man could have worked with and befriended someone like Chamaedaphne, however badly.

?But there was more to her than that,? he went on.  ?When at first you met her, you thought nothing but her quest for magic spurred her on in life, but a strange quality hung about her and made you want to change that.  I?ve seen people of all kinds fall to it; drunken ?tavern adventurers?, clerics, motherly innkeepers, pirates of the Sandy Tavern, anyone, really, but no one ever succeeded.  Some she sent away, others chose to keep their distances once they knew her better.  After you took a measure of her desire for power, it was some time before you could feel the undercurrent of cruelty hidden under her ambition.  And it was very long before you could see the strange pain that drove her onward.

?She was a complex person, and her time in Neverwinter changed her.  I think we were truly friends on only one occasion.  When she emerged from the Worldstone, she was shaken and she did not look like she could spend the night alone.  I offered her a cup of tea and I brought her home.?  He did not stop to smile at Keeree?s blush and the way she quickly averted her eyes.  ?I spoke with her until the wee hours of morning, when she finally collapsed into sleep on my couch; seriously she should not have lasted that long, exhausted as she was by her battles.  When she woke the next morning, I packed her off with a caravan headed to Hilltop, and she became the apprentice of an old friend of mine, a dwarven mage named Drogan.?

Despite the blush lingering on her cheeks, Keeree?s voice and face were calm enough when she inquired, ?You kept her awake all night talking and you sent her away to a hole of a village the next morning, and that?s when you were a true friend to her??

?Well, true that we did not only talk; we did drink a few cups of tea and some singing was involved, but mostly, yes, it is as you said.  I sent her to Drogan because I did not know what she needed, but I could sense it was not me.  I trusted Drogan to be wise enough to help her.  After seeing her again yesterday, I am quite sure he did.?

Keeree suddenly smiled.  ?I?m glad then.  I wouldn?t have liked to stay with the idea of a distraught Hero of Neverwinter.?

The spymaster laughed.

?Did she fare well since the events of Neverwinter??, the young shadow dancer asked further.

?It is hard to tell.  She was so relaxed that I could hardly recognize her, so it seems that in a way, she has.  Yet I could discern new scars on her, and she seemed terribly exhausted.  I think she will fare better now that her trials are over; she obviously reached some inner peace, and she found someone.?

The young woman grinned impishly.  ?Girls are always interested in gossip.  Is she going to marry??

?I am not sure, but she did find a man who loves her.  Imagine my horror when he overheard us speaking in her room, surmised some man threatened her, and broke down the door to find me alone with her.?

Keeree tried to keep a straight face ? he had been facing death after all ? but could not help falling into helpless laughter.  ?I imagine his surprise when you disappeared into shadows and sneaked on him.?

?I would not count on my talents if pitched against a tiefling veteran of the Blood Wars.?

?A tiefling??  She blinked a few times.  ?This Chamaedaphne seems to have quite an extraordinary history.?

?I think she does.  So that is what puts me in such a strange mood.  Having her back made me realize that maybe I could take more chances at trusting people.  It made me realize that I?ve made myself lonely.?

She smiled at him, an encouraging smile.  ?I think that you?re right, Aarin.  You should take more chances at trusting people.?

And he smiled back, and that night they trained a bit longer together, using their bare hands as fake daggers.

[DalreïDal]

Time passed so fast, it?s hard to believe but my stay in France is drawing to an end!  Tomorrow I?ll be taking the train and leaving the Gironde department for two weeks of vacation and visit through France.  I?m going to Cadre Noir in Saumur (horseback riding, airs above the ground), to Mont St. Michel (Michael in English maybe?  Arthurian legends AND birding delight at this time of year!), and finally to Paris (it would be a shame to go to France twice without visiting Versailles once).

So, I should be pretty busy in the next two weeks, and I?m not sure I?ll always have internet access, so it might be some time before I post an update.  However, just to keep you hooked until then?  There?s only one chapter and the epilogue after this!  Stay tuned!

Chapter XLII. Prodigal return

Once back on the road, Chama, Valen and Halikouelle made good progress.  While Chama looked increasingly nervous as they neared Saarelmith, Halikouelle seemed more relieved and relaxed with each passing day.  Unlike his daughter, he had not left his home for an adventuring life, and homesickness had dogged him every minute away from his beloved forest.

?We are only a short way,? the older elf suddenly announced joyfully.  ?In less than a league we should meet Saarelmith?s sentries.?

A mix of evergreens and deciduous trees grew thick and high on each side of the road, and the dense underbrush of young saplings, bushes and thorny raspberry patches discouraged any foray into the mysterious depths of the elven forest.  The air was cool and still between the trunks, but a gentle wind rustled the leaves overhead and the calming sound wafted down through the branches.

Time seemed more elusive in the muted forest, so Valen had lost track of the distance covered when Chama slowed then stopped her horse, soon imitated by her travelling companions.  An enthusiastic smile on her lips, she pulled her horse close to Valen?s huge steed and pointed over his shoulder with a finger.  Doing his best to follow the direction she pointed, he squinted in the late afternoon light filtering through the leaves and needles.

?Look, high up there.  See that dead trunk with still a bit of bark on it??, she inquired.

?Yes??

?The bit of bark is not a bit of bark.?

Instantly, Valen tensed and unhooked his flail, but Chama?s chuckle indicated that it may not be bark, but it was not a threat either.

?It?s a great horned owl,? she told him laughingly.

The tiefling squinted with a vengeance through the dappled shadows and sunlight that hindered his sight.

?I?m sorry, Chama.  As much as I?d like to see it, my eyes are not quite as sharp as yours.?

Turning to her father, Chama threw him such a supplicant look that he actually shook his head as though to break free of a daze.  Valen nearly smiled in sympathy; Chama rarely asked anything so trivial, so her look was all the more devastating when she used it, because it was all new and sparkling.

?Father??

?Yes, Chamae??

?Can you please make it come a little closer?  Like all the animals of these woods, I?m sure it knows you and wouldn?t mind?  Pretty please??

With a sigh at the waste of his skills, the ranger fished the lunch?s leftovers in his saddlebag.  Cutting a small piece of cooked hare, Halikouelle turned to the bird and beckoned with it.  Ruffling its feathers in protest of being awoken in the middle of the afternoon, the owl nevertheless took off and silently glided through the air.  Without even a whistle of its wings against the air, it landed on Halikouelle?s outstretched wrist and started to tear at the proffered meat with its sharp beak.

Puzzling over what he could possibly have in common with the bird, Valen observed it carefully.  He had never seen a great horned owl before, and he took in the erect tufts of feathers on each side of its head and its impressive size.  For now, its sharp talons draped lazily over Halikouelle?s archery wrist guard, and the soft feathers covering its legs partly hid the ferocious claws.  The owl?s yellow eyes were piercing and Valen could relate them to his own pale blue ones.  Between strong tugs at the offered meat, the bird haughtily threw irritated looks at Chama and Valen, as though aware of why he?d been awoken at such an unpleasant hour.

?My lady, I do hope I did not remind you of a great horned owl because I scowled at you so venomously,? Valen whispered in an unconscious effort not to bother the great owl further.

She chuckled.  ?No, it?s the horns and the eyes.  But, remember that the owl here was woken in the middle of its night, and you aren?t always of the most pleasant disposition when you happens to have the middle watch.?

Valen looked the intimidating big bird over again, taking in the soft-looking down of its stomach, the long spotted feathers of its wings, and its imperious yellow glare.

?Maybe we should give it some peace and quiet, now,? Valen whispered.  In an afterthought, he gave an attempt at honouring nature in the elven tradition.  ?Halikouelle?  Can you thank it for coming so close and letting me admire it??

Halikouelle nodded and softly murmured something in elvish to the great horned owl.  The bird flapped its wings impatiently once, then took off and returned to its dead trunk.  Valen turned to the ranger.

?Thank you for calling it for us.  I?m glad I have finally seen that elusive bird.?

?You were very lucky,? the elf confirmed.  ?During the day, they are difficult to find because of their skill at hiding and, during the night, they are hard to discern in the darkness because of their colours.?

With a last look at the once-more sleeping great horned owl, they silently resumed their advance towards Saarelmith.  Soon, three elves dropped from the trees overhead, dressed in brown and green forest garb.  Their wary stance dissolved into enthusiasm when their eyes slid from the tiefling to the two elves.

?Halikouelle!  You?ve been gone for so long, we were all worried you?d never come back.  We?re so happy to see you!?

Joyfully, the three sentries pulled the old ranger down from his horse to shake his hand and slap him on the back.  Chama and Valen dismounted in turn.  Then the elves curiously turned to take in the wizard ? two pairs of eyes widened in surprised recognition ? and the tiefling.

?You see I have not come alone,? Halikouelle said.  ?My daughter travels with me.  Chamae, maybe you remember Carenel, Dunarien and Gendanien??

She stepped forward with a timid smile.  ?Carenel, Dunarien, I remember you, we trained as rangers together.  Gendanien, however?  Maybe you were not yet training when I left??  As she said so, she extended her hand for a handshake.

Instead, the ranger turned her hand over in his and kissed it.  ?That must be the case, Chamaedaphne, I am a few decades younger than Carenel and Dunarien.?

When the next one, whose name Valen could not determine was Carenel or Dunarien, kissed her hand for even longer, the tiefling decided that it was about time they remembered his presence.  Keeping his face cautiously blank, he rolled his shoulders, straightened his back and puffed up his chest.  At the creaks of his armour, the three sentries? looks swiftly went from Chama to him.  Apparently, his mere presence sufficed to snap them back in their place, because the third one kissed Chama?s hand only timidly before straightening.

?It?s good to have you back, Chamae,? the palest-haired guard said with a grin.

?It?s good to be back, Carenel.  I never thought you?d be a captain when I saw you again.  Time hardly seems to have passed.?

?It must have been dreadful to be out there all this time in human cities, with filthy dwarves all around??

And all those dreadful blood-thirsty tieflings, I bet, Valen thought.

?Filth is not distributed in accordance with races,? Chama answered coldly, then turned to the tiefling patiently waiting behind her.  ?I?d like you to meet Valen Shadowbreath, my adventuring companion of the last months.?

?He is a warrior of great valour,? Halikouelle suddenly chimed in.  ?On the road between Waterdeep and Neverwinter, we were ambushed by a large group of bandits and Valen fell fifteen of them himself.?

Halikouelle?s unexpected praised came as a pleasant surprise to Valen, and he smiled gratefully at the father of his beloved.

Somewhat haughtily, the three guards nodded, then Carenel stepped forward to shake Valen?s hand.  ?As a captain of Saarelmith?s guard, I extend our welcome to you, Valen Shadowbreath.  As a guest to the elves, you will be treated respectfully, but please respect our customs and our love for all living creatures while within our borders.?

Solemnly, Valen bowed.  ?I thank you for your welcome.  I am not aware of all elven customs, but I will do my best not to show any disrespect.?

And with that the three sentries stepped off the path and allowed them to pass.

***

The elven village was just that; a village.  Small houses harmoniously built to meld against trees or rocks stood around a village square, where a clear pool and stream glittered besides a thick oak with an altar of stone leant against its trunk.  A small temple, with its leaf-carved stones grown over by moss and vines, presided over the square.  In order to following the natural disposition of the terrain, the houses were not built along straight streets, but rather formed a maze which Halikouelle, Chama and Valen slowly navigated to its center.  At each window or doorstep they passed, incredulous eyes followed their advance and, by the time they reached the village square, no less than fifty people trailed them, eager for gossip, news and tales.

At the centre of the village, a tall female in an elaborate green dress left her devotion at the altar of the oak and walked over to Halikouelle with a welcoming smile.  The elves immediately surrounded them to eavesdrop on the conversation, bright-eyed at seeing that Halikouelle was back with his daughter and eager to hear of his adventures.  People more carefully showed curiosity towards Chama, but the older elves that remembered her and the circumstances in which she had left eventually began smiling at her and inquiring about her adventures when their questions did not appear to bring back hurtful memories.  Children clung to their mothers? skirts or their fathers? legs, peeping around them to steal a glance at the wizard stranger and the big man with horns and tail.

So many people wanted to hear about them that they spent nearly two hours in the village square.  Eventually Halikouelle pleaded they needed to put something in their empty stomachs and managed to extirpate them from the curiousness of the villagers.  Halikouelle?s neighbours invited the three of them for dinner as an apology for holding them so long.  The family consisted of the mother and father, a grandmother and four youths (Valen would never have hazarded a guess at their age, but they looked like human teenagers to his eyes).  Apparently Halikouelle counted the father as a friend and turned the questioning around, inquiring about any and all happenings within Saarelmith while he had been away.

More considerate than the press of people of the village square, the neighbours did not keep them late, knowing they must be weary from the long travel.  The three travellers crossed the yard to Halikouelle?s.  His house blended against the foot of a small hill, the vines crawling over the rotund façade contributing to the seamless harmony.

The sight of her old room exactly as it had been when she had left it, untouched after all these years, deeply shocked Chama.  For over thirty decades, she had lived in tents or inn rooms.  The entirety of her worldly belongings held into three bags of holding: armour, weapons, spell components, flint and tinder, a bedroll, a tent, a pan and knife, a fishing pole, soap, a brush and pins for her hair.

And now, she found all those things that belonged to her; her bed with the coverlet her mother had embroidered while pregnant, the sparrow nest she had found on the ledge under her window and had recuperated once the fledglings had left, the painting by her childhood friend hanging on a wall, the various mementos from her forays into the forest, the beautiful pieces of wood and rock, patiently sculptured by nature, exposed on a shelf over her bed, her many books on another shelf in a corner of the room.

?Why? why did you keep it untouched, Father??, she breathed.

?At first, because I thought you would come back.  And later? because there was no need to change it, and I did not have the heart to throw your things away.?

Nodding, Chama silently walked from one object to the next, lightly brushing her fingers here and there through the thin layer of dust.  Silently, Valen watched her reminisce about each object, as though to capture again a childhood she had done her best to wipe from her memory in time with the rest of her past.

Halikouelle offered to take Valen through a tour of the house to give Chama some privacy.  It was a humble house, with a kitchen, no dining or living room, and three rooms.  However, the bath room was a marvel; a small stream previously running on the hillside fell from the ceiling into a pool carved in the wooden floor, and a drainpipe holed through the exterior wall emptied the overflowing water outside in a gutter.  Valen had never seen anything like it before, and Halikouelle had to explain that he must stand under the running water to wash.  Once alone in the bath room, Valen gladly stepped out of his armour and clothes.  The water was a bit brisk, but he felt revivified once clear of the dust and sweat and in a set of clean clothes.

Idly, the tiefling studied the carved wooden door handles in the kitchen while Halikouelle, then Chama went for a bath.  He wondered if it was Halikouelle?s work but did not dare inquire.  He had hoped to kiss his beloved good night, but Halikouelle pointedly waited right besides Chama and Valen until she sighed and wished them both good night.  Just to be sure, Halikouelle waited for half an hour after Chama and Valen had retired to their rooms.

Briefly, Chama considered sneaking out of her room to Valen?s, but she was too tired and there would be time for that later.  It was not as though she had not planned anything, after all.

***

The next night, the village threw a party in the central square to welcome back Halikouelle and Chamaedaphne.  On one side of the square, elves had set a long table and tightly packed it with platters of food of all kinds.  Opposite sprawled a dance floor at the foot of a small stage upon which sat a small orchestra, and merry dancing was already underway.

Valen had little clothes, but he had put on his cleanest linens and curiously speculated about what Chama would wear.  However, before the woman could finish her complex feminine rituals and exited her room, a Halikouelle in high spirits had dragged Valen to the village square.  He had happily explained to the tiefling that it was custom for the men to get to the party first, and drink and dance while waiting for the women to arrive.  When they did, they were the ones to choose their partners, and after a first dance everyone settled for dinner.  Later, once the food had been properly honoured, there would be more dancing.

Standing more than a head taller than most elves, Valen drew many glances.  Some daring youths even came and asked him a few questions, and he did not mind answering because their curiosity was earnest and polite.

However, Valen conversed only distractedly, more preoccupied with the customs Halikouelle had told him about.  It was all very embarrassing, but not knowing who else to ask, he finally gathered his courage and plunged ahead.  ?Halikouelle??

?Yes, Valen??

?Is the first dance anything I am susceptible to know??

At the old ranger?s sharp look, Valen felt himself blush.  ?Why?  Do you think you are going to dance tonight??

?I do not know, but I hope so.  However, I would not like to make a fool of myself and to shame my partner because I do not know the steps.?

Halikouelle kept his peace for a second, then gave up and laughed.  Valen decided to take it as a good sign.  ?Usually, it?s a four-steps court dance,? the old elf finally provided.  ?Nothing too exotic, I believe??

Valen breathed out a sigh of relief.  ?Not at all.?  He had learned with his mother a long time ago, but some parts he could only remember fuzzily.  However, he knew enough not to turn himself into laughing stock for the four hundred elves that would attend the first dance.

Gradually, the music died down and a hush fell on the men as the first of the women appeared.  They had gathered in the local temple in the course of the last hour while the men drank and danced.  The first to appear was the priestess that had prayed at the oak?s altar when Halikouelle had entered the village square.  More women filed out the temple, all graceful and unearthly beautiful elves in their most intricate dresses, dressed in shades of green or brown in honour of the trees and the earth.  But Valen only wanted to see one elf.

When she appeared, everyone turned to look at her, since she was the one expected guest.

He stared, like everyone else.  She had changed so much in the little time they had travelled together.  There was a physical change: she had put on some weight, growing from near skeletal to athletically slim.  What was more striking, however, was the change in attitude.  She would never have dared to wear her current dress the first days in Lith My?athar; in fact, Valen was surprised she wore it at all.  A construction of green and black silk ? his colours, he realized breathlessly ? it had sleeves, a snug bodice and a flowing skirt.  Cut low in front, it exposed a fair amount of chest and shoulder, as well as her delicate neck.  She wore her hair looped away from her face and piled on top of her head before falling in smooth curls down to the middle of her back.  The sight of the entire length of her creamy ears in full view sent his heart racing ? certainly she had learned the meaning of the gesture in the Underdark, and she did it just for him.

But it was not only her choice of clothes either.  It was the confidence with which she carried herself; the ease with which she inhabited her body; the charm she exuded in the slow swing of her hips.

At last, her perception of herself, shattered in her youth, was truly healed.  She was beautiful and she knew it.  Among the elves, she was no flawless beauty, Valen acknowledged, but it was irrelevant.  She was graceful, and striking, and beautiful nevertheless; there was no need for perfection.

Her velvety black eyes looked only at him as she made her way to him through the crowd.  He waited, breathlessly, until she stopped in front of him and her father.  Curtsying to Halikouelle, she then turned back to Valen, extending a hand.  He kissed it, allowing his lips to linger, before he guided her to the dance floor.

He pulled her in his arms, the dance began, and Valen fiercely focused on the steps.  When he did not miss one for the first few minutes, he allowed himself to relax slightly.

?It appears you have decided you will survive dancing with me,? Chama teased.

?I would rather say I will not shame you with my insufficient knowledge of court dances.?

Perfectly in time, he let go of her waist and walked three steps forward with just her hand in his, before taking her in his arms again and twirling her around.

?Nonsense.  You are doing well,? Chama encouraged him.

With his concentration loosening slightly, he now noticed people whispering in the elven tongue around them.

?What are they saying??, he inquired in what he hoped was a low voice.  Although you can never be sure with keen elven ears.

?That you?re too big to be dancing this and should be tripping over your own feet any time now.  Of course I know they?re wrong, otherwise I would have asked my father to dance.?

Valen smiled ruefully.  ?I am not such a keen dancer, my lady.  It might be better if you danced with your father next, I know he would be glad to.?

?Maybe I will, but I preferred to dance with you first, Granduc.?

Looking each other in the eye, they danced on in silence and, for the lapse of a song, the rest of the world stopped to exist.  It was just them and how they moved in time with the music.  When the tune ended, Valen bowed and kissed Chama?s hand again.

?Will you sit with me??, she asked.

?With pleasure, my lady.?

Valen felt relieved to finally reach the long table and sit next to her.  Her father settled down on her other side, and Carenel came to sit in front of them with his two ranger friends.  Each time Chama looked away, the three rangers shot murderous glares at Valen, who did his best not to laugh to their faces.  He had earned his place by Chama?s side, even if those three elves did not know it, and they were not even competition enough to annoy him with their obvious manoeuvres.  Chama however, true to herself, did her best to be civil and include them in the conversation.

One of the first questions was how an elf and a tiefling had met, and Chama explained why she had set down into Undermountain and how she ended up in the Underdark.

?The Underdark!?, Carenel exclaimed.  Hushed whispers travelled up and down the table at the name of the feared lair of the drow.

?Yes.  It was rather intimidating at first, but I landed among followers of Eilistraee, so it was not as bad as it sounds.?

Remembering how uncertain she had appeared that first night, Valen put a hand on her shoulder, as though his reassurance now could erase her fear of then.  Feeling Halikouelle?s eyes on him, though, he took his hand away as casually as he could and refilled her cup of wine.

Chama plunged into a description the Underdark, its caves, dust, secret passageways, and the Dark River.  Valen was grateful that she only spoke of the Seer?s benevolence, of Imloth?s goodness of heart, and of the grandeur of the Underdark.  No doubt these elves had never heard of the Underdark in anything but frightening tales, and he wished they would think of him or the Seer?s followers in other terms.  Chama described the underground maze in the voice of someone who, against all expectations, had loved it.

***

Dodging inquiries about the last thirty decades of her life started to tire Chama.  Privately she decided she would give it another half hour for politeness sake for all the work everyone had pitched in, then she would say out loud she was tired, and Valen would escort her home.  Her father would probably follow suit, but she decided that tonight, she would kiss her lover goodnight even if Halikouelle stood there watching them and snickering at them.

She granted her father one dance right away, and he let her go back to Valen with a sweet smile.  Then she danced twice with Valen, and then she decided it would be all right to leave.  She thanked the priestess and the women who had organized most of the party, then took Valen?s arm and he guided her back to Halikouelle?s house, the ranger close on their heels.

Halikouelle prepared some tea which they shared in the kitchen, exchanging their impressions about the night of revelry.  Then Halikouelle cleared his throat, visibly coloured and made his way to the corridor leading to his room.

?Well, all this dancing has tired my old bones, and we are supposed to show Valen around tomorrow.  I will retire now.  Good night.?

Valen and Chama stared in astonishment at her father?s departing back.  A few seconds passed in silence and Valen murmured jokingly, ?Don?t move.  I?m sure it?s a trap.?

Chama collapsed into a fit of giggles.  Taking his hand, she dragged him to his room and advanced on him until he backed into the smooth wood of his room?s door.  His eyes darkening by the second, he looked down at her.

?Would you like to kiss me goodnight??

She already stood so close that he merely had to extend his arms to embrace her.  He kissed her, one hand pressed to her lower back, and she melted in his arms.  The knowledge that they were alone sent a heady rush of temptation through them both, and the kiss quickly turned passionate.

However, Halikouelle was just one door down, so Valen regretfully pulled away, rested his forehead against hers and tried to slow his own breathing.  Shutting her eyes tightly, she pushed away from him.  He felt a mix of relief and frustration that she was reasonable, because he was unsure of his resolve had she decided to tempt him further.

?Goodnight, my love,? he murmured, before he slipped in his room and closed the door.

He let out a long, longing sigh, and he heard a similar sigh echo his own on the other side of the door.  Falling face first onto his bed, Valen buried his face in his pillow in fear that elven keen ears might hear him moan helplessly.  Then he smiled.  True, being close to her but not being with her was torture, but it was exquisite torture.

***

The next day, Chama and Halikouelle showed Valen around the village and the surrounding forest.  The seamless harmony between nature, construction, architecture and ornamentation deeply impressed Valen.  After his appreciative comments on elven craftsmanship, Halikouelle spoke longingly of Suldanessellar?s and Evereska?s palaces, and Valen ached to see their beauty, somewhat like the elves instinctually desired to, he imagined.

?Father, why don?t you just go and see??, Chama asked matter-of-factly.

The idea took the old ranger aback.  ?Leave Saarelmith?  To go so far??

?You?ve already been to Waterdeep.  Suldanessellar isn?t really much farther.?

He considered a long moment.  ?I am not sure, Chamae.  I am old and I dread the prospect of finding myself so far from home, even as I long for Suldanessellar?s beauty.  I think all those years away have changed you; you are not bonded to this forest as you once were.  Travel is not a life fit for all elves, and I think I am not made for it.?

?I am still bonded to the forest, but there are other things I long for too.  I long for magical power; I long for a meaningful life; I long to leave my mark on the world.  This lessens the need for the forest.?

?I long for nothing more than being a ranger here; maybe that is why I cannot travel as easily as you.  I never dreamed of a life outside this village.?

Valen listed distractedly, drinking in the quiet of the forest.  It was a haven of peace, all around and within too.  At least once a day, he had a thought for the fact he was free of the demon ? free to enjoy the simple joys of life like walking undisturbed in a quiet forest.  So he basked in the tranquility and his own serenity, until at the end of the afternoon they reluctantly finished the hike and made their way back to Halikouelle?s house.

[DalreïDal]

Look who's back from the dead (again)...  Between moving continents (again), painting the new appartment, visiting family who hadn't seen me in six months, looking for a job and stuff...  I haven't written a lot.  But here is an extra-long chapter to make up for the extra-long wait!  (And thanks for sticking around)

Chapter XLIII. The forest and the sea

Dinner was uneventful, the three of them exchanging impressions of their day visiting the village and a few recollections of Chama?s childhood.  Chama kissed Valen goodnight and quietly went to her room, letting her father know that she had not lingered in Valen?s presence too long.

She busied herself studying and measuring spell components until it was quite late.  Even though she did not feel sleepy, she blew off her candle, just in case her father woke and spied light filtering from under her door.  Standing at the window in the darkness, she looked up at the stars and the shadow of clouds chasing across the moon?s waning crescent.  She idly brushed her hair, gathered it in a simple braid, and fussed with her sleeves and skirt.  Impatiently, she watched the moon?s rise and fall and waited until it set.  In the deepest of the night, she strained her ears against the silence of the slumbering house and, when satisfied that everyone else was sound asleep, she slipped out of the window.

Balancing with rusty practice on the edge of the lower story?s window, she inched sideways to the sill of Valen?s window.  She had done this countless times when she was a child, but it had been some time and her fingers and toes fumbled a little before they found their accustomed places.  With the warm weather, Valen had left the glass open, and only a curtain obscured the window.

Careful not to startle the weapon master who no doubt slept with his flail within reach, Chama slowly pushed the curtain aside.  After all, he might not have the reflexes of a drow assassin, but she had no doubt he could be dangerous if startled awake.  She sat on the sill, and lightly tapped her feet on the floor.

Disturbed in his sleep, Valen sighed and turned on his side, but did not wake.  Emboldened, she fully slipped inside and softly called his name.  He rolled again and, out of reflex it seemed, he opened one eye and saw her standing there grinning at him.  Blinking sleepily, he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

Hurriedly, she tiptoed across the small room and whispered, ?Hush, or my father might hear us.?

Valen pulled the sheets up to cover his chest in an attempt at modesty.  ?What are you doing here??, he murmured back.

?Taking you out for a stroll.  There?s one place of these forests I haven?t shown you yet.?

Valen rubbed his eyes.  ?In the middle of the night??

?Come now, where did your sense of adventure go??, she goaded him.

More awake already, he grinned at that; he had the habit of the middle watch, after all.  Without warning, he cupped the back of her head and kissed her.  However, he pulled back with a grin when she tried to pry the sheets away.

?All right, let?s go for a stroll.  Just give me a second to put on some more clothes.?

He hastily and silently pulled on pants, tunic and boots, and he slid a dagger in his belt for good measure.  With whispered explanations, she showed him how to slip out and stand on the upper side of the lower story?s windowsill, and from there slide down on the porch?s roof and to the ground.  While his performance did not rival that of his elven thief companion, Valen nevertheless possessed a respectable amount of finesse and gave a good execution of the acrobatics.  Chama took his hand and dragged him through the winding back streets of Saarelmith, transformed into a veritable maze by the dark of night.

?You won?t be able to sneak past the sentries,? she whispered when they approached the village?s edges.  She leaned into a nearby rickety shed and handed Valen two empty buckets, which he took only out of reflex.  ?I will glide past them under the cover of shadows, but you?ll have to give them some excuse to leave.  Just tell them that I?m a tyrant and I sent you to fetch nightly spring water for my spell components.  Tell them you?ll have to let it stand under a birch for the rest of the night.  If they ask if you know where you?re going, tell them you?re going to the brook just by the side of the trail further up.  They?ll let you go out and won?t wonder why you?re not coming back.?

With a roguish smile, Valen quirked an eyebrow.  ?Have you been planning this for long, my love??

?Pretty much since Neverwinter, when I realized my father would never leave us two seconds alone.  Now come on!?

She pushed him ahead of her on the path while she rolled in her cloak behind.  She seamlessly melded into the darkness and he carefully paced his walk so she could keep up with him.

Three shadows dropped nimbly from the trees, where they had been as invisible as Chama was, and lounged in relaxed stances on each side of the path.  Valen did not know the three rangers personally, but he remembered seeing them at the revelry the day before.

?What are you doing outside at this hour with two empty buckets??, one of the sentries asked.

The tiefling feigned a weary sigh.  ?Chama needs spring water for her spell components.?

?She needs it so urgently??, the guard asked, obviously holding back his laughter.

?It needs to be collected at night, just after the moon sets,? Valen explained with just a bit of feigned displeasure, ?and it has to stand under a birch tree for the rest of the night.  Please, let me pass.  If I wait much longer, the water will have been collected too late and I will have to come back tomorrow.?

The three hunters let Valen pass with chuckles and words of commiseration.  Not comfortable in the role of actor, Valen made good on his escape and let out a sigh of relief that Chama?s scheme had worked.  He walked on in silence and seemingly alone until he reached the stream Chama had told him about.

Suddenly she appeared right by his side, grinning widely.  ?Leave your buckets here, we?ll collect them later.  Come on!  It?s this way!?

With a smile at her youthful enthusiasm, he followed her, picking his way through the dark forest thanks to his piercing eyes.  They made their way first across a patch of aged spruce, then through a dense undergrowth of fir, and finally through a mature forest of white birch.  Chama did not speak, but Valen could easily sense her childlike exuberance at stealing away from her father?s notice for a night?s time.  Seeing her so happy brought a reflexive smile to his lips.

At length Chama stopped and reached back to take Valen?s hand and pull him beside her.  They had reached her secret haven in the forest: it was a stand of grey pine, growing close together with flawlessly straight and slim trunks.  Delicate white lichen covered the ground and crunched underfoot.  Cautiously picking her way over faint trails not to mar the lichen?s perfect sprawl any more than the forest?s inhabitants already had, Chama guided Valen around the edge of the small stand.  Some distance in front of them, a patch of bare golden sand rested at the foot of a pine.  Small bushes of alder concealed it on two sides, creating a small private alcove.

Stepping carefully over the last stretches of lichen, Chama sat down on the patch of sand, with the comfortable and relaxed look of someone who is at home.  Valen sat besides her, marvelling at the private corner of forest around them.  The sand was cool and dry.

?I was not sure I would find it again,? Chama admitted in a whisper, ?or that it would be unchanged.  It?s been so long?  I don?t think grey pine live so long.  It must be the children of the trees I used to know.?

Valen smiled at her.  ?You used to come here as a child??

She nodded, looking around her with a mixture of nostalgia and excitement.  ?Yes.  It was my secret lair, when I wanted to escape my parents or the other children of the village.?

Valen motioned for Chama to step back and he stretched his cape on the ground.  When they sat back down, Valen pulled Chama tenderly against his side.  The elf looked left and right, pawed around the base of the alder bushes, and suddenly she let out a triumphant exclamation.

?Look!  It?s still there!?

She took out a greyish white piece of bone that Valen could not quite place.

?It?s a beaver?s shoulder blade.  The wild elves that live just east of here read the migration routes of beasts in the veins that appear when you burn them.  I found this one by the edge of Lake Sandarion?  We had gone there with the other hunter apprentices to test our swimming skill.?

The tiefling listened silently, thoughts swirling lazily through his mind.  He wondered if Lake Sandarion was as glorious a sight as the forests.  He wished he knew how to swim.  Chama carefully pawed through the alder some more, and finally extirpated a rotten piece of wood out of the sand.

?The rest of my little treasures seems to have disappeared.  This is what?s left of a goblet I kept here to gather blueberries.?

Suddenly sheepish at her childlike display, she shot a shy look at Valen.  However, he had not minded, and he lay down on the cape, looking up at the stars through the needles of the pines overcastting the sky.

?Tell me of Lake Sandarion,? he asked, eager to hear more of her childhood; he felt like her tales might make him grasp a part of what it meant to be elven.

She lay back on the cape next to him, and naturally she settled in his arms.

?It is many leagues from here, but it is a beautiful lake.  I don?t think you?d enjoy the trip if I took you up there, assuming I could still find my way.  It?s a tenday?s trek through the thickest of the spruce stands with their whipping branches, high up between two steep hills, and there?s no trail leading there.  The trek was as much a test as the swimming for us young hunters.  Sandarion is shaped like a large kidney, about a league in the longest.  At one end, there is a beach of pure sand in a cradled bay.  Water there is warm to bathe in, and there are no leeches on the sand.?

?Leeches??, Valen exclaimed, appalled.

?Don?t grimace like that, big sissy,? she teased.  ?Leeches keep to the edges and to the places where the bottom is in mud, not in sand.  Besides, it doesn?t even hurt if you get bitten.?

?Vampires were enough, thank you very much,? Valen muttered with distaste.

Chama smiled amusedly and went on.  ?So, I was speaking of the lake?s beach.  Near it, there is a little bay where a gorgeous mat of waterlilies grow, with irises on the shore.  On the hillside on the opposite side of the lake, you can see spots of darker green of spruce and fir amidst the sea of soft green of birch and poplar.  Every year, a pair of loons nests at Sandarion.  Their beautiful love songs haunt the lake all summer long, and towards the fall, they are joined by their fledglings for their first song.  At first, though, the young don?t sing as beautifully as their parents, but with practice the voices become undistinguishable.  In the lake live all sorts of fish, from tiny to almost as long as me.?

?You?re mocking me,? Valen protested.

?No.  I said ?almost?.  They?re not nearly as heavy, but they?re nearly as long.  Their body is square and thick with muscle, grey with brown spots.  They have big teeth and foul tempers, and will attack anything that?s red, even if it?s just your toenail paint, if it?s the right time of year, around Kythorn.?

?They?re stupid fish.  Why do they attack toes??

?It?s the red they attack, not the toe; it?s the colour of the inside of the males? mouths.?  Chama?s cheeks coloured slightly in the moonlight, but she went on with her explanation.  ?They mate around Kythorn.  The males are nearly driven insane with the need to reproduce, and they attack anything that remotely resembles an adversary.?

Valen grinned with sudden humour and could not resist teasing timid Chama.  ?I see.  Poor fish.  Why do the females let them wait and torture them like this??

?It is to ensure that only the strongest males receive their favours.  The weaker fish get routed by the others? attacks or tire out before Kythorn arrives.  Waiting until then, the females only get the strongest males, so their offspring will be as strong as their fathers and will survive.?

Valen considered a long moment.  ?There is a strange wisdom to wildlife.?

?There is another sort of fish, this one is shorter but fatter.  Their back is green, specked with brown and black, and their stomachs are pink or red.  They also have a brilliant white stripe at the edge of their fins, and when you?re lucky enough to see them swim, you can spy a flash of white zigzagging away.  And along with the loons you can hear another bird sing.  In the mist of centuries, I had nearly forgotten then.  They?re so small you could hold them in the palm of your hand.  When you look at them, all brown with their head striped with black and white, you could think they are small unremarkable birds, but they have a beautiful song and a voice powerful enough to be heard a league away.  I don?t know their name in common, but in elvish we call them goaren bere?et.?

She whistled the song of the small unknown bird and Valen let the peaceful, seemingly nostalgic sound wash over him.

?Their song is almost as haunting as that of the loons, but they don?t sing as often.  I lived in human cities for so long; I nearly forgot about the forest, both from the passage of time and from the refusal to revisit what I had lost.  The myriad of different trees, the concealing bushes, the enticing birds, the plentiful fish? the annoying flies??

With a chuckle, she batted her hand at the annoying insect hissing near her ear.  With a flourish of the hand, she cast a wind cantrip that shooed the mosquitoes away.

?I can see why you miss the forests,? Valen whispered, kissing the top of her head.

?Missing the flies?  Never.?

Valen?s chuckle rumbled in his chest against her ear.  ?I meant all the trees which names you know, and those birds which songs you memorized, and those mythic fish you have seen??

She fell silent and the two of them just lay there for a while, Valen stroking her hair as he looked up at the sky above them.  At some point, the mood shifted and he laughed.

?It?s good to be out of your father?s notice for a while.?

Grinning, she turned in his arms to kiss him.  An unseemly flash of thought, and Valen suddenly commiserated with the poor fish driven insane by desire in Kythorn.  His love kissed him, pressed into him and caressed his chest.  His own hands started to wander quite of their own volition and the treacherous voice of defeat whispered in his mind that they were alone and that they had waited quite long enough?

Suddenly pulling away, Valen gasped for air and forced his hands to stay wisely on her shoulders.

?Chama, wait?  I think we need to talk.?

Her quiet laughter sounded like it came right from her very kissable throat and he grasped her shoulders in sudden combat against insistent desire.

?I don?t recall you having anything to discuss back in Waterdeep??  After a few seconds of silence on his part, however, she looked up at him seriously.

?True, but at the time, we had just battled the greatest foe, I dealt with the aftermath of being free of the demon, and I had slept with you in my arms.  There is only so much temptation I can resist, my lady.  Besides, it would be considerably more embarrassing if someone walked in on us than when someone knocked on your door.?

?Have no fear, we will not be interrupted here.  We?re one league from the nearest sentry patrol path, and there are precautions I can take against any changes they might have made to the patrols in the last thirty decades.?

Sitting up, she took a breath to steady herself, and started tracing magical glyphs in the air with her hands.  Valen observed curiously as a summoning circle flashed into existence on the ground with a hell hound at its heart.  He startled at the absence of the familiar crawl on his skin in the presence of one of the devilkin.

?Valen, here is Rubeus.  Rubeus, Valen.?

The hell hound sat and extended a paw forward, and the tiefling found himself shaking the other outsider?s hand.

?You?ve never conjured him in my presence before,? he observed.

?No?  I haven?t conjured him since Neverwinter.  I wasn?t ready to face him.  I could have chosen to conjure another familiar, but it just wouldn?t have felt right.  I?ve spent too much time in Rubeus? company.?

Easily the size of a large wolf, the hell hound approached his mistress with surprising meekness, his tail held low and yelping plaintively.  Seemingly timid herself, Chama extended her arms slowly.  It was all the encouragement the hell hound needed; he jumped happily, crashing in her chest paws first.  She lost her balance, but the alder bushes conveniently caught her fall.  Rubeus then proceeded to lick her face with his fiery breath while she giggled and tried to push him away, scratching him behind the ears all the while.

Valen watched in stunned surprise.  He had led armies with beast masters and abyssal hounds, but he had never seen a hell hound act remotely like Rubeus.  Of course, the abyssal houndmasters were unlikely to ever return their beasts? affection.

After a few seconds, the tiefling smiled and decided that action was warranted.  He pulled the hell hound?s collar back so Chama could properly get back on her feet.  He had been expecting a growl, a warning snap of the jaws or even a bite, but Rubeus merely turned and tried to lick his hand with as much enthusiasm as he had Chama?s face.

?Rubeus, quiet now.?

Obediently, the hound flopped down and looked up at the elf expectantly, panting and swishing his tail.  Kneeling, she circled his big muscular neck with her arms and hugged him.  He let out a canine coo of delight and half stood up to press harder against her.

Valen smiled at the scene.  The hell hound and Chama seemed to both have turned away from evil together, if Rubeus?s show of affection meant anything.  When the big dog licked Chama?s cheek, Valen mock snarled, ?I?m about to turn jealous, you know.?

Immediately the hell hound jumped to him and stretched on hind legs to lick his cheek enthusiastically, before he started dancing from foot to foot, hesitating as to whom he should try to get a hug from.

?I wasn?t meaning jealous of Chama.  I meant jealous of you, Rubeus.?

The big dog tilted his head, but then Chama moved to Valen and hugged him tightly.  Jealousy evaporated from his mind.

It was a long minute before she pulled away.  She turned to her dog and exchanged a long look with him.  The hell hound?s ears prickled forward and he set out of their small enclave of alder, his big paws surprisingly silent on the forest floor.

?And don?t you go off chasing hares!?, she called after him.

There was a canine sigh, and then silence again as the dog stalked away.

?He?ll make sure no one comes this way without our notice.  He?ll come back and warn us if someone?s coming closer.?

Before sitting down again, Valen shook the sand that enthusiastic Rubeus had gotten everywhere out of his cape.  Chama and Valen sat down together, his arm around her shoulders.

?So,? she said, ?what is it you wished to talk about??

He took a breath.  ?Did you wish to spend the night here?  ?With me??

?That was the plan? why else come up with that story about water standing under a birch for the night??

?Chama? as much as I?d like to spend the night here with you? there might be consequences, and I don?t want anything to happen that you could regret.?

?It?s hard to tell because I skipped a cycle in Hell, but I don?t think there?s much risk of me getting pregnant tonight, if that?s what you?re getting at.?

Valen sighed.  Faced with her careful calm, he found it unexpectedly hard to voice his concerns.  ?That?s not all, my love.  There is the? the chance,? because he would not call it a ?risk?, ?there is the chance of us conceiving a child, but it is not my only concern.  Chama, if it could endanger you to bear a child, I don?t want to risk your life for the sake of pleasure.  And even if it doesn?t, I would only want a child for us if and when you are ready to be a mother again.  You can have me wait for years like those poor fish in Lake Sandarion, until you?re sure you have the strongest male, I don?t care.  I love you, Chama, and I would not want to chance you conceiving a child without knowing for sure that it does not endanger you and that you desire it too.?

She averted her eyes briefly at the mention of Gaulthery, but suddenly turned back to him and threw her arms around his neck.  ?I?m so lucky to have you, my Valen.?  Then she sat back and stared in his eyes.  ?I don?t know if it?s dangerous for me to carry a child.  Not even the priestesses know, so it seems you won?t be getting any answer to that question.?

He took her hand.  ?And you are willing to try?  I?m not sure I wish to risk it.?

She threw him a hungry, desperate look that told it all: he really thought they could live the remainder of their lives without ever making love?  His visible gulp and darkening eyes were all the answer she needed.

Then, an abrupt change of topic, ?I would like to see Sigil.?

He could not help but grin happily.  ?You would??

?Yes, but I have one condition, Granduc.?

Valen quirked an eyebrow.  ?And what is it, my love??

?If you wish to have children with me, it will have to be before we go to the City of Doors.  I don?t want to raise our children in Sigil.?

He frowned.  ?It is not so bad a city.  Why not??

Her eyes turned soft.  ?Valen? you are a tiefling.?

?Yes, but what does that??  And then he understood and he faltered.

?So any child of ours will bear a fraction of the demon blood and be a tiefling too.  I don?t want to see him wandering Sigil?s streets every day, worrying because this is exactly how you were taken away to the Blood Wars.  I don?t want to risk our child ending up a battle slave.?

?I understand,? he said, and he drew her in his arms.  ?Please, believe me: wherever we are, I would lay down my life to protect you and our child.  I would not let anything happen to either of you.?

They lay down on Valen?s cape, the sand shifting under them to give them a firm but comfortable bedding.

?Granduc?  That is my only condition regarding children.  I?ve been thinking about it ever since I dreamed of Gaulthery.  I?ve been thinking that I would like to show all those things I have shown you today to a child, to hug a small child like my father used to hug me, to learn and see everything through new eyes, and to know everything else that my imagination cannot fathom right now about the reality of having a child.  And I can?t imagine having a child with anyone but you.?

?I certainly hope so,? he said gruffly.

?But there?s one thing still that I feel we should discuss.?

?Yes??

?I?m not sure if any child of yours would not be born with the taint.?

Valen sighed and considered for a long moment while she stroked his shoulder.  ?I know.  He would be even less tanar?ri than me, though, and life for me was not so bad until I was taken by Grimash?t.  Do you think it is cruelty to give life to a creature that could spend his whole life in suffering??

?Granduc, I spent nearly my whole life in suffering, and it had nothing to do with any wish or desire of my parents.  I think that anyone has a potential for happiness and suffering?  Even you are free of the demonic taint now.  But, considering your past difficulties, could you manage to not see yourself in your child?s struggles with the taint?  ?Could you love a child born with the taint??

?Of course I would, even if it would break my heart every second to see him struggle with the demon the way I struggled with it for all those years.?

?Then, my love, I think we have nothing further to discuss.?

She gave him a serious look, trying to read in his eyes if he had any other doubts, because now was the time to speak of them.

?It seems impossible that it is finally the moment,? he whispered.  ?Surely someone will suddenly interrupt us or something.?

She laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder.  And then he decided that it might be the good one this time, and that no one would interrupt them, and that finally he did not have to resist temptation anymore?

?Chama??, he asked, pulling his lips away from her neck.

?What??, she answered plaintively.

?Will you marry me?  Because I?m not sure I?ll survive long enough to see our children born if your father finds out that I have spoilt your honour.?

?So you would bind your whole life to me, then??

He sighed and kissed her tenderly.  ?I?ve been bound to you since you threw it in my face what made me tanar?ri.?

She blushed.  ?I did apologize for that.?

He chuckled.  ?You did, but when you said those things but still took me as a comrade-in-arms afterwards, it meant that you didn?t care.  It meant that you didn?t accept me because you didn?t know what you were getting into, but that you gave me a chance despite the fact that I?m a tiefling.  I was bound to you then.?

She gave him a little smile.  ?And I was bound to you when you scowled at me when I asked you to show me around Lith My?athar.  It meant you didn?t care one bit for the coldness that threatened to strangle me.  It meant I could not keep my distance from you because you just wouldn?t see that I was trying to keep one.  I will marry you, Valen Shadowbreath.?

He laughed and rolled her atop him, but then she grinned.

?Come to think of it, I have another condition to put to the fact that we might have children,? she said.

?What is it??

?He must bear his mother?s name, the same as an elf.  In my great generosity I would allow you to keep your own name, but our child must have my name.?

He laughed at her imperious manner.

?I don?t have much of a destiny to pass down the generations,? he said, ?so I agree to your condition, Lady Indiwasi.?

And then he really had nothing to consider but the next moment.  The way she was sitting on his stomach, it was just perfect to undo her braid.  Reaching up and pulling her hair free, he threaded his fingers through it.  Whenever he saw her hair unbound, it reminded him of the first time he had kissed her.  In Hell, he had buried his hand in her hair, and it had been wet, and felt wonderfully silken.  It was dry, warm and glossy now, but still silken, and Valen threaded his hands through it lovingly.

***

When Valen began taking her hair down, it felt like wading down into water at sea, with waves rising higher and higher around her body until she was swept away by the tide.

It was a bit frightening, the feeling of loss of control, and she almost snapped it back in place in panic, trying to wade back out of the water.  Without a word on her part, Valen just knew and understood.  He slowed down for a while, smiled and smoothed her hair and told her he loved her.

She breathed out and let go of her control.  The currents were a pleasant sensation; it was only abandoning herself to it that she feared.  But it had been long enough, and she trusted Valen, so she let it go.

She gave him her love and trust.  She surrendered her self-control and let go of her fear.  She freed the desire and passion bottled up inside her during centuries of solitude.  She gave herself to him, from the tip of her toes to the core of her soul.

But the exchange was far from one-way.  She welcomed Valen?s smiles and his silvery eyes.  She admired his muscled body.  She enjoyed his tenderness and took full advantage of his experience.  She met his desire with matching passion.

And when at the end desire felt strangely like tension and impatience, she realized that what she had mistaken as a current earlier could be no more than a gentle wave lapping around her, because now a powerful wave lifted her and made her lose her footing.  And when release swept her away, she gasped from its delicious violence, and basked in it.

When reality returned, she washed ashore with the last wave before the tide receded.  Valen held her in his arms like the most precious thing in the world, sheltering her from the coolness of the night with the warmth of his body.  She would have traded the last moments and his abandoned weight on her for nothing in the world.  Not even to erase her past.

Visibly shaking himself, Valen lifted himself on his elbows, although he kept his forearms under her shoulders and head, as though he would never let go.  And she did not want him to.

When finally she mustered the energy to open her eyes, Valen was watching her with still silvery eyes.  Mastery returned to her boneless limbs as she willed her hands up to caress his face.  He kissed her gently and lightly.

?I love you,? she whispered.

He took a shaking breath and hugged her.  ?I love you too.?

She stroked his horns and played with his long hair.  She so liked their colour and the way it made his eyes stand out.  In a well-travelled path, now, she slid her hand across his broad shoulders.

?Thank you,? she murmured.

Blushing brightly, he chuckled.  ?I believe this was a little too enjoyable to deserve thanks.?

?Oh, but it does,? she repeated brightly.  He tightened his arms around her and kissed her forehead, wishing again that he could erase her past.

?You have,? she said quietly.

?What??, he asked in confusion.

?I believe you have just erased my past.?

He blinked a few times in surprise.  She had read his thoughts.  How could she read his thoughts?

?Just a few seconds ago I was thinking that I wouldn?t trade your presence in my life for anything in the world.  In all my long life, it?s the first time I ever think I would rather keep my past.  I think it more or less equates with you erasing it, my love.?

He was still looking at her in stunned surprise, so she explained, ?I?m an elf.  I have the potential for a bond with my mate, to get inklings of your thoughts and feelings.  However, since you are not an elf, the bond is incomplete.  Shall we say we can keep some privacy??

Rolling on his side, he pulled Chama against his chest and folded the edge of his cape back over her.  Now that they were both cooling down, he could see goose bumps rising on her arms.

?That?s amazing,? he whispered wonderingly.

?I may have been right a moment ago, but I could easily make mistakes,? she nuanced.

?How could you be wrong if you read my thoughts through the bond, incomplete as it is??

?I?m not reading your thoughts, I just get impressions from you.  I have to interpret them and I do so within the limits of my knowledge of your personality and my imagination.?

?I don?t understand.?  He frowned slightly, while absent-mindedly running his hand up and down her back below the cape.  The simple tender gesture made her love him all the more, and she was suddenly grateful that, unlike what she had heard more than one woman complain about, he was not the kind of lover that fell straight asleep after love.

She tried to find a way to explain the bond in words that he could understand.

?The bond is a little like trying to guess what you cook if I was blind.  If we were both elves, it would be like tasting what is being cooked.  Because you are not elven, it is a little like if I could only smell what is being prepared.  I can recognize many ingredients from the smell and so I can guess many recipes by the ingredients in it.  It?s easier to guess when it?s food familiar to me, but I would have trouble to guess if it was a Kara-Turan preparing dinner.  I know you quite well, so it?s not like guessing the meal prepared by a Kara-Turan.  After what I had just told you, and the wistful regret I felt in you regarding the past, it was easy to guess what you had been thinking.  I think you will be able to get wisps of me too, even if you?re not an elf.?

?That is amazing,? he repeated.  ?It never occurred to me that we might have the chance to have that kind of deep connection.?

She smiled at him.  ?We shouldn?t let Father know, though.  Making love is the easiest way to establish a bond, so we would basically be admitting it to him.?

?Since I value my life, I will not disclose it, my love,? he said lightly.

A tinge of blue started to creep in the sky in the East; the sun would rise in about an hour.

?Much as I would like to fall asleep here with you,? she sighed, ?we should go now if we want to reach the village this morning.?

He kissed her gently.  ?Then you must let me ask your father for you hand.  Sleeping with you is a tender grace I have dearly missed since Waterdeep.?

Indignant, she sat up and pulled the cape over her breasts.  ?I?m more than old enough to grant my own hand, thank you very much!?

He burst out laughing and kissed her pouting mouth.  ?Even if you weren?t, I defy anyone to resist you when you?ve set your mind on something.  So all we have to do is announce it to him soon??

Mollified by his good will, she relented.  ?This very morning, when I finally get out of my room after much needed sleep.?

She regretfully pushed the cape aside to dress and Valen imitated her.  He was half-way through buttoning his shirt when he suddenly asked, ?Does that mean you will wear a wedding dress??

She let out a long sigh.  ?I don?t know.  Do I have to have one??

He laughed.  ?Of course.  I do wish to make every man jealous and every woman envious of the beautiful bride.?

?And you?  What will you wear?  I have the right to make women jealous too, you know.?

He shrugged.  ?I don?t know.  I will have to have new clothes made, because I don?t have anything fitting.?

They were dressed then, and she fastened the clasp of his cloak back on his shoulder.  She took his hand and they walked just like that back towards the stream where they had left the path.

Leaves rustled in the bushes by the side of the trail, and Valen crouched and pushed Chama behind him reflexively.  He relaxed when Rubeus appeared out of the dense alder scrubs and nuzzled his leg before going to request a caress from Chama.  However, the hell hound soon bounded off again, free now to run after some hare or other game.

When they reached the stream and the buckets, Valen filled them with water and Chama hid under her cape after sending Rubeus back to his outside plane.  The two of them made their way back to the village in accomplice silence.

[DalreïDal]

Epilogue

Valen had already walked half the way to Chama?s store before he remembered her message not to come get her at work that afternoon.  According to the bird that perched on his shoulder to whisper in his ear, she had received word that her father would soon visit them, so she had closed the store for the afternoon to clean the house and prepare for his arrival.

The tiefling wondered idly, as he traced back his steps towards their house rather than her store, what his wife found to clean in their house.

They had bought it only three months ago, and it was still rather empty but for basic furniture.  Chama always said with a smile that it was decorated in the ?essentialist? style.  Between his job as a guard captain and her relentless work at her magical fireworks new store, there had been precious little time to spare for the new house?s decoration.  Besides, after living as adventurers for years, they considered a rain-proof roof and a comfortable bed luxury enough.

They had stayed in Saarelmith for nearly eight months.  Considering that they had done little more than sleep, eat, walk in the forest and teach Valen elvish, it seemed hard to believe that they had spent so much time in the elven village.  Valen supposed that time flying by so quickly without his notice had something to do with the elves? magic, or maybe it just came from feeling at peace with himself, for the first time in his whole life.

They also had taken the time to get married while in Saarelmith.  Valen still smiled each time he thought of Chama wearing her immaculate and magnificent wedding dress, with her dark chocolate hair striking under her veil and the velvety blackness of her eyes when he had lifted it to kiss her at the end.

Their time in Chama?s village had been very agreeable, and they had needed their rest ? Valen could still remember being dressed down by the priestesses when Chama had gone to them, complaining of feeling out of sorts.  Of course, the healers had blamed everything on him, from three centuries of mercenary work to fighting their way through hell and having travelled all the way from Waterdeep in that state, no less.  However, eight months were more than enough to recuperate, and eventually there came a time when both felt like they needed to get back out in the world, to do something meaningful of their life again.  They had decided to settle in a medium-sized human city, where there was enough people to blend in as anonymously as an elf and a tiefling could, but not large enough that their reputation had already preceded them.  Chama had also insisted for a human city, not desiring to feel the elves? judgement of her choice to marry outside the race, but still staying close enough to Saarelmith that she could visit her father often.

Valen and Chama had both felt what awaited all adventurers as they retired: a feeling of uselessness.  Valen had asked if Chama would have preferred to hit the road again, but she had shaken her head.  That life was behind her, but she still wanted to be useful.

Valen had easily recycled into being a captain of the guard.  It was a natural job to take for a warrior such as him.  Although he feared to voice his ambitions out loud to anyone but his beloved, he hoped he would one day be recruited as the weapon master by a wealthy, noble family.  He would like to train young nobles into the use of weapons; it would be more gratifying than being a simple soldier, even if one in charge of combat lessons.

As for Chama, she had opened a store.  Officially, she sold magical fireworks, which were a big hit and already famous all the way to Baldur?s Gate, but her steadiest amount of income actually came from magical scrolls she scribed in-between fireworks clients and commissions.  Her store also served as a magical junk room.  She offered free services as scribe for the town?s people an hour twice a tenday; she loaned her alchemy laboratory to mages without their own after she made them pass a test to make sure they would not make it explode; she served as an expert and councillor when matters of magic were involved with the city administration and court; and of course she prepared her now famous fireworks.  She produced a series ranging from the most simple and affordable to the complicated and expansive, and she also did work on commission if the challenge and the pay were good enough.

After three months in their new posts, Valen and Chama both began to feel the claws of uselessness loosen their grip on them.  Chama wrote to Aarin and sent him their new address.  Valen did the same for the Seer and Nathyrra and told them to send for him if ever they needed help.  Valen was starting to make friends of some guards ? mainly the ones who did not drink much ? and Chama was already an accomplice to her shop neighbour, a fat old lady who was a kind librarian.

They lived in a simple but well-built two-story house, with a basement where to store wine and vegetables, a façade with fresh paint, a sound roof, many windows, and it sat on a hill, so from their bedroom on the second floor, they could see the lights of the city at night.  Valen could barely believe that this was his life now.  He had come so far from the beast of the Abyss that sometimes he wondered if he could still be considered the same person.

He called to Chama when he came in, and proceeded to remove his helmet and armour and put them on the stand positioned right by the door for this purpose.  The task occupied him for a few minutes, but he received no answer.  Curious as to why Chama was not answering his call ? she had to be home, because the door had been unlocked ? he walked into the dining room just by the right of the entrance.

He stopped right there.

Chama grinned at him, obviously proud of his very stunned look.  She had a new dress, and the rarity of such an event combined with the perfect fit made him overlook the rest of the room for the moment.  The dark red velvet made her alabaster skin and dark hair stand out in stark relief.  There were small red ribbons in her hair too, and she had painted her lips accordingly.  He had crossed the room in three strides and was holding her in his arms before he even thought to move.

?You?re beautiful in that dress,? he whispered reverently.

She grinned all the more.  ?It took a great effort to arrange the rest of this surprise.  Please don?t spoil it and take a look at the table??

Still, he had to kiss her before tearing his eyes away.  The table was set for two, on an immaculate tablecloth, and two glasses waited before the bottle of about the best wine to be found in the city.

?Chama?  Why all this??

?You?re pleased, I hope??, she asked mockingly.

He laughed.  ?Of course, but why??

?I decided this would be the day we celebrate your birthday.?  She sighed in an aggravated manner at his blank stare.  ?Ah, men.  He doesn?t even realize it?s a year he?s free of the demon.?

Valen stopped breathing for a while.  A year since he was free.  A year since they had defeated Mephistopheles.  Tonight, in the streets of Waterdeep, people would celebrate the holiday they had decided to name in Chama?s honour and rejoice in their freedom from the devil.

?I hadn?t realized,? he breathed.

She snorted.  ?Of course not.  Men.  Now, won?t you go take a bath and change so you?re presentable for dinner??

Valen obliged with a smile.  Once he was out of his bath and dry, he searched through his clothes, wondering if he had anything that could compare to her new dress.  He finally settled for his black and green outfit he had worn at their wedding.  He never wore it because it always seemed too elaborate, but now seemed like a perfect occasion, and he knew Chama liked the way it settled across his shoulders and the way it was cinched at the waist.

Chama was serving the wine when he came downstairs.  She tilted her head to look at him appreciatively and smiled.  He took the offered glass of wine, careful to touch her fingers lingeringly.

?To freedom,? she said as she lifted her glass.

?To freedom,? he repeated as he clinked his glass with hers.

Their only servant, whose job was usually to keep the house clean, cook and help Chama when she went to the market, had turned into a waitress for the time of a night.  She brought them the soup, which was an elven recipe Valen was now familiar with, and took away the bowls once they were done.  She ensured the bread was always abundant.  She came back from the kitchen with the main course, roasted duck with wild rice, onions and wax beans.  Chama shared his liking for good food, but his dislike for lengthy meals of five course.

When he offered to refill her glass of wine, she declined with a smile.

The servant made the empty platters disappear and came back, to Valen?s amusement and laughter, with a cake.

It was a birthday cake, small and round, with a choclatl topping ? he was already salivating just imagining the taste ? and of course, on top of it stood one of Chama?s fireworks.  A long and thin stick embedded in the centre of the cake, it gave off brilliant green and black sparks.  He gaped at the firework, but had only a few seconds to admire it as it died away.

Valen laughed again.  ?I thought the tradition was to put my age on it??

?You don?t even know it yourself!? she protested.

He lifted his hands in surrender and cut the cake.  Their servant disappeared for, Valen guessed, the last time of the evening.

The taste of choclatl was a true luxury.  As delicious as it was, it was expensive and rare, and both of them savoured each bite of their piece of cake with their eyes closed.

When regretfully the last crumb of dessert had disappeared, Valen grinned at Chama.

?Is it time for presents now??, he asked with perfect childlike enthusiasm.

She smiled and obediently went to the living room to retrieve a small paper-wrapped box.  Valen shook it, but it produced no sound.  He looked up suspiciously at Chama, but when no hint was forthcoming, he tore at the paper.  Inside, he found a small piece of the intricate work of silversmithing he immediately identified as drow craftsmanship.  A bit more curious examination revealed it to be a cloak clasp, depicting Eilistraee?s moon in a lattice of flimsy clouds and sparkling pale blue stars.

?Do you like it?? Chama asked hesitantly.  ?I thought you might like something that reminded you of the Underdark and the Seer??

?It?s beautiful,? he breathed, turning it over in his hands.  ?And I count myself a follower of Lady Eilistraee, even despite my planewalker scepticism.  Thank you, my love.  I?ll think of you every morning when I put my cloak on.?

He smiled and kissed her.  This was very much like her; something elegant and meaningful that he would not only wear, but like to wear.

And then, for the first time, he felt something from her through the bond.  He paused, taking a moment to wonder what caused that strange flutter of trepidation in the pit of his stomach.  Suddenly, it dawned on him that he finally perceived some of her feelings, and he turned to her in alarm.

?Chama!  What?s wrong??

She smiled reassuringly, although still a bit nervously.  ?Nothing?s wrong,? she replied calmly.  Taking his hand, she guided him to the living room.  She sat him in the couch, smiling at his concerned frown, and settled next to him.

?Well, I have one last surprise for you tonight.?  She paused, twisting her hands nervously, and he waited, perched at the edge of the couch.  ?Valen, I?m pregnant.?

One second of shock, quickly drowned in sweeping joy, washed away by anxiousness.  Valen grinned and started to throw his arms around her, but then he stopped short.  ?Is everything? are you alright??

She nodded.  ?You?re always leaving very early, so you wouldn?t know, but I?ve been feeling a bit sick in the mornings.  Nothing too serious.  And I?ve been feeling tired lastly.  The messenger? I sent it to you when I went to see the healer this afternoon.?

?The healer!?, he exclaimed, his eyes flashing to grey, worry clawing at his insides.  ?Why??

She scowled at him.  ?I told you nothing?s wrong, there?s no need to panic like that.  I felt a little weak at lunch, and I fainted when I tried to get up.  I went to the temple to make sure it wasn?t anything serious.  The priestess took a good look at me and told me everything is alright.  Reassured, now??

?No,? he declared sternly.  ?You cannot work alone now.  Who knows what could happen to you if you fainted alone while there?s one of your magical concoctions on the burner??

She sighed.  ?I know.  I?ve been looking for an apprentice for the last months, and I think I will accept the last who asked.?

?The farmer girl??

?Yes.  She already knows how to read, which tells something of her determination in learning, and being her family?s eldest daughter, I know she has the habit of responsibilities.  Besides, she?s helped her pregnant mother many times.  I think I could convince her to help her pregnant mistress for now.?

?I am sure she would be delighted to have a chance to learn magic, my love, but isn?t it a maid you would need??

?If the girl doesn?t want to become my apprentice or to check on me, then I will hire a maid.  There.  Are you satisfied??

He smiled and kissed her lightly.  ?No, my love.  You know how I have your safety in my concerns.  You understand that you will have to work lighter hours, to rest and take care of yourself??

She sighed, aggravated.  ?I know that, Granduc.  I was willing to stand through everything on my own while I adventured, but this is different.  I intend to carry our child to term.  Besides, I?ve kept the bed before, it?s not like I don?t have the habit to slow down.  I only hope it won?t come to that.?  She gave him a sidelong glance, but did not say anymore.  Again he felt a little of her feelings through the bond and, combined with the look on her face, he knew what she thought.

?Of course, my love, I will also take lighter duty to spend more time with you, especially if you have to keep to the house more.  The general is a grandfather, I?m sure he?ll understand.?

She smiled at that.  He looked at her, wondering at the mystery and marvel of creation.  It was hard to imagine that a new life was growing inside of Chama now.

?How long have you known without telling me??, he asked in an accusatory manner.

?I wasn?t really sure until today.  I?ve suspected for the past tenday.?

He took both her hands and looked at her in the eye.  ?I am so glad that we are to have a child together, my love.?

She smiled.  ?So am I.  Imagine our surprise if the Seer would have told us that when I first arrived in the Underdark.?

They both laughed; they had changed since that time, and the world all around had changed too.  More than anything, their life was about to change dramatically to accommodate the newest addition to their family.

?Are you allowed to drink wine while you?re pregnant??, Valen asked as it occurred to him.

?Yes, but not much.?

He smiled.  ?Good girl.  Are you allowed to ride a horse??

?Allowed?  There?s no one to forbid me to do anything!?

?What I mean to ask is whether the priestesses think it is a good idea for you to ride a horse.?

?I did not inquire.?

?Probably not, then,? he concluded with a wink.  ?Are you sure it would not be harmful to our baby to be exposed to all your spell components??

?Valen, I have manipulated those reagents for almost four centuries.  If there was any ill effect to be had, I would have discovered it by now.?

?Are you sure that you shouldn?t take a carriage to go to your shop?  It?s a fair distance from here??

?Valen,? she said in a warning tone.

He grinned.  ?You should stop practicing with summoned creatures, that?s for sure.  Much too dangerous.?

?Valen!?

Chama watched her husband laugh at her openly, grinning as he drew a list of forbidden things.  She trusted him to drag it forever.  By Mystra, this pregnancy is going to be longer than expected.  But just then, she smiled, hoping that her pregnancy and all of her life would be longer than expected and that Valen would always be there to love her, take care of her and worry for her.

?And have you ever wondered if high-level spells could have a stressful influence on your baby?  I?m sure it?s not good for him to have all that magic pouring in and out of??

The only efficient way she knew of to silence him proved successful.  She put her arms around his neck and kissed him straight over the word he was trying to say.  At first he wiggled and tried to speak around her lips pressed over his mouth, but quickly he melted and pulled her against him.

She would have to repeat that action many times in the following days, she knew.  Valen would not stop worrying all of a sudden, as if by magic.  Inwardly she smiled.  She knew more unpleasant ways to answer to someone?s irrational worries.

THE END

Edited by DalreïDal, 24 March 2010 - 12:33 PM.