Tales of Faerun

[Deleted6317247User]

"Why can't we just leave if this dancing idea is so unpleasant?" Nawen asked. While the estate is beautiful and big, and she was grateful for the chance to spend some time alone with her thoughts she wouldn't have been able to do if they were in an inn, but still, if the idea was so displeasing they should have left.

 

Before anyone got a chance to answer, Rhaine entered the room and she looked quite angry. When she told that Tannin was leaving the group, she didn't say anything, and as she mentioned him being a Bhaalspawn, she only sighed, louder than she wanted. "Great," she thought, "another important thing he deemed I didn't need to know." If because of what happened between herself and Tannin was the only reason why she wanted him gone, Nawen would have protested as he's still an ally but it seemed it wasn't the only reason.

 

She frowned a little when Rhaine mentioned her as she couldn't help but notice some people glancing at her. She's been pitied too much already and she hated the idea of her friends thinking that she's some fragile flower or how utterly heartbroken she must feel because of what happened, while in truth she was handling it better than she thought she would.

 

Shalena pouted a bit when the Doomguide told that Tannin's leaving. "Such a shame," she said, "whenever he wasn't skulking in dark corners he was quite fun to have around." When she heard the word Bhaalspawn being mentioned a few times the piratess grinned. "How wise of you, our dear leader, not to mention this when we first met, or that other time we were traveling across the sea," she said, "my men would have thrown him over board if they knew."

[josh900]

"I knew he was dangerous... didn't expect him to be THAT though." Lucas said in disbelief. "That heritage would certainly explain why he doesn't show care for anyone's life."

 

"Well... wait.." Hexol said, looking up from his plate of food. "How has he caused trouble?"

 

"He's a danger to the group obviously. The blood of the god of murder in his veins? He'll kill us all if given the chance. Throwing him out is the smart choice." Lucas said with a nod.

 

"But... don't they say that about Drow too?" Hexol asked with his head cocked to the side. "Nawen's a Drow and she's one of the nicest people I've met here."

 

"That's different, the Bhaalspawn were all evil, bloodthirsty monsters with no control over themselves, They delighted in the act of murder and would use every chance they could to indulge in it." Lucas explained.

 

"Dooon't they say that about Drow too?" Hexol asked again with an arched brow.

 

"Well... ah.. you.. you see ah....umm... There's a difference okay?"

 

"What's the difference then?"

 

"Look you're... you're too young to understand." Lucas sighed before taking a drink out of his nearby cup.

 

After a few seconds of staring Hexol let out a chuckle. "My oldest son's about your age."

 

This revelation caused Lucas to spit out his drink in an effort to avoid choking. "YOUR WHAT!?!?!?" He screamed, completely caught off guard.

 

"He's got kids." Azuris answered as he entered the room. "Don't worry.. it scared us all too when we found out."

 

After a few moments of laughing Hexol calmed himself before speaking again. "But still.... What if Tannin really needs help? Shouldn't we at least try and help?"

 

"And why should we?" Asked Lucas.

 

"Be...Because we're the good guys... that's what we do isn't it? Help people when they need it?" Hexol asked, looking around at the group.

[AurianaValoria1]

"He hasn't asked for our help," Rhaine replied to Hexol's inquiry, "And he has also made it fairly clear that he neither needs it nor wants it. Let him enact his master plan as he sees fit on his own, and let him also see where it gets him." Glancing to Shalena, she added, "Perhaps it would have been best for everyone if they had."

 

With that, she turned to Zorica and Sybille, "We should probably get ready for practice again...I need to get my mind off things for a while. Imhiros...Let us speak of this more tomorrow after you have rested." The Osirian paladin bowed in response as Rhaine then departed the commons.

 

Zorica wordlessly stood and followed the Doomguide, eager to get another day's work over with. Conall watched the women leave and shook his head, but a slight smirk passed across his lips. It would certainly be interesting to see this performance they were crafting. No doubt Amendale would be doubly interested in Zorica's part...the elf had barely taken his eyes off of the half-drow in the past few days.

 

Meanwhile, Menarses had sidled next to Nawen, and he leaned close to her, speaking quietly, "You see, my little gem...the crux of the matter is this: there is nowhere for you to go. Not a threat, merely the honest truth. I am more...forgiving, than most of our people. A band like your company traveling freely around our country would easily be seen as a threat to the Pharaoh's power. Not to mention there are a great deal of elves and arcane magic-casters amongst you - both of which our people trust little. Imhiros was right to bring you here to keep you safe from questions, attackers, or prying eyes. And now that you are here," he grinned widely, "I have seen to make you useful instead of letting you be mere leeches eating up my resources."

Edited December 18, 2014 by AurianaValoria1

[josh900]

"But.... He hasn't done anything to hurt us." Hexol said as Rhaine left.

 

"But he could. He's too dangerous to keep around." said Lucas. "He's lied to us too many times. Him keeping what he was from us? That's unforgivable. We had a right to know."

 

"Then again." Azuris started. "Can anyone blame him for keeping it to himself? If he had been open about it... People woulda been trying to kill him left and right. I mean if I were in his shoes... I wouldn't be screaming it to the mountain tops if you know what I mean."

 

"Doesn't change the fact that he should have told us." Lucas stated.

 

"Yeah... cause everyone's just so understanding about it." Azuris sighed.

 

"How can you be so defensive about it? The Bhaalspawn were all evil, pick up a history book and you'll see that they were the cause of countless deaths. So how can you defend someone like that?" Lucas argued, scarcely believing that Azuris could take Tannin's side.

 

"Because one saved my life when I was younger, and was a great friend to a man that I looked up to. Same way not all Drow are evil I think the same of them. now don't get me wrong, Tannin makes me nervous at times. But so far the only person here he's hurt here is Nawen and she's a grown woman, She doesn't need all of us butting into this, making these kinds of decisions cause we think we have to protect her." Azuris explained.

 

"But you heard Rhaine... He's brought too much trouble."

 

"A weird sword he can't get rid of doesn't seem like much trouble to me. Hells I brought worse and you almost did too. And from what I've been told this group's had more troublesome members in the past. So really, if he actually has caused us too much trouble then fine, but we're only hearing Rhaine's side here, I still say we out to hear his now before we do anything. Because sometimes... You gotta piss off the people in charge to do the right thing. And if that's what's happening right now... I'm not gonna sit by and watch it happen to someone else, I've dealt with that enough." Azuris growled, the current discussion obviously having a negative effect on his mood.

 

"I thought you didn't like Tannin though?" Lucas asked.

 

"I don't."

 

"So why are you defending him then?"

 

"Cause I don't like making decisions based on one side of an argument. I'm not buddy buddy with a lot of you here, But I'd argue against this for any of you, least until we've all heard your side of the issue."

[AurianaValoria1]

As the hours wore on, Rhaine was still furious from the events that had taken place earlier in the day. Any time Tannin or Azuris crossed her mind, the flames were stoked, and she would tense up again out of sheer anger. She had thought she might have been able to work most of her fury out of herself during the dance practice that afternoon, but unfortunately, it did nothing but make matters worse. She was not as coordinated as she needed to be for the particular movements the instructor had in mind, and she ended up leaving the dance hall in a storm, heading directly to her room without a word.

 

And what did she do? She continued practicing. Again and again, she launched into the same repetitive routine. Any time she got the positions close to being right, something would inevitably fail to fall into place – her hands were too high, her feet too far apart, her movements too jerky, her hip rolls too abrupt. The list of inadequacies grew. Still, she plowed on, her rage fueling her, until sweat rolled down her temples and stuck her shirt to her chest and back. She could not even see what was in front of her, her concentration was so focused on her task.

 

Suddenly, a knock at the door interrupted Rhaine's routine. It was abrupt and loud, practically punching the door. Rhaine sighed and rolled her eyes. No way that could be anyone except-

 

"Rhaine? You're not having another meeting with the boss, are ya?" Arland asked, his voice muffled.

 

“No,” she called back, “What do you want?”

 

There was a pause. Rhaine barely heard him mutter, "Well, at least I'm not gonna get slapped for blasphemous ideas again" and frowned. Then, he piped up and said, "Actually, I just wanted to talk."

 

She sighed heavily and dropped her raised arms to her sides with a resigned slap, “All right.” She then walked over to the door and opened it for him, “Come in.”

 

Arland shouldered open the door and walked in, carrying with him the faint (and borderline-omnipresent) smell of alcohol. After, he shut the door behind him. He then raised an eyebrow at her, noticing the sheen of sweat covering her skin. "Guess Menarses had ya dancing again, eh? My pity." He grinned, "You also look like you want to kill someone. Not me, I hope."

 

She coughed slightly as she smelled the alcohol on his breath, “No. At least not yet. Now…what is it?”

 

Arland scratched the back of his neck. Then he frowned. "Ah, sorry 'bout the breath. Been drinking a bit, as usual. I'll breathe the other way or something."

 

The Doomguide sighed again, “I’ve had my fill of drunkards for the day.”

 

Arland scowled. "I haven't done stlarn. Yet. Don't give me hell; I've actually got something nice to say."

 

“Then say it,” Rhaine retorted, “If you haven’t noticed, my patience has been worn down to its last straw.”

 

Arland's frown deepened and he bared his teeth as he came an inch from delivering a sharp retort, but calmed himself. "Yeah, apparently. Anyway, I was thinking earlier-" Suddenly his bearing became awkward. "Well, we don't exactly have a good history with each-other and we fight a lot and don't get along sometimes, but...oh gods, I'll never live this one down... don't tell anyone I said this, okay?"

 

The only answer she gave was an exasperated nod.

 

"Well, you've gone and become one of my closest friends. I'd be lying if I said I didn't look up to you....Hells if I know why, though," he teased. "I just wanted to say that I'd follow you though the Hells and back. Literally, through the Hells. Don't give a damn 'bout any of the demons or devils down there." Arland's cheeks colored in spite of himself.

 

Rhaine’s irritated expression suddenly relaxed, and it was replaced with an almost wistful gaze that searched his face for meaning. It was as if the fire of her fury had been doused with ice water, and all that was left was exhaustion and melancholy. Without a word, she ran forward and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him fiercely in a near bone-crushing embrace. For a second, Arland inexplicably thought that Rhaine was about to punch his lights out, from the way her temper was. He was both relieved and a little surprised when he found her arms around his neck. He hugged her back and grinned to himself. "I'll admit I wasn't quite expecting this much enthusiasm."

 

She squeezed tighter, “Not many have said those words to me. It means…more than you know to hear you say them.”

 

"Well, I mean 'em. Else I wouldn't say them," Arland assured meaningfully.

 

Rhaine then pulled back a little and smiled, “I can only wonder what I did to deserve them being said.”

 

"Probably couldn't tell you, actually," Arland confessed. "I just would."

 

“Well,” she took a step back from him, brushing off his clothes from where she was pressed up against him, as if she were dirty and had soiled his shirt, “Thank you. Though I find it rather humorous you say it now. If this had been when we first met, such words would have never escaped your lips.”

 

Arland chuckled. "Stlarn, I hated you back then. Right from the go you struck me as self-righteous and stuck-up. Then you went all self-righteous and stuck-up in Shadowdale and that sealed it." He gave her a cheeky grin. "I was only mostly correct....but the other good things make up for it."

 

Her expression was hard to read, “Well…thank the gods I have a redeeming quality or two, yes?”

 

"More than a couple," he replied. "But yeah." Arland looked at her. "I think I'm speaking for all five-er, six of us when I say that you can call the Greys your family. 'Cause that's how we see you. Family." He coughed, "Even if you're like a pesky big sister. Damn if I don't know what that's like."

 

She beamed, “I daresay looking after the lot of you is like trying to keep a bunch of unruly chicks in the nest.”

 

"But we'll stick by each-other when the day's done. Or follow each-other through the Hells."

 

Grinning, Rhaine replied, “Good to know.” She paused before adding, “Is that all? Or do you have something else you wish to talk about?”

 

"Well, there is something," Arland began. "I'm worried about Nawen. I haven't talked to her in forever, but I'm worried about her."

 

Rhaine’s face fell a little as she remembered Tannin, “Yes…so am I. You might wish to speak with her when you get the chance.”

 

Arland sighed. "You think so, huh?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "We've only had a proper talk a couple times, usually bored out of our mind on the road somewhere. Not sure if she'll trust me to talk to her." He looked thoughtful. "She reminds me of Ethel, though. Can't help but feel protective," he started. "Not just because of that, of course. Nothing I've seen of her is anything I can hold against her. I never like people that think they're better than they are, but Nawen? Flip side of the coin, I think. Wish I could help with that but it's not my place." He paused, then added a pointed, "I think."

 

Rhaine cocked her head a little, “Perhaps you can help her regain her self-confidence. A little at a time.”

 

Arland shrugged and looked at her, “Maybe. Don't know how.”

 

She smiled, “Perhaps that is something you will learn in time.”

 

"Might help to hear a few pointers, though."

 

The Doomguide thought a moment before answering, “She needs to understand that whatever ills befall her, such as what Tannin did to her, is no fault of her own. He is inadequate, not she.”

 

Arland's expression turned fiery, "Yeah. I still wanna gut him."

 

“So do I,” Rhaine muttered.

 

"Why can't we?" Arland demanded.

 

She smirked, “Because we wouldn’t want to stoop to his level, now would we?”

 

He raised an eyebrow, "I don't know. Killing bastards that cross my friends is how I land myself on the lamb. But damned if it isn't justified....sometimes."

 

“So you think,” Rhaine replied flatly. “Now…is there anything else?”

 

"I don't know." Arland sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Didn't mean to kill the mood. Kind of botches my whole coming up here, doesn't it?"

 

“Not exactly.”

 

"Huh?"

 

She, too, sighed, “You’re still a good friend, Arland. And I appreciate your words earlier.”

 

Despite himself, Arland looked relieved. "Well, long as I didn’t ruin it completely."

 

She grinned, “Not completely, no.”

 

Arland spread his arms wide again. "Well, good."

 

The Doomguide chuckled and moved forward to embrace him again, “I’m all sweaty, you know that, right?”

 

"You think I care about being a little smelly? Ow. I'm hurt."

 

“Well, I thought you ought to know before I possibly made your shirt all damp…something I neglected to think of earlier,” her grin widened, and she hugged him tight.

 

"I don't think anyone in the entire damn family's ever cared about getting dirty," Arland snickered. "But it's a nice thought." He hugged her back.

 

When she let him go, she tilted her head curiously, “Say…did you think about my offer?”

 

Arland looked positively mystified, "What offer?"

 

She chuckled again, “You’ve forgotten already? My offer to teach you and your brother to read…well, better than you do already.”

 

"For all the good I am at reading, Rhaine, I'd be better off not reading at all," Arland replied with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Nonsense," she replied, "There are many things that would slip by you if you could not read. It is as much a defense as it is a tool."

 

"You look far deeper into these things than I do. It's confusing," Arland confessed. "I guess we could give it a go. Sure."

 

A look of eagerness crossed her face as she whirled around and delved into her pack, pulling out books and parchment. She examined the faded spines with a critical eye before plopping them all one by one on the nearest divan, “Hope you don’t mind using religious texts to start. I’m afraid I have few secular pieces.”

 

Arland coughed conspicuously. "It's alright. Long as they got a kid's section for us new people."

 

She grinned, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Now, come have a seat,” she patted the divan as she sat down on it, “We’ll start out small and slow and work from there.”

Arland flopped down onto the divan beside her. "Let's hope I don't frustrate the hells out of you. Would kind of make the good stuff I've done tonight be pointless."

 

“Don’t worry,” she reassured him with a sly wink, “As long as you don’t do it on purpose, you should be safe.”

 

---------------------------------------

 

Three hours later, it was past midnight. Her eyes grainy from exhaustion, Rhaine finally closed the book they had been working on and glanced up at Arland, “I do believe we should call it a night.”

 

Arland rubbed his eyes with his knuckles and yawned. "Yeah, we should. My head feels fuzzy from all of this learning."

 

“Better get used to the feeling,” she gave him a cheeky smirk, “We’re going to be doing this every other night until you can read as well as I can.”

 

Arland groaned. "We'll be at this for years!"

 

She smiled wryly, “No matter…as long as it takes.”

 

"I don't think I'm meant for reading," Arland whined petulantly. "Maybe the gods put me here to do something else. If, you know, they put people here for reasons."

 

“Oh, shoo, you,” she replied, waving him towards the door. Then, she added with a wink, “I need my beauty sleep.”

 

Arland looked mystified. Again. "I've never understood that. People don't get prettier by sleeping."

 

She sighed, “‘Tis but an expression, Arland.”

 

"Well so is frowning." He shot back. "Stop confusing me!"

 

“Out!” she pointed at the door, her other hand on her hip.

 

Arland chuckled. "Alright, I'm goin', I'm goin'. But first things first." He gave the Doomguide one last hug before he slipped slyly out the door, leaving his honourary big sister to her perplexing beauty sleep.

 

---------------------------------------

 

Rhaine saw an oddly familiar elf, covered in blood, crawling to escape flashes of magic and cracks of a whip held by an unseen hand...

 

...the elf's mouth opened to scream, but only more blood came out of her coughing lungs...

 

...the stench of death and decay filled the air...the elf's skin erupted in virulent pustules...then was lashed open by the merciless tails of the whip...

 

...electricity flashed and crackled everywhere, and at last the elf's tortured voice came bellowing from her throat in agony as the pain reached its zenith and a mad voice laughed in elation...

 

...sickening pale eyes turned on her...a diseased smile overwhelmed her with a sense of knowing...

 

The Doomguide woke herself with the sound of her own screaming voice, coming from her lips unbidden. Her bedsheets were soaked in sweat, her nightgown plastered to her, her hair drenched. She sat up, panting for breath, not knowing where her fear came from or why...only that she felt she had been being watched.

[Deleted6317247User]

When Menarses began talking to her, Nawen couldn't help but frown. "Did that lecher just called us leeches?" She thought while trying her best to hide her actual feelings towards the man. From the very beginning she hated the idea of staying in this man's estate, and now she hated it more than before. Even if she understood what he said, she still believed they would be better off on their own even if the locals were distrustful towards some of them. They were always like that towards her, yet she never got into too much trouble because of it. But then again not all in their group were able to hide as well as she did.

 

"So... there was no other way for us to be useful to you, good sir, than have some female members of our group dance in a festival? I see." She said, keeping less polite of her opinions unvoiced.

 

Nawen didn't wait for the merchant's response, but she wished he did when Azuris, Hexol and Lucas started a discussion of their own. She paid little attention when her race were mentioned as she was used to this, but when her name was mentioned she frowned and she wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up and swallow her. "How much coin do I have to pay for you all to stop bringing this up? I doesn't do any good to anyone." With that, she excused herself from the table and went outside to look for Rhegar and Kiira. She spent most of the day with her animal friends, making up for the time she spent in her room.

 

Shalena meanwhile listened to the discussion between Azuris, Hexol and Lucas with the slight smile on her lips. "Oh please," she laughed when Azuris shared his opinion on why Tannin hid his heritage, "this group consists of some of the least judgmental people in the Realms, no one would have kicked him out or tried to kill him if he told the truth. If you're traveling with a group of people and expect them to have your back in a fight, you shouldn't hide pretty much everything from them, even I know that."

 

The piratess grabbed a bottle of wine off the table and stood up. "Though I'd very much like to hear his side of the story as well but I doubt it would change anything. Our dear Doomguide already heard his side of the story and he's still leaving."

Edited December 18, 2014 by Guest

[Llhunara]

Through the announcement and confusion that followed, Llhunarra sat in silence. Considering the tension she felt in the room the rogue even kept her chewing as quiet as she could, slowly biting into the crisp apple as to not draw much attention to herself. From what she had seen of this Tannin in the bath several nights prior there was nothing wrong with him, well, beyond the physical trials his body had apparently gone through. On the other hand she knew nothing of him beyond his enjoyment of female company so she assumed there was a history here that she did not understand. Figuring it best to not get involved she had no comment either way, this group he was leaving wasn’t even something she was a part of, having no tie to them beyond being slightly in dept to Menarse. Once that was paid and they eventually moved on she was already trying to figure out what was best for her. She could move on as well or maybe inquiry about “working” for the strange merchant. Patrolling such an elaborate estate had plenty of benefits to it…as long as its owner kept his hands off of her.

 

One thing had been made clear though; Rhaine was definitely the leader of the group. There was no serious opposition to the ruling so she assumed they all trusted her, then again the whole Bhaalspawn bit was not working at all in the male elf’s favor. Regardless her word obviously carried weight with the group even if she wasn’t the “official” leader.

 

With the red head taking her leave shortly after her announcement Llhunarra casually finishes off the rest of her snack before excusing herself as well. Slipping out one of the doors to the common room the half-elf pulls her flask from its spot on her belt, lifting it to her lips for the first delicious sip. The whole lot of them should learn to take things in stride, perhaps have a drink or two to calm their nerves…Rhaine definitely seemed like she could use one. Contemplating tracking the red head and her dancing friends down she decides against it, best to stay away from that scene in general.

 

For the better part of the day Llhunarra wanders around the massive estate, exploring with no real objective in mind. That was not to say she didn’t take mental notes of various items of interest that she crossed or did not request the occasional snack and/drink from servants, but it was far from a tactical scouting of the area. Eventually she found her way to her room glad the wine cellar here appeared endless as she was able to request a fresh body of wine to keep her company through the evening. Dozing in an out for the better part of the night her eyes flutter open sometime after midnight. Groggy and half intoxicated she could have sworn she had heard a distant scream…perhaps someone had more than a bottle of wine for company this night? The rogue chuckles at the thought before taking a sip of her nighttime companion.

[AurianaValoria1]

Thankfully, no one seemed to react to the Doomguide's nightmare-induced scream; she supposed the walls were thick enough that they muffled it, for the most part. That fact slightly unnerved her as well, but since it was already almost daybreak, she decided to push the thoughts to the back of her mind and dress herself to begin the fifth day at Menarses's estate. That morning, Rhaine spoke a bit with Imhiros regarding the coming of the High Priest of Osiris, but it was concluded that the two would not speak officially until after the festival, and so there was little to do about it in the meantime. Thus, she decided to lose herself in the routines of mealtimes, dance practice, and working with Arland's reading skill, and so the days that followed went by faster than she expected them to. With each one that passed, the festival loomed closer and closer, until the tenth morning of their stay - the one before the day-long celebration - was at last upon them.

 

All of the servants were in a flurry of activity, and for once, barely any of it involving the party members. The festival was to be held on the following day just outside the walls of the estate on a makeshift grounds, and all of Menarses's stronger workers were focused on building temporary structures for performances and vendors. Many of the female servants found themselves decorating the stages and stalls with garlands and flowers, draperies and rugs. Those who were not involved in the setup milled about and sampled the fares of Menarses's cooks, the best of which would not be seen until the morrow. The High Priest of Osiris was just one of a great number of prominent figures who had come to attend the celebration, and so Menarses's guest rooms were packed like sardines. As such, there was no lack of noise, heat, or aggravations in general.

 

Rhaine, Zorica, Sybille, and Shalena were all being given final adjustments to their costumes. They stood in a row in the tailor's hall, their arms held out as Menarses and the dancing instructor fussed and fretted over minor details. The Doomguide's lips were pressed in a thin line as she attempted not to slap the merchant prince the next time he draped some gods-awful heavy gold chain around her waist. Zorica, on the other hand, sighed loudly and heavily every chance she got, never wasting an opportunity to express her discomfort or growing irritation.

 

Conall and Argyros - the latter of whom was now back in his humanoid state since more guests were present - stayed in the commons room and watched the wandering masses with sharp eyes, already judging who might seek to cause trouble later on when the performances provided convenient distractions. The nobles and clergy put themselves at an obvious distance from the more numerous commoners and servants; almost everyone chatted away in Mulhorandi, leaving the two warriors at a loss as to what they were saying. However, the gestures and glances from some of them spoke volumes without need of understandable words to accompany them. Conall felt as though the members of Rhaine's company were being looked down upon as much as Menarses's servants.

[josh900]

Azuris kept himself busy the past few days by burying himself in the novels left behind Tannin's quiet exit from the group. With the busy work increasing around the compound he elected to stay out of the way, keeping mostly to himself, with Tannin's parting words occasionally echoing in his mind, "Gonna put a new crew together, then I'm gonna save the world."

Azuris couldn't help but worry whether or not the rogue had been telling the truth, but in the end, he pushed those thoughts back and decided to only focus on one danger to the Realms at a time, that and sit on the letter Tannin had given him to give to Nawen after a short while.

"I feel too old for all of this crap." He sighed heavily.

----------

 

Hexol was understandably upset at the recent turn of events, all these new people and not a single one could answer any of his hundreds of questions. He sat on the floor with his back to the wall, sighing heavily in despair, his pockets filled to the brim with silverware and jewelry from the guest rattled with every movement.

[Deleted6317247User]

With the festival getting closer and more guests arriving each day for the upcoming celebration, Nawen spent most of the time outside with animals. The estate for all its size was getting too crowded and loud for her to stay indoors. It also seemed better to avoid the locals as she caught a few of the guests looking strangely at them and even if they talked in a language she could not understand it was evident that what they said was far from friendly.

Today wasn't any different. Shortly after lunch, Nawen brushed past the guests and stepped outside. Leaving the leftovers of the food outside for Rhegar, she went to her usual spot near the stables. It had a good view to the whole area where she could watch the preparations for the festival without getting in the way and it was the only place with large enough trees for shelter from the heating sun that wasn't taken over by Menarses's guests. She enjoyed the quiet here and it was one of the very few places where nobody looked at her with concern or even pity in their eyes. Gods, how she hated when people pitied her.

Arland navigated and pushed his way through the throngs of visitors, trying his hardest (for Rhaine's sake) to ignore the snide comments he heard directed in the way of both him and his friends. If someone got in his face he saw fit to give them a glare and a quick bark to back off before he continued on his way. These last two days had been a real pain for him, being forced to put up with all of the arrogant high-strollers. His reading lessons with Rhaine had been going well enough and served as a healthy distraction from the crowds, and he made sure to consult her about Nawen once or twice. Now he intended to talk to Nawen directly.

He found her in a shaded alcove near the stables, keeping to herself as usual. He leaned up against the stables and wiped his forehead. "Doin' alright?" He asked simply. "Stlarn if these stuffy bastards don't have their noses past the clouds.

Nawen noticed Arland approaching the stables and when talking to her which in itself was rather surprising as they haven't spoken much at all. "I'm fine, thank you for asking." She said as she shot a glance at the guests walking outside. "If only they covered the sun with those noses of theirs," she said and smiled a little, "at least that way they could be useful."

For a few moments she kept her attention focused on the guests before looking back at Arland. "Is there anything you need?" She asked.

"Nah. Actually I was here 'cause I was hopin' to talk." Arland stated with a shrug. "Don't think you're a drinker or I'd have brought you something, and we just had lunch, so I don't got anything to make it worth your time." He grinned. "With any luck the talking does that."

"To talk?" She asked, curiosity clear in her voice. "What about?" She had an inkling on what he wanted to talk about as it was pretty much the only thing people brought up whenever they spoke to her, but she still wanted to know. "If it's about what happened-" she paused, "you don't have to do that. I'm fine."

"Not gonna lie, it sort of is." Arland confessed. "I was just wondering how you've been holding up last few days. I hear they've been a pile of nice, steamey droppings for you. Don't know for myself, though, since we don't talk much. That last bit I was hoping to fix."

Nawen sighed a little, but not out of annoyance, she was tired of everyone bringing this up even if she appreciated them caring enough to ask how she was doing. "I'm not good at lying," she said, "so I won't even try to. It was bad at first, and it still isn't completely fine but I'm doing better or at least I believe so until someone mentions it again." There was a moment of silence before she spoke again.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ungrateful," she said, "it's just that I'm used to deal with problems on my own, and I don't want to take up anyone's attention from more important matters." She looked at Arland and for a moment it seemed she had something more to say but then she looked away. The truth was, her usual method of dealing with problems was just keeping them all inside and focusing on other things and for a time forgetting about them, but now she can't push the problem aside nor did everything she feels became less painful: sadness, anger and worst of all - guilt.

Arland looked sidelong at her, and then hopped up and sat on the fence beside her. "Sorry to talk about it, then. I didn't know. Still, you ever want to talk about it you've got me around. I'm hardly the best listener and you've got Rhaine around for you too, but....well, I mean it." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Just a word to the wise: your problems matter too. Just because you don't think they do doesn't mean they don't. If it's got you feeling bad, try to fix it or talk about it. Keeping it all in...it's all gotta spill out some day. That much I know because it's happened to me."
"But hey, I also get it if you don't want people all over you all the time, so if you wanna switch the topic, we can do that, too." He gave her a sincere smile.

"Thank you for the offer, Arland," she said as she looked at him again, "I think my problems mattered too much and for too long at this point. And believe me, I do know it's certainly not the best way to go about your problems but I've spent one hundred years and-" she thought for a moment what to say before continuing, "let's just say that old habits die hard."

"Do you... want to talk about that?" She asked. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at... talking to people."

"Talk about what?" He asked, genuinely confused. "Old habits, or do you mean what I was talking about?"

"Good job at confusing him." She thought before saying. "You said that if you keep emotions inside they're going to spill out someday. You said it happened to you. I wanted to know if you wanted to talk about that." She explained.

He cleared his throat and thought his words through before he began to recount his tale. "Not sure how much you know about why I was on the lamb before I joined up with this bunch or why Rhaine and I used to hate each-other, but I'll give you the basics. All of us- 'cept Weyland when he got snatched ages ago - lived on a farm in Westgate. We were poor and the wench-born bastard that owned it piled on the taxes. Marie and Annette's pa, actually. Good thing they're not much like him. Oh, right, he was the lord that taxed the hells out of everyone till we were all poor, by the way."

He shook his head. "Anyway. Killed him and had to run. We slaughtered a bunch of his men because they held us at crossbow-point while they went and took our food for the winter to pay Ilen his "dues." Bolted our dog when he tried to protect the house. So we killed 'em all, then I went and killed the bastard himself, too. My sisters and my parents went to Waterdeep, I went the other way. But everywhere I went I saw the same stlarning greed. Might not've been from puffed-up lords and their toadies, might've been some ball of fat that ran a store or lots of times it was the local underboss with a whole bunch of toadies to kill people that didn't pay him enough. I was stupid.....well, stupider than usual, I thought maybe killing them might help people and might help the world change. But it never goes away."

Nawen listened intently to Arland's story as while she knew some of what had happened to his family, it was only but a little as she wasn't exactly close to any of the Greys. She was surprised to hear the reason why he killed Annette's and Marie's father as even if it sounded bad she didn't think it was good enough reason to kill anyone, but on the other hand Nawen never had a home but even she knew how bad and unfair some nobles could be. It was also that Ordain sisters seemed to have forgiven Arland for what he did and it was good enough for her.

"I'm sorry about what happened," she said, "but it doesn't explain bottling your problems bit."

"Getting to that part." Arland said simply. "So I go ahead and kill him and then run the other way. Wound up in the Dales for most of the time. Same story everywhere I go and no matter what I do it doesn't change. It never changes. There's that and how I was so far away from the others because of my own hatred and it just kept piling up. I was alone out there, didn't have friends at my back, and it just kept adding up. I wouldn't let myself lose it, which is what I thought I was doing. What was really going on was my bottling it up every time I lost a bit of hope, or missed my family, was what was MAKING me lose it."

"Not gonna lie, for a long time it was like I couldn't feel anything but anger and loneliness. That long on my own and I started thinking. I thought to myself that things weren't going to get better for me. I might never see any of my family again, won't change anything no matter how hard I try. Figured I might as well start to look out for myself more instead of trying to "save" other people like us. And you know what? When I loosened my grip on my old hate, I started to feel better. Even today I can't let go all the way....but damn if I'm not feeling better."

As she listened to Arland's words Nawen tried to think of an appropriate response, but the more he told the more difficult it became. Her life before... she never had any friends or family to miss, nor did she ever tried to make the Realms a better place. All that time she was on her own, the only thing she wanted was to be left alone, and while they both bottled up emotions it were different emotions.

"So... the moral of your story is to let go of negative emotions you keep bottled up inside?" She asked and sighed, a little. "If only it was this easy for me. What I feel isn't hate towards anyone, never was. What I feel is-" she paused, "it's more complicated I'm afraid."

Arland agreed with a dip of his head. "It always is. But it's a start, at least."

"It is." She nodded and then shot a glance at him. "I guess changing the subject idea worked after all, though not in a very pleasant way."

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that." Arland shifted his weight before a loud SNAP coincided with him yelping and plunging through the rickets to the ground, where he landed with an audible thud. "Ow! Stlarning fence! What'd they make it to stop, a breeze?"

She was about to say that there was no need to apologize but then the wooden fence broke sending Arland onto the ground. "Are you alri-" she started but then the part of the fence she was sitting on broke underneath her, sending her to the ground with a surprised yelp. Rather ungracefully, she landed beside him feeling quite thankful she didn't fall on him and which could have possibly resulted in a few bruises.

Slowly, she sat up on the ground and shot a quick glance at the broken fence before looking at Arland, and then suddenly burst out laughing.

Arland began to laugh too. "Good to know I took you with me, at least. You alright?"

Nawen laughed for a little longer before composing herself. "Yes, I am alright. Better than I was actually." She said, standing up and offering her hand to help him up off the ground. "I guess unintentional damaging of this poorly made fence was all I needed to feel better." She chuckled and then smiled slightly. "Thank you for coming here and talking with me. It really helped."

Arland took her hand and let her haul him to his feet. He shuddered and shook his head, blinking. Once he was done, his own lips curled into a grin. "Yeah, wrecking someone's fence is always fun." His face broke into a full, meaningful smile. "I'm fine to talk when you want to. Anytime."