3:8 Savy seer.

Early the next morning, when the sun had just peeked over the eastern horizon, what appeared to be nothing more than a merchant vessel landed at the royal docks.  Below the well-kept top deck planks, an ivory-and-green scaled hand gently pushed at harshly tanned flesh.

"We are here."

Rafa, who'd been shamelessly lying on the bare cabin floor since he'd been nearly carried aboard by Aleksei the night before, only grunted.

"How many shots of that demon piss did you two take?" Iordyn complained, head in his hands as he sat on the edge of a cabin bed.

"Is... he talking?" Rafa groaned. Iordyn rolled his eyes and threw himself back on the bed.

"I am telling him to stop at just one, but he is matching me until five," Aleksei shrugged.

"I don't... know... for... for sure... if I could count.  To five," Rafa slurred, rolling over and looking straight above him. 

"So how long until you puke?" Iordyn sighed.  "My older brother does this.  He always pukes afterward."

Rafa shook his head slowly, feeling as though his brain were moving in his skull as he did.  "I think... I... huh.   I'm still drunk."

Just at that moment, one of the sailors poked his head into the males' cabin.  His eyes instantly went down to Rafa, who'd finally decided to attempt getting up.  The attempt was miserable, since he had a remarkably difficult time figuring out whether he was leaning on a wall, the floor or possibly even the ceiling.

"Almost I am not believing that he is training in Waymoot," Aleksei smiled sadly, looking directly at Iordyn as he spoke.  "Is this true?"

"What?" Iordyn sputtered.

"Is it true that he is training only in Waymoot?"

"I- I don't know that," Iordyn retorted, confused.

With a vaguely pleased, but lazy laugh, Rafa answered for himself.  "Uh huh, I was."

"I wonder why you are not spending much time in Marsember- do you not wonder this, Ser Raibeart?" Aleksei continued, still looking directly at Iordyn.  The archer, for his part, sat up and narrowed his eyes at the Dragonborn.

"What?  No," Rafa breathed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he located what he knew to be one of the chain supports for what was supposed to have been his cot.  Grabbing on to it as though he needed it to survive, he successfully pulled himself to his feet.  "Waymoot, the whole time.  I never...whoa... never trained in-"

"You're trying to get over on-" Iordyn began as he leaned forward.

"That's a shame," the sailor mused.  "You're no Blue Dragon, to be sure, but every Purple ought to at least get past this.  C'mon, we've touched shore- you can make it back to land, right?"

"And when I do, I'll kiss it," Rafa replied, his laughter coming out in puffs that seemed to push his body to one side.


On the other side of the boat, Mi'ishaen had gotten up earlier than Silveredge, but didn't leave the cot right away.  She had turned halfway out, so that her hooves were prepared to meet the floor, when she discovered that the lump at the end of the cot hadn't just been a bunch of blankets.  She scooted over toward the end of the cot just in time for Silveredge to unfurl herself from the ball of covers she'd wrapped herself in.  Her silvery hair peeked out in bumps, and her sleepy eyes still caught what little of the morning light pushed itself through the peep hole above the cots.  Mi'ishaen felt herself smiling at the Shadar-kai's early morning cuteness.

"You spent all night down there?" she asked quietly.

Silveredge nodded wordlessly.

Mi'ishaen pulled her legs back in and scooted behind Silveredge so that she could put herself at the end of the cot.  "Fine.  Your turn."

The two women looked at each other, with Silveredge's embarrassed but pleased smirk meeting Mi'ishaen's playfully challenging eyes, until Iordyn knocked outside the open entryway to their cots.

"Hey," he said without entering.  "Have... erm... have either of you seen your dog?"

Silveredge pulled the covers back so that her head and shoulders were completely exposed.  "Niku?"

There was a slightly confused canine whine from a corner of the cabin that light hadn't touched yet.  After a few scratching noises and a second canine note of a completely different key, the tattooed battle hound padded quietly over to the females' shared cot, sat down, and put his fore paws into it.

"Valeria!" Iordyn exclaimed, having recognized the second canine sound immediately  "Why did you-"

"Is Niku fixed?" Mi'ishaen whispered to Silveredge.

"Valeria isn't," Silveredge whispered back as she briefly ducked her head behind the Tiefling's shoulder.  "Niku thought he was dominant, poor little brother."  She began giggling softly, which brought Mi'ishaen's hands to her face in a strange, but genuine show of girlishness.

Valeria, with her whip like tail popped up and to one side, padded over to Niku and put her nose squarely between his central ribs in the attempt to get his attention.  Niku, who'd put up with such advances all night, simply hopped up into the cot with the two women to avoid her.

"He's got her coming to him," the Tiefling breathed, trying not to laugh too loudly, "I'd say he still is."

"Get over here, Valeria.  And- we're here, so- so let's go," Iordyn managed, feeling somehow embarrassed.


A four-man Purple Dragon team stood a respectful distance away from a grey haired, bespectacled, robed Human male for better than a half hour before Aleksei helped Rafa down the plank to the land.  All the group's belongings had already been put off the ship, but neither male made any move toward them.  Behind them walked Iordyn, who had decided to put Valeria on a very short strap.  Last of all came Mi'ishaen and Silveredge, who were talking to each other about whether or not female animals in heat acted very much like actual tarts or not.  Niku, for once, trailed behind them.

"Gentlemen, it is obvious that I must take all of these into my study," the robed male insisted, as though he'd picked up on a conversation only momentarily forgotten.  "You did mention that your compatriot's missive included some fighting, and I must report that brainworms are most easily spread in combat.  In fact, if these women were nearby or involved..."

Mi'ishaen and Silveredge weren't to be distracted from their conversation, but Aleksei looked up to notice a heavily veiled creature standing a few paces behind both the Human male and the group of Purple Dragons.  Noticing his gaze, the robed male looked over his shoulder.

"Oh, her," he smiled, turning back to Aleksei.  "Yes, she doesn't seem to speak.  But she's a handy mage, and so communicated with us via prestidigitation.  You do know her, don't you?"

"Without doubt, yes," Aleksei nodded, allowing Rafa to stand on his own.  Rafa, for his part, found that if he stood very still, he could at least pretend not to be feeling as though he were still on the ship.

"She can't possibly be another wife or mistress, can she?" Iordyn groaned.  "Just how many lost causes did you pick up with?"

At this, Silveredge looked over Mi'ishaen's shoulder at the female being referred to, and Mi'ishaen herself turned around.  Niku, who couldn't be fooled, flattened his ears against his skull in displeasure at once.  Almost tauntingly, the creature moved forward to extend loving arms toward Aleksei, who passively tolerated the coming embrace.  Niku responded by moving in front of the women slowly- his ears popped forward aggressively, which sent Valeria into a nervous dance near Iordyn's ankles.

"I couldn't quite determine the relation," the grey haired Human responded lightly, looking down at the battle hound with interest.  "She introduced herself as Bloodtalon Balzar Xuntrinovich Voyonova- I am, unfortunately, not as informed as I could be about Dragonborn naming customs-"

Silveredge's eyes widened considerably, but before she could even think to verbally respond, Mi'ishaen shot between Aleksei and the robed Human to hurl herself at the veiled creature.  Niku barked angrily, but when Silveredge put a single first finger on her lips, he contented himself with hopping about as he continued to growl.

"You whoreson!" Mi'ishaen exclaimed as she knocked the figure down to the ground.  "I'll tear you apart!"

"Surely it's another wife," Rafa responded immediately.  "They all fight each other like wet cats in a tight bag."

"Oh?" the robed Human said bemusedly.  "Forgive me for doubting the veracity of that statement.  Dragonborn mate for procreation.  And for that reason alone."

As Mi'ishaen rolled shamelessly around on the ground in the attempt to pull the veils off the creature's head, a tell-tale flash of silver appeared.  Silveredge immediately leaped forward to try to pull Mi'ishaen away from the fight, and got herself smacked in the face as a reward.  Undaunted, she still worked to keep the Tiefling's hands off the unknown person.  Made nearly mad with fury, Niku launched himself against the veiled creature, who responded with an admirable attempt to choke him.

Aleksei rolled his eyes to the sky as though imploring some god's grace.  "It is many years now that I am thinking that never will I have children.  Whatever the gods will give me, with this will I be content."

Mi'ishaen made use of Niku's ire, catching the veiled creature's left foot and slamming a furious fist into the dark-skinned ankle.  Instantly, the dog was pushed aside with a nearly superhuman effort, and only the sudden appearance of Silveredge's shield spell prevented a silvery blade from burying itself into the back of Mi'ishaen's neck.

"Stop it, both of you, stop!" she ordered breathlessly, seconds before realizing what she'd done.

The veiled creature immediately stopped cold as though hit with a spell.  Mi'ishaen, whose breath was coming in pants, turned to reguard Silveredge with a touch of shock.  "You just-  you- huh.  Good for you," she managed at last, sitting up and kissing Silveredge on the side of the head.  "Good for you."

The veiled creature began chuckling, a low, rolling sound that sent a tremor of discomfort throughout the entire gathering.  Aleksei looked up and over to his left, but picked his right hand up sharply as though he would deal the thing a backhand.  The figure crawled around Mi'ishaen, who had to be restrained by Silveredge, and reached out amorous, dark-skinned hands to the Dragonborn.  Aleksei extended his right arm down to it, and with voiceless hisses reminiscent of a large, satiated snake, the creature took his hand and climbed gingerly to its feet.

"I waste no argument with you," Aleksei growled in a tone so deep that it seemed to reverberate in the bones of the lookers-on.

"As I said," the robed male continued with a frown, "brainworms are highly communicable, and are most easily spread in battle- I'll be taking every last soul before me into my custody- especially this poor creature who I think has just gotten her ankle broken.  Your so-called partners, ser, are made vicious by prolonged exposure to you, no doubt.  No benevolent god of any kind would smile upon this unchecked mania."  With a simple turn of his hand, the male produced a rolled and sealed scroll.  "Boy, take this with these soldiers on behalf of the soldier."

"I-" Iordyn began uncertainly, looking from the two women and the dog to the battle mage.

The mage looked at the group's collected belongings for a few moments, then waved a hand at them.  A large disc suddenly materialized under them, then levitated.  "Now, but me no buts, young thing; I'm in the right, and you do what you're told, I know.  So, off with you all.  Good sailors, take your leave; you have done.  Dragonborn, mind the lady you hold.  Soldier, you'll have to depend upon me, I'm afraid.  Ladies, mind the pup, and let us be gone."

Aleksei was the first to move, and scooped the veiled creature up with no effort at all.  Iordyn moved next, taking the scroll from the elder Human and following the stunned Purple Dragons farther into the walled camp to the right.  Silveredge checked Mi'ishaen over as they stood up, and found two growing bruises.  Mi'ishaen pointed out the swelling on Silveredge's own cheek, which the Shadar-kai gently poked at as though she'd never received a wound on her face before.

"I hope it doesn't mark," Rafa noted distantly.  "Maybe some aloe, eh?"

"Hush you," the mage smirked as he moved to the distracted soldier's side.  "You should be embarrassed- whatever substance you had still has you.  Young lady, I must commend you on your admirable efforts.  No common idiot would ever be able to tell your companions' true intentions- it's merely unfortunate for you that I am not a common idiot."

"My lord is kind," Silveredge replied, feeling her struck cheek burn all the more fiercely.

"Come now, darling; it was a compliment.  Now you, fond creature, I knew something wasn't quite right about you from the beginning.  I don't intend to let you get away without finding out precisely what's giving me that impression," the Human continued, looking into the crimson eyes of the veiled creature.

The veiled figure, with eyes narrowing, stared holes into the Human while wrapping its arms around Aleksei again.  With a laugh, the Human began moving in a direction opposite the path of Iordyn and the guards.  The disc holding everyone's belongings followed as though it were being held aloft by an invisible servant, which irked Mi'ishaen's nerves.

"As for the object of your affection, I'm glad to say I'm not so stupid as to believe that he's married all of you.  I expect, of course, that you'll from here forward be honest about exactly who you are and what you are to each other."

"Fine," Mi'ishaen crabbed.  "That's a male Drow.  Bahlzair.  And he's a murderous asshat.  The rest of us are basically surviving his ass-backward idea of camaraderie, which is apparently normal, to him."

"It's a shame I don't have any remedies for pigheadedness," the battle mage sighed as though he truly meant it.  "You'd make a much better rogue, Mi'ishaen, if you would only shut up."

"How- oh, gods, I hate-" Mi'ishaen began, but stopped herself.  "Some mages are... annoying."

"Well played, although you should be more afraid of angering or annoying me than you are of offending the bit of blue stick next to you," the Human admitted.  "I am Battlemage Terezio Ranclyffe.  And I teach divination.  To war wizards."

3:7 The noblest emotion.

In the morning, Rafa and Aleksei sat with their legs hung over the side of a canal while Silveredge and Mi'ishaen fought closer to the main gate.  Niku, who had been none too thrilled about being kept out of the tavern the night before, happily barked and bounced around Silveredge.  Half the soldiers there- young, and made celibate by force- were so enthralled by the sight of two women sparring with each other in the street that they didn't think to stop what other soldiers and townsfolk thought was tantamount to a public disturbance.

"Mishka is child of war," Aleksei explained, continuing a conversation that had been started in whispers the night before.  "It is putting deep shadow over her cradle, but what is doing much more damage is the automatic hate that so many have for her kind.  I am learning not to have this hate for Tieflings; others of my kind are not yet learning this.  So I am much confusing her, when we are first meeting.  I am strange thing to her, but somehow useful."

"But how did you come to pretend to be married or dating?" Rafa asked, running his fingers through the back half of his hair.  "Three separate times, even."

"It is I doing it the first time.  I am thinking that if Mikhail's Dragonborn are thinking that she is mate, they will not kill her immediately.  But it is her doing it the next two times... I do not know why," Aleksei shrugged. 

"She just picked up on a good story and kept going, is my guess," Rafa sighed, scratching at a phantom itch on his arm.  "I wonder what she's got that poor Shadar-kai stringing along on."

"There is no string with Rasha and Mishka; what you see is what they are," Aleksei replied.  "Mishka does not yet know what is affection, and Rasha is good rogue."

"Oh, so?" Rafa laughed.  "I think that sapling shadow would cry if she were made to do anything wrong."

"This is her way, to appear docile and harmless.  This I am seeing very clearly with Mikhail.  While she is yet bowing her head and saying 'Master,' she is killing him in cold blood."

"Ah," Rafa mused, leaning his head back slightly.  "She had me fooled- well, they're just different- they have their... uses.  Their talents, then."

"These talents interest you," Aleksei laughed, turning his gaze over his shoulder to look at the women, who were taking a moment to rest.  "It is good that we are so far from them."

"I don't know what you're-"  Rafa got to his feet, and turning around, caught sight of Iordyn and Valeria.  He immediately crossed his arms, offering the approaching archer a rather stony faced welcome.

"Good day to you too, and here's your message from Suzail," the young archer said brightly, pretending to ignore the glower.  Valeria, whose tail stood straight in the air, barked a few times in Niku's direction.  She obediently sat when her master looked at her, but fidgeted as though she wanted to play.  "I tipped the messenger two lions- made his day, I think."

"All the Purple Dragon pages are paid well," Rafa retorted, raising an eyebrow.  When the young male before him produced a sealed missive, he found himself disbelieving the clear indigo stamp on it, even though he knew the wax would be practically impossible for an imposter to acquire.  "If he got you to pay him too, he's a running a side scheme and should be fired."

"The lad carrying this was nothing more than a rag doll," Iordyn replied, pushing the letter further toward the soldier, who finally took it.  "His belly was hollow and his eyes were dull, so I gave him two gold pieces and told him to find somewhere nice to eat."

Rafa opened the letter and frowned at it.  "I don't know how such an urchin would have snatched this off a true messenger.  You've been cozened-"

"I wasn't cozened, ser," Iordyn pronounced pointedly.  "The letter came from Suzail haughtily enough, but got borne away by the first hungry rat the guard could find; I saw the exchange myself before I set off to deliver my father's letter.  Wanting only to do the right thing by all parties, I stopped the lad and paid him before he got too far.  I expect the Crown didn't want to waste a properly paid page on a discharged officer."

"Suspended, I give you great thanks," Rafa noted, looking up from the letter briefly, "though I may as well hand in my armor when I get to Suzail.  Aleksei, we're to cross over and meet additional Purple Dragon escorts that will bear me off to judgement and you to the battlemage that sent for you."

"Rasha and Mishka?" Aleksei asked, tearing his attention away from the women, who had begun fighting again, to look at Iordyn and Rafa.

"No mention," Rafa sighed.  "It's as though they didn't even exist, though I told your Rasha to put- oh, never mind.  Come, back to the tavern."

"The tavern?" Iordyn shot back, stunned.  "How could you think of going anywhere but on the very next boat to-"

"I'm not suffering through the humiliation of a public trial and hanging while hungry and sober," Rafa answered, sticking the letter into a pouch at his belt.  He held out a hand to Aleksei, but wasn't surprised when the Dragonborn got up without assistance.  As if to thank the offered help, however, he did give the Human soldier a strong handshake.

Iordyn, meanwhile, turned to notice Niku's barking, which Valeria had begun responding to with some whining of her own.  He discovered that Niku had decided to join in the renewed fight between Mi'ishaen and Silveredge, eagerly giving the bouncy Tiefling twice the workout.

"Why is anyone permitting this?" he asked, moving a step toward the situation as though drawn by a magnet.  "This is public menace, with the Tiefling and the dog leaping about like nutters."

"You  forget that they aren't prisoners," Rafa sighed.  "They're not doing anything wrong."

"You see nothing wrong with a pair of women brawling in the street like common beasts?" Iordyn dared, looking from Aleksei to Rafa with clear annoyance.  "The dog is loose and wild, even!  Who knows what could set the thing to attacking any one, and who's going to stop him if he does?  The girl who hasn't put a minute's worth of training into him?"

"They are all three working like soldiers," Aleksei shrugged.  "This is the most training I am seeing Rasha do for her little brother, who is quickly learning the ways of both women.  Already he is not running between Rasha's legs as he is wanting to do earlier this morning."

"Yeah, that fall must have cost her some good bruises on her hip and shoulder," Rafa mused.  "Big hound whined like a puppy when he heard her go down, like he knew it was his fault."

"Niku is very smart," Aleksei nodded.  "Also, anyone can see she does not easily lose balance."

Iordyn watched, frowning, as the two males literally turned and began slowly ambling toward the tavern.  Niku noticed the movement before the women did, and circled out toward Aleksei before running back toward Silveredge.  Valeria responded by trotting a few steps toward the larger hound, barking excitedly with her tail high in the air.

"Hush, Ria," Iordyn commanded.  "C'mon, sit down-"

"Where are the boys off to?" Mi'ishaen called from the middle of the street.  She and Silveredge had paused to focus their attention on him, panting and picking sweat-soaked clothing away from their skin.

"The... eh... tavern," Iordyn replied uncertainly.  "Whichever tavern you were-"

Mi'ishaen didn't wait for the young man to become any more sure of himself.  "The old manor up the street, c'mon, Edge- hey, dog!  Let's go!"

Silveredge trotted a few steps behind the quick-marching Mi'ishaen, opening her hand when she'd matched her stride.  The Tiefling barely cast a downward glance before she took the offering, and the energetic hound bounded before them quite a ways before he paused to turn in a few useless circles while they caught up to him.  Iordyn patted his leg so that Valeria would follow him, then quickly walked behind the ladies.

"So- so, how long have you been... uh... married?" he called, prompting Silveredge to attempt to slow Mi'ishaen down.

Mi'ishaen, who didn't even look back, snorted.  "Why don't you ask Ser Voyonov?"

There was a silent moment while Iordyn collected his bravery and his thoughts, and both women made the mistake of thinking that he was done speaking to them.  The archer's next words forced their way through the beginning of a conversation between them.

"You know, Cormyr permits couples of like-gender," he counseled, feeling as though he were shouting the advice down the street.  Indeed, a few passers-by immediately turned to reguard the foreign women as well as the familiar young man.  Iordyn knew that whatever he said from that point forward would get back to his parents before he could.

Mi'ishaen stopped dead as though there had been a wall in front of her, surprising Iordyn, Valeria and Niku, but said nothing.  Silveredge tucked herself closer to the slightly-shorter Tiefling, putting herself between her dark crimson arm and the muscular trunk of her body.  The heartbeat there had quickened, and the Shadar-kai deeply considered simply telling the Human male to shut up.

Iordyn walked around and carefully positioned himself in front of them so that he could comfortably look at both women without seeming like a threat.  When Niku laid down in the street without growling, he felt comfortable about continuing.  "I said, Cormyr permits couples of like-gender.  We don't stone them.  It's not against the law-"

"My lord will forgive me if I wonder why he thought to mention that detail of the law?" Silveredge supplied smoothly, watching Valeria take a few tentative steps toward Niku.

"You're quite simple, aren't you?" Iordyn smiled.  "Nature's blessing, the creation of offspring, rests upon couples of opposite genders- just in case you didn't know that, either."

"Why didn't you just let this fool die in the woods?" Mi'ishaen whispered in frustration.  Some deep part of her sparked with indignation, as though she'd been insulted by Iordyn's assumption.  "Damn fools can't even let me try to have friends, without calling it a deviation of nature?"

Silveredge wiggled her fingers until they were enmeshed in those of the Tiefling beside her.

"My lord may of course think of me whatsoever he will," Silveredge smiled faintly, dropping a very slight curtsey, "but he may wish to remember that I'm only capable of briefly delaying whatever physical punishment may reward his future words."

3:6 On the house.

"...and while I was still stationed in Waymoot, my sister sent me word that she'd passed.  I asked to go home right then and there, but I couldn't get clearance for weeks- there was miles of paperwork, and when I turned it all in, they delayed and delayed."  Rafa sighed and pushed at the dark mold stain on the floor again.  "Last month was the first time I could've gone back to Moonever at all, and as soon as I get to the dock, I get the message that I've been tapped to go with Shesua."

Mi'ishaen looked over at Silveredge, who leaned ever so slightly across the table toward Aleksei.  The Dragonborn, who had been contemplating the contents of his half-empty mug, reached one arm behind his head and scrubbed the roots of his blond hair slowly.

"It... is not the same leaving," he admitted at last, looking up to Rafa.

"So you're gonna call it whining?" the Human soldier argued, looking to Silveredge for support.  "You tell him; you get it."

Silveredge, who had been thinking of something entirely different, frowned as she sat back slowly.  After a few beats of silence, she allowed an adventurous hand to find its way over Mi'ishaen's resting right hand, and the Tiefling looked at her for a few moments before shrugging.  Silveredge nodded her head- a miniscule movement that both males missed- toward Rafa.  Mi'ishaen tilted her head from side to side, allowing her dark hair to brush the back of her shoulders through her scarlet dress. 

"Well, you probably think orders are orders, but... I wouldn't follow them," she said after a few moments of silence.  "If it'd been me, I'd've told the messenger to go dance with the devils.  Family comes first.  I don't understand any organization, anywhere, that tries to take that away, as though any king, any law, or any bag of coin could ever be more important than the people who raised you."

"Still I am thinking orders are orders... but these are... not good orders," Aleksei slowly agreed.  "Yours is true sorrow; we drink."

Rafa raised his slightly dented flagon, and the three that shared his table began drinking the ale in their own until he set the thing back down on the knotty wooden table again.

"Alright- Silveredge, on you," the Human nodded, making a small toast toward her.  "I have to pick a location, right?  Right- eh... maritime... on the water."

Silveredge pulled her lips to one side of her face and reached up a hand to twist her fingers in her hair.  "Well, once my- ah- Ides-Raz wanted go to Escalant- we were in Sultim, since he claimed the mercenary group with which he traveled had betrayed him to the guard in the town before, and that they hated him.  It was strange, since they spoke nothing of their distaste for him to me... anyway, he spoke no Mulhorandi, and I could only attempt communication by means of a soot-based potion that I could only drink two sips of without immediately giving it back to the ground-"

"Oh, please don't tell me he made you drink the whole thing," Rafa groaned, picking at the half-brown potato that had been served to him more than an hour before.  "I'll drink for that already."

"Um...yes, I'm afraid he did," Silveredge admitted quietly, more disturbed by Rafa's reaction than the memory itself.  "It would have been inconvenient for me to have to keep drinking water and waiting to settle down.  So I drank the potion as quickly as possible and managed to get through the entire conversation with the captain instead of only a few sentences at a time like usual, but the moment the boat launched...well..."

"So did you," Mi'ishaen supplemented, sticking the last of her limp carrots into her mouth.

"...and I'm certain that as the last of the potion was leaving me, I heard that the captain still intended to go lend aid to his people.  But I was confused, thinking him to be just as Mulhorandi as the rest of his crew, so I said nothing; I merely cleaned my mess in silence.  Just as I finished this, Ides-Raz stormed over and spoke harshly to me-"

"I love how he punishes you for something that's his fault," Rafa snorted, taking a pull of his ale.  This done, he began poking at his cold potato again.

"-and demanded that I brew a form of the potion that didn't make me sick...which...doesn't really exist.  Well, it turned out that the captain, for some reason, changed course dramatically.  He landed at Emmech and told me it was Escalant, which I then told Ashok, not knowing any better.  Turned out that we'd been set down blindly in the middle of a war between Thay and any other Human, Elf or Halfling that crossed their path.  Ides-Ras was less than pleased... and that was when my hair got burned all the way off the second time-"

"The first time was nine, right?" Mi'ishaen asked, putting her fork down completely.

"That's right," Silveredge replied, moving some carrots from her plate to Mi'ishaen's.  "When did I-"

"Before you hit the rock, or shell, or whatever that was down there," the Tiefling responded.  "Are you sure-"

"I'm certain you'll put them to better use," Silveredge nodded.  "Besides, you gave me your roll."

"I can't fathom this man you're describing," Rafa mused, deciding not to annoy his potato any longer.  "How did he not understand that nearly everyone around him took offense at the way he mistreated you for his own enjoyment's sake?  We drink."

"Hang on, I haven't any left," Mi'ishaen said suddenly as Silveredge began to raise her tankard.  "Pass me the-"

But Silveredge had already put down her tankard in favor of the sweating pitcher, which sat in the middle of the table as though it were a vase of flowers.  Pulling it toward herself, she carefully tipped what was left of the ale into Mi'ishaen's cup- a large earthenware mug that was so badly chipped on the bottom that the Tiefling had twice checked for leaks before she would drink from it.  Once he saw that Silveredge was satisfied with her work, Rafa reached over and gently took the empty pitcher from her.  He had only to raise it slightly for the attentive young Human who served their table to come and take it from him.  Silveredge smiled her thanks, then raised her tankard briefly while everyone else at the table drank.

"It touches the most beloved, now," Silveredge said shyly when everyone had rested their drinks on the table again.

Working on her third cup full of ale had done wonders for Mi'ishaen's circulation, and the crimson of her already-ruddy cheeks grew even more intense.  Rafa noted this, then leaned over to Aleksei, who was mincing his potato with his claws.

"What do you say we take the floor and leave them the bed?"

"Always Rasha will take lowest place she can," Aleksei noted.  "Even if you go to the floor, she will lay there with you."

"I do not think you have ever left the land, have you?" Silveredge asked quietly.  "I'll change the location, if-"

"Think of what you're telling me, man," Rafa replied with a raised eyebrow.  "If the Tiefling were on the highest parapet of a chapel, your Rasha would find a way to be near her- and indeed that would be the lowest place she could be."

"No, I've gone on boat before," Mi'ishaen replied, rubbing the back of her neck in thought.  "But before we went to Urmlaspyr...well... it had been a while, so- no, that fruit's yours.  Take it."

"Gazposha Ranclyffe is teaching me much," Aleksei said, crossing his arms over his chest with a sigh.  "Everything you say is speaking of affection for both women."

Rafa nearly choked on his drink at that, and his next words were accompanied by an indignant glare.  "Affection for- look you, I'm a married man!"

Aleksei shrugged, watching Silveredge and Mi'ishaen again renegotiate which one of them would eat what between their plates.

"A hound with strong chains will bark, if fresh quarry is close."

Rafa narrowed his eyes at Aleksei, then tapped his ale to the table to get the women's attention.  "Here, ladies, a toast to the drowning of this male's good sense."

"Nothing doing; he's easily the best drunk here," Mi'ishaen offered with a laugh.  Silveredge nodded her agreement, but added nothing, since she had a large piece of baked apple in her mouth.

"This is over time," Aleksei smirked sheepishly.  "I am becoming better drunk with practice."

"Well, it's not as though you've not had reason," Rafa admitted.  "A bard would weep all night for you."

"That bard needs different work," Aleksei shrugged.  "This is point of game, you see.  It is appearing naturally in a tavern in Razortear, maybe... eh... sixteen, seventeen years ago.  I am not there, but my staff father is telling me of it, because it is much amusing him, and he is making into game."

"Go on, tell it," Mi'ishaen urged playfully.  "You could compel the worst of audiences."

"Well, that explains a lot," Rafa muttered under his breath, only to catch a knowing look from Silveredge as she popped another piece of apple into her mouth.

"Two generals, defeated, are meeting in a tavern, one a Tiefling and one a Dragonborn," Aleksei began.  "Many are thinking that this is uncommon, but after Tieflings are smashing through Razortear, some Dragonborn are deciding not to close their doors, but instead to carry on as always they are doing before.  So this tavern is open, and it is serving both generals, who at first are sitting apart.  But soon Dragonborn is curious about why Tiefling is sitting quietly, only looking into his drink without drinking it.  So he sits at Tiefling's table, and he says, 'My ancestral sword is lost, because of you.'  Tiefling general looks up and says, 'Drink, and drown your whining.  My mother's pendant is ripped from my chest, because of you.'  The Dragonborn is feeling insult, and he says, 'Two hundred of my charge are no longer living, because of you.'  And the Tiefling is laughing sadly; he says, 'Drink, I tell you.  I am having five hundred, and none are now with me.'  Now, the Dragonborn is filled with wicked pride, because he believes he is in contest with this Tiefling, who is laughing at death itself.  So Dragonborn says, 'Twenty strange creatures from the ground are rising up to eat my wife and children; it is nearly costing my life to kill them.'  And Tiefling only says, 'Drink.  Those creatures are kruthnik, only pretending that we Tieflings are in command until we free them.  My charge of five hundred is destroying my village, and I alone am killing most of them, on fire with the screams of my people.  They are coming here to attack your children only because there is no more meat on my children's bones for them to eat; the last I am doing for my people is allowing their killers to follow the scent of the one who is getting away.'  The Dragonborn considers the Tiefling's words, and he drinks quietly until there is no more in his flagon.  He is then putting his dagger on the table between them.  He says only, 'For honor.' And the Tiefling takes the dagger in grave silence, and leaves."

The group stared at each other for a few moments before Mi'ishaen split the sodden silence.

"And your elder thought to make a drinking game out of that?"

Aleksei shrugged.  "My staff father is having very different sense of humor than many others.  He says to me that in the end, Arkhosia is becoming so much like Bael Turath that he is not always knowing which to mourn."

"I get it," Rafa mused.  "I get why he would laugh at that- and bitterly, too."

"We should perhaps to drink to him," Silveredge noted distantly, staring off into space as she whirled in her own thoughts.

"You're right," Mi'ishaen proclaimed, starting in on her ale.  She leaned slightly so that her back gently brushed Silveredge's shoulder, and the Shadar-kai snapped out of her reverie long enough to slowly sip at her own ale.

"He would very much like that," Aleksei nodded as he considered his ale for a few moments.  "He is much favoring light brews; he is saying that because he drinks this, he is not having to make as much water as the rest of us.  I am one night counting how many times everyone makes water.  I am making record in front of him, then hiding it away from myself.  In the morning, I go to him with it, saying, 'Staff father, you are making just as much water as everyone else.'  He cannot tell me I am wrong, because he is not remembering how many times he is making water; he is not even remembering that he is seeing me make record.  So, he is doing the only thing he can do."

"He whalloped the daylight out of you, didn't he?"  Rafa grinned.

"With laughter," replied the Dragonborn, who was smiling himself.

"Sure, his sense of humor, sure," Rafa chuckled, toasting Aleksei with a slight bow of his head.  As he took a drink, he noticed a figure that tugged at the edge of his rapidly melting memory.  When the figure turned around and fixed him with a green-eyed glare, however, the confusion fled from his mind.  "Oh, gods, it's the boy."

"Blade Unessmus!" Iordyn called as he moved toward the table.  "Drinking on duty?  With the prisoner bare of chains?"

"You are not seeing chains, but they are here," Aleksei replied simply.

"There- mad as a march hare," Iordyn lamented, patting the Dragonborn's shoulder gently.  "I should hope the mage in Suzail does you some good."

"If he can make you leave us alone, he's done plenty," Mi'ishaen sighed, much to Silveredge's amusement.

"I asked for room in the name of the Crown," Rafa reported.  "I gave his live-in woman all the monies I had left to me for food, since he would not take payment himself, and we have thus far enjoyed two full pitchers of their generosity.  What, should Lathander now champion ungratefulness?"

"Oh, that's grave danger you're putting yourself in, twisting true teachings that way," Iordyn warned, coming close to the table so that he could whisper and still be heard.

"Danger is an unarmed archer annoying a swordsman who's required by law to carry his weapon at all times," Rafa replied, unimpressed.  "Yet, I'm surprised to see you well enough to warn me of impending doom at the hands of an angry god."

"The potion was incredibly effective- so much so that my mother would very much like to know the weeds you used to make it," Iordyn smiled to Silveredge, who felt herself blushing.  "Further, these accommodations are ridiculous- mold on the floors, dents and chips in the cups, knots and pests in all the wood- you'll catch a disease to make what riddles his brain look tame.  Come, stay with me and my-"

"No!" Rafa and Mi'ishaen said at once.  Silveredge put both hands on her mouth immediately, but Aleksei fearlessly laughed at the stereo rejection.

"I only thought to right the slight my parents gave you- to apologize for their behavior- I figured perhaps I might even find some way to make it up to you."

"Take your father's letter and tell him to pay a proper messenger," Mi'ishaen snorted, taking another drink.

Iordyn opened his mouth to say something stern, but thought better of it right before the first syllable left his mouth.  With a smile and a small bow, he said, "I'll certainly take my father's letter, and I'll travel with you to deliver it myself.  On the way, I'll be able to properly explain the glorious teachings of Lathander-"

"Stabbed yourself through the foot with that one, madam," Rafa scoffed.  "The only trouble is, now we all have to deal with him and the 'glorious teachings'- gods save us."

"Oh, no," Mi'ishaen groaned, putting her head on the table.

3:5 A rocky landing.

It turned out that the party didn't have to swim across the river to Marsember after all. 

Iordyn was recognized from afar by an old woman who was sitting alone, fishing with the shadow of the Harbortower cast over her little craft.  At first, the sunburned fisher merely saluted him with a small wave, but upon seeing him accompanied by a Purple Dragon, she gave a loud cry to her son, who quickly pushed his own boat from the sandy shore on the western side of Harbortower into the water.  Both paddled across quickly, but stayed in their boats.  Rafa moved forward quickly, making sure to be the first to speak to them.

"I'll thank you, Mother, to take us to the borders, where we may unfold our business and continue peacefully on our way," he said calmly.  "I am Blade Unessmus, servant to you and all Cormyr.  Long live the king, his queen, and all those loyal to them."

The elderly woman, whose silvery hair had begun to thin at the crown of her head, nodded quickly as though there were no need for further explanation.  The son, a light red haired man that stood uneasily between Rafa's height and Aleksei's, guarded a bleaker expression.  Seeing this, the mother pinched her son, who turned on her with a strangely fierce snarl.  There was a strong voiced conversation between the two for a few moments, spoken in a language that sounded as though it were a cobbled merging of two very different tongues.  After a particularly quiet yet stern argument, the mother won her point, and both parties stood to invite passengers into their boats.  Mi'ishaen, Niku and Silveredge went in the old woman's boat, while Aleksei, Iordyn, Valeria and Rafa got into the son's.  The mother and son moved through the water for more than an hour without stopping to rest; both Rafa and Iordyn reguarded the passing Marsemban border walls with strong concern in their faces.  

"Brother, I would speak with the Dragons of the border," Rafa suggested to the man.  "We must go back and-"

"Os ne sei," the man replied, not turning to look at the soldier speaking to him.   "Wea we tei, sei.  Ua sei; schtei."

"They...eh...never spoke to me before," Iordyn smiled weakly.

"Well, now we know why that was, don't we all?" Rafa sighed helplessly.  "I can't understand what he's saying, and we're in his boat.  I'm not going to put force to him- if he misunderstands me as badly as I misunderstand him, I'll cause an unnecessary scene.  We'll just go where he's taking us and meet up with the guard as soon as possible."

After another silent half hour, mother and son began to sidle up to the coast of a long, looming island.  While there was a lot of street movement, Rafa didn't notice any patrolling guards.  What he did notice was the unusual combination of moldy stench and fresh baked bread that reached out over the water from the other side of a bridge connecting the island to the city's main land.  As they grew closer to the shore, so too the smell grew, until at last the boats reached the underside of the western foundation of the bridge.  Valeria put both paws over her nose, though Niku seemed to be wholly unaffected.

"Sei," the old woman nodded, satisfaction in her upright carriage and her voice.  "Latanae blesei ennua."

"Thank you, Mother- my deepest thanks to both of you," Rafa said as he pushed at Iordyn's shoulder.

Iordyn, who had nearly fallen asleep, stirred slowly, then sat up.  "Blessings be on both of you," he nodded warmly as he stood.  Mere seconds after he did, the smell of the place hit him, causing a very visible reaction.  "Ughh, where are- oh.  Old Arn... the family bakery with the cheese rolls...quite a distance for you both, madam."

With this said, Iordyn fished around in the small packs about his waist and produced a single silvery coin that was very much appreciated by both mother and son.  They turned their boats and pushed off as soon as the last of the passengers had hit the shore, and didn't look back even once.  Rafa looked about for any sign of guards, but none were to be seen- and he began to wonder if the old woman had misinterpreted his desire to go toward the guards as a desire to avoid them.

"Silver coin is harder to come by here than in other lands?" Aleksei asked Rafa as he watched the pair paddle quickly away.

"Silver?" Iordyn asked, nearly insulted.  "Why, that's-"

"Urmlaspyr's coin is still Semmite, remember," Rafa explained with his hand held up to quiet Iordyn.  "It all looks different, and no one anywhere takes it at its proper value.  Without ever seeing Cormite coin, it's easy to get confused.  Come along, let's find a-"

"It certainly doesn't give any clue that the place is run by a pack of idiots instead of just one," Mi'ishaen supplied as the group lurched forward, muscles made loose and lazy by the long boat ride.  "Some of the coppers look more like iron or bone, the ink from some of the silvers stain up your clothes, and the gold bits are five sided and sharp- most of them, anyway.  Once, I had five different gold pieces that all said they were lions, but had nothing to do with each other other than name alone.  I went to the money changer and asked him to give me proper coin- I was told I already had it."

"That's because every city-state had the right to mint its own coin," Rafa noted.  "You probably had coin that didn't come directly from Urmlaspyr, but that was still tender there.  Cormite coin is minted either in Suzail or High Horn- it's uniform, and unmistakable for any other land's money but its own.  That what he gave her, a Cormite tricrown, is worth about twenty Semmite fivestars, right now."

"Cormyrian, man, for Lathander's sake," Iordyn sighed as the group finally found flat enough ground to climb up onto the actual island instead of merely skirting the shore.  "Only Semmites call us 'Cormites' like that, as though we were of the same parentage somewhere in history.  And that, for the record, isn't true at all."

"Peddle that story around my great grandsire, ser, and see if he'll buy it from you," Rafa replied simply.  "It's him what says 'Cormite,' and though he be with one foot in the hole, I'll not cross that cane of his."

"You at least realize it's a Semmite slur?" Iordyn asked.  "Those in Suzail would squirm to hear you say it."

"Any fashionable fop in Suzail who wants to squirm does well to remember that the last late King Azoun himself called his people Cormite until the day he closed his eyes," Rafa retorted sharply.  "It might be outdated, but old doesn't make it wrong."

"There's an apothecary that works out of his home, right where Chancever meets...eh... it's five more doors up there, where the road forks to two different bridges," Iordyn stated in a strange and flat tone, pointing to the group's left.  "It's across the street from a gnome bar called Barrelstone, run by a Sylvan who doesn't speak good Common."

"Well, that I can take care of," Rafa shrugged as he led the group up the street.  "Read and write I may not, but my mum wouldn't let me out of her sight until I'd practiced my speech with her.  I've two other spoken languages, because of her- is it this one?"

"No... three more doors," Iordyn corrected as Valeria began whining pitifully.  "But I... think I'll sit... right here."

"Rasha also has Sylvan," Aleksei offered, reaching out gentle arms to physically convince Iordyn to lean on him.  "If you are taking her, Mishka and I will wait here with this one."

"You know what, how about Silveredge go on with Mi'ishaen, and all we menfolk can talk about hunting and the proper end of a sword to hold," Rafa smirked.  "Three more doors down, miss, and just poke your head in- here, these are the last silvers Shesua had.  They're called falcons, here.  Remember, they're worth about twice what you're used to, so don't let yourselves be cozened."

"It will be done," Silveredge replied, bowing slightly.  Mi'ishaen frowned for a few moments, but then finally gave Rafa a simple touch to her forehead that pulled away quickly, as though she had a hat to tip at him.  Tailed by Niku, the two turned and counted three doors, then knocked at the fourth.  In a few moments, the door opened, and all three entered without any problems.

"Well, there's manners for you," Rafa laughed.  "Surprised the dog wasn't turned out, though."

"Niku is more like brother than pet," Aleksei shrugged.  "Rasha is not understanding- or maybe not wanting to understand- that others will not treat him as she does.  She is not even training him- all that he does for her, he does because he wishes to do."

"Oh, she could have fooled me," the soldier frowned.  "Is he at least clipped?  You know..."  He made a cutting gesture with his hand, but rumpled his brow when he saw that Aleksei still didn't understand the question.

"Neither is Valeria," Iordyn nodded.  "I've meant to, but... she's never been a worry... no moods, no gadding about with other dogs..."

"Look you, man, the weather's warm," Rafa warned.  "If that untaught hound isn't clipped and she isn't either, one of the two of them will get ideas.  And the male mayn't even have the benefit of knowing what 'sit' or 'heel' means, from anyone, let alone the girl that won't train him- or even put him on a strap!"

"You must understand that for much of her life, she also is on strap," Aleksei finally sighed.  "This is where she is learning all her delicacy, because others are treating her as a pet."

And the two Human males stared at the Dragonborn in utter shock.

"Where- where was this...?" Iordyn managed at last.  "Did you... buy her, then?"

"There is not anywhere so much money as can buy or sell a person," Aleksei replied firmly.  "I am in my time and also even among my own people seeing the buying and trading of other people- Elves, Humans, fathers, mothers, elders, children- as though they are nothing but cattle.  Always this is abhorrent to me; never am I doing this."

Niku's sharp bark brought the men out of their serious reverie, and all three looked up to see a blushing Silveredge accompanied by the well-satisfied Mi'ishaen.  The hound dashed up to Aleksei and smashed his head into his leg, drawing a concerned whine from Valeria.

"Little Elf thought he was going to give her withered weeds and charge her like he'd given her top shelf," the Tiefling explained.  "I pointed to the good herbs and I said, 'No, those,' and he said, 'I don't understand,' and I said, 'I'll tell the whole town you've got a rat problem.'  He says, 'What rat problem?' "

"Syndaraen doesn't have rats," Iordyn said, his brow furrowing slightly.  "When has he ever... mold, yes.  Rats, never."

"My lord will forgive me, I hope, if I tell him that I made scurrying rats appear?" Silveredge smiled shyly as she clutched the basket of ingredients to her a bit more tightly.  "The handmaiden knew the price wasn't right, but wasn't sure how to get it any lower."

"Right; now you have to arrest them," Iordyn sighed, leaning back onto Aleksei's legs.  "This one threatened and cheated the shop keep, and that one's an unregistered mage."

"Well, when whatever guard is supposed to be on this side of town shows up, I'll tell them everything," Rafa replied, "including the part where the shop keep attempted to cheat them first.  For now, what else does my lady need to brew the potions?"

"Water," Silveredge noted.  "One would think that since this is an island, there would be plenty, but-"

"We can go find a tavern," Mi'ishaen suggested.  "There's bound to be drinkable water there, and I'd really appreciate eating something other than stale bread and moldy cheese."

"No, no, no, my parents' house is better than any tavern," Iordyn breathed, getting to his feet slowly.  "Come- at least brew the mixture in a cleaner, more respectable place- it's on the mainland just down -"

Aleksei looked over to Rafa  for a few moments, pushing his head toward Iordyn in a wordless request for permission.  Rafa shrugged, and in seconds, Iordyn found that he was suddenly more than six feet away from the ground.  Valeria barked loudly and worriedly, bursting into a Niku-like run in circles around Aleksei, but even with her persistence, the group still managed to cross over the bridge leading from the island to the mainland of the city.  Before them stood what appeared to be the backside of a rather large manor house, and three streets pulled away from them to the north, east and west.

"Now, which way?" Rafa asked lightly, as though nothing unusual was happening.  But before Iordyn could answer, a well-fleshed, rosy cheeked woman, accompanied by two Purple Dragons, hustled down the northern street toward them.  Covered from head to toe in a well-detailed linen dress, no bit of flesh or strand of hair poked out anywhere, and an aura of command hung around her nearly as visibly as her garments.

"Blest be, Iordi, what are you doing up there?" the woman asked, a light trace of annoyance in her voice.

"Oh!  Mom!"  Iordyn replied, trying to get over the feeling that his brain was spinning in his skull.  "Will you let me down, Ser Voyonov?"

Instead of simply putting him back on his feet, Aleksei took a knee and allowed Iordyn's feet to touch the ground.  Only when the young archer had steadied himself enough to stand away from the Dragonborn did the seven foot tower of scale and leather pull himself back to his full height.  Immediately the woman moved forward and snatched him far enough down the street to afford them a modicum of privacy.  Valeria bounded after the two of them, making pitiful whining sounds.

"I have to hear from a patrolling guard that some old bag sneaked my missing son past the border?" she whispered fiercely.  "I thought you said you were going for a day, not the better part of two days and a night!"

"Mom, you don't understand," Iordyn frowned, squatting slightly to convince Valeria to sit down.  "That soldier was with a swordcaptain who's now dead, and I'm helping-"

"What?" the woman exclaimed sharply.  Valeria barked in response, and the woman pressed her thin lips firmly together for a few moments in the attempt to calm herself.  "You thought you were going to 'help' an inept soldier, a prisoner, a demon-kin and an obvious Shade witch?  In your own home town, no less, where everyone can see you do it?  Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad, but I've been hurt," Iordyn admitted weakly.  "The Shadar-kai at first wanted only to brew a potion for me."

The woman's radiant emerald eyes bolted wide, then narrowed with intensity.  "You most certainly will not troop that witch through the streets, young man, now take your leave of the whole menagerie this very instant.  To think!  Your father shelters you from the war against Shade and how do you repay him?  By bringing a Netherese to his very doorstep!  Shame, Iordyn Raibeart, shame!"

"Mom, please," Iordyn urged as he put one knee down to the ground completely, "you can't do this to someone who wanted to help me!  We must do what we can to show her, and all these, the grace and life-giving mercy of Lathander-"

"Oh, do be practical!" Iordyn's mother sighed.  "It's all well and good when you proselytize in the mainland taverns, where at least I know you're relatively safe, but to go out onto the isles and try to make converts of dangerous creatures-"

A holler of surprise arose from behind the mother and son, who quickly turned around to see an unamused Rafa and the scorched herb basket.  Silveredge held all the weeds in her arms like a wedding bouquet, and Aleksei moved forward quickly to stamp out what apparently was a spontaneous fire.

"I thought you said you didn't do any magic!" Rafa stormed.

"I said I didn't like magic," Mi'ishaen corrected pointedly.  "Anyway, it's obviously it's not a talent I built upon- you ever seen a warlock in armor?"

"You could have at least learned to aim it properly!"

"If I'd aimed it properly, you'd be the one in need of the blasted health potion, you-"

"Hey!" one of the two Purple Dragon guards shouted.  "Look, you're not supposed to have done that to begin with, alright?  In case Blade Unessmus didn't inform you, magic like that is forbidden in cities- it's arson at worst and disturbance of the peace at best.  I ought to fine you at least 300 lions."

"Look, can you just- not?" Rafa sighed.  "It's not me decided to come right by the border guard, who would've made all this plain as a psaltery.  Swordcaptain Shesua himself would've taken a similar route, based on where we were headed when Ser Raibeart found us in the first place..."

"What were you just trying to do, anyhow?" Iordyn called back, finding his voice scratchier than he would like.

"The handmaiden wondered if she should begin to boil river water and brew at least one potion here," Silveredge replied.  "The beloved's actions are not born of rebellion, but instead concern over this delay."

"So you see the extremities that people will reach for when not accorded proper charity?" Iordyn said, turning his attentions back to his mother.  "We can't repay good will with closed hearts, or no seed we plant will grow, no project we start will succeed, no prayer we pray-"

Iordyn's mother abruptly stepped around her son and his dog to address all three Purple Dragons, who were still talking about the fine that Mi'ishaen should have incurred.

"My lords, I pray you leave us be.  I am most certain the guard already accompanying this group will with all haste make the travelers aware of our customs and laws; therefore, you need trouble yourselves no further here.  The Tiefling is young, clearly, and untaught, having just freshly come from another land; let me take her, this Shadar-kai, and the Dragonborn into the blessed forgiveness of Lathander, who would have us encourage all of them on the way to their betterment.  Pray you hear me, a well-known and devoted patron of Morningmist Hall."

The two Purple Dragons that had come along with her up the side street inclined their heads to the substantial woman in deference, then gave Rafa a brief salute, which was properly returned.  Then with a nod to Iordyn, they separated and went back to their patrolling routes without another word.

"I humbly thank my lady-" Rafa began uncertainly.

"Come along," the woman said simply, turning on her heel and moving away from the group.  "You understand the need to walk on Gelguld instead of Chancever?"

"Of course," the Purple Dragon lied.  Iordyn made a face at him, and the soldier figured he had better prepare to change careers when he arrived at home.

Iordyn arose from his position gingerly, then joined the group to follow his mother.  The linen clad matron moved quickly and silently between the rows of multilevel homes on the left and the mixture of stores and more multilevel homes on the right until she had to turn a rapid right one one street and left on another.  At last, she ducked around the back end of a u-shaped manor, and there, behind the proud grey stone, huffed a middle aged Human whose sweaty grey hair had begun to melt away at the center of the back of his head.  His face looked remarkably similar to Iordyn, however- strongly featured and stark, even though his skin was beginning to show wear and age.  He was working to split fireplace logs, but with every heft of his axe, his breath seemed to be harder to draw.

"My Lord Raibeart," Iordyn's mother called delicately.  "I'm afraid we have... company."

"Oh, no," the man sighed, bringing his axe down without chopping the bit of wood that was on his block.  "Tell me it's not that same gaggle of loose harpies that only affect a change of heart when he's looking at them."

"No, my lord, it's instead a happy band of outlaws that he seems to have picked up like some blinding plague in the woods," the woman replied, crossing her arms firmly.  "What's more, your son is limping and swooning- he thought the work of this darling little hag would fix him up."

"Hey," Mi'ishaen piped up immediately.  "This talented alchemist's the only reason that soldier's alive, so lay off.  You want scandal, how about you ask the man that put an arrow through a Purple Dragon's skull?"

Iordyn's mother glared daggers at Mi'ishaen, but the man who was quite obviously his father dropped his axe and quickly moved to get the entire party inside.  As soon as the back door had been closed on Rafa, who had made certain that he was the last to come through it, Iordyn's father took his turn with the murderous looks.

"Now you explain to me what this devil wench is talking about this instant," he demanded as soon as he'd gotten the group to the sitting room.

"Can... can the Shadar-kai... use the stove?" Iordyn asked in a distant voice.  Not moments afterward, his knees buckled, and Aleksei moved forward to keep him from hitting the floor.  A small cry of alarm escaped the mother, stopped at once by her own hands clamping over her mouth, but Iordyn's father didn't move a muscle.

"He is coming to much more harm than you are," the Dragonborn noted to Rafa.  "I am wondering how this can be possible, since many more of Bahlzair's arrows are hitting you directly."

"I have to credit Silveredge," Rafa frowned, convincing Valeria to sit down by the door with great difficulty.

"Another one with the constitution of a pantywaist," Mi'ishaen shrugged.  "And he wants to tell me about delicate dresses- do you people have a stove or don't you?"

The grim-faced Human male looked over to his wife, who had dropped her hands and pursed her lips.  With a nod, he allowed her to move as she wished.

"Come with me," Iordyn's mother commanded,  moving toward the kitchen with haste.  Silveredge followed her quickly, along with a panting Niku and a vaguely amused Mi'ishaen.  Rafa and Aleksei meanwhile worked to get Iordyn laid upon a quilt-covered couch.  Valeria clearly wanted to move, but a cluck from Iordyn's father put her bottom right back where it had been.

"Now that they're off," the elder Raibeart urged with quiet power, looking from his son's waxen face to those of the scarred Dragonborn and the helmet-less Purple Dragon, "tell me what's happened."

"I'll do it," Rafa replied.  "This is Aleksei Voyonov, a convict who was sent for by a mage in Suzail.  He's apparently the victim of illness, so he's going to be studied; our task was to bring him back alive at whatever cost.  My swordcaptain, Shesua, was sent with no less than five men.  Many fell along the way, but a day ago, an Elf- probably a Drow- named Bahlzair attacked us.  I and your son got hit with the same attack, although at different times.  The Shadar-kai- Silveredge- she was able to administer a healing brew to me, but was harmed herself- your son gallantly allowed me to use his potion on her.  I didn't think he was so bad off at first, and so thought the sacrifice but common for a well-bred male.  He seemed a little out of sorts when we began moving again after the attack, but... well, I had but few lions left of my swordcaptain, and I told the Shadar-kai to make potions of it for all of us, but- I take responsibility for this, as I must.  I pray that he survives."

"Well, it's started," Mi'ishaen reported as she walked back alone from the kitchen.  "Silveredge sat down to start that letter of yours; she thought-"

"You," Iordyn's father growled, focusing on the Tiefling at once.  "On what grounds do you accuse my son, who risked his life for that of your companion, of killing a Purple Dragon?"

"On the grounds that an arrow of his smacked the guy clean through the skull," Mi'ishaen shot back flippantly.  "If it makes you feel better, your whole country's probably better off without the guy he shot."

"There's a little more to it-" Rafa began carefully, seeing an even greater rage leap to the older man's eyes at once.

"He is aiming at me, thinking that I am dangerous, but when he is releasing arrow, Mishka is making herself more dangerous than I by putting guard in the way of his arrow," Aleksei explained calmly.  "She is maybe leaving herself out of her story for humility's sake."

"Not bloody likely," Rafa snorted.  "Now, we lost four men to slavers, and the swordcaptain himself to that Drow.  So if the man your son accidentally hit had lived to report the failure of the mission along with the loss of so many of our own, he'd still be-"

"You're gilding a lily," Mi'ishaen shrugged indifferently.  "The man is- thankfully- dead.  We all saw it, and we all know he was the last surviving archer in the party- killed by another archer.  Whether it was on purpose or not can be made a matter of opinion in any court.  So before you think of complaining to the guards about the convict and the so-called witch in your house- who you probably blame for your son's condition even though you were told how it really happened- let me make something clear to you.  Even if the rest of these docile souls keep their mouths shut, you let a peep about any of us out of your mouth, and I'll sing about your son's murder- that's right, murder- like a red eyed, horned bird, you got that?  If the acid arrows don't kill him, the gallows will."

"Mishka, would not also you hang for putting the man in the way of the arrow?" Aleksei asked, looking over his shoulder at the Tiefling.  "This will seem as though you are helping him in his murder, if that is what you will call it."

"If he wants to see if I'm crazy enough to take that risk, here's the invitation," Mi'ishaen replied with a mock curtsey.  "I just want m'lord to know that him and his great horned toad don't get to treat us like hot piss in a bucket without repercussions.  I've taken about enough of that from Shesua and this prancer already."

"Maybe indeed very serious illness is spreading," Aleksei sighed with a trace of annoyance that somehow made Mi'ishaen smile with a twisted glee.  "Mishka is normally very quiet in others' homes, so much so that they are not always knowing she is there."

"You've got to be kidding me," Rafa groaned under his breath, fixing Aleksei with a look of utter disgust.

Yeshua looked at Aleksei for a few more silent moments, then considered Rafa with a calmer visage.  "He's going to be examined by a battlemage in Suzail?   Which one?"

"Battlemage Ranclyffe," Rafa answered quickly.  "On the orders of his daughter, the court mage in Urmlaspyr.  He's on the books there for treason, assault, indecency and murder, but they can't try him without finding out whether he's doing it because he's ill and insane or not.  One moment, he's talking sense.  The next, balderdash- you heard it for yourself, didn't you?"

There was a moment of tense and thoughtful silence.

"You should have slit that demon's throat in the woods," Yeshua nodded, sitting back in his wooden chair.  "Once the witch is done with her brewing, you are to leave my house.  You cannot threaten me into silence, but you will make yourself useful- I've a letter that needs to meet someone in Suzail.  Put it in the hands of a guard over there, leave whatever the witch makes with me, and I will not say anything about this to anyone."

"I humbly thank my lord," Rafa breathed quietly.

"Pfft, as if your thanks meant anything anywhere outside of an empty latrine," Yeshua scoffed bitterly, standing up suddenly.  "I'm going to advise my wife to destroy that pot once the witch is done with it.  May all the gods have mercy on your soul, soldier, because if I ever see you again, I promise you that I will not."

3:4 Precept upon precept.

The next morning, as soon as sunlight peeked through the tops of the trees, the group gathered themselves and took stock of their conditions.  Aleksei's eye had cleared and healed completely, Silveredge was steady on her feet and Rafa was in relatively good health, considering that he'd narrowly survived acid arrows before.  Iordyn, however, seemed worse for wear than he had the night before, and Silveredge volunteered to make a health potion from scratch, if the right ingredients were found.  Iordyn claimed that the effort wasn't necessary, since Marsember was so close by, but Rafa thought it would be a good idea to go to an apothecary there and buy materials enough to make at least enough health potions for everyone to have two.  He made the executive decision to separate and rearm everyone, which dropped Iordyn's jaw nearly off his face.

"None of their weapons are peacebonded," he managed after a few moments of silent staring.  "What will you do when you're caught?"

Rafa, who was busy partitioning the rest of the food supplies between everyone's packs, first looked up into the trees as though they would comfort him, then back over his shoulder at Iordyn, who was leaning on a tree.  The bow at the young archer's side had already been partially unstrung, and a beautiful green satin ribbon waited in his other hand.

"What lovely trinket, ser, shall I use to peacebond all four daggers here?" Rafa challenged.  "Further, what delicate bit of tat shall I use to stay the sword whose pommel is little more than a sharpened claw?  Best of all, how shall I peacebond a spiked chain?"

Iordyn wrapped part of his ribbon around the grip of his bow, then looked up.  "A what?"

Rafa looked from Silveredge to Mi'ishaen, then bowed his head slightly with an outstretched hand of permission.  Mi'ishaen pulled both daggers as Silveredge unwrapped her chain from her hips and began to sling it up to true fighting speed.  Niku, excited at the challenge, pushed his tail stump high into the air and panted with his tongue lolled out.  Valeria seemed somehow confused about this reaction, and whined at Iordyn's side for a few moments before falling silent again.

"What manner of evil instrument is that?" Iordyn asked as he reached over to rub Valeria's side comfortingly.  "Nowhere in my weapon mastery class-"

"Then back up and take note," Rafa counseled with amusement in his voice as he turned back to divvying the group's things.  "Ser Voyonov- a hand here?"

"Da, ser," Aleksei replied, getting up to join Rafa.

"Your commanding officer I am not, ser," the Human laughed bitterly.  "I'll be lucky to be wearing the dragon after this march."

"Then may good luck kiss you as hard as she can," Aleksei answered jovially.

Mi'ishaen began moving in a slow semicircle as Silveredge continued to pull the chain around and around in the air.  When she moved far enough away from any trees, the Tiefling whipped herself into a somersault up and over Silveredge's head.  The Shadar-kai easily pivoted and adjusted, slinging the chain out for Mi'ishaen's left arm.  Mi'ishaen blocked with her dagger, but noticed that Silveredge had dropped down to the ground just a little too late.  The low kick itself didn't reach her, but the chain, which Silveredge had spun under herself as she kicked, ensnared Mi'ishaen's ankles easily.  Niku barked sharply as though he were pronouncing the end of the fight.

"I'm gonna have to get used to the way that thing can move," Mi'ishaen sighed, looking from the tender pricks to the pleased hound.  "You really learned some tricks in that hole, Edge."

"You now leap and dart over my head as though I were as small as a stone," Silveredge reminded with a gentle smile.  "You and your friends also learned much together."

"That's an instrument of the wilds," Iordyn proclaimed stoutly as he finished peace bonding his bow.  "It whirls like a morning star flail, but there seems to be no proper way to hold it at all- the fighter must hurt as much as his target for its use."

"Not so, my lord," Silveredge noted, rolling over onto her knees for a moment.  "It embraces the handmaiden, but does her no harm, unless she takes hold of the places where the spikes start."

"And when it's not in use, it's about her waist like a belt," Rafa added, checking over Aleksei's work.  He got up and turned to note the seriously concerned look on Iordyn's face.  "It was so convincing there that the eyes of five Purple Dragons glanced over it without a second thought.  Any ideas, ser?"

"Well, it can't go about her waist again, obviously," the archer nodded simply as he watched Silveredge turn to disentangle Mi'ishaen's ankles.  "It's a shame for delicate flowers to grow such thorns."

"You going to call my armor a dainty dress again?" Mi'ishaen charged bitterly.

"It is as fit for you as satin is for me," Iordyn replied politely, with a genuine smile.  "Yet, I am certain that you will discover for yourself that this is so."

Aleksei looked over his shoulder at Iordyn for a few moments, but Rafa merely chuckled, knowing that the Tiefling was quite likely to answer for herself.

"By the hells-" Mi'ishaen began.  Niku, as if to give extra physical expression to Mi'ishaen's words, rolled over on to his back and issued a series of low grunts of protest.

"Is not a rose beautiful and dangerous at once?" Silveredge counseled quietly, standing up a breath away from Mi'ishaen's body.  "Or if you will have a patron of the hells, then there must be some devils more handsomely shaped than others; lethal to deal with, but lovely to look upon."

With her cheeks a bit redder than usual, Mi'ishaen found herself unable to respond.  Niku, meanwhile, began running around in small circles again, drawing yips from a vaguely concerned Valeria.

"Does this closeness not concern you, Blade Unessmus?" Iordyn puzzled, scratching Valeria between her ears to calm her down.  "Does it not seem to you that they are not married to the Dragonborn at all?"

"Aleksei is the prisoner, ser," Rafa reminded Iordyn bluntly.  "I'll be the marshal to his actions, as duty bids me.  Mi'ishaen and Silveredge are free, and have every right to carry themselves according to whatever customs they follow."

"If you will marshal the Dragonborn, then do it wisely,"  Iordyn shot back, crossing his arms.  "My knowledge of Dragonborn culture tells me that their marriages are not permanent, and that any match's sole purpose is procreation.  Why then, should he take not one, but two other creatures to wife, knowing that they are incapable of bearing his seed to term?"

"Dear gods- prisoner or no, you can't ask-" Rafa cried, utterly embarrassed.

"It is good question," Aleksei interrupted, pulling his sword from the rest of the things assigned to him and whipping it up and around himself for the first time in weeks.  Rafa noted the working of the Dragonborn's wrist, and how the handling of his strangely weighted weapon seemed like both fine art and child's play at once.  "First, I must tell you that not all Dragonborn marriages are ending quickly.  Both of these with their own eyes are seeing Dragonborn female who, though she is unable to make children, is still living with her husband, helping to rear his children who are coming by other females."

"Your answer, ser," Rafa managed.  "Now, let us-"

Iordyn raised an eyebrow at Aleksei suspiciously and held up a hand to give Rafa pause.  "Though I put no store in any of them, I was also taught of the Dragonborn gods- Io, and Tiamat- and of the Rite of Bahamut-"

"My lord will forgive me for interrupting, I hope," Silveredge began, turning to kneel as she spoke, "but the priest who would have worked our conversion is dead."

Mi'ishaen let out a sharp, short laugh, then hocked and spat over her left shoulder.   This done, she leaned over and took Silveredge by the elbows to bring her to her feet again.

"This is Mishka's blessing for that priest, and all those with him," Aleksei explained as he considered the talon end of his weapon.  "You must understand that they are treating her very badly, because she is Tiefling.  They are wanting to cut her horns and tail from her... asking even that I do this myself-"

"And now they're all roasting in the Hells," Mi'ishaen shot venomously, stepping around Silveredge and moving to gather her things.  "Just down the hall from my kind.  I hope the devils play pleasant lullabies with all their bones."

Silveredge, whose memory of Aleksei's brief change in the Dragonborn camp still put a undeniable chill in her bones, found Niku bounding over to her to comfort her nearly at once.  She squatted to get down to his level, and with concerned whines and half-barks, he nuzzled about her neck and face until she hugged him.

"You see how this is not good memory for any of us," Aleksei sighed heavily, sheathing his kilij at last.

"I still don't understand," Iordyn mused with crossed arms, "how or why you would take up with her at all.  The war's only just over- so many dead, and you want to marry one of the killers' number?"

"Live longer, mal'chik,"  Aleksei replied, his tone suddenly much lower than before, "and you will see many things that are not now understandable for you."

"That's not a real answer.  I'll keep my doubts about your companions, whom wives I will not call," Iordyn said with an overly-polite tone. "Further, Blade Unessmus, I shall move nowhere until all weapons be peacebonded, and I shall report you-"

"Oh, cram it," Rafa grunted, taking off his cuirass and tossing it to the ground with annoyance.  Stripping off his shirt, he snapped his fingers and pointed to one of Silveredge's katars.  Niku hopped off her, and she wordlessly knelt before the Purple Dragon to hand it over, much to Mi'ishaen's displeasure.

Aleksei was only mildly surprised when the soldier began shredding his shirt, but still thought to warn him against it.

"This will make armor very uncomfortable, when you are putting it back on," he noted as he shouldered Shesua's old pack.

"Let that pup bear a tale, and it's like that I'll lose it entirely," Rafa snorted as he handed Silveredge back her blades.  "Now each of you take a tat, and tie a good knot between your hilt and your sheath.  It ought to be tight enough to give you pause, but not to stop you completely- that's a peacebond.  A show of faith in a settlement, so that no one thinks that you're lurking about to cause trouble."

Mi'ishaen was about to give a smart remark when she caught a steely glare from Silveredge.  Strangely pleased at the Shadar-kai's new form of giving commands, the rogue took the strip of fabric without another word.

"And the chain?" Iordyn reminded Rafa as he watched the interaction between the two females.

"My lord will take it, of course," Silveredge soothed, laying her coiled chain on top of Rafa's things and bowing her head to the ground.

"What manners, gentle mistress," Iordyn purred, watching Silveredge get up and take Hophni's pack.

"Oh, grown fond already?" Rafa whispered, again looking up into the trees in comical exasperation. "No wonder we want to poke holes in marriage bands."

"He will learn what my protection is when he is no longer having it," Aleksei whispered back.  "Mishka will be worse to him than Bahlzair, if he will cross her."

Silveredge wordlessly shifted under Hophni's pack, which now held her things along with a few provisions.  Niku sniffed at her knees for a few moments, then turned around in circles, prompting Valeria to begin barking at him again.

"By all means, allow me-" Iordyn began, moving toward Silveredge.

"Oh, you want to carry things for the dainty women?" Mi'ishaen said in a mock child voice.  "Go catch an arrow with your eye."

Aleksei opened his hand in a small gesture of demonstration, and Rafa shrugged his reply.

"You could not be my wife without meeting the back of my hand at least once for that mouth!" Iordyn frowned, rubbing some stiffness out of one shoulder.

Mi'ishaen put her things back down and stared at Iordyn.  "I.  Dare.  You."

"Careful now," Rafa warned quietly.  "The swordcaptain did but tap her shoulder with his sword, and you see what fate befell him.  Ser Voyonov's practically on the books for life, so no greater punishment can fright him.  Worse, no one will even know that he's killed you, since I shall not hazard angering him myself by telling of his acts."

"Sentenced for life?" Iordyn asked with a trace of alarm.  "What did you-"

"Assault, treason and indecency," Aleksei smiled, enjoying Iordyn's reaction.  "But I am adding murder, while I am yet in my cell.  They can put no man with me safely."

And Iordyn finally fell into a stunned silence.

"Ladies, I expect your packs are weighted properly?" Rafa asked as he began to move off.

"I won't drown if we cross a river, if that's what you're asking," Mi'ishaen replied derisively as she put her things back in order.

"That's fortunate, since there's another river yet before us," Rafa shrugged.  "Gods protect-"

"Haven't you learned anything about your gods these past few days?" Mi'ishaen groaned.  "When you get to a proper temple, ask for their protection all you like- see if the ceiling won't come down on you in response."

"Lathander forbid!" Iordyn cried at once, fixing the Tiefling with a stare somewhere between offense and horror.

"Oh, excellent; now we'll be fried alive by dragons or walloped by walking trees," Mi'ishaen growled as she began marching off without the rest of the group.

"My vote's for hags and flying hogs," Rafa laughed.  "C'mon, off with us."