noAnd scolded very throughly we were. Of course, it was about half as much trouble as I expected we would be in. We got the general 'why would you disobey' and 'what did you think you were doing' speech, but our defenses were solid and steadfast. We were told we were to be fined, and we were lucky that was all. We didn't see Wereboy the rest of the way to the keep, and frankly, I was a little curiouse as to where he'd gotten off to- what had been done with him. But it wasn't my place to ask. We made the journey without incident and were brought to Helix Mandrel, who informed us that we probably had good reason for doing what we'd done. He said he didn't like it, but we weren't going to be fined.

This rather noticably irritated Kaedwyn.

We asked if we might talk to him in private and, with some grudging reluncatance, were granted an audienace with him. From this point, we explained to him about Toby, and the importance of what we were attempting to do. But rather then get answers, we got sent on a rescue mission. We were to go and find a man named Delmont Coven, who had been a spy for the citadel, infiltrating the were who had gone East (?) and apperantly had something to do with the 'feast' we'd heard our own group of Were prattling on about. We got a sketched image and an idea of where the man might be, some general rules of where we were headed (what to and not to do)and an idea of what he'd been doing there. We were also told to say 'Toby', if he needed to be sure that we were allies.

So it was back to Befrengard for us, once more, to prepare.

Um, that was, after I requested a message sent to Talron. What? We were in the Citadel, anyway, and I couldn't get in there and see him.....

.....and even if it was stupid, and I was just some dumb little kid with a crush, I wanted him to know I was, you know, I duno. Thinking about him and stuff, I guess. I mean, completly embaressing and childish, and I'm sure he had more important things to do; but still.

Fuck it, I miss him, if we're getting right on down to it.

Also, before we left the Citadel, we picked up a few people, too; we meant to get one hireling to go with us on this trip, someone who knew something about where we headed. But when we got the adress of where to go- from our pecular tall man and his Mogli-it wasn't anything like what we expected. They told us an adress that went to a tiny little run down building in a run down part of the Citadel, and there we were pounced on like fresh meat.

Which, I guess, in a way made sense.

We told the woman who obviously was in charge what we were looking for, and she vanished for a while, just to come back with, as I said, three people. Two seemed young, not much older then myself, and one older. There names were Conchetta, Noman, and Fairn. Conchetta I fell in love with just instantly; she was intellegent but excitable, taking everything with a wide-eyed excitment and innocence that charmed me.

Noman was knowledgeable in areas that she was not, not to mention much calmer. He seemed tolerant of her, and respectful towards us.

Two candidates, two hits. Ann and I glanced at each other. (Alaric was off trying to earn some money. I've no idea what he was doing, but from his grumpy attitude after it couldn't have been pleasent. Of course, I'm also learning that Alaric just generally seems to have grumpy as his default mood.

The last man was Fairn, and I disliked him instantly. Something about him just shot my hackles to the sky. He was a diplomat like I could only dream of being, a man who was intellegent and smooth talking. He did not fight, he did not get his hands dirty. He came across as slimy and untrustworthy.

Still, he knew his shit, and brother, could we use someone like him.

We informed the woman running this busieness that we'd like to hire all three of them, which caused some unnessicary melodrama- and one very near heart attack, I think, as if no one ever expected such a thing to occur. After we handled one foot in the mouth incident by Ann, and an obviouse lie regarding his loyalty by Farn, we got our three hirlings and went to fetch Alaric.

We loaded back up on the ship, all of us, and moved out to Befrengaurd. I'm afraid I got my facts wrong with my last entry; now is when we ran into the bell, the dead body, etc, etc. Now is when we picked up the werespy and ran into the swamp incident.

I got confused before, I guess.

The end result is the same; we dropped off those that needed to be dropped off, got our butts scolded, picked up any comers, and headed to complete our mission a day or so later. (Conchetta was charmingly thrilled at the idea of boarding a ship swarming with elves; I could only smile indulgantly. She was like a child; so enthusiastic and eager to please. Ann muttered about 'what does she think I am' in a vaugly grumpy, amused way at my shoulder, prompting me to tell her to be nice. One elf is very differant from a group of elves, particuarly on an airship.)


We had lunch, and our hirlings gave us a small amount of the information we'd been after; the land we headed towards, it's people, races, ways, weather, anything. It wasn't a pleasent land....though I can honestly say now that I've been to the South I've been to worse. The weather here, though, was erractic and unpredictable, and the land so unwelcoming that one did not travel by foot, from what I gathered, if you could help it.

I suppose I'm getting used to elvish (or Ann-ish) humor, because her joke about everyone knowing how to swim in the event of a flash flood made only myself and Alaric snort with amusment. Conchetta, bless her heart, looked adorably confused and corrected her. Ann told her it was a joke, and Alaric met my eyes. I giggled and he flopped back on the wall, smirking.

"Elves." I intoned, as I usually do- and this time, his deep, gruff voice joined in. I only grinned, pleased. Looks like I have a partner in crime.

Conchetta got all embaressed, like the cutie she is, causing more amusment. But the nthe mood sobered as we got down to business. We told them about Delmont Covan, about his undercover mission with the Were, to stop or find out more about this 'feast'.

Instanta-panic.

All of our hirelings looked uncomfortable and alarmed, though it was Conchetta who spoke first. She thought we wanted to hunt the werewolves. Ann ungently corrected her ( yet again, a hissed 'be nice, Ann!' that went ignored.)

She went on as we passed around the scroll with Delmont's likeness on it, and we began to plot and discuss.

We were also told, in the course of this conversation, about a band of pirates that ran rampent in the skies around the areas we were headed to.

Of course there are pirates. What good story would be complete without them?

We were told that fighting would be- well, um, frankly, suicidal. Avoid them or run away, those were the best choices.

But Ann and I-we glanced at each other, both thinking similar, bleak thoughts.

We knew a barbarian who, not all that recently, had come into a rather large sum of money. He was looking for his brother, and he would, quiet likely, stop at little to get him back.

Darren.

I'd only met him once, and I don't think I'd ever met Jax,his brother. But when I'd seen Darren, he'd been a big, warm man, who'd greeted Ann like a brother. Barbian type yes, but also seemingly as gentle as a kitten.

Of course, loosing one's brother thanks to a certian wizard's foolishness is enough to turn anyone around. And the brothers were devoted to each other, from what Ann tells me; or at least, he was devoted to Jax.

Still.

We head onwards to a town called Almoric, the last known location of our querry, and then a town nearby called Molholander. We were then going to try and follow leads from that point, find out more about what might make a good 'feast' for Were here. We went thrugh and counted out a few animals, before landing on Mastadon. A huge animal- rather disturbingly huge, if you ask me, horses are fricken' big enough- with tusks big enough to gut you without them realizing they'd even done it. Powerful son of a bitch, too, and it took three people minimum to guide and rise this thing.

But how the fuck would they transport this behemoth?

I had the feeling this would not be as simple as we'd hoped. Of course, as I like to say, nothing ever is. But there had been the minisule hope.....dashed the moment the discrption of this thing hit my ears.

We split up after that, all of us retreating to prepare or brood in silent, considering thought. Ann hung about on deck, Alaric vanished below, Conchetta wandered off to plan, and I saw the others ocassionally. I stayed up top, too; it was too pretty to hang around down below. I've been on the ship before, but before that, as far as I know at least, I've never flown anywhere before. No matter how many times I've gotten to ride in the airship, I can't get over how pretty everything is from way up, and how oddly freeing it is to be above the world.

Strangly enough, my thoughts were more on the pirate situation then anything else. I was actually hoping to see this ship, just on the weird, odd off chance that it would be our boy. That he'd come here and start taking down other airships concerned me. He didn't seem the type. It would mean something very wrong.

It made me curiouse.

We didn't see it, though, and that evening we got to the border. Everyone came up, then, to watch as we crossed this.....this huge crevas in the eath, like a really big line had been drawn to seperate us from them. There was a town right on the edge, and another inside the gaping wound, oddly enough. There was a bridge, and giant monoliths, rising feet into the air. They were carved as people, and I wondered who they were intended to be. (Or if I wanted to know, because really, usually finding the answer to these questions meant getting in deep water.) But they were carved with hands out in front of them, like they were blocking something. Or maybe warning something away.

Yeah, you try going through what we have. You'd start thinking dark thoughts like that, too.



And then, the green, viberant land we'd been soaring over changed. On the other side, it was stripped. It looked like the other side of the crevass had been baked for too long. It got hot and it got hot fast as we approched, even as we went up, up, into the sky as high as we could go. There was just.....nothing there. It was an eery sight, and it made the land look flatter and bigger then I'd ever seen. We were all oddly somber as we crossed, looking at the massive expanse of nothingness. Had this land always been like this? Who would want to live here?

And motherfuck, it was hot.

Still, it was soon enough time for bed, so to bed we went, in a hot night, in our hot ship.

And woke up, hot.

In a hot morning.

I was going to get tired of this real fast.

Noman offered everyone cool clothing meant for this environment, but I am both stubborn and stupidly attached to my armor, which I glamoured to make look like the cooler clothing everyone else wore. Simply to avoid notice.....changing it to look right didn't help the heat any.

Altering my armour caught Noman's attention, for certian. But I assured him, for the moment, it was nothing he needed to know about. Nothing that would involve him. For the love of all that is good, I hoped I wasn't lying.

I got my mind off the heat by watching Meyonne try to adjust to something more then a freakin' loincloth, which was just about all he ever went in. It was adorable, and I could barely resist teasing.

We spent the morning peacefully, uneventfully.

Until a ship was spotted in the distance.

Ann, the Captian, and Farn confired for a bit while the rest of us kept a distance and watched, cautiouse and ready. Then Ann signaled me and I nabbed Alaric, who got Noman and Conchetta. We were all stiff and ready for a fight, like a pack of dogs confronting a stranger in their territory. It was only a few minutes before the ship came close; Gnomish, from what I was told, and with a white flag up. We all realxed, just a bit.

It was an odd, awkward little huddle; easily eight of us, there. Meyone and I, Ann, Alaric, Noman, Farn, Conchetta, the captian, a few others.....but those eight more up front, protective and alert. The ship was bigger then ours, and armed. It had unfamiler markings on it, but Ann seemed to know them- she was smiling slightly.

Then the Captian appered on deck, another Gnome behind him. He spoke Gnomish, straight off, and Farn translted for those of us who couldn't understand; then he switched from Gnomish to Common, and things got much easier. Plesentries, at first; then a warning when he found where we wanted to go, about the same pirate we'd heard of before. He called himself the Obsidian Axe, and apperantly Mr. Axe was so bad that Almoric and one other had hired five warships like this one to keep an eye out for him.

My stomach sank, and I met Ann's eyes. Sometimes, we don't even need our fondly dubbed 'rogue speak'. Sometimes, we just understand each other. And the thought between us was pretty obviouse. Taking a breath, already knowing the answer, I asked why we needed to be so careful of Mr. Axe.

Because no one who's seen him had lived. Not one, not one had gotten away. Destory the ship, kill the crew or make them slaves.

Darren? Big, gentle Darren couldn't be doing this. Could he? The man who had so warmly greeted us, whohad lifted Ann in a hug so violent she'd cleared the ground?

What have we done?

Alaric snapped that we wouldn't be taken without a fight, but Ann and I met gazes again, quietly. We knew. This was not a warship.....this ship is meant for speed. Speed alone. It could outrun lots of things. If we met something we couldn't, likely chances we got fucked.

The little Gnome went on; Mr. Axe was apperantly trying to get control of the four differant tribes here and not entirely failing; he had to go through these incredibly hard trials and he was getting them done, if slowly. Steadily. The tribes weren't happy about this-apperantly because Mr. Axe was an outsider, and they didn't like that he was trying to gain control over 'em- and that's why they'd hired the Gnomes.

And then they left.

We split up again, all but the 'main force' of us; Ann, Alaric, myself, Meyone. We gathered in a loose circle near the railing, watching the ship dissaper, slowly. I felt Ann's eyes on me, waiting for me to ask the question. So ask it I did, even though I knew the answer.

"D'you really think-"

She asked me what else I thought eighty thousand gold might buy.

Oh, yeah. He has that, by the way. Darren, I mean, has eighty thousand gold.

Ours.

That prompted me to fume about killing rages and then add how he'd seemed so nice. I knew completly well being nice had nothing to do with it, and Ann knew I did. The look she gave me told me so. You're not stupid so stop acting like it, that look said. She told me that he'd do anything for his brother, that Jax was very close to him. He was devoted to that man.

And we'd gotten him kidnapped. Probably worse then dead or wishing he was dead, by now.

Okay, so, to be more proper, Lim fucking Dul had gotten him kidnapped, but then I ain't pointing fingers, right?


Alaric perked an ear and an eyebrow at our conversation, wanting to know if we knew Mr. Axe personally. Ann said no, we knew who he might be. I quipped, just to be difficult, that he'd stolen from us. Ann archedly told me she looked on it as an investment.

Only a snort came back at that. I wouldn't dignify it with anything else.

Investment.

Then Alaric wanted to know if maybe we could get his help, if it was who we thought it was. I felt both Ann and I stiffen and glance at each other; our thoughts weren't in sync, but very similar. I was worried that we'd be prooven wrong- we'd get to Mr. Axe's ship and find it wasn't Darren but someone else. Someone viciouse and quite willing to kill us and destory Ann's beautiful ship.

Ann, from what she said after a beat or two of silence, was more worried that it was who we assumed. She said she didn't belive anything could stop him, if it was Darren searching for his brother. She wasn't sure, even, if her friendship with him meant anything to him anymore.

She looked very sad when she said that, and I went back to peering over the railing, and tried to change the subject. Talking about friends lost isn't easy. I worked; I managed to steer the conversation away from Mr. Axe and Darren, and soon Ann rejoined the talk.

We got below decks a bit later to deal with our hirlings; sending Farn out for information on the belifes and customes of the four tribes, Noman to ask about the people we were after and local tribes. Conchetta was to see what all else she could find out on Mr. Axe. Then Ann gave them coin when they held out begging hands, and was going to leave us to go above.

But then we were all told to come up. Another ship, according to the translation, had been spotted. A darwven warship, to be exact.

We all glanced at each other, and then Alaric's manic laughter reached my ears, making me grin. He crowed about fire cleansing their souls, to let them come, and I laughed despite myself. Oh, he was going to be fun, I could tell already. I could see why Talron had befriended him the more time I spent around him, that was for certian-sure. He was the absolute, perfect opposite of my Talron, and yet in others ways very much like him. I wondered how much trouble those two could find, if you gave them a chance to do it.

Ann gave him a slightly alarmed glance- like she had any right to act spooked by our fire-happy cleric, she's as crazy as he is- and said 'no' rather sharply. Still smirking, I moved up beside her anyway in quiet support and to wait for her decision. Here, Ann is in charge, even of us.

And then it came. We could all see this massive thing, this airship that made ours look tiny and delicate by comparison. Mr. Axe's self-chosen name was printed very clearly on the side, and I felt some little part of me curl into a ball and begin to whimper.

Another part of me leapt with excitment. My heart raced, my hands fisted on the hilts of my daggers. Ann was speaking to the captian, and suddanly we accelerated. I had to let my hand drift from my side to grip the railing with the suddan speed, and I watched Ann watch Mr. Axe's ship grow smaller in the distance. We were low, under him, and apperantly hadn't been seen; or if we had been, for whatever reason, he'd ignored us.

Now the whimpering part of me came to the fore, and I felt my heart race with something other the excitment; fear. If we'd been caught-

my hands were shaking with the combination of my emotions. I was shaking with it, all over. I felt Ann watching me again, and when I turned I saw the uncertainty in her face. I knew it was my job to make that vanish, so I asked the question that hung in the air.

"D'you think- we should have tried? To talk to them, I mean."

And sure enough, the tension vanished and so did the uncertainty. She told me that would have only one result and she wasn't going to think about it.

I decided I'd rather not, either. I gave her a nod, and we watched the sky silently until Almoric came into veiw.

It was not a pretty city. Dark, rough, with this ultimatly unfinished look to it, as if someone had started building it and gotten bored partway through. It was a dark and shadowy place, though I admit; I think part of the reason why it looked so ominus and frightening was that it was unfamiler. Our uncertianty of what was to come, our lack of knowledge on the city and it's people, the fact of what we were here for, the weight of what we had to do; it all combined to make Almoric look more intimidating then I think it normally might.

We glided into the dock near some other ships- all Gnomish, I think, because they looked like the one we'd met- and the Captian, and Farn went to deal with the dockmaster. Conchetta and Ann were off to one side, talking softly. Meyonne was only a few steps behind, Ann's always loyal companion. I was flanked by Alaric, a quiet and deadly shadow at my back that I was only just now getting used to having.It made me self conciouse, having him there; I wanted to proove to him that I was capible and competent. Not just some stupid little whelp with a crush, but someone worthy of a man like Talron.

Even if I am just some stupid little whelp with a crush.

At the same time, it was nice, having his bulk at my back.

Farn and the Captian came back to us, seemingly irritated at something; but again, I couldn't understand their conversation. I waited paitently with the others until they were done speaking, both clearly aggitated now; and then our hirelings took their leave. They slipped off the ship with a promise to be back here, all together, at a certian time. As I watched them slip off, I found myself biting my lip, fingers dancing over the cool metal of the ring at my neck. Nervouse habit.

Hopefully, those three would be careful and smart. Us, I didn't worry about; we could protect ourselves.

That bunch, though- I wasn't so sure about.

The rest of us stepped onto earth a few moments later, and no sooner had we touched it then did we notice a strange little man leaning on a wall. He wore a large sign around his neck, and as we read it, we glanced at each other in amused amazment. Ann looked exapserated and had that look on her face that always, always meant she was thinking 'humans', even if she didn't say it; Alaric was grinning in a stupid, slightly disbeliving manner, Meyone looked blank and considering as always, and I just knew I was grinning, trying very hard not to giggle. The sign read: Information, one gold- People, three gold-Places, five gold, Illegal Actitives-One billion gold. It wasn't spelled out, of course, and that made it all the funnier, to see that suddan influx of zeros.

And now Alaric was marching right on up to him. I glanced at Ann, who glanced at me, and we both looked at Meyone. Then we all ran after him. The man watched us come calmly, giving us a pleasent smile, and greeted us. He was a talkitive man who used his entire body to speak; interesting to watch, interesting to listen to. He talked very rapidly. He was something of a comidian, too; when he introduced himself, he pretended to be sneaky about the illegal part of his services. I wondered if the price, the sneakyness, or the entire thing was the show. For all we knew, he'd simply made a huge joke out of it and knew nothing in that aspect.

For all we knew, that was incorrect.

He asked us if he could help, and Alaric, to my surprise, was the one who nodded and spoke up. Normally, he's a pretty quiet one. He asked about the group of trackers we were looking for, and handed over the gold peice this man wanted.

He told us yes, they'd come through seventeen days ago, and left three days ago. I swore softly, frustrated; three days behind at least. It would have been far too easy, if they'd still been here by some twist of luck.

Ann, amused and impaitent, stated that they were probably in Molholendar by now, that we should go. She turned away, and it was a kind of an invisible group shrug before we followed. Then we heard him call out that we were wrong; they hadn't gone there.

Oh, fuck. I knew this was going to be more complecated then it needed to be.

We all stopped, turning, and Alaric headed back. Another handing over of gold, and he asked where they'd gone. He said they'd been headed there, but diverted, went further East, to the mountians. He suggested it was to track the mastodons, but sounded like that bit was a guess. He introduced himself, to my surprise, as Jasper. I hadn't expected him to give a name. He introduced ourselves, exchanged pleasntries, and then Alaric went on about asking more questions and handing over more money. Ann stood nearby, arms folded, looking irritated- but when I met her eyes she smiled and rolled her own. I grinned back at her and then turned my attention back to the questions at hand, listening, paying careful attention. At last he was done, we were out of questions, and I relized that Ann had been paying no more attention then a kitten with a ball of string. I whistled at her, motioning. We are going, I told her, grining, to the gaming area in this city. Time to relax, earn back some coin, enjoy, have a little fun for once without worrying about life or death.

I was very aware I was grinning like a maniac, but sue me, I was looking forward to this. Every day we worry. We worry about everything from the Taint to the Keep, from Damien and my past to Sparrow and Ann's mission here. We have a massive weight on our shoulders and a shadow lingering at our backs. Rarely do we ever get to enjoy ourselves. And in case anyone's forgetting it, I'm only friggin' nineteen years old. I would like to act like it, once in a while.

I wanted to play!

Alaric was just as eager to go to this gaming area as I was, though for differant reasons, mostly; and to my surprise, Meyone looked like he enjoyed the idea, too. Everyone looked thrilled at the chance except for a certian elf. Ann looked like someone had just told her she was to go face the Great Red Worm alone armed with nothing more then a wet noodle.

That confused me, but I refused- refused-to let her bring me down from my excited mood. I was practically vibrating, and the other two seemed tolerantly amused. Ann fummbled for some excuse, any excuse, but Alaric had already found out from Jasper where to go, and we headed in that direction. I fell back near Ann, and hissed at her to loosen up. There was nothing on the line here but a few bruises and some lost gold.

She didn't reply, just gave me a withering look. Fine then, be that way.

We found the entrance after a bit of wandering, and found it was five gold to get in. Alaric paied for he and I, and Ann for herself and Meyone. We were swamped by the sound of cheering and yelling, jeers and laughter all around. People swarmed us, and the mood was downright contagiouse. There were more people in one small area then I'd ever seen, and I won't lie; the sheer amount of humanity made me a bit nervouse, I'm small, I crush easily. And I'm not a big one on strangers touching me.

No one seemed to much care that Ann was an elf, so caught up in their fun and excitment were they; they really just didn't seem to care. That helped me relax, a little, that easy acceptance, but we stayed rather tightly together anyway, the group of us. We went left, to the 'safe' games, where you might get hurt but probably not badly. (The risky games, to the right, were a bit too daunting. We'd come here to earn money and have fun.....we already spent too much time worrying about being dead, we didn't need to play at it, too.)

These were games of skill and mastery. There was everything you could imagine, from tests of strength to endurance, in varying differant levels for each. The ringmasters for each worked the crowd into a betting, cheering frenzy, skilled at their jobs and clearly enjoying themselves.

It was all so basic and light hearted. Just games. Just fun.

For once.


I was the first to actually participate in something; a maze, basic and beginner at first. I had to weave and tumble my way past blunt, spinning objects that came swinging down at my head. If they weren't meant to kill me they did a good job of faking it. I was teased for being a woman and couldn't help but glow a little as Alaric placed a bet on me and I slipped through the easiest of the mazes without much effort at all.

I was instantly ushered to a harder one, listening to the cat calls and groans of loosers, and the whistles and cheers of winners above and around me. The ringmaster was grinning, teasing me once more in his stylizied way, and I agreed to try again on a harder version.

Alaric put down a bet, I put down my wager- and to my surprise, Meyon's soft voice behind me stated that he had no coin. I glanced at him, smiling lopsidedly, oddly flattered that he'd bet on me. Alaric laughed throatily and told him he'd cover it. He handed Meyone some gold, and he placed it down on me. Determined not to let the pair down, I went through this harder maze. I nearly got clonked on the head a few times, but I made it through, and the people around me went bat shit.

I tried the hardest one, too- twice, in fact. I got halfway through both times before a particuarly big whap to the skull knocked me silly, and I had to back out.

I was invited to come back, of course; the ringmaster seemed impressed, but likely only wanted the chance to earn more coin. I didn't much care; I was very tempted to do just that. Hell, splitting fucking headache or not, that had been fun.

Ann still looked like a rabbit in the middle of a fox den, and no amount of teasing could lighten her up. So, fuck the teasing, then; let's throw her in the deep end and see if she swims. I kept my eyes open, and then saw it- the perfect test for her.

"You should do one!" I crowed, nabbing her elbow and starting to drag a spluttering, protesting elf towards a certian area of the games behind me, Meyone and Alaric just behind us. I hesitated for a moment before the dagger throwing, but then saw the booth she needed to try. The point was to shoot an arrow through a set of rings, all the way through. And for bonus, you had to try and ring the little bell at the end.

And I do mean 'little'.

Another ringmaster came up as I steered her over, and she instantly flitted her eyes around, looking much like a startled deer. She began to refuse, and I tightened my grip on her.

"Come on," I whined (I'm very good at that), bouncing a little. "Have fun for once, geeze!" And once again to my utter surprise, Alaric joined in my teasing. Ann jerked free of me and started to retreat, hand to head, but I caught her again and put her right in front of the easiest of the ring-shooting booth. But before she could shoot, the ringmaster steered her to the intermediate area, saying one of her skills wasn' to use the beginer area. There were a dozen rings in this harder one, but I wasn't worried. I had seen Ann shoot before. The woman could practically pin a fly to a tree; she didn't seem to realize how good she was. This would hardly even be a challange for her. Even hitting the little bell would only be delightfully challanaging, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind she'd do it, at least once. She was given two shots, and missed with the first. Instantly she was ready to stop, to back off, groaning that he couldn't do it. I was a bristle of irriation try to peak through my good mood, but forced it down. "Oh, whatever!" I laughed, and urdged her to at least try once more. Everyone fucks up now and again- I was still dizzy from clanging my skull around inside that hard level tumbling trick. I had failed, and was still laughing and having fun! That was the point- and everyone would fail, once or twice. But with her skills, she was bound to get it.

I had placed a bet on her, as did Alaric, and Meyon (big shocker there, kids, wink nudge wink) and we had done it for a reason. Confidence.

She tried again- and missed again. She sighed, all depressed now, sulking in her loss. And she still looked panicked. I moved to stop her-

-when Meyone's big paw landed on her shoulder and he encuraged her to try once more, in a low, gentle voice. I smiled softly to myself, hand over my mouth to keep from cooing and ruining to moment. He spoke to her softly, telling her he knew she could do it, and Ann just stood there, staring into his eyes and looking confused and electrified.

I know the feeling. I get it everytime Talron speaks to me like that.

The ringmaster was the one to ruin the moment, yelling out for one more try; five gold for two shots. We bet on her again- and were rewarded, when she fired, with the soft 'DING' of the bell at the end. I whooped, as we gathered our money. Ann announced she was done, though I tried to get her to take her last shot; and when I looked at Meyone, his eyes were on Ann alone, and he was smiling.

The ringmaster was calling for more comers, announcing that if Ann could hit it, surely other cxould....I let the noise fade to the back of my mind and ran to catch up to Alaric, who was a few steps in front of us. We began to talk and laugh, and I felt the heaviness on my shoulders easing. Right now I was not the youngest in a group of somber travelers on a mission; I was the youngest in a group of friends having fun. Alaric wanted to find a drinking contest or some type of magic contest, and Ann was sulking in the back, prompting more teasing.

And then we stopped. Meyone was looking, throughfully, at the fighting arena in front of us. There was something wistful in his expression, and I grinned. I tended to forget he wasn't that old, either (um, I don't think so, anyway, as he's not really human) and probably wanted to have some fun, too. And sure enough, he announced that he thought he was going to try.

Ann paled and looked rather nausius as Meyone went to the ringmaster to ask for details, and then he was in line for next.

I blushed violently as Meyone considered himself, then suddanly stripped right out of his new cloths, causing Alaric to laugh in approval at his choice and I suppose, laugh also at his suddan stripping. I looked away, but was unable to help grinning. Sheesh.

He looked about for a place to lay the cloths, and Ann heaved a world-weary sigh before extending her arms like a paitent parent. A disturbing comparison, considering what I think she'd like to be. Hehe. He watched her for just a moment, then they smiled at each other-hers weak- and gave the cloths over. I couldn't resist teasing- "What's wrong, Ann, afraid he's going to get hurt?"

She was trying to keep her face blank, I could tell, and looked mildly surprised that I'd noticed anyway. Oh, please, she was doing a horrible job, and I'd been around her too long to be fooled, anyway.

She only told me she felt this was 'barbaric', and I only laughed. I went back to watching the arena as bets began getting placed. Alaric and I placed bets, and Ann got tired enough of my poking to place one, herself.

A big man got into the ring with Meyone, and then the two came togther, slowly, carefully at first, two big competetors eyeing one another, sizing up. Meyone was bigger, stronger. That did not make his competition a small man, as Meyone is, let's face it, just plan big.

Still, Meyone took him down in minutes. And Meyone wanted another go. The crowd was going wild and I added my voice to it, whistling and screaming encuragement.

If looks could kill, Ann would have me dead ten times over.

The man that came in next was big; bigger then Meyone, easy, and just as powerful looking. This time, the fight lasted a good while, each man matched smoothly, countering strength for strength, skill for skill. And Meyone was tired.

But he was also very skilled, we'd seen that in Fera. I hooted and shouted encuragement, willing Ann to understand that there was no real danger here, that Meyone would be just fine, if perhaps a bit bruised and sore. I could hear Alaric, too , roaring beside me, and hearing him gave ne free rein to keep it up. I felt less silly.

I just happened to look over to my left, keeping half an eye on Ann through this whole mess- and she was wiping at her face. My smile fell away, and I felt exerliation and happyness flow from me. It left behind a quickly becoming all too familer hollow tiredness, an age on top of my years, a tired sadness, a weight. A very, very heavy weight.

Because good forbid that I be allowed to just have fun once in a while. Maybe that's selfish, but damn it, I'm tired of feeling tired. It seems we're so rarely happy.

And now, when we supposed to be enjoying ourselves, and having fun- supposed to be relaxing, just being friends doing nothing important for once, earning a bit of gold and having a bit of fun-

-now, here, in the middle of the screaming, cheering throng, Ann was crying freely. And the real bitch kitty of it was, it was partly my fault. I shouldn't have made fun of her, forced her into this. I shoulda' listened to her, shoulda' at least gone with her to do something else. I shoulda' seen how upset she was. I shoulda' cared enough to actually listen to her. But I hadn't, and now she was crying.

Damn it! Sonofawhoremotherfuckingdamnit!

"Ann?" I said, my voice so small now, suddanly lost in the crowd. "Hey, Ann, you okay?"

Stupid question. But I didn't even get the patent elven stupid human glare. She just took a deep breath, and suddanly her voice rang out.

"Finish it!"

It was as if, through the crowd of people, through every other screaming voice, he'd heard her, like a dog hearing a familer whistle.

Within minutes, Meyonne was the winner of his match.

He came down to us, after winning sna such were taken care of, gathering his cloths. We all congradulated him, and I was pleased to notice that Ann looked fine once more. Well, not fine, but she wasn't in tears anymore. Now she just looked grumpy again. I released a breath as Alaric clumsy racked into me, and then his hand was on my shoulder and Meyonne was smiling and looking pleased and proud, beaming more brightly then I had ever seen and clearly happy, and it was okay again.

The weight went away, a little.

Meyonne told us that that'd been insightful, and he still had much to learn, then dressed. He was still smiling, a quiet, content little thing.

That was what I'd been hoping to get, by coming here. Fuck how much gold we could get or not get; I'd just wanted to see us smiling and laughing, teasing and encouraging each other.

It made me feel good again.

I was ready to leave, after what I'd seen Ann doing, but it wasn't fair to Alaric to insist we leave when everyone but he had gotten to do something; so when he suggested a game of chance, I figured, what the hell? A dice game couldn't even upset Ann that much, right?


The game we found was easy enough, deceptivly so. Place a bet, then each palyer rolled five dice. Highest matching sets numerically won it, and if you got certian numbers you got a special prize, too. There was a tie breaker, if one happened.

We played a few rounds, each winning and loosing a fair amount of gold. It came down to Ann, the game master, and me in the end; then I was out, and finally, Ann.

But that wasn't the end of our day. Oh, no. The funny part was still to come.

First off, I tried my luck on my own event once more. Lost again, though I damn near made it this time; the second to last wheel clonked me too hard to keep going.

Then Alaric lit up.

He'd found a drinking game.

He was like a little boy; his excitment at the thought of getting shit faced drunk made me laugh aloud. Even Ann looked amused, now.

He was the fourth out of six men to drop out, nearly winning the thing. When he came back down to us, he was clearly a happy little cleric, smiling mellowly and leaning his entire fucking weight right on yours truely.

Why me? Meyonne's bigger!

At least he's a happy drunk.

Huffing and growling under my burden, I was in no mood to say 'no' when Ann asked if, now, we could return to the ship?

Alaric slurred something drunkenly, and I started to giggle helplessly.

"I think we need to get him back." I said, grinning a little.

Ah, there it is. The 'stupid human' look.

I only grinned again.

We got past Jasper once more, and he greeted Ann by name; proper name. Anja. She startled, as did I, and we both rounded on him, dangerously.

Well, as dangerously as one can while holding upright a heavy, drunken cleric.

Ann approched him, and Meyonne stopped just beyond her. Alaric and I stood a few paces back.I heard Ann ask for his name, and get directed to the sign he held. She tossed him the gold, and his reply drifted, clearly, to me.

"I asked the gaurd over there. You're the one who's name's on the airship."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. I think Ann has developed a mental link with me, though, because her look was pure venom.

Now I did laugh. She stormed past us all back onto the ship, Meyonne steps behind her. I took Alaric and guided him on board, too. Time for nappy for the cleric. Meyonne took him from me to get him to their cabin. I was pretty worn down, now, and my cloths were fucking burning up, so I went looking for water.

A few hours past in peace. Meyonne came back up, eventually, and lounged near me. I took up a seat in a hammock, and we just sat and talked for a bit, discussing our options and the day. There was a time, a few weeks ago only, when I'd never thought Meyonne and I would be able to just sit and talk, to enjoy one another's company. But there was nothing strained or awkward about it; somewhere over the months, we'd come to think of each other as friends. Albiet volitile friends with very differant opinions on many things.

But then, that was all of us.

We both fell silent when the Captian approched Ann talking to her in low, urgent tones.

Meyonne stood, and I stiffened, rising slowly next to him. Ann motioned me to watch, and then approched the man. She asked him what he wanted to speak about, and he told her his name was Samuel, and he had information about Delmont Covan. His voice was strained, and he was nervouse, fidgity as if ill, sweating, twitching. I felt dred rising in my belly.

Something is not right. Something is so very wrong.

The weight? Yeah, it was back.

Ann invitied him aboard to speak. He stepped up, and then shook Ann's hand. He told her he didn't have much time, could only do this once. Then he took a deep, deep breath.

"Del-"

You know how, when you drop a tightly sealed container, sometimes, it will burst? Contents fly every which way, many breaking if they're fragile. The container is ruined. You're covered in it, and stand there looking and feeling like a fool?

That's what happened, 'cept for it happened to a person.

Boom.

Ann barely had time to scream out a move! Before chunks of Samuel came raining down on the deck. I felt my stomach lurch and convulse, hearing my own hard retch in my ears. The smell of blood and something else, something foul, filled the air and coated my tongue. I managed not to retch again.

This is, just to let you know, the second time Ann and I have had a person blow up on us. And I ain't talking no hissy fit, neither, I mean litterally blow up. The first time had been during the Delcova incident. I watched Ann try to twist away, but she wasn't fast enough, and blood speckled her flesh. I had managed to dance back out of the way, this time.

Silence, but for the dripping of blood somewhere and the wet sound of random flesh hitting the deck from where they'd landed. Then Ann was moving, deamanding Alaric be woken up, for no one to touch a thing.

Ann met my eyes then, and I could only stare, wide- eyed and helpless.

Here we go again.