Jalerom was at his wit's end. He had looked everywhere for a gift for Fae, but he didn't see anything that she would truly appreciate. He had even made a trip to Optimarr (in disguise, of course) to see if he could find some lovely gems for her, but nothing he saw there lived up to her own special radiance.
Thus, he had come to the biggest expert on love and affection that he knew.
"Hi, Jalerom!" Ivan cheered, waving from where he was perched on the shoulders of a fountain in the center of Directian. Jalerom wondered how, exactly, Ivan had managed to seat himself on the shoulders of the former King of Directian without being lynched by the surviving citizens, but he reasoned that they had more important things on their minds. And Ivan was doing a wonderful job of trying to help them with their work; his music floated through the main square of the city, and Jal could see the people nearby smiling and laughing as they repaired their homes and businesses.
"Hey, Ivan," the half-elf replied, waving back as he approached the fountain. "Fae says hello and she wanted me to thank you for your help."
"Did she already leave for the Dragonlands?"
"Yesterday. She and Amber were excited to return Ralkatov and Vizi'kra to their rightful bodies." Ivan nodded at that.
"Amby was also glad she would get to see her father again," he mentioned, "What brings you to the square? Normally you're shut up with city officials in the palace." Jalerom bit the corner of his lower lip and shuffled his foot briefly before he answered.
"I need your help. I've been trying to find a gift for Fae ever since she figured out the spell to fix the dragons, but I can't seem to find anything that suits her," he said, feeling a little discouraged as he began to explain. Fae had looked happier than she had in nearly two months when she had burst in on his meeting with the dragon delegates to declare that she had found the answer. She had leapt into his arms and kissed him so happily and tearily, and he knew he had to help her celebrate. But before he could suggest a night on the town to relax, she promised the dragons that she would be ready to depart in three days after she had gathered the necessary ingredients and supplies and ran off back to her dungeon, leaving him with two exceptionally giddy golden dragons. Since then, she'd been obsessively mixing and grinding herbs and stones to create the proper materials, and he had been trying to find a way to show he was proud of her without interfering with her important work.
He settled on a gift, and so here he was, asking Ivan for help. The gnome beamed brightly after his explanation and slid down the back of the statue so he landed on the plinth below. Jalerom picked him up and moved him to the outside of the fountain so he wouldn't get wet.
"Of course I'll help! To Gatless Town!" Ivan cheered, waving brightly to the others in the square. The Directians waved back and called out wishes of good luck to Ivan and Jalerom as the two set off to collect the horse, a lovely auburn gelding named Spitfire, loaned to Jalerom for travel.
After a fairly bumpy but cheerful ride – bumpy in that Ivan almost fell off Spitfire's rump where he was seated a few times until Jalerom put him in between himself and the horse's neck – they arrived at Gatless Town around midday. Jalerom made a beeline for his buddy's forge, and the two dismounted their steed. Ivan patted Spitfire's nose, and Jalerom tied him to a post outside the smith's shop before giving him a bucket of oats to eat and checking to make sure the trough of water was fresh. Jal poked his head inside to tell his friend to watch the horse before the two set off to the main square.
It was as bustling as ever, but the midday air was cooler than it had been when they last journeyed to the city two months ago. They noticed the stalls were advertising items that would be on special for the fall equinox festival coming up and they overheard several people placing advanced orders for some of the items.
Jalerom sighed, "Ivan, I have tried finding something here before. And while they have some lovely items, I couldn't find anything that would fit Fae."
"Because you weren't looking in the right places, Jay!" Ivan declared, taking Jalerom's hand and dragging him to the south edge of the square. Jal could see some lovely trinkets being sold in the stalls, but Ivan ignored those completely and instead ducked into one of the smaller brick buildings behind a vegetable stall.
Ivan happily skipped inside as Jalerom marveled at the interior; Ivan seemed to have taken him to an art gallery. Gorgeous portraits and landscape scenes completely covered the walls, and discarded sketchbooks, art supplies, and letters were strewn about the rest of the room. Jalerom walked closer to the empty fireplace in the center of the room, above which was an enormously grand scene. It seemed freshly finished because he could still smell the oil paint coming from the canvas.
The large canvas depicted a scene that he could recall as clearly as he could his own name. A sea of demons advanced on seven figures in the foreground, and each of them, their backs to the viewer, had a special glow about them: Jeminya charging with her gleaming sword on her pegasus Starjay, Oin holding his gauntleted hand aloft and concentrating on a catlike aura emanating from it, Rose and Shiloh covered in vines and leaves, Jalerom himself with a crackling Quickstrike in his grip, Fae surrounded by a tornado of ravens, Ivan almost lost in the radiant light coming from the lute on his back, and Amber in her gigantic golden dragon form above all of them with her wings stretching across and breathing a gale of fire from her maw. Looking more closely, he couldn't tell if the demons in the background were already dead or were foolishly advancing toward them, but he suspected that was the point.
He was pulled out of his amazement by Ivan calling his name. "Jalerom! Back here!" the little gnome shouted happily, waving frantically from the back of the room. With one last glance at the work of art, Jalerom waded carefully through the books and quills and empty paint jars toward where Ivan and what appeared to be a halfling were sitting around a small table set with a teapot and cookies. Jalerom raised his eyebrow at the set-up, but sat down when Ivan eagerly patted a cushion next to him.
"Jalerom, this is Bantou Cobblecreek," Ivan introduced, and Jalerom nodded to their host. Bantou nodded back as Ivan said, "This is my good buddy Jalerom Tanlial."
"I know well of who he is, Ivan," the halfling replied and studied Jalerom with his dark eyes. Jal took this opportunity to do the same. Bantou was rather slender for a halfling with muddy brown skin, long sleek black hair tied back into a neat ponytail at the base of his skull, and thin spectacles on his broad nose. His dark near-black eyes looked weary but sparkled with a joy similar to the one Ivan always had in his.
Finished with his once-over, Bantou said, "I knew you would come today with a very special request, so I took the liberty of preparing tea for you."
Jalerom sputtered, "But I—"
"You didn't even know you were coming here, yes, I know," Bantou clucked as he took a cookie from the steaming plate. "Have some, Tanlial. They are not poisoned."
Jalerom hesitantly took a cookie and bit into it as Ivan explained, "Bantou has the Sight. He makes art out of what he sees!" Jalerom's eyes widened at both the deliciousness of the oatmeal raisin cookie and at the revelation that somehow the little halfling had seen the exact details of their battle without having been there and then created the magnificent piece over the fireplace. Bantou chuckled at Jalerom's expression.
"Your lady can summon extraplanar beasts and can damage the minds of those she curses, his lady is a dragon that can breathe underwater and tangle with gods and krakens, yet you are surprised that one such as myself can see things from far away as they happen?" he asked, and Jalerom had no reply.
Ivan piped up, "I met him a few weeks ago when Amby and I came to Gatless for some more supplies, and he had a stall set up. She saw his sketch of the flying lessons with her father and the painting he did of my contest with Imontillo and she wanted to look more closely."
"I recognized them, of course," Bantou said, taking a sip of his tea, "and thanked them for giving me so much work. The Heroes of the Directian Queen are very popular. And Miss Hawthorne asked me to finish the sketch of her and her father as a painting, which I was happy to do."
"Ever since, Amby and I sometimes come for tea! And he always knows what kind of cookies to make," Ivan said, stuffing a second cookie in his mouth. Jalerom sat, chewing on his own second cookie and absorbing all of this, and Bantou gave him a sly look.
"You wanted something special for your ladylove?" he asked, and Jalerom nodded.
"Do you know of what happened in the Dragonlands?" he asked back, and the halfling nodded.
"Aye. A sad affair. But I am also aware that there have been efforts to fix those two poor young things," the artist replied, smiling, "And this sudden spur of affection may have something to do with that effort being successful." Jal nodded, his mouth full of cookie, and swallowed.
"She figured out how to—"
He was interrupted by the shock of Bantou's eyes practically disappearing and emitting a bright golden light from the sockets. Jal jerked back, but Ivan put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "He's Seeing something." Only slightly less frightened, the two adventurers waited until the light subsided and Bantou regained his normal appearance. Wordlessly, he grabbed a sketchpad and a pencil and began to work on something.
"Continue, Tanlial, I am listening," the halfling said as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Uh… she figured out how to separate them safely. And I wanted to give her something to show her I was proud of her," the half-elf explained. Ivan sipped his tea and nodded cheerily, and Bantou just continued to sketch. Looking closely, Jal could see the outline of a very familiar elf. "Fae?"
"Indeed. Come back tomorrow. I'll have your something special for you, Tanlial," he said casually and waved them off. Ivan leaped to his feet and tugged on Jalerom to get him up.
"Trust me, Jalerom, Bantou will take care of it," he assured his friend, and the two left the little brick building to collect Spitfire and head back to Directian.
Ivan strummed his lute happily as they continued in the cool early evening air back to the Directian palace. Jalerom glanced down at his companion. The gnome was as cheerful as ever, but Jalerom wondered why. He hadn't gotten anything for himself or for Amber – though he had mentioned picking up a little trinket for Amber when they returned tomorrow – and yet he was still happy. He had abandoned his task of helping with restructuring to help him with only the slightest provocation, and deep down Jalerom wasn't sure why.
"Hey, Ivan?" he spoke up.
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for coming with me today, you were a huge help."
"No problem! I like helping you all out."
"Is there anything you need help with?" Jalerom asked, and Ivan cocked his head to the side.
"Other than reaching tall shelves while Amber is gone, nope, I'm fine!" The little bard skipped ahead and twirled in time with a flourish in his song, and a few nearby gardeners clapped. Ivan waved at them with a smile, and Jalerom just kept watching.
The next day, they set out around the same time and arrived in Gatless Town around noon. This time, though, they rode Spitfire directly to Bantou's home and tethered him to a post near the squat brick building. Ivan and Jalerom headed back to the tea table to find Bantou sitting cross-legged in front of another pot of tea and a small pile of peanut butter cookies. He motioned for the two to sit down and began to pour them tea.
Skipping the pleasantries, Bantou said, "Istus has blessed me with a magnificent vision, and thus I can deliver your gift as promised, Tanlial. But first, Ivan, tell him what you told me yesterday." Jalerom looked confusedly over to the gnome, who blushed and wrung his hands in his lap.
"Ivan?" he asked.
"I was really happy when you came to me for help, Jalerom," Ivan confessed. "I wasn't sure if you'd come to me after… well…"
Jalerom looked grimly at his tea; he had been avoiding some of the others after the one he considered his best friend had left them, if unconsciously. He could tell by Ivan's tone that the little gnome had been worried and perhaps even a little hurt at Jalerom's hesitance to approach any of the others or pull himself from his new work.
"That's why I wanted to help you find the perfect gift! Fae is good for you. She's kept you from shutting yourself off completely, even when she herself did. And… well, I just want you to be happy. You're a dear friend, Jalerom." Ivan's face lit up so brightly that there was even a shade of scarlet underneath Ivan's white-blonde hair, and Jalerom smiled.
"Thanks, buddy. You're a good friend too," he said, pulling Ivan to his side. Ivan took that as a cue to hug him and he squeezed with all his might. Jalerom didn't even mind and patted his friend's head. Meanwhile, Bantou was sketching their adorable interaction and smirking.
"This will probably sell well amongst your fans, Tanlial," he commented, and Jalerom rolled his eyes. "In any case, I've finished your gift for Miss Faerthurin. Would you like to see?"
"Definitely!"
Bantou rose from his cushion and collected a small thin piece of canvas that had been on the window seat. He handed it to Jalerom and resumed his seat.
Jalerom gasped. In the center of the gorgeous watercolor forest background was his Faerthurin, alight from the glow of a brilliant white diamond at the level of her collar bone. Her beautiful lavender eyes were half-lidded, focusing on the diamond, and tears streamed down her face, though she was smiling. She held two small piles of dust in each of her cupped palms at shoulder height, one of gold and one of a ruby-like color, and the dust swirled around her in intertwining spirals. On either side of the visage of his elven beauty were two faces of whom he assumed to be the two dragon lovers, Ralkatov and Vizi'kra, both also swirled in the dust colored the same as their respective draconic ancestry. When he squinted and leaned close, he could see that the dust was forming incredibly small draconic runes that made up the spirals. The detail of the inking and the watercolor was striking, and Jalerom looked back up at Bantou in awe.
"You created this in one day?" Bantou sniffed proudly.
"When Istus blesses me with inspiration, I dare not waste it. Such is my duty to the Sight," he replied. Jalerom reached to his side to take out some coins, but Bantou shook his head. "It is a gift to the Heroes of Alatastica. I could not accept payment. Not to mention that I would not risk the ire of Istus."
Speechless, Jalerom nodded and gazed back at the painting. The likeness to his a'mael was uncanny, and he wished he could stroke her cheek at that moment.
After a few more cups of tea and devoured cookies, Jalerom and Ivan headed back to Directian on Spitfire. Jalerom placed a hand on Ivan's head, and Ivan looked up.
"Yes, Jalerom?"
"Thanks, buddy. She'll love this," Jal said, and Ivan beamed up at him.
"Of course! Bantou knew she would," Ivan said, and Jalerom kept his mouth closed. He hadn't meant the painting. He had meant that Faerthurin would love that Ivan got Jalerom to take a break from the royal court and spend some quality time together. She'd love that almost as much as the painting, he was sure of it.
And he was proven right when Fae and Amber returned home later that night to two happy a'maels.