Hello!
This is my first Neverwinter Nights fan fic and it is a post-Mask of the Betrayer adventure. I do not own any of these characters except Ambrosi Starsong, my (Chaotic Good) Bard, Red Dragon Disciple, Harper Agent.
NOTES: 1. The Elvish phrases are in Sindarin. 2. The poem at the beginning of the story is "Wind by the Fireside" from the Forgotten Realms canon. 3. In this ficlet, the events that occurred in the Fugue Plane have been altered slightly. Kelemvor gave Ambrosi, Gann and Safiya each a boon for their heroic service to his kingdom. His gifts will be explained in the text.
Update: Chapter 1 & 2 edited/embellished on July 25, 2008. Please read (re-read), enjoy, and leave comments!
CHAPTER ONE
"You are not forsaken…you are not forgotten..."
Ambrosi heard her mother's voice singing sweetly in the dream.
"The North cannot swallow you; the snows cannot bury you…"
She was an infant being cradled in Esmerelle's slender arms, engulfed in the clean, flowery scent of her mother's long, blue-black tresses. The glow from the dying flames in the hearth illuminated the woman's delicate features; her heart-shaped face, pale, creamy skin, aquiline nose and high cheekbones coupled with her gracefully pointed ears bore the stamp of her elven heritage.
"I will come for you…"
A whimsical gold key hung on a slender chain around Esmerelle's neck and Ambrosi reached up with her tiny fingers to grab it. Her mother gently stopped her hand with a laugh and kissed it.
"Faerûn will grow warmer and the Gods will smile…"
Esmerelle smiled and caressed her daughter's brow. Her lashes were thick and dark, and framed what had to be her most striking feature: her eyes. They were the color of a startling winter sunset; rich, deep and lavender flecked with gold sparks. Almond-shaped and slightly slanted, her mother's eyes were a wildly exotic contrast to her otherwise classic elven countenance.
"But oh, my love, guard yourself well…"
The lullaby proved powerful in its potency and Ambrosi felt the tendrils of sleep coaxing her eyelids closed. Her lashes fluttered as she struggled to remain alert in the dream.
"All this may not happen for a long, long while."
The last note of the song drifted into silence but the dreamy feeling remained. Esmerelle snuggled her child close. "Ambrosiel…amina'sum," she whispered into the baby's soft, red curls. Her voice was barely audible now, each syllable fading into the darkness engulfing Ambrosi's vision. "Ai armiel telere maenen hir."
Desperately, she tried to open her eyes, to catch a glimpse of Esmerelle's face once more, but she was gone. For a moment, the elusive scent of her mother's perfume lingered until it too dissipated into nothingness...
"O'Si!" Ambrosi cried out, jolting awake violently.
"Shhh…Brosi. You're awake now. You are safe," a gentle voice murmured somewhere close in the darkened room. Shaking the vestiges of the dream out of her mind, Ambrosi turned to the figure standing next to the large but unfamiliar bed she was occupying.
"Safiya?"
"Yes. I am here," Safiya replied. Suddenly, a candle on the nightstand next to the table came to life and Ambrosi could see the Red Wizard's dark eyes sparkling with concern in the soft glow of the solitary flame.
Still slightly disoriented from waking up, Ambrosi scanned the chamber trying to get her bearings. She could tell in the dark that the room was spacious but sectioned off into smaller zones: directly across from the bed there was a seating area with a small table sandwiched between two plush chairs in front of a fireplace, a dressing area with a large armoire and a screen for privacy stood off in the far right corner and a study area with a desk and a bookshelf was situated to her immediate left.
"Where am I?" Ambrosi croaked and was surprised to hear her voice crack. Her throat was dry and her mouth felt like it was full of sand. Before she could ask, Safiya offered her a goblet full of water and settled her weight on the side of the bed next to her. Ambrosi accepted the water and drank greedily until it was gone.
"This is the master bed-chamber in Sheva Whitefeather's lodge," Safiya answered. She plucked the empty goblet from Ambrosi's fingers and it magically dissolved into thin air.
"Shouldn't Sheva be sleeping in here?"
"You are her guest of honor. She insisted on giving you this room."
Puzzled, Ambrosi rubbed her forehead, "Guest of honor? I thought everyone in Mulsantir hated me."
"Hmm... "Hate" is a strong word. I think 'respectfully feared' is more accurate," Safiya said cheekily. "Besides, that was before when you were a walking curse upon the earth. Now you are a hero!"
"A hero again," Ambrosi said wearily noting the dark circles under Safiya's eyes. "Did I wake you?"
"Not really. I wasn't sleeping very deeply. We have all been taking turns checking on you. My room is right next to yours and I heard you talking. I thought you were awake so I came to make sure you were alright and then you cried out."
"Oh, I'm sorry to bother you. I-I…was dreaming."
"You are never a bother," Safiya said gently and squeezed her hand with a smile, "But you were dreaming very…vocally. Though I didn't understand the language you were speaking. Was it Elvish?"
"Y-yes."
"It sounded lovely. But you were upset. Was it a bad dream?"
"Actually…no. I was dreaming about my mother. She was cradling me in her arms and singing to me. A lullaby." Ambrosi sighed, sitting up to fully rest against the headboard. "But it didn't feel like a dream. It felt very real. Like a memory."
"Perhaps it was a memory. Didn't your mother die when you were just a babe?"
Ambrosi disliked speaking about her past in detail to anyone and fought her naturally defensive reaction to the Red Wizard's curiosity. Running her fingers through her tousled auburn waves, Ambrosi reminded herself that Safiya meant well and was a dear friend.
"Yes…Esmerelle died shielding me with her body. There was a battle waging outside and then there was a magical explosion…it leveled the entire village. It killed nearly everyone, even my foster-father's wife, Shayla. I almost died too. I had a piece of the Gith's Silver Sword lodged in my heart…" Ambrosi let her voice fade. She gave Safiya a wan smile. "It's quite a long story. I think you know most of it."
"And what a story it is," Safiya said. "But I am not here to pry a story from you, especially not that one. I came to check on you because I was surprised to hear you cry out in your sleep. You've been sleeping like the dead for nearly two weeks."
Ambrosi raised a startled brow, "Two weeks!"
"Well it is hardly surprising considering everything you have been through. If you think about it, you really haven't had a good rest since before you came to Rashemen. It must have been difficult to sleep soundly with Akachi occupying your body."
"Yes, it was," Ambrosi yawned. "Maybe that would explain why I still feel exhausted."
Safiya chuckled. "Before we left the Fugue Plane, Lord Kelemvor warned me we might experience extreme fatigue when we returned to the Prime. Traveling in the Fugue Plane is not a journey for the Living…and we were there for quite awhile. Not to mention the whole battling to save the Wall thing. And somewhere in there we recovered your soul too. Oh yeah, and then you and Gann defeated Akachi and destroyed the Spirit Eater's curse."
"I didn't hear Kelemvor say anything about being fatigued," Ambrosi said.
"Perhaps because he knew you might not listen very well."
Ambrosi smirked and stifled another yawn. "Touché."
Safiya patted her hand, "To be honest, I only slept for a few days. When I awoke, I was terribly worried about you and Gann. You both looked like you were under a powerful sleeping spell. But Sheva Whitefeather and her sisters were confident you were both sleeping naturally...just very deeply. 'Exhaustion-induced slumber' is what they called it."
"Where is Gann?" Ambrosi murmured.
"He is here too. His room is down the hall. He slept for a ten-day and he was quite weak when he woke up. Sheva and two of her assistants have been nursing him back to health...mostly against his will." Sheva grinned mischievously. "He's been a stubborn patient. He'll be happy to know you have regained consciousness."
"Hmmm… yes, please tell him. And Okku too," Ambrosi said already sinking back down beneath the downy blankets and furs feeling warm and comfortable and safe.
Safe.
It was the first time since before the Githzerai attacked West Harbor and Amie was killed that she felt completely secure in the bed she slept in. It was such a strange, liberating feeling. Peering beneath her lashes, she tried to focus on the delicate tattoo on Safiya's forehead but the lines blurred in and out of her vision.
"I'll take that as my cue to leave," Safiya was saying and Ambrosi could barely hear her. "Dream sweetly."
"Hannon le," Ambrosi whispered as her eyes closed. Almost in an instant, she was asleep.
Safiya sat for a moment in silent relief that Ambrosi was alive. Even with Sheva and Gann's reassurance, she had been extremely concerned that her friend might not awaken. With a wistful smile, she tucked the blankets up around Ambrosi's shoulders, brushing a wavy strand of red hair off her face.
Gods above, Safiya marveled, the half-elf looked so young in sleeping repose. Gone was the strong-willed leader of misfit heroes, the attentive friend and confidant, the smooth-talking bard and battle-hardened dragon warrior. In her place slept a young woman, barely out of childhood, her lovely face devoid of it's usual stress, burden and worry. At only one and twenty, it was shocking to realize that Ambrosi actually was that young, for a human and certainly for an elf.
"Hannon le," she murmured and straightened the folds of her white sleeping robes. Having only heard Ambrosi speak in Common before, Safiya was not used to the pretty but foreign language of the elves falling from her friend's lips. She idly wondered what 'Hannon le' meant as she snuffed the candle out with a thought.
Quietly, the Red Wizard rose from the side of the bed and walked to the door. As she slipped into the darkened hallway, she became keenly aware of a man standing there. Moonlight spilled through several windows down the hall but Gann was shrouded in shadows, leaning against the wall casually. His charisma was almost a palpable entity and she could feel his energy pulling her forward. Closing the door with a gentle "click" Safiya turned to face him slowly.
"Who is Esmerelle?" he asked immediately.
"Ambrosi's mother," Safiya answered. "But I think you knew that."
"It wasn't like that was a clearly stated fact in her dream," Gann mumbled.
Safiya rolled her eyes in annoyance, "So you were walking in Ambrosi's dream? Don't you have any respect?"
"Hey. I can't help it. I'm a dream-walker. Its kind of what I do."
"Well, that wasn't a dream for you to intrude upon because I think it was a memory. A very special one. Good job infiltrating one of the only happy memories Ambrosi has of her mother."
Gann gave her a lopsided grin. "I'll have you know that as a general rule, I am very respectful when I infiltrate people's dreams."
"You shouldn't do it to her unless you are invited, especially since she is vulnerable right now," Safiya chided.
"You're right," he said quickly, too quickly, and Safiya sighed knowing he would do as he damned well pleased. Besides, he had a dreamer's connection with Ambrosi that she couldn't begin to understand. Gann continued, "But until tonight, I've not had access to her dreamscape while she's been unconscious. It felt like she was entombed behind an impenetrable wall. Maybe I pushed too hard to get inside...I was mostly stunned that I did. But I made sure she didn't know I was there."
"Maybe her mind sealed itself off as a protective measure to ensure that nothing disturbed her rest," Safiya offered.
"Perhaps," Gann agreed.
Safiya cast a furtive glance to Ambrosi's door and then back at Gann. She slipped into the shadows next to him and leaned against the wall, whispering, "I may be letting curiosity get the best of me...and I hate to ask...but, what did Esmerelle look like?"
Gann's lips curled into a wry smile. He felt the Red Wizard shiver with nervous tension as she looked to the half-elf's door again. Sidling in close against her body, he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Why are we whispering?"
"Oh!" she gasped and smacked his arm, staggering backwards. "You slow-witted slugtooth! You know why!"
"Well it hardly matters now that you've woken up the entire household."
"Me!" Safiya snapped and then covered her mouth. "Never mind," she said through clenched teeth. "Forget I asked."
"Alright," Gann said, "Changing subjects. Did Ambrosi inquire about the revelations Lord Doom and Gloom benevolently revealed to us?"
"No. She was very groggy…almost half-asleep still. She inquired after you and Okku though."
"Of course she did. She likes being concerned about everyone but herself," Gann said.
"Be that as it may, she is going to be weak for a few days...though I expect her to be up in the morning. I think her sleep will shift into a more normal pattern now."
"Excellent. The sooner she wakes for good…the sooner we can all debrief about what we learned from Kelemvor."
"Lord Kelemvor," Safiya corrected. "It is not everyday that one converses with a God. Show some respect."
Gann snorted. "There you go tossing the word 'respect' around again. He's not my God."
"Well he might be mine...soon," Safiya said gently.
"Ah. So the conversion has begun," Gann scowled.
"And why wouldn't it? I've had a lot to think about the last few weeks since you and Ambrosi have been out of commission," Safiya said on the defensive. "Being faithless in the name of science and empirical reason isn't good enough for me anymore. Seeing the Wall of the Faithless...changed me. My soul was once housed there until Akachi ripped it in the name of love. I've been given a precious opportunity to restore my soul's path. I can't...I won't let my soul go back to that place."
Gann lifted a wry brow, "So this is a fear-based decision?"
Safiya rolled her eyes and sighed, "No...it is a reality based decision. Besides, we now know for a fact that at least one deity exists because we met and conversed with him. It stands to reason that other Gods exist too."
"Why don't you meet a few more, test the waters, before throwing your lot in with Sir Mask Face?"
"I'm not going to hunt down deities in their home planes just to check them off a list. Plane-walking is exhausting," Safiya countered with a grin.
Gann chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can see the logic in that."
"Thanks. And what about you, Gann? Have you thought about things that happened in the Fugue Plane?"
The hagspawn's face fell for a moment and he cast his eyes to the ground. "Of course I have been thinking about it. And I will admit...facing the Wall of the Faithless was disconcerting," Gann cleared his throat. "And...creepy. And traumatic. Besides that demented Bishop fellow, who actually wants their soul to be dissolved into oblivion?"
"Who indeed?" Safiya said.
"Not me," Gann confirmed.
"I suppose we'll see how it all plays out then."
Gann looked up to meet her steady gaze, "I still have a few options I need to consider before I make any decisions. I'm just finding it difficult to reconcile my loathing for religious affiliation with the stark truth that it doesn't matter how I feel about it: the Gods exist. And the Wall exists."
"And you watched it consume Bishop's soul," Safiya added.
"Yes," he said raking his fingers through his silver-blue hair. "And I can't help thinking that could be me...someday."
"Then don't let it be you."
"I'm working on it, Safiya."
"Of course, the information Lord Kelemvor gifted you with concerning your father and his sire could help you settle your belief in the Gods."
"Shaundakul," Gann murmured.
"He is your grand-sire."
"Allegedly."
Safiya sighed not wanting to argue the point. The God of the Dead had not lied to the hagspawn and Gann knew it. "Perhaps your first step should be finding out more about the Rider of the Winds. You could start with Ambrosi. Shaundakul is her deity...ironic, don't you think?"
"Until tonight, she has been...unavailable for comment," Gann quipped.
"How fortunate that she will be available tomorrow. You can ask her anything you want to know. And when she recovers fully, we can all finally figure out where to go from here."
"We both know where Ambrosi will want to go: West. To the Sword Coast. To Neverwinter. Back to her real life."
Safiya bit her lower lip out of nervous habit and nodded. "That is very likely. But we have become part of her "real" life, Gann. And that means wherever she goes, we go too, right?"
Gann shifted his weight in his boots, "You're right. I just..."
"Look," Safiya interrupted. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? We don't have all the pieces of information to make a decision one way or the other. My mother used to tell me 'All will be revealed in the fullness of time' which usually annoyed the hell out of me. But perhaps we should heed her advice."
"I wish it were that simple. But I've been feeling strange...like a sense of restless anticipation...all the time. It has been growing stronger every day since I woke up. It is difficult to explain but I feel a change coming in with the wind. I feel it in my bones," Gann said, his voice tinged with an anxious heat Safiya had never heard before.
Safiya placed a hand on Gann's forehead, "Hmm...no fever. Should I have Sheva come examine you?"
"No...no, I'm fine. It is nothing like that. It would just be best if all of us talked and figured some things out. Tomorrow," he said.
"Then we shall," Safiya reassured him and he visibly relaxed.
"Good," Gann said and gave the Red Wizard a quirky smile to lighten the mood.
Safiya stifled a yawn and smiled back, "Well, I suppose sleep is in order now. For both of us."
"Ah, yes. The dream world is calling," he replied. "Thank you for listening to my midnight ramblings, Safiya. I've only ever confided in spirits before. They were my only friends...and they can't talk back."
"I can understand that...Red Wizards don't have friends. They kill each other. So I only had animated golems to play with as a child."
"What a pathetic pair are we," Gann murmured and sighed, shaking the shadows from his thoughts. With a cheeky half-bow, he said, "Until tomorrow then...I bid you sweet dreams, m'lady."
"They better be solo dreams," Safiya smirked, turning to open the door to her chamber.
Gann's silver eyes flashed in the moonlight and he laughed, "As you wish."
Safiya entered the room. As she moved to close the door, something blocked it from sliding into place. It was Gann's foot.
"Safiya," he whispered on the other side of the door.
"Yes?" she replied.
"Esmerelle was beautiful. An elf, of course. Very aristocratic looking with long, blue-black wavy hair and lavender eyes. Exotic eyes and thick lashes...you could tell where Ambrosi inherited her eyes from but I think Esmerelle's were a bit more slanted. There was something foreign about her, very...feline. But that isn't the right word really. I can't put my finger on it...but she was certainly entrancing. And powerful. She just... radiated with this awesome power but it was contained in such a delicate package. She was singing a lullaby. And she had a pretty voice, but it was colored with sadness. I wonder what made her sound so sad."
Pressing her bald head against the cool wood of the door, Safiya exhaled a surge of sudden emotion. The recent loss of her own mother, Nefris, was still a bleeding wound carved deep across her heart. It was a strange feeling to be "motherless." Even stranger to think Ambrosi and even Gann had been motherless their whole lives.
Nefris had been a cold, distant and non-involved parent, but she had always been there when Safiya really needed her. And logically she was comforted knowing a part of Nefris was alive inside of her. With Akachi's passing, the Founder had finally found release in death and the fragments of her soul including Nefris' and Lienna's had reunited in Safiya. She was glad to carry her mother with her always. And she was...mostly glad. But a small, overwhelming piece of her heart was having trouble accepting what had happened. It merely ached for her mother's physical presence.
Safiya supposed it was this unfulfilled longing that made her eyes fill with unexpected tears. After a moment she finally sniffled, "She...sounds lovely beyond measure. T-thank you, Gann."
"Don't mention it," Gann said in an over-exaggerated whisper that made her laugh even as she wiped away the wetness on her cheeks. "Goodnight, Safiya."
"Goodnight," Safiya replied and closed the door.
