Disclaimer ... All of these characters (barring Avera, Kala and Kathin) belong to Bioware. Some of the conversation is original script and other parts are partially mine or fully mine.
Yes I'm small.
Slice.
Don't underestimate me just because of my stature.
Fall, gurgle.
Hobbits are tougher than you think.
Crash, slam, punch, punch.
I am Avera. I am a hobbit. I am a bard and a ranger. Think that one over.
nnn
He woke, sweat plastering his body. His hand shot up to his forehead to rub it and clear away the strain. The vision Tyr had shown him after he had left Neverwinter tended to come back to haunt him in his dreams. It did so every now and again.
He stood, trying to not wake anyone else in the building, and silently steped over and around sleeping men and women. Even though he was their leader, he refused to claim a room of his own. That would be prideful and a paladin of Tyr should not accept prideful rights.
His feet led him to the water trough where he splashed water on his face.
"Up again, Casavir?" The voice was smooth, "Were you dreaming again?"
"Almost everyone dreams, Katriona." He said it hastily, almost in anger to have someone questioning his visions. She knew he could tell no one unless the person he told had been in the dreams but she still asked. He knew she was only trying to help and felt badly for being so hasty, "I am sorry for snapping at you."
"These dreams, are they all the same?"
"Not quite but they have the same theme." He was reluctant to speak further.
"Casavir," She offered her hand, "You don't have to weather it alone."
He kept his face serene, business-like. He knew her intent and could not accept that interest. She was attracted to him. Many women were. But she was nothing more to him than a good lieutenant and he wished she would remember that, "No. This is my quest to bear. No one else's."
"As you wish, Sir." Her voice held depths of regret as she walked away.
He felt sorry that he could not be what she wanted but if he could ever love again, he knew it would not be her. He had kept Katriona at arm's length trying to discourage her interest. She respected the wish for distance, emotional and otherwise, but sometimes she would step forward and remind him that she had this crush on him.
A log was tantalizingly close to the trough so he sat on it to think things over. He could still hear the voice from his dreams. It was light, melodious and spoke with pain, "I don't write anything sad. I only create to make people happy." Then the music started in his head. It was a lively song about a demon that fell in love with a mortal.
He thought about previous songs which had rung in his mind's ears. He smiled knowing no one was around to see that smile, "What in the world is a 'Bugbear stew?'" He asked the sun as it topped the horizon.