The Ballad

The common room of the Copper Coronet was even more crowded than usual. Hendak had started hiring bard troupes lately, and the band he had found this week had been quite successful in attracting the commoners that dwelled near the inn.

"What is that song they're playing?" Alaeth asked, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the song and the general din.

"Oh, haven't you heard it? It's the ballad of the Hero of Baldur's Gate!" Aerie exclaimed.

Alaeth raised an eyebrow. "Really? It sounds more like the attack of the eight foot woman to me."

"They say her brother Sarevok was that tall," Aerie said.

"Sarevok being a freak of nature does not mean she had to be," Alaeth said. "Besides, from what I heard, she had pale blue eyes, not 'orbs that glowed like molten ice'." She laughed and sipped her mulled wine. "Molten ice, what a concept!"

"It's supposed to be poetic!" Aerie said. "Oooh, this is my favorite part; the duel with Tamoko."

"Excuse me, ladies," Yoshimo said. He left the table and headed upstairs to their rooms.

"Isn't it dramatic?" Aerie said with a sigh. "Sarevok's lover stands guard, and his sister challenges her to a duel, one on one! Oh, I wish I could be that brave!"

"Brave? Bloodthirsty, I'd call it. How can you admire this caricature of a woman?"

Aerie frowned. "That is easy for you to say."

"No, I want to know. The heroine of this travesty of a ballad is an eight foot woman with more muscles than a horse, flails wildly and randomly with a six foot broadsword - the way I heard it, she used a longsword or a regular two-hander - and just traipses around cutting down her brother's henchmen like they were air. How can you admire that?"

Aerie stood up and glared at Alaeth. "She is strong; I am weak. Ever since I first heard the ballad, I wished I could be like her!"

"Who is stopping you?" Alaeth said. She paused and listened to a few bars of the song.

"You know," she said to Aerie, "even this duel with Tamoko is all wrong. Sarevok's sister did not issue the challenge; Tamoko did. She said it was the only way she could regain her honor. Her lover's sister tried to refuse, but Tamoko would not let her back down."

Alaeth swallowed the last of her drink in one gulp. "So I didn't."