ALERT: Slightly slightly NSFW Montaron/Imoen Snuggling appeared on the Deviant Art!

This chapter will contain a fabled flashback within a flashback! But not yet. Wait for the FFFF.

Some calculations were quicker than others.

Imoen felt his knee as he pressed down into her back, and then a wrenching pain as he pulled the arrow out from between her ribs. He must have used the unstopped potion then, because a blissful cooling sensation poured over her injury. A moment later, he tore out the second arrow. He shifted to kneel beside her, tossed the arrow aside, transferred the vial from his injured hand to his functional one, and overturned the rest of the potion into the second wound.

Trembling, but now able to move, Imoen slowly pushed her torso off the ground. She looked weakly up at the Thayvian, and at his still relatively blank expression. She was more valuable to him alive than dead at the moment; that was his judgement.

Probably because he could not wrap his mind around the idea that Dynaheir would not push her advantage and attack him. Because he was nervous. Because he would rather kill her himself than be murdered on the road because of a damaged arm. Because he trusted in his ability to manipulate her into protecting him. Because... because...

Edwin hadn't tried to slit Aegis' throat. Imoen had crawled up to him and put her arms around his waist and was now trembling violently into his lap, her tears mixing with the rain and mud splattered over her face. It wasn't gratitude, exactly, but it needed to get out.

Remarkably, Edwin did not immediately say anything, nor push her off of him. Of course he also didn't touch her reassuringly; He wasn't human enough to. Perhaps his silence was owed to slight trauma as per violation of his personal space. That would serve him right, it would.

As the caravan eased to a halt to procure its entrance into Waterdeep, Gorion thought back to the many times he had been to the city over the last few years. He thought back to the start: the start of his damnation, and the beginning of his end. He thought back to the quest in Amn, years past...

"Is that the last of them?" the aasimar asked, face distraught.

Walking out from the dismal caverns, the half-elf druid and the Amnian warrior shared amused grins with one another. For a man with no professed interest in marriage, Gorion had an adorable soft spot for children when it suited him. Beggar waifs were a tax on party coffers no matter what city they entered.

"Yes," Jaheira said, relieved. "And not a single life lost, at that. We were immeasurably fortunate this day. Is Aliana with them now?"

Gorion breathed a sigh and nodded; their cleric was tending to the wounded children. "Thank Mystra. She says she's found no worse than scratches, rashes, and chafing."

The Amnian man, who was named Ribald, had only been traveling with them for a few seasons. To be honest, he was incredibly grateful they'd come to help him with this quest, as he doubted he could have handled it alone. They had eschewed quite some interesting Harper business to do so. "We will need to house them briefly until we are able to get them back to their respective parents. At least this damn plague of kidnappings is finally ended."

"I shudder to think what would have happened to them," the aasimar muttered.

Jaheira glanced at the mage as if he were naive. "They were kidnapped by fringe Bhaalite cultists, Rion. You can very well guess what would have happened."

"One thing yet bothers me," Gorion shook his head, reaching up to scratch his chin thoughtfully. "We don't understand how or why they picked the children they did. Their choices seemed random. Rich, poor, orphan, non, any race and any region... there seems to be no logic to it. Some were clearly easy; others they put great effort in to. What were they after, exactly?"

"The children were all within a few months of age," Ribald pointed out.

"Indeed, but that has no significance I understand," the mage murmured. Then he sighed. "Well, I may as well bother Khelben on the topic if we are headed north after this."

Jaheira shot him an amused look. "What? You, Rion? Bother Khelben Blackstaff Arunsun?" she teased. "Good. Get him out of his house and away from his fellow lords; that man spends too long in that unnatural tower of his."

"I have the tavern route plotted," Gorion assured her with a wink.

"... Or you could go for a walk someplace green..." she muttered to convey he'd misunderstood.

"How are we going to get either of them married off if they spends their free time wandering in the wilderness?" Ribald protested."We all get enough of that every day anyway!"

Jaheira's eyes widened. "Gods forbid either of them marries a woman they meet in a tavern," she shuddered in horror. "Especially men I know visit festhalls...!"

Gorion peered at them in annoyance and then shook his head. For all her power and wild druidism, parts of Jaheira's personality ran formal at times. After no more than one innocuous glass of wine a year past, she and the rest of the party had somehow spontaneously homed in on the fact that not only was Gorion unmarried, but that it appeared all male Chosens of Mystra (which Gorion was not, he insisted, but they ignored him) were 'incapable' of settling down with life partners.

Gorion had protested that Khelben had been married, but it seemed as if selecting partners with shorter lifespans than himself somehow negated that detail in the half-elf's mind, as she also ignored it.

Now they were set on finding him a woman. Ridiculous! Gorion protested about fae love, the promiscuity of elves, issues with immortality, how no one else in the party was married either, and so forth; but apparently none of these arguments had any impact at all. The party was determined to find Gorion a wife and make an honest wizard of him. Or something. Which was the most ludicrous and backwards collection of ideas he had ever heard of. Honestly speaking, it wasn't even like he had been with zounds of women. And no matter what Jaheira thought, he had never paid for 'special' services at any festhall. So there.

Gods above, his patron was Mystra! He had quite the healthy fear of accidentally disrespecting a woman!

Now Ribald, on the other hand, had wenched at least once in every hole from Sembia, to Calimshan, to Amn; and Jaheira had said nothing more to him than to insist he bathe before returning to the inn room the two shared. Which of course, although often drunk to stupidity, the fighter dutifully and unfailingly respected (Jaheira's quarterstaff-thwacking-prowess was legendary among all foolish males who dared to travel with her.) But that was beside the point: How was Ribald not hypocritical?

Well, enough thinking about that. There were more immediate and pressing concerns to be had than the inconsistent standards of a half-elf. Like a gaggle of poor undeserving little children who had nearly been sacrificed to the God of Death. Bhaal would not be happy for the raid, doubtless, but then Harpers frequently affronted the evil gods. One could even say it was part of their job. "We will find out what was happening here," Gorion vowed aloud eventually. "I don't ever want to see so many infants in cages again for so long as we live." Jaheira nodded in agreement.

But alas, it appeared not all of his friends would not let the topic drop. "Rion," the Amnian laughed, "if you don't want to get married, you should consider knocking up a whore!"

Jaheira whirled and punched the man clear across the jaw. He yelped in surprise, staggering to the side, and then laughed even harder at Gorion's traumatized expression.

"What? What? What's it matter to you where they come from? You would make a great da! You adore the little ankle-biters!"

"In the abstract!" the mage shuddered. "Why are we even talking about this? What a subject for this hour! Fine! In practice, children are terrible, hungry, dirty, rambunctious, loud, and demanding creatures! Much like yourself, actually..." A laugh from Ribald. "Furthermore, if I visited women of a certain persuasion- which I do not!- far be it from my mind to use them as aasimar factories-!"

Jaheira gave him a look. Gorion stopped talking and politely looked anywhere but at her. There were very good reasons mage and druid did not share a room. That was an old road, in no need of re-visitation. That their friendship yet endured was blessing enough. Whatever he'd said to upset her, it was best he did not continue on the topic for any reason.

"Let's just get this matter settled and get north," Jaheira sighed and picked up the pace to trudge ahead of them. "Before the two of you get into another argument about halberds, butter, faerie dragons, nectarines, or something else equally stupid."

"Rion, isn't she younger than you?" Ribald asked of Gorion, leaning close to speak softly.

The mage shook his head and shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes I wonder."

{Are you going to bawl like this every time someone heals you?} the Thayvian drawled after a short while had passed, and the cocksure arrogance was suddenly back in his voice.

{You took- my potion!} Imoen laughed, and then hiccoughed. "Y-you nearly l-let me d-d-!}

{Ah, but I didn't. Nor do you have two arrows fused into your healed backside. Tut, tut, and here I thought we were 'friends.' What makes you think I didn't intend to use the potion on your wounds from the start, only to be interrupted briefly by the difficulty of being short one hand?}

{Y-you are s-such and assface!} she cackled, more and more tears fresh on her cheeks. Instead of getting genuinely mad at her, the Thayvian just smirked. Somehow, unexplained and unprovoked, the world had regained a shadow of its normality.

{Can you get up, or are you so enjoying rolling about in the mud, serf? (And in my lap, hmm...)}

{Oghma, Edwin, you are muttering!} she grimaced and laughed at the same time.

{I do not mutter, you little kleptomaniacal, asinine, slut of a beldam.}

{You are muttering! Just like you were muttering about Dynaheir's underclothing!}

He paused, thinking. {Is that why she slapped me?}

{Yes, you awful, nasty dragon, that's why!}

The Red Wizard considered this for a moment. {Can you try to restrain me when I am doing it?} he asked slowly, as if not wanting to admit anything at all to her. Normality.

Imoen looked up at him, wiping her face with her arm. {Should I pinch you or something?}

He gave her an annoyed look, and then sighed heavily and with great suffering. {Are you going to get up? (I do not remember pulling an arrow out of her spine-) Ow! Wretched, ungrateful, little-! Oh.} He looked disturbed, as if confronted with a bad habit he had been sure he'd kept under control. {Do I do it that frequently?}

Normality! Imoen smiled. Still trembling, she pushed herself slowly up to her knees, wiping mud and loose stones off herself Edwin eyed her warily. {No, only when you're in the right mood for it. Frustrated, usually.}

{Well, I am frustrated often following you fools,} he grumbled, pushing himself up to his feet and dusting himself off.

{Thanks for forgiving me,} she said quietly but contently.

{I have done nothing of the sort, little purple harlot. It would be inconvenient for you to die. More inconvenient than the trial of enduring you.}

{Well, you're talking to me again! That's a relief.} Some of her witty buoyancy came back to her.

{Because, child, I have remembered you are guileless, naive, stupid, and easy to manipulate when permitted to act like a lost puppy. Have you learned nothing at all from your last experience playing 'friends' with someone?}

Imoen stood up slowly, wincing at the pain in her back but otherwise smiling. Normality. {I wasn't ready to be a decent friend yet that day. Um... Edwin... I shouldn't have... I should say I'm sorry. I think maybe I took- um... took-}

{- took out your anger at the halfling on me,} he completed for her. {Yes. I noticed. Are you going to kick me in the testes as well? You may as well try; seeing as I successfully managed one fireball already, it seems I am primed for failing the next one.}

{Oh don't play the victim, peacock. You deserved it! The first one. Not the second. I'll apologize for the second, but not the first!}

{If you ever try to humiliate me again, I will ensure the sale of your soul to a devil...} The threats weren't hollow, but the feeling behind them was tame.

{Very well. I promise not to tell the others how valiantly you saved my life and gush about how you cried, 'Hold on, Immy! Hold on, I'll save you!' while fighting off the entire oncoming hoard of a thousand Hobgoblins who all wanted to further sully my virtue!}

The Red Wizard stared at her. Imoen beamed up at him. A moment passed in silence. {Well fortunately, no one would believe that,} he muttered as he started walking again.

"Um," Xzar said slowly, tugging on Aegis's sleeve. "Are you aware...?"

"Yes, I'm aware," the ranger answered.

Xan perked up. "What is-?" He looked behind them to see that the party was short two members, and Garrick had a perplexed and worried expression on his face. "Oh no. She's doomed. You... you knew they were missing, but you said nothing?" he looked up at Aegis.

For her part, the ranger laughed. "Out of everyone in this entire group, Imoen is maybe the only one Edwin Odesserion actually seems to get along with on a regular basis. They fell behind bickering with eachother. I'm hoping whatever's up with him, she can straighten it out."

"Have you not had enough of betrayals for one week!?" Xan was quite upset. "What if he slits her throat and simply turns around to walk back to Nashkel? How can you not be worried!?"

Aegis lifted a brow. "What if the one-armed man slits the throat of the extremely clever thief? Hmm. He spent an entire cave-in trapped with her talking to him the whole time, prior to us rescuing you. If he didn't tear her head off then, he's not going to do so now. You remember he took his wards down at her insistence, don't you? Well..."

Branwen and Xan shared a look. Then they both looked back to their valiant leader. "Aegis," Branwen said slowly. "The day Montaron tried to kill you, Edwin tracked down where Imoen had hid and... well she came back crying her eyes out, and he came back in a wrath."

Aegis perked up. "Oh," she said quietly. "Well that explains why he's so bitter. He wasn't exactly on good terms with anyone else."

"Pardon my confusion but... how did you recruit Edwin?" Xan asked slowly, dread deeper than fear rising in his gut. "He seems to be the wild card here. No explicit connection to you or to the iron crisis."

"He wanted to hire us to kill Dynaheir; only trouble was she was already in our party. Then he asked to be permitted to kill her. Naturally, we refused."

Xan gaped. "So you recruited the man?"

"Yes!" answered Aegis. " I told him to come along to keep an eye on her. Not bad, eh?"

"... We are all going to die following you," Xan realized, sadly.

"If Edwin weren't interested in something longer term than Dynaheir, he wouldn't be with us. He's either after information on the iron crisis, or something else. This isn't just about her anymore, and I think we can trust him to act reasonably while he's with the party."

"You do realizing that you are traveling with two people whom, when this party is at its conclusion, will- no matter what you do- reduce themselves to but one in number?" Xan asked, dismayed and disheartened.

Xzar laughed, snuggling up against his ranger. "Not... necessarily! Edwin is a Conjurer. His forbidden school is Divination. Given the proper timing and preparation, Dynaheir can vanish like a ghost out from under his nose. And Dynaheir has already conveyed she is unwilling to start that fight, so..."

Both other mages perked up and look from one another to Xzar, whom Aegis was also regarding with surprise. The necromancer smiled.

"Oh my. Eegee, are you... perhaps... rubbing off on me?" he asked in mock-horror. "No! Impossible. But I am starting to think the things you would think if you could think like I think while thinking like you. That's good. Someone has to! Your mind has too many leaves in it for magic to fit."

Aegis was just about to go back and find out if the Thayvian really had killed her sister- or vise versa, given how badly Edwin routinely needed someone to throttle him- when suddenly she paused and peered through the heavy rains uncertainly. The storm was getting worse as the day wore on.

"Something's coming," Xan agreed, straining his ears and glancing up at the rangers.

"Foosteps?" Minsc suggested with his head cocked to the side.

Then someone was rushing at them through the rain in heavy armor! Aegis immediately raised her shield and Minsc his greatsword, and whomever it was slowed briefly at the sight of them. They did not stop, however.

"Help me!" the person called in a voice of strangled fear and dismay. It was a woman, and the words were apparently super, secret, Aegis-commandeering, code words for 'drop your weapons so I can stab you,' because that's basically what the ranger did. She lowered her axe and grunted in surprise when the woman crashed straight into her.

To be fair, It was certainly less risky for Aegis to be altruistic while she had a hyper-paranoid necromancer liming up a ghoultouch spell at her elbow. He was already trembling with the eagerness to kill, remove, separate, freeze, with his eyes wide and his pupils contracted to dots

"Help me!" the woman cried again. "Help me, if you don't help me, th-they'll kill me!"

"Who the hell are-?" Aegis protested.

And then, abruptly, there was a trio of Flaming Fist hurrying through the rain, their weapons bared. Aegis jumped in surprise and then looked down at the woman with a scowl.

"What did you do?!" the ranger exclaimed.

"Nothing!" the woman begged. "Nothing! No theft, no murder, I just- I only-!"

Xan prodded curiously. "Well tell us. We are inclined to hear you out fairly however doomed you might be."

The woman was heavily hooded and shadowed, and though she tried to stammer out something it was the Fist who spoke first.

"Stand aside, traveler!" the first of the enforces called as he and his men slowed to a halt some distance from the party. "That woman is a drow, and we've been tracking her for miles! Watch your ribs! You want no part of her!"

[What!?] Xan exclaimed almost hysterically in elfin, leaping backwards into Branwen. She was so unyielding that the impact of him hitting her nearly knocked him over. Fortunately, she caught his arm.

Xzar, however, had been keeping careful tabs on the safety of each one of his lover's many ribs, and it was his assessment that their new gloved-and-hooded acquaintance carried only a mace upon her person. Furthermore, a quick analysis of her person had alleviated some of his poison-related fears (he was ill-supplied with the ingredients for handling drow poisons at the moment!)

He looked up at Aegis, who had given no more reaction to the word 'drow' as she ever had to 'necromancer'. She glanced down at him and he shrugged innocently. "This one is no assassin," he told her. "Not kit for it. No spider sigils either, interesting."

"What is a 'Drow,' Boo?" Minsc asked, and then drew the hamster up beside his ear to listen.

"Please, I've done nothing wrong!" the drow woman sputtered.

"Uh-" Aegis hazarded. "Sirs, why is this woman under arrest?"

"She is a Drow!" the enforcer exclaimed in disbelief.

Aegis fidgeted. "Has she flayed anyone ailve? Poisoned any villages? Spied for the Amnish?"

"We know not yet the full extent of her crimes, and if she comes quietly we will be sure to question her."

Aegis blinked slowly. A moment passed in silence. "Please tell me she's at least kicked a puppy..." the ranger muttered in disbelief.

"I am a cleric, and an outcast!" the woman begged. "I would be willing to help you, offer my services- anything!- I want no quarrel with these men, you, or anyone else!"

"Alright, that's enough," the enforcer muttered, insulted by Aegis' tone. "Either stand aside or we will be forced to carry out our jobs manually and arrest you as well!"

"Halfway to Amn, out in the wilderness?" Aegis asked incredulously. "What, because she's a Drow?"

"By the gods, girl, yes!" another enforcer exclaimed. "Are you simple? Do you not know what it means when we say she is a Drow? Can any of your party elabor-"

Aegis shrugged. "So's Drizzt Do'Urden," she argued, unconvinced. "Xan, are you still within the realm of sanity at the moment? Still with me?"

A strangled and inarticulate, but largely affirmative, noise answered her. Branwen kept hold of the enchanter, slipping her warhamer free of her belt with the other hand.

"Aha! I understand!" Minsc announced.

"Stand. Aside." The enforcers were starting to approach.

"Sleep," Aegis called back to the enchanter. Then she grabbed the drow's arm and pushed the woman protectively behind her. Xzar refastened himself tightly to her side as the ranger brought her shield to bare.

Xan grimaced hard, his face a mask of dismay and almost pain. Then he felt Branwen's grasp tighten on his arm, and the Flaming Fist were starting to charge, so he lifted up his hands.

I AM THE LAW!

Surprise! Everyone was young once!

The Author accepts any and all horror from the concept that a male PC and Gorion may, theoretically speaking, have romanced the same woman. Elf blood does that. I'm pretty sure Khelben has been married like 5 times...

Oh Edwin, what are we going to do with you. Are you going to take down half the party in a giant fwoom when you get your arm back? Oh hey... did you maybe accidentally drop a hint about what was going through your mind by reusing a fairly old insult...? :3