3.
Suldanessellar was the turning point, the point where Alixana was forced to concede the unthinkable: Sarevok was right. As the elves she saved drove her out of their precious woodland city, their cold hostility and glares, and then the poison that slew Jaheira, it was time to go. Jaheira despised Sarevok, considered it a betrayal, but she wasn't one to take her own life, and Sarevok had scoffed at the use of such a weapon. His tools – despite his hired knives – were his fist, crushing and choking the life out of those he saw as worthy enough to engage with personally.
Valygar was quieter, broodier, than usual at this turn of events. He and Jaheira had something of an understanding, but over the course of the next month, he and Sarevok reached a mutual respect. Perhaps it might have been better had they not, Alixana sighed inwardly. Privately, she had the smallest crush on the dark ranger, dark in mood, with skin like oiled walnuts, and eyes of deep, deep brown. It could never be though. For all their similarities, Valygar despised and feared magic with a loathing that she once held for Sarevok.
But Sarevok proved his worth over and over. He filled in the gaps in her knowledge, gaps that Gorion had so carefully edited and removed from her education. She knew how to strike a wyrm thanks to Sarevok, knew how to skin it thanks to Valygar. The magic Gorion taught her was pathetic parlour tricks.
It was Imoen who allowed Viconia to crush Sarevok's hand beneath her terrible mace, Khalid who had slain Tazok, and Imoen who had hamstrung Angelo. Jaheira had pinned Sarevok's left with her club, and it was her, Alixana, who dealt the blow that should have finished Sarevok the first time… but Imoen got there first. Her blade stuck him through the back of the throat, Alixana the decoy, her magics useless against Sarevok's black armour. Like so much else in life, Alixana was utterly and woefully unprepared for all she faced.
For the longest time, it was Imoen who was the strong one. But Imoen wasn't long enough.
And now? Now it was Viconia's strength, Sarevok's will, that pushed her forwards, propelling her towards whatever fate the Solar knew but wouldn't share.
