S'nae was leaning on the couch in the Bard's college. She was relaxed and content among friends, listening to the violins in the background, young bards to be struggling to master a quartet before their final masterwork. Scampering over her hand was a small jumping spider, striped like a zebra, hardly a quarter of an inch long. She paused to let the spider hop from one finger to another, smiled at it, then turned to Melody who was seating in a chair nearby with a noticeably pale face.

"You sure you don't want to play with him?" queried S'nae holding the spider infested hand towards Melody. "He's a real sweetie this one is."

"How can you let that thing crawl on you?" squeaked Melody backing further into the cushions of the chair.

"Well for starters, he's not crawling on me, just my fingers and hands. I don't know him that well yet. And then he'll have to buy me dinner and a show first."

"EUUUUUUUUUU" squealed Melody shuddering.

"It's such a tiny thing," argued S'nae. "Why are you so squeamish? He isn't even poisonous enough for you to notice if he bites you, which he can't, his fangs are too small to penetrate the skin cells."

"It's it's it's . . ." began Melody shaking her hands spastically.

"It's okay Mel," sighed S'nae pulling her hand back and looking at the small creature waving it's front legs at her. "We've gotten used to the fact that you all are afraid of them. It was kind of hard at first to catch on, like there was this time when mom was chatting with Anadel . . ."


"The twins have been especially good today," said Vikii D'Vreeze to her longtime friend Delanna. Vikii's long silver hair was framing her ebony skin and only the point of her ears could be seen poking through it's thick lustrous mass. Her ultraviolet eyes seems to be particularly bright and cheery this night. Delanna nodded. An elf with a light blue sheen to her hair, she had pulled it back in a pony tail and was dressed in her customary gray/green attire. She was sitting by Vikii in the bar.

"I only had to flog them three times," finished Vikii.

"I can't understand why you have to punish them at all," said Delanna, "They always are such perfect little angels with me."

"So you claim," replied Vikii, not believing a word of it. "The first time was when I caught them with darling Vharaun's alchemy equipment and if those little scamps hadn't built a bomb? Then there was the evisceration of the M'lands pet dog, and they just got that poor little puppy three days ago. Then the third was when I put them to bed."

"But what for?" asked Delanna.

"I don't know," replied Vikii. "But they obviously do."

Delanna was about to question Vikii on the wisdom of that attitude towards child rearing when a sudden sharp piercing whistle broke through the fog of the chatter in the bar and a mezzo-soprano voice, a bit rough at the edges, shouted out "Hey, Barboy! Put the hooch on!"

Delanna and Vikii looked up and saw a human woman, bright orange hair, blue and gray leathers, and a Katanna and Kukri hanging from a sword belt walk right up to the bar and look Alan straight in the eye.

Alan, the Bartender replied, "I have told you not to call me that, Keyna."

"Whatever yew say, Barboy," she replied.

Alan knew better than to argue . . . he put the hooch bottle on the bar and Keyna tossed him a couple silver coins. Hooch was almost pure alcohol, made from the distillation of corn with brown sugar or molasses thrown in. What happened then depended on who was making it. The professional distillers would put it in charred oak barrels and leave it to age for years. The typical farmer however, would distill that mixture again and let it pour into brown earthenware jugs and cork them shut and use the jugs as trade goods for other items they were looking for. A good plow horse for example, ran at 120 jugs. When Alan got a hooch jug, he would pour the contents into 24 glass bottles and leave them up on the shelf, clear glass bottles which were filled with a clear liquid which could substitute for oil in a lamp if necessary, or keep Keyna drinking and talking for hours.

Delanna was still a bit speechless, and likewise staring at the woman, whom she noticed also had a light splattering of freckles, and a bit of blood, over her face. Keyna noticed them for a moment, said "Heya sis" to Vikii, and then poured herself a shot and gulped it down with a single swig. She poured another one and slid it over to Alan.

"On me, Barboy," she said.

Alan looked at Vikii and Delanna.

"25 years tending bar, knowing adventurers from all over the realms and now I'm . . . Barboy," he said.

Delanna agreed this was sad . . . and Vikii struggled to suppress a smirk.

"Now where was I," asked Delanna, turning back to Vikii.

"I think I was the one talking dear," replied Vikii, "but I'm not sure what I was saying either."

"How old are we?" mused Delanna.

"I'm sure there's a reason other than old age," replied Vikii. "So how is your efforts to adopt Kyri?"

"She's a bit hesitant given the circumstances of her sister," answered Deleth.

"That's besides the point however, she needs a mother!" replied Vikii . . .

The conversation of those two faded from Keyna's mind. She was tired, and she wanted to drink a bottle or two before she retired for the night. She poured herself another shot, gulped it down, and looked up at Alan.

"You called her sister?" queried Alan.

"Yeah," sighed Keyna. "She came outta our back barn when she was a kid and we 'dopted her. Gonna have ta tell yew 'bout it some time. But raight now? Ah don't feel like it."

She tossed another slug of the hooch and then stopped . . . a small black widow spider, red hourglass on the back, no doubt about that, had just dropped on the bar and was scootching across it towards Vikii and Delanna. Keyna hated black widow spiders, they were all over her family's barn. She had only been bitten once, but that had been enough. She quietly lifted her hand to strike.

There was a sudden snick, and she felt a sharp point at the base of her throat. She froze. Turning her eyes, ever so slowly, she saw Vikii, with glowing red eyes, and gritted teeth, holding a dagger point to her throat.

"Yew want the stupid spider, sis," muttered Keyna, "yew can have it . . . I see no reason to fight with yew over a spider."

Slowly, the eyes faded back into their normal ultraviolet. Vikii lowered the dagger and scooped up the black widow spider and held it in the palm of her hand while one finger of her other hand gently stroked the creature.

"Did the mean ol' Riiven scare my little blacky boo?" she cooed. "Do you want Matron Mommy Vikii to take you home, I have all sorts of nummy butterflies for you to eat . . . ooo . . . you like it when I rub your tummy don't you? . . .

Keyna looked back at Alan and ignored the rest of Vikii's oos and coos over her new pet. Alan met her gaze with an understanding nod.