"Another entry scrubbed?"

"…We met up with Minsc, Dynaheir and Branwen in Beregost."

She seemed amused.

"Jaheira alerted the authorities, an officer Vai of the Flaming Fist, after we had Tranzig in our custody. She didn't trust the Fist not to botch things. Xan came with us."

"Did you have any more difficulties with bounty hunters?"

"…No, not for a while."

"So Imoen's plan worked?"

"Do we really have to talk about this?"

"What happened next?"

"Officer Vai was… not what I expected. She was not at all pleased that took the law into our own hands, even though Oublek placed a bounty on Tranzig at Ghastkill's request. We delivered Tranzig to Vai alive, or she would have had us thrown out of town. Branwen was angry, but we couldn't have fought off the Fist. After that, we joined up with Kagain, a dwarf, on the pretence of searching for his lost caravan.

"In reality, Vai issued us with a task: to locate the bandit encampment. Tranzig's letters pointed to Tazok, who was known to have a reputation of brutality. A second letter pointed towards Davaeorn, who operated out of Cloakwood. The paper trail was… longer than we expected. Xan, it turned out, was a Greycloak from Evereska and tasked to find the source of the Iron Crisis. There were… a lot of people claiming an interest in these things. Odesseiron, Khalid and Jaheira, Dynaheir, …I don't know what Branwen was doing so far south, or what her connection was with Tranzig. We later heard, from Ghastkill, that another duo, a Xzar and Montaron, had also answered the call for aid. The party from Waterhaven and the Amnish merchants went their own way."

"Your first real taste of politics."

"Yes… I didn't know who to trust. Everyone seemed to represent their own faction, carried their own agenda. Even… Gorion."

"Is that so surprising?"

"It was at the time, but no, not any more. Odesseiron and Dynaheir hated each other. Their peoples hated each other, but the two were cold in their address. Minsc was what kept them from tearing each other apart, I think, though Dynaheir kept Minsc from attacking Odesseiron. I don't know why Xan followed us; he was scarred from his ordeal in the mines and… Branwen claimed she owed us a debt. Minsc and Dynaheir claimed the same, as did Xan. I didn't know how the world worked, so I accepted it."

"Quite the assortment of individuals from very different backgrounds."

"Yes… I shouldn't have been surprised that it couldn't last. They each had their own peculiarities. I wasn't a leader; Jaheira made the decisions with Khalid."

"And yet you still had decisions to make."

"Where else could I go? Hunting bandits? I was not cut out for that sort of life."

"It seemed to suit you."

"I… learned much, as much as I could from all of them."

"You were a scholar of more than just tomes."

"I have been called many things, my lady."

"Tell me."

"Warlock, paladin, monk, druid, woodsman, godspawn, bastard, champion."

"And what do you call yourself?"

"…I don't know."

"The beginning of wisdom."

"Those descriptions are not me."

"Do you know why they named you such, godchild? Warlock?"

"Pacts with the fey, I presume, for bargains with fiends, and yourself."

"You have worn the title demonslayer and dragonslayer."

"I did not earn them."

"What bargains did you make with the denizens of the hells?"

"I allowed one to live."

"He serves you still. Mercy," the slightest smile touched her, "was, in this one instance, right for one such as he."

"He is harmless. What sort of monster would destroy a being that is so at odds with its own nature?"

"What sort of monster indeed, my champion."