Okay…here is the next chapter. Sorta of an in-between chapter.

warning Mushiness ahead.

Brynnlaw

"Damn that snake of a man!" Menelanna cursed as the last vampire vanished into mist. She turned towards her companions. "Everyone alright?"

They each nodded in turn and the ranger let out a relived sigh. Sime glided up to the ranger and began speaking with her in a hushed voice. "Now that we know about his treachery we must be all the more careful."

The ranger glared at the woman. "Some guide your master set up for us," she muttered dryly.

The thief matched the glare. "It is not our fault the man turned treacherous," she snapped back. "It was hard enough getting anyone to be willing to give us passage to this place."

"Whatever," the elf sighed. "Now, do you know how we can get into Spellhold? The Shadow Master did say you knew some stuff about this island."

"I do not know how to get into the asylum, but I know a man whom we can speak to that can help us. We should be able to find him at the local tavern. His name is Sanik."

"Well I would suggest we get to the tavern and try to get some rest before we try and seek a way to enter this place. We do not know what we will encounter there and need our strength," Ajantis spoke up.

The discussion was made and the group made their way towards the Vulgar Monkey Tavern. More than one person found the name repulsive and found the inside even more so. The common room was filled to the brim with drunken sailors and it reeked of rum and other less than pleasant odors. As they approached the bar tender he gave them an unfriendly glare.

"Aye? What ye want and make it quick," he grunted.

"Keep your tone civil scum. We are here to spend coin for some rooms for the night," Jaheira snapped.

"Show me yer money and then I shall get ye yer rooms lassie."

Menelanna tried to hide her snicker as the druid turned as red as beet. It took Kivan's calm hand to keep the enraged woman from attacking the man. "Here is our gold," he said in his gruff voice.

"Fine. We don't have enough rooms fer all of ya, so ye will have to share."

"That is fine by us, thank you," Menelanna said quickly and guided everyone away from the dislikable man.

They took a vacant table and ordered what passed a meal in the establishment. It soon became painfully aware to the women of the group that there were no other female in the room save for the serving wenches. Several men were rudely hooting and whistling at them. One even made a grab for Menelanna's rear as she passed by. Upon seeing this Xan sat a close as he could get to her and held her hand tighter than necessary. But the ranger smiled, comforted by her love's protectiveness.

As the night sky darkened one by one the party retired to their rooms. Soon everyone was gone save for the elven companions. Kivan smiled as he looked upon his two friends who were obviously deeply in love. He gave a small sigh as he knew he was about to darken their mood, but there had been something he had been meaning to speak to the younger ranger about for quite some time.

"Menelanna, there is something I have been pondering," he began softly in elvish. "I am sorry to talk to you about this, but I feel I must speak my thoughts."

Xan shifted nervously and began to rise from his seat. "If you want…"

"You can stay mellonamin, that is if Menelanna does not mind."

"I do not. Please stay, Xan," she said softly keeping the conversation in elven.

The enchanter nodded and sat back down. The two turned their gaze back to Kivan bidding him to continue on. "You told me before what you remembered of your captor, Irenicus," he began. Menelanna tensed and nodded slowly. "Bright blue eyes…you said he had bright blue eyes…" he paused for a while.

Xan took a sharp intake of breath, "But only…no, it can't be!"

"Only our kin have eyes of such a color," Kivan finished.

"H..how can this be?" she asked agast. She reached forward and took a hold of Kivan's hand. With her other one she took Xan's. As she held onto her kinsmen she felt the bond between them that all elven kind shares. "He touched me…but I felt no connection with him as I do with you two. He cannot be elf…he just can not…"

Kivan tightened his grip on his friends hand, "I certainly hope you are correct in this mellonamin. I apologize for bring such a worrisome topic up. I bid you a good night." With that the stoic ranger stood up and went to the room he would be sharing with Edwin and Yoshimo.

A worried expression was clearly displayed on the young ranger's face. She stood and slowly began to walk towards the door leading outside. Xan immediately was after her begging her to remain indoors with them. She shook her head saying she just needed some fresh to help clear her mind. The enchanter's hand slipped from her arm as she walked out into the night air.

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"Only our kin have eyes of such a color" Kivan's words repeated in her mind. Could it truly be possible that that monster Irenicus was really an elf? But it made no sense. How could any elf do something like this to their own kind? And if he were an elf why did she not feel any connection with him like she did with other elves? She buried her head in her hands and let out a long sigh.

"Sighing does not suit you, melamin. Only a smile should ever be on your face."

"Xan…"she whispered his name.

"I am sorry to have followed you…I just worry for you. Remember what happened the last time you went outside alone at night? And this place is more dangerous than the Athkatla slums I would guess."

"I remember clearly. And I do not mind you following me. I should not be so rash, going off on my own like this all the time."

"I will not argue with that," he said and gave her one of his small rare smiles. Even as worried and troubled as she was could not keep her own smile from her face. "Ah…there is the smile I love to see," the enchanter said softly.

The two stood together in silence for a long while. Xan's fingers idly played with the ranger's long flowing hair. The enchanter looked down at her and let out a content sigh. A puzzled expression then crossed his face. "We once had this once. What happened?" he asked.

"Well…we did find out about my heritage…"she replied softly.

"Ah…it always comes down to that does it not." Many more things came to his mind about her father, but he decided to remain silent. It was better not to ruin the moment of peace they were sharing now. The enchanter suddenly remembered something and smiled down at the woman next to him.

"What?" Menelanna asked innocently.

"I just remembered…I have something for you." With this the ranger widened her eyes in surprise as she looked up at him. Xan reached into a small pocket inside his robes and brought out an elegant but simple golden necklace. It had a small pendant in the shape of a flower that Menelanna believed to be a jasmine. Xan's fingers gently brushed her skin as he fastened the chain around her neck. As the cold metal touched her skin Menelanna could feel that is was enchanted with more than one protection spell. "It belonged to my mother before she died. I carried it with me as a reminder of her and now I would like you to wear it. I also have placed a few spells on it so it is more than a mere bauble."

"I…I thank you," she whispered. She was deeply touched by the gift. The ranger placed a gentle kiss upon his lips before stepping back and smiling at him. "It is getting late. We best be going to sleep."

Xan nodded and happily followed her back inside the over crowed tavern.

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The party gathered together early the next morning. Edwin was even more volatile than normal due to the early hour. When he began to rant a little too loudly Menelanna placed a simple silence spell upon the red wizard. The man's face became as red as his robes once he realized what happened but was forced to wait out the duration of the spell.

After a crude breakfast of left over stew and stale bread was eaten, Sime guided everyone to where he contact could be found. A green robed wizard sat looking quite nervous in the corner of the common room and jumped when as the thief addressed him. His face relaxed once he realized the group was of no threat to him.

"So you are the contact that can aid us?" Menelanna asked.

"I would like to," he began. "But there are things I must atten…"

A shimmer of magic suddenly appeared behind the man and a Halfling stepped out. The short man revealed an evil grin and drew his bow, "Let this be a warning to all who dare cross, Lady Galvena."

To the Halfing's surprise, before he could release his arrow he found Menelanna's own protruding from his neck. He fell over with a thud and lay dead on the floor. "So much for this "Lady Galvena's" assassin," the elf muttered. She turned to the gasping Sanik. "What was that about?"

Sanik took a deep breath and steadied himself, "I knew this was going to happen eventually. Thank you good woman, I owe you my life. As for what happened. I meet a girl in Lady Galvena's Festhall."

"A whore house you mean," Ajantis uttered in a disapproving voice.

"Yes…well uh…Claire and I fell in love. I wish to marry the girl and take her away from this life, but Galvena was none to pleased about it. I assume she meant to kill me as warning. I fear what she is planning to do to my Claire!"

"Calm down," Menelanna said in a soft voice. "I will see what I can do to save Claire. In return I would ask that you aid us in what we need."

A look of unbelieving hope crossed the man's face. "If you can free her from her fate, I promise I will do everything in my power to help you."

The ranger smiled, "It is settled then. Now tell us how we can find Claire."