"Yes? Yes!"
Yoshimo's face split into a delighted smile. As soon as she recovered from her surprise, excitement flooded her and her eyes began to sparkle. He rose to his feet and held her close, spinning her around, before slipping the ring onto her finger.
He kissed her, and the pair stayed locked together until an irritated cough from a nearby Talon guard prompted them to break apart.
"You're not just doing this in case we die are you?" Arowan asked him.
"No. This is in case we don't," he replied earnestly. "If our plan… If this works I get my life back, and I want to spend it with you."
Arowan was sold. She didn't need much convincing. Moving quickly, however, was a practical necessity. They could hardly tell the others that they were leaving on a honeymoon before they got married.
There was a Chapel of Ilmater just below the Mithrest Inn where they'd been planning on staying. A palmful of coins to the Painbearer, another to one of the resident beggars to run to the Copper Coronet for Jaheira and Anomen, and the deed was done.
If either cleric or druid had an opinion about their sudden decision to wed, neither of them passed comment. Anomen stood cheerfully enough as groomsman. He had always regarded them (and Yoshimo especially) as somewhat loose cannons, so he found the situation only mildly surprising. It was not the big, elaborate wedding he would have chosen for himself, but it seemed to suit the Ilmatari well enough.
Jaheira was happy for her adopted daughter. The pair loved each other, she was sure of it. That was never a guarantee of happiness in the long term, but given their lifestyle there was no guarantee of there even being a long term. Privately she began to make plans to detach herself. She had been too long away from the Harpers, and while Arowan would be reluctant to give her up, few new husbands really wanted their mother-in-law around full time.
The ceremony was short, though surprisingly well attended. Those beggars and orphans who frequented the chapel ate well that night and were not in the least concerned by the bride and groom's early departure.
Conspicuous by their absence were Viconia and Rasaad. The note had only asked for Jaheira and Anomen. The Sharran, naturally, had no interest in her long-time rival's wedding anyway. Except in so far as how Rasaad would react to it. For his part, he was relieved to be excused.
Everyone would have been looking at him, and how does one act naturally at an ex-partner's wedding? Smile too often and it seems like you're trying too hard. Get caught not smiling and people would assume bitterness. A situation best avoided.
He stared into the smouldering firepit over which roast hogs were slowly turning. By some error of design, they had placed it right in the middle of the Copper Coronet. There were chimney stacks high up to let the smoke out, but no flume as such. The result was that the fumes fanned out above them, curling into the rafters of the roof, and the air was always thick and sooty.
"You are thinking of Arowan?" Viconia asked. She tried to sound casual, but it was clear that the wrong answer would see his carcass joining the pigs over the fire.
"No… well possibly yes… technically…" he said with a frown. "I was thinking about Bhaal, and the disturbing possibility that they may be the same thing."
"She hardly comes across as god-material," Viconia mused, "But it is even harder to imagine Arowan and Freya being different aspects of the same person."
"Much like it is hard to imagine Selune being the same goddess as Shar," agreed Rasaad. The drow shot him a look and he steered away from that subject. "It is strange to know that we are personally acquainted with a god. Especially the Lord of Murder."
Viconia shrugged. Like most senior drow, she had spoken with Lolth in person on many occasions, and the goddess knew who she was. As did all of the gods, she supposed. So being on first name terms with Bhaal didn't seem so very strange to her.
"I regret running," she said. "From Bhaal, I mean. I would have liked to have seen her… him… again. Seems that Freya is a worthwhile ally even in death."
"A worthwhile ally? Viconia, why is it so hard for you to admit that you were friends?" Rasaad sighed.
"Drow do not have friends, foolish male! Friendship is for the weak! We have acquaintances who we use to our own ends," Viconia snapped, but she looked a little sad just the same. "She was… very useful. I trusted her. Albeit, only because she was too stupid to betray me."
Jaheira and Anomen came in through a side door. The ashes in the air, as always began to form a film of grime over his armour. He was like a magnet for soot, but since his expulsion from the Order, it did not seem to bother him.
"Is it done then?" Viconia sneered. "The brat has claimed ownership of her substandard male?"
"For better or worse," yawned Anomen cheerfully. "And now I am going to bed. We have the honour of an invitation to Keldorn's estate tomorrow. I wish to be well rested before I present myself."
"Really?" Jaheira asked. This did not seem to stack with his previous remarks about the man.
"Certainly," the former-squire replied curtly. "Else how can you expect me to stay awake through his ceaseless droning?"
Jaheira allowed herself a half-smile. It was a shame that when she returned to the Harpers she would have to leave her party behind. She was growing rather fond of them. Some of them, anyway. The druid had few regrets about leaving Rasaad and Viconia.
Arowan pulled her new husband's shirt over his shoulders and tossed it into the rapidly growing pool of discarded clothes on the floor. Yoshimo could feel the warmth radiating from her. Neither of them were the most experienced in this department. The number of previous lovers they'd had between them could be counted on one hand. Yet they felt no nervousness. From early in their friendship it had felt natural, even inevitable, that they would eventually end up here.
She twirled his long, black ponytail around her fingers. Ever since she'd been old enough to have preferences, she had always had a thing for long-haired men. She felt out the little scrap of leather binding it back and tried to loosen it. Realising what she was doing (and not wanting to find himself scalped) the thief let it down himself.
His hair tumbled down over his shoulders, rakish and cute. The ranger smiled at him. It was a perfect, seductive smile. It also wasn't her own.
He stopped abruptly and pulled away from her, looking awkward.
"Could you take the ring off for me?" Yoshimo asked.
"I… oh," she replied, taking off the silver band that he had given her only an hour before.
She felt a bit sick, as though she were on a wildly spinning fairground ride which had suddenly, and without warning, changed direction. What did this request mean? Had he changed his mind already, and if so, what had she done to prompt it? Or had his proposal been a spur of the moment thing brought on by extreme stress, and he was only now realising what a bad idea it was?
"Not that ring!" he laughed, pushing it firmly back on. "My ring stays where it is. I meant Dorn's little offering. The Charisma Ring. Take that one off."
Arowan, who had limited patience for disingenuous romantic gestures, rolled her eyes.
"Are you about to tell me you find me more attractive without it?" she asked wryly.
He held out a palm for it and cocked his eyebrow at her expectantly.
"Give me the ring. Just give it to me for a moment," he insisted. With a sigh, Arowan took it off, and watched her body revert back to its natural state. Her hair no longer hung perfectly like an oil painting, her freckles moved from artfully spread out to clumps of random chaos. Her breasts shrank, the wobbly parts on her thighs returned and her tummy could no longer be used as an ironing board.
All the parts of herself that she didn't like had reappeared. Reluctantly, she placed the ring in Yoshimo's palm, and the thief put it on his own finger. Arowan blinked.
Yoshimo with the Charisma Ring was very pretty. He was leaner and more muscular, his hairline had moved further down his face and the hair itself was thicker and shinier. His bones were chiselled and sharper, and even his scars had migrated around his face so that they sliced at more flattering angles. A quick downward glance told her that unless she was much mistaken, that wasn't all that had changed.
He looked like the consummate rogue samurai. It was Yoshimo, how he wanted to be.
"Do you find me more attractive like this?" he asked with a grin. Even his teeth had straightened and were perfect.
"No," she lied dutifully.
"Yes you do," Yoshimo said, flicking her nose. "Of course you do. Because I am more attractive like this. That is what the ring does."
He took the metal band off and placed it on the bedside table. Sitting down beside her on the bed, he took her hands in his. She looked down at them, but the thief nuzzled her face and moved it up so that she had to meet his eyes. Eyes which were, admittedly, less sexy minus the ring.
"Do you love me any less like this?" he asked her quietly.
Arowan smiled at him. No. She loved him just the same either way, but he had almost given her a heart attack when he asked her to remove the ring, without specifying which one. There was no way she was letting him off the hook for that.
"I don't recall ever saying that I love you," she teased him.
"Yes you do. You love me."
"Hmm. Maybe," she giggled, then shrieked as he pounced on her kissing and tickling and begging her to say it until they were both breathless with laughter. "Alright! Alright!" she squeaked, when she couldn't stand it any longer. "I love you!"
She was pinned beneath him now. His hair fell about both their faces like a dark curtain. As she reached up to stroke the rough stubble growing up the side of his neck, his heartbeat quickened in his chest.
"I love you," she repeated more seriously. "Although I'm still not sure why you have such a downer on the ring."
"I'm not saying we can't play with it later," he grinned wickedly. Then he looked a little shy. "It's just that our first time I would like it better if I looked like me, and you looked like you."
She reached out to touch his face, which was still very sexy ring or no ring, nodded and kissed him.
The next morning, Arowan woke to the scent of coffee and fresh bread. Yoshimo had snuck downstairs and brought it up for her. She ate off his chest leaving crumbs on the bedsheets, while they talked about Kara-Tur and meeting his family.
"I should warn you that the subject of grandchildren will come up often," he cautioned her. "And by often, I mean at least five times a day. Just ignore it. In their eyes the sole purpose of young Ilmatari is to breed more Ilmatari. They mean well."
"That isn't the topic I'm worried about," she said, biting her lip. "What should we say about Tamoko?"
"Ah. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure about that myself," Yoshimo replied. "They didn't mention her at all when they replied to my awful letter. Writing it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I told them she had died during a mugging gone wrong. That she was knocked to the cobblestones, hit her head and the Flaming Fist did not find her body until it was too late to revive her. They wouldn't understand about Sarevok. Knowing that their daughter died fighting for an unmarried lover who kept a harem of other mistresses would be almost as difficult for them to accept as the loss itself."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly.
"Don't be," he sighed. "It was a long time ago, and her killer died as horrible a death as I could have asked for. Do you think… do you think perhaps if we did have a daughter we could name her Tamoko?"
"Of course," she smiled sadly, stroking his face. "Could we name our son Khalid?"
He nodded. Then all at once his face brightened and he grinned cheekily.
"But if we have more sons we are calling them Yoshimo II, Yoshimo Junior, Yoshimo Returns and…"
"We are not having five children!" Arowan exclaimed emphatically. It was not so very long ago that she had been unwilling to contemplate even one. Yet with him, perhaps, it didn't sound so very unappealing after all.
Writer's Note: Updates to this story might be a bit erratic for a while owing to the current situation. Some sections of it were written before I started Shifting Targets and just need proof reading, but finding time to write those chapters that need doing from scratch will be tricky. Stay safe in these scary times. xx
Yes, this chapter was cropped, original version is under penname Zhenta on AO3.
