The Feast

Imoen looked good as a blonde and the Dry Well was no cannibal den. The inn by the last oasis on the edge of the desert was, up until recently, occupied by an entire contingent of tethyran soldiers. Fortunately, a letter personally signed by the queen herself arrived just a day before, ordering them to deploy north, post haste, and abandon any supplies that could slow them down. Daria had to admit that combining her art of divination with Imoen's forgery skills was unbelievably effective.

The party arrived to the inn few hours after noon, sweating and tired. With them, they brought two dead giant bloodsucking bats and – in case those were inedible – a fat jackal Minsc shot with a bow. Sarevok kept boring holes in the back of Daria's head all throughout the day, Jaheira doing the same but with a touch less hostility, but no one had the strength to talk in that heat. The huge ex-Bhaalspawn filled his water-skins first.

"I'm going out to scout" he proclaimed. He made no move to leave any of his heavy gear, taking all he had with him. Jaheira pursed her lips. He was clearly not planning on coming back, but the druidess didn't find it hard holding back the words of protest.

"Alright. Bring back some berries with you" Daria also made no effort to stop him.

"It's a damned desert. Where do you expect… Nevermind. Sure, I'll get them" he waved his hand and left.

"Good riddance" Jaheira commented as soon as he was out of an ear shot. "Now as to our accommodations..."

Stirges – the blood bats – weren't edible, but the jackal cooked nice. The three women that run the inn got to work quickly, eager to finally get paying customers. The large sack of gold Imoen flashed made them especially happy to pillage the remains of army camp to retrieve all the abandoned rations and alcohol. By the dusk the entire party was bathed and ready to part-take in the hastily pulled together feast. There were dates, there was a roast, snakes on a shish-kebab and all the local specialties Daria so far only read about. Pity the atmosphere remained heavy, she'd really like to laugh and joke with her sister. It was better that mourning her though.

With a sigh she sat down in the middle, waiting for Imoen to find a choice poison they would apply tonight at the bar. The rest of their group hovered around picking dishes and drinks, not sure how private the sisters wanted their conversation to be.

"So." Imoen planted two full mugs of ale on the table with a loud 'klumpf!' "When are you planning on killing yourself?"

Jaheira immediately grabbed her wine and took a sit on the newly blonded thief's side. Her hawk-like eyes focused on the sun elf as if she didn't want to miss a syllable of her answer.

"No, that's..." Daria didn't blink, looking straight back at the two women.

"A! I know you're lying!" Imoen cut her off. "And how do I know that? This resurrection trick you used on me and dear brother Savvy isn't as cheap as you claimed! You use up your soul to bring someone back!"

"What?!" Xan's eyes grew wide. He gathered the few snacks he was picking and brought them to Imoen's side of the table.

"You never told me..." Solaufein, at least, took Daria's side. But only when it came to the table, he was clearly disapproving of her lie of omission.

"That's how you two were doing this psychic act! I thought it was some elven mumbo-jumbo, but no, I can do it too now. I can literally feel you lying! Now drink!"

Daria sighed again. She was turning into Xan with all that sighing. There was no way she could hide anything from Imoen with the link between them that fresh. She might as well drink. The elf took a swing.

"It'll pass..." Daria mumbled to her glass. "It's only a temporary after effect, Sarevok shook it off in an hour. But he knew what he was doing. For Solaufein it lasted about a week."

"Ah. And when will your soul grow back?" Imoen drilled.

"...don't be absurd." Considering only a moment, Daria emptied her mug and took a bite of roast. The taste was nothing to write home about. Luckily, she didn't have that problem. "Besides, it was just a small, unimportant piece..."

"...of your soul. Yeah, we all have those. Who needs all this soul anyway?"

"But little Imoen!" Minsc, her one true hero, finally came to the rescue, loaded with almost half of the roasted jackal, a small barrel of ale and a bowl of chopped bananas for Boo. The table shook when he placed his ale, spilling some into Daria's empty mug. "Daria needed to save you at any cost! That was what heroes do, save their comrades!"

"Besides, if the fool decides to waste her powers on the weak, it's her privilege as the strong" Sarevok commented with a sneer, standing in the doors of the inn. "Your bloody berries" he threw a package on the table and took a seat. Then, realizing that none of the women were going to approach a bald hulk of a man with a permanent scowl on his face, he went to the bar to pour himself a mug.

Anomen, clearly thinking about it longer than he needed, sat on the side of the table. No one congratulated him on how dedicated to his impartial god he tried to look.

"So, when does the great hero plan on ending her life?" Jaheira unfortunately didn't forget Imoen's first words.

"I don't want to kill myself. No!" This time Daria allowed no interruptions. "I said, I don't want it."

"True" Imoen had to agree.

"But the world will drown in blood, if I let my sibling do as I please. You do not want to see them try to outdo each other in death counts, believe me. So I – we – have to kill the Five, the group that struck an alliance to kill all others and only then, murder each other. Whether it will end with resurrection of Bhaal, or one of them will succeed him, death will walk the realms. I'm talking tens, hundreds of thousands dead..." Daria looked at the bottom of her empty mug. Imoen gestured at the bar-owner to keep pouring.

"So what is your plan?" Jaheira pressed on.

"I think there is one… borderline decent, among the Five."

Xan recalled their conversation about Irenicus' magic. Cold shiver ran down his spine.

"You will let him kill you" he guessed. Correctly, just his luck.

"Fool" Sarevok sneered into his mug.

"He can suppress the taint. This can potentially save the world."

"The world will be fine." Imoen rolled her eyes.

"No. It won't."

"Yes, it will!"

"No, it won't, Imoen!"

"It will! You always stress about the most distant, improbable..."

"You have no idea how many times I saw you die" Daria stopped her, calmly. This time, her sister visibly flinched. Not from the words, no, the party realized after a few seconds, when their thief grew progressively paler. The diviner was letting her look into her memories, see what she had witnessed in all the grueling detail. Opening the gates to her mind fully was inviting trouble, but Daria was beyond caring at that point. "Sixty seven times. I counted. I can show it all, if you want, I remember everything."

"I… Uhh..." Imoen lost all her bite for a moment. "I guess I can watch out a bit more."

"We both know you never will. You're proud of it."

"That doesn't mean you have to watch over me for every minute of..."

"I do!" Daria finally snapped. "Don't you see, I do?! Do you think I like that? That it's a pleasure for me?! Not even one damned contingency spell on you and…!"

"Fine!" Now they were both standing and shouting at each other. "Just shut up! I'll learn those damned contingencies! They're a pain in the ass, but I'll learn! So get off my case!"

"Good!" Daria grabbed her fresh mug and emptied it with fury.

"Daria, how are you? And don't try to say you're fine, child. After so many divinations and giving away parts of your spirit… You should have told us." '...told me' Jaheira's eyes said with a reprimand, but also, disappointment.

"There was nothing you could do but worry. And it's not that bad..."

"She's lying again" Imoen, the ever helpful, chimed in with a smile. She noticed Daria's mental barriers were gone.

"Daria..." Jaheira kept on. Daria shrunk back like a weed, trying to disappear from gardener's view. It was too late. Imoen burgled into her secrets and started to mess around with especially shameful ones. 'Just don't look deeper into my memories with Xan, just, please don't...' And of course her sister honed in on those instantly.

"I'm not… It doesn't hurt anymore" she made last-ditch effort to avoid the truth and distract the thief. "It's way better than before."

Everybody turned to Imoen.

"Keep going" the blonde judged without mercy.

"I just… kind of..."

"You get stuck. You can't move, can't speak, can't do anything. After every vision you get stuck..." Imoen saw what she saw, but guessing from her tone, couldn't believe what was going on right under her nose. "Yesterday you got stuck for days. Daria, that really messed you up."

The diviner hung her head like a ten year old, who wet her bed.

"Child… is that true?" Silence that fell after Jaheira's question made even the bar-owners look their way. Her ward didn't answer, fully dedicated to inspecting the floor.

"That's why you think you should die. Because you're not sure what you're doing anymore… what's real…? You think you'll become just like them. You won't feel." For the first time, Imoen wasn't sure if she should keep going.

"Daria… You should have said something." The soft reproach in Xan's voice really hurt. Daria clenched her fists, unable to lift her eyes.

"There was no time, Saradush would fall soon and… It passes. It always passed. Your spell keeps me walking and I thought, once I found a way to save Imoen, I would stop, it'd go back to normal and I wouldn't have to…!"

Jaheira put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're not allowed to divine anymore, Daria" she ordered. Not asked, ordered.

The elf sighed, taking control of her shaking voice.

"How are you going to stop me, Jaheira?"

The half-elf bristled with anger.

"Well, if you want, I can stab Xan, without his heartbeat..."

A flash of silver in diviner's eyes startled the druidess.

"You won't do that" Daria felt the need to say. Jaheira rolled her eyes.

"That's it, I'm getting you something stronger!" Imoen shouted, now equally pissed off.

"Of course I won't. Point is, I shouldn't have to, because my foster-daughter acts like an adult! You shouldn't do that to yourself! Xan, tell her she can't use you anymore!"

Eyes, both furious and amused, focused on the enchanter.

"Hm" he cleared his throat, clearly caught off guard "Perhaps we should research some other method to focus your talents..."

"I will not use an imperfect method."

"A method that harms its user is imperfect" Solaufein disagreed.

"It's the result that matters the most..."

"Not to us." The conversation devolved into a shouty argument.

"Here!" Imoen ended it placing a tray with four bottles on the table. Vicious green fluid sloshed within. "The strongest – and most expensive – they've got. They hid it it a cupboard behind a stove until the soldiers were gone. It's called Green Fairy. Pretty, yeah?" The party reluctantly filled their glasses, cups and mugs, wary of the suspicious coloring. Such bright greens were usually reserved to poisons. Minsc toasted 'To friendship! And butt-kicking!' They drank.

It burned like living fire poured down her throat. Daria threw herself at the roast, trying to wipe the sensation from her mouth.

"Understand, Daria" Jaheira continued the tirade, now slightly hoarse. "To me, you are like a daughter I never had."

"You mean, you don't have yet." Daria's hands clasped her mouth as the elf realized what she let slip.

"What did you just…?"

"Nothing! Imoen, that was a bad idea! You know I can't drink near other people!"

"No, I like it!" The thief grinned with vile satisfaction. "Keep going!"

Daria hesitated considering another sip of the Fairy, decided she had little to lose at that point.

"Understand Jaheira. The second I begin to change the future I saw in a vision, consequences of those changes fall on me. So if I kill an assassin to save Imoen and then another kills you – for example! – even if previously you got out unscathed, then my actions lead to your death. That's why after every change I have to look again, to see the results. If they're bad and I make more changes – again I have to look."

"You will never stop at that rate."

"We walked straight into the center of a war, prophetized to drown the realms in blood. I took a far look and unfortunately, it's as precise as such a phrase can possibly be. I have some power to do go against it. But you won't hear me say it'll be easy."

"So when you say you don't want to die, but plan to, you mean you'll try to change the fate of entire Aber Toril and it will likely kill you."

"More or less, yes."

"Very well."

Daria blinked.

"You take care of the world. We'll take care of you. I'm sure I can reach some sort of agreement with Sarevok and Imoen promised to learn more defensive spells – we all heard it." Both former Bhaalspawn didn't look perfectly content with that solution. "Me and Anomen will focus on your health. We'll find some other way to stop this mess. I have no problem with making you a godmother of my future hypothetical daughter."

Something gripped Daria's throat quite tightly. It wouldn't be as easy as Jaheira thought, she knew, but…

Minsc's head hitting the table startled them all. A half-barrel that served him for a mug was emptied of all the Green Fairy. The berserker immediately began snoring. Xan sighed.

"This is a very strong alcohol. I think we should slow down a..."

Imoen was already pouring him a full glass. The enchanter just lifted it in a resigned toast.


An hour and a half decimated them.

After getting over her disappointment of lack of male servers to flirt with, Imoen was regaling the three inn owners with barely coherent tales of their adventures.

"...and then she said: Alaundo can kiss my clean elven arse!" Daria heard her shouting out and laughing at her own tale.

"That's the last bottle" her now blonde sister appeared a moment later with the loot. "We owe them half of our party funds."

"For Yoshimo! That poor sod deserved better!" Daria raised her glass, spilling some of the vivid green on Jaheira. The druidess chewed on something in her sleep, but didn't wake up.

"Yeah, him!" Imoen took a sip. "Where's Sarevok, that..." a very unladylike word left her lips. "We was here?! We have a new..." She hiccuped loudly". "...a new bottle."

Daria's eyes twinkled silver. "He's taking a piss!" she burst out laughing.

"How are you still divi… devi… How?!"

"I'm completely sober!" The completely drunk diviner started to laugh uncontrollably. Then she moved to cover Imoen in a bear hug. "You're my baby sister, Immy, my small one… You know? I'm never going let anything happen to you."

"But you stabbed me! In the back! I mean, not in the back, but it huuurt!" Imone began to wail loudly.

"No, don't cry, don't..." Now they were both wailing and hugging.

"For hell's sake, shut up!" Sarevok returned to see the two sisters sobbing like little kids.

"Don't tell us what to do, moron!"

"Yeah, moron! What do you know!"

"We don't even like you!"

"Because you're a moron!"

"Mooorooon!"

"That's it. You asked for it." Sarevok snapped. He grabbed both women by the clothes on their backs, hoisted them up and carried outside as they screamed and struggled. Looking around he found the nearest watering trough and tossed the two inside. "Sober up!"

"Aaaah!" The two tried to claw into the warrior, but failed, landing in the water with a splash.

"Um… He… hehehhahahaha…!" Imoen started giggling. Looking at her, Daria's clasped her mouth. Soon, both were laughing out loud.

Sarevok, unsatisfied, looked around, found another trough, tore it from it's bed and dumped the contents on the laughing pair. All he achieved was another bout of wailing laughter and splashing around.

"Immy… Immy. Immy!" Daria tried to get her sister's attention. "I think our brother needs another piece of humble cake."

A devilish grin appeared on the blonde's face. Instinctively, Sarevok took a step back, all he managed before the two infernals were on him, one tripping him, the other jumping on him. He managed not to fall, but had no chance to escape, hearing his old nemesis say:

"Dear brother, prepare for a recoloring!"

Once they were done and their brother crawled away in shame, the two sisters straightened each other's soaked clothes and looked around, noticing more of their party, lying up and about in the sand. Imoen's eyes gleamed mischievously. She wasn't done with pranks yet.

Daria clearly wasn't done with Imoen. She caught her sister in a bear hug and started kissing her head and hair.

"Ew! Daria! Let go!"

"No!" The elf's eyes twinkled silver. "You're my little one! My little baby! I can fit you in my arms! See?" Imoen wretched herself free and looked for a different target for her sister's perversions.

"You can still see, right? What's his future?" The thief pointed at Anomen, who apparently fallen asleep while hugging a nearby palm tree. Normally her sister would bite her tongue and claim privacy. Now she was barely standing up straight and couldn't pronounce 'privacy' if she wanted.

"Ano, Anoo!" she shouted, waking the priest up. "This whole… observing and not doing thing… isn't really your thing, you know? It will end badly!"

"Wha..." The priest only hug his palm more.

"Right?" It there was ever a chance actual devil horns would grow on Imoen's head, this would be the moment. "Now do him!" Daria obediently turned her silverish eyes at Xan, caught in the process off vomiting into a bucket.

"He's going to barf..." the soothsayer proclaimed. "...some more!"

"Aww! I mean eeeawww!" Drat. Too much of the Fairy. "Alright, now we're going to find Solaufein. Daria…?"

The diviner didn't hear, having fallen face first in the sand.