4th day of Ransalacue, 5571A

City Guard Headquarters

Talantier, The Divided Lands

"Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, lieutenant."

Anderson acknowledged Lumen's statement with a terse nod as his light gray eyes swept over the Light in the Darkness.

"You had another member, I believe. Where is the half-elf Caffrine who was with you? She'd suffered some rather nasty injuries last I saw her."

"By the grace of Balder, she'll be fine," said Bjorn Sigmundson with a smile.

"Glad to hear it," replied the city guard officer, a tight smile flitting across his face. "Also glad to see she's keeping better company these days."

The two bards exchanged momentary glances but said nothing.

"So what can I do for you?" Lt. Anderson said, making it clear by both posture and tone that he desired a swift return to business.

Lumen obliged. "Four members of the Ratcatchers' Guild have gone missing. Two have turned up dead yet they inform us that no official action has been taken; not even an investigation, as far as they're aware. Combined with the sewerer and dungsweepers' work stoppages, it seems clear even to dullards like us that something sinister is going on."

Anderson said nothing but the others saw him turn his head to momentarily eye the open door that led into the building that housed the main garrison of the Talantier City guard.

They also caught his momentary frown.

As the members of the Light in the Darkness exchanged puzzled looks amongst themselves, the lieutenant silently gestured for the group to accompany them as he walked further away from the garrison.

After leading them about a hundred yards away, he abruptly turned on his heel to face them.


"Can I trust you people?" he asked.

And before any of them could process this, let alone answer, the officer's gaze had settled on Illumenatta Duskwind.

"And how much will that trust cost me?"

Lumen didn't bother to hide the guilt that infused her smile.

"Not a common, lieutenant. The Light in the Darkness is at your command."

The moon elf's keen ears picked up a few grumbles behind her, but nothing fully verbalized.

"And what I tell you here goes no further?" the officer pressed.

"Other than to Caffrine Esslos, who is now one of us body and soul," replied Saito Takahashi. "I pledge her discretion to you with my own life."

The samurai finished with a bow to the lieutenant.

Anderson stared at the sextet for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision.

"Very well," he said. "Concerning the demands of the garbage and sewer workers, we have no evidence of illegal activity. While I personally consider it suspicious, that is a matter between them and the city council; politics, not crime, although from what I have heard the council is unlikely to give in."

His fists clenched; unconsciously, it seemed to Lumen.

"As to the missing ratcatchers, I am well aware of that situation. I am in charge of all guard activities in the Curtain Quarter of this city, where their headquarters is located. When their guildmaster came to me and told me his employees were vanishing I immediately assigned two serjeants to investigate, but they were," he hesitated, "reassigned."

Qidarchios raised an eyebrow.

"Reassigned? By whom? Your superior?"

"No!" Anderson replied forcefully. "Captain Varina Talos is beyond reproach! Certain members of the town council though, who have the authority to do so though they rarely have, requested my subordinates to look into certain local matters of their own jurisdictions instead."

The city guard officer took a deep breath.

"When I then ordered two other men to look into the ratcatcher matter, they were swiftly reassigned as well."

"Oh," said Oliver Athraite quietly.

No other words seemed to be needed.


"Well, then," Lumen said after a short silence. "Whoever is behind this foul business seems to have some influence here in town."

Anderson did not reply.

"Your personal opinion, Lieutenant," Dark said. "Who is behind this and what could their motive be?"

"I've been trying to determine that," the guard officer responded with a frustrated shake of his head, "and gotten nowhere. The Nightsong Guild rules the underworld of Talantier with a firm hand, yet this doesn't smell like their work."

"Pun intended, I presume," said Sebastian with a sour grin.

"Let us tell you what we've managed to find out so far," Lumen said.


Lt. Anderson nodded, seemingly to himself, after Illumenatta had finished elaborating on their discoveries.

"A wererat," he said. "Makes sense so far as that goes. Trouble is, it doesn't go very far. How could this Bella shut down two guilds and put a third on the verge of going out of business?"

"Not by herself to be sure," said Dark. "We need to root out her allies as well."

"I'm off duty in three bells," Anderson said. The guard officer took a quick look around to make sure no one else was nearby and seemed to come to a decision.

"I'll stop by the Ratcatchers' Guild then. Unofficially, see what I can find."

"Thank you, lieutenant," said Lumen, flashing her best smile at the man. "How can we help?"

Anderson thought.

"You said you got nowhere at the Dungsweepers' Guild. Try the Sewer Workers' Guild." He gave them the address. "Maybe you'll get lucky and find someone willing to talk; try especially to find out if this Bella has been hanging around there as well."

"Of course," responded Lumen. "We'll let you know what we find. And please reciprocate. You know where to find us."

The lieutenant nodded and headed back to the garrison without another word.


"You know," Dark said to his companions as they crossed the Willowsbreath Bridge south over the Arlos River that separated the Quarry Quarter from the Curtain Quarter of town, "this really is a beautiful city; or it will be one again once we've cleared up this matter."

"Ever the optimist," Sebastian rumbled with what the bard took to be a wry smile.

It had been a unanimous decision that since the Long Whiskers was directly on their current path to the Sewerers' Guild, that they would stop by and pick up Caffrine, who had remained behind when they had left to meet with Lt. Anderson, saying that she was fatigued and needed a brief rest. Certainly, she had looked it.

For now though, the Light in the Darkness looked over as the Night Raven Theater came up on their left.


No one could deny that the Night Raven cut an imposing figure on the main street. About one hundred and fifty feet in length, the building boasted numerous gothic spires adorned with dozens of hideous gargoyles that dwarfed the humble venues couched in their shadows. Four sets of double doors lined the theater's west wall, and these occasionally opened and closed as people came and went. It was still about three bells until showtime, and a crowd was just starting to gather outside, taking advantage of the street vendors selling assorted foodstuffs, including "meat pies."

Each set of doors had two Curtain Alley Players standing by them. It looked like they were checking the tickets of everyone who entered.

Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friends but said nothing.

Illumenatta didn't see it. The moon elf was still thinking of the cylindrical stone that served as Talantier's notice board that they had passed by several minutes later.

They hadn't stopped to examine it but even from this distance Lumen saw that Tarrow Shick's posting of a job offer was no longer there.


Even with all that was happening, Caffrine Esslos was happier than she could ever recall.

Those all-consuming hugs, first from Takahashi and then from everyone else, including her great-grandmother Adorella, who had "conveniently" just been passing by at the moment, had put a warmth into the young half-elf's heart that hadn't been there since she'd lost her parents.

To be sure, she was still tired, worried and filthy.

It also caused Caffrine no small amount of grief that one of the first things she'd done after her grand reconciliation with the Light in the Darkness was to lie to them.


It was not her fatigue (although that had been very real) that had caused the rogue to decline going with the others to see Lt. Anderson.

She'd needed the time alone and she'd wasted not a moment of it. As soon as the last member of the party had gone out of sight on their walk to the Quarry Quarter, Caffrine had made a mad dash to the Couriers' Guild, which thankfully was much closer to the inn than the main City Guard garrison building was.

Now she was back at their table, still breathing hard, hoping against hope that the person she'd sent the message to would show up before the Light in the Darkness returned.

Caffrine needed information. Information that she would use to make a very important decision.

Her dark brown eyes fixed on the door to the Long Whiskers, she spotted him as soon as he entered; later than she'd hoped. The man spotted the teenager at once as well and strode over to her table, although he declined her gesture to sit down.


"I hope this isn't revenge," Johann said, his eyes casually but expertly taking in everything about his surroundings, especially the half-orc bouncer sitting at the bar. "Asking for a meeting at a place you'd know I'd be uncomfortable in," he finished with a look at Caffrine that made the half-elf realize he was only half-joking.

"No. Not at all," Caffrine said, shaking her head. "I'm kind of pressed for time, so it had to be here."

"All right then," said Johann. "What is it?"

Caffrine took a deep breath.

How much will he sense? she thought. How well does he really know me?

Caffrine Esslos then proceeded to tell her Nightsong handler everything the party had told her they'd found out about the missing ratcatchers, up to and including their suspicion that the ratcatcher Bella was in fact a wererat.


Johann showed no surprise at anything Caffrine told her.

He also did not look happy at hearing any of it.

Both confirmed her worst-case scenarios.


"You know I can't tell you anything about this," Johann said, shaking his head and looking at her severely.

"Then it is Nightsong business," Caffrine pressed him.

The human hesitated. "Yes," he said.

"Why?" Caffrine asked, aware she wasn't going to get a satisfactory answer. "Not only do all of you live here, so do I! Talantier has been my home for as long as I can remember! What gain will you get out of turning it into a garbage dump?"

"Listen closely, Caffrine," Johann responded, leaning over now so that both his palms pressed down against the table. "I can only say this once, which is once more than I should be saying it, and that's only because we've known each other for years."

The feeling of betrayal was again starting to worm its way through Caffrine's insides again. She hoped with all her heart it wasn't leaking through to her face.

The teenager abruptly wondered if she'd made a terrible mistake asking Johann to come here, but it was too late now.

"You told me yesterday that you'd steer these people away from any Nightsong business. Well, this matter is our business. Now don't worry," he continued, raising an admonishing hand to forestall any further objections from the half-elf, "this state of affairs is only temporary. The Nightsong wouldn't let any lasting harm come to Talantier, dear; you know that. As you said, this is our home, too."

"All right then," Caffrine said, managing a shaky nod of her head. "I'll do as I said and throw them off the scent; distract them."

Johann said nothing.

"What?" the rogue said after several seconds, the alarm evident in her voice.

"It may be too late for that," Johann replied and began to walk back to the front door.

He was almost there before Caffrine remembered how to breathe again. Staggering to her feet, she rushed over just as he gained the door.


"Johann, wait!" she said breathlessly. "You can't-"

"Caffrine," he said, cutting her off. Genuine regret showed in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not directly involved in this particular project, so I have no authority to request any changes. Don't fret; you know the Nightsong is never needlessly violent. The first time is always a warning. Hopefully, these people will listen to reason."

He bit his lip.

"If they do, all well and good," he said. "If they don't…"

Whatever softness had been in Johann's expression was now gone.

"Then you need to make a choice, Caffrine Esslos," he said, unconsciously repeating the same words Adorella Duskwind had used when speaking to the half-elf less than a day ago.

He opened the door, checked to make sure the coast was clear and then turned back to Caffrine one last time before he left.

"Don't make the wrong one."


Saito Takahashi and Sebastian Sanders were both walking at the rear of the party so when they abruptly stopped.

The rest of the group had continued several paces on. It was only when Oliver Athraite had looked over his shoulder to ask his friend Seb a question that they realized the samurai and the barbarian had halted.

"What is it?" the mage asked as he and Lumen, Dark and Bjorn rejoined them.

Neither response was a verbal one. The barbarian slowly and carefully reached over his shoulder and withdrew the greatsword that was strapped there.

The samurai merely pointed forward, his mouth a thin line and his eyes hard.


They were perhaps three blocks north of the Long Whiskers Inn & Tavern. The street at this particular point was narrower than most; about twenty-five feet wide, with a line of small storefronts on either side.

About fifty feet in front of them, five individuals had also stopped and were staring at the Light in the Darkness.

All were armed and armored and stood in a line stretching from one side of the street to the other.

Four of the five were human males. They were young; twenty or a few years past. All wore leather armor and while they were armed with longswords and light crossbows, none of them had any weapons in hand.

Or at least, no lethal ones. All four carried blackjacks and were currently slapping them into their free hands in the same fashion that the party had seen Durinok do, although the overall effect was far less intimidating than when the half-orc had done it.

In the middle of the line was a half-elf. He wore studded leather and while he had no sword or crossbow, no fewer than four daggers hung down from a weapon belt that encircled his waist. Even from this distance, the Light in the Darkness could determine the arrogant and condescending look on his rugged features. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was the leader here.

The townspeople in the street, looking back and forth between the two groups, began to clear away from the area. The party heard several people enjoining others to call the city guard.


"A fine day to you," called out the half-elf, "esteemed members of the Light in the Darkness!"

"And a fine day to you, too!" Lumen called out, keeping her tone deliberately pleasant. "And how might we aid you fine people?"

"We require no aid, oh most beauteous lady," the half-elf replied, his smile growing even wider.

"In fact, it is we who are here to aid you!"

"I was not aware that we required assistance," replied Illumenatta. The moon elf began very slowly to walk forward again. As she had hoped, the rest of the group mirrored her movement.

"Then it is doubly fortunate that we are here," the half-elf replied, moving slowly forward now as well, his companions keeping the line with him. "We are what you might call the Talantier Farewell Wagon. We make sure that those people who have decided to leave our fair city have any provisions or advice they might need for their future journeys."

Qidarchios raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know we were leaving Talantier."

The distance between the two groups had narrowed to forty feet.

"See?" the half-elf said. "We've helped you out already."


"At what point can we kill these people?" Seb rumbled, both hands grasping the hilt of his greatsword.

"Be quiet," hissed Athraite and Sigmundson simultaneously.

"I'd be taking Needles' advice if I was you," the young man standing to the half-elf's right said.

"And I would be running for my life if I were you," Saito Takahashi growled, although the wood elf had still made no move to draw his katana.

Needles held up his hands in a disarming gesture.

"Now, now," he said, his voice more mellifluous now. "There's no need for violence. You seem like reasonable folk. Surely you can understand why leaving town is in your best interests."

"I'm a slow learner," Lumen replied, still smiling broadly. "Enlighten me."

Thirty feet now.

"The economic give-and-take of a city like ours is a very delicate thing," responded Needles. "It is all too easy for even those with the best of intentions to interfere in that."

"So says the Nightsong Guild?" asked Bjorn, who now had one hand clasped over his silver holy symbol.

"Nightsong Guild?" repeated the man to Needles' right. "Never hoid of 'em."

"Ahh," Sebastian nodded sagely. "You are idiots, then. This explains your behavior."

"Not helping, Seb," groaned Oliver.

Twenty feet.

Needles and his men stopped. Seeing this, Lumen bade her teammates to halt as well.

As the old human saying goes," said Needles, speaking now in elven and addressing his remarks specifically to Lumen and Dark, "shall we do this the easy way or the hard way?"

The two bards eyed each other and then gave the briefest of glances to the rest of their group.

"Hard suits me fine!" yelled out Illumenatta Duskwind.

Qidarchios Sunleaf took a deep breath and began singing.


When you turn to run, you find your wings

Lumen took her composite shortbow in hand, drew an arrow from her quiver, notched it and pointed directly at Needles but did not fire.

"All of you!" the moon elf shouted. "Leave now!"

She expected Needles to either obey or if he truly was foolish to go for one of his daggers, but the half-elf did neither.

He stretched out his right arm and pointed directly at Lumen.

Her arrow sped in just to the left of the arm and buried itself in the half-elf's breastbone.

Blood spurted and Needles bent over in agony, one hand clutching the arrow and trying to yank it out.

From his right hand, however, came a streak of white light that flew unerringly to disappear into Lumen's own torso. Illumenatta cried out and fell back.

Spellcaster!

The thought flashed through Oliver Athraite's mind even he whirled around, and cast enlarge person, touching his barbarian friend as he did so.

As he had that day on the road north of Talantier, Sebastian Sanders suddenly swelled up to the size of a stone giant. The barbarian grinned at the thought of the upcoming bloodbath and was about to rush forward when Lumen suddenly cried out.

"Alive!" the moon elf shouted. "We need them alive!"


"Are you serious? You were first one to fire!" Sebastian bellowed, but even wounded as she was, Lumen's emerald green eyes caught the barbarian's and would not let go.

Find your strength as your leader sings

With an inarticulate but deafening shout, the draconic giant dropped his greatsword, which fell onto the street with a great clatter. Sebastian then rushed forward past Oliver and Lumen, charging the two humans on Needles' right, who stared, mouths agape and apparently stunned into immobility.

With one sweep of his arm, Seb backhanded the man closest to the building on the left side of the street into the wooden structure. A loud crack signaled the impact and the thug slumped to the ground, unconscious.

The man next to him backed off about five feet, dropped his sap and drew his crossbow, although his hands were shaking so hard it was a wonder he managed to load the weapon.

The two thugs on the other side of the sorcerer also dropped their saps and loaded their crossbows. These two, however, each squeezed off a single bolt.

One bolt caught Qidarchios on his left side. It was a shallow wound, but the bolt passed clean through.

To everyone's astonishment, the high elf did not stop singing.

They say you're dead but here you are

The other bolt caught Bjorn Sigmundson full in the stomach. While his chain shirt prevented any actual penetration, the force of the blow was enough to stop the cleric in his tracks.

Doubling over, Bjorn vomited up blood.


Unlike his companions, Saito Takahashi allowed his rage to take him.

The wood elf not only did not resist, he welcomed it; encouraged it.

Lumen's admonition meant nothing to him.

Saito knew that his katana had cleared its sheath as he charged Needles and his compatriots, but he didn't care.

It was time for these gaijin to learn what challenging a samurai really meant.

With a fierce battlecry, Saito attacked the human next to Needle; the one who had shot Dark.

Your quickness of limb will take you far

The thug parried but the samurai's katana battered the man's longsword away. Saito was in position to strike again a full second before the human was ready to parry again.

To the screams of everyone on the street who was still close enough to see, the thug's decapitated head flew off to the right and bounced off the storefront door that it had struck.


"Damn it, Saito!" Lumen yelled.

"We only need their leader!" Takahashi shouted back.

Dark stopped his song and tried to tell the samurai that wasn't the only reason; that these men, with the possible exception of Needles, weren't on a par with them and could be defeated without the use of lethal force.

Unfortunately, the pain from the bleeding gash in his left side made that impossible as a wave of agony overtook him.

But then the pain vanished, and the wound magically closed up.

"Thank you, Bjorn," Qidarchios said, straightening back up and taking a deep breath that was wonderfully pain-free.

"That's what I'm here for," replied Sigmundson with a smile that suddenly vanished as he yelled out at the others.

"Look out!"

Needles, having backed away out of the samurai's reach, was casting again, his hand scattering rose petals that he had just pulled from his spell component pouch.

Saito Takahashi and Sebastian Sanders collapsed unconscious to the ground.


Illumenatta Duskwind did not often utilize her barding training for magical singing as her cousin Dark did so often.

Being a bard to her had always seemed like settling; being able to use arcane magic without spending endless hours poring over dusty tomes.

But she also knew if they were going to try and take these people alive, they would need all the help she could supply, as Lumen herself knew not a thing about non-lethal combat.

She began to sing.


Oliver Athraite's brown eyes blazed with anger.

Abandoning his first impulse to try and awaken his sleeping friend, the transmuter took aim instead and cast.

The section of packed earth underneath both Needles and the thug standing to his right suddenly glistened as if it were covered with morning dew.

Both the human and the half-elf went down as their legs flew out from under them.

"Grease," Oliver said smugly to Qidarchios as the bard came over, knelt down and with no small amount of shoving, managed to wake up the slumbering barbarian. "A vastly underrated spell."

"I look forward to learning it," replied Dark.


Snarling, Sebastian didn't even attempt to get up. Instead, the barbarian merely crawled forward a few feet until he was just outside the greased area. His massive right fist came down in an overhand swing and knocked the man on Needles' left out cold just as he was about to fire his crossbow.

The last thug looked around at the situation, seemed to come to a quick decision and bolted away like a rabbit.

"Let him go! Get the half-elf!"

Bjorn Sigmundson wasn't used to taking command, even temporarily, but Lumen was still singing, and Saito was still out cold on the ground. Bjorn laid his hand on the moon elf's shoulder and let the healing prayer flow.

She turned and gave him her dazzling smile without missing a single note.


Dark, no better at hand-to-hand combat than his third cousin, contented himself with walking over to Takahashi and reviving the unconscious wood elf.

Needles, the panic clearly showing on his face now, didn't even try to stand. The sorcerer moved to cast another spell, but the very large fist of Sebastian Sanders came down again.

The half-elf lost both the spell and consciousness.

"Farewell to the Farewell Wagon," Oliver noted.


Illumenatta stopped her song and looked around as her team stood up, dusted themselves off and examined their three unconscious opponents and one corpse.

Lumen examined the mix of silver and copper coins in her hand that she'd taken from the belt pouch of one of the thugs. She then turned around and smiled at the crowd members, none of them closer than forty feet, who were still looking on in alarm at the scene.

The moon elf held up the coins.

"Silver for anyone who helps us take these people to the city guard!" she cried out.


Caffrine Esslos was slowly moving from a state of worry to one of panic.

She'd been originally concerned that the party might have arrived back at the inn before Johann left but that was a distant memory now.

The half-elf heard eight church bells toll in the distance. She was about to get up and head out to the streets to see if she could find them when the Light in the Darkness finally opened the door and walked in.

They looked a little worse for wear but at least no one seemed injured. Caffrine relaxed.

That didn't last long.


Lumen had let her cousin Dark handle most of the storytelling chores. She kept a close eye on their party rogue as her band filled her in on everything that had happened since lunchtime today; their conversation with Lieutenant Anderson and their encounter with the so-called "Farewell Wagon," which had ended with them taking their attackers, alive and dead, to the Talantier main garrison, as they wanted to hand them over to the lieutenant personally, even though they had to wait an extra two bells to do so and missed their opportunity to stop by the Sewer Workers' Guild until tomorrow.

Lumen had noticed that Caffrine had seemed aghast at their encounter with the thugs but not, try as she might to hide it, surprised.

"Was Anderson able to tell you anything about these people?" the teenager asked, her voice sounding small.

Qidarchios nodded. "The half-elf called Needles is a member of the Nightsong Guild, all right. Low echelon, but he's wanted in connection with several assaults. The others were just local youth hired by the Guild for this intimidation mission; they knew nothing."

"Are you familiar at all with this Needles?" Lumen asked Caffrine directly.

The half-elf hesitated, but the moon elf's eyes told her without words there would be no lying here tonight.

"Yes," she said quietly, nodding. "He's a friend of my contact Johann, but I hate him. He's always leering at me and making… suggestions."

No one at the table asked for or needed an elaboration.

"Well, I think that particular problem is over," said Lumen with a smile.

Caffrine nodded and smiled weakly but said nothing.

"So," the moon elf went on, "we'll be hitting the Sewer Workers' Guild tomorrow," she said, looking over and smiling at her second cousin. "If you'd care to join us-"

"I have something for you," Caffrine abruptly announced in a loud voice.


The other six members of the Light in the Darkness waited expectantly, not knowing what was to come.

All eyes were on the rogue.

Caffrine fumbled but managed to extract the bracers she had taken off Peck and set them down on the table in front of Illumenatta.

"These are for you," she said.


Caffrine's brown eyes sought out each member of the group in turn. The expressions she received ranged from curious to indifferent to relieved.

None were judgmental.

Lumen picked up the bracers and examined them.

"These seem a little bigger than I remembered," she said, looking over at Caffrine curiously.

The rogue nodded, the nervousness still clearly evident in her voice.

"They're magical. Apparently they resize themselves to fit their newest owner."

The implication of this last statement was lost on no one. Caffrine had worn the bracers but was now giving them up. The studded leather armor the half-elf was currently wearing was ample proof of her intentions.

"Thank you, Caffrine," Lumen said with a soft smile as she placed the bracers on her pale white arms.

"And now," the teenager continued, the anxiety in her manner abruptly ramping up again as she looked around the table once more, "I have something I need to share with all of you."


Heads tilted and expressions grew rapt. None of the party knew what Caffrine was going to say, but it was evident that the young rogue had come to some momentous decision.

Caffrine Esslos took a deep breath, placed her hands on the table in front of her, fingers intertwined, and told the other members of the Light in the Darkness all the details of her recent interactions with Johann of the Nightsong Guild.

Both of them.


There was a long silence when the girl finally finished speaking.

With a gasp, Caffrine looked over to her left, her body tensing up as it seemed to do so quickly these days.

Bjorn Sigmundson, an easy smile on his weathered face, had taken Caffrine's hands in his.

Slowly, Caffrine relaxed again.

She doubted anyone else's touch would have been able to accomplish that.


"I'm glad you decided to tell us this, Caffrine," the cleric said as he let go of the teenager's hands. "I'm sure that must have been a very difficult decision for you."

"I agree," added Saito Takahashi, who seemed to be making a determined effort to keep his face neutral. "But if I may ask, why tell us this now?"

And why not earlier? were the unspoken words that everyone could almost see floating over the table.


Caffrine took another deep breath.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her great-grandmother Adorella had once again appeared unnoticed and was standing unobtrusively nearby, drinking in every word.

"Because," she began, "you're all right. I have come to a decision and that decision is that blood is thicker than water. Even though I never joined them, the Nightsong Guild did provide for me and looked out after me when I was just a little girl alone on the streets."

She hesitated.

"I can't deny my debt to them for that, even if it did come at a cost. But things have changed now. I've never had any family since my sister ran away from the orphanage and now I have more than I ever dreamed of."

The half-elf smiled nervously and stretched her arms out again across the table, this time leaning to the right.

Lumen and Dark both returned their cousin's smile and clasped her hands, the latter having to lean a bit to the left to do so.

Caffrine, her smile still in place, looked around at the other four members of the Light in the Darkness.

"Bjorn," she said. "Takahashi, Sebastian, Oliver. You guys are also my family."

It took several moments for that statement to process for everyone present but when it did, the cleric, samurai, barbarian and wizard all rose to their feet and clasped the mass of offered hands.

"I want you all to know," Caffrine finished, tears threatening but not falling, "that from now on, you can always rely on me."


After the party had sat down and Lumen's toast to The Light in the Darkness had been accepted (Caffrine and Saito again not bothering to hide their eyerolling at the name), the rogue cleared her throat and began speaking again, her voice now all business.

"I need training and the only way to secure that in Talantier is from the Nightsong Guild. I'm going to use this an opportunity to benefit us all. Johann thinks I'm his spy inside our group. Well, I'm actually going to be our double-agent. I can find out what the Nightsong is planning and tip you off while pretending to keep you in the dark,"

This statement generated an instant uproar.

"Out of question!" thundered Sebastian, rising to his feet again. " Is far too dangerous!"

"Are you insane?" shouted Saito.

"Caffrine," said Bjorn. The cleric did not yell but his face showed the utmost concern. "That's a very noble and selfless idea, but if they find out, they'll kill you and we won't be in a position to intervene."

By way of reply, Caffrine looked to the person sitting to her right.

Illumenatta Duskwind shook her head.

"They're right, Caffrine. It's just too risky."

The rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying," she asked, her voice now cold, "that it's my destiny not to do this?"

The table grew quiet again.

Lumen gave Caffrine a sour look.

"That, cousin," the moon elf muttered, "was a cheap shot."

The bard/sorceress swept the group with a glance.

"It's Caffrine's decision," said Lumen with a sigh. "No one else's."


Their dinner of minced meat dumplings, carrots, parsnips and bread had been mostly consumed, washed down with generous servings of wine and ale.

Small conversations were crisscrossing the table, most concerning what to do about the Nightsong, how to track down Bella, their upcoming visit to the Sewerers' Guild and matters involving training.

Qidarchios Sunleaf, however, had again pulled out the piece of vellum that they had taken from Gareth's body. The bard was reading it out loud to Lumen and Caffrine, hoping that this time one of them might come up with some new flash of insight that they had missed before.

They didn't but now Dark noticed his great-grandaunt Adorella Duskwind staring at him.


The tiny elf stood stock still; her arms burdened with trays of food.

Without a trace of her usual joviality she said, "I'll be right back," and headed to her intended table.

Soon she was standing by them again, her aged face crossed with worry lines that none of them had seen before.

"Read to me," she said quietly, "that part about the Neutral Forces again."


"About half a century ago," the innkeeper began, her eyes not looking at anyone in the group after several minutes of silence following Dark's reading, "terrible storms wracked Samseed Wood, particularly the area around Evistar."

She looked over to her great-granddaughter Illumenatta and favored her with a grim smile.

"This was before your time, dearie, of course."

Now the old elf regarded the entire group with a sad shake of her head.

"Before any of you children were even born."


"These storms were not of natural origin," Adorella continued after downing Dark's goblet of wine that she had grabbed without asking him. "Full of lightning and terrible wind gusts strong enough to uproot even saelas trees. Some elves even said they had seen the kithenvin- the whirlwinds; what you humans call tornadoes," she added with a look at Bjorn and Oliver.

"My brother Sambel," she went on, "believed that these storms were targeting specific elves, although he couldn't say who or why. He was absolutely certain of only one thing: that the small woods north of Samseed, the Wildwood that centuries ago had been the home of the kingdom of Ilumeninoridan, were involved."

"That kingdom fell eight hundred years ago," Lumen said, frowning.

"True, dearie, but only a few months before these storms began, a large group of elves; almost a thousand strong by some accounts, moved into the Wildwood from the west. No one knows if they came from across Nimshor or," Adorella hesitated, "somewhere even further."

Qidarchios said nothing but the high elf pulled from his belt pouch one of the gold pieces that they had taken from the corpses of Gareth and his men and examined it again.

A coin that referenced a ruler and a kingdom that, so far as Dark knew, no one had ever heard from; not even Saito Takahashi, who hailed from the other side of the world.


"These elves established a settlement that they called New Rolex," Adorella was now saying. "They kept to themselves for the most part. We had planned to send a formal delegation out to greet them but then the storms started. They struck New Rolex as frequently, if not more often, then they hit Evistar and the surrounding lands."

She fell silent for a short while and when she began speaking again, Adorella's voice was softer but somehow huskier.

Now the story was turning personal.


"I had long ago moved here of course, but I began hearing news from back home… news of friends who had been killed."

Adorella's pale, faded green eyes grew misty.

"My brother, who was very learned in planar matters, called these storms The Neutral Forces, although he never explained the meaning of that term to me. I," she paused again, "never was able to learn wizardry," she finished with a wry look at Lumen, who gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Naturally, everyone in Evistar looked to my brother to save them," said Adorella. "He was, after all, the legendary sorcerer Sambel Shadar."

Her gaze dropped to the floor.

"Then, one day, the storms stopped… and my brother was never seen again."

Dark looked around. It seemed that a significant portion of the Long Whiskers common room had stopped their meal and were listening in.

Adorella either did not notice or did not care.


"Naturally," she continued after another long pause, "everyone assumed that Sambel had perished heroically while stopping these storms."

"I certainly did…" the old elf said, her voice cracking.

She began crying so softly that the party did not realize this was the reason for the cessation of her story for almost a minute. Then Caffrine Esslos rose from her chair, walked over to her great-grandmother and kissed the top of her head, just as Adorella had done for her the previous evening. The rogue then guided her to the chair she had vacated and bade her sit.

Qidarchios Sunleaf was the first to speak up.

"I believe," the bard said softly, addressing Adorella while stretching out his hand across the table to her, just as he had done earlier to Caffrine, "that I may be able to finish this story, if that's all right with you. I know it from my father."

Adorella nodded. She still couldn't speak, but she squeezed her great-grandnephew's hand.


"A number of years after this happened," Dark said, using his bard's voice to command the attention of all listening, "a priestess in Evistar named Ruil Starshine-"

Startled, Lumen's head jerked around. Her eyes narrowed but the moon elf said nothing.

"- cast divinations to try and determine exactly how Sambel Sunleaf had died," Dark went on. "The elves wanted to see if they could recover his body and hold a grand celebration in his honor."

Adorella's hand grasped Dark's even tighter. Her sobs were now more audible.

"But what she learned was that…"

Dark's face tightened in sympathy to his ancestor, but he continued.

"What she learned," he repeated, "was that Sambel hadn't died at all, but was still alive somewhere on the Olympian Glades of Arborea."


A stunned silence swept over the Light in the Darkness.

"Arborea?" said Bjorn in a near-whisper. "The final resting place for elves who have died? The home of the elven gods?"

Dark nodded, his face solemn.

"He fled?" asked Saito, who was looking as if this scenario was as much a physical impossibility to him as an ethical one.

"It seemed to be so," Qidarchios said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I don't know the particulars, but I was told an expedition of great heroes was dispatched to Arborea."

He looked around at his companions but studiously avoided Adorella, even as he continued to clutch her hand tightly.

"He refused to see them," the bard said. "Now would he answer any of their questions through intermediaries concerning the Neutral Forces. He would only tell them that he couldn't come home."

The longest silence yet followed this statement.


"Perhaps," mused Oliver Athraite at length, "these New Rolex elves might be able to shed some light on this matter."

But Adorella, who had composed herself, now raised her head.

"They were slain by the Neutral Forces," she said in a hoarse whisper. "Down to the last elf."

More silence.

"Who might know more of this?" Lumen asked her great-grandmother.

The old elf considered.

"My son Fidran," she told the moon elf. "We spoke of him yesterday. He's the Guildmaster of the Blacklock Loreseekers here in town. He's no wizard, but he has a wealth of knowledge on almost any subject imaginable. If he can't answer your questions himself, he'll know who can."

Lumen nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Adorella.

She looked around at the rest of the party.

"The next few days are going to be busy ones for us all, I see."

All of them nodded silently in assent.

Especially Caffrine Esslos, who was already thinking how she would be able to use her new position to the group's advantage.

They had put their trust in her; been in battle because of her. Risked their lives because of her.

She wasn't going to let them down again.