(A/N: READ THIS!!!!! VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!! Guys, I need every little scrap of physical description you can find about Lathander - what he looks like, what his clothes look like, if he caries anything, what his holy symbol looks like (a graphic of that would be nice, hint, hint), etc. All of that, plus the picture already in my head, should come out to be a pretty good description, right? Please, help me here. If I have to rely on my own image, that will be pretty sparse. And whoever can guess why I need all this stuff (be specific) will get some sort of prize (I want to see how predictable my plot is). Second thing - I know that running water will kill a vampire, but what about rain and lakes? I mean, rain IS moving, and lakes AREN'T, so what's the deal? Last thing - this has to do with school, and I am begging you, PLEASE HELP ME. I'm way ahead of the rest of the people in my computer programming class. We are learning to use QBASIC. Since I am so far ahead, I have to make a screensaver using QBASIC. It has to be animated and have music. Animation is fine - that's easy (so why doesn't the rest of the class get it?), but I don't have the patience to figure out music all by myself, cuz it isn't in the book. The rest of the class is so stupid with what they're doing that they always have questions and the teacher never gets to me (because I'm so "smart"). So will someone please email me and explain the damn music, so that I don't have to waste my precious time figuring it out on my own, and so I can email whoever helps me with questions that are bound to come up? I will be eternally grateful to you if you do. Now, on with the tale!)
Chapter Two
"Where to next?" Eckerd asked the next morning.
"Somewhere relaxing," Pa'das said immediately. "Somewhere nice and quiet."
"Let's go to Waterdeep," Jander put in. "There are some very nice inns there. You can't get more relaxed."
Pa'das did not want to go to Waterdeep. She did not like cities that big - they made her very nervous. Still, she would not have complained, seeing as how Jander never wanted to go anywhere. Her feelings showed on her face, however, because Jander asked her what was wrong. She tried to deny that anything was wrong, but Jander persisted. Apparently, one lucky break was all she was entitled to get in a tenday.
"I don't particularly like big cities," she shrugged. "But it doesn't matter. Let's go to Waterdeep."
"The only reason I suggested it was because you said 'somewhere relaxing', and parts of Waterdeep are just that. So if you don't want to go…does not matter in the least to me."
"Well, Eckerd, don't you want to go to Waterdeep?"
"What?" Eckerd hadn't really been listening - he had been watching his two friends. They had been inching closer and closer together as they talked, neither noticing the other doing the same. They were like two kids with their first love - neither quite sure how to act. In a way, it was, he mused. Jander certainly hadn't loved anyone for centuries. From what he had gathered from Pa'das, Sarrasor had been her first and only love, until now. He gave them another minute until their shoulders were touching.
"Eckerd! Wake up!" He realized Jander was talking to him.
"What?"
"Now listen closely," Pa'das said, speaking slowly as if to a child. "Do. You. Want. To. Go. To. Waterdeep?"
"Not really," he said. "Why?" He smiled slightly as their shoulders touched, and both jumped a little, as if not expecting it. Jander hesitantly slipped his arm around her waist, and Pa'das leaned back on his shoulder.
"So it's settled," Jander said. "We don't go to Waterdeep."
Pa'das looked as though she was going to argue more, but then she just sighed and snuggled back more into Jander's side. "Have it as you will. So we wander aimlessly again?" Pa'das couldn't quite keep the relief out of her voice that they weren't going to Waterdeep. To be completely honest, it wasn't that cities made her nervous, it was that they scared her. She much preferred the peace and quite of the forest to the noise and bustle of cities. They unnerved her, what with all the people.
Eckerd smiled to himself. They were so cute together! They both looked so content and happy, like the world was perfect. Eckerd supposed that for them, it was. Korrieana woke up from where she was sleeping on Pa'das' bedroll. Pa'das got up from where she was sitting with Jander and picked up the baby, holding her in one arm and rolling up the bedroll with the other.
"So, which way do we go?" Pa'das asked. "North, south, east, or west?"
"North?" Eckerd asked. "Far north?"
"Sounds as good as any to me," Pa'das said, and Jander nodded. "How far north?"
"I've got relations in a town halfway between Waterdeep and the Spine of the World. I have not seen them for ages and wish to do so.
Halfway between Waterdeep and the Spine of the World, Pa'das mused. That was about where the town she grew up in was. But those were bad memories, and she pushed them away.
"Let's go all the way up to the Spine of the World," Jander said, "after you visit your relatives, Eckerd. Ten Towns is said to be a nice place. Well, places."
"Maybe meet Drizzt Do'Urden," Pa'das said under her breath.
Jander's sharp ears still caught it, and he laughed gently. "Yes, and maybe meet the legendary Drizzt Do'Urden." He would have to be especially careful up there. The famous drow ranger would not take well to a vampire anywhere near his home. Although a renegade drow might be more understanding…
Pa'das grinned as she finished packing her things. "So when shall we head out?"
"Now is as good as ever," Eckerd said.
"And better to get as far from here as fast as possible," put in Jander. The night before, as Pa'das and Eckerd slept and Soorefina watched over them, he had followed the trails of Sarrasor and the vampire hunters until he was certain they were traveling far from his friends. Still, it did not hurt to be careful.
* *
* * *
Two days later was Korrieana's birthday. Jander gave her an exquisitely done wooden horse on wheels, carved in perfect detail. It looked as though it would come alive at any moment. She liked that. Eckerd gave her a jack-in-the-box, which she liked even more than the horse. At the end of the song, a faerie would pop out of the box. Whenever it did, Korrieana would laugh and clap.
Eckerd told them they were about a month's walk from his relatives'. They went slowly because Korrieana would want to walk at times. She could take a couple of steps by herself, but most the time hung onto someone's hands. Eckerd and Pa'das both had backaches from bending over her. Of course, lucky Jander did not get backaches, or aches of any kind for that matter.
It was he who came up with the perfect solution - they walked her between them. One person held one chubby hand, another held the other. It worked remarkably well. When they wanted to move faster, someone would pick her up. Since Jander and Pa'das usually walked her, Eckerd usually carried her. It was a fair arrangement. At night, she would pull herself up on Soorefina's fur and walk, holding onto her. Soorefina endured it patiently, and in truth, she didn't mind. Korrieana was an unusually active baby - when she was awake, she wanted to be moving, be it walking or crawling. And she never shut up. Even when no one was paying attention to her, she was talking a mile a minute, nonstop.
When Eckerd had the baby, Jander and Pa'das walked side-by-side, hand-in-hand. They were content just to do that - just to be close. Not a day went by that Jander did not thank the gods that he had Pa'das, and vice versa.
As they walked along one day, Jander hesitated, then slipped his arm around her waist. Pa'das stiffened - from Sarrasor, that would have heralded a sharp pinch on her ass, just to hear her shriek. She could not count the number of times he had left bruises. But then she got control of her reactions and relaxed as Jander started to withdraw his arm, and moved closer to him, telling him with her body language that she want him to leave his arm there. She put her own arm around his waist, sighing happily. Jander was all her dreams come true.
* *
* * *
Pa'das was beginning to become worried. She was beginning to recognize the land. Eckerd said they were a mere four days from the town. The only town she knew that was halfway between Waterdeep and the Spine of the World was the one she had grown up in, and she never wanted to go back there. But where else would she recognize this rock fall from, or that cedar grove? She finally asked Eckerd the name of the town.
"Corostine, why?"
Pa'das stumbled back a few steps. "You're kidding."
Eckerd looked puzzled. "No, why? What's wrong?"
Jander put a protective, reassuring arm around her shoulders. "What is it?"
Pa'das moved back into Jander's chest and he put his other arm around her. She closed her eyes for strength, that place terrified her, and then said, "That's where I grew up. Let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant experience, okay?" She huddled in Jander's arms for a moment, like a frightened child, remembering… But she quickly shook herself and pushed away. "What do I care? They probably won't recognize me anymore. And hopefully, the Grommsteins will have moved away," she muttered, almost to herself.
"Yeah, umm, they're the relatives I'm going to visit."
"You're related to THEM!"
"Yep. Do you still want to go?"
Pa'das nodded and shrugged. "It's been years. Hopefully nobody will recognize me."
"Are you sure?" Jander asked her softly, putting his arm around her waist and pulling her closer. He had seen a brief but intense flash of pain in her eyes before the usual mask came down that shrouded her eyes whenever she spoke of her past.
Pa'das nodded welcoming the feeling of his body close to hers. She snuggled into his side like a happy kitten. "It could be interesting."
Pa'das mentally began preparing herself for what was to come if people recognized her. She had been the town scapegoat since she was born. Whatever went wrong when she lived there was her fault - the fault of the strange girl who had those witchy powers. What kind of person could talk to animals, after all? So she had been ostracized, the brunt of every joke, and it didn't help that she wasn't the best looking person. But now she had friends, friends who would stand up for her like she never could, friends who gave her confidence, so now she could stand up for herself. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad now that she was older.