Chapter 5: Tour in the guild



The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.



Mitsu had been asked by Aran to tell Entreri and Jarlaxle more about the guild. Asked, she thought cynically, more like ordered. The Shadowmaster hadn't been in a good mood and Mitsu had decided to leave protesting for the time being. The halfling knew her boss well, and although Aran didn't encourage needless tormenting and violence, she remembered those few times when he had lost his temper and ordered quite severe punishments for small mistakes and actual disobedience. Mitsu wasn't ready to take any risks.



She wondered where she could find the two men. She had heard an explosion from the dining hall some time ago, so Erik would definitely be there, and the gnome usually was aware what was going on, if the person asking the questions could only drag him away from his inventions. She started to head that way, but then she heard Shandara's voice coming from one of the corridors, explaining something about training rooms and how they could be accessed.



"I see you are doing my job," Mitsu said when she entered the corridor and saw Entreri and Jarlaxle with the woman. "Aran told me to give them some sort of a tour," she explained when Shandara looked at her inquiringly.



"Well, you can explain the use of the training rooms better than I can," Shandara said, playing with her necklace, a small black stone in a silver chain. "Besides, I can't explain anything because of my profession," she added, giving Entreri a meaningful look. The assassin ignored her, deciding he was above arguing with a common harlot. "I mean, what does a whore know about anything?" Shandara continued in a voice that had a sharp edge under all the sweetness.



"You should have become an actor," Mitsu smirked. "Maybe," Shandara replied. "But I'll leave these two gentlemen to your care. I'll be seeing you," she said, smiling at Entreri's dark look, then she looked sharply at Jarlaxle. "Remember, give her time and treat her as an equal. If you try too hard with romantic phrases, she... Let's just say she won't take you seriously."



"I'll try to remember that," Jarlaxle responded, ignoring the looks that Entreri and Mitsu gave him. "How can I repay you for this?" Shandara looked at him for a while and then smiled a little: "I'll see if I can come up with something. Maybe you could tell me more about your kind, the books I have read leave out many interesting parts about the life of the drow elves."



"I'd be delighted, my lady, " Jarlaxle responded. Shandara shook her head and then smiled again. "You really are something. She is a fool if she turns you away," she added and then looked at Mitsu. "Oh, I almost forgot. Are you still coming to the dinner tonight? I'm trying to get Erik to fix the music box. Hopefully it doesn't explode again."



"I'll be there," Mitsu answered. "I need a break from Ghean and his idiotic friends. Why are men so..." "Annoying?" Shandara suggested. "I have no idea. But you should continue the tour and I should... Do something. Not the best plan you can have, but... See you tonight," she said and turned away, starting to walk away with swinging hips. Mitsu grinned, noticing that Shandara had clearly decided to annoy Entreri, who didn't approve her profession. She wasn't sure if it was working, though; the assassin didn't seem to care at all of the woman's actions.



"We should continue," Mitsu said, pushing Shandara at the back of her mind. "How far did you get?"



"Dining hall with wonderful explosion," Jarlaxle said grinning. "Weapon storage, healer's room, library... I didn't think there would be a library in a thieves' guild," he added.



"We are not all completely uncivilized," Mitsu said grinning. "If you need to beat someone up, you don't need much intelligence, but to steal a fortune while talking about the economical situation in Baldur's Gate... That takes a bit more. I should've known Shandara takes you there. She loves that place. You know, she's always reading something! I don't understand why she is still doing what she does. Well, enough about her. The training rooms, then. Follow me..."



After an hour Mitsu had explained the different ways one could use the training rooms. One of the rooms was a huge, empty space, where a mage could conjure up all kinds of illusions. Entreri hadn't bothered to ask who the mage would be, and he was unsure whether he could trust the magical skills of Erik Jansen any more than he trusted the gnome's technological skills. The other rooms had included all kinds of different exercises, but Entreri hadn't paid them much attention. It was all too easy, and Entreri had been amused with the attempts of one young thief to open a lock, a lock that Entreri could have opened in a few seconds without much concentration.



Rumours had spread, and many people had stopped their practising and simply stared at them, whispering to each other. Mitsu had seemed amused, but she still had guided them out quickly, muttering something about the things Aran would do to her if she disturbed the practising thieves.



"It's unbelievable," she finally said. "They think that they can become good simply by staring at the masters, while training would help more."



"And some think they can become better by attempting to kill the masters," Entreri said dryly, putting stress on the word 'attempting'. Mitsu grinned, certain that not a single member of the guild could match Artemis Entreri in a battle. "There's no danger of that in here," she said. "As Aran told you, no violence is allowed in the guild. In the guild we must stay together, or we'll fall. There had been few occasions when that was almost too close," she said, almost shivering when she thought about the time when a guild led by vampires had tried to overthrow the Shadow Thieves. Her only meeting with a vampire had almost been fatal, but luckily Isaldora and Erik had come to her help. The halfling would never call herself easily scared or worried, but she sometimes woke up from nightmares where a creature of completel darkness approached her...



"Like one happy family?" the assassin asked sarcastically. Mitsu shook the thought of vampires and nightmares away, laughing and shaking her head: "We're not trying to live as a happy family, we're simply trying to live. As long as you are in the guild and follow the rules, the guild protects you."



"Sounds good," Jarlaxle said smiling at the halfling. Entreri stayed silent, wondering how different life in this guild could be from the life in Calimport. Trust had never been important. You could have a little trust, but even among allies you had to be on your guard. One of the most common causes for death in Calimport among the thieves had been a knife in the back, a knife of someone you knew. How it could be different in Athkatla, Entreri didn't know.



"The room of illusions was interesting," Jarlaxle said to Mitsu when they headed away from the training rooms towards the main hall. "Do you think the gnome has survived the shouting?"



"I hope so," Mitsu said, waving her hand to few thieves who walked past and greeted her. "There are also other mages here, of course, but Erik is the best. But if you're willing to settle for less illusions, we can ask some other mage to create them. You can recognize the mages from colourful robes and masses of amulets. Magic is restricted here in Athkatla, and most mages who work for the guild are doing so because they can't stand the Cowled Wizard's and their regulations. So they want to show that they are mages. Silly," the halfling sighed, "but I can understand them. The Cowled ones can be cruel to those who use magic in any way they do not approve."



There were only few people in the main hall. Entreri was starting to get annoyed; he was happy he wasn't assigned to do any simple tasks, but this idleness wasn't any better. He noticed the elf woman they had seen last night, and also this morning, he reminded himself. The one Jarlaxle had decided to conquer.



Isaldora looked at the drow and the assassin who had entered the room with Mitsu. She drew a deep breath and headed towards them, although her mind was screaming to her to leave at once. "Excuse me," she started, hoping her voice wouldn't tremble. "I wasn't very friendly last night," she continued, addressing her words to Jarlaxle, "and I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. And I hope we can work here without having to avoid each other all the time."



"An excellent idea," Jarlaxle said, leaving out the 'my lady'. It didn't seem to fit for the occasion. "I understand your feelings last night, after all I am a drow, and my race is known..."



"Your race, yes," Isaldora said quickly. "But not you. You have to give everyone a chance," she said, and it sounded to Jarlaxle like she was trying to convince herself more than him. "So... I'll be seeing you," the elf said quickly, nodding also to Entreri. "Good day to you."



"That was something," Mitsu muttered when Isaldora hurried away. "I would've never believed that she would get over it so quickly. Remember what Shandara said; take it easy. She was talking about Isaldora, right?"



"Why is it that everyone is interested in this?" Jarlaxle asked, still staring at the elf. Her hair was the colour of gold and...



"I think that both me and Shandara want to teach Isaldora to be a bit more tolerant," Mitsu said, noticing Jarlaxle's stare. "And because we are both wonderful judges of character," the halfling continued grinning, "you seem to be perfect for the job."



"So I'm just used here," Jarlaxle said laughing and turned his eyes to the halfling. Mitsu shrugged and flashed him an innocent smile: "Think of it that way if you want. I'd say that you are enjoying this too much to feel used. Oh, and if you want to train, Isaldora is both a mage and a fighter. Now, I'll just show you where you can find our wonderful wardrobe, if you sometimes need to be someone you're not. This way..."





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"So what do you think of them?" Shandara asked that evening when she and Mitsu were sitting in her room, eating dinner. She was sitting on her bed, balancing the plate on her knees. Mitsu had chosen a huge, soft armchair, and was pondering whether she should forget thieving altogether and spend the rest of her life enjoying the luxuries available in the guild. She really loved the chair...



"A useful addition to the guild," she answered. "And that drow is interesting. Isaldora is a lucky girl. But Entreri..."



"Little distant. But gorgeous!" Shandara grinned. "I mean, his body was so trimmed. And that goatee..."



"Shandara, he is an assassin," Mitsu pointed out, smiling at her friend's words. She too had to admit that both of the newcomers were above the ordinary Shadow thieves in every way, but she usually preferred men who weren't as deadly and intelligent. She liked to be in control and that wasn't possible if the partner was smarter than she.



"That doesn't change the fact that his body is gorgeous," Shandara replied. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything stupid. Unfortunately we must control our urges. But enough of them. If we start talking about gorgeous men, it'll take the whole night."



"Well, do you have any other plans?" Mitsu asked with a wicked smile. "By the way, do you have the music box?"



"No, Erik said that it is still stuck. Whatever you do, it starts playing music with bagpipes in it. Loudly. He's working on it," Shandara said, remembering the last time the gnome had promised to fix her magical box where she kept her jewellery. She had waited for two weeks, and when Erik had returned the box, it had smelled of turnips and the lock had exploded when she had tired to open it.



"Then I guess we can talk about men," Mitsu said grinning. "As I said, when you spend to much time with Ghean and his buddies, you need something else. Like the chance to call them complete idiots!"



"That isn't the same as talking about gorgeous men, but it's fine by me," Shandara said, tasting her wine. "Go on. I have time."





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Note: Still not going anywhere... There's too much to explain, and it's too easy to cling on to useless (but nice) details and too difficult to come up with clever dialogue. But I'll try.