Chapter 4:
Touga's Request
Brynn leaned over the library table looking Touga intently in the eyes and asked, "So, tell me, why are you here?" Touga leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes briefly, and the library was very quiet as all the Blades, even Yoshimo who was leaning guardedly against the door jam, waited with eager ears to hear what Touga had to say.
"After I left Candlekeep I wandered for some time," Touga began quietly. "I told you that last night. At your request, little one, I left out the most important destination that I traveled to: my homeland."
Yoshimo stopped leaning and stood up straight, an alert and attentive look in his dark eyes.
"There," Touga continued, "I journeyed secretly to see once more my former betrothed, a lady samurai of great honor and skill, and found that she had been unjustly imprisoned, exiled to a barren prison island to the end of her days."
Nalia spoke up. "Why in the world would they have done something like that?" She looked curious and affronted. "I mean, you said she was unjustly imprisoned, right?"
Touga nodded. "Indeed she was," he confirmed. "She was accused of perpetrating treason against the Shogun, but she did not."
"Treason? And she was only exiled?" Yoshimo scoffed.
"She is a favored relative of the Emperor," Touga said stiffly. "He spared her life."
Frowning, Brynn asked, "So what do you need from me?"
"I ask your help, little one," Touga replied. "I am ashamed to admit that I could not free my former betrothed on my own, but I cannot in good conscience let her be imprisoned without having commited a crime."
"That's a tall order, Master," Brynn said, leaning her head in one hand with a sigh. "I mean, just getting into Wa..."
"I was able to get back in without trouble," Touga pointed out.
Brynn laughed. "I know, Master, but you're not a blonde-haired blue-eyed half-elf. I could conceivably be disguised, but how in the world would you disguise say, Minsc here?" She pointed to the tall, ranger. "Or Haer'Dalis?"
"I planned only for you and myself, little one," Touga replied.
A cool look came into Brynn's eyes, as it always did when someone, even unwittingly, suggested she just leave her friends -and Yoshimo- behind. "I'm sorry, Master," she said, collecting herself enough to keep the coolness in her blue eyes from reaching her voice, "but the Blades work together, always." She smiled lightly. "Besides, you said yourself that you couldn't free your former betrothed on your own. If that's the case, even together we would be hard put to get her out."
Touga nodded. "I see," he said. "If your 'Blades' were included would you consider my request?"
"Of course I would, Master," Brynn said reassuringly. "I owe you still for all the training you gave me, and for your friendship. Even if you don't train me anymore, you are still my Master." She paused. "But... I will have to discuss it with my companions in private and get their opinions. We're a team, and I value them all."
Touga nodded again. "Then I will take my leave. Can you recommend a quiet place in the keep? I would like to meditate."
"Your room ought to be quiet enough, Master," Brynn said. "I'll come find you there when I've finished talking with the others."
Bowing slightly, Touga said, "Thank you, little one," and then left. He frowned fiercely as he passed by Yoshimo on the way out, and Yoshimo returned his look with equal ferocity.
Brynn shook her head, then, leaning back in her chair asked, "So, what do you think?"
"I counsel caution," Jaheira said quietly. "This mission, though not as dangerous as many we have accepted, is fraught with peril, and not to be taken lightly."
"Well, we can't just let that poor woman be imprisoned for something she didn't do!" Nalia protested, obviously taken by the plight of Touga's former betrothed.
Dynaheir frowned and shifted in her seat next to Minsc. "However," she said, directing her words to Brynn, "I must remind you that we have no right to interfere with the internal workings of a foreign nation. If by the laws of this 'Wa' the lady has been imprisoned, what right have we to free her?"
"Oh my," said Aerie from Minsc's other side, "she has a point. I mean, what would we do if someone did the same thing in Amn?"
"Probably nothing," Nalia remarked irritably.
From the far end of the table Mazzy scooted herself so that she sat taller in her chair and said, "Mayhap the lady Nalia is correct, however I am not sure that I can in good conscience free a woman, who by this Touga's word alone, is innocent. Justice must be done, no matter what."
"It's not just to leave a woman imprisoned for something she didn't do!" Nalia pointed out firmly.
"I think that Mazzy's point is that we can't know if this woman really is innocent or n...not," Khalid said gently. "If she is guilty of treason we can't very well free her."
Brynn cut in, "I can end that debate right now," she said. "Touga woudn't lie, not to me. If he says the woman is innocent, she is."
"My lady," Anomen said cautiously, "can you be certain of that? I too am appaled, like lady Nalia, that an innocent woman could at this very moment be imprisoned, but if she is not innocent I, like Mazzy, could not help to free her."
"There's no doubt, Anomen," Brynn assured him. "Touga wouldn't lie to me."
"Brynn's right," Imoen said. "The old man is honest to a fault."
"If his honesty cannot be questioned, than I am for rescuing this maiden," Mazzy said with certainty.
"Aye," Anomen agreed.
Dynaheir and Aerie voice their agreement too.
Brynn looked at Minsc, "And you, what do you think?"
Minsc smiled broadly. "Where Minsc's witches go, so go Minsc and Boo. Isn't that right, Boo?" He stroked the hamster under the chin with one huge finger, and Boo closed his eyes in happiness, or agreement. Which it was only Minsc truly knew.
"Haer'Dalis?" Brynn asked, grinning at the bard.
"My raven, if this is adventure looming on our horizon not even the gods could hold me back," Haer'Dalis told her. "This easy life has become far to easy, methinks."
Brynn lastly turned to Yoshimo, who had kept quite silent the whole time the others were discussing their options. "And you, aijin?" she asked gently.
Yoshimo looked at her, the expression in his dark eyes one of a man torn between two things of equal weight. "I... I would like to see my homeland again," he said after a moment. "Even if it means helping a man I am... less than fond of."
Brynn smiled at him. "Well," she said briskly as she pushed her chair away from the library table and stood up, "that appears to be that. I'll go speak with Master Touga and get some more details from him." Her mind was whirring as she went began to plan the Blades' miniature invasion. "Haer'Dalis, do you think you could some how contact our good friend Saemon Havarian? I think we'll be needing his services."
"I will have the sailor at your doorstep begging to help you within a tenday, my raven," Haer'Dalis promised grandiosely. He smiled rakishly at Brynn, aping Havarian's suave behavior perfectly. "There's not a task this man can't do for you, m'lady," he assured her, also mimicking the infamous rogue's speech.
Laughing a little Brynn turned to Jaheira and Khalid. "Do you think the two of you could go into Athkatla and collect Jan Jansen? I've got something I need for him to invent for us."
Khalid sighed. "Of course, Brynn. But gods do I hate that city!"
"I know," Brynn sympathized. "and if you get the chance, say hello to Bernard at the Copper Coronet, and figure out what the hell Viconia is up to... I don't want to leave her in Athkatla without us to back her up against those ravening mobs she tends to attract. It isn't safe for her."
Jaheira frowned. "Do you mean you want us to bring her back with us?" she asked flatly.
Brynn sized up her longtime friend and companion. She knew that Jaheira and Viconia didn't exactly get along -fact of the matter was that Viconia didn't get along well with anyone- but Brynn had taken responsibility for keeping Viconia safe not quite a year before, and she wasn't going to shirk her duty to the drow cleric. Viconia had, after all, helped them several times, most notably during the Blades' final attack on the vampire Bodhi's lair in the graveyard district.
"If you deem it wise," Brynn told the warrior druid, putting a slight emphasis on the word 'wise'. She knew Jaheira would do the right thing, even if she didn't like Viconia.
Jaheira nodded and said, "I understand." She didn't seem happy about it though.
"Okay, Imoen, Nalia, Aerie, Dynaheir," Brynn continued turning to the four mages, "We are going to need some really great disguises when we get to Wa, and I mean great. The only way I can think of to make the lot of us look like natives of Wa is through magic, and lots of it. I figure that that is your department."
"Wonderful," Imoen said with a touch a sarcasm. "Here I thought we were going to get off easy."
"Yeah, little sister, I know," Brynn said. She turned to Yoshimo. "I'm going to need to pick your brain, love. I've got to know everything you know about Wa and the lands we've got to travel through to get there. Since you and Touga are the only ones of us who've been that far east we'll be relying on your information."
Yoshimo smiled crookedly at her. "You are turning into a first-class general, aijin."
Which of course meant, 'I'll be glad to help, just keep your breeches on, and for heaven's sake don't start giving out orders like you're a deity. You gave up godhood, remember?'
Brynn smiled back. "Right," she said. "Mazzy, Anomen, Minsc, you guys, along with Touga and I, are the brute force division. Where labor needs to be done, we do it. Also, I'm going to have to train you all to use a katana, we've got to fit in while were in Wa, and that means knowing the fighting style." Minsc looked lost, Mazzy looked intrigued, and Anomen looked dismayed at this news, but Brynn figured they'd all get over it. She looked around the room, gauging her friends' feelings on their new tasks, and then said, "Well, that about covers it. If you run into trouble find me and well fix it. Meanwhile, I'm going to go talk to Touga. See you for lunch or whatever." She smiled broadly at them all and left the room, giving Yoshimo a kiss on the cheek as she went out the door.
She almost ran down the hall to Touga's room, her cheeks flushed with excitement and a smile on her lips that wouldn't go away no matter what. She was a warrior, a Kensai, and her place was in battle no matter how much she liked to spend a the occasional moment in peace and quiet. She loved adventure, and she couldn't wait for her new quest to get fully underway.
***
Later that day, as the sun began to set, Touga found himself sitting on the edge of one of the battlements, looking out over the forest. He enjoyed the peace he found there, and the view of the setting sun was one that he would not have wanted to miss. Unfortunately, he had trouble, despite the peace -or perhaps because of it- keeping his mind off certain things. When there was nothing to keep him distracted his mind tended to return to a few key problems.
Problem number one was Brynn's insistence that her friends come with them to Wa. He did not necessarily dislike any of the Blades, other than Yoshimo, he just didn't want them to come along. He didn't trust their skills, because he hadn't seen them, and he wasn't quite ready to trust Brynn assessment. After all, he had defeated Brynn in their match the day before, proving that he was the better fighter, and therefore the better leader and judge.
Problem number two was Yoshimo, and the ninja scum was just about as much of a problem as Touga had ever seen. Yoshimo had Brynn's ear, and if what was being said was to be believed, her bed too -something Touga just didn't want to believe- and all of that made for complications.
Problem number three... well he didn't want to think about problem number three, it was distracting, and besides which, if he thought about it the Blades might figure out that he was hiding something. Even despite this caution it seemed to him that the unsettling bard, Haer'Dalis, had caught a whiff of what problem number three was during the meeting that morning. Problem number three was a secret, and Touga wanted to make sure it stayed that way. He reconciled his slight untruthfulness over the matter with the urgency of his mission. It was necessary.
When the sun had fallen entirely below the horizon, only limning the trees with a pale reddish-violet glow, Touga returned to the castle and made for his rooms, hoping to wash before dinner. Western hygiene had always been rather foul to Touga, who had been raised to understand that filth of the body was equivalent to filth of the soul, and he had always made sure never to let his personal habits become corrupted by his surroundings. He had been pleased to discover that Brynn had learned to follow his suit and demand cleanliness from her servants and request it from her companions. She had told him earlier that a month ago she had turned one of the unused rooms in the lowest floor of the castle into something resembling a eastern style bath, and Touga was eager to try it out and see how things compared.
He made his way down to the bath after collecting a clean kimono from his meager belongings and gratefully shed his dirty clothes as he slipped into the heated water of the bath. Leaning against the stone wall of the bath he breathed in the steam and looked around. The water was just hot enough, he decided, not quite hot enough to burn, but close. It made him feel as if the grime he had collected during his travels and during the day were melting off of his skin. The granite walls of the room, which Brynn had told him had once been a prison, might very well have been gloomy had they not been hung with vividly embroidered tapestries and lit with ever-burning wall sconces. It seemed almost a waste to Touga, to use that sort of magic on something so mundane, but then again it seemed highly appropiate too. There was something divine about a good bath, and he gave credit to Brynn for doing her best to replicate such a thing from only the scraps of information he had given her.
Touga sighed as the hot water loosened his muscles and soothed some of the aches out of his aging joints. He was getting old, no doubt about that. He had numbered twenty years when he had left Wa, and now he was forty-six, well into his middle years and approaching old age far more rapidly than he wanted. He smiled. But he still had it. It had been difficult, certainly, to defeat Brynn the day before, but then Brynn had always been a superior student, perhaps the best he had ever trained, but he was still her Master. He had been afraid that she would defeat him at first, and he had been very relieved when she hadn't. He would have been proud of her, but ashamed that he had let his age get to him, and especially ashamed that all of the keep had seen it.
The door to the bath opened, catching Touga's attention, and one of the Blades, the half-elven warrior called Khalid he thought, entered. The half-elf nodded in greeting, stripped and gingerly got into the bath, wincing a little as the hot water enveloped him.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to water th...this hot," Khalid commented. He gritted his teeth a little as he tried to adjust to the temperature.
Touga closed his eyes. Half-elves, and even more so pure blooded elves, had always struck him as frail, Brynn be the exception to that rule in his mind. Khalid's occasional tendency to stutter a little seemed to him as one more sign of the weakness of elven blood. He tried not to hold that against Khalid though, after it wasn't his fault he had been born of weaker bloodlines.
"In my homeland," Touga said after a few moments, "we grow up bathing in water this hot. If you are not used to it I am not surprised. You did not have my upbringing."
"Er... yes," Khalid agreed. He said nothing for sometime, which was fine with Touga, he liked relaxing in peace and quiet, but then the half-elf spoke again. "It was interesting to hear what you've been doing since you left Candlekeep. I dare say you've had adventures to rival those of the Blades."
"Indeed," Touga said simply.
"I... I was curious," Khalis ventured cautiously, "why did you leave Candlekeep?"
Touga was quiet, collecting his thoughts and trying to calm himself. In the west, he had learned, rudeness was acceptable so long as it came in the guise of curiosity. "There was nothing more I could teach Brynn at the time," he said.
"Yesterday it certainly seemed like you did," Khalid remarked with a little laugh.
Touga opened his eyes, feeling more than a little irritated at Khalid's lack of manners. "I learned much on my travels," he said firmly. Then, no longer enjoying the bath, he got out, dried himself off, put on his fresh kimono, and left.
***
"That fellow is colored by deception to my eyes," Haer'Dalis remarked, dropping his invisibility spell and addressing Khalid.
Khalid looked at the tiefling. "But you heard Brynn... he doesn't lie."
Haer'Dalis grinned. "Methinks he does. Oh, certainly he did not like just now, I believe he merely withheld the full extent of the truth. Earlier today, however, he did not seem to me to be truthful with us."
"At the meeting?" Khalid asked.
"Aye, your memory is as sharp as a falcon's vision, my friend," Haer'Dalis confirmed. "Did you note the way he struggled over the word 'betrothed'? To my mind it was as if this fair maiden he wishes to deliver from torment was never his betrothed at all. Mayhap she was merely a lady he fancied, or mayhap there is something more, but still the word sang out of lies to me."
"Do you think Yoshimo's right? That we shouldn't trust Touga completely?"
Haer'Dalis grin widened. "Good sir, I trust no one completely, save for Brynn. I believe that our new friend should be kept under observation on the chance that he is not trustworthy as Yoshimo suggests, but then again I also believe that we needs must keep an eye on Yoshimo as well. Clearly the two men do not like one another, I dare to say they hate one another even. As far as each are concerned, I would take words about the other with a pinch of salt and an eye for bias."
"I see," said Khalid, looking a bit grim.
"Come on, man," Haer'Dalis, "smile else the hounds will catch the scent of deception. Let us away to dinner and put these thoughts to the backs of our minds for now, safe for reference anon."
"Er... yes, I suppose that's a good idea," Khalid agreed, not quite sure of everything Haer'Dalis had said. That was a fault with bards. They made every sentence so flowery that it became confusing. He climbed out of the bath, dried and dove into his clothes while Haer'Dalis politely took a moment to inspect the stonework.
"I will follow after you have gone," Haer'Dalis told him. "Lest the partridge catch wind of his stalkers."
"Ah... sure," Khalid said. "See you at dinner."
Haer'Dalis bowed grandly. "Until then, friend."
With that Khalid hurried up the stairs. He wondered if he ought to tell Jaheira what he had found out, but decided to wait until after dinner when the two of them were alone. Haer'Dalis was right, it would do no good to let Touga catch wind of their concerns.