Chapter Three

Disclaimer:  As I've said before, Gar and Alea aren't mine, they belong to Christopher Stasheff.  The Heroes of the Lance belong to WotC, the Dragonlance series.  Jander Sunstar belongs to WotC, specifically Christie Golden, in the Forgotten Realms series.  The rest of 'em are mine.

            Over the next months and through the summer, Nire worked with Gar and Alea, and with her friends on Krynn.  She convinced Gar to teach her to fight with a quarterstaff, and any martial arts stuff he knew.  Once she got past the meditation piece of telepathy, she caught on extremely quickly, as she seemed to of with everything.  She could do it all, and she brought back what she had learned to her friends on Krynn.  Her theory was that everyone had the power of telepathy in them, and she was not proven wrong.  Even Caramon caught on quickly, and they all became proficient in a short period of time.  Everybody understood (and agreed with) the morals, and no one 'peeked' at anybody.  It was merely a handy way to communicate.

            Nire found that she felt more comfortable with the two spacefarers and their ship than she did with the Heroes of the Lance - excluding Raistlin.  She still felt most comfortable with him, and actually trusted him a little.  But Gar and Alea were quiet, like her, and tended to hide their feelings.  Nire was finally getting what she wanted - adult friends who understood her a little.  She argued with the two of them over philosophical matters, becoming a better debater by learning from them.  Her ideas became more refined, and even changed a little.

            On Krynn, everyone was still teaching her to fight.  She had debates with them, too.  The two groups, together, were what she had been looking for all her life.  Now they were working on two weapons at once.  She had learned the other stuff scarily fast.  She knew that she scared them all a little, because of her skill and seemingly supernatural ability.  Caramon was teaching her to use two swords.  Tanis was teaching her to use two crossbows strapped onto her arms.  She had figured out how to load them both at once, and spent hours practicing.  Those were her favorite weapons, for now.  Raistlin coached her in magic as she learned more and more and started developing her own spells.  He also started exploring the realm of Faerûn more often.

            Nire discovered how to make a better gate.  Now, all that was required was a step, and you were there in the same instant.  The spell itself was so simple that even a novice could use it, and it didn't require any spell components.  However, it took just as much energy as the one Raistlin had created.

            The Red Mage created the gating spell he said he would, so now he could gate to Nire (or anyone hw wanted) anywhere.  Telepathic contact would be made across wo5rlds, so he would check first, then gate to her.

            The coming of Raistlin had changed her life.  She now had an escape when her family was being particularly heinous, but it wasn't enough.  She was still depressive and suicidal.  And still, no one knew about these little traits of hers.  But once again, her life would change for the better.

*  *  *  *  *

            "See ya, Raist."

            It was late at night, and Nire's whole household was asleep.  She was an insomniac - always awake long after the others.  This particular night, she had used a spell to soundproof her room, and Raistlin had come over.  He stayed for half an hour, then gated to Faerûn, leaving the gate open in her room.  The energy was used up in creating the gate, not maintaining it.  Raistlin was an insomniac like Nire, and sometimes went to Faerûn at night, when there were less people awake and walking the streets.

            When Raistlin left, Nire, as usual, picked up a book.  Her current read was It by Stephen King.  Her father did not approve, of course, but her mother didn't care, as long as she didn't have nightmares.  And now she would have some fine shit to scare her sister with.  She had no school tomorrow, so she could stay up all night and read.  The best thing about horror was it didn't scare her.  Not until she was asleep.  Then she had the most horrific nightmares a person could imagine.  Long ago, she had learned it did not matter if she went to her parents, for they didn't care.  It was totally pointless, just wasting her time and there's.  So whenever she had a nightmare, she usually managed to keep quiet, and then just stay awake for the rest of the night.  Admittedly, it was kind of annoying, but Nire was one of those perverse people who, even though they scared the shit out of her, liked nightmares.

            Tonight, however, she wasn't going to have to worry about nightmares for a long time.  As she turned the page, people appeared in her room, from the gate Raistlin had left.  First came a terrified looking elf, then three burly men and a mage.  Nire leapt into action at once.  Luckily for her, she had a very nice stage voice, a very commanding stage voice.

            "Freeze!" she yelled as she rolled off her bed and came up beside it with two crossbows magically strapped and loaded on her arms.

            Amazingly enough, the five people listened, more out of shock once they realized she was just a little girl.  The elf was backed up against her desk, his eyes flickering around the room, filled with fear, looking for an escape.  The three men were about to shoot the elf, but the mage motioned for them to stop.  They guarded the elf as the mage spoke to Nire, who had her crossbows trained on them.

            "Put down the crossbows, little girl, before you hurt yourself," the mage said patiently.

            Nire looked at him in disgust.  She didn't even deign to speak to him, just motioned with her hand.  He found himself plastered against the wall, unable to move or speak.

            "Keep you out of the way 'till I figure out what's going on," she muttered to herself.  She had understood what he was saying, because Raistlin though it to be prudent to, not only cast a permanent spell on her that allowed her to understand the Common of Krynn, but the Common of Faerûn also.  "What's going on here?"

            The men looked at each other, not exactly sure what to do.  One of them started to raise his bow - strangely enough, there was no arrowhead, just a sharpened wooden tip - but didn't get too far.  Nire shot, the arrow flying with a whistle of air exactly between two of the men and pinning the rising arm to her closet door by the cloth of his shirt.  Almost before the men could blink the crossbow was reloaded, and trained back on them.  Her other one was still centered on the elf.  The mage struggled against the invisible bonds that wouldn't let him move, trying vainly to utter a spell.

            "Let's try answering questions, first.  I don't want any bloodshed in front of me if there's no good reason."

            The men looked at each other again, the one's sleeve tearing from the arrow.  Finally, one said, "We're trying to rid the world of this vampire, lass."

            "Uh-huh.  D'you have any proof?"  Nire was extremely skeptical.  Not all humans liked elves, and declaring them vampires was an easy way to get rid of them.  She quickly and quietly cast a spell to detect the truth of what would be said in the next half hour.

            "Well, 'e's never been seen out in th' sun, fer one thing," another said, which was true.

            That wasn't proof enough for Nire - if she had a choice, she would never be seen outside in the sun - so decided to just ask the elf himself.  "Are ya a vampire?"

            He said, almost sadly, "Yes, but-"

            Nire cut him off.  "Okay then."  The men, thinking all was settled with this freaky girl, lifted their weapons.  "Waaaaaait a sec, I'm not done.  So, oh brave and fearless men," she said sarcastically, guessing the answer to her next questions, "just what's 'e don't t' you?"

            They gaped at each other, one finally gathering the wits to say, as if that explained everything, "He's a vampire."

            "And you're abysmally stupid.  So what?"

            "But 'e's a vampire," another one said again.

            Nire growled.  "But he's done absolutely nothing to harm you, correct?"

            "Well…"

            "I rest my case.  Goodbye."

            "Now wait just a moment!" one of the men exploded, deciding to ignore the girl and swiftly lifting his weapon.  The vampire looked as if her would almost welcome death - almost.

            Nire didn't even bother waiting for him to finish what he was saying, as soon as she saw those chest muscles twitch to lift his arms, she fired both her crossbows.  They were finely made crossbows of very good quality.  Tanis had given them to her - she got the feeling at times that she was more of a little sister to them than anything else.  When an arrow was fired from either of these crossbows, the force was terrific.  When someone was hit by both of them…  The bolts flew straight and true, a beautiful sight to any professional archer.  One pinned his arm to the closet door by the sleeve, burying itself deep in the door.  The other hit his shoulder (once more, only catching cloth, as was planned) hard enough to pull him around, pinning his shoulder to the door.  Within seconds, the crossbows were reloaded, and another quarrel flew straight and true, pinning that arm to the man's side.  He struggled to release himself, but could not, the bolts being held in place by a little bit of magic.

            The other two men began to advance on her cautiously, the vampire momentarily forgotten.  Nire sent him a look that clearly said 'stay out of this'.  She waited calmly by the side of her bed.  The men were being cautious, but not very cautious - they still couldn't believe that a little girl could be that much of a threat.  Unfortunately for them, they had never met a little girl like Nire, who carried so much rage in her against the world, that taking down these guys would be a piece of cake.  She almost considered trying to take them down by hand, but quickly realized that was just being overconfident and foolhardy.  She took quick, careful aim, and shot at both of them at the exact same time, the bolts whistling between their legs, right below their crotch.

            "Next one's gonna be a tad bit higher, boys," she said cheerfully.

            They glanced at each other, and fled back through the gate.  Of course, she had planted fear in their minds to make them leave sooner, and it worked wonderfully.  She used her magic to let down the other man, and he fled, too.  She stood regarding the mage silently for a long moment.  She did not trust that he wouldn't immediately try to start a spell battle if she let him down, and she was truly too fatigued to want to risk that.  But silently looking into his terrified eyes, she realized he wouldn't do that.  So she let him go, too, and he high-tailed it out of there and through the gate without a sound.

            When they were all gone, Nire fought down a laugh at how pathetic it all was and closed the gate, just in case they decided to come back.  Then she turned to the vampire.  He still hadn't moved from where he was, and regarded her with the tiniest hint of fear in his eyes.

            "Please tell me I didn't just do that for nothing, and now you're going to go on some psychotic killing rampage, starting with me," Nire said, good-naturedly for once.

            "No, no, no," he quickly assured her.  "I would not dream of doing anything of the sort."

            "Do have a-" Nire broke off as she gazed around her messy room.  Everything - even her bed to a degree - was heaped with piles of junk.  She telekinetically lifted a pile off a chair and finished, "-seat.  It will be a couple moments before I can attempt reopening a gate."

            He hesitantly sat down, still trying to figure out why this girl had saved him.

            She sat cross-legged on the bed.  "I'm Nire.  What's your name?"

            "Jander.  Jander Sunstar," he said cautiously.

            "No shit," Nire said in the tone of voice someone would say 'cool' or 'neat' in.  "Are you really?"

            "Yes," he said, a look of confusion flickering across his elven face.  "Why would I lie?  Do you know of me?"

            Nire laughed.  "Hell, yeah.  Faerûn's only, quote, 'good' vampire."

            At his amazed look, she got up and went to her bookcase, running her fingers along the books before pulling out one entitled Realms of Valor, and tossed it onto his lap, making him jump.  It fell open, in the way a book tends to if it has been opened to one page many times, to a story by Christie Golden, 'One Last Drink'.  Nire noticed the flash of sadness that crossed his eyes as he scanned the story.

            When he closed it, Nire said, "Just toss it on the floor somewhere.  It won't make a difference in the mess already there."  For some reason, Nire felt compelled to try and make the vampire smile.  It was one of those strange things where she saw him and immediately felt like she wanted to be friends with him.  "So, if you're a vampire, why didn't you either kill them all or turn into a bat and flu away or something?"

            Jander had felt the same thing when he saw the girl, even through his fear.  Now that death had been staring him I the face, he realized he truly was unready to give up his undead life.  "The mage had cast a spell which rendered all my 'special' abilities useless."

            Nire cocked her head at him.  "And is it still in effect?"  She was cross-legged on her bed again.  Jander nodded slowly, to which Nire said, "D'you know if it will wear off?"

            "No, I do not."

            "Well, here's the thing.  I might be able to lift it.  But, if I do, I don't know when I can make a gate back to Faerûn.  And I don't know when my friend will be back to make one.  So, d'you want me to try and unspell the spell?"

            Jander seriously thought about that for a minute of two.  The little girl couldn't be much of a threat - she was eleven at the most.  Yet, she had taken down those men with almost frightening ease.  How could he know that she wasn't going to just use this as a chance to do away with him?  And yet, she had saved his undead life.  And, truth be told, he felt some sort of weird connection with the girl, as corny and stupid as that seemed.  He really had no choice but to trust her.

            Finally, he said, "Would you be willing to try and 'unspell the spell'?"  When he used her phrase, he couldn't help but smile a little.

            "Sure.  And stop looking like I'm about to jump and kill you, you're making me nervous, for crying out loud.  Don't say I didn't warn you, you'll probably be stuck here for a while."

            Jander tried to relax.  "That won't inconvenience you in any way, will it?" he asked, suddenly worried.

            "Hell, no.  I'm an insomniac.  Give me something interesting to do at night, 'stead of reading.  The worst thing that might happen is my parents might wake up."  She flashed him a bright smile, surprising herself.  She hardly ever smiled - it just wasn't her thing.  Her friends of Krynn had finally stopped trying to get her to smile, or look happy.  There were other ways they could tell how she was feeling, than by her perpetually downcast face.

            Jander couldn't help but return her smile, although it had quickly disappeared.  With his vampiric sense of smell, he could smell people's emotions.  All she smelled of was sadness, even though she looked relatively happy.  He was about to say something totally unrelated, but Nire quickly said, "Shut up and don't distract me.  I have to concentrate."  It wasn't said in a mean way, just matter-of-factly, almost as though she was used to speaking that way and didn't quite know how not to.

            She straightened up, sitting ramrod straight with her hands resting lightly on her crossed knees.  Her eyes closed, and she sought the calm inner part of herself, slipping into a meditative trance.  After a few minutes, her eyes snapped open and she fell over backwards, laughing.  Jander looked at her curiously, not wanting to speak for fear of…something.

            Finally, she sat up and wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes.  "That mage was brilliant."  She fought back another bubble of laughter.  "It's all an illusion.  He just made you think that you had been reduced to a 'normal' elf."

            Jander stared at her.  "You're kidding."  She shook her head, trying not to laugh again.  "All that and it was just an illusion…" he murmured, shaking his head and beginning to laugh, despite himself.

            Nire nodded gleefully.  "That's just classed.  And now that you've realized it, of course, the illusion is gone.  An absolutely brilliant mage.  I'm going to have to remember that one."

            An awkward silence ensued.  Nire was tired, and tried not to show it, doing a very good job.  Both of them came up with numerous things to say, and discarded them all.  Nire used the silence to study her unexpected visitor.  Wheat-gold hair fell to his shoulders, framing an angular face.  He had bronze skin and pointed ears - most definitely a gold elf - and the most strikingly beautiful silver eyes.  In a couple years, those kind of eyes would make her heart leap.  He was dressed in clothes similar to Caramon's, stuff from the same time period.  Finally, she came up with something that was sure to get a reaction, if not a laugh.

            "Look.  In order to avoid this sort of awkward silence, where neither person knows what to say 'cause they're both random people stuck in a room together and don't know each other, I'm going to start babbling sometime soon, which is never pretty."  This got the desired surprised laugh from Jander.

            He thought for a moment, then decided to ask the question that had been plaguing him and he couldn't figure out how to ask it politely.  "Why did you put yourself at risk to save me?  I mean, you don't even know me.  That was a great risk you put yourself at, for a stranger."

            Her eyes smiled at him, though her face did not.  "Many reasons.  I was bored and hoping for a better fight than that.  I felt cocky and arrogant, and decided it would be fu to see their faces when a ten-year-old kicked their asses.  And, plus, it felt like the right thing to do.  Ya gotta go with your instincts sometimes."

            Jander paused for a moment to absorb that.  "Well, thank you.  I am extremely grateful.  Is there any way I can ever repay you?"

            Nire laughed a little.  "The only thing I'm looking for right now is someone new, interesting, and smart to talk to, and there's no way you'd want to do that."

            "Why not?" Jander asked, honestly wanting to know.

            Nire rolled her eyes.  "I'm ten, almost eleven.  You're…really old…I think.  Do the math.  Adults and kids do not mix.  Adults expect kids to talk to other kids and thing like other kids, not like adults."  She sounded a bitter as she said this, trying to mask it.

            Jander cocked his head at her, unwittingly copying her exact move from a few minutes ago.  "I'd be perfectly willing to.  You seem like an interesting, perceptive ch- girl."  He saved himself before saying 'child', and noticed Nire smile a little, and knew that she had noticed this.  "Really."

            Nire quirked and eyebrow.  "Suuuure you would.  Anyways…" Nire changed the subject.  She did not want him coming out of guilt, which would undoubtedly, happen.  Jander had questions about just where he was, so Nire answered those.  Finally, she felt rested enough to make a gate.

            "All right, I know you're sick of being here, and I'm rested enough to form a gate.  Where do you want to go?  Just form the picture in your mind, and I'll take it from there."

            Jander did so, and Nire made the gate.

            "I truly would like to come back," Jander daringly said.  "This was a very enjoyable time, and I find you to be an interesting person."  He patiently waited with the unasked question in the air.

            Nire considered rejecting the offer.  How could she know if he wasn't just making it out of pity?  But she had enjoyed his company.  He didn't talk down to her like she was a child, but rather, conversed with her as an adult.  And this, she appreciated very much.  "Sure," she finally said.  "I'll…I'll contact you, okay?"

            "How?" he asked.

            "Telepathy," was her short answer, as she stifled a yawn. 

Jander saw how tired she really was in that unguarded moment, and said goodbye, thanking her once again.  As soon as he left, Nire went to bed, for the most restful sleep she had had in a long time.

*  *  *  *  *

            Jander stepped into the brisk air of a wooded piece of land.  He had been here once before, and a miracle had happened here for him.  This was near the grove where he had been granted sanctuary, for a while, from his vampiric nature.  He thought this would be a good place to come and think.  There was a stand of rocks nearby where he could stay, for the sun would be rising a few hours.  He immediately began walking towards there, deciding to sit in there and do his pondering.

            Today had been a frightening day - no, night.  He had stayed far too long in a town, and they had gotten suspicious.  Then, that damn mage had to cast that spell - Jander still couldn't believe it was merely an illusion - which had Jander in such a panic that he hadn't noticed the magic of the gate.  So, suddenly, he was in this strange realm, which only compounded his terror.  It was funny how he thought he would have welcomed death, but truly, he wasn't near ready.  Even in his cursed state, he welcomed what little life he could get.

            He thought he was about to die - they had him cornered - but then that little ten-year-old girl named Nire had kicked their asses and sent them packing.  The only catch was he could not leave for a while, since she closed the gate.  But, truly, he didn't mind.  He had been a bit frightened of her at first - she wielded those weapons with almost supernatural ability and speed - but that quickly faded.  She was intelligent for her young age, and seemed to be a pretty much happy-go-lucky kid.  Brave as hell, too.  Although she knew he was a vampire, he could smell no trace of fear.  Once he had calmed himself down enough to notice things like scents, he could smell a continuous odor of sadness coming from the girl, totally at odds with her appearance.  He felt a weird draw to her - maybe misery loves company?

            When he looked at her, he saw a fat kid who probably loved to eat.  But by the way she handled those crossbows, he guessed that it was most likely all muscle.  Her brown hair fell in curls to her chin, held back by a coppery-colored headband.  Her room was an absolute pigsty.  The floor (if there even was a floor under the mess) was covered with books and clothes and papers.  He couldn't understand the writing on the papers or the books, but when she handed him the story about him, he sensed a bit of magic, and suddenly, it was legible.  He still remembered clearly that day, except the book had spiced it up a little.  Frajen did not die in real life, just came within a hairsbreadth of it.  That had been both a sad and happy day for Jander - happy because he had finally gained his freedom.  Sad because he had to watch people he had known well die once more.

            The book - short story - could explain why Nire did not fear him, yet he doubted it.  There was a difference between reading and knowing something to be true, then meeting that something face to face.  Anyway, she looked like the kind of person who knew - to a degree - what his life was like.  By the amount of books in her room, he doubted she had any - at least, only a few - friends.  The bitterness in her voice at times saddened him.  It was not right that one so young should have any cause to sound bitter.  He had to give her credit - she was able to mask her emotions well, and seemed for all the world like a happy, normal little girl.  If he had not experienced what life was really like, he doubted he would have thought any different.

            Jander would have liked to go back again, talk to her some more, perhaps become her friend, but knew that would be impossible.  After all, who would want to socialize with a vampire?  Nire would have probably sent him packing long before, if she could have.  But, then it turned out that was what she was looking for - someone to talk to.  As soon as she said it, he saw on her face that she hadn't meant to say it.  Of course, he offered to come back - he really did want to - but she turned down the offer.  The sarcasm and bitterness in her voice was a surprising contrast from the face she had shown him.  The tone of her voice led him to believe she actually thought he was offering out of pity, or something equally as bad, and that was why she had turned him down, not because he was a vampire.

            They talked for a while - she was obviously not a social person.  He asked questions about her world, and she answered them.  Apparently, she had no real social skills, just enough to get by.  But Jander couldn't really tell, having known her for less than a day,

            Summoning all the courage he could - for he really did feel some kind of freaky connection with Nire - when she was about to send him home, he asked once more if he could come back.  He did not say it out loud, but left it sort of hanging in the air and unspoken.  Waiting silently for an answer, he watched Nire's impassive face.  No emotion at all flickered across it, and he could not tell in the slightest what she was thinking, or if she was even thinking anything.  He had treated her like an adult the whole time, for that was more what she seemed to be, and hoped that would count for something.  Finally, Nire agreed to 'contact him' by telepathy.  Quite frankly, Jander was amazed.  He had expected a curt refusal.    For some strange reason, he felt like he wanted to rejoice.

            But he was also scared.  Scared by the almost invisible hand of friendship that was being offered to him by this child.  The thought that any child would be able to sit in his company, know what he was, and not run screaming (hell, or even smell of fear in the slightest bit) terrified him.  That level of trust, put in a despicable creature like him, frightened him.  And this girl knew he had killed and drank the blood of humans.  Yet, she was perfectly calm around him, treating him like a normal person.  Either she was extremely over-confident in her fighting abilities, or extremely foolish.  Jander wasn't quite sure which it was.