Chapter 7: Unbeaten Paths
Back in the warm sunlight, Anomen was idly wondering just how he'd explain to Sir Ryan Trawl that, after taking the knight's money and replacing his beaten armour, he would be setting off with an adventuring party to combat evil on what could not be described as more than a whim. Squires were allowed to do so – nay, expected to take up such quests to prove their worthiness – but Anomen had been pencilled in for the next jousting tournament, and so Sir Ryan would have to find somebody to replace him. It was a minor issue, but Anomen did feel as if he had a responsibility to stay with the Order if they needed him.
Besides, he enjoyed the jousts – any open chance to strive for superiority in the face of his superiors and his gods was most welcome. He'd proven himself the last time around. He hadn't won, but had done well. Politics did not usually come into play in the Order, but being known as a successful participant in the jousts could hold him in good stead throughout the test, might make the prelate more inclined in his favour.
He wasn't even certain what he was doing with these adventurers. Their quest seemed like a worthy one, one befitting a knight of the Order – rescuing a kidnapped friend, defeating an evil mage – and they had shown no signs of evil, but they were an… odd lot, and he was not quite sure of their place within the realm.
Harrian, the thief working for good – by Helm, he'd only known him a few minutes and the man already did his head in – was a criminal and enemy of society, but plainly something… else by nature. There were depths to him that Anomen could not fathom; some secret level that he could not perceive, and so he was forced to merely have faith in the gods that he was not being lead down a dark path.
The massive warrior Minsc initially appeared to be the most stereotypical adventurer, clearly not a force of evil, and with skill and strength of benefit to any party. What had thrown Anomen initially was that damned hamster, which he had placed as simply a bizarre pet. After brief conversation with Minsc, however, he had no idea what the ranger's mental state was. Not something he wanted to comprehend, he knew that much.
The druid was by far the most normal of the group. Sarcastic and more than a little suspicious in the short conversation they'd had, she seemed the experienced fighter and adventurer, and clearly the voice of reason within the party. The only thing that betrayed her relatively normal exterior was the overly-controlled tone of her voice, and the pain in her eyes. It was a pain Anomen recognised, having seen it in his mothers' eyes for many years before her death. He would have to ask one of the others of this situation the first chance he got.
Then there was the second thief, Yoshimo the Kara-Turan. Anomen's suspicions of the rest were mostly out of self-preservation, a guard until he knew the true depths of his new companions, but he had little regard or trust for the bounty hunter right now, and doubted he ever would. There was a shiftiness to his actions that Delryn would have put down to his being a thief if Harrian (although plainly not being the stereotype) had shown no signs of it, and he was clearly not quite suited to the rest of the party. Anomen guessed that he was an alliance of convenience and situation, rather than similar goals.
Up ahead, Harrian side-stepped from out of the shade the walls around the Promenade offered to walk once more in the bright sunlight he was relishing. The warmth and light made him feel better; made him almost forget the troubles, and any chance of that was one worth taking. Baldur's Gate had never been this pleasant in climate.
Normally, he would not let himself become this absorbed in the sun, but he was feeling relaxed after a good night's rest and finally with some coin in his pocket. His quest was not forgotten, the purpose for his being there still in his mind, but… pushed aside for the moment.
Considering just what the situation was, it was a potentially dangerous stance to take, but mercifully the slight lapse in awareness was taken advantage of only by Jaheira as she stepped quietly up beside him. He jerked out of his reverie as he spotted her in the corner of his eye, and flashed her a hopeful yet sheepish smile. "Oh! Uh… yes?"
She raised an eyebrow as they fell into step, leaving the other three trailing behind a few metres. "You seemed lost to the world," she commented dryly, not looking at him, keeping her eyes on all that was around her. Her awareness was countering his own daydreaming.
"I was thinking," he murmured, not defensively, his brow furrowed a little. "Taking advantage of the moment to mull things over."
"You looked like you were taking advantage of the moment to bask in the sun," Jaheira replied, and they finally looked at each other, both wearing slightly wry smiles. "Your mind was clearly elsewhere – far away from here."
"I was trying not to dwell. The occasions are few and far between when I can actually focus on other things, permit myself to think of other matters, other times… so I take advantage of them where I can." He raised his face to the sun once more. "The weather down here is beautiful, isn't it?"
She ignored his comment about the climate. "It can be good sometimes to take yourself away from the matters; to step out of yourself, so to speak. But do not do it to the extent where you forget where you are or what you are doing," Jaheira warned him.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Harrian replied, this time getting defensive. "I'm not just going to forget it, just it's useful to sometimes… step out of myself, like you said. My plans are formed, I know what I'm doing," he repeated.
"Like when you recruited the cleric without consulting any of us on this important matter?" Jaheira retorted. She did not know yet where to place Anomen, and was not instinctively adverse to his being there, but she wished Harrian had not brought him into the party on what had been very much a spur of the moment.
"So now I have to consult you on every thing I do?" the thief responded, narrowing his eyes, smelling how adversarial this was getting but having passed the point of caring. Fed and rested as they may have been, their inner tensions were still taut without any kind of confrontation with each other.
"You know what you can be like when it comes to trusting people. You were ready to swear an oath to Edwin after talking to him for a few minutes," Jaheira pointed out, her voice level and with no trace of emotion.
It was then she got dangerous; Harrian knew to take a step back. "You have a point," he conceded. "But I wouldn't worry about Anomen. He's a priest and a squire of the Radiant Heart. Besides…" He glanced over his shoulder at the other three. "He seems to have passed the Boo test."
Jaheira's gaze followed him just in time to see Minsc thrust the hamster at the party's newest addition, and could not help but smile at the squire's expression. She sobered a little as she faced Harrian once again, however. "That may be a recommendation that works in the past, and I agree that, considering his position, he does not seem to be a threat… but remain careful in the future."
"Me? I'm always careful," Harrian declared firmly, flashing her a grin and turning away to step out of Waukeen's Promenade before he could spot her rolling her eyes at him.