Later update, unfortunately. I couldn't get to my computer to type this
out and properly revise it before now. As an apology, this is a
significantly longer update. However, there will be no update either next
week or the week after, due to a trip I'm taking which will cut me off
completely from the net.
On the plus side, it should give me some time to write, so that I can stay ahead on this story and catch up on some other projects I'm currently at work upon.
As always, reviews are welcome and thank you, all of you for reading.
Iria came out of reverie as the sun rose. She stared at the sky for a moment as she gathered her thoughts, then started into full wakefulness as last night's events flashed through her mind. She turned to see the drow still asleep and the other elf preparing breakfast. She stretched, stood up, and walked over to him.
Wordlessly, Kannath handed her a steaming mug and she accepted it.
"Did he awake during your shift?" She asked as she took a seat on the ground next to him.
He nodded, "I gave him one of your potions ... and we talked some." He shook his head in disbelief. "If it wasn't for the fact that I've fought against the drow dozens of times I'd think that the tales I'd heard were lies."
"I know. But this one is nothing like his people." Iria explained as she sipped her drink.
"But ... how is this possible? And how was it that you knew he was not evil? It was only after I saw that mark that I understood."
His confusion showed quite clearly and Iria felt a stab of sympathy. His actions were those most elves would have made. Actually, she realized, he was quicker to believe that the drow might not be evil than she had any right to expect. Most elves would have killed the drow anyways, herself included if presented with so little evidence. She fingered the scar that ran across her cheek, a reminder of one of her encounters with drow before she spoke.
She told him briefly of her own experiences with drow, then about the dream and showed him the unicorn hair as further proof.
"Unbelievable." Kannath said when she had finished her tale. "When did you have the dream?"
Iria closed her eyes as she counted back the days. "The first night after the new moon which would have been fourteen ... no fifteen days ago."
The other elf's mouth formed a silent 'o'. "That would have been the first day he remembers."
"Remembers?" Iria repeated.
"Fifteen days ago he woke up with no memory of where he was, or what he had done, or even his name. It was purely luck that the ended up coming this way." Kannath explained. "He is as confused as we are as to how he ended up here and why he has Mielikki's mark on his shoulder."
"How is that possible?"
"I know not, though I would give a great deal to find out, both to discover how he managed to escape the corruption that seems to be drow and for his own sake. The drow is afraid of what he might have done but does not recall."
Iria was silent for a long moment, and then she grinned. "Well then, the next few weeks with him should be very interesting."
"Indeed." Kannath agreed. "I need to contact my party and let them know that I will not be rejoining them for quite some time."
"You will be joining us then?" Iria asked.
"Of course! Though I'm not sure where exactly you plan on venturing."
"I need to travel back to my village and let them know that no problems will come from the drow, and our next move should be to get as far away from this village as possible." Iria's lips curved into a painful smile. "As much as I wish I could claim otherwise, my people would never understand. They would kill the drow on sight."
"You will travel this morning?" He asked as Iria rose and reached for her pack.
"As you should. Travel to the North this day and I will catch up to you tonight with horses from the village. They should have a pair to spare."
"Leaving me to retrieve my own when I return to my group, right?" Kannath asked with an amused expression as Iria shrugged apologetically.
"Considering that I followed you and nearly killed the one you were trying to protect, you have the right." Kannath said, his voice full of self-depreciating humor.
Iria laughed, then took off towards her village.
The drow listened as the two elves finished their conversation with closed eyes, then opened them as the surface elf tapped his shoulder. Immediately the sun hit his eyes full force and he shut them against the brightness. Squinting, he made his way to the campfire and ate breakfast while the elf packed.
By the way the light fell, he guessed that it was still early in the day, though the light was strong enough to blind him if he opened his eyes entirely. As it was, even with his eyes mostly closed, the light was painful to his eyes and he felt a dull ache forming in the back of his head. It wasn't until he was about halfway through breakfast that he realized that the pain he should be feeling in his arm was not as bad as it should be. Looking down, he realized that the makeshift bandage he'd tied around his arm was gone and that the injury had completely healed. Immediately he understood the nature of the flask the elf had offered him last night and that the injury he had received last night was also most definitely on the mend.
He stretched his arms experimentally, noting that there was only a slight twinge of pain when he moved. The elf called out something to him and he turned as a piece of fabric hit him squarely in the chest.
"To make up for the shirt you lost due to my arrows." The elf explained. To the drow he sounded embarrassed by the whole situation and almost apologetic. The light was too harsh for him to check the elf's expression though, so he simply pulled on the shirt and murmured a thank you.
He finished breakfast as the elf packed, then followed him as they began their trek away from the elven village.
For the first few hours it wasn't so bad, he watched the feet of the elf and tried to keep his eyes mostly shut. Still, he found himself enjoying every chance to stop and to shut his eyes as he attempted to massage away the ache that came from squinting from such a long period of time. It was in the third hour that his eyes began to bother him too much to be ignored anymore. At the next stop he sat on a smooth rock under the trees and shut his eyes against the dizziness that wouldn't go away. The break ended far too soon and he slid off the rock and staggered to his feet, clutching a nearby trunk as he waited for the dizziness to go away.
"Are you ill?" The elf asked.
He started to shake his head, but that made the dizziness worse.
"I have never traveled during the day before." He admitted, feeling his face grow warm with embarrassment. "The sunlight hurts my eyes and is making the world seem to spin."
The elf cursed in drowish, drawing a startled chuckle from the drow as he watched the elf set down his pack.
"I should have assumed ... in that case, we rest. We can travel once the sun goes down. Iria will just catch up with us faster."
"Iria ..." The drow repeated as he took a seat on the ground, closing his eyes again. "That is her name?"
"Yes, and I am Kannath."
The drow nodded. "It is an honor to meet you. I only wish that I had a name of my own to offer in exchange."
Kannath made a noise of agreement as he took a seat upon the rock.
"May I call you Dathien? It means wanderer in our language." Kannath asked suddenly.
"Dathien." The drow repeated, trying out the name himself. He smiled. "It is appropriate. Though one day I hope I might offer you my real name."
Kannath didn't respond to that and the drow opened his eyes slightly to stare at the elf.
"Would it be possible for you to teach me this world's common tongue?" Dathien asked after a long pause.
"Of course." Kannath replied immediately. "When do you wish to start?"
"As soon as I can." Dathien replied, shutting his eyes again. "As long as I do not move around the sunlight will not affect me, and the sooner I learn the better. Iria does not understand drowish, and eventually we will come across others. I would like to be able to speak for myself to them, if we can convince them not to shoot me on sight."
Common, Dathien reflected later, was aptly named and he found himself picking up many similarities between it and Undercommon. He continued his language instructions with Kannath as the sun reached it's peak, then the elf went off to find food while the drow caught a few more hours of rest.
As the sun set, the two started off again and the drow felt a surge of relief as his sense of balance and direction returned to him. Traveling by night, in the woods came as such a welcoming event that he wondered how he could have seen the night as threatening before. This time, the call to rest seemed to come far too soon. As Kannath paused to catch his breath, Dathien climbed to the topmost branches of a tree. The going was a little slow, as his arm had not healed completely yet, but upon reaching the top, the drow realized that it had been worth the climb. Looking out at the forest surrounding him, Dathien felt a growing sense of awe. The moonlight fell on a stretch of trees that seemed to go on forever and with this realization came an odd sense of belonging here, that things were as they were intended to be.
"Truly, I must have done something right, to have found myself here." The drow reflected from his perch. "Perhaps my past is not as dark as I feared it might be. Certainly, my reactions to this world mark me as being something different from most of my people. We are supposed to hate and fear the sunlight and yet it seems to me that such is a blessing. Such a reaction cannot simply be the result of forgetting my memories ... can it?"
How long he stayed there wondering about what might soon be he could not say, only that when he came down Kannath was ready and waiting. The two continued to travel at a leisurely pace as the moon rose higher in the sky and they continued towards their destination.
Iria caught up to Kannath and the drow about mid-afternoon, riding one horse and leading another. Much to her surprise, camp was still set up and Kannath was nowhere to be seen. At first she did not see the drow either but he stepped out to greet her as she neared.
"Good afternoon, Iria." He greeted her in heavily accented Common.
Iris was taken aback for a moment and her eyes widened. "You have been able to speak common all this time?"
The drow's face contorted with confusion as he considered her words. "Repeat ... please?" He finally said with an embarrassed look.
Iria repeated her sentence, this time more slowly.
"Kannath teach- teaches me." The drow replied after a moment of contemplation. "Slow." He admitted, obviously referring to his own attempts at grasping the language.
"I will try to help." Iria promised. "Do you know any other tongues, besides drowish?"
"Do not understand." The drow replied. Iria repeated the question in Elvish, then Goiblin and the drow's eyes lit up with sudden comprehension.
"This one I know, though I do not know how."
Iria tried a few other tongues and learned that he spoke Orcish as well.,
"You will learn the Common tongue soon enough." Iria reassured him, "You have the ability to learn many languages it seems."
"It does ..." The drow mused, staring past her into the woods. Iria followed his gaze for a moment, then turned back to him. The drow's expression was decidedly troubled.
"Is what Kannath said true? You know nothing of who you are or where you are from?"
"Not even my name, though Kannath has given me one that will fit for now: Dathien."
Iria nodded. "Wanderer." She murmured aloud. That was it's meaning now but in the past it had also referred to one who was on an honorable quest or searching for something very important. She smiled. "I will remember that. Where is Kannath? I expected you to be traveling now."
"Kannath rests. We walked all of yesterday and all of last night. The sunlight is ... strong for my eyes and it is easier to travel at night."
Iria nodded then sat sown to rest. She had been traveling most of last night as well, trying to catch up to Kannath and Dathien and worrying that she would not find them again until the next night. She rested well, waking from reverie only when Kannath roused her and he departed for his trip to town.
The sun was just rising as Kannath arrived at the town of Dunnport, the place where Kannath had agreed to meet his friends. He took off for the agreed meeting place alone, and a little nervously. When he'd left he had promised to be back in less than a week and that they would leave the area shortly after that. It was a week even now, and he would have to tell them that he wasn't coming back and that the drow was gone. Above all things, Kannath prided himself on his honesty, but this time he would be forced to lie. Dathien's life depended on it.
Dathien. They hadn't met that many days ago but already Kannath considered the drow a friend and had no doubts about him. So far has he was concerned the drow was innocent of the crimes of his race, but there was no way he would convince his party of this. Kannath sighed, then took a deep breath and entered the door to the tavern where his group was staying.
The place was fairly clean, though a bit run-down. At first, Kannath did not see his companions, but then he heard his name being called from one of the corners of the tavern. Rhynn, the healer of his group waved at him to ensure that she had caught his attention from her position next to Jain, their ranger.
"We were beginning to worry about you when you didn't show up yesterday, what happened with the drow? How did the village take your warning?" Rhynn spike rapidly, which was something unusual for her. Rhynn Grath was one of the most calm humans Kannath knew and for her to speak rapidly meant she was agitated about something.
"The village responded immediately. They are taking extra care in their watch about the area and they sent out their best tracker to hunt the drow down. I followed her myself to be sure that the drow was taken care of."
"And? He is dead now?" Rhynn asked.
Kannath nodded.
"That is good to know." Jain said quietly from his place at the table. "Are you certain that there were no other drow?"
"As certain as I can be. We questioned the drow before he died. He said there were no others."
"You are certain he was telling the truth? Drow are known for lying." Jain asked, looking doubtful. Rhynn said nothing but her expression told Kannath that she feared the same thing.
"Positive." To his own ears, Kannath's voice seemed cold and harsh. The realization that he would be having this conversation truthfully with Rhynn and Jain if Iria had not stopped him made him shudder.
Jain clapped a hand on Kannath's shoulder. "Sometimes you have to do things that you would prefer to avoid. At least the village is safe."
"At least." Kannath replied, allowing a ghost of a smile to return to his face. "Where are the others?"
"Still asleep. The sun has only just risen. Where else would they be?' Rhynn gestured toward the upper part of the inn. "Are you that anxious to get moving again?" She continued with a laugh.
Kannath smiled but could not manage a laugh. "Actually, that is what I needed to talk about. I'm leaving the group for a while. It has something to do with the drow, actually. I will be traveling with the ranger shortly and I am not entirely certain as to when I will be back."
"Trouble?" Jain asked softly. "If there is something we can do for you, you know we will do it. You have been with us for nearly a year, we don't want to lose you."
For a moment, Kannath was ready to tell Jain what was going on, then he shook his head. "It is nothing that the ranger and I cannot handle, honestly. Worry not about it." He rose from the table, anxious to be done with this ruse and started for the inn's exit.
"Kannath!" Jain's call stopped him and he turned, his blood racing.
"Do you want us to hold onto your supplies or are you taking them with you?" He continued more gently.
Kannath flushed, in his rush he'd forgotten about his supplies.
"I suppose I had best bring them along with me. My thanks, I'd forgotten." Kannath replied.
"We left your things with your horse, except for your fiddle, that is up in our room." Rhynn said as she tossed him the key to the place they had been staying for the last few nights.
"Again, my thanks." Kannath said. He retrieved his fiddle, returned the key then saddled his horse and rode off. In his anxiousness to return to Iria and Dathien he missed the concerned glance that passed between Rhynn and Jain, and the shadow that followed on foot as he began his trek back.
On the plus side, it should give me some time to write, so that I can stay ahead on this story and catch up on some other projects I'm currently at work upon.
As always, reviews are welcome and thank you, all of you for reading.
Iria came out of reverie as the sun rose. She stared at the sky for a moment as she gathered her thoughts, then started into full wakefulness as last night's events flashed through her mind. She turned to see the drow still asleep and the other elf preparing breakfast. She stretched, stood up, and walked over to him.
Wordlessly, Kannath handed her a steaming mug and she accepted it.
"Did he awake during your shift?" She asked as she took a seat on the ground next to him.
He nodded, "I gave him one of your potions ... and we talked some." He shook his head in disbelief. "If it wasn't for the fact that I've fought against the drow dozens of times I'd think that the tales I'd heard were lies."
"I know. But this one is nothing like his people." Iria explained as she sipped her drink.
"But ... how is this possible? And how was it that you knew he was not evil? It was only after I saw that mark that I understood."
His confusion showed quite clearly and Iria felt a stab of sympathy. His actions were those most elves would have made. Actually, she realized, he was quicker to believe that the drow might not be evil than she had any right to expect. Most elves would have killed the drow anyways, herself included if presented with so little evidence. She fingered the scar that ran across her cheek, a reminder of one of her encounters with drow before she spoke.
She told him briefly of her own experiences with drow, then about the dream and showed him the unicorn hair as further proof.
"Unbelievable." Kannath said when she had finished her tale. "When did you have the dream?"
Iria closed her eyes as she counted back the days. "The first night after the new moon which would have been fourteen ... no fifteen days ago."
The other elf's mouth formed a silent 'o'. "That would have been the first day he remembers."
"Remembers?" Iria repeated.
"Fifteen days ago he woke up with no memory of where he was, or what he had done, or even his name. It was purely luck that the ended up coming this way." Kannath explained. "He is as confused as we are as to how he ended up here and why he has Mielikki's mark on his shoulder."
"How is that possible?"
"I know not, though I would give a great deal to find out, both to discover how he managed to escape the corruption that seems to be drow and for his own sake. The drow is afraid of what he might have done but does not recall."
Iria was silent for a long moment, and then she grinned. "Well then, the next few weeks with him should be very interesting."
"Indeed." Kannath agreed. "I need to contact my party and let them know that I will not be rejoining them for quite some time."
"You will be joining us then?" Iria asked.
"Of course! Though I'm not sure where exactly you plan on venturing."
"I need to travel back to my village and let them know that no problems will come from the drow, and our next move should be to get as far away from this village as possible." Iria's lips curved into a painful smile. "As much as I wish I could claim otherwise, my people would never understand. They would kill the drow on sight."
"You will travel this morning?" He asked as Iria rose and reached for her pack.
"As you should. Travel to the North this day and I will catch up to you tonight with horses from the village. They should have a pair to spare."
"Leaving me to retrieve my own when I return to my group, right?" Kannath asked with an amused expression as Iria shrugged apologetically.
"Considering that I followed you and nearly killed the one you were trying to protect, you have the right." Kannath said, his voice full of self-depreciating humor.
Iria laughed, then took off towards her village.
The drow listened as the two elves finished their conversation with closed eyes, then opened them as the surface elf tapped his shoulder. Immediately the sun hit his eyes full force and he shut them against the brightness. Squinting, he made his way to the campfire and ate breakfast while the elf packed.
By the way the light fell, he guessed that it was still early in the day, though the light was strong enough to blind him if he opened his eyes entirely. As it was, even with his eyes mostly closed, the light was painful to his eyes and he felt a dull ache forming in the back of his head. It wasn't until he was about halfway through breakfast that he realized that the pain he should be feeling in his arm was not as bad as it should be. Looking down, he realized that the makeshift bandage he'd tied around his arm was gone and that the injury had completely healed. Immediately he understood the nature of the flask the elf had offered him last night and that the injury he had received last night was also most definitely on the mend.
He stretched his arms experimentally, noting that there was only a slight twinge of pain when he moved. The elf called out something to him and he turned as a piece of fabric hit him squarely in the chest.
"To make up for the shirt you lost due to my arrows." The elf explained. To the drow he sounded embarrassed by the whole situation and almost apologetic. The light was too harsh for him to check the elf's expression though, so he simply pulled on the shirt and murmured a thank you.
He finished breakfast as the elf packed, then followed him as they began their trek away from the elven village.
For the first few hours it wasn't so bad, he watched the feet of the elf and tried to keep his eyes mostly shut. Still, he found himself enjoying every chance to stop and to shut his eyes as he attempted to massage away the ache that came from squinting from such a long period of time. It was in the third hour that his eyes began to bother him too much to be ignored anymore. At the next stop he sat on a smooth rock under the trees and shut his eyes against the dizziness that wouldn't go away. The break ended far too soon and he slid off the rock and staggered to his feet, clutching a nearby trunk as he waited for the dizziness to go away.
"Are you ill?" The elf asked.
He started to shake his head, but that made the dizziness worse.
"I have never traveled during the day before." He admitted, feeling his face grow warm with embarrassment. "The sunlight hurts my eyes and is making the world seem to spin."
The elf cursed in drowish, drawing a startled chuckle from the drow as he watched the elf set down his pack.
"I should have assumed ... in that case, we rest. We can travel once the sun goes down. Iria will just catch up with us faster."
"Iria ..." The drow repeated as he took a seat on the ground, closing his eyes again. "That is her name?"
"Yes, and I am Kannath."
The drow nodded. "It is an honor to meet you. I only wish that I had a name of my own to offer in exchange."
Kannath made a noise of agreement as he took a seat upon the rock.
"May I call you Dathien? It means wanderer in our language." Kannath asked suddenly.
"Dathien." The drow repeated, trying out the name himself. He smiled. "It is appropriate. Though one day I hope I might offer you my real name."
Kannath didn't respond to that and the drow opened his eyes slightly to stare at the elf.
"Would it be possible for you to teach me this world's common tongue?" Dathien asked after a long pause.
"Of course." Kannath replied immediately. "When do you wish to start?"
"As soon as I can." Dathien replied, shutting his eyes again. "As long as I do not move around the sunlight will not affect me, and the sooner I learn the better. Iria does not understand drowish, and eventually we will come across others. I would like to be able to speak for myself to them, if we can convince them not to shoot me on sight."
Common, Dathien reflected later, was aptly named and he found himself picking up many similarities between it and Undercommon. He continued his language instructions with Kannath as the sun reached it's peak, then the elf went off to find food while the drow caught a few more hours of rest.
As the sun set, the two started off again and the drow felt a surge of relief as his sense of balance and direction returned to him. Traveling by night, in the woods came as such a welcoming event that he wondered how he could have seen the night as threatening before. This time, the call to rest seemed to come far too soon. As Kannath paused to catch his breath, Dathien climbed to the topmost branches of a tree. The going was a little slow, as his arm had not healed completely yet, but upon reaching the top, the drow realized that it had been worth the climb. Looking out at the forest surrounding him, Dathien felt a growing sense of awe. The moonlight fell on a stretch of trees that seemed to go on forever and with this realization came an odd sense of belonging here, that things were as they were intended to be.
"Truly, I must have done something right, to have found myself here." The drow reflected from his perch. "Perhaps my past is not as dark as I feared it might be. Certainly, my reactions to this world mark me as being something different from most of my people. We are supposed to hate and fear the sunlight and yet it seems to me that such is a blessing. Such a reaction cannot simply be the result of forgetting my memories ... can it?"
How long he stayed there wondering about what might soon be he could not say, only that when he came down Kannath was ready and waiting. The two continued to travel at a leisurely pace as the moon rose higher in the sky and they continued towards their destination.
Iria caught up to Kannath and the drow about mid-afternoon, riding one horse and leading another. Much to her surprise, camp was still set up and Kannath was nowhere to be seen. At first she did not see the drow either but he stepped out to greet her as she neared.
"Good afternoon, Iria." He greeted her in heavily accented Common.
Iris was taken aback for a moment and her eyes widened. "You have been able to speak common all this time?"
The drow's face contorted with confusion as he considered her words. "Repeat ... please?" He finally said with an embarrassed look.
Iria repeated her sentence, this time more slowly.
"Kannath teach- teaches me." The drow replied after a moment of contemplation. "Slow." He admitted, obviously referring to his own attempts at grasping the language.
"I will try to help." Iria promised. "Do you know any other tongues, besides drowish?"
"Do not understand." The drow replied. Iria repeated the question in Elvish, then Goiblin and the drow's eyes lit up with sudden comprehension.
"This one I know, though I do not know how."
Iria tried a few other tongues and learned that he spoke Orcish as well.,
"You will learn the Common tongue soon enough." Iria reassured him, "You have the ability to learn many languages it seems."
"It does ..." The drow mused, staring past her into the woods. Iria followed his gaze for a moment, then turned back to him. The drow's expression was decidedly troubled.
"Is what Kannath said true? You know nothing of who you are or where you are from?"
"Not even my name, though Kannath has given me one that will fit for now: Dathien."
Iria nodded. "Wanderer." She murmured aloud. That was it's meaning now but in the past it had also referred to one who was on an honorable quest or searching for something very important. She smiled. "I will remember that. Where is Kannath? I expected you to be traveling now."
"Kannath rests. We walked all of yesterday and all of last night. The sunlight is ... strong for my eyes and it is easier to travel at night."
Iria nodded then sat sown to rest. She had been traveling most of last night as well, trying to catch up to Kannath and Dathien and worrying that she would not find them again until the next night. She rested well, waking from reverie only when Kannath roused her and he departed for his trip to town.
The sun was just rising as Kannath arrived at the town of Dunnport, the place where Kannath had agreed to meet his friends. He took off for the agreed meeting place alone, and a little nervously. When he'd left he had promised to be back in less than a week and that they would leave the area shortly after that. It was a week even now, and he would have to tell them that he wasn't coming back and that the drow was gone. Above all things, Kannath prided himself on his honesty, but this time he would be forced to lie. Dathien's life depended on it.
Dathien. They hadn't met that many days ago but already Kannath considered the drow a friend and had no doubts about him. So far has he was concerned the drow was innocent of the crimes of his race, but there was no way he would convince his party of this. Kannath sighed, then took a deep breath and entered the door to the tavern where his group was staying.
The place was fairly clean, though a bit run-down. At first, Kannath did not see his companions, but then he heard his name being called from one of the corners of the tavern. Rhynn, the healer of his group waved at him to ensure that she had caught his attention from her position next to Jain, their ranger.
"We were beginning to worry about you when you didn't show up yesterday, what happened with the drow? How did the village take your warning?" Rhynn spike rapidly, which was something unusual for her. Rhynn Grath was one of the most calm humans Kannath knew and for her to speak rapidly meant she was agitated about something.
"The village responded immediately. They are taking extra care in their watch about the area and they sent out their best tracker to hunt the drow down. I followed her myself to be sure that the drow was taken care of."
"And? He is dead now?" Rhynn asked.
Kannath nodded.
"That is good to know." Jain said quietly from his place at the table. "Are you certain that there were no other drow?"
"As certain as I can be. We questioned the drow before he died. He said there were no others."
"You are certain he was telling the truth? Drow are known for lying." Jain asked, looking doubtful. Rhynn said nothing but her expression told Kannath that she feared the same thing.
"Positive." To his own ears, Kannath's voice seemed cold and harsh. The realization that he would be having this conversation truthfully with Rhynn and Jain if Iria had not stopped him made him shudder.
Jain clapped a hand on Kannath's shoulder. "Sometimes you have to do things that you would prefer to avoid. At least the village is safe."
"At least." Kannath replied, allowing a ghost of a smile to return to his face. "Where are the others?"
"Still asleep. The sun has only just risen. Where else would they be?' Rhynn gestured toward the upper part of the inn. "Are you that anxious to get moving again?" She continued with a laugh.
Kannath smiled but could not manage a laugh. "Actually, that is what I needed to talk about. I'm leaving the group for a while. It has something to do with the drow, actually. I will be traveling with the ranger shortly and I am not entirely certain as to when I will be back."
"Trouble?" Jain asked softly. "If there is something we can do for you, you know we will do it. You have been with us for nearly a year, we don't want to lose you."
For a moment, Kannath was ready to tell Jain what was going on, then he shook his head. "It is nothing that the ranger and I cannot handle, honestly. Worry not about it." He rose from the table, anxious to be done with this ruse and started for the inn's exit.
"Kannath!" Jain's call stopped him and he turned, his blood racing.
"Do you want us to hold onto your supplies or are you taking them with you?" He continued more gently.
Kannath flushed, in his rush he'd forgotten about his supplies.
"I suppose I had best bring them along with me. My thanks, I'd forgotten." Kannath replied.
"We left your things with your horse, except for your fiddle, that is up in our room." Rhynn said as she tossed him the key to the place they had been staying for the last few nights.
"Again, my thanks." Kannath said. He retrieved his fiddle, returned the key then saddled his horse and rode off. In his anxiousness to return to Iria and Dathien he missed the concerned glance that passed between Rhynn and Jain, and the shadow that followed on foot as he began his trek back.