The more reviews I get the more inclined I am to work on the story readers. :p
Sorry for the delay.

There was a knock at the door.

Groaning for no real reason he stood up, plodded over and nearly caved the door in, until he swore as he remembered you had to pull. He gazed at the person confusedly.

"Annah?"

Chapter V


Her glare was harsh enough to melt adamantine, the tone of her voice to slice through it.

"Why."

He wilted under her glare, whining "Why what?" as he shambled over to the bed, sitting down on it, Annah walking into the room after him as she practically ranted at him.

"Why all this? Why are yeh lookin' aftah meh? Why did ya cam an' bail meh out a' prison? Why tha' hell a' yeh bein' sa' godsamn tolerable! Ya havnae even complained about meh goin' behind yer backs!"

"Oh yea, I forgot about that," he slurred as he tried to snap his fingers. He looked at his thumb and middle finger with wonder as he repeatedly failed. After the twelfth attempt he gave up and looked back at Annah in silence for a few seconds.

"What was I talkin' about?"

Annah sighed and sat down next to him. One of the few people whom hadn't joined the in the drinking contest, she was finding his behaviour annoying at best. She'd have harangued him later if she hadn't of felt that she'd probably get more honest answers from him like this.

She took on a softer tone as she spoke this time, "Yeh were gannae tell meh about meh goin' behind yeh back?"

He gazed at her blankly for a few moments before he slurred "...oh yea." He fell silent to gather his thoughts. "The other'sh were... um.. upset with yah. I said I'd um.. .... What's its thing...."

"...Talk to me?"

"That's the word," he mumbled distractedly before looking at her through half lidded eyes. She leant back as he breathed in her face, as the fumes alone were nearly enough to get a person drunk. "Don't do'at again. Tell usn'll we'll try 'n 'elp yer." He fell back against the wall, his head making a thump and small dent upon contact.

"...That hurt..." he mumbled after a few seconds to no one especially.

'Prat,' thought Annah as she twisted on the bed so her left leg was resting on the bed as she looked at Loké.

"Why'd yeh... rescue meh?" she spoke coaxingly.

"Couldn't leave you there... wouldn'ta bin right."

"Why wannae it have been right?"

He shrugged with an unsure look on his face as his eyes continued drifting around the room.

"...'ll, you were innocent. 'N I like you..."

Annah gained a predatory smile.

She knew it! Her grin turned to a smirk as she leaned close to him, deciding she was going to have a little fun with him...

She leant forward yet more so her head was next to his. "So... yeh find me sexy laddie?" she whispered slyly into his ear. Out of the corner of her eye Loké was blushing heavily.

"nn, yea," he whimpered, "why wouldn't I? Yer really.... Um... pretty!" he triumphantly exclaimed the last word; apparently pleased he'd remembered it.

"Well I find yeh sexy too. An yeh smell," she inhaled deeply for effect, "It drives me wild. It's all ah can do not tah jump yeh. –"A pair of lips prevented from whatever she was going to say. She sat stunned, eyes wide like a rabbit in the headlights of car, too surprised to do anything. As she felt his tongue prodding her lips she pulled back, so far she fell onto the floor with a quite thump, as if burnt, snarling "Wha' the hel do you think yeh doin'!?"

Loké gave her a confused look as she stood up, glaring daggers at him all the time. "Kiss'n' you... I mean... erm.. you said you like me 'n stuff, so why're ya upset?"

"Ah was teasing yeh, yeh stupid berk! Yeh nothin' to me!" Lok's face fell, figuratively and literally, looking sadly and silently into his lap. Annah stood there angrily for a few seconds, before leaving, slamming the door as she left.

"...Sorry." He whispered to the empty room.

The next few weeks were rather linear- they arrived at Trademeet the next day and arrived at night. At dawn they went to about finding out what was going on, taking Cernd of board temporarily, and eventually after having fought through the wood and swamplands (Which Annah found extremely bizarre, and –not that she'd admit it- slightly frightening) having him challenge Faldorn, and succeeding, for Arch Druid. Leaving Cernd to restore the balance they proceeded to the Umar Hills to deal with the rumours of wolves ripping apart and eating villagers, which brings us to the next part of the story.
It was dusk; a certain tailed tiefling was admiring the countryside as she leant out on the balcony of her comfy bedroom; since Umar was a quiet village, a direct consequence of that was rooms being cheaper, so Loké had decided to treat the group. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the clean air, as she smiled.

The air was definitely one thing about Sigil she wasn't missing.

Sigil...

Her smile faded as she was reminded. She wished she hadn't... well, there was no point dwelling on it, she thought, giving the dark clouds one last look before she turned inside, closing the shutter-like doors as she passed through them. Her bedroom was about five metres by four, the door at one end of the four feet walls, opposite it the 'balcony', her bed soft feather mattress bed.

As she lay under the sheets, drifting off to sleep, she thought of Sigil... and not for the first time felt homesick, as sleep claimed her.

Annah practically flew out of bed, daggers drawn from under her pillow, thinking 'What the 'ell was 'at?' as the remnants of a thunderous boom rumbled around her, drowning out the heavy rain against the shutters.

Her room was white for an instant, another rumbling boom following after a second, as she walked to a small circular winder near her bed. Pulling it back she saw the rain beating down on the landscape and-There! -A white jagged beam of light, almost looking like it was propping up the clouds from the earth, for second before it vanished, followed by a rumble half a second later.

Threat of attack apparently gone Annah stood there and watched the sight for several minutes-she'd never seen, or heard, lightning before. She suddenly realised she was shivering-she didn't have any body hair, that coupled with the fact her body was unusually (by 'normal' standards) warm; the cold room was not exactly pleasant, so she slipped back into bed and curled up, remembering, thinking, drifting.

A rather unpleasant memory from two weeks ago resurfaced.

Flashback

"Halt, I would speak with you," the knight in full plate spoke. He and a small group of knights had encountered them, apparently looking for them, on the road back to Athkatla.

"Greetings Sir Thomas," Keldorn replied. "I assume this is about Ms. Annah, is it not?"

Annah decided to keep quiet and hide behind Minsc for the moment.

The knight nodded his head. "When we heard a demon spawn, a tiefling, had come to Athkatla Sir Ryan sent us to assess her threat."

"She is none," stated Loké.

"That will be for me to decide young man."

"I am agreement with Loké Sir Thomas. She has done nothing but good during her presence here and I have been unable to sense any substantial evil from here."

"Substantial evil? She is descended from an inherently evil creature!" he exclaimed before composing himself. "If what you say is true, and you believe she is not a threat, then I will not request you handing her over immediately. I will report my findings to Sir Ryan. Fare thee well Sir Keldorn."

End flashback
She recalled what Loké had once told her: "Tieflings may be nothing on Sigil, but they're very seldom seen here. Most people know very little of your kind which means you're going to be feared by many."

Eventually, perhaps inevitably, thoughts drifted onto the people she'd been travelling with. She stared unseeingly at a point on the wall.

...She wondered how the Nameless One was...

Then they came to her current company.

She'd grown to like Minsc; he wasn't very smart and bloody naïve-but at least you knew where you stood with the bugger. That, and he was fun to be around. Though the fact he relied on a rodent called Boo still rattled her nearly two months after first meeting him...

Keldorn reminded her of Vhailor with his devotion to justice and the law and all that stuff. She gave a wry smile. He'd also started acting like a father figure in a way, gently chastising her on her revealing clothing for several weeks now.

Jaheira... she wasn't too sure what to make of her-she seemed to dislike Annah, but she had some suspicions as to why exactly...

Sometimes she could be quite motherly, and she was so all the time with Loké, yet at the same time she was strict and was sometimes very harsh; Annah has seen her cut down Aerie several times, once just when she'd just been complimenting her hair.

Speaking of the wingless elf, she was riling Annah. She was such a baby, always whining and vying for Lok's eye in a pathetically, painfully obvious manner. She was just so soft-she'd have been eaten alive in the Cage. She could barely carry anything either, wasn't much cop as a fighter, cleric or bloody mage. Why Loké kept her the gods only knew...

...Which brought her thoughts neatly to said person. The night after that little fiasco in the Copper Cornet he'd apologised to her and been embarrassed around her, concealing it in indifference ever since, much to Annah's chagrin. Another thing was, he was always so bloody kind, he gave a lost child some gold for a bed with them when they stayed at an in and they spent the next morning looking for the brat's parent! He'd launched himself-and that meant the rest of them-into gods-only-knows how many selfless and noble quests, such as sorting out the druids and the djiniis and because of it people in many towns and villages they'd never even been to before seemed to know them by sight. It was really annoying.

That wasn't what was really pissing her off though. She'd only realised she'd been doing it a few days ago, but...

She gave a sigh.

She'd started to give Loké the same looks Jaheira and Aerie had been giving him!

"Feck..." she whispered quietly.

-
There we are! I told you I was going to kick it up a gear! If you have any ideas or suggestions post them in your review or email me them. You never know, I might just take thme on board. =p