Disclaimer: Same as always. I still don't own NWN. Bla…I do own my characters though.
Chapter Four: Examination
Assessing the Problem at Hand...or Problems
I made Amendel wait at the door while I retrieved the package. It was lying on the small desk by the bed and when I picked it up it seemed heavier than before. I made to move it off the table and the weight was unbearable. It slipped from my hands, but didn't hit the floor. Amendel appeared behind me, holding the package carefully, glaring at it and whispering something in a language I had never heard. Most likely a spell, but I had never heard it before. He was in my room and he wasn't moving. He was whispering to the thing in the brown paper. So I pushed him. He glanced up, as if he had no recollection of where he was for the moment and then he smiled. "Sorry about that. I couldn't have you dropping this."
I wondered what it was, but I had the sense not to ask. "No problem, now go."
"I think I might come back to visit you."
"Then know that I sleep heavily armed."
He grinned. "I'm a sorcerer, not much scares me."
"Good for you. Leave."
He walked over the threshold, looked back, smiled, and walked off. I watched as he went down the stairs and out of sight.
I slept with my door locked that night and three knives. One at my side, one on my thigh, and the third on the desk in easy reach. I had no visitors and woke up the next morning to a dreary, cold day. My bard's garb offered little protection against the cold as a sleeveless top is not conducive in the cold. Easy enough. However, I had little else in the way of garments since I had left most everything I owned in my room back at the academy. Mostly uniforms, but anything would have been better. Unfortunately, everything I owned at the academy was in the past. I never wanted to return so I sucked it up and banished the cold with a simple heat spell. It wouldn't last long and it didn't do much, but it was better than nothing. I packed what little gear I had, made the bed and went down to the dining hall to find Pavel in deep conversation with Amendel. Simply just my luck! I stomped over, in hardly the best of moods, but neither acknowledged my presence. So I sat for several minutes waiting. When no one said anything after that, I took drastic action. I slid into the booth next to Amendel and blew on his ear. A little trick I learned a long time ago. You see, elves have these really sensitive ears. Either they get really annoyed or really turned on. I was hoping the latter wouldn't be the case. An iron grip seized my wrist. "Go get breakfast." was all he said and let go.
I glanced at Pavel who was smiling slightly, the little traitor, but he did nothing. So I stood and ordered breakfast. As I walked back I berated myself a million times over for being so easy to obey the infuriating elven-sorcerer, but heck, I could have blown on his ear again and he could have loped off my neck and made me explode into a million pieces. Damnation on my pride, I COULD help without word and leave them to their conversation. Pavel obviously trusted him. Of course there was the question of Pavel's own integrity. I had only really met him yesterday. Sure I had trained with him forever, but I trained with many more people. He was just another face in the crowd I tried for nine years to ignore. I came back and sat down next to Amendel again. I would have preferred to sit next to Pavel, but he had his bag on the bench next to him. They were still talking. I didn't care what they were talking about, partly because it was in a language--I must confess--I didn't know, partly because I was tired and hungry and that can tend to make a person not care about things. I leaned my chin on my hands and let my mind drift a bit. Unfortunately, today the sea of memories was turbulent. My mind sailed back to the day I first learned of the plague. The day I first took an interest in things outside of the academy. Outside of what I learned in classes. I became aware of a government that I was training to protect, of people that were slowly dying from the strange, new plague, of my family that was out in the middle of everything. Someday I would remember it in song. Someday this would all be only a memory kept alive by the Bards who sung of it. But for now it was real. And I was requisitioned to stop it. The Waterhavian creatures were the only hope Neverwinter had at the moment. They might prove useless, but not now. I was tossed from my musings by a hand. Actually a finger. It poked me in the cheek, bringing me back to reality. I blinked and looked up at Amendel. He arched a elegant eyebrow at me, looking every bit a regal elf. "You looked dazed. Are you that hungry or are we boring you?"
"Neither." I answered, hardly in the mood to talk to anybody, much less him.
Pavel
looked at me with genuine concern in his eyes. "You alright,
Kestral?"
I nodded. "Peachy."
I probably would have confided in Pavel had Amendel not been there. Amendel frowned. "Pavel here tells me that neither of you have any family or place to stay."
I nodded slowly.
Amendel grinned. "I own a few rooms above a tiny shop not too far from here. Damn Wanderlust is pulling at me again but there really nowhere I can go until the plague is stopped."
I nodded again. I had experienced wanderlust before. Nothing very strong since I was only half-elf. The academy had pushed whatever I had out of me. It was more a full elf thing. My mother had it. We used to move from the Peninsula District to various tiny houses just outside the city walls. I think we had a full circle that we did every year. Amendel and Pavel were looking at my strangely. I realized that I must have had the dazed look again. Some guard I was going to make, dazing out whenever there was a lull! Suddenly a plate was pushed in front of me and the spicy-sweet scent of cinnamon and sugar wafted up to my nose. I took the spoon beside the bowl and dug into the soupy mixture of oats, milk, honey, cinnamon, and sugar.
After breakfast we packed or things and headed for Amendel's 'house'. It was above a shop that was owned by a nice couple with three children. None of them had the plague, but I could tell that they lived in constant fear of it. I swore again in my mind to find a cure. Amendel owned three tiny rooms above the shop. He shared the kitchen with the family on the bottom floor where they resided behind the actual shop. I trudged up the stairs behind Pavel and Amendel and took the first room I saw. Amendel pursed his lips. "That's my room." he said stiffly.
"Pardon me." I replied and stalked out. One bedroom looking room--Amendel's, a tiny study with a desk and bookshelves, and a sort of sitting area that was cluttered with papers. I set my stuff down, shoved some papers out of the way and sat on the hard, wooden chair. Amendel stalked in with Pavel. He didn't look terribly pleased, more rather annoyed. I rather thought it was at me since he seemed on good terms with Pavel. "You may take my room. Pavel and I will share this room."
I resisted the urge to smile, picked up my things and put them in his room. It was a modest affair. Reasonably clean with a large bed and a rough, wooden armoire. It smelled faintly masculine, but not a bad scent at all. It had the hint of cologne on the sheets. I didn't feel like sitting around, so I left the room and looked into the sitting room. Pavel and Amendel were talking in that strange language again. Amendel looked more than perturbed now, so I went downstairs to check out the shop.
"Hello." a Halfling woman greeted me with a slight smile. "You're a friend of Amendel's aren't you?"
I nodded. "Well, not a friend, more an acquaintance. He offered to help my friend, Pavel and I. We're survivors from the academy attack." I explained more than I normally would have since I didn't want the lady to think I was Amendel's lover or anything awful like that. "Kestral Fynn." I inclined my head slightly.
The woman's smile became genuine. "I heard of the attack. I am very sorry. You're welcome in my house as long as you need to stay. I am Kileen Highill. My husband and I own this shop."
I glanced about and saw strange items. Most looked very magical. "Magic items?" I inquired.
She nodded. "I studied as a Cleric a bit before I married. My husband, Gaelan, is a wizard. I sense you have some magic in you."
"I'm a bard." I said with a smile. "Just like my father was."
"An honorable tradition." Kileen agreed. "Would you care for some tea?"
"Tea would be wonderful."
It had been so long since I was in the company of a real, honest-to-goodness, non-battle trained member of my gender that I wasn't sure how to act. I hadn't had tea in years and I think I grasped the cup a bit more tightly than I should have. Kileen was quite a talker and didn't seem to mind my rather apparent sense of unease. I was thankful, but still restless. My rescue came in the form of three children. The first was a young girl who couldn't have been more than eight. A tiny, little wisp of a thing with a head of black curls and bright grey eyes. She dashed into the kitchen with leaves sticking out of her curls. She was followed closely by a hooded older girl pulling along a toddling boy who looked no more than two. (All ages in human years, since I've always been bad at ages for other races.) "Mommy, mommy! There's bad men outside. They--" she stopped, trying to catch her breath as her fingers wrung her patchwork skirt nervously. "--tired to hurt Dal. Meryn used her magic and Aerch came to help. Then they--" the child began to sob and the hooded girl rushed over to her and took her in her arms, murmuring soothing words in her ear. "The bad men tried to hurt me. They said they'd infect me with the plague!" she wailed.
"Meryn! Is this true?" Kileen demanded of the hood girl who still held the black-hair child.
Meryn nodded wordlessly. During this time of the black-haired child sobbing in Meryn's arms, I hurried over to the little boy, Dal and led him over to Kileen. The boy looked up at me with wide grey eyes like soft, rain-filled clouds. He held tightly to my hand, as if he knew I was a friend. I heard enough to know that they had tried to hurt all the children. "Are they still out there?" I asked quickly.
All eyes turned toward me--except for Dal's which were already fixed on me--as if they'd forgotten I was there.
Meryn nodded.
I switched Dal's hand to his mother's and drew my sword. "I'll be right back." I assured them and strode out the back door. People just didn't threaten children with the plague. In fact, they didn't have a right to threaten them at all. Let alone with the plague. I found three, burly men leaning up against the wall that made up the tiny back courtyard of the Highill's shop. They obviously had the plague. They stunk of rotting flesh and had vivid, oozing sores on their hands and faces. I shuddered when I thought of the children being touched by them. "Hello gentlemen." I said in quiet voice that held my anger back just barely.
They leered at me. "'Ello pretty lady. What's a nice thing like you doin' with a big sword?"
"No reason really. Except that I know how to use it."
They grinned. "But you can barely hold the thing, let alone swing it."
"I might not even need to use my sword." I said with a shrug.
"You ain't one of those damn magic users are you?" the tallest and most ruthless--probably the most sick--questioned, growing serious.
"I may be."
He spat a curse to the god Tyr concerning magic folk. And they all began to advance on me. I would have held them off. In fact, I could have slaughtered them easily. Taken revenge for the Highill children and vented out my own anger against the plague. Unfortunately, they all turned tail and ran. I wasn't stupid enough to think it was me. I heard a spell whispered and felt magic. I spun around to see Amendel, lowering his hands. He looked serious for the first time since I had met him. "Let's not have bloodshed here." he whispered, motioning with his head towards the door where Meryn, Dal, and the black-haired child--whose name I still did not know--watched through the crack. Shameful, I sheathed my sword and nodded my thanks. I followed him back in where the black-haired child tackled him with a hug. "Lord Silverhand, that was brilliant! You scared them off!"
He smiled, hugged her, and set her down to go talk with her mother. The child came up to me as the words "Lord Silverhand" were still trying to process in my brain. Lord Silverhand? "Hello, I'm Enid. You were very brave to face them for us. Even though In don't even know who you are."
I smiled and stuck out my hand. "Kestral Fynn. I'm staying with Amen--Lord Silverhand with my friend Pavel. He kindly offered us a place to stay. We were from the academy."
The girl's face dropped to a look of sadness. "I'm very sorry. Mommy told me what happened. I do hope you're okay."
"I'm fine."
"Good!" She grabbed her other siblings' hands and pulled them over. "This is Dal."
The boy toddled over to me and wrapped his arms around my leg. I picked him up and balanced him on my hip. "Pleased to meet you good sir."
He grinned and gurgled something. "He doesn't talk much." Enid explained. "He likes to gurgle." she pulled her hooded sister over. "This is Meryn. She's the oldest. She doesn't talk much either. Except to say spells. She's a wizard."
"In training." came a voice from behind the hood.
It was a soft, hoarse voice that sounded like Meryn almost never talked. "Yes, in training. Daddy's teaching her!"
Meryn might have been blushing, but it was hard to tell since all of her face save her eyes were obscured by a hood and cloth. Amendel and Kileen came back over then and Kileen sent Enid and Meryn off for some firewood. Dal refused to leave me, so I continued to hold him. "He's taken a liking to you. He doesn't do that with many people. And never so fast. You must really be something special."
I shrugged. "Just a guard, Lady Kileen."
"Kileen.
No lady. I'll not have you use titles around here."
I smiled.
"Now excuse me while I find another cup. Amendel needs his tea. He
drinks all that watered down tea at the inn, it's no wonder his
sick." she scolded and bustled off.
I glanced at Amendel who was smiling after the woman. "You don't look sick." I observed.
He turned to me and his smile grew wider. "I'm not. Kileen likes to think I am so she can have an excuse to fuss like a mother."
I nodded. "I've heard that mother's do that."
He cocked his head and stared off at the wall. "Yes, they do. My mother did."
"Did?"
"Yes, she and the rest of my family live...elsewhere."
I nodded. "What about your mother. Did she fuss over you?" he asked me.
I took the moment to look down at Dal, who was playing with the leather ties on my shirt. "I don't remember." I said and dropped the subject there.
Guess what time it is now…hint: read the little button
