Disclaimer: The recognisable characters appearing in this story are © Wizards of the Coast, Inc., all rights reserved. They are used without permission and for entertainment purposes only. No profit is being made by the author for writing this story. No infringement upon nor challenge to the rights of the copyright holders is intended; nor should any be inferred.

C

C

Breakfast

After three or four wrong turns I manage to find the slightly crooked looking building. The bakery is still there, so chances are good that Dai will be as well. A timid young girl that I find in the midst of deliciously smelling bread, cakes and pies tells me that he should be up in his room sleeping. I present her with a brilliant smile and make my way up the stairs. As slowly and quietly as possible I open the door until I can see a chubby arm which is dangling from the bed. Everything else is currently hidden under a heap of thick woollen blankets, but I think it is save to say that he's alone. Not a common occurrence as far as I can remember. Grinning I walk up to the bed, where I take hold of the bedding and pull it all off in one sudden movement.

A squeaking noise indicates that Dai is not very happy with the current development. The eyes still closed he gropes around trying to retrieve warmth and comfort. When he realizes that he's not alone here the first thing he utters is: "It wasn't me!"

"Me neither." I explain happily and only now he recognizes me.

"Toren! What are you doing here?"

"Yes. It's good to see you too darling."

My halfling friend looks at me strangely and belatedly I notice that I must have picked up some of Andy's habits without noticing. I shrug and smile.

"How is life treating you?" I ask hoping to distract him from my unusual wording.

"Well, until this morning everything was just fine. Uneventful and boring just as I like it, but now that you are here I suspect that things will turn exiting."

The last word is said in a tone that one would normally use for expressions like overflowing toilet or foul eggs. Did mention that it was me who suggested that he sell the information about the merchant group?

"Don't worry." I say brightly. "All I need is a decent breakfast... and maybe a little bit of help in finding out what exactly happened last night in the Red Bull. You don't even have to get out of bed."

The last sentence seems to cheer him up considerably.

"Fine. Do you still remember where everything is?"

"Of course."

An with that I start preparing a large tray, which will probably take us hours to get through. Just the way we both love it.

"Sometimes judging by the way you eat I nearly suspect that you actually are a Halfling who is only pretending to be an Elf." Dai mumbles his mouth full with fried egg. I can only grunt noncommittally, because at the moment my own mouth is filled with the last bite of a delicious croissant.

"So", I say once I have swallowed "what do you know about last night?"

Dai shakes his head.

"Drank too much did you?" He states with a knowing glance at my still slightly dishevelled appearance and I can only shrug once again.

"I had much to forget."

"Yes I guess so, seeing that you were there in the company of a Drow."

My following "Well, he's nice. I think you'd like him too actually." Is meet with a very sceptical stare. Ok maybe I can't expect him to believe me right away, but at least he hasn't condemned me on the spot and obviously he does know something about last nights occurrences, so my decision to come here instead of going back to that cramped little room was probably right in the end.

"Never mind the Drow. Just tell me what happened."

"Fine."

He drags one round hand through the messy hazel locks and finally starts to enlighten me.

"Well, you can obviously still remember the name of the place, but after yesterdays events I'd say that you're about the only one in the whole city who hasn't heard what has happened there. Really the biggest fight since ten years if we are to believe old Bo and the whole building is reduced to a heap of crumbling dust. The city guard arrested more than fifty people and I believe your precious Drow was caught as well by the way."

An involuntary groan escapes me at the prospect of having to free Andy from the city's dungeons. Up until now I still had some hope that my guess could be wrong.

"I was wondering though", Dai interrupts my unhappy thoughts. "how did you get away when everybody else was arrested?"

"Slept with an officer." I reply without thinking still preoccupied by the problem of getting to Andy and only when I see the look of sheer incredulity in his face I realize what I've just said and blush deeply. When will I learn to keep my mouth shut?

"I erm... duplicated his keys."

A rather weak attempt to change the topic. It doesn't really work either.

"You did what?"

"Duplicated the keys."

Dai rolls expressive brown eyes.

"Not that you idiot. What you said before! It sounded like you slept with some guy to escape the fate of being thrown into prison."

"I was drunk." I say half-heartedly, not sounding very convincing at all.

"Toren what happened to you since we last meet? That doesn't sound like something you'd do."

I sigh. I never planned on recounting my time as slave. All I wanted to do was to forget these months and get on with what is left of my life, but now it looks like I won't have another choice.

"Listen", I say suddenly a bit angered by the unexpected confrontation with things I'd rather forget. "I went through a lot and I have absolutely no desire to relive these memories right now, so please don't ask and just believe me when I say Andy is nicer than the rest of his kin."

"Andy?"

"Yes I know the name is terrible, but he seems content to keep it."

"And what are you going to do now that he's stuck in a cell with a lot of angry humans?"

"I don't know." I grumble moodily. "I have to get him out somehow. At least I was able to get the keys."

Dai is unconvinced.

"I don't think they'll help you much. There's no way you could possibly get away with freeing someone so dangerous."

"You're not helping."

"Oh really. Who says that I want to help you? What you'd need is a lot of money and the assistance of someone more powerful than both of us and if you haven't changed out of all recognition I'd say that you have neither of those things."

Of course he's right. How frustrating.