I wrote this for the quiz 'Prophecy Denied' at www. gamejag .com so the actual idea of a false prophecy is not my own.

All That Matters

Gray clouds rolled lazily across the sky, blocking the moon's light. A wind breezed by, rustling leaves and brush before disappearing just as quickly as it had come. In a clearing lay a camp of travelers six strong, five of which were currently oblivious to the world. The one lone traveler awake sat near the smoldering embers of a fire that had just recently gone out. Trills of smoke wafted from the remains.

Had she known how to start it up again from scratch, she would've. Alas, those kinds of skills were better fit for one more in tune with nature such as a druid or a ranger. As she was neither, and didn't dare wake the ones that were more suited for such a task, she would have to grin and bear it. She shivered involuntarily as she thought of the consequences of waking one of the three she was considering. 'She's not a happy camper awake, much less when she's been interrupted from her sleep for trivialities.' Warmth settled over her as she thought of the second person. 'He would take more kindly to being woken, but he thinks me a child as is. This would only give him more reason to.' She smiled as she thought of the third companion. 'If he knew how to talk without making the ground shake I would wake him, but I'd rather not wake up the entire forest right now.'

She sighed. 'Perhaps the cold will help keep me awake.' As she settled she found her thoughts turning to a darker topic, one she wished she could forget.

'Khalid, Dynaheir, Zan, they died because of a lie… Jaheira, Minsc, the others, they have all sacrificed for me… for a lie. How could I possibly tell them it was all for nothing.' Everyone had believed her story without question. She hadn't meant to fool anyone, honestly. Even she had believed it. After her run in with Irenicus, she discovered the truth, though it had been suppressed, whether by Irenicus or her own mind, she was not certain. Such memories had only recently resurfaced in her dreams, though she didn't understand them at first. When she did understand, she rejected them. It wasn't until these memories came back in full force, while she was awake, that she accepted it.

She leaned against the tree trunk behind her, falling into a certain memory.

"You… no, this cannot be. My calculations, everything, depended on this," the masked man raged. She winced as the debris of exploding furniture cut her skin. The mage turned to her, his eyes boring into her skull with unexpected emotion. "You," he spat, "Did you think you could make a fool of me?"
She cried out and tried to crawl away. She didn't make it more than a few feet before he sauntered over to her pitiful figure. "Die," he said and began to cast an incantation. His voice deepened as his hands wove an intricate design that only he could see, but which she knew promised an unpleasant demise. He broke off suddenly, staring at her with cold, apathetic eyes once more. "No, not yet," he murmured, "There is use for you yet, Child of Bha-" his eyes flashed with anger once more, but he quickly recovered.

"Are you well?" a voice asked next to her ear. Trisa jumped and instinctively swung her sword. A gasp, the swish and thud of her sword, and her heartbeat pounding in her ears were the only sounds she heard. She pulled her sword out of the tree and held it up defensively.

"That was close, even for me," the voice said. The pounding lessened and she recognized the voice. She relaxed and collapsed onto the rock she had been sitting on.

"Ouch!" she said as her bottom made an unpleasant landing. "Stupid rock," she muttered, rubbing her bottom.

Yoshimo emerged from the shadows, smirking. He bent down over the dead fire. When he stood up he had a fire going once more. He settled on a more comfortable seating place near her.

"Can't sleep?" she asked.

He yawned and looked at her. "Actually, I believe it's my turn on watch."

"Already?" she asked.

"Well, considering you fell asleep…"

"I wasn't sleeping," Trisa said.

"Nor were you watching," Yoshimo said. "Meditating, perhaps? Not surprising, you have much to mull over."

Trisa looked at him solemnly. "You were there," she blurted out. Yoshimo raised his brows but remained silent. 'No point stopping now.' "I saw you, hiding in the shadows when… when He went crazy."

Yoshimo crossed his arms. "Who?" he asked.

She wetted her lips. "I know you were there. Don't try to deny it. I've noticed the way you look at me when you think I won't notice. You know what I am."

Yoshimo unfolded his arms. "Even if I did, what then?"

She looked down. "I don't know, but at least I'm not alone."

"No, you are not," a female voice said from her left. They both turned to see Jaheira standing there, still in her bedclothes. "I have known all along," she said. "And Khalid," she paused. "As well as Gorion." Jaheira leaned on her staff, suddenly looking extremely old.

"Why didn't Gorion tell me?" Trisa asked, feeling betrayed.

"It was Gorion's wish that you not be told unless absolutely necessary," Jaheira replied.

"Then why was I persecuted…" Trisa started.

"Because of what you truly are." Haer'Dalis said at her right, his smile bright as ever. She jumped and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, my raven, I know," he sang in her ear.

"How…?" she asked.

"I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you. Did you think I would not know my own, my raven?"

She instinctively felt the top of her head, half expecting to feel bumps. "But how? I don't even look like you."

Haer'Dalis' eyes twinkled with mischief. "I have my ways."

"The physical aspects of your heritage were removed when you were a baby. Without them you appeared to be a normal human. Albeit a human baby with marvelous intelligence, but 'human' all the same," Jaheira said.

"What about Valygar and Minsc? Do they know?" she asked, looking at Jaheira.

"No," Jaheira responded. "But they deserve to know."

"Know what?" Valygar asked. Minsc towered over him from behind, stretching his arms above his head with a mighty yawn.

"Yes, Minsc would like to know: Why is everyone awake while the sun still sleeps?" Minsc boomed.

"Sit down. I feel I owe you all an explanation," Jaheira said. They complied.

She stared at the ground for a long while. When she began, it was in a somber tone.

"Khalid, Gorion, and myself found you on one of our many adventures together, just the three of us," her eyes became red for a few moments, but she did not cry. Quite the opposite, her eyes hardened and her voice had the tone of a history book, coldly stating the facts. "We had found a cave possessing numerous levels and, having no other immediate emergencies, hoped for a profit. We were in the bottommost level when we heard a strange sound: a baby crying. We did not know what to think of it, but when we followed the sound we found a hidden passageway leading to a strange portal. Lying in front of the portal was a tiefling baby, only a few hours old, wrapped in a swaddling cloth. We took the baby with us to the surface and tried to leave it in a good home.

"But no one would take it. They all feared it. So we left and went to another town. Before we tried again, we made sure to remove its horns and tail. Gorion knew a woman in a nearby town had recently miscarriaged. We left the baby with her. We did not expect to ever see that child again."

Trisa snorted. "Obviously that backfired."

Jaheira couldn't resist smirking. "Yes, it did. Soon after, that woman later became the mother of Seravok."

"So I guess we were half-siblings after all," Trisa mused. "How did Gorion discover the truth?"

"We figured it out when we realized the your mother was the same woman we had left a baby girl with only a year before. But by that time, it was too late."

"So why did people think I was a Bhaal-spawn?"

"They sensed the evil in you as a child, and misconstrued your true heritage. Gorion tried to deny it, but they assumed he would in order to protect you."

"But that doesn't explain why I heard that voice. The voice even said it was Bhaal."

"Voices speak to all our kin," Haer'Dalis spoke up. "They delight in confusion."

Everyone was quiet.

"So now what?" Trisa asked, breaking the silence.

"We continue on our quest to save Imoen," Jaheira stated, signaling an end to all conversation. Everyone got up and helped pack camp, but not in silence, as Trisa feared. They talked, as if everything was normal. Her companions each showed in their own unique ways that her heritage did not matter to them. Really, nothing was different. She was and would always be Trisa, and that was all that mattered.

The End