Chaos Quest

by Chikiko

RanmaEverquest CrossoverFusion. A spell is cast to help cure the Jusenkyo curses, but things don't go exactly as planned and it sends them all to Norrath. Everyone has been separated, their memories lost, and fleeting images and dreams are their only clues to who they really are. Now they will have to find each other, regain their memories, and find their way home.

14. Chaos Quest R13

***** Not really an update, I just went back and did some badly needed Spell checking that was sorely needed on this chapter. Neither I nor this story are dead. Things have just been slow for me lately. But I am still trying to get this done. Am talking with some beta readers at the moment and that will hopefully things will pick up again. *****

Aeril shook his head and smiled as Maji all but dragged him as she ran to the restaurant. "Maji, I don't think we have to run. It's not like they're not gonna give us any food."

"You know, for a person who likes to eat as much as you do, I'm surprised you aren't the one dragging me there."

"Hey I'm just as hungry as you are, but I didn't think you'd like everyone staring at us like they're doing. Shoot if I woulda — Whoa" he exclaimed as he nearly ran Maji over when she came to an abrupt stop.

"Thank you." She said in that unemotional voice he hated so much, before she slowly started walking toward the restaurant.

Aeril clenched his fists and took a deep breath while mentally kicking himself. She had been in a great mood since they had eaten yesterday, and now he just went and made her upset. He kicked himself again when he noticed Maji enter the restaurant. That meant they had almost been there when he opened his big fat mouth. Had he not said anything they would have already been inside and she would have still been in a happy mood. Sighing he quickly walked into the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant he saw Maji already sitting at a large table next to the chef, his brother, and their teacher. The chef turned to look at him and said. "Oh good, he's here. Now we can begin."

Wealbar turned to the chef. "Jolen! Give the boy a chance to sit next to his girlfriend first. They may want to discuss something first before deciding what they want to eat. In fact come on let's go to the kitchen and give them some time alone, that'll give Frin a chance to familiarize himself with your kitchen."

Aeril's blushed intensely at the woman's comment as he thought about the baths she insisted they share, and the way he had once again woken up earlier that morning. "Um no. It's really ok." He said as he quickly took a seat directly in front of Maji.

She turned a questioning glance at Maji who nodded her head in agreement to Aeril's statement. Shrugging her shoulders, she turned to look at her student and said. "Are you ready Frin?"

Frin nodded his head and said. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well then." She said. "Let's get to work." Turning to look at Maji she said. "Well dear, I'm told your exquisite tastes in food. Go ahead and order."

Maji's yellow eyes stared deeply into Aeril's blue eyes, as she contemplated what to order. Her eyes turned brown as she nodded slightly. "Ok. I think we'll have some grilled eel, a deadly medley, some cheesy vegetable casserole and an anaconda stir fry with a side of sea urchin stew and a shell cracker's seaside salad with vegetable oil dressing."

Wealbar looked clearly impressed. "Jolen was right. Your taste in food is quite exceptional, as well as costly. Lucky for you Jolen should have all the ingredients." Turning to Frin she asked. "So do you think you can handle that order?"

Frin looking down he said. "Yes, most of them. However, I've never even heard of Sea urchin stew before, so I don't even know how to begin."

Wealbar nodded her head. "That's understandable. Sea urchin stew is a troll meal." She said to him, then as an afterthought she wryly added. "It's also the only way to convince them to take a bath."

"Is that going to hurt his results?" Maji asked.

Wealbar laughed. "Honey, if he can do a decent enough job on your meal he'll pass with flying colors! Frin, you can go ahead and start, Jolen you're his assistant. You know the rules, you only do what he tells you to do, and you can't offer any advice."

"Yes, ma'am!" The two brothers said simultaneously, earning an 'I am not amused' face from their teacher.

"Those knuckleheads, Bristlebane only knows how much of their smart aleck ways I've had to endure over the years! Anyway deary, before we forget, what do you want for dessert? I'm sure we can make enough for you to have some to take with you. In fact, I'll give you a sample of special meal I'm cooking up, I'm going to call it a misty thicket picnic basket. I'm planning on unveiling it for the yearly Rivervale commemoration party. I'm sure it'll be a smash once I finish it, but I just keep having this nagging feeling that I should add something else to make it perfect. Unfortunately I just can't figure out what that something is. Oh well, anyway what was it you wanted for dessert again?"

Maji thought for a minute before saying. "We'll have some ohabah truffles and some pixie powder cinnesticks." Wealbar nodded her in approval before starting to head for the kitchen. Before she had a chance to enter the kitchen Maji decided to add to her order and said. "Can I have a few orders of glowing goo too?"

Wealbar stopped and turned around giving Maji a questioning look. "Did you just say glowing goo or edible goo?"

"Glowing goo. Will that be a problem?"

Wealbar shook her head. "No, not at all. Although I'm not sure how well versed Frin is at making it. Despite their relative proximity most humans know little to nothing of dark elf cuisine."

"I'm sure he'll do well. His brother Jolen did a good job yesterday."

Wealbar opened her mouth to say something but then changed her mind. "Well, I'll leave the two of you alone. I'll be back out as soon as your meal is done."

When she was out of hearing range, Maji turned to Aeril, but before she could speak, he asked. "What's wrong, what happened?"

"Huh? What do you mean by what's wrong?"

"I mean your eye's are yellow, and yellow's a bad color."

"Ok . . . and what color should they be?"

"Blue." He said mater-of-factly.

"Blue?"

"Yup! Blue. You love eating, and considering all the food you just ordered you should be all giddy and stuff. You're like the only person I know who likes to eat more then I do! So what's goin on?"

Sighing, she said. "I'm getting a bad vibe from her. Something about the way she stopped and asked me about if I really wanted glowing goo was really suspicious."

Aeril rolled his eyes. "Just cuz she asked if she heard you right? You really gotta stop being so — Uh cautious."

Maji narrowed her eyes at him. "You were going to say paranoid. I'm not paranoid. I'm just justifiably cautious. As I remember, the first time I visited Freeport, I was chased out by a certain someone and his friends."

"Hey, I wasn't trying to chase you out, I just wanted to talk to you. Only that dummy Tohic, was tryin to do that."

"Whatever, if you say so. Either way, I'm not going to take any chances. Give me your hands."

"Huh? Why?" He said.

"Just give me your hands."

"Uh, ok." He said as he extended his hands out to her.

She took hold of his hands and brought their hands down to rest on the table. They sat there looking at each other for a while, before Aeril asked. "Whatcha doin?"

"It's called holding hands."

"But I mean, like why? Are you like casting some spell or something?"

She gave him a bewildered look. "No, why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I mean why else would you wanna hold my hands."

Maji rolled her eyes. "Because everyone thinks we're a couple, so I'm going to help them keep that impression."

Aeril started blushing and quickly retracted his hands. "W-w-why would ya wanna do that for?!"

Sighing in annoyance, a fact reinforced by the reddening of her eyes, Maji harshly whispered at him. "Does it matter? Just hold my hands! What's the big deal? You haven't had any problems cuddling up to me in the middle of the night, why start with the bashful act now?"

Blushing even more than he was before, he slowly reached out at took her hands in his. He looked down to hide his embarrassment and said. "I did say I'm sorry, it's not like I meant to."

Maji shrugged in a dismissive manner. "I know, I never said you did. You're too much of a prude to try something like that."

Aeril Looked back up curiously. "Well then why'd you mention it?

"Because, I think she suspects what I really am. So if we make it look like we're a couple, she'll likely forget about it."

Aeril blinked in confusion. "Huh? Why would she?"

Rolling her eyes, Maji responded in a voice that said the answer should have been obvious. "Because you're a human."

Aeril waited a minute for her to continue. When she didn't, he said. "And?"

"What do you mean and? That's it. You're human. Everyone knows that dark elves and humans don't become couples, at least — not willingly."

"Why not?"

"Because my poor naive friend, humans know that dark elves should never be trusted. As a result, humans avoid us for fear of betrayal and most dark elves would consider it below them and extremely distasteful. A fact that, halflings as the nosy neighbors that they are, would know quite well. Before you give me that naive questioning look of yours, yes I am positively sure. I can almost guarantee that nearly every mother of a half dark elf child was an unwilling participant in that birth."

"But that don't make sense. You just said you guys think it's beneath you, so why would you guys . . . you know . . . ?"

"You know, why don't we just forget it and move onto another topic."

Aeril noticed the angry red eyes turn yellow in uncertainty or apprehension. If his question was enough to suddenly make her drop her angry red eyes in favor of her yellow ones, then the answer would most likely be a whopper. With a deep breath, he hesitatingly asked. "But I still don't get what you mean."

Aeril gulped when her eyes changed color again, this time from yellow to the purest of reds. Although he wouldn't have noticed even the slightest change in her emotions from her face, or body, the anger fueled her red eyes was unmistakable. "Because love is beneath dark elves. I was talking about torture and humiliation, two things that dark elves love more than anything else.

Maji felt his grip on her hands tighten as he began to understand what she meant, which she returned for a few quiet moments. Seeing the expression on his face, and fearful of a sudden change, Maji quickly let go of his hands and went to his side. She sat down next to him and drew him closer to her with her right arm as her left hand found one of his hands and intertwined her fingers with his.

It was to this scene that Wealbar and her students found them a few minutes later. Wealbar simply raised her eyebrow at the scene in front of her, as she entered the room and looked up at the couple. Although the scene looked very romantic, she could however feel it was anything but. Taking a deep breath, she decided to fix the problem, the halfling way. "If the two of you like, I could setup a room for you in the back the back of the store? A couple of hours back there with my special incense and the two of you wouldn't have any worries for a good week or so!"

Aeril and Maji looked up surprised. Maji immediately removed her arm from around his shoulder. She was about to retract her hand as well when he tightened his grip on it, which caused her to turn and look at him for a moment. The look only lasted about a second before she turned back to Wealbar and answered. "No thanks. As tempting as the idea is, staying here today is likely going to make us behind schedule. So we really can't afford any more delays."

As a world class chef, Wealbar was expected to pay a great deal of attention to both details and the emotional well beings of her clientèle. A skill set that became even more important when she was the Head chef for King Antonious Bayle IV of Qeynos. As such, she was easily able to pick the subtle exchanges between the two. It became obvious to her that something was said or done, while she was in the kitchen watching the food being prepared, to upset the young human. Something upsetting enough to cause his half elf lover to move to his side of the table to comfort him. While she hadn't known the snowy haired girl long, the look of alarm that crossed her face when she entered the room was enough to tell her that the elven girl wasn't usually one to openly display that much affection for another person in public.

She mentally sighed. It always made her wonder why some people were so scared to display their emotions. It was obvious in her mind that the elf girl cared very deeply for her human lover, even if he was a bit oblivious. She may not have been born a halfling, but there was no doubt in her mind that a halfling heart beet in her chest. So she decided to help her tall halfling friend, as seeing as how she was one of those emotionally reserved human types, she would have to take matters into her own hands. With a warm and friendly smile that anyone familiar with halflings would immediately recognize as a sure sign nearing mischief, she said. "So dear where would you like me to put the food?"

Maji saw the smile and half frowned, as she said. "Anywhere I guess." That smile immediately told her two things. First was mischief was coming and so she had better keep her guard up. Secondly and more importantly, was she was relatively safe. If the halfling decided to become mischievous, then that meant she liked her. Halflings were well known throughout Norrath as mischief makers, but halflings were never known for being malicious. Odd dwarf saying went something like. "It's better to be hated by a halfling than have to endure their endless pranks."

"Good. Frin, Jolen, setup of the food for them. I'm going to bring the rest of the food out." Without waiting for a reply she quickly left her plates on a nearby table and made her way back into the kitchen. Once out of sight, she quickly made her way to the spice rack and began to pull out spices. She quickly ground up and mixed several sets of the spices, before adding them into the food, making to add enough for the spices to be effective while ensure that taste of the spices would not overpower the meal itself. Luckily with all of the food they ordered she wouldn't have to very much, still to be on the safe side she decided to add one more spice. She stepped on a stool that Jolen had for her and began to reach for a certain spice on the top of the spice rack. She frowned as Bristlebane's luck would ensure that stool wasn't quite tall enough for her to reach it. She stood on her tippy toes and grabbed it. However, in doing so, she began to loose her balance quickly grabbed the rack for support as her stool fell over. Unfortunately as she did, her pudgy hand hit one of the spices which fell and shattered next to one of the bowls of glowing goo.

She carefully let go of the rack so as not cause it to fall and make an even bigger mess in someone else's kitchen. Thankfully she landed safely. She sighed a breath of relief, because she had only spilt ashroot, and not something more potent as some of it had landed in the bowl of green colored goo. She didn't even bother picking it out since the taste of ashroot was so muted that hardly anyone would even be aware of having just at it. The exception to this of course, were dark elves who were all highly allergic to it, and could very easily die if they ate enough of it. The irony of spilling deadly toxins into a child's dish was not lost on her. A fatal mix that she had heard, was the dark elves favored method for murdering young children, who were all but addicted to the gooey concoction.

Shaking those morbid thoughts from her head, she quickly added the spice she had retrieved from the top shelf to remaining foods. Smiling broadly she began to load the food onto a small cart and began to wheel it into the dining area. The best part of it all was that since she had only put a small amount of spice in, it would take a while before the effects of spice would start to act on them. "Here's the rest of the food, hope you still have room!"

She blinked at the concerned looks on the face of her two students and Aeril. "Teacher! We heard a noise, are you ok?"

"Oh, that. I slipped off the stool and dropped one of the spice bottles off the rack. Anyway, enough of that. How's the food dear?"

Maji finished taking a bite of her cheesy vegetable casserole and said. "This is amazing, this along with yesterdays meal is THE best meal I've ever had my entire life."

"Well that's good! Well if you liked that, you're going to love this salad. Here try some!" She said offering both of them a plate of the newly spiced salad.

Aeril, who had just finished some of the, what ever that crunchy deadly medley was, reached over with his fork and took some. His eyes immediately rose. "Wow! This stuff is amazing. I don't usually like sea food, but this is just great!"

"Hear that Frin? You just made someone enjoy a hated meal! Congratulations! Come on boys, let's sit down and eat an incredibly made meal in celebration of you passing your test. This will probably be the toughest meal you'll cook in a long time, isn't that right Jolen? To tell you the truth, this deary here is a tougher customer than Antonious Bayle. Bah! It was almost always the same thing with him every day! That's why I finally quite. I'm actually quite proud of you Jolen. This Restaurant thing is a pretty good idea. It allows to you cook for a variety of people, who probably all have different tastes. Tell me dear you wouldn't mind if we sit with you while we eat as well do you?"

"Go right ahead. It is your restaurant after all." She said all the while trying to restrain herself from laughing out loud at the look of confusion on Aeril's face, as he tried to keep up with what Wealbar was saying. Which was made that much harder for him with the way the women jumped from one topic to another and from one person to another without any break or preamble. The longer Wealbar continued the more discombobulated the poor boy become. Maji had little doubts that the halfling woman could easily fill the job as head auctioneer of the annual East Common's tunnel auction, with little difficulty. Considering it was the largest such Auction in Antonica, lasting weeks and consisting of thousands of people of all races, being the head auctioneer was no small feat.

It was a valiant fight on her part, but it was a fight she would eventually lose. Maji's laugh was enough to make Wealbar realize what she was doing. "Oh how embarrassing! Here I've been carrying on like an overly excited gnome who just realized that round wheels roll down hills much better than triangular or rectangular ones. I guess I should let you kids have a chance to speak. So tell me deary, you said the two of you were on a schedule, where are you heading?"

"Oh, at the moment we're heading for the west commons pyramid. You see, Aeril and I are working on a couple of quests, so we decided join forces and help each other."

"Oh really! That must be pretty exciting for the two of you! Reminds me of my younger days seeing the world with my Samidal. Oh those were the days. I can remember several years ago while on a trip to Halas he challenged twelve barbarians to a drinking match. He had almost won the match until the young little redheaded girl brought out some scarlet fever! Poor Sam, I thought he was going to lose all the hair on his feet! It took him an entire day to recover from that!" Laughing she said. "I guess that old saying about Erollisi making those who travel together fall in love is true. I mean just look at the two of you! The two of you are the cutest couple I've seen since me and Samidal! No offense Jolen, but you have to admit a human and a gnome are a somewhat odd couple. By Bristlebane! Look at me! Here I am doing it again!"

"Huh? What are you doing? You talk so fast I'm just totally confused!"

Maji elbowed Aeril slightly in the ribs. "Dear! That was rude!"

Wealbar laughed. "Oh it's ok dear! I guess one just has a tendency to babble when you get old. However, enough of that. Tell me, where are the two of you heading?"

"Well right now, we're heading to the pyramid and from there we're off to Erudin and Felwithe and then back to Freeport."

"You're going to Felwithe! Well then, you simply must stop by my brother's bakery there! After all he was the one who inspired me to learn to cook! You must look for him there, his name is Kidil, but he likes to be known as Nimble Kidil."

Aeril's eyes widened in astonishment. "Wait so you're saying your brother cooks even better than you?! There's like no way!"

Wealbar laughed. "Well I can assure you that Kidil taught me everything I know about cooking! You simply must look for his shop there. It's right off the lake. It's called something like Rivervale's finest — or something like that! Speaking of which, the two of you look as though you're beginning to fill up, why don't I bring out my picnic basket and the dessert?"

Aeril looked at her with eyes full of wonder. He himself hadn't even realized he was getting full until she mentioned it. "How? How did you know?"

Wealbar laughed again. "Well that's a silly question. I'm a chef. It's my job to know these things hon." Grabbing the desserts from the cart she placed it on their table. "So here you are kids, dessert is served. Help yourselves!"

Aeril shrugged and grabbed some cinnesticks, whilst Maji decided to finish her salad first. "Hmm these sticks are pretty nifty what are they?"

"Oh those, they're not really anything that special. They're just normal cinnesticks with a slight twist of adding pixie dust."

"Pixie dust? What's that?"

"Well I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. Pixies are these small mischievous and often malicious elven-like creatures with light blue skin and wings. They're very beautiful, but they hate all non animals or fey creatures. They're a real annoyance to the wood elves of Kelethin, and the high elves of Felwithe. Well whenever pixies fly they tend to shed what we call pixie dust. Rumor has it that if you sprinkle some pixie dust on someone and think of happy thoughts that it'll actually let you fly! Just imagine that!"

Just then Maji began coughing. "Well I did say it was just a rumor dear. There's no reason to get so bent out of shape about it!" Wealbar suddenly began getting worried when Maji kept coughing. In fact she was looking quite pale. It was then that she noticed that she had just eaten some green glowing goo. Instantly she was up and said. "Boy's quick! Get her some water I'll be right back!"

Wealbar rushed into the kitchen and began grabbing foods and spices and mixing them up as quickly as possible. That green goo had been the one that the ashroot had fallen into. That shouldn't have caused that kind of reaction in her. It was only know to affect dark elves. She grabbed some ashweed and several other ingredients and quickly mixed them and grounded them until they formed a gooey black paste, which was the only known cure dark elven cure for ashroot poisoning. Not that having a cure would help those children, since from what she heard they tended to die rather quickly. No, the ashweed juice was intended not for the victims but for their killers who sometimes accidentally got the ashroot in their own foods while making it. The smaller dose of it in full grown adults was never as severe as in children, but once ingested it would slowly start killing them over a period of one month unless they drank some ashweed juice. Even then it only worked if taken when taken within the first week, after that it was a slow and agonizingly slow three weeks before death finally took them. A fitting death for someone cruel enough to kill a child by poisoning their favorite snack!

She shook her head, as she realized that she had gotten distracted yet again! With a small sigh she ran back to the room to find that Maji was still coughing violently, and desperately trying stop her convulsions long enough to take a breath. She didn't waste anytime as she ran up to the girl and poured the foul-smelling juice down her mouth and forcibly shut her mouth forcing the girl to swallow the even it. After making sure she swallowed it, she let her go and watched as her coughs became less and less intense, until it had eventually stopped completely. "Are you ok?"

Maji could only nod her head. "Well thank the gods for that. I am so sorry. I don't know how that could have happened. You see that bottle that fell over was just ashroot. Some fell into that green colored gooey, but I didn't bother picking it out, since it's only supposed to affect dark elves. I'm just glad that ashweed juice did the trick!"

Seeing that Aeril was nearly besides himself with worry, she nodded at him and moved away from the girl. She stood up and allowed Aeril to take her place by the girl. "Ok boy's let's go to the kitchen and rearrange the spice rack, the last thing we want is to cause another mess like this."

Aeril looked Maji over fearfully. "Are you ok? What happened? Why'd you start coughing like that?"

Taking a sip of water, Maji said. "Ashroot. When she fell some ashroot must have fallen into the food. Ashroot is a poison for dark elves, similar to humans and arsenic, only a hundred-time worse. If she hadn't given me the antidote, I would have likely been dead within the hour!"

"Are you going to be ok? Did that stuff help?" Aeril asked in an extremely concerned voice.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's not like it's the first time I've gotten ashroot poisoning, though it's certainly the first time it's happened accidentally. Unfortunately the cure is almost as bad as the poison. You'd think a professional chef could have made it taste better, but I guess I should be grateful that she made the antidote to begin with. Remind me to ask her if she can come up with an antidote that taste better." She paused for a moment seeing the utterly confused look on Aeril's face. "What's wrong with you?"

Aeril opened his mouth to speak several times, but nothing came out. It was a couple of minutes later when he was finally able to speak again. "You just said you were accidentally poisoned! That . . . that . . . just . . . doesn't make sense . . . "

Maji gave him a shocked look. "You think she did it on purpose?"

"NO! I mean, you're the one who's supposed to think that she did it on purpose!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Because you're ALWAYS paranoid about stuff like that."

Maji gave him a flat face. "I've told you a million times, I am NOT paranoid. I'm cautious. This is a perfect case in point. There is no doubt in my mind that she was telling the truth. After all, considering I'm a half elf, and since ashroot only effect dark elves there really wouldn't have been that much of a need to pick it all out."

Picking up the bowl, she offered him a spoonful. "Here try it."

Aeril looked at the spoon nervously. "You want me to eat some of that?"

Maji just looked at him with open curiosity. "You mean to tell me, you don't trust the woman you're sleeping with?"

"Of course I trust you!"

Maji frowned realizing that he had missed the implied meaning of what she had said. Shrugging, she moved the spoon to his mouth. "Ok then, say ahh."

Aeril ate the spoonful of goo. "I didn't taste any difference."

"Of course not, you're a human. Humans can't taste the difference. In fact, neither can dark elves, we just feel the effect. You have to admit, it's interesting the way one food is perfectly fine to you, but deadly to me. It doesn't even affect wood elves or high elves."

Aeril shrugged. "I guess, if you say so."

"Smartaleck." She said in a flat voice. "Fine. I'm sorry to bother you with further talk on the odd differences between different races. Especially races that at one point in time where part of the same race. Anyway, have the rest of it. I can't eat it." Aeril shrugged and took the bowl. "While your eating that, I think I'll help myself to this picnic basket."

"Ok, But how did you know it wasn't on purpose?"

Maji sighed and put the food she was about to eat down. Because my dear. She's a halfling. Halflings are like kids, all they really care about is food and fun. Halflings as a race are extremely mischievous, considering they were created by the trickster god, that really isn't that much of a surprise. Anyway my point is that they're well known for being mischievous, not malicious. While a dark elf would perversely enjoy watching a person slowly choke to death that isn't exactly what halfling would consider fun. There isn't anything fun about deaths, so when halflings do kill others, it's always fastest and painlessly method possible. They reserve pranks for those they like and kill the ones that don't. Either way slow torture isn't the halfling style." Grabbing her food, she asked. "Any more questions?"

Aeril shook his head no. "Good! Now we can get back to eating." She said seconds before taking a huge bite into the food she had in her hands.

Aeril shrugged and just followed her advice and began eating some more. After eating quietly for several minutes the chefs came back into the dining room. Wealbar immediately noticed that both Aeril and Maji had not only eaten a good deal of the food she had spiced up, but they had also been eating from her picnic basket. "So what do you think of that basket?"

Maji patted her stomach. "It's great! I'd almost consider moving to Rivervale to be able to eat food this good all the time."

She laughed as Aeril nodded enthusiastically to Maji's statement as happily ate the food in his mouth. With a smile she said. "Why thank you for the compliments. So you really thought the misty thicket picnic basket was good? You didn't find anything . . . well I guess lacking?"

Maji shrugged. "I suppose you could add something else, but I honestly couldn't tell you what that is."

Wealbar nodded a bit before shrugging. "Well hey, there's still plenty of time before then. I'm sure I'll find it by then. Now would you like me to get you something to put this food in to take it with you? After all there's no need to let this food go to waste."

Maji eyes widened happily. "Sure that would be really great!"

"Good, here just put anything you want to take with you in here. Then just put it in your adventurer's belt, if you do that, the food should be good for months! Oh ya I even added some more ashweed juice for you, in case you ever get poisoned again. Sorry about the taste, I didn't get a chance to experiment on it too much, as I was teaching these two how to make it. Come to Rivervale a few months from now, and I may have a better tasting version for you."

"Thank you." She said as she began putting food away in the container she had in her hands.

"Well heck, I may as well just help you pack, your food. I'm sure you'll need it for the road."

It wasn't long before all the food that was going to be eaten was eaten and the rest saved for the road. Standing Aeril and Maji bowed slightly to Wealbar "Thank you so much for the food samples, and the food was delicious Frin. Congratulations on passing. Your test. Anyway as I said earlier we really have to get going, or we'll miss our ride. I have a wizard friend meeting us at the pyramid who'll be porting us, and if we don't catch her, it'll cost us a lot more money.

With one last round of goodbyes the couple walked westwardly to the edge of town. They were quite surprised to see Mechigia's husband at the gate. Seeing them, he waved. "Leaving so soon?"

Aeril nodded. "Ya, we gotta go."

He looked disappointed. "That's a shame. I would have liked to gotten to know you better."

"Well maybe later."

He laughed. "Indeed. Well then I'll let you be on your way. Safe journeys to you, may the gods protect you for the rest of your journey."

Aeril agreed and shook his hand, and stepped aside to let Maji do the same. Just as they were about to shake hands she suddenly began coughing violently again. Aeril immediately moved to her side to see if she was ok. Waving him off, she said. "I'll be ok. Sorry about that." She told the older man. "I ate something that didn't quite agree with me. I hope you don't find it read that I don't shake your hand."

The man shook his head. "Think nothing of it."

Maji nodded at the man, before grabbing Aeril's arm quickly walking away with him the city. Aeril who didn't notice the change in her eye color, was still able to tell that the dark elf girl's mood change dramatically, by the amount of strength she was pulling him with. "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you see?!"

Aeril gave her a frustrated look. "Uh, why I ask you if I had?"

"Well, someone sure is getting an attitude." She said in a neutral voice.

Aeril sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. It's just you're like figuring stuff out like its super easy, and I'm still trying to figure out half the stuff whats-her-name was telling us."

"Ok, then. I'll explain it to you. His wedding ring was amber. Mechigia's was diamonds. Why would he have a wedding ring so vastly inferior his wife's? That doesn't make sense."

"You're not gonna get p— cautious on me again and wanna go back are you?"

Maji was silent for several minutes. Obviously balancing Jolen's cooking and her curiosity against being late for there meeting. With a sigh she said. "No . . . Unfortunately, we can't afford to be late."

Aeril sighed in relief. "Thank the gods!"

Maji gave him an annoyed look, and began whispering something thing. It wasn't until he felt his feet sink under the ground that he realized she was casting a spell. "If that's how you feel, then have fun walking by yourself."

With a sniff she turned and continued west toward Farfield. Seeing that she was serious and that he couldn't move, Aeril said. "Hey wait! Maji! Come on, I was just joking! I didn't mean nothing from it!"

Maji stopped to face him. "Oh really?"

Aeril sighed. "Come on, please."

Maji looked at him for several seconds, before summoning her spellbook and flipping through it. Having found a page, she began reading it intently for a bit before closing her book. Then she began intoning the words of magic, and when she finished, he felt the dirt around his feet loosen and he found he could move again. "Sorry."

Aeril scratched the back of his pigtail. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean anything or nothing."

"It's ok. Let's just get going before something else happens.

Aeril smiled at her and said. "Ok sure." Seeing Maji begin walking. He followed her. Sighing quietly to himself, he mentally kicked himself for yet again, messing up. He knew she must still be upset. One thing he had learned about Maji was that she was very self conscious about her paranoia, and he had basically kept calling her paranoid over and over again. He decided to try and make it up to her, unfortunately he didn't know how.

Until he saw the way she was walking. It reminded him of the way Kryn tended to walk when she was upset. Shrugging his shoulders, he sped up and walked side by side with her. Then, as he and Kryn and done often, he reached down and cupped her hand in his. That instantly caused Maji to stop and look at him as if asking. 'What in the world are you doing?'

Not quite sure what to say, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her. She looked dubiously at him for some seconds before shrugging her shoulders as well and continued walking silently toward Farfield.

**********Varlon sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time. He was sitting on the lowest row of seats in the Freeport arena. Inside the arena were Haeliin and Tohic. He should have known better than to expect a friendly spar between those two. The two of them had been bickering between themselves nearly the entire time. Finally fed up with it, he yelled down. "I'm getting really fed up with the two of you arguing! If you don't want to be here, then just leave. I have plenty of other students who I could be helping, instead of wasting time with the two of you. Now either behave yourselves or leave."

Varlon was surprised to see that it was Haeliin who bowed her head at his rebuke. Neither of them said a word, but he could see that unlike Haeliin, Tohic didn't show even the slightest bit of remorse over his actions. With yet another sigh Varlon said. "Ok then, you may continue."

The two turned to face each other before giving each other a slight nod to signal their readiness. Tohic was the first to attack. After getting close, he quickly came at her with a kick to the midsection. Haeliin dodged the kick and came back at him with a left hook. Stepping out of the way of her punch, he knelt quickly and tried to trip her.

Barely managing to avoid the trip, Haeliin tried to back off to get some room to breathe. However, Tohic came back at her with a combo of punches and kicks, and she quickly began trying to block his attacks. She wasn't quick enough however, and was knocked back onto her butt. Tohic came running at her to press his advantage, but she quickly rolled backwards and flipped up to her feet. "Not bad, for a beggar's son."

"What?" Tohic asked angrily.

"You heard me. You're a beggar's son and you look it. Tell me, did you find those cloths or did you steal them from someone's trash?"

"What would a pointy-eared snob like you know about that? You think because you're dressed in magical silk that you're better then me? I've had to work hard to get everything I have, but you wouldn't know about that would you? Your daddy gives you everything want, but you haven't earned anything in your life. I may be a beggar's son, but at least my mother isn't a pointy-eared slut who'll give herself to whoever can offer the most platinum."

The two scowled at each other, each eager to attack. However, before they could attack each other, Varlon jumped down from the arena seating, to where they were and stood between them glowering at them. "Go! The both of you, go right now! I'm beyond fed up with this nonsense. Provoking each other to anger is not the way we do things here. When you're ready to follow the ways of The Tranquil, then you may come back. Until then, neither of you will have any classes.

With a snort of disdain, Tohic turned toward the arena exit, muttering something as he left. "What was that you said under your breath?"

With a disrespectful look Tohic said. "I said I'm sorry. I'm not as good as your half-pointy-eared freak." With another snort he continued. "Everyone knows that the only reason that your freak kid was allowed to test for the belt, was because it's your kid. From what I heard, not only did he get help because he wasn't good enough by himself, but he's got a dark elf helping him! I guess being a pointy-eared lover must run in the family, like father like — "

Haeliin, who had been walking toward the arena exit herself, could no longer take that trash talk Tohic was talking. While he was distracted, Haeliin came from behind Tohic and kicked him as hard as could in the groin. When he doubled over in pain, she then roughly pulled him up by his dark hair and knocked him to the floor with an uppercut. "You little jerk. You just don't know when to stop do you? Don't you ever do that again, and especially don't ever say anything remotely like that again about my MOTHER!" She accentuated the word mother with another kick to the groin.

"That's enough Haeliin." Varlon said forced calm voice. He waited a few minutes for both Tohic to recover and for him to reign in his own emotions. "So you think Aeril is only being allowed to take the test because he's my child? Well why don't we have a small test of our own, to see if that's true. If what you say is true, then you could duplicate what he did. Am I correct?"

"Anything he can do, I can do."

"Then, come back in an hour. We'll see how well you do."

"Fine." He said, as he slowly and carefully walked away.

After waiting for him to be gone he turned to Haeliin. "You went to far."

"You heard what he said! That was inexcusable, you couldn't honestly expect me to ignore that!"

"Are you saying I shouldn't expect you to follow through with all the lessons I've tried to teach you? If that's the case, we may as well just stop now." Seeing the conflicted look on her face he asked her. "Tell me, why do you want to be a member of the ashen order?"

She thought deeply about that for several minutes. "I'm not completely sure. I suppose part of it might be because you're not like my father or brothers. I remember when my mother was still alive. We were all so happy, but when mother died, father changed. I suppose we all changed. Father threw himself into his work and my brother did the same with their studies. Then I look at you, and your experience. You went through the same thing as father, but you're still full of life. I don't want to end up like my father, who's now only a shell of the man he was before."

When Varlon heard her, all his anger flowed out of him and was replaced with empathy for her. He too had lost people he loved. When he was a child, he lost his parents, and later his wife. "If that is how you truly feel, then I ask you to try and understand what makes that difference. The primary purpose of the Ashen Order is not to train you to be the best martial artist in the world. The Ashen Order is here to instruct you on the teachings of Quellious and to help you learn how to apply them. We are to try and follow her example of living peaceful lives. That means not instigating fights with others and disciplining yourself to not become a part of the fights others instigate. The path to true enlightenment can only be found when leave behind the material things that cause you anxiety and anger. This is why most monks will give up their material possessions so that they can live a simple life. Other monks will abstain from men or women, as the case may be. For yet other it's their pride. Each person is a unique individual, each with different emotions and needs."

"So what must I do?"

"I can't tell you what you must do. However, I can suggest some things which you may want to reflect on. In the midst of Tohic's words was one thing worth considering. Thus far, Tohic has had to work hard the little he does have. You on the other hand have had a privileged life, and as a result you expect things to happen because you want it to be so. Think carefully on what you want, and what you are doing to get there. Look deeply into your own soul and find what it is that is keeping you from attaining your goal. One last thing. Always seek a way to avoid violence. If something can be solved without violence, then you should do whatever it takes to do so. Violence just brings anger, fear, resentment and retribution, all of which will can easily lead you astray."

"Yes teacher." She said as she bowed to him.

He nodded in return to her and said. "Stick around, not only can you learn something, but I'm sure you'll enjoy watching as well. Go ahead and find a seat up there with the other spectator seats are. I'll call you when its time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get something, if Tohic comes back while I'm gone, tell him I'll be back soon. I need to go get something for the lesson."

She acknowledged him, with a bow of respect. Nodding his head in return, Varlon left the arena and headed toward the Ashen Order guild hall. He quickly looked for Velan and asked him for the supplies he would need. After explaining the reason for needing them, Velan laughed and give him the supplies. "I'm sorry to hear that my friend. I know it discouraging, but you mustn't give up hope. I was like him myself when I was younger, he may yet out grow this stage."

With a sigh Varlon responded. "I hope so too."

As they were talking, Braka entered the hall. "Varlon, has there been any news from Aeril?"

"No, not yet."

"That's to bad, I was wondering how he was doing on his quest. I'm looking forward to our first lesson when he comes back. It's bound to be an interesting one. Talking about lessons, how are your lessons? I heard that you had both Tohic and Haeliin today."

Varlon nodded his head. "And what a disaster it turned out to be. They were at each others throat the whole session, I'm surprised things didn't get out of hand sooner than it did."

"What happened?" Velan asked.

"Haeliin called Tohic a beggar's son, to which he countered by basically calling her dead mother a gold digger. That was the point I had to jump in to separate them, so that they didn't kill themselves. So when Tohic felt the need to tell me that the reason Aeril was allowed to take his test was because of nepotism, Haeliin took the opportunity to avenge her mother honor. Of course, the last time I heard him speaking it was about three octaves higher than normal."

Velan and Braka cringed, as they guessed what had likely happened. "So I offered him a chance to prove himself. Since he thinks Aeril is only being allowed to take the test because I'm his father, it would stand to reason that he could repeat what Aeril did. So I came to pick up a few rings and begin his midair combat training."

"Well this is going to be interesting, I think I'll come along and see how well he surpasses my student." Said Braka wryly.

With a laugh, Velan said. "As much fun as teaching Tohic some humility would be, I have a student to see soon. Just try not to have too much fun."

"Don't worry I won't. I just hope this will open his eye's a little, and help him see that we're not playing favoritism. There is so much potential in him that he just can't tap into, because he can't control his anger."

Reaching out Velan placed his hand reassuringly on Varlon's shoulder. "Don't worry my friend. He'll come around. Perhaps this is exactly what he needs. It wasn't until I realized how much I still had to learn, that I was truly able to find the inner peace I needed to truly better myself."

Remembering his own past and the event that had opened his eyes to his own inadequacies, Varlon nodded in agreement to Velan's statement. "Well, I should hurry back. He should have returned by now."

Varlon and Braka arrived at the arena, just as Tohic did. Throwing a ring to both Tohic and Haeliin, he said. "These are rings of levitation. To active it them, touch them and say 'fly.' Haeliin, mastering this will be an excellent exercise for you to help you focus as well as helping you find your center. Tohic the same of course applies to you. If you can show enough mastery to be able to spar without any problems then you will have proven your self right and I will speak with Puab about letting you take your test. Does this sound fair to you?"

With a derisive sniff Tohic said. "Ya that's fair."

Good then let's begin. Please activate your rings. He activated his own ring and waited for them to do the same. He watched as both of his students activated their rings and promptly fell flat on their backs a foot off the ground. "We'll begin with standing. Remember we are dealing with magic now, so you must concentrate on what you are doing. At least for now. Once you have the hang of it, you'll be able to move as easily in the air as you can. But for now, just look straight ahead and try and forget that you're floating."

He watched them as they struggled to stay standing for nearly ten minutes before Tohic managed to stay up. "Not bad Tohic! That's pretty good. Take some time to get used the feel of it. When you feel you're ready close your eyes and imagine yourself walking on the deck of a boat that's swaying in the winds of a storm."

Closing his eyes, Tohic did what Varlon had told him. With his eyes closed he began taking a few tentative steps. "Ok now what?" He asked.

"Imagine yourself walking up and down a big staircase or a big hill and then start walking. Take you time, there no need to hurry, you're doing really well." Turning to Haeliin, who was still having problems standing, he extended his hand out to her. While continuing to hold her hands to keep her from falling down again, he said. "Close your eyes" he told her. "Picture yourself on a small boat. Now imagine that you and the boat are in a storm. The wind and water are rocking the boat from side to side. Just picture that, and try to keep yourself from being tipped over."

She nodded her head and Varlon let go of her hands. As soon as he let her go, she began swaying back and forth. She finally began to sway less and less, until she was slowly floating up and down." Opening her eyes, she realized that she was floating. With excitement in her voice, she said. "I did it! I'm floating! I'm standing in midair!"

Smiling at her, Varlon said. "Indeed you have. Stay standing for a bit, and when you think you're ready, try taking a few steps. If you feel like you're going to fall, just try to keep yourself steady like you are now."

Varlon looked up to where Braka was and asked. "Do you mind helping Haeliin a bit, while I go work with Tohic?"

Jumping into the arena, Braka said. "Sure thing."

With a nod of thanks, Varlon turned his focus back on Tohic. Tohic was doing fairly well. He had gotten used to the up and down motion of the levitation spell, and could now walk. The problem was he was having problems moving up and down. Floating up a bit, he said to Tohic. "Try to float up to where I am."

Tohic looked up to where Varlon was and after concentrating a bit he slowly floated up to him. Nodding Varlon floated back down to where Tohic was, and said. "Ok, now try to come down to this level. Tohic looked down to where Varlon was and quickly fell to where he was. Varlon extended a hand to help him up, but Tohic ignored the gesture and stood up on his own. Sighing Varlon said. "Did you notice the difference between when you came up to me and when you came down to me?"

"Ya, I fell on my butt the second time."

Varlon shook his head. "While you did fall, that's only part of what I meant. When you looked down and noticed how far off the ground you were. Your natural reaction was to expect to fall. The magic on you translated that to mean that you wanted to move down really quickly. However, when you tried to move up, you moved up very slowly. I'm guessing you pictured yourself climbing a steep hill, and that you had to forcibly concentrate on that several times to keep moving upwards. Am I right?"

Tohic nodded his head. "Ya, so? You were the one who told me to do it that way."

"I'm not saying you're doing it wrong. That's a good way to picture it. What you need to do now, is to try move up and down at the same speed."

"Ok, so how am I supposed to do that?"

"You just have to keep practicing it. It'll come to you."

Before he could say more, they heard someone say. "Excuse me."

Everyone turned to see an elf with light-blue skin say. "Which one of you is Varlon? I have a letter for you, and the ogre at the gates said you'd be here."

"I'm Varlon."

He jumped down into the arena and walked to up to Varlon. "Here you go sir. It's from Aeril."

"Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

Salvin shook his head. "Don't worry about it, it's on me. However, if you could tell me where I can find a Kryn, I have a letter for her as well."

Shaking his head, Varlon said. "No, I'm sorry, I don't know where she lives, and I haven't seen her since before Aeril left. Sorry I couldn't help you."

"That's all right. I'm sure I'll find a way to give her, her letter. By the way, I'll be back in about a month with another letter. If you have a letter written by the time I come back, I'll be able to give him your letter the next time I see him."

"Thank you. I'll make sure to have one written by the time you come back."

Nodding his head to Varlon, Salvin turned and floated up and out of the arena. After he left Braka asked Varlon. "Is that who I think it was?"

"Yes indeed." Replied Varlon.

"That new girlfriend of his sure has some important friends."

Varlon momentarily frowned at Braka's choice of words to describe Aeril's dark elf companion. "Yes, well — I still have some students to teach. Tohic how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine."

"Haeliin? How are you doing?"

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of it."

"Why don't you go and read your letter while I continue to help Haeliin? There really isn't much you can do to help Tohic now, so go ahead and read your letter."

"Thank you." He said as he took a seat and opened the letter.

Dear Varlon

How are ya? Sorry I haven't written ya earlier, hope ya weren't too worried. Farfield is the first town that we've come to since Nearfield with a bard's guild. By the time you get this, we should be on the last stretch of the Commonlands before we get to the wizard pyramid. I haven't been able to get any of the things I need to finish my quest, but Maji says theirs plenty of opportunities to get them still. Oh ya before I forget, don't worry about Maji. She is definitely ain't like most dark elves. I mean how many dark elves do you know pay actually pay respect to the queen of love? Anyway once we reach the pyramid, we'll be off to Toxxulia forest, then the Faydark, and finally Nektulos. Maji says I should have everything I need by then.

The trips ain't nearly as bad as a lot of people said it would be, I've actually had a lot of fun. I guess traveling with someone is much better than going by yourself. We've even found a new city! I didn't get how no one else had noticed it before, but Maji said we had gone off a bit from the main road when we noticed it. The towns called Median, and its actually about half way between Nearfield and Farfield. It's really odd town though, and that made Maji get paranoid (don't tell her I said that, she'd likely kill me for saying she's paranoid.) You see the entire town is like rich half the time, and then poor the other half. Like this one guard we met when we got there, Maji said she must have been wearing several thousand platinum in equipment and stuff. But then the next time we see her, she's wearing a farmers work clothes!

This town had everything from hot springs to theaters, we even found a world class chef here. He runs this little restaurant there, that we went to eat at. He made us some of the best food I've had in my life! He said he's even cooked for the king of Qeynos, Antonious Bayle himself! I don't know half the stuff he cooked for us, but Maji said that the food she picked out for us was supposed to be really extravagant and very expensive. We even stayed there an extra day so that she could eat some more from there.

The thing I liked the most of the town was the hedge maze. It had some magic on it that changed the maze so that it was always different. We ended up spend a long time there, cuz there's just so much you can do. First we just walked through it, then we tried did a timed run, and later even a few games like tag. Let me tell you playing tag with a dark elf in a maze is not easy!

There have only been two not so good things happen during the trip. The first is also the most embarrassing. Apparently there's a small difference between the way humans and dark elves look at modesty. It's taking a lot of time to get used to. A real lot of time. The second thing Maji got paranoid again. It was so small that we coulda easily not seen it. You see when we got to town we saw that guard I told you about earlier and when she introduced herself she also introduced the guard with her, as her husband. But when we left town, he was standing guard at the gate we were leaving from. As were leaving he shook our hand, and that's when Maji noticed something wrong. Mechigia, the girl, was wearing a velium wedding ring, while he was wearing a golden wedding ring. So now Maji's all suspicious again, but thankfully she didn't decide to stay figure it out, or we'd probably still be there.

Two days after we left Median, I saw my first willowisp. Now I understand why so many people dislike them, and have you ever seen how small they are? They're like fireflies from hell or something. Well I said two days, but I guess I shoulda said two nights after we left Median. About two hours after I had gone to sleep one of them came into my tent and fly just above my head. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when there's a bright light floating just above you eyes making that buzzing sound they make? I woulda kept trying to sleep if Maji hadn't come into the tent to tell me I should just wake up and ignore it, since it would just keep doing that until it got bored of us and went to find someone else to bother. But even then it just kept flying around us for like another hour, before it finally did get bored and left. I was surprised by how bright it was.

After that, all we did was just walk to Farfield. Not much to say about that, nothing exciting really happened we just walked and talked all day. Not much really to say about Farfield. It's a lot bigger than either Median or Nearfield, but no where near anything like Freeport. There also seems to be a lot of rich people here too. According to Maji lots of people who used to be adventurers and made a good amount of money live here now. Between Median and Farfield, I don't think I could tell you which is richer. In Median the people seem about as likely to show off their money as they were to look like simple farmers. On the other hand, in Farfield everyone looked like they were trying to impress everyone. Maji says that Farfield is a trade town, which is another reason they have lots of money. She says the town has some kind of arrangement with the local militia. Really the only thing of note about Farfield was seeing Salvin. I was really surprised to see Salvin when we got there. Maji said I should take advantage of him being there and write a letter to you, since I won't be able to again until we reach Erudin. So until then take care, and tell Kryn Braka, and Boomba hi for me.

Love always

Aeril.

Varlon continued to stare at the letter in his hand for some time after reading it. He sighed deeply for a minute before placing the letter back in the envelope it came in and turning to look at his students. He noticed how engrossed Tohic was in his lesson. When he was in student mode, he was a great student and a joy to teach. He was very devoted to learning what was being taught to him, often not trying unceasingly until he learned the maneuver. None of his other students had the same kind of burning passion he did. He knew few people who could match the intensity and devotion that Tohic displayed when he was learning. Tohic's downfall came whenever he wasn't trying to learn something. When not learning Tohic would allow himself to get caught up in his emotion. Jealousy, anger, and resentment were chief amongst the emotions he would often allow to control him.

As he thought back to when Aeril was younger, he realized Aeril could have grown up similarly. Aeril had always been an emotional child, often changing forms often in the course of a day. Nevertheless, like Tohic, Aeril used to allow himself to be controlled by his emotions. He especially had the bad habit of taunting and insulting others when he was frustrated or angry.

Haeliin also reminded him of Aeril. Haeliin had an earnest desire to better herself as a person through the martial arts and the teachings of Quellious. The difference between her and Tohic was that Tohic wanted to learn so he could be better than everyone else. Unfortunately Haeliin already came with that attitude, when she was admitted into the Ashen Order. She often treated others as if they were beneath them. While Aeril hadn't been quite as bad as Haeliin, he did begin to start acting a bit arrogant after having he had begun taking lessons in the art. For a time Aeril became obsessed with being the best. His skill in the art only added to his pride.

It had taken him a long time to move Aeril away from those bad habits. They had worried him greatly because he was afraid Aeril would begin to think of himself invincible and blindly get involved with a fight that could end up fatal mistake for him. He still hadn't completely lost his pride, as he could see a bit of the cocky attitude he once displayed. In fact, it might be better said that he converted his pride into a sense of self worth. All the teasing Aeril had received after he had found him, seriously hurt Aeril's self esteem. That of course meant he began to spend more time as an elf, which in turn made the children tease him more. It had gotten so bad that for a period of several months he spent nearly all of his waking hours in his elf from. It was at that point that he, in desperation, began to teach Aeril the art to help him get his mind of the things the other kids said.

He was actually quite surprised at how well he took to it. It was almost an immediate change in Aeril, changing him from the sad and shy child he was into the carefree and friendly person he was currently. Of course after all he did to help Aeril get to that state, all that was nearly undermined in one day. That day was the day that Aeril had to kill an orc for the first time. It was not to long before Boomba first arrived, when he used to fight the wandering skeletons not too far from the Freeport gates. He got a good distance away from the main road when a lone orc pawn caught sight of him and attacked.

Until this time, Aeril practiced simply for the sake of the art. Whenever he sparred with another it was always until one gave up, one scored five points, or it was called to an end by a trainer. Naturally, that orc of course had no intentions of giving up or stopping after five points. She immediately ran back to their house covered in the orc's blood and a haunted look on her face. It was days before she was able to deal with the feeling of feelings of disgust and self loathing that came from killing another person, even if they were an enemy. Despite being an unrealistic expectation, he had hoped to shield Aeril from having to experience that unfortunate side of life. He still wasn't exactly sure what it was that prompted Aeril to get out of bed and back to his normal life, but he was extremely grateful that he did.

Varlon was started when he felt someone grab his shoulder. "Varlon? What's wrong? What does the letter say?"

"Oh um sorry about that, I must not have heard you. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes already. What's wrong? What does the letter say?"

"Oh nothing much, he was just telling me about his trip. He also asked me to say hi to you for him."

Braka visibly relaxed a lot. "Well thank goodness. I was beginning to worry that something bad might have happened."

"It's apparently it's more of the opposite. He and Maji found a wealthy new village in the Commonlands, and were pampered like kings."

Varlon glanced at his students for a minute. "Would you mind continuing working with Haeliin for a bit longer for me?"

"No problem at all."

"Thank you he told Braka, before turning to Tohic. "Tohic, I'm going to go now, just keep practicing like you're doing now. Let's meet again in three days. I want to see you able to move vertically just as easily as you horizontally."

Turning to Haeliin, he said. "Keep practicing with Braka for a while. We'll meet again. In two days."

Haeliin began to bow, but stopped when she started to loose her balance. "Yes teacher. Have a good day. I'll see you in two days." Varlon smiled and nodded his head at her before turning back to his empty home.

**************

As Aeril and Maji walked through Freeport's westernmost province known as West Commons, they stared at the dark grey clouds that hid the moon and threatened them with a storm. Aeril, in elf form, regarded those dark storm clouds with a look resignation similar to someone awaiting certain death. Next to him, Maji had the exact opposite look. Maji looked like a child eagerly waiting to open a gift. Both had looked at the other's face, and were puzzled why the other felt the way they did. Finally Maji got tired of her companions depressing attitude and asked. "What's making you so miserable that you went elf on me? I'm in a good mood, and you're making me lose it."

"Cuz it's gonna rain. I've always hated the rain." She answered in a whining tone.

"Why?"

"I've always just hated it, ever since I was a little kid. I mean it's always cold and gloomy, not to mention whenever it rains I get this weird feeling like something bad is going to happen."

"Don't let a follower of Karana hear you that, it would not be pretty." With a sigh she said. "I just don't understand you. How could you hate rain?! That's one of the best things about the surface world."

"Ya well, what's so good about it?"

"Everything!" Turning to face the wind, she took off the hood of her robe, spread her arms and threw her head back relishing the wind. The wind immediately picked up her snowy hair and tossed it about, creating the illusion of a small blizzard. She basked in wind with her eyes closed for several minutes. "Feel that wind! Isn't it wonderful? We don't have wind like this underground in Neriak or its provinces, if you want to feel the wind you have to live on the surface. This wind alone is reason enough to like rain, and this isn't anything to the wind that's gonna hit us soon. The best wind the harbinger of a storm."

Aeril looked away from Maji and turned toward the oncoming rain. She closed her eyes and groaned when she saw that she was going to be wet in a few seconds. Hearing her groan, Maji responded. "Oh stop your whining! You're getting to be as bad as most human women, who complain over the slightest thing."

Just then the rain reached them, soaking them quit thoroughly. "Ok, ok. Let's just set up camp and get out of this rain." Said the obviously upset redhead.

"No. We're going to keep going."

"What! I don't want to keep going, all I want to do is to make a tent so I can get out of this dumb rain."

"Well that's too bad. We've got a schedule to keep. We have to reach the pyramid before the week is over, and we've gone too far astray to stop now. Besides we're much too close to befallen for my taste. There is no way I'm staying anywhere near that hell-hole. I don't care that it's supposed to be part of the old elven empire full of treasures and magic artifacts. Just being near that place gives me the creeps! They say those who die there are reanimated as undead the following day."

"Maji! Come on don't be like this! From what the people in Farfield said, befallen is still more than a day's walk from here. Come on! I really don't like the rain." Aeril asked pleadingly.

This fight with Aeril was quickly souring Maji's mood. It had been a long time since she had been in a storm like this, and she had been hoping to fully enjoy it. "Fine!" She spat. "If that's what you want go ahead and make your blasted tent. However when we get to the pyramid and my friend isn't there to port us free; you can be the one to fork up the twenty platinum to pay for the port. I'm going for a walk, don't wait up I'll be back when I come back."

Aeril watched as Maji angrily walked away. She didn't want Maji to get mad, all she wanted to do was get out of the rain for a while. She couldn't believe how upset she had gotten over something so little, and that was what was really making her feel bad. Aeril didn't like being the cause of another's unhappiness. Maji unhappy just because she wasn't really fair of her. One thing that she had learned about Maji was that she felt that to be happy now meant she would have to pay for it in the future. Yet while misery was the price to pay for happiness, Maji didn't think that sadness was rewarded with happiness. Aeril couldn't even begin to understand what her life must have been like to make take up such a depressing view of life.

The knowledge that she not only caused her friend sadness, but that she also further reinforced Maji's twisted and morbid view of life was too much. Despite how much she hated the rain, she hated seeing Maji the way she was. Nodded her head determinedly, she decided she would prove to Maji that she was wrong. Aeril took off running in the direction Maji has walked off to. She didn't have to run long before she found Maji and she called out to her. "Maji hold on a sec."

Maji paused and turned to face her. "Yes?"

"You said we have to be at the pyramid before the weeks over right?"

Maji nodded her head. "Yes." She answered slowly.

"Ok, then let's go."

Maji gave her a quizzical look. "Didn't you say you wanted to setup camp?"

Aeril shrugged. "I changed my mind."

"Really?" she asked in a wry voice.

"Yes, now hurry up before I have to leave you." Aeril said making a show about leaving her behind.

"You do realize you're walking toward Freeport right?" Maji asked wryly.

Aeril stopped and scratched the base of her drenched pigtail. "Uh — ya! Of course I knew that."

Maji laughed. "Sure you did! Come on Red, I think the way you want to go is this way."

Aeril sighed and walked with Maji toward the pyramid. Despite being completely drenched and embarrassed, she was beginning feeling much better. Brushing away her wet bangs plastered to her face by the rain, she asked Maji. "So who's this friend of yours we're going to meet?"

"An acquaintance of my father. She'll be the one to port us to all are destinations. A bit of warning now, she may not exactly approve of me traveling with you, especially if you're an elf when we meet her. So try not to let her intimidate you, it'll likely just make it worse."

"What? She ain't gonna do, anything to me is she?"

Maji shook her head. "Nope. She'll likely just try to intimidate you. It's the whole 'good' dark elf thing."

"Good dark elf thing? Shouldn't that maker her nicer?"

Maji laughed. "Of course not. The most guarded, cynical, and distant dark elves or the ones that believe in good."

"You're not."

"However said I was 'good?' The two of us traveling together doesn't really prove anything. The way I see it, you could look at it two ways. Depending on the way you look at it, I could either be helping you in return for you're help in my quest, or I'm using you to finish my quest and you finishing your quest is in reality of no consequence to me one way or the other. But in a way, I suppose may be right. I'm a bit more lax than those 'good' dark elves that live in Neriak. However I would appreciate it if you didn't try and place a label on me like that. In Neriak —"

Maji suddenly stopped as she heard a distant roar. Aeril looked at her and said. "I think that's an orc battle cry!"

"Well come on then what are you waiting for, you have a quest to finish."

The two quickly ran toward the war cry. They didn't have to run very long before they found a small caravan under attack. With a quick glance they estimated no less than fifty people, mostly human, with a couple of barbarians, erudites, and half elves. There eyes though where quickly drawn to the most dangerous trio of the group.

The first was the orc whose war cry they had heard, who was savagely attacking what looked like a group of farmers. Next was a female ogre, who while armed with a large pike was standing at a distance from the actual battle to cast spells. The third was by far the most intimidating of the entire group, and the easiest to see of them all. He was an ogre mounted on a large lizard, wearing black armor engraved with a skull and one handedly wielding a claymore.

She quickly put her arm out in front of Aeril to stop him from rushing off into the fight. "Why are you stopping me, we gotta go help them?"

"And who exactly are you going to help?"

"What do you mean?"

"Besides the orc and the two ogres, who are the 'bad guys?' Can you even tell who the attackers and the defenders are?"

Aeril looked embarrassed. "Uh no, not really."

"Then how were you planning to 'help' if you didn't know who you were supposed to help? Never mind. The one's dressed in black are the attackers, so go after them. However, before you run off to right wrongs and triumph over evil and all that good guy stuff, just remember almost everyone there, is night blind. So the innocent victims you're going to try and save might just turn on you thinking you're the bad guy."

"Aren't you going to help?"

"You want me to risk my neck for a bunch of human farmers, who would just as soon see me dead along with their attackers?" Seeing she was going to protest Maji said. "Just go help them. I'll back you up from over here, but don't think I'm going to lay my life down for them if there's no hope of winning. If things turn south, so will I. Now hurry up and get over there, the longer you take, the more people are likely going to die."

Nodding once, Aeril ran to battle. Maji waited for Aeril to pick a target before she began casting her spell. She managed to finish casting the spell just when Aeril hit the man. Although she didn't know why she could cast that spell and not any of the other evocation spells available to her as a wizard, she knew it was an extremely powerful spell. It was a particularly effective spell since it had more than just hurt her targets. She'd seen many of those struck by that spell react in a variety of odd ways, from running away to actually attacking themselves for several seconds. Looking for the secondary effect of her spell she noticed that the man began to convulse violently, and while most everyone shook a little after being hit, it wasn't usually that bad.

With a frown, she noticed that Aeril had jumped slightly when her target was hit, really confused her. She had asked him about it after they had fought the orcs, when she first noticed it, and she had answered by saying that she had felt an odd shiver. She thought it was strange since she felt the same shiver every time she cast the spell herself. Yet no one else that she knew ever felt anything like that when they cast it or another similar spell.

The three men her target had been harassing acted quickly and attacked him while he was convulsing. Maji didn't even need to cast a second spell as the three men quickly killed the man. She was about to smirk at that, when she saw them turn on Aeril.

Maji was about to begin casting her spell, but Aeril sensed the attack, and easily avoided them. It was lucky for them that just then a streak of lightning illuminated the battle field, showing the men who they were attacking. Realizing Aeril was a wood elf, they immediately backed off. Unfortunately, the lightning worked against as well, as one a nearby barbarian noticed that his buddy was dead and charged in to defend them. Luckily, Aeril was paying attention this time, and she grabbed the arm of the human men and pulled him out of the way.

The other men who hadn't noticed the attacking barbarian decided that she was a threat after all and attacked her as well. Aeril dove to the side to avoid the three-sided attack. Not waiting for them to attack her again, she quickly attacked the barbarian. However, as soon she punch him, she jump back shaking her hand as if in pain. Maji realized the man was wearing some type of armor, which Aeril unknowingly struck.

Seeing a staff on the floor next to her, Aeril tucked her foot under it and kicked it up. No doubt, she realized the futility of trying to attack and armored man with her bear fist. The barbarian didn't even bother facing her way, as he quickly began on the farmers. Aeril returned to the fight, just as the barbarian stabbed a farmer with his pike. With a yell of anger, Aeril lashed out with the staff in her hand and hit the man in the back of his head. The barbarian stumbled forward into the other farmer knock him down, before turning to face Aeril. Seeing Aeril the barbarian began to laugh. Maji supposed the sight of a fourteen-year-old elf girl probably wasn't the most fearsome sight the barbarian had ever seen, nevertheless it was the wrong thing to do.

Aeril moved in quickly, using the staff to vault up to kick the northern man in the face, but Maji didn't give the man time to react as she quickly began casting her spell to finish him off. Just then a flash large flash of blue light caught Maji's attention. Turning left she saw a shower of ice raining down upon a group of men at a distance, killing two men and seriously hurting the others. She quickly turned to see where the magical attack came from, and scowled as she saw an erudite wizard standing far from the group. "Great, a forehead wizard, just what I needed."

Maji disdained erudites, and erudite wizards even more so. Their pompous superior attitude grated on her nerves like none other, surpassing even her contempt for high elves by a great deal. What truly upset her though, was that when dealing with the arcane they often were better than everyone else. It was almost degrading when one considered that erudites where nothing more than humans who had magically mutated themselves to have more control of the arcane.

The price for such power was relatively minor, yet it was a price she would never pay. For she, as all dark elves, highly valued both beauty and perfection. No blemish even as minor as increasing the size of their foreheads until it was roughly two or three times large longer than the average human, would be considered acceptable. She couldn't even accept something as seemingly inconsequential as length of hair, was for her too much; she loved her long exquisite snowy hair. She, as most dark elves, simply took too much pride in the way she looked to simply give it up for something that would affect her children more than her.

As such, they were quite quick to point out that they didn't need to mutilate themselves to achieve that kind of power. After all, it took centuries of deforming themselves, just to get to the point where they were slightly better. There was even a popular dark elf joke on how to create an erudite. Simply take the body of human and remove his hair and stretch its head until it's forehead was twice it's normal size. Then give him the intelligence like a dark elf, the charm of a dwarf, and a triple portion of high elven arrogance, and you would have created your own erudite.

Each year, hundreds of dark elven babies and children would be abandoned in the forest for the animals and undead to deal with for having even the slightest blemish. A major thing when one considers the fact that while dark elves were more fertile than most other elves, they had great difficulty when trying to conceive. Yet most dark elves wouldn't even give it a second thought, despite the fact they may not have another for years or decades. Then again, when one considers a dark elf's normal thirst for power, she could see where weaker elves might have been tempted to partake of its forbidden fruit. However since the spell had long since been lost it was somewhat pointless to consider.

Still she always felt repulsed at having to look at erudites, since one's eyes where all but drawn to their hideously large foreheads. Not surprisingly, this erudite was no different. Although he apparently had the forethought to somehow cast some spell to correct his inability to see at night, since she noticed him turn to look at her. Maji tensed as she prepared herself for a possible magical onslaught, since the threat of being attacked by any wizard was not something one took lightly. She would likely need her full concentration to try and deflect the spell, especially considering it was coming from an erudite.

It turned out to be a waste of time, as the erudite turned away from to concentrate on the battle. Maji's fists clenched in anger at the way she was so callously disregarded, that simple act lit the furnace of her anger as no one else ever had. She may not have been able to invoke the awesome destructive powers of other wizards, but she would be damned before she would let anyone disregard her as if she were no threat at all! Turning to face the erudite, she made a quick gesture at him while eliciting her magic. Without a pause she continued her spell casting, which caused a black sphere to momentarily appear around his neck, and choking him as the sphere began shrinking quickly. Now, whether it was a good idea or not, she had his undivided attention. Maji began casting her main attack spell as quickly as she could, since she knew when he started casting his, things were going to get really ugly.

***********

This battle was really upsetting Aeril. Not only did she have the problem of having to fight people wearing metal armor, but she also had to deal with accidentally being attacked by those she was trying to help. Of course it wasn't there fault really, since the only real light they had was the occasional flash of lighting. One thing she quickly noticed was that attackers where not having the same problem, which was odd since most of them were human. She also noticed that they severely outnumbered the robbers. Unfortunately as the fight wore on, they were quickly losing that advantage.

While there seemed to be several trained fighters in the group, the majority were just farmers, or merchants that were most likely heading to Freeport sell there food and stuff. Unfortunately those non-fighters were getting killed left and right. To make things worse, those non-fighters were getting in the way. A few were actually being somewhat helpful but too many weren't, and it was frustrating her to no end.

She was also upset about having to use a weapon. While her order did teach her how to use certain weapons like staffs, but she really didn't like it. However, not using it right now, would be really bad idea since punching metal armor hurt her more then the people she was fighting. She was extremely lucky that they weren't completely covered by there armor as the guards in Freeport, so they weren't completely invulnerable.

Aeril was also starting to get tired, all the weaving and dodging she'd been doing was wearing her out. However she knew she couldn't afford to turn human right now, since that severely limit her ability to both fight and defend herself. Turning human meant becoming as blind as those around him, so she stepped back from the fighting for a moment to catch her breath.

As she did, she thought about how the fight had been going. She quickly noticed that, Maji hadn't done much in the last little bit. That concerned her, since Maji wasn't wearing an illusion. Although with her dark skin, she wouldn't be as noticeable. Still, her magic would quickly draw attention to herself. If she were attacked, she wouldn't likely last long. Now extremely concerned, she began glancing around, trying to find her. A flash of light caught her attention to the left of her.

Turning quickly she saw the glow of two people casting magic. Before Maji could finish casting her spell, she surround by a blue glow. The glow of magic that was coming from her as she cast her spell immediately disappeared, as Maji stopped moving her hands in the odd ways that she normally did when using magic. Forgetting the fight around her, Aeril started running toward Maji. Maji didn't wait to long before trying to cast again, but unfortunately so did her opponent. She could see the beginning of the blue glow that had hit Maji begin to come from the erudite.

Like before, Maji was surrounded by the blue glow before she had finished casting her spell. Unlike the last time, she did finish her spell. The multicolored glow of her attack spell surround the erudite, and he began quivering from powerful effects of the spell. Not waiting for the man to recover she began again, before he could recover and retaliate. Unfortunately he managed to shake off the effect before she could finish, and likewise began casting. This time both of them finished their spells simultaneously, and both of them where surrounded by the destructive glows of their spells. When the glow dissipated however, Maji wobbled about for a second before falling.

Aeril's eye widened with fear, and began running further. She cursed herself for getting so far away from her; If only she had stayed closer, she could've protected her. But instead, she had managed to move far away form her, and now she had to weave through a battlefield just to get to her.

She had been doing fairly well avoiding the combatants, and she was almost there. However, her luck avoiding the battle ran out, as the orc, who had alerted them to the battle, blocked his way. She better than to try and bypass him, as he would have just followed her and possibly hurt Maji. With a shout of fury, Aeril jumped at the orc staff in hand. That however, was when her body changed on her.

He quickly struck with his staff, and tried to get used to the unexpected darkness. Luckily for him, there seemed to be a light source somewhere nearby. Because of the change, he missed target. However, it also confused the orc, since the elf he was fighting suddenly turned into a human. Aeril took that moment of distraction to his advantage and attacked him again. He slammed the butt of the staff into the orc's gut, making him double over. He then brought the staff upward catching under the chin, making him reel backward a few steps. Tripping the orc with his staff, Aeril drove the staff down as hard as he could on the orcs sternum.

When the orc stopped moving, Aeril immediately began running toward Maji again. When he reached her and saw on laying on ground, he suddenly found to breath, followed by him turning back to his elven form. "MAJI!" She all but yelled as knelt down and shook her, and was thankfully answered by gasp of pain. "Are you ok?"

"I won't be if you keep doing that!" She said raggedly.

Aeril immediately let go of Maji. Taking a second look at her, Aeril noticed that Maji's skinned had turned a light shade of purple. "You scared me, I saw you on floor and I thought ...." She decided not to finish that thought, and changed the subject. "What happened to your skin, it's turned purple. Are you ok?"

"I took three direct hits from and erudite wizard. Of course I'm not ok, but I'll survive. I managed to deflect a portion of blast, but that last one really spent me. He went all out on that one, I almost wasn't able to resist it. My legs gave out a seconds, so I decided to try and play it off in case my spell didn't kill him. That way if he would think he won, and I could get him while he was distracted."

Aeril looked like wanted to say something, but before she could speak, Maji began trying to stand. "We can talk later, right now let's win the battle. Help me stand up, my legs are still a bit weak."

Aeril took her hand to help her stand, but Maji winced in pain. "What's wrong?"

"Minor frostbite. Pull me up."

"But you're hurt..." Aeril tried to reason.

"I said I'll survive. So drop it."

"Sorry, excuse me for caring." She said, as she helped her up.

"Yes, but your caring is going to get us both killed. You don't stop to converse when there's a battle taking place. In fact, that's how people get killed."

"Ok so now what?"

Maji looked at the around. They were thankfully away from where all the fighting was. The number of combatants had been significantly reduced. In fact most if not all the non-combatants where either dead or dying. Which isn't to say that those who were trained for combat did much better, since many of them were laid out as well. "You'd better go help mop up over there, while I like for someone to who'll tell me what this was all about."

"How are you gonna do that?"

Maji smiled and reached for her adventurer's pouch and took out a large dagger. Aeril saw many runes etched into the blade running the length of the dagger, leading up to an odd symbol on the pommel. It was obviously magical an very expensive, and she wondered how Maji had gotten it. "Oh they'll talk when they see this, trust me."

Aeril looked at her and shrugged. "Ok, if you say so." Giving her one last glance, Aeril left to help. As soon as he was far enough away, she sighed and sunk to her knees. She took a few seconds to gather her strength, since Aeril would come back if she saw her like that. While she had told Aeril the truth, she severely understated just how strong they were. Trying to resists those spells took almost as much out of her as the actual blast, especially the last one. If she had been it by it at full power, she wouldn't have survived.

Deciding that was enough of a break, she set out to find someone in a black armor. She found the orc easily enough, but he wasn't in any condition to give answers anytime soon, so she kept walking to find another. After a bit of searching she found a dying barbarian, and smiled as she came into his view.

The Maji saw the barbarians response almost immediately, fear. It was exactly the response she had been expecting. Barbarians were a primitive people, and really good at drinking and fighting. However, they also tended to worship spirits, as well as their patron deities. The brute obviously thought she was a necromancer here to take his soul, and reanimate his remains to serve her heinous intentions. Which would of course deny him entrance to whatever it was barbarians had for an afterlife.

However just because she likely hated most necromancers as much as him, didn't mean she was going to tell him that. Kneeling down, to both scare him further and rest, she said. "Ok, we can do this two ways. Either you tell me the information I want to know, or..." She brought her dagger into view. "Or I kill you, and get the answers then?"

"I don't know anything honest..." He said fearfully.

"You're lying. Here look at this dagger a second, do you know what this is?" Seeing the fear intensify she took that for a yes.

"Do you know what this dagger means?" She asked ever so sweetly.

"Yes...." He whispered.

Continuing in her sweet voice, Maji said. "Good. Now why don't you tell me everything you know." She finished her sentence by quickly stabbing it into the ground next to his cheek where he could be feel and see the blade.

"I d — " She twisted the dagger a bit so that the sharp bit ever so slightly into skin, drawing a small trickle of blood.

"You were saying?"

Gulping deeply. "We were payed to ambush the caravan, and steal a few crates."

"Who hired you?"

"I don't know." She twisted it more drawing more blood. "It's the truth, I'm just a flunky. The boss just told us we were gonna knock off the caravan and that once we got the crates, we could have whatever else we wanted."

Maji nodded and twisted the dagger away. "Ok, then where are the crates and what's in them?"

"I don't really know. But boss said it was being shipped from some rich family in Qeynos, so it should be in the fancy carriage. But I don't know anything about the crates, other than they gotta some kinda mark of a two headed dragon."

That immediately caught her attention. "Two headed dragon? You were really playing with fire. Where were you supposed to meet your contact to turn in the crates?"

"Don't know."

"I see...." Maji was about to leave she saw his hand. "Is that an insignia ring your wearing?" He nodded his head. "You wouldn't mind if I took that from you would you?"

She gave him a chance to actually consent, before she pocketed the ring. She was starting to get up again, when he said. "Wait!" He said hesitating. "Before you leave..."

Maji didn't wait for him to finish, and lashed out with her dagger. It was quick and painless, though she didn't know whether or not he actually realized she had done it before he died. A minute later, she stood and quickly left for the carriage. ****************

Aeril usually disliked weapons, but she had to grudgingly admit that the staff was coming in very handy. She had never really practiced with a staff before, but she was having little difficulty including it into her fighting style. Best of all, she was able to seamlessly move between using the staff and fighting unarmed. A tactic that was extremely confusing to her opponents, as it was very hard for them to figure out how to attack or defend themselves. Which was a good thing, since she was currently being double teamed.

The majority of those with fighting experience had gone after the leaders, leaving her and another to both finish off the remaining bandits as well as protecting the non-fighters still alive. Her only companions were a half elf couple. She was guessing the male was a ranger and the female was a druid. They made a very effective pair, and had obviously fought together for a long time. He dove into battle, while she stood aside and backed him up with her spells. In an odd way, it reminded her of herself and Maji. Of course her and Maji didn't work nearly as good together as the pair of half elves did, but given time they might get to that level of familiarity.

She decided to postpone her musing, when an sword nearly hit her. She turned to face her attacker, and was momentarily shocked to see a human girl her age. Her shock didn't last long, as the human girl was quick to come at her again. Aeril twisted away from the girls lunge, bringing her behind the girl. Before she could attack her however, her second attacker came at her. Aeril easily moved out of the way, only to have to dodge the human girl again.

All this dodging and weaving was getting on her nerves. Neither of the two humans were good enough to hit her, but together they were quick enough to keep her on the defensive. She quickly formulated a plan in her mind, she just hoped the staff was strong enough. Aeril carefully began to slow the speed in which she was dodging, making it look like was starting to get tired to the two humans. As expected they started becoming overconfident, and unknowingly lowered their guard a bit. The drop in their guard wasn't much, but it was all Aeril needed. She waited until the human girl made another lunge at her with her rapier, before jumping back into full speed. Aeril spun behind the girl, and pushed her off balance with the staff, before turning about and quickly roundhousing the second. Both were caught completely off guard, giving Aeril time to capitalize on her advantage.

Aeril delivered sharply an elbow the back of the second humans head, driving him into the ground unconscious. Aeril turned to face the black haired girl, who was just starting to regain her balance. She was obviously not very happy, and began calling out a string of profanities at her. Aeril stood there with her hands behind her head giving her a bored look, which of course served to anger her that much more. The girl was smart enough though, not to charge in like a mad bull. Instead she moved her rapier to her right hand and slowly began to circle around Aeril. She was further angered when Aeril didn't turn to face her, and kept her back to her. She felt extremely tempted to charge in and skewer the annoying red haired elf, but thought better of it. Instead, she returned her rapier to her scabbard, and grabbed the weapon she held at her waist. She took a few steps forward, and waited for Aeril to react. When the elf girl didn't even so much as twitch, she smiled maliciously and moved in to attack.

******

Maji quickly found the carriage and looked around for anyone who might be guarding it. Not finding anyone, she quickly found the door and went inside. She scowled at the lavish inside of the carriage that obviously belonged to a human. Leave it to a human to travel in a carriage that all but carried a glowing sign that said. "I'M RICH, PLEASE ROB ME!" It absolutely boggled her mind that this carriage could have traveled over a thousand miles form Qeynos, and not have been robbed earlier! Pushing such thoughts out of her head, she quickly began looking for the crate she came to investigate.

The carriage was far larger than normal, in fact it seemed to have been built for the express purpose of carrying special or important cargo. There was no doubt that the cargo was completely all contraband. Unfortunately who ever made the carriage was smart enough to hid the entrance to the storage compartment very well. But considering she had spent the years before she began learning magic loading and unloading similar carriages, she knew exactly where the door was. She threw the noble's seat cushion aside and unlatched the lock. The seat came off from the wall revealing the storage compartment behind it.

Inside she found many crates each with a different mark, all of which belonged to a prominent member of the Freeport, Highhold, or Qeynos underground. She quickly found the crate she was looking for next to the crate marked for Opal Darkbriar. That was quite surprising as Opal Darkbriar was the virtual ruler of the dark elves who lived in Freeport. She was tempted to look inside, but thought better of it. Everyone knew that upsetting Opal Darkbriar was not conducive for a long healthy, as she was the single most powerful person in all of Freeport.

Maji opened the crate and looked inside. She frowned as she didn't see what was so important about the shipment that someone would hire so many thugs to intercept it. She began digging further down, being very careful to remember where to return each piece when she was done. The person that was designated by the double dragon head, while not as powerful as Opal Darkbriar, was not one to be messed with. He was extremely particular about the way he wanted things, and putting something out of place would be very bad.

Ignoring the part partitioned for unsold items for now, she started with the things that had already been sold. For the most part it was all mundane contraband like Neriak Nectar, Blackburrow Stout, and Minotaur Hero Brew, all of which were drinks outlawed by either Freeport or Qeynos. It wasn't until she reached the bottom of the crate that she found it. She gasped in surprise, as she slowly reached in to grab it the sword. Her hand stopped inches from picking up the sword when she saw the sapphires imbedded into hilt. Slowly and almost reverently Maji picked up the sword. The moment she did, she felt a painful shock run between her and the sword. The pain quickly went away, but it was the final proof of what the sword was. "An Indigo Sabre of Innoruuk." She said quietly, as if afraid to be heard.

The Indigo Sabre was a special sword made by the best of dark elven smiths using adamantite, and tempered with Neriak nectar, elven blood, and the very essence of shadows. It was a rare and wondrous sight for any dark elf to behold. But this sword was much more significant than just any indigo saber, for this sword had been imbued with the powers of Innoruuk himself. This sword could only truly be wielded by one of either dark elf blood or by one who worshiped Innoruuk. She was shocked despite being a dark elf, because she didn't worship Innoruuk. However anyone else who tried to use that sword, would feel pain ten times stronger than she had felt moments ago.

She frowned as she put the sword back in it's place along with all the other things she had taken out. Once she returned everything to it's place, she retrieved a parchment from her and began writing. "I took a few things, consider it payment for saving your shipment. Maji." Placing the parchment into the crate, she then began looking through the unsold items. She didn't find anything of any particular interest to her, but two things did catch her eye. Both of which would be perfect for Aeril. She quickly pocketed the items and decided to leave, before the battle finished and the others returned. She quickly closed the crate, and left the storage compartment. After making sure the it was back the way it was supposed to be, she left the carriage and headed toward the fight; not once noticing the man hiding underneath it.

*******

Aeril once again found herself on the defensive. In fact now, she was in even more trouble then when she was being double teamed. She was now being forced to stay well out of both unarmed and staff attack range by the girl's whip. Her first attack had almost caught her by surprise, in fact she had reacted more to a feeling of danger than to perceived attack. Which was a good thing considering the barbs on the end of the whip. Unfortunately the girl was very well trained in using the whip, making things that much harder for him. No matter how hard she tried he just couldn't seem to get close enough to effectively counter attack, at least not without getting hit with that barbed whip.

Seeing that Aeril was at a loss for what to do, the girl began laughing. Aeril momentarily felt a strange sense of deja vu, as she looked at the black haired girl with the whip. The longer the laugh continued the stronger the feeling of deja vu, until suddenly Aeril was no longer in the battle field. Instead she was in arena of some type, with hundreds of spectators watching and cheering. Both she and her opponent where dressed in tight fitting outfits holding a ribbon like whip. The black haired girl quickly moved to attack, and Aeril jumped aside to avoid that incoming ribbon.

Suddenly Aeril found herself rolling away from humans whip. She shook her head at the strange vision or memory she just had. However strange it was, it had given her an idea. She began moving toward the girl, which caused black haired girl to strike out at her. Aeril jumped back as far and put as much distance as she could. She swung the whip at him again causing her to have to dive aside to avoid the barbed end of the whip. This time when she landed however, she let go of the staff and hissed aloud. Aeril grabbed the staff with her left hand quickly before standing up.

Aeril glared at the girl as she cradled her right arm under her left. "Did the little elf girl hurt her hand?" She teased.

Aeril didn't say anything and began taking a few steps backward. The human girl smirked balefully at seeing the other girls retreat. Trying to capitalize on her advantage, she pressed her attack. Each attack pushed kept slowly pushing Aeril back further and further, until Aeril tripped over the body of her partner. Seeing Aeril lying there on the floor, the girl began laughing again.

Aeril struggled for a few seconds to untangle herself from the man's body, and just barely avoided the whip strike. Unfortunately the girls partner wasn't as lucky, since the barbed whip embedded itself directly into one of his sensitive vital area's. She girl stared in shock at what she had accidentally done to her now ex-partner. She turned angrily and lashed out that the red haired girl.

Aeril used her staff to intercept the whip, which wrapped itself around the staff much to close to his hand for comfort. "You're only delaying the inevitable, I swear I'll make you pay for what you just made me do."

"Heh, I'd like to see you try." Aeril responded defiantly.

The girl pulled with roughly on her end of the whip and snatched the staff from his left arm. Aeril smiled as that was the very opening he had been looking for. The girl had made the mistake of not paying attention to Aeril's supposedly injured arm, which had grabbed her partner's dagger when they were tangled up. Using the slight distraction, she hurled the dagger at her opponent.

Thankfully her aim was on target, and the dagger struck her hand causing her to drop whip. "Ouch! You little b—"

"What's the matter? You looked pretty confident a few minutes ago?"

"You think that's going to help you?" The girl began laughing condescendingly. "I may have lost the whip wench, but I still have my rapier. You on the hand lost that staff of your, leaving you completely defenseless. Whip or rapier, it doesn't matter. No matter what weapon I use, you're still gonna die."

Aeril yawned. "If you keep yapping like your doing, I think I'm gonna fall asleep. Which wouldn't be a bad idea, but I gotta at least wait until someone gets your boss. So quit your yapping and let's get on with it already."

The girl was only too happy to comply. She came at her with her sword drawn ready to strike the defenseless girl. Too bad for her, Aeril was hardly defenseless without a weapon. Aeril snaked around her strike and retaliated with a backhand. The girl though wasn't deterred one bit and quickly came back at her. Aeril stepped inside her reach, and delivered several punches to her abdomen before ending with an uppercut that knocked the girl back several steps.

"Oh poor defenseless me! What ever will I do without out a weapon!" Aeril teased. The girl mindlessly charged Aeril, who danced out of the way, letting the girl charge right past her. Seeing something on the ground near her, Aeril began laughing. She quickly picked up the red cape of held it in front of her. "Torro! Torro!"

As the girl ran at her again, Aeril twisted out of the way again letting the girl zoom past her, causing Aeril to laugh even harder. She didn't even know why she was laughing so hard, but just couldn't help laughing. Again and again she baited the girl like a matador, and every time the girl angrily charged in like a bull. Her fun was cut short though, when she heard Maji yell out to her. "Quit playing around, we're still fighting a battle here!"

Aeril frowned as she felt magic wash over her, as she realized she was right. "Ok fine."

"Good! Finish her off, I'm going to go after the big boss."

Seeing Maji run off, Aeril danced around yet another blind charge by the girl. "Oh well, one last charge." Holding the cape out in front of her, Aeril once again called out to her. The girl was of course much too angry to think logically anymore and once again charged. This time however, Aeril moved back a little bit and extended her foot in the girls way causing her to trip.

Sighing, Aeril said. "Look why don't we just stop, since you obviously can't kill me? The way I see it most of your buddies are dead right? So why stick around? Just take off to where ever your hideout is or something. It ain't like anyone's gonna go chasing after you, most everyone want to go after the big guy on the lizard."

The girl scowled at her, but finally said. "Whatever fine."

Aeril smiled. "Ok, cool. It was fun fighting with you. I'd say see you later, but well ... you know..."

They stood looking at each other awkwardly for a several seconds, before Aeril shrugged and began walking away. The girl smiled, as that was exactly what she was hoping for. She lifted her rapier up as if it were a spear, and then hurled it at the red headed girl.

"Look out!" Yelled someone, causing Aeril to jump out of the way.

With alarm, she turned to look at the sword stuck into the ground just a bit ahead of were she had been standing. With a hurt look on her face, she turned to look at the human girl. "Why?" Aeril never got her answer, as the girl took a step forward and was suddenly struck by both arrows and lighting. Two more arrows struck the girl before she finally fell lifelessly. Aeril began rapidly changing as his emotions swing to back and forth from anger and hurt. After nearly a minute of incessant changing, Aeril sunk to her knees.

The couple, who had just finished their fight in time to see the girl's attack and warn Aeril, watched the change and weren't quite sure what to make of it. However when the girl fell to her knee's, they immediately ran to the smaller elf's side. "Are you ok?" Asked the woman.

Aeril nodded her head numbly. "Why?" She asked softly. "She lied, we had a deal."

Husband and wife exchanged glances at one another for a second. Not knowing quite what else to do, the woman hugged the smaller elf girl. She extremely surprised by both the return hug and the strength of the hug. They held the hug for a few minutes, before letting go and standing up. "Do you feel better know?" Asked the woman.

"Ya, I guess so."

She smiled at him, and said. "Good! Come on let's go find that friend of yours."

************

After leaving Aeril, Maji headed toward the area where ogre had left with his lieutenants. She arrived to a find the two ogres slaughtering the humans as if they were children. The leader was the especially dangerous one as he was on some type of drogmer. Obviously the humans had no idea what a drogmer was, or they would have likely handled the situation better.

Drogmers where a type of giant lizard native to the island of Broken Skull Rock, and were one of the fastest animals in all of Norrath. Drogmers were trained by the relatively intelligent trolls that lived to there to become mounts so they could be used in battle. The speed of the adult giant drogmer were said to said to rival that of a cheetah. Unlike a cheetah however, a drogmer could sustain there top speed for a great deal of time. However the massive animals require a good deal of time to both reach their max speed, and to slow down from it. Unfortunately taming and training drogmers were a very time consuming process and extremely costly process, making drogmer mounts a rarity. As these humans were learning, an ogre on the back of a drogmer was an extremely dangerous combination.

As she was observing what was going on, the ogre's mount knocked down one of the armored humans with its tail. She wasn't sure if the ogre had noticed or not, but if the drogmer were to take a couple of steps closer to the human, the human would be crushed by the massive weight of the drogmer. Human or otherwise, Maji decided the last thing she ever wanted to see was someone squashed by a drogmer. She quickly decided to get to ogre to move away from the fallen girl the only way she knew. The spell did a wonderful job of getting the ogre to move away from the girl, unfortunately it also did a wonderful job of getting him angry at her. In his anger he quickly countered with a spell of his own, before charging toward her.

Maji staggered as her body was lit green by the ogre's magic giving her the sensation that her very life force was being siphoned away from her. Maji began coughing and clutch her chest to try and get back under control. Once the feeling went away, she angrily thought. "Why, oh why did I just do that? What in Veeshan's name could have possibly possessed me to purposely anger a mounted ogre shadow knight to save a human?" Knowing it was to late do anything about it now, she prepared her spells and hoped for the best. If either of her next to spells failed, there would be no second chances. She stood her ground as she waited for the ogre to approach. Her color flux spell only had a five foot radius, so she would have to wait until he was all but on top of her. It was one of her quickest spells, she simply had to extend her arm and say two words, so timing was really the most important part of the spell. If she cast it too early she'd miss the ogre, he would kill her for her insolence, and if she waited to long, she would be trampled by the massive drogmer. Either way one look at it, it wasn't the most pleasant of scenarios.

She took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself. She couldn't afford to let herself get intimidated by the charging duo, she had to maintain her resolve if she was going to survive. She locked eyes with the ogre's dark pupil-less orbs, defiantly telling him that she wasn't afraid of him. Which wasn't necessarily the truth, but he didn't have to know that. As he got closer, she could begin to feel the ground reverberating as the drogmer half hopped half hobbled its way toward her. She laughed at the stupid things she suddenly began to consider, such as what color her eyes were just then, and if drogmers were more draconic then reptilian.

Unfortunately she was only able to ponder those thoughts as the form of a large black drogmer filled her vision. Taking a deep breath she knew the moment had come. She raised her arm and hesitating a second she said. "Osveldo seti!" Instantly she rolled out of the way as an display of colorful lights filled the area she had just been standing in. Both the drogmer and its ogre master were caught in the colorful light show, momentarily stunning due to the intensity that only they could see.

The light show didn't last long, but it was just long enough for Maji to cast a second spell. The humans who weren't fighting the shaman and had stopped to watch her, all took a few involuntary steps back when they saw the illusionary green skulls that began appearing as cast was casting her spell. When she finished casting, the skulls began laughing and circling the ogre. The ogre began shouting and swatting about frantically. "Get away! No puppies! Puppies go away!"

Maji stared dumbfounded, as the ogre turned his mount and rode away scream in fear. "You have got to be kidding? He's scared of puppies?" Maji shook her head and she turned back to the battle with the remaining bandits. Without their leader, the remaining troops were demoralized. Maji helped the humans finish them off, but made sure to stay out of the way and hidden from their view.

Once the battle was over, Maji cast a spell of invisibility on herself and began searching for Aeril. Before she had the chance to move however, she saw Aeril being led toward the main group. Maji immediately noticed that Aeril was being very closely flanked by the two half elves, as well as the fact that she was walking with her head down. She could only think of one thing to explain it. One of them had seen her, when she approached Aeril and cast O'kails radiation on her. They most likely thought Aeril was a dark elf as well, and that she had cast an illusion on him so that he could infiltrate them. They were most likely going to take her to their leaders and find some way to deal with her. That meant they would likely either kill her on sight, or they might stage some type of trial.

Ether way, neither was an acceptable choice. If they delayed their trip any longer, they would have to wait at least another week before they would be able to get another port. She sighed as she realized that she had no choice, but to save him now that they were still dazed and scattered from the fight. Drawing her dagger, Maji quickly made her way toward them. Getting behind the woman, Maji pushed the dagger up against her neck taking her hostage. "Hand the elf over now!" Maji demanded, as the woman's husband turned to face her and took a defensive stance.

"Maji what are you doing!"

"What does it look like, I'm trying to save you."

"Save me from what?"

"From getting killed or who knows what else they'll do to you."

"What are you talking about? Why would they do that, I wasn't one of the ones attacking them."

"Because you were with me dummy! They saw you with a dark elf, so they probably think your one too."

"If you guys are going to argue, would you mind let me go first?"

Maji ignored her. "So your perfectly fine then?"

"That's what I've been saying."

Maji sighed deeply, and removed the dagger from her throat. "Well let's just get out of here then, we're way behind."

"You're not going anywhere." Said the husband with his bow targeting Maji.

"What the hell?" Maji said turning to face him and noticing at least two other men with bows aimed at her. "I let her go without even a scratch! See this is why you shouldn't ever trust a human or a ... half human."

"As if you have any right to speak about trust! You just snuck up on us and attacked for no reason!"

"No reason? Oh yes your right, I'm a dark elf , I'm not supposed to care about my partners." She said sarcastically.

"Maji! Quite it, your not helping. Come on just let us go." Aeril pleaded. "Everyone's ok. Let's just forget all about it."

"She's right, Thoramur. I'm fine. The blade barely touched me." The wife said very reluctantly. "Go ahead."

Before he could even begin to think about it though, a deep voice came from behind them. "Go ahead and what Renala?"

Turning toward the voice she found herself looking at the highest ranked paladin in their midst. "Nothing sir Jelan, just a small incident that we're taking care of."

"I heard people yelling what was the prob ...." He trailed off as he saw Maji, when someone ignited a magical light source. "Oh I see, so you ferreted out the real ring leader. It so like a dark elf to hide in the shadows and let everyone else do their dirty work for them."

Maji was just about to make a smart remark, when she noticed the woman she had saved earlier approached the paladin. "Is everything under control Jelan?" Maji did not miss the familiarity they shared nor their closeness to each other, or the fact that the woman had recognized her.

With a smirk on her lips, Maji said. "Anyway let's go Aeril, we've done more than our share for these ingrates."

"You expect us to let you go just because you say so?"

"Of course! To refuse, would make you a hypocrite and a blasphemer." Maji said smugly.

"Why you little witch! How dare you say such slander! I should kill you right here and now!" Jelan yelled angrily.

Maji laughed haughtily. "Aeril, did you hear me actually call him a hypocrite or a blasphemer? It seems someone might have guilty conscience, perhaps I said might truer that we thought?"

A nearby paladin demanded. "Those are serious allegation you are making, what grounds do have for them?"

Maji smirked. She knew from her years living in human cities that allegations of that magnitude could not be ignored by any professed paladin or cleric of Mithaniel Marr, regardless of the fact that his accuser was a dark elf. Killing her, would only implicate him, since it would suggest that there was truth to what she said. "Because he would be breaking a debt of honor Aeril and myself. Which unless I am wrong, are to be paid back at the earliest convenience."

"I owe you no debt of honor!" Jelan yelled.

Looking directly at the woman at his side Maji asked. "Am I mistaken, or is saving a man's mate at the risk of my own life not worthy of a debt of honor? "

The woman looked down, earning several gaps from Jelan and the crowd. "Is this true Lauren?"

Lauren looked down and nodded her head. Seeing a moment to jump in Aeril said. "You also can't forget that we came to help you, which is probably gonna make us get to where we're going kinda late. Maji really helped a lot, even if she didn't want to help at first!"

"Dummy." Maji mumble and rolled her eyes. Turning to the paladins Maji said. "Regardless of the fact that I didn't want to help at first since I knew something like this was going to happen, I still came to your assistance. So are we free to go?"

"Very well, release them! Just be gone from us!"

"DON'T LET THAT BLUE SKINNED FREAK GET AWAY!"

Looking at her accuser, and say a teen aged boy dressed in what humans considered fine clothing. It could only be the nobleman's son that was riding in the carriage. Maji hung her head and rubbed her temples. "Why me?"

"SEE! She knows her guilt."

"What I know is that I'm getting a headache from being around you humans! What did I supposedly steal from you?"

"I saw entire my cabin and steal some things while everyone else was away."

"Can anyone here other than myself or the elves even see the carriage from here?" She waited a moment before asking again. "Anyone? Not even you? Explain then how you were able to see me stealing if you can't even see the carriage?"

"Because I was by the carriage?"

"Well that's funny. If I went to the carriage to steal, wouldn't I have looked around to make sure the no one was there."

"Yes, but I was hiding from you under the carriage when you did."

"Oh I see then! When the attack began you ran to cower under the carriage. After all, it's all but impossible for you to see a DARK elf in the DARK, where DARK colored clothing. Besides, what were you doing at the carriage, when everyone else was fighting for their lives? Are a few box of gold, or what ever else it is your carrying, more important then lives of those that ever journeying with you? I saw countless commoners fighting through out the battle field, yet I saw you no where? Where were you? How many orcs did you kill."

"For your information, I managed to kill three or four orcs." The boy said, eliciting several laughs. "I DID kill them, look at the blood on my dagger." He said indigently.

"I don't need to look at your supposed dagger, because there wasn't even three or four orcs to kill. Next time get your facts straight before lying." Looking at the paladins, she asked. "Are we free to leave now, before someone else comes and accuses me of killing their long lost uncle's, friend's brother's cousin's daughter's gold fish or some other equally idiotic nonsense?"

"Please do." Jelan said.

"Thank you ever so much." Maji said.

"Thanks" Said Aeril as she pasted Jelan and his wife, and followed Maji.

The two girls quietly walked for over an hour before Aeril finally broke the silence. "Hey Maji..."

"Yes..."

"Thanks."

"For?"

"For everything! You really went out of your way for me today and it all just turned around and bit you in the butt."

Maji shrugged. "Forget about, it's no big deal."

"I just want you to know that it means a lot to me. If we ever find some weird place Median again, I wont complain if you want to check it out or nothing."

Maji smiled at him. "What do you say we set up camp and go to be to get out of this rain?"

Aeril returned her smile. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea."

************

Xraon paced angrily, as he waited for his aide to return. It was days since he sent him contact his daughter, and he had yet to return. He couldn't understand why he hadn't returned yet. He knew that he didn't have the best aide, but even couldn't be that imbecilic! It was times like this that he wondered why he took a practical child as a aide. In all honestly if she was in Freeport, then there were only a handful of places she would have been at. Unfortunately of all the places, she could have been, he suspected he knew exactly where she was, with that — boy, she decided to have a crush on.

He most certainly did not approve of her crush on that boy, but he wasn't going to try and stop her from seeing her. He had warned her long ago about getting involved with him would likely just get her burned. She in response merely shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner and said. "Well If I get burned, then I get burned. But is that good enough of a reason to run away like a coward? If I run away from everything that might hurt me, what's the use of even getting up out of bed?"

He realized then that the little girl he had found crying quietly by herself that night years ago in Kithicore forest, had grown up. Allowing her to pursue the boy, who he had no doubt would immensely hurt her, had been the hardest decision of his entire life. The sad thing was, that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't force himself to hate the boy for what he knew he would someday do. Perhaps when the time came things would be different, but for now, he couldn't bring himself to hate the boy how had made his daughter so happy.

His musings were cut short as he heard his assistants voice. "Sir?" He said timidly from the entryway.

"Come in!" He said in an upset voice. He was a young human boy, barely three years older than his daughter. Looking past him, he was further angered when he couldn't see her. "Where have you been Gener? Where is my daughter?"

"I — I — I — I don't know sir? I — uh couldn't find her."

His eyes narrowed in anger. "What?" He asked, barely managing to control himself. "How hard can it be to find a fifteen your old girl who's thinks she's in love with a wanna be city guard?"

"That's just it, I couldn't find him either. Both of them where gone. I searched everywhere you told me, but there just wasn't any trace of either of them."

"Then why did it take you over three days to come back here and tell me this?"

"I - I'm s- sorry sir. P -p- please forgive me, I was monitoring their houses in case they showed up. It wasn't until I spoke with the boys father not that long ago, did I found out that he nearly two weeks ago on some quest for his order. I think perhaps she might have on after him, since — "

That was when Xraon's anger reached his peek. In the time it took Gener to blink, Xraon drew a dagger from his belt and threw it at him. The action had happened so quickly, that Gener didn't realize it had even happened until he a soft noise at his feet. Looking down at the floor, he was shocked to see what looked like the griffon tooth earing he wore. Reaching up to his ear confirmed that all that was left of his earing were a few links of the chain from the clasp to just below his earlobe. Too frightened to say anything Gener, simply stood there staring at Xraon with a look of wide eyed fear, as he waited for his boss to calm down.

Unfortunately the voice that did speak up, did anything but calm him. "You see, that is why I have such a hard time finding assistants for you. Throwing daggers at the help, is not the way to endear people toward you. In fact, that's the reason most of your assistants ask to be reassigned."

Not bothering to turn around to face her, Xraon asked. "What do you want Elisi?"

"Me? Nothing at all. I was just on my way to the inn when I overheard your little conversation." Glancing at Gener she said. "You're a very lucky man Gener. You see, his last assistant to anger him like that no longer has enough of an ear to hang an earing from."

"The fool flinched. If he hadn't nothing would have happened to him. Now Elisi, as much as I love having you hear scaring my assistants to death, didn't you say you were heading back up to the inn. I imagine Gregor must be wondering where you might be."

"Ah yes, your right. Where would I be without my right hand man Xraon? Well then I'll leave the two of you to your friendly little chit chat, I'll just give you this little note sometime later."

This time Xraon turned to face her, ignoring his still frightened assistant. "And what note would that be Elisi?"

"Oh just some letter you're daughter asked me to give you a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten about it until just now."

"Give it to me."

"Xraon, where are your manners? You forgot to say please." She said in a honey sweet voice tone.

"Give it to me now Elisi!"

Placing her hands on her hips, she said. "Now Xraon, is that anyway to talk to the person who saved your precious little daughters boyfriend? I do hope you realize the position you put us in because of that little stunt you pulled. Not only has my own daughters death gone unavenged, but we lost one of the biggest money making opportunities we've had in a very long time as well as pissing the hell out of our allies. Make no mistake Xraon, you owe me big and I will collect in full."

"I honestly don't know how I could have forgotten. After all you've only made it a point to remind me about it each and every single day since the trial. Now if your done, just give me my note and leave. I have a lot of business to take care of. There's a caravan coming in from Qeynos any day now, that I've got to clear up with the militia."

Elisi held the note in her hand seemingly in indecision as to whether to give it to him or not. For a moment it seemed as if she had decided to end her little game and give him the note, but just as he was about to take it back she retracted her hand. "On second thought, I think I'll ...."

"Give the note to me?" A voice asked as the note was plucked from Elisi's hand. "Why thank you ever so much for you take care of this letter for us."

Elisi frowned as she the form of Xraon's wife suddenly appear. "Why Naelqua, to what do we owe the honor?"

"I'd tell you Elisi, but then I'd have to kill you."

The sweet tone Elisi had been using until now suddenly disappeared. "Is that a threat Elisi?"

"Elisi, you should know better than to even ask. I don't waste time with treats, I cut straight to the chase. I was just reminding you. Working for the crown can be such a dirty business at time."

"Well then, I imagine the two of you must have a lot to discuss. I'll just leave the two of you alone then." Elisi replied in her honey like voice again. Walking up to Xraon she ran a finger down his chest as she said. "Don't forget Xraon, I will collect in full." With that, she turned and left the room to head back to the inn she and her husband ran.

With a shout of anger and frustration Xraon flung yet another dagger at his poor assist, who had been leaning against the wall after having finally managed to calm himself down. Naelqua rolled her eyes at her husband's childish manner of realizing his frustrations. Walking up to Geren, she calmly reached down and pulled dagger her husband embedded into wall just below his assistants crotch. Looking at the blade and not seeing any blood she asked the boy, who was now even more frightened, since he hadn't had any idea where the dagger had gone or even if Xraon had even thrown a dagger at him. "Are you hurt?" She asked.

"N-n-n-n-n-no m-m-ma'am." He answered extremely shaken.

"Good. Don't pay too much attention to Elisi, she's trying to scare you. The real reason your predecessor has only one ear, is because he was foolish enough to believe that my husband's obvious not quite hate for Elisi make him turn a blind eye to him as he tried to kill her. Obviously he was severally mistaken. Xraon merely prevented him from finishing his goal, and branded him so that everyone would know of his disloyalty. Elisi is simply sore that Xraon waited until the fool was nearly on top of her before taking action, when he had known day's in advanced that it would take place. Unless you're planning on backstabbing in the guild, you needn't worry yourself over Xraon. He only misses when he wants to. Now run along, there are something my husband and I must discuss."

After Geren had left he turned and gave his wife hard look. "Naelqua, I do not need you to fight my battles with Elisi or to try and endear my assistants to me. If my throwing a dagger is enough to scare them off, then I don't have need for them."

Naelqua began to laugh. "You think I fighting Elisi for you? Oh my poor dear husband. What I did, I did for myself. I've been wanting to knock that two-faced princess down a few pegs for a long time now. Here just read this letter."

Xraon took the letter from his wife, and began to read it. "Of all the immature, stupid, things she could have done! Did you know about this?"

"If your letter is anything like the letter she left for me in her room, then yes. I knew about it an entire ten minutes longer than you."

Throwing his hands up in the air, he said. "This is Bristlebane's doing. She may as well have, 'Bristlebane, god of mirth and practical jokes was here,' written all over her. I'm telling you that girl is going to be the death of me."

"Aren't you being a bit over dramatic? All she did was go after him. It wouldn't be the first time, some love sick child left home to chase after the object of there affection. In fact it seems more likely to me that she's simply taking after her father, then some kind of cosmic practical joke."

With a smirk he said. "I suppose your right, she is acting a lot like I used to." Wrapping his arms around his wife from behind he said. "I guess running away to chase after your crush must be a family trait."

Naelqua nestled her head between her husband's head and shoulder. "I've always said she takes after you. Do you think she'll succeed?"

"I managed to get you to fall for me didn't I?"

Naelqua turned to face her husband and with a teasing smile she said. "I hate to tell you this, but settling for you would probably be more accurate than falling for you. You were after all the only dashingly attractive man vying for my attention at the time."

"Really?" He asked as he lowered his head toward her. "What of all of those supposed handsome devils your father had picked out for you?"

"They didn't count."

"And why not?" He asked, only inches away from her.

"Because you weren't one of them." She said, before their lips met in a passionate kiss.

***************

Hello everyone! Sorry I took so long to put out another chapter. These last few months have been very hard on me, both in my writing and in my schooling. I'm hoping to graduate soon, so I've got lots to do.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's become my longest chapter. I had lots of fun writing it. Honestly though, I cut it shorter that I was originally expected. I was hoping to finish the Commonlands section in this chapter. But the section that I dropped should easily be able to fit into the next chapter. Next chapter we'll be going to Erudin., we may even see them goto Felwithe.

Also as a side note I have recently added a new story called Chaos Quest: Legends and Prophecies. It will likely be a series independent chapters that are indirectly related to chaos quest. For example the first chapter describes a prophecy that gives behind the scenes details of the history of Norrath and eludes to the future of chaos quest. Check it out and let me know what you think.