I'm back at last! Sweet summer vacation. A brief reminder - the actual plot doesn't start this chapter; I'm just setting the stage. Some serious $h+ happens later on, you can be sure of that. Warning: This story takes romance and broken hearts to the extreme! I'm hoping to someday get it published with Wizards of the Coast, so if you have ANY suggestions at all, please don't hesitate to write. If you like romance and angst, well…then this is the story for you. R&R!
Chapter One: A Mysterious Find
Crysania's Yearning
A long time coming, a long time coming
It crept up on me in the still of night
To love, sweet love, I turned a blind eye
Always kept well out of sight
All that time I was blind
With no intention to see
But in time I would find
What was lost to me
A long time coming, a long time coming
A hard road I walked through a treacherous heart
Your eyes mirrored mine in the oddest of ways
Your wicked, wild words picked my soul apart
A long time coming, a long time coming
Was the sight that only in darkness I gained
I saw you clearly only after you were gone
Only after your sun, golden sun, did wane.
A shadowy figure wandered the darkened halls of the House of Paladine. The temple had been moved to a wealthy merchant's house beside the remains of the former, and that's where this young girl walked. Sightless eyes pierced the darkness as arrows pierce a satin cloak, though the void they searched was much deeper than the shifting shadows of dawn.
Long slender fingers traced the wall that led her on her way. White, silky robes fluttered about the feet of the young woman as she took hesitant but firm steps toward her unknown destination. Finally, her hand brushed the sill of an enormous window, and she stopped. The warm morning air that had greeted her from every other window she passed was not present here. The breeze that brushed past her smooth, cream face was cold and chilled, as if a white dragon had let out a slow, freezing sigh.
Instinctively she drew her robes closer around her, leaning on the cool windowsill to keep herself facing the right direction. She knew in her heart that the building she faced would be forever burned into her mind, and she could picture it vividly, even as her sightless eyes stared blankly into nothing.
"I know you are at rest," she said softly. "I know this well…I sensed your soul settling into eternal sleep, guarded by your brother." She reached a hand out toward the Tower, a pained expression stealing over her face. "But I still long for you…I still long to tell you those words I could not speak for so long… I want to hold you…just once more…" A tear slipped down her cheek, but she did not brush it away. Instead of crushing her emotions as she had done so often in the past, the new Head of the Church put her head in her hands and began to cry.
So lost she was in her torment that she didn't hear the other pair of soft footsteps as they neared her. She was only aware of the other presence when a slender hand was placed on her shoulder.
"Lady Crysania, is there anything I can do for you?" said a quiet, musical voice.
Crysania started, immediately brushing her tears away out of habit. Turning to face the new cleric, she forced a smile. "No, Senan, there is nothing you can do. I am simply grieving over events long past, and it must be done, lest it forever weight upon my heart." Which it will anyway, she thought to herself, but chose to keep this hidden.
Senan nodded, her pretty red hair tumbling haphazardly over her shoulders. "Forgive me. I shall return to my quarters at once, Lady."
Crysania shook her head. "No, it's quite alright. Please, stay with me. It is good to feel the presence of another."
Senan gave her mentor a confused look, but went to stand beside her, her eyes traveling to the tower in the distance. She tried to conceal an involuntary shudder, but it came anyway. It was an unfounded uneasiness, she knew – it was one of the most common teachings of the old Head of Church, Elistan, that there must remain a balance between the forces of Good, Evil, and Neutrality. But even this knowledge couldn't keep the distaste from her heart.
Feeling her young attendant shiver, Crysania laid a hand upon the girl's arm. "I know what you are thinking, Senan," she said gently. "You are eyeing that Tower over there with contempt, distrust, and even hatred, if I might venture that far. You are battling with yourself, thinking that evil is an unnecessary tarnish upon our humble world. Please don't think like that; I could not bear to watch another person make the same mistake I made."
"But I don't understand, Lady!" Senan burst out. "Why must there be such evil in the world? I can't figure it out! If we're all supposed to live together in harmony, with the right balance of each moon in each of our hearts, how can Paladine tolerate that which does not live in harmony? Evil destroys! Evil murders! What good can come of such deeds?"
"We do not question the ways of the gods," Crysania said firmly. "I learned this the hard way. I hope you will not follow in my footsteps and discover this the horrible way I did."
"But--" Before she could protest, a strange sight caught her eye. Wheeling in the distance, seemingly driven by a drunken gully dwarf, was the citadel taken from the forces of darkness during the War of the Lance. It reeled in unsteady loops among the clouds, pausing here and there to ponder direction, then set off in a series of dives and swoops that would have made any normal being sick. Senan's brow furrowed in grim amusement as she watched the rocky bottom of the floating fortress barely miss a watchtower to the north.
"What is it, my Daughter?" Crysania asked, turning her milky eyes to what she thought was the window.
"It seems that the skies have been taken by a drunken flying castle, Lady," Senan chortled, remembering the gleaming face of the kender when it was proclaimed the citadel would be his.
The Head of Church shook her head in confusion. "I thought he had given it to that gully dwarf…Rounce, I think his name was?"
Watching the citadel do a sudden flip and continue east tipped on its side, Senan replied, "Do kender ever really give anything away to never have it magically follow them home again?"
"I suppose not," Crysania laughed. She was calling to mind an image of the kender as she remembered him from their earlier travels. She could clearly picture the look of utter amusement the sharp little features would be wearing as he tumbled easily through the heavens. "May Paladine go with you wherever you go, my dear friend…" she murmured, suppressing a giggle with the sleeve of her robe.
"And hopefully with the rest of Krynn as well," Senan added, wincing as the citadel turned one more time to smash the watchtower into the ground.
Crysania only smiled. Their former conversation had been forgotten in the excitement of seeing (or hearing about and picturing, in her case) the drunken citadel traipsing wildly through the skies. However, the Head of Church knew that this would not be the last time the topic was brought up. No, she thought to herself, this will surely not be the last time I speak with Senan over this matter. I see in her much of myself, and I know she will have to learn the hard way no matter what I say. Paladine, give me strength! She sighed. "Raistlin…" she murmured softly, "watch over me…"
"What was that?" Senan asked without pulling her gaze away from the citadel.
"Oh, nothing."
"Turn it around! Turn it around!"
"Me try, dolt, me try! No be so loud!"
"Ouch, that was my head! Watch where you're puttin' them gunboots!"
"Me no have gun!"
Tas gasped in exasperation. "I didn't mean that you had a gun, Rounce, I just wanted—Look out! The watch—oh, nevermind, seems we've already hit it…"
Once again, Tasslehoff Burrfoot stood upon the filthy shoulders of the gully dwarf, Rounce. The two had gotten somewhat better at steering the citadel together, but at moments like these, an ogre would have had better luck getting to the moon than the two had of reaching their destination. Rounce still had yet to learn the meaning of the non-cardinal directions such as southeast, northwest, and so on, and thus Tas had resigned to let their destination be reached with a series of lurching catacorners that took twice as long as the original route. Tacked to the wall ahead of them was the map Tanis had given him not two days ago. Merilon, their intended destination, had been circled in red with bold Common words that read "TO MERILON" in large print. Tas would consult the map, then the compass, then report to Rounce which way to go, only to find that the gully dwarf had steered them completely off course and was heading off over New Sea. After a few minutes (and several slaps to the dwarf's head), the pair would be on track again, trying to regain distance lost.
Usually Tas would have enjoyed the adventure of swinging through the clouds with abandon, but he needed to be back before he was missed by Caramon and Tika. He had promised the big warrior that his adventuring days were over, and he fully intended to keep that promise…after he had found and explored the city of Merilon.
"Okay," Tas announced after carefully removing the gully dwarf from the control platform so he could examine the map. "Seems we're heading in the right direction. Merilon should be no more than an hour's flight from here." Turning to his friend, Tas puffed his chest with pride. "I knew I could get us there quickly!" He shot a winning smile at Rounce.
The gully dwarf, however, was not impressed. "You take two days to get us hundred feet," he scoffed. "Me see smarter rocks than dumb kender!"
"But that wasn't my fault," Tas pointed out cheerfully. "You steered us off course and over New Sea--"
"Me want to see fish!"
Tas slapped his forehead, his patience finally running thin. "Yes, and you saw the fish the first time! What made you think that the fish would still be there after we came back, oh I don't know, four hours later?"
Rounce gave him a hurt look. "Fish like Rounce. Fish stay."
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say," the kender returned, not wanting to have to suffer through another argument that would undoubtedly lead in the same circles he had wandered with the gully dwarf not ten minutes earlier. Hopping back up onto the platform, he took his position. "Ready to go?"
"Me ready!" Rounce clambered up onto the kender's shoulders and solemnly placed his hands on the obsidian orbs. "Which way we go?"
"East," Tas answered, willing with all his might that would be the way the citadel went.
Surprisingly enough, the flying fortress took off at a considerably fast pace due east. The kender could not have been more astonished if Rounce had just pulled the Staff of Magius out of his nose. He glanced up at the gully dwarf appreciatively, forming plans for the wonderful things he would do while in Merilon. Among the first would be to visit the town's best inn and search for any items of interest. Thinking of the wonders he would be sure to find, Tas mentally speeded the citadel on its way.
Three hours later, the citadel half landed, half crashed onto the plains just outside of what they hoped was Merilon. As the flying fortress skidded to a screeching halt, Tas frantically tried to keep himself from falling into a wall.
"Watch out, Rounce!" he shouted, pulling the gully dwarf away from a spear that had skittered off the wall and was lolling about on the floor. The weapon rolled the other way and slipped out the door, and the two could hear it clanging down the hall as the citadel teetered on its side.
Eventually, the giant structure righted itself. It shuddered to a stop, resting against a large hill. Tas had let go of his friend in the confusion, and now found him huddled in a ball next to the steering platform.
"You ok?" the kender asked, poking his companion lightly in the side.
"Me dead yet?" Rounce looked around suspiciously. Seeing Tas, he let out a horrible moan. "Me in the Abyss…" he said sadly.
"No you're not," Tas said idly, completely missing the hidden insult. He was too busy gathering up his numerous scattered pouches that had been thrown loose in the tumble from the skies. "We're in Merilon, I think. I hope. Come on, let's go! There's so much exploring to do and so little time!" The kender flounced out of the room, heading for the exit.
Rubbing a rising bump on the back of his head, Rounce got unsteadily to his feet and stumped after Tas. "Kender going to be death of Rounce," he muttered under his breath. "Me should have stayed with friends. But no, me have to follow stupid kender who steal citadel!" He shook his head in disgust. "Maybe me stupid one…"
The gully dwarf caught up with his companion just as the kender was about to skip merrily out into the street. Running as fast as he could, Rounce fell into step with the scampering little adventurer.
"Where we go now?" he asked, eyeing the village that was lighting its candles as dusk stole over the land.
"There, of course!" Tas pointed. "I think I may even see an inn! I do hope they make better food than Caramon. He does his best, of course, but it still leaves much to be desired. Tika's a good cook, but she's so busy cooking for everyone at the Inn of the Last Home that I couldn't trouble her to make me a decent meal…" Tas chattered along happily, not noticing when his companion tripped and fell in a pothole.
"Ahh! Ground grab me!" Rounce tried frantically to get out of the hole and only succeeded in burying himself under a heap of road gravel.
"Must you?" Tas turned around, his hands on his small hips. "I was just going to tell you about the time Raistlin almost killed me, and you have the audacity--" –his chest swelled with pride at the new word, acquired from Otik—"to interrupt! I must say, gully dwarves can be so rude…" Reaching out, he pulled the gully dwarf from the pothole, nearly sending himself and the one he was helping tumbling backwards into the dirt. The only thing that saved them was a pair of muscular legs that had somehow appeared behind them.
"Who's that?" Tas peered up at the owner of the sturdy legs to see a guard, dressed in the fine armor of a wealthy man, staring down at him. Hastily getting to his feet and knocking the poor gully dwarf once more onto his rump, Tas extended a small hand in polite greeting. "I'm Tasslehoff Burrfoot, sir guard. Sorry to have stumbled into you. You see, my friend fell in that pothole over there, and--"
His explanation was cut short when the guard grabbed his topknot and yanked his purse from the kender's hands. "We tolerate kenders," he said menacingly, "but only to an extent." Turning to Rounce, assuming that this was a normal hill dwarf, he said, "Make sure that you keep your friend out of trouble. I'm leaving him in your care." The guard thrust the kender into Rounce's surprised grasp. When the gully dwarf didn't say anything, the guard leaned closer, peering into the grubby little face. "Did you hear me?"
"Say something, you doorknob!" Tas hissed into Rounce's ear, happy to be reprimanding someone else for a change.
"Uhmm…me…me do," Rounce said hesitantly, trying to stand up as straight as possible.
At a suspicious glance from the guard, Tas jumped in to the rescue. "My friend here doesn't speak must Common," he explained quickly. "He's lived in Thorbardin for most of his life, and…uh…he speaks mostly dwarven. Haha, you don't know how hard it is to break the guy from the habit of using the wrong pronouns! Isn't that right, Rounce?" The kender said this last in dwarven.
The gully dwarf muttered something unintelligible, which, to Tas's relief, was taken for dwarven by the non-speaking guard. The man nodded, satisfied.
"I see," he said, more friendly than he had originally done. "Well then, enjoy your stay, uh…Rounce. Make sure you keep a close eye on your kender friend."
Rounce nodded importantly and marched past the guard. Tas inserted his topknot into the dwarf's hand for added effect. Not realizing, the dwarf led Tas away by the hair.
"Bye, sir guard!" Tas waved jovially to the man, who pretended not to notice. When they were out of sight, Tas stood up straight, his hair falling easily from his friend's light grasp. "Now then. We're going to have to find the inn around here. I know I saw it when we were down the road…ah! There it is." Tas pointed down the road and set off at an easy pace, slow enough for Rounce's stumbling footsteps to keep up doing merely double time.
The inn was called "The Brethren Hall", as was brightly painted on a sign that swung jauntily from a wooden post. The walls were firm and freshly painted, and inviting sounds of laughter and song drifted from the wide open windows.
The Brethren Hall lived up to his name and then some. Known for miles as a meeting place for friends and its free first glass of ale, people passing through always made the inn a must-see for their journeys. The rooms were comfortable and homely, each with a breakfast service included in the price of the room. Humans, dwarves, and elves alike frequented the place equally after the War of the Lance, and most of the customers were fast friends.
This was the atmosphere that Tas and Rounce entered as the crossed the threshold. The innkeeper immediately hurried over, only giving the kender a brief suspicious glance as he tucked his purse deeper into his pocket.
"Welcome, welcome, my fine friends. I trust that your travels haven't left you too weary for our complimentary glass of ale! Come in, come in. Terra!" he called to a brunette barmaid, who flounced over to her elder in a flurry of lace and velvet. "Take these fine people to a place by the fire and bring them their ale. We'll make their stay one to remember!"
Tas was so touched by this hearty welcome that he actually reminded himself that he was not to steal anything. Politely folding his hands behind his back, the kender followed Terra to the table nearest the fire and sat down in a cushioned chair. Even Rounce attempted to wipe some of the grime off his face by burying it in a napkin.
"I'll be right back," Terra told them with a smile, and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Take your time!" Tas called after her. He had completely, if conveniently, forgotten his hurry to get home. Leaning back, he put his hands behind his head, remembering just in time not to put his boots up on the gleaming table. "So, Rounce! Aren't you glad I said we should come here? Such a warm and trusting atmosphere! I was so lost in it that I completely forgot to check for interesting items. Strange, huh? I never pass up the chance to examine something new and exciting! And I didn't even stop to consider that some poor person might have dropped something that needed returning." He sighed, shaking his head in wonder. "I guess excessive politeness and a friendly atmosphere really gets to a person. What do you think?"
"Who they?" Apparently, the gully dwarf hadn't heard a word his companion had said. Instead he was looking off into the corner of the room, the only part of the inn that wasn't touched by the firelight.
Tas peered closer, trying to see into the shadows. When his eyes finally pierced the darkness, the kender could make out the small but robust figures of mountain dwarves. He whistled quietly to himself. Thorbardin dwarves were rarely seen outside their mountain home, especially in a place like Merilon, which was miles upon miles away from the comfort of their forges.
Yet here they were, sitting in a dark corner muttering among themselves. As Tas looked closer still, he could have sworn that he recognized some of them from not too long ago. Well, not too long ago to him, anyway. To any normal person lacking in the adventuring area, it would have been well over a hundred years in the past, back in the times of the Dwarven Wars. And everyone knows that even dwarves can't live that long.
Furrowing his brow, Tas said to himself, "They look like those Dewar dwarves I saw way back when I was trapped in that Thorbardin jail with Gnimsh. I could almost swear that they were the same ones. But that's not possible! That all happened practically three centuries ago!" This deeply troubled him. The Dewar were not a nice race, and the fact that there were some that seemed familiar was a scary thought. What if Dewar dwarves had extremely long lifespans like the elves? Tas shuddered involuntarily at the thought.
"What wrong?" Rounce asked, hoping that if something in fact WAS wrong, the kender would not be able to finish the ale the barmaid had just set before him. The gully dwarf eyed the mug hungrily.
Tas shook his head, not wanting to bring any unnecessary concern to his companion without solid evidence. "Nothing's wrong. Just caught a chill, that's all." Turning back to the dwarves, he continued to watch thim with a wary eye.
"Oh," Rounce grunted, disappointed. He gazed forlornly into his own already empty tankard, then clapped it down on the table with a heartfelt sigh.
The Dewar continued to talk amongst themselves. Apparently, there was an argument over some artifact that had been produced from the pocket of the dwarf on the far left. Tas strained to see what it was, but one of the dwarves' big heads blocked his view.
"C'mon, move!" Tas urged under his breath, craning his neck to try once more to see around the robust figure. But the rotund dwarf did no such thing. Instead, he suddenly snaked his hand forward and swiped the object off the table, stashing it hastily in a vest pocket. The other Dewar gave an infuriated shout, and all lunged toward their treacherous companion with clutching hands.
The Dewar dwarf called something in Dwarven, a word that Tas had either not heard right or could not understand, and charged for the door. His companions lurched after him, their faces masks of fury and hatred. Their clumping footsteps turned the heads of every customer in the Inn.
"That item must be really interesting!" Tas exclaimed, watching the dwarf get wrestled to the ground not ten feet away. "And look what they're doing! In that fight, they'll probably squash it flat! How could they be so careless?" The kender slid from his seat and darted across the floor. In the confusion, the object had skittered from the dwarf's hand and landed unnoticed under an empty table. With the fluidity and ease that is natural only to a kender, Tas snatched it up and tucked it down the front of his shirt. "I'll just hold onto it until they're done," he told himself. "Wouldn't want it to get broken!" He sauntered back over to his companion and took the gully dwarf by the arm. "Come on, Rounce, let's go. We'd probably better be getting back to Solace – the sun's already going down. Caramon's gonna – Oh no, Rounce, Caramon! Hurry, we have to get going!"
"Me not go till me have 'nother ale," Rounce stated stubbornly, digging his heels into the ground.
"Rounce!" Tas cried, exasperated. Reaching out, he plucked a mug of ale from a temporarily vacated table and held it out to Rounce. "Here you go, but be quick about it!"
The gully dwarf didn't have to be told twice. Upending the tankard, he downed the fiery liquid in two seconds flat – well, downed the small portion that actually went into his mouth. The rest spilled down his shirt front and pooled on the floor.
"Alright, you're done, let's go!" Once more Tas caught up his friend's arm and half led, half dragged him from the inn. The dwarves, in the heat of their miniature battle, did not notice. They simply brawled on.
Fifteen minutes later, Tas and Rounce had made it back to the citadel. They were out of breath and sweating, but Tas wore a big smile.
"That was so much fun!" the kender exclaimed. "Merilon is a wonderful city. We'll have to come here again sometime. Strictly on business, though. We can't have Caramon having an adventuring fit."
"Me no want come back," Rounce panted. "This bad place. Give Rounce bad feeling."
"Oh, don't be silly. It was most enchanting. But nevermind, let's get off the ground. I have a feeling that we'll be flying for a while."
Surprisingly, the citadel flew strangely straight. Rounce gave no complaint, but sat in sullen silence, going whichever way Tas directed without fail. The kender shook his head in wonder, but did not question this unusual phenomenon. Fifteen minutes later, Tas and Rounce had made it back to the citadel. They were out of breath and sweating, but Tas wore a big smile.
"That was so much fun!" the kender exclaimed. "Merilon is a wonderful city. We'll have to come here again sometime. Strictly on business, though. We can't have Caramon having an adventuring fit."
"Me no want come back," Rounce panted. "This bad place. Give Rounce bad feeling."
"Oh, don't be silly. It was most enchanting. But nevermind, let's get off the ground. I have a feeling that we'll be flying for a while."
Surprisingly, the citadel flew strangely straight. Rounce gave no complaint, but sat in sullen silence, going whichever way Tas directed without fail. The kender shook his head in wonder, but did not question this unusual phenomenon. He had long ago learned not to ask questions when something went inexplicably right, and he was not about to jinx the good fortune with a meaningless query. Within the hour, they had landed gently on the outskirts of Solace.
Tas let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Well, we're here," he said cheerfully, if tiredly. "Thanks for going with me, Rounce. It was quite an experience – one I hope we'll be able to repeat sometime in the near future," he added with a meaningful look at the gully dwarf.
"Bye bye. Me go sleep now." Rounce abruptly turned on his heel, and, with one last baleful glance shot over his shoulder at Tas, curled up in the corner under a pile of garbage.
"G'night!" Tas called. Then he raced out the door of the citadel and charged for the Inn of the Last Home, all the while wondering why there was such a strange feeling in the depths of his soul – feelings that seemed to radiate from a certain pocket in the front of his shirt.