Disclaimer: I have not yet raided TSR for the rights, so I don't own anything or anyone you recognize.
A/N: Sorry about how long that took! I didn't mean to leave you with such a horrid cliffie! Interesting, how some chapters start one way, and then come out completely different than how they were planned...
One Shade The More, One Ray The Less
There was no answer at the mage's door, so Evelynn knocked again, harder this time. More seconds passed, each seeming like an hour to Evelynn, who was beginning to lose her nerve. Finally, she was about to turn away, figuring that he must be somewhere else. She stopped dead in her tracks. She faintly heard the whisper of robes from the other side of the doorway. Evelynn turned back to the door, just as it was opening.
"What?" The mage's voice was sharp. Dark circles ringed his icy eyes – it was obvious that he had not slept much recently. His robe was mussed as if he'd been wearing it for several days strait. He barely glanced at her.
For a moment, Evelynn was frozen. She hadn't actually expected him to come to the door! However, the mage's rudeness startled her back into life. "Is that how you greet all guests?" She arched an eyebrow.
Suddenly, the mage's head shot up from its position facing the floor. "It's you!" Evelynn was surprised and afraid to hear so many emotions in two simple words. He obviously was shocked to see her, and seemed to detest the thought of her presence. However, if Evelynn hadn't known better, she'd almost think that he was glad to see her.
All thoughts of that, however, (whether they echoed a real feeling or an imagined one) were squelched when Evelynn looked at his face, and saw the expression of annoyance and distaste plastered on it. She blinked, trying not to be affected by the fierce glare. Evelynn fought the urge to grab her medallion, but as always, it seemed in tune to her feelings and became a comforting warn spot on her chest. She took a breath and looked up at the mage, matching him glare for glare. "I can't believe you! I come to talk, and maybe even apologize for the other night, and all I get is an "Its you" and a look that could fell a dragon. And now, you're just letting me stand out here ranting at you. Where were you raised? In a dung heap?"
The young mage took a step back, and if Evelynn thought that she saw a spasm of old pain cut across his face. He recovered so quickly that she was sure it was imagined, however. "Come in then if you must, "Revered Daughter." He spat her title like a curse, and motioned her into his suite, closing the door behind himself quickly.
Evelynn watched his face closely, hoping to see some indication of his feelings. For a second, it was carefully blank, but she could practically hear the gears turning in his head as though there was a mountain full of gnomes who called his cranium their home. Suddenly, he faced her fully, a gracious smile on his face. Evelynn couldn't help but notice how handsome he looked when he smiled.
"My deepest apologies, Revered Daughter. That was most uncalled for. I had a bad night last night. Won't you take a seat? I don't entertain guests much, but I do own chairs." Evelynn was seriously disturbed by his sudden change in demeanor.
"Oh, don't disturb yourself for me." Her voice dripped sarcasm as though it were honey. Then, she too made a rapid-fire mood change. "You know," Evelynn's tone became businesslike and direct. "Just because I'm dedicated to the service of Good doesn't mean that I can't appreciate sarcasm, or enjoy sarcastic banter. My name is Evelynn, by the way. I also dislike formalities." She turned to him as she took a seat at the table, not caring if he minded or not.
The mage smirked, and Evelynn sensed that he realized that it would be easier to talk to her if he reverted back to his natural cynicism. Unfortunately, she could not discern for the life of her why he suddenly wanted to talk to her. "As you wish, Evelynn." Now, her name was the meat on the dagger point of his scorn. Evelynn guessed that the scorn was for her race more than anything, but decided to let it pass. "I suppose you're now waiting for me to introduce myself. As you wish, m'lady. I am Fistandantilus, mage of Nuitari." Evelynn did not give Fistandantilus the satisfaction of seeing her flinch from the name of his dark god.
"So, I'm aching with curiosity." The mage's voice took on a more benign, facetious tone, rather than the arrow-sharp sardonicism it had held previously. "Why is a youngclericof Good making a social call to a mage, rumored to be Evil incarnate?" His tone dared her to admit to her own worries about his allegiance.
Evelynn attempted to keep her face impassive. Two could play at that game. "I suppose running into you the other night set me to thinking. I just want to talk. About Good and Evil, you, me, whatever." She winced, realizing how shallow that came out. "I was compelled."
Now, it was Fistandantilus' turn to try to hide his feelings. "Compelled? No, my dear little cleric, I do not care to abandon my god for yours, or his weak-willed offspring. Now, is that all you wanted?" A hint of measured impatience seeped through his tone.
Evelynn looked at him, grimacing at the way he had misunderstood her. "No. I said I came here to talk, and that is what I will do." As she snapped at the mage, she felt the river of her emotions suddenly break down the dam she had erected since Ramalad's banishment. "I'm sick of corrupt power plays, and twittering, airheaded imbeciles who think of nothing more than makeup, their bodies, their love lives, and other peoples' love lives. I'm sick of being the perfect lady every moment of the day. Why should I have to ride sidesaddle when it hurts like the Abyss, and riding astride is more effective? Why are there things I can't read and places I can't go? I love working for good with all of my heart, but I do not see why that and being a 'proper lady' must go hand in hand." Suddenly, Evelynn cut off her tirade, realizing that she had just poured her heart out to a complete stranger, and a thoroughly evil one to boot.
Fistandantilus' face remained impassive as he let her finish her tirade. After waiting a moment to be sure that she was quite done, he sneered at Evelynn's beet red face. "I see. You've come to talk to me because you want to rebel, and what better way to do that than to become friends with an evil mage. I guess you deserve some credit for even having the courage to come here and talk to me. Now, I had just begun to dissect a quite fascinating cadaver. If you don't mind?" He motioned curtly to the door and turned away.
Evelynn's mouth was set in a thin line. She was not going to give up, no matter what it took. "I am not here just to rebel. Some of the things going on in Istar are just not right. The same was true in Silvanesti, but I could avoid them for the most part. Here, I can't avoid them, and neither can you. Honestly, I don't really know why I came here, but does it matter? I'm here, and I know that whatever happened to me to make me come can never change, and there's no going back now. If I'm keeping you from something, I'm sorry." All thoughts of embarrassment had departed, leaving in their place anger. "I noticed that you don't seem to have an apprentice to help with your lab work. Perhaps we could finish this discussion over the corpse?" As an ocassional healer, Evelynn doubted that she would be squeamish about about a body.
Fistandantilus rolled his eyes. Evelynn could tell that he really didn't want her there. "Fine." His voice was filled with resignation. "If you throw up, you, your god, or the both of you had better clean it up. Since this is your choice, you clean up your own mess." He started to walk towards one of the other rooms in his suite.
Evelynn hurriedly stood up and followed. When the mage opened the door in front of him, Evelynn was shocked to see that there appeared to be no lights in the room whatsoever. Fistandantilus crossed the threshold, and Evelynn realized that the 'room' was actually a stairwell leading down to a basement level, presumably to the mage's laboratory. Evelynn followed him cautiously; she couldn't help but remember the horror stories that Ramalad used to tell her about the demons and monsters that inevitably lurked with evil mages.
Evelynn took a hesitant step down, and nearly fell when the stair was taller than she had anticipated. Her hand clutched blindly for the medallion on her chest, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she felt it in her hand. Not wanting to admit that she was afraid, she let go of the medallion and started to prepare to take another step. Suddenly, her medallion emitted a soft, comforting light. She smiled at her god's approval and quickly caught up to Fistandantilus.
The flight of stairs seemed long, but it was not so long that it took the two more than a couple of minutes to reach the second level. The light shed by Evelynn's pendant had saved her from a nasty fall several times. She idly wondered whether the black mage had hoped that she would fall into one of those traps, or if they were just so commonplace to him that he'd honestly forgotten to mention them. If Fistandantilus cared about the light produced by her pendant in any way, he didn't show it when he turned to make sure that she was still behind him.
He led the way through a maze of corridors, some having other hallways leading off, some having closed doors, and some that seemingly led to dead ends. Evelynn could feel the mage dispelling powerfulwards every so often, and then replacing them after she had passed. The two traveled on for what seemed an eternity to Evelynn, and she was sure that Fistandantilus' warren of hallways was nearly as big as the temple complex itself. Abstractly, she wondered what happened to anyone who stumbled down into the passages, since she was sure that there were many other exists, and then pushed that thought out of her mind when she realized what the answer must be.
Finally, they reached a plain wooden door. Fistandantilus chanted a spell, and at once, Evelynn was assaulted by the strength of the guardian spells on the door. She realized that the mage must have hidden them behind another spell so that if any made it all of the way to his door, they would likely not realize that this one was the one to his laboratory. Within seconds, Fistandantilus had taken the other spells off of the door and opened it, motioning the cleric inside.
Evelynn had braced herself for a horrible smell, but there was none. As she let out a relieved breath, she peered around. Much to her shock, the laboratory looked more like an expensive healer's house than anything else. There were shelves and shelves of books on three of the walls. Some looked perfectly normal, such as anatomy books. Others glowed with a light so black that she could only see them because they were even darker than the perpetual night of the room. She couldn't tell what they were, and frankly did not really want to know.
The only wall not covered with books was filled with shelves and cabinets holding all manner of arcane things, from surgical scalpels, to beakers, to heaps of herbs that Evelynn surmised the mage must use for his spells. In the center of the room was a large table that currently held the body, but could as easily be used for study. As she had previously noted, the body did not have a smell, which meant either that it was fresh or that it had been magically preserved. The room smelled of spell components – a mix of herbs, death, and other things not as easily identified. Evelynn found the smell alien, but at the same time welcoming. Without the slight hint of death, it would have smelled like her mother's workroom; a place that Evelynn did not visit often, but still signified home.
Fistandantilus silently padded over to the great table, his swishing robes the only sound in the room. He pulled the cover off of the body, and hurled a ball of magelight to hang directly about the body so that all of it was in sudden relief. Now that there was another light source, the soft light from Evelynn's amulet was extinguished. Hesitantly, Evelynn walked over to the table.
She peered down at the table, and hurriedly recoiled, holding a hand over her mouth in horror. The body on the table was female, and elven. Long dark hair cascaded around the face, flowing down the ratty clothes. Evelynn felt her head spinning, and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She opened her eyes hesitantly, and much to her relief, the room had stopped its frantic spinning. She looked up, and her eyes were met by the cynical gaze of Fistandantilus.
"I did warn you." His voice was mocking, but not completely unkind.
Evelynn took a quavering breath. "Its not the death, or the body." Well, that was perhaps an exaggeration, because, like all elves, Evelynn was rather skittish about death. However, now the fact that it was a corpse was the last thing on her mind. "She looks like my si… someone I used to know. Who…" Evelynn could not force the question out of her mouth.
Fistandantilus seemed to sense that her traitor mouth would not say anything more, and took pity on her. "I suppose I should have let you know she was elven," he conceded. "You likely do not know her, however. She was a Kagonesti scout. I found her yesterday on the outskirts of Istar. The wounds on her body make me think that she had a run-in with goblins or the like. She was dead when I got to her, and I do not pass up any chances for the furtherment of science. She has been under a preservation spell since I found her."
Evelynn let out a relieved sigh, especially after Fistandantilus pulled back the young woman's tattered sleeves to reveal the telltale Kagonesti tattoos that twined around her arm. She ventured closer to the body, now not hesitating to examine the body.Looking atthe body more closely, she realized how little resemblance it bore to Ramalad – in reality, the only similarities were her dark hair and Elven heritage.
"Now, if you will leave me to my studies, whether you help me or just stay out of my way, that would be good." Now that Evelynn wasn't in the middle of a crisis, Fistandantilus had no problems resuming his usual acidic tone.
"Oh, of course. Just tell me what you want to do." Evelynn steeled herself so that she would not shake.
"Just stand out of the way." The mage seemed to be getting exasperated with Evelynn's obvious squeamishness. He pointed at the corner. Fistandantilus then got right to work, once in a while going to the shelf to either take up a tool or put one back. As he got more involved in the work, Evelynn crept forward, venturing to help with the tools. Soon, theyfell into a rhythm, neither speaking. Evelynn watched in fascination as she got a silent anatomy lesson, and Fistandantilus got a perfect lab assistant.
Finally, the mage was finished. He quickly recorded all of his findings in one of the many books on the shelf – a black one, but not one that glowed with Nuitari's unholy light. When he was done, he nodded silently to Evelynn, and she followed him out of the room without protest. "Never. Tell. Anyone. About. This. Complex." After such a long time of silence, Fistandantilus' soft voice made Evelynn jump. Its sibilant menace made a shiver run down her spine. In the time they were working together, Evelynn had almost forgotten that she was a Good cleric and he a mage of the Blackest Order. Now, though, she was reminded uncomfortably of the fact that he would just as happily kill her as look at her.
"Of course. I'm not stupid." Evelynn covered her jolt of fear with sarcasm. "I learned a lot today."
Fistandantilus looked back at her, seeing her face in the soft reflection of the once more lit medallion. "For a cleric, and a Good one at that, you were not a bad lab assistant. I suppose you may come back again if you wish it."
In time that seemed shorter than the time it took to descend to Fistandantilus' fearsome laboratory, they had reached the main level of the temple again. "I will take you up on your word some time. Have a good night." And may Paladine watch over you, always, she added silently. The two parted in uneasy truce.
A/N: Well, thank you all (only three of you?) for reading. Please, please review. Puppy eyes I'm not afraid of criticism, though do try to be civil about it. I should mention - Fistandantilus' sudden change of mood and relative tolerancewill be explained at a later point, for those ofyou who may not have figured out my reasoning yet. This chapter was hard to keep exclusively in Evelynn's POV!Oh, good news, guys: I may be entering the stage where I don't loath Tale of Two Worlds for being such a Sue, so be on the lookout for another chapter of that in the not-too-distant future! Now, to answer my wonderful reviewers:
Lazy.Kender: Boy, am I fortunate that I'm still alive! But I really did deserve to be hung (or at least scared) for that cliffhanger. Glad you love my story enough to threaten me for updates!
Pet: Hehe, no one does. And it'll be a good long time before Evelynn figures it out too. Hmm, as of now, Eramil is pretty trustworthy, though a bit shallow. However, sometimes, (as with the whole dissection scene in this chapter!) Fie doesn't deign to tell me important details/events until its almost too late!
Evenstar02: Oops, guess it's been too long since I read the books. Sorry about that, though there still aren't any kender in this. Hope you're still reading!