The Third Traveler

"You will not be going anywhere with that… with that Wanderer!" said a booming voice that echoed through the room. The mouth of that voice belonged to a slightly plump middle-aged woman, furious at what her son was thinking of doing, "you want to go on a trip to who knows where to find something you are not prepared to tell us, which I think you yourself do not know, and you want us to give you our blessing! Are you crazy? I just can not speak to you at this moment! I can not even look at you!" she looked towards the door and then pointed at her husband, "you! You talk to your son, see if you can get more sense out of him than I have."

And with that she left the room, slamming the door on her way out. As soon as the footsteps lightened, Lukslor's father smiled.

"So, young Arislan has finally convinced you to go with him on one of his adventures. Good for you."

"Actually it was me who volunteered," replied Lukslor, now more confident that mother was not around. His relationship with his mother was odd.

He was an only child, for his mother could not have anymore children, and even the one she did have was a miracle. This had meant that his mother had always been protective of her son and by logic disliked the character of Arislan, a lonesome spirit who did a lot of travel through the most inhospitable areas.

Cattrica Brea's over protectiveness (for that was the name of his mother) had gotten out of hands on many occasions, such as when Lukslor decided to move out of the family house in Shadowdale to move to a cottage in a village in the middle of the forest where he could concentrate harder on the mysteries of the past or when the other mothers would talk behind the Brea household about their bachelor son. But even with her bouts of anger, Lukslor loved his mother very much and equally loved his more understandable father.

This was why he had to go these three miles from his cottage; he wanted their approval, well, more a word of encouragement to help him steady the doubts that were now ebbing in and out of his mind, each time the problems outweighing the advantages. He would be at times hundred of miles from any civilized land and would have to cross at one time or other mountain ranges bigger than any he had seen, let alone crossed; he knew very little about living in the wild and he did not know how to defend himself or help Arislan if need be. All these problems and more had been surfaced by his mother, who had rejected the idea the moment she had heard the name Arsilan muttered into the conversation and had found very logical excuses for it.

His father noticed the doubtful gleam in his son's eyes and said:

"Do you know that when I was your age I also decided to see part of this marvelous land? I went south though, not to the east. I got as far as the river Arkhen, deep in what was known as Sembia, though I was thinking of crossing the sea to get to Gulthmere forest to see the legendary fey creatures of the lost ages and even try to spot that most elusive creature of them all, elves, but it never happened, you see I met someone at the northern bank of the river and could go no further. She had captured me with her grace and smile, even though she can be worse than harpies."

"What has this to do with my trip?" interrupted his son.

"Well boy, the trip, even though it was only to Sembia, made a difference in my life. It made me the man I am now. I met all kind of people and especially women." At this his father, Lord Sebastien Brea, smiled. "You are getting past the age for starting a family and who knows what special lady you may find through your journey. So do not worry about your mother, she'll get used to not having you to shout at," and with that, they both smiled, "and don't worry about being nervous, it's normal. This is a very big and important change in your life and hopefully for the better. You have our blessing and I will give you some coin. Now go, I'll find your mother and tell her you are going, she…"

At this the doors opened again and from them came two figures, one smaller and plumper than the other but both women.

"I have come to a decision!" pronounced his mother, "you will be able to go on your adventure…"

"Thank the lord! The 'mighty' one has given you permission," Sebastien formed a mock face and gave his son small pushes towards the door, "Hurry son! You are able to go!" both of them exploded into laughter, though it didn't last.

"However," Cattrica said, not taking the bait from her husband, "you will be accompanied by someone other than that thing you call a friend. You will be traveling with Lady Alassra."

Until that moment, all attention had been focused on what Cattrica had to say, so very little attention had been drawn to the other figure that had entered alongside her. This body belonged to the Mistress Shentrantra, mentor to Lukslor from the tender age of four. Though everyone in the town addressed her as Lady Alassra, she was also known as Alassra the Hag behind her back. This was because even though she had the body of a thirty-something woman, she was, seemed and had knowledge of someone who had roamed and traveled through the lands of Toril for centuries, even millennia.

She was not a native and had arrived to Shadowdale on a wet and windy night, knocking on the door of the Brea mansion…

The door had been answered by a young Sebastien, 'hello there! What can I do for you?' 'Hello there young Sebastien, I have come to see your wife,' the young lord gave the middle-aged woman a look of total confusion and then asked, 'why so?' the mysterious woman stared at the boy for a few seconds before her reply came, 'you see I have seen the arrival of a child to your household and my vision told me to sought out your home and tell you of my prediction' at this Sebastien lowered his head with a pang of hurt. Cattrica, during her engagement to the future lord of the Brea mansion, had had an accident which had destroyed any possibility of her ever having children. This had caused a huge upheaval in the Brea household, for Sebastien was the only child of an only child and so the future of the Brea legacy lay in the hands of Sebastien and his barren wife-to-be. This had ended with the couple marrying in secret, with no one to stop them. Even though Sebastien was very happy with his wife and would not change her for anyone else, he was unhappy of being a childless man. Lady Cattrica was equally distressed, her whole body, mind and soul were made to enjoy having children to love and to cherish. 'Who are you to come to this house and make such claim? My wife cannot have the child you envision' ' I do not come to hurt or insult anyone, I am here only to narrate my prophecy to you and your wife.'

Hearing the concern in the woman's voice, the lord stopped his attack and told her of the incident that led to Cattrica not being able to have children. While he was narrating the painful story to her, he offered his guest some wine and took her cloak from her, for the Brea fortune had been withdrawn from the Lord when he refused a concubine for producing an heir. After he had told his story of woe, the woman stared into the fire for a few seconds and answered. 'Well, this is very interesting. I will start with introducing myself, I am Shentrantra. Your story has touched me, but I stick by my prophecy, you will have a boy and very soon.' Sebastien looked at the mystical woman, never has he seen anyone as sure of anything as she was at that moment. She was also an odd traveler. It was not the way she dressed, but the way she acted, the way she would talk as if she was not, and never was, a mortal.

After this, Sebastien had agreed to take Shentrantra to see her wife who by this time had put on her dressing gown and was on her way down the stairs, where she met the mystic for the first time. She greeted her and received a bow from Shentrantra. 'My love,' started the young lord, 'this lady has come to tell us of a premonition she has seen. It concerns us having a boy. I told her…' he stopped at seeing the reaction on Cattrica's face. It was not shock nor anger, but a smile.

'How did you know this? Who told you?' asked the lady to her visitor. Shentrantra smiled, pointing up to the ceiling, and answering in a way that was to become common to anyone who knew her, 'my Lady from above…'

After she finished the rest of the prophecy, she got up from the chair and before reaching the door, turned and said, 'I will tell you more about my roll here in the morning. Could you pray tell me where I could find an inn to rest and dry these clothes?'

At this, Sebastien woke from the dream-like stage he had been since he had introduced this sage to his wife, 'you need not go anywhere. We can accommodate you here, it is the least we can do after the good news you have brought into this household.' Sebastien led her to one of the many available rooms…

And that is how she came to be in this household and that was all Lukslor knew about the prophecy. When Lukslor was born, she took it upon herself to tutor this boy through the history, languages and other aspects of this land and, even though more than a score of years had past since she had reached this town, she had aged not a single year, not a single wrinkle.

"Why must she come? I am sure she has better and more interesting things to do than accompany two young men on a goose chase." Lukslor said to his Mother.

"I will not hear another word against this. I do not want you to be in the middle of the wilderness alone."

"But I won't be alone." Interjected the Son.

"Worst than being alone! That ruffian will probably get himself into trouble and get you into it as well. You would not survive a single day without someone's help," replied the Mother, "and do not try to convince me that you are able to cope in the wilderness, the closest you have come to coping with wilderness is weeding your garden."

"And whose fault is that?" whispered the Father in the Son's defense.

"What did you say Sebastien?"

"Nothing dear," and that was all the contribution the Father (or anyone other than the Mother and the Son) for the rest of the battle of wits and voices.

The winner of this battle, if you had not guessed, was indeed the Mother, also known as Lady Cattrica.

When he conceded defeat, Lukslor said his goodbyes to his parents and talked to Lady Alassra about arranging supplies and a place to meet tomorrow to start the adventure. After all this, the young man got on his horse and made his way home in the middle of the night, thinking of what he would say to his friend about their new companion.

He reached the cottage and there was Arislan, waiting for his best friend. Lukslor groaned and got of his horse slowly, for the journey and the 'battle' had taken much of his energy and concentration, looked at his friend and mutter,

"We are going to need extra supplies; we have an extra hand for our adventure."

"Who's that?" replied Arislan.

"Well, you know my tutor?" and with that Arislan burst into a fit of laughter. He knew the lady, and knew her age. Not a traveling age.

"Don't worry my friend! I am sure that she will get bored of our travels and will probably go back to the warmth of her house," said the Treasure hunter, his smile not disappearing till he saw Lukslor with a somber look on his face.

"She will not give up. That woman is more strong headed than my mother. If she wants to come with us she will, even if we had started weeks ago. No, the only thing we can do is let her come and she may come useful to us."

"Maybe, my friend. Maybe." And with that they said goodnight to each other and went to their rooms to rest for the coming weeks.