General disclaimer: I own nothing, even Maiyn generally decides her own path.
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Friendships Forged
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Maiyn knew she had to say something soon as the rest of her party had their eyes on her. She looked again at the young man whose injuries they'd healed, and saw his imploring look.
"My brother and I... we came to use the sword he'd just found, but we were overwhelmed," he said. His name was Tiber. "I escaped... I don't know if he survived or not."
"Sword?" Maiyn had asked gently.
Tiber nodded and looked at her. "Spidersbane."
She was surprised noone had noticed how pale she'd gone - she felt the colour fading fast from her cheeks as he'd uttered those words, and he'd pleaded with her to search for his brother and try to rescue him. She was now desperately trying to think of an excuse, but she knew she couldn't. Even if she came up with one, she couldn't just leave him to wonder about his sibling, even if there was no hope of his endurance.
Maiyn sighed, and looked down the dark path that led on into the forest. The man had described the giant spiders that frequently came out of a cave further in the wood, which lurked in the forest and attacked anyone on sight.
Spiders...
She shook herself, and turned her back to the forest, looking at her party. "I think we should perhaps consider returning to Beregost first," she said simply.
"My brother..." the young man began to weep, and she licked her lips nervously as she glanced at him. "If we find the others, we'd have even more strength to enter an enclave of... spiders." Her voice had threatened to falter, and she spoke on quickly to the young man before anyone noticed. "We will come back to look for your brother, I just think we perhaps need some extra help..."
"Minsc and Boo don't understand why Maiyn thinks we need more help," said the obviously puzzled berserker. "We managed to righteously kick the butts of all those band-"
"Yes, well!" Maiyn shouted at him, causing the ranger to stop, and stare at her with confusion. "I er, just think maybe..."
"We'd waste valuable time travelling to Beregost," said Branwen, looking at the elf with concern. "It is not like you to hold back from a task - you have been the one to bring us so far into our own mission in such little time already."
Maiyn sighed, and looked at Imoen helplessly. The thief nodded to her, and mouthed a single word - 'Sorry' - before speaking aloud.
"Maiyn's scared of spiders." The others turned to look at the human, and then looked back to the elf.
"IMOEN!"
"Well, it's true, isn't it?"
Maiyn gave her friend a look of complete betrayal, and the thief shifted uncomfortably.
"Well, really," said Coran quietly, "there's no shame in having a fear."
Maiyn glared at the newcomer, and gave Xan a poisonous look before he could even speak. "It's not that at all," she said defensively. "It's just that we've come pretty close to gruesome deaths twice now; at the bandits and at the inn - we'd have died if it hadn't been for Montaron and Xzar, by the way, though your lack of appreciation for what they did spoke volumes."
"Hey now, that's a bit unfa-" began Imoen, but the elf ignored her.
"What I do and do not fear has absolutely nothing to do with how I make my decisions, and now, I just feel that we really could do with the experience Jaheira and Khalid can offer-"
"And glorious Dynaheir!" added Minsc.
"... er yes," said Maiyn, slightly thrown from her speech, "and so going back to Beregost isn't that much of an effort-"
"But you said yourself, that they may start to track us from Beregost if they arrive back there before us," interrupted Branwen, winning a scowl from the ranger. "We could return there to find they have already left, looking for us."
"Well, maybe, but-"
"Erm, Maiyn, there's something you should know..."
"Imoen, let me finish!" yelled Maiyn in exasperation, completely failing to notice her companions ready their weapons as she tried to remember what she wanted to say.
"No, really Maiyn, there's something you should know," said Kivan quietly, but the female elf didn't hear him.
"Why will noone listen to my reasons?" she asked. "Okay, fine! You all want to go marching into the forest and find this man, then we'll do it!" She turned abruptly back to the forest and started marching, anger blinding her temporarily as she wondered about the sudden argumentative tendencies of her friends; then she noticed something large standing before her.
Maiyn stopped and looked up at the green creature towering above her. She felt herself stepping backwards slowly as she counted its legs - eight, then its eyes - also eight. She gulped, and felt the familiar feeling of nausea flow through her very being. As her world turned dark, she felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist, and lift her away from the arachnid.
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She felt herself stirring, and she opened her eyes. Her companions were sitting around her; expressions of concern on most faces. She groaned inwardly, knowing she now had to face up to an unlikely dilemma; being the leader of a group of adventurers, and being completely incapable, it seemed, of staying conscious to fight the monsters.
She sat up and sighed, waiting for someone to say something. Silence prevailed. She pondered saying something herself, but opted against it, and stood up, the others following suit quietly. Realising no one was in any hurry to say anything, she decided just to pick up her pack and try as hard as she could to press on towards both the wyverns and the spiders. After all, they're just another monster, she thought, over and over.
She turned round and instantly froze, spying the gory corpse of the beast her companions had killed, oozing with ichor, legs bent out of shape and crumpled around it.
She dropped her pack as turned back, and ran past her companions into the forest beyond them with her hand clasped over her mouth.
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Imoen watched her run, and made to follow her.
"Wait," said Coran, "let me."
"I'm her friend," began Imoen, but the elf put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"I'll not deny you are," he said gently, "but there could be anything in that forest; and I'm assuming that right now, she doesn't want all of us bounding after her just in case she comes across any more of them."
Imoen nodded, and let watched him follow her friend. "We'll wait here," she said to the others.
Coran didn't have far to go to find the young elf. She was sitting, hunched over a small rock, looking quite unwell. When she heard someone approaching, she moved away slightly, crumpling down into the grass. He could tell she'd been sick.
He sat down gently beside her, and she looked surprised to see him. He just gave her a grin, and pulled her into his arms, feeling her trembling form nestle into his embrace. Softly, he stroked her hair, wondering at her naivety. She leads a band of mercenaries, he thought to himself, but she has the most basic of fears; a fear that she's never had to face.
She sat quietly in his arms for a while, and he continued to hold her as her shaking subsided. He felt her stir, but she didn't fight his hug, she just adjusted her position, and he began whispering softly to her in elvish, words of comfort and soothing. Eventually she gently pushed herself from his arms, and smiled at him shyly. Then without a word she stood and returned to her companions.
He got up and watched her go, and smiled to himself. This shall be interesting.
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They agreed that it would be wisest for Maiyn to stay at the rear until she managed to find the courage to at least shoot at the spiders, while the others would tackle the arachnids in force. She'd reluctantly agreed, feeling quite stupid for how she'd acted, but knowing all too well that her reactions were still well beyond her control.
As they'd started down the path, Minsc had stopped them, and pulled Imoen to the front. "Boo signals we should look for traps," he said to her, holding out the furry hamster so she could see for herself. "Just look at how he frantically scratches his belly! He always does that when traps are around! Or when he has a really bad itch, but I'm sure that's not the case."
Imoen nodded and walked just ahead of Minsc and Kivan, keeping a careful eye out for snares, and disabling them as she came across them. Xan and Branwen followed, and Maiyn caught Coran looking at her before he also wandered after them. She took a deep sigh, and followed slightly further behind, her bow ready, and her heart beating quickly.
Several ettercaps were the first foes they came across, but they were easily dispatched by the group, and they were soon heading further on into the forest. Within minutes two giant spiders rushed the group from the trees, Coran and Minsc engaging one each while Branwen and Xan equipped their slings and helped the archers pelt them with missiles.
Maiyn felt her hands shaking as she watched the battle, and every time one of the arachnids trilled she felt herself stumble backwards slightly. Eventually, Minsc managed to defeat his foe, but he was heavily poisoned, and Branwen rushed to his side to neutralize the effects. Coran was having slightly less luck, despite having injured his target badly; the creature refused to give up, and had nipped at him with its mandibles, causing a large wound on his arm, making it harder for him to wield his weapon. It had followed up its attack by backing him against a tree, and was readying itself for another snap when Maiyn felt herself letting her arrow fly.
It struck the spider with a bonecrunching force in its head, and it staggered as it fell to the ground, twitching as it died. She looked away, unable to hold her gaze on the corpse for long without feeling sick, and she knelt down, letting her shaking legs recover from the ordeal while Branwen tended to Coran's poisoning.
When they were ready, she saw a figure beside her, and a hand extended to offer her a hand getting up. She accepted it, and allowed Kivan to heave her to her feet. He clapped her shoulder encouragingly: "Lle ume quel." You did well.
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The rest of the journey to the cave which homed the spiders followed much the same pattern. Sometimes Maiyn was able to get off a few shots, sometimes she was unable to even look at their foes. At one point a spider charged the rear, causing her to flee in fear behind Coran, who instantly entered the fray along with Minsc. Before they entered, Maiyn asked Kivan if he would lead them through whatever lay inside. The stoic ranger looked uncomfortable, but Maiyn's pleading eyes were enough to make him accept, and the group accepted her decision without question.
They entered one by one, and Maiyn gasped when she realised that the floor beneath them was in actuality a tough web that stretched between the walls. In the centre of the net was a large bloated figure, which turned to regard them.
"Who invadessss my lair?"
Maiyn was pretty sure it was a female accent, but to say it 'spoke' would be a fallacy. To say it 'hissed' would be much closer to the truth.
"What are you?" asked Kivan sternly.
"You infesssst my home and assssk me quesssstionssss?" The figure raised her hands, and several arachnids raced towards the group from the shadows of the cavern. "Feed on them my petsssss!"
Maiyn cried out in fear, but stayed at the doorway, forcing herself to load up her bow. A total of four spiders had rushed her friends, Minsc and Branwen were facing one each, and Coran had been surrounded by two. Her trembling hands took shot after shot at one of his foes, Kivan's bow also helping out their fellow elf. Imoen and Xan were concentrating on the bloated figure, slinging shot after shot at her as she stood controlling her creatures.
Coran was the first to be poisoned, and he fell pale as the spider's bite crushed his arm. One of the arachnids fell with Kivan's sure shots, but the other was still in good health, and was bearing down on the badly injured elf. Maiyn cried again, and leapt down onto the web, racing over to the fighter and placing her hands onto his arm as he evaded the arachnids charge.
A blue glow quickly healed the damage, but the poison was still coursing through his veins, and Maiyn grit her teeth as she slung her bow over her shoulder and drew her sword. With a shriek, she lunged towards the creature, stabbing it in the abdomen, and causing its green blood to drop from the wound.
With a high-pitched chitter, it turned its attention to her, and turned to face her. She felt herself sway slightly; her grip on her consciousness was fading now her adrenaline to help her comrade was faltering, but she managed to avoid its charge, and repeated her stab at it. Coran also managed to get a solid hit in and Kivan's shower of arrows finished it off before it could do any more harm.
Maiyn bounded over to Branwen's foe, and pointed her to Coran. The priestess rushed to administer an antidote to the fighter, and Maiyn tried to focus on the task ahead, as she dodged a swipe from the spider's huge maw. Minsc joined her soon after, having dispatched his own target, and within minutes Coran had re-entered the melee, the poison purged from his body. The spider fell easily, and the companions turned to the bloated figure, who was shrieking at the death of her favourites.
Maiyn got her bow back out, and peppered the body with arrows, her aim staying true, and causing enough damage to fell the woman. As soon as the ranger realised the figure was dead, her adrenaline vanished, and she found herself in the middle of the web, surrounded by the oozing corpses of the spiders. She felt sick again.
"I'm sorry!" she yelled as she bolted to the entrance, Coran following her closely to make sure she wasn't attacked.
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Kivan had found the body of the young man, and Minsc carried him to his brother. Tiber had cried, but expected it, and he had taken the corpse, leaving the sword for the companions. Minsc had gladly accepted the chance to wield it. Maiyn insisted they cross back over the bridge, and rest closer to the lodge. She apologised to Coran for the delay in performing his task, but promised they'd find the wyvern's cave first thing in the morning, and he smiled.
They made their camp close to where the two elves had first encountered each other, agreeing guard duties, and sorting food. They all sat around the campfire as it got dark, one by one drifting off to bed, with the exception of Branwen and Minsc who were to take first watch. Maiyn yawned, and stretched, looking to her bedroll as she pondered sleep.
"Ah, Maiyn," said Coran, giving her a fond look, "you look in need of cheering up."
Maiyn raised an eyebrow at him.
"I know a song which a man can sing to his adventuring companion should she happen to be a fair lady and in need of a smile..." he said smoothly, his eyes never leaving her face. "Would you care to hear it?"
She grinned. "Go on then."
He beamed, and moved to kneel before her. His voice, though not that of a bard, was melodic enough, and his gaze was fixed upon her. He sang a song of adventuring, about a merry band living rough under the stars as they fought assorted foes; the shining star among them being a fair maiden, gentle and kind, who was amiss travelling with such vagabonds.
When he was done, she smiled. "It was a good song Coran." She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, whispering her thanks for his actions earlier in the day, and wished him a good night. The newcomer watched her retire, the light of the campfire flickering across his smiling face.
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They huddled together amongst the trees, looking to the cave where the wyverns were nesting. To Maiyn's relief, the journey had been arachnid free, and now they were readying their weapons, and preparing to take on the flying creatures that were preying on anyone passing their abode.
"Coran?" said Maiyn lightly, flushing slightly when the elf threw her a charming smile. "Since this is your area of expertise, do you want to do the leading?"
"A wise elf once told me that once you learn to organize and manage four, it means that you can organize and manage any number of people," replied the fighter, the smile not leaving his face. "I've never learned to lead, but you, Maiyn - you can lead an army."
"Er, quite," responded Maiyn, feeling the bemused stares from some of her companions. "Regardless, I think it would be best if we followed your guide for this."
Coran nodded his head respectfully, and looked back to the cave. "The entrance is quite small, and I'd wager only one adult wyvern can pass through at any one time. If we manage to keep them at the entrance, we should make things a lot easier for ourselves."
"Won't that restrict the archers?" asked Imoen, peering to at their potential battlefield.
Coran grinned to her. "Not the good ones," he said winking, and his glance shifted to Maiyn, who instantly looked away as she felt the redness return to her cheeks.
What is wrong with me? She wondered, annoyed with herself and her sudden coyness around their newest companion. She deliberately concentrated on getting her quiver adjusted so it was at a good height on her shoulders.
"I can call some undead to fight alongside us," said Branwen in her no-nonsense earthy tone. "They will provide some distraction to allow us time to get into position at least."
Coran welcomed the idea, and the priestess prayed to Tempus, sowing the seeds of the undead into the ground, and raising four skeletal figures under her command.
The skeletons led the way to the cave, Minsc and Coran behind them with their two handed swords ready. The others had readied their missile weapons - the entrance was quite narrow, and it would be hard to have anyone else in fighting at close range.
A tremendous screech heralded the ire of their quarry as it noticed enemies approaching its home. Branwen urged the skeletons to run to the entrance, and they got there in time to prevent the wyvern's exit, Minsc and Coran close behind as they dodged the creature's snaps and lunges. The narrow confines of the cave entrance prevented it from being able to turn, so they were quite safe from its poisonous tail. This may be easier than we thought, pondered Maiyn, as she joined in with the others pelting it with missiles.
"There's another!" yelled Coran, bringing an abrupt end to her optimism.
"How many?" she called back, suddenly having visions of a whole family. She wasn't far from the truth.
"It looks like there's another adult," shouted the elf, dancing away from an irritated snap from the wyvern, "and I think I can see a young one!"
Maiyn had a feeling that Coran was secretly pleased there was more than one of the foes, but she kept her focus on the wyvern, trying to hit it somewhere where her arrows would pierce through its tough, scaly exterior. Three of the skeletons were using their shields admirably, the fourth had been crushed by the wyvern's initial charge.
This may take a while. Maiyn sighed.
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Branwen had exhausted her curing spells, but Minsc seemed to be free from the poison that had drained his life force and his severest wounds were healed. Maiyn's healing had helped Coran's injuries disappear, though her own arm was quite badly bitten; she kept it hidden under her cloak though, hoping noone would notice and create a fuss.
The others had some light scratches from the baby wyvern's smaller claws, but the two younger creatures had fallen easily compared to the adults. Coran's plan to keep them fighting in the entrance had worked quite well though, and their ability to do damage was limited. The baby wyverns, however, had displayed their poisonous abilities on Minsc to the extreme.
Coran and Kivan had managed to sever the heads from the bodies of the fallen creatures, and had loaded them into their packs. Maiyn had agreed to travel back to the Temple at Beregost to claim the reward, and to check for her other companions as they passed. It didn't take them too long to get themselves ready, and they set off, mostly jubilant over their victory.
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It was late afternoon when Maiyn realised her subconscious had led her to the area where Gorion had fallen. She stopped abruptly, and looked to Imoen. The young thief looked back, quizzically, but soon read her friend's expression and turned pale.
"Is something wrong?" Kivan had appeared by her side, and looked concerned.
Maiyn shook her head. "No, I'm... fine. It's fine."
The ranger looked unconvinced, and raised his eyebrow. Maiyn sighed.
"Gorion... he fell near here."
Kivan nodded grimly, and put his hand on Maiyn's shoulder. She smiled weakly at him.
"Maybe we could..." said Imoen, leaving most of her thought unspoken. Maiyn knew what she wanted to suggest.
"We shall go past. It is time for us to pay our respects properly." Wordlessly she marched towards the stone circles, her companions following silently.
Maiyn and Imoen knelt by the circle where their foster father had died, and prayed to their respective Gods. Imoen prayed silently to Mask, while Maiyn knew that Fenmarel, although not one who encouraged worship, was listening. She wordlessly let out all her feelings about the past few weeks, confiding in her God about her loneliness and her shame at having allowed her father to die; and for having moved on with her life with barely a thought back to what had happened.
The others sat in respectful silence until the two young girls were done. They had been slightly aghast to notice that Gorion's shallow grave had been exhumed, but Branwen had gently pointed out that it needn't have been bandits. Certainly, news of Gorion's disappearance and failure to arrive at the Friendly Arms would have become common news, and it was likely some of the monks from Candlekeep had set out to check the area. He was now, most likely, entombed below the great library itself.
It was a sombre procession which set off again, and they were only moving far enough away from the scene as to make Maiyn and Imoen comfortable before they set up camp for the night. When they did, Maiyn moved away slightly from the group, settling herself against a tree, and quickly falling into a daydream while the others busied themselves with preparing food and memorising spells - even Imoen had a few basic offensive spells mastered, and Xan was almost confident she would be able to cast them in combat.
What now? Maiyn wondered. She'd been so convinced that they would be able to walk into the Cloakwood Mines and find Tazok, kill him, and find something, some letter or witness, or something, who would point them to the real ringleader. Then they'd simply find whoever that was, and it'd be over. The iron crisis would be over... Gorion would be avenged. It had seemed so simple because luck had shone on both her and Imoen for days after their father's death.
But their luck was running low now, and their foes were skilled and more experienced. They had been foolhardy to attack the bandit camps, and Maiyn was not looking forward to relating the tale to Jaheira and Khalid. They had been more than fortunate that the Zhents had still been at the Friendly Arms Inn when they had been attacked by the assassin. And now, they had to explore an area that was infested by the one thing on Toril that she couldn't stand.
What must they think of me? Maiyn couldn't believe they still followed her, despite her pathetic show against such a simple foe. None had mentioned it, and none of them seemed overly bothered. Would she feel bothered if she'd been following someone with such a foolish fear? Inwardly, she was sure she'd think the person was a poor leader.
She sighed heavily and stood back up, wandering back towards the others in a half-daze.
"Ah, fairest Maiyn," said Coran as she met him slightly away from the camp. "There is perfection in every woman, yet no woman is perfection, alas."
The female elf was shaken from her melancholy daydreams, and she peered at the fighter. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, I was looking at you as you sat over there by that tree, and could not find any fault but one," he replied, taking her arm as he escorted her the rest of the way. "Usually, one woman has the ear lobe made for the gentlest kisses, another can dance you into the ground, and yet another's eyes spell trouble so irresistibly. So when put together, they make the perfect woman I am dreaming of."
"I, er..." Maiyn mumbled, desperately fighting the increasingly familiar sensation of her cheeks burning.
"And you... you are as near to perfection as any I have ever seen, lacking but one important detail." Coran let go of her arm as they arrived back by the campfire, and sighed dramatically as he gazed into her eyes. "You are not in love with me. I have hope, however, that this can be amended..."
Maiyn gawked at him, but could sense nothing but sincerity in his actions. She excused herself, and darted off to the other side of the clearing, finding Imoen sitting with the spellbook she'd salvaged from the assassin at the inn. Xan had taken the liberty of casting spells upon it to ward off any protections it may have had, and had only permitted the young thief to study it when he was convinced it could do no harm.
"Im!" she hissed, making her friend look up in surprise.
"Hey Maiyn!" exclaimed the thief, excitedly. "Look, Xan's shown me this new spell I can work o... What's wrong?"
Maiyn recounted the conversation Coran had just had with her to Imoen's amused giggles. She'd already told the thief about Coran's initial approach, and the human took no time at all in teasing her elven friend.
"He's not hangin' around, is he?" she said, grinning to Maiyn.
Maiyn just flushed even more, causing Imoen to snigger.
"You know, every time he looks at you, you seem to redden a bit more," noted Imoen, "then when he talks to you..."
Maiyn shot the human a venomous glare, which did nothing but encourage the thief to laugh even harder.
"What about Xan though?"
"Xan?" Maiyn looked puzzled.
"I thought... you and Xan?" Imoen's mood had gone serious, and she mirrored her friend's confused expression.
Maiyn's look of shock said it all. "There's nothing with Xan and I!" she whispered, looking at her companions guiltily, as if she was plotting their downfall, rather than denying a romantic encounter. Noone seemed to be paying much attention to the two girls though.
"I just assumed, what with you sharin' rooms with him an' all..." Imoen shrugged, and went back to her spells. "You looked quite cute together."
Maiyn just looked at her friend blankly, and left her to her book. Xan? I wonder if the others have thought something has been going on... She groaned inwardly; What if he thinks... no, he wouldn't, he's too convinced he's going to die to allow himself any happy thoughts or hopes.
Her gaze fell to the mage who was pouring over his spellbook, his dark hair hanging down around his face making him look mysterious indeed. He looked up and caught her gaze, and offered the slightest hint of a smile before returning to his incantations. Oh dear, she thought.
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The elf watched her excuse herself and virtually run over to her friend. She called Imoen her 'sister' despite the thief being a human, but it was to be expected, he guessed - they'd been so close all these years, and now they were all each other had left.
When he'd first stumbled across the group on the outskirts of Cloakwood, he'd imagined they'd manage to aid him on his task quite well. He'd been slightly surprised to find that they were without their leader, but had followed the cleric's directions, and had found the female ranger looking peaceful indeed.
She's not as pretty as her 'sister', he admitted to himself, comparing them as they sat together. But something about her is quite striking. He frowned slightly as he tried to work out what it was; she was certainly easy on the eye, though not classically pretty. Her reactions to his flirting were providing him with plenty of amusement, but the more he looked to her, the easier his smile became. What was it about her that made him so cheerful?
He watched amused as she glared at her friend, and idly wondered what they were discussing. His ego told him that it probably involved him. He chuckled softly, and started cleaning his sword. With time she would accept his charms, and fall under his spell, he was sure. After all, all the others did.
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Xan saw Maiyn returning to the camp, and pulled out his spellbook to busy himself with preparations. When he next glanced up, he saw the new fighter had taken her arm, and had succeeded in causing the ranger to blush quite drastically.
Xan forced himself to concentrate on his spells, but realised he was failing miserably. It had taken the elf, Coran, joining the group to make Xan realise how close he was letting himself get to the ranger. It was perhaps a blessing the fighter was now on the scene; after all, the ranger's past was mostly a mystery, and some weight weighed heavily on her shoulders. She had a price on her head, but for what reason, no one knew.
I am a Greycloak, he had reminded himself time and time again. I have a duty to my people, to my lands. But even that had not been enough to stop his feelings slowly grow for his companion, and though he had fought them every step of the way, he was painfully aware they were present.
She was talking to her friend; gossiping about her suitor no doubt, he thought, somewhat bitterly. A quick glance to the fighter showed that his gaze still lingered on the ranger, and a playful expression adorned his face. Xan grit his teeth, and looked back to his spellbook hastily.
He couldn't concentrate though, and although he stared at the pages, he paid little heed to them. His gaze was drawn up again, and a quick glance to Maiyn revealed that she was staring at him. His heart almost lightened, and he felt a smile form, but he fought it away, and quickly looked back to his components. You are being foolish, he told himself sharply.
