Author note: heya my readers, in this chapter we finally meet Minsc's fiancée Tabatha! I added her portrait (with Mimi perched on her shoulder) to this same chapter on Ao3 if you're curious to see her lovely face by the way ^ᴥ^
oxoxoxoxoxo
With the hearts safely stored in the Bag of Holding and after using the power of the lapislazuli discs in the first room of the Pocket Plane to heal themselves, the party members retired to their rooms for a quick bath before gathering around the table for dinner. Cespenar was a surprisingly good chef and served them an earthy meal of vegetable stew, roasted boar with mashed potatoes and even a delicious strawberry cake. While eating, Daniel noticed that Minsc seemed deep in thought, "Hey Minsc, you okay, man?". The big ranger nodded and sighed, "Yes, Minsc is just sad. I haven't been able to send a letter to my sweet Tabatha since we left Suldanesselar and I'm worried she may think Minsc and Boo are hurt or dead".
"You wants to send letter?", Cespenar asked, tilting its head to the side, "Cespenar can do it for you! Just tell Cespenar who you wants to give letter to and me will deliver it!". Everyone stared at the little imp in stunned silence, then Minsc beamed at it. "This is great news! Minsc will write a letter for my sweet Tabatha…", his hamster squeaked and he nodded, "And of course to cute Mimi as well, after dinner, so they will be happy to hear from us, right Boo?". Anomen arched his eyebrows, curious, "Mimi? You never mentioned anyone by that name before. Who is she?". "Why, cute Mimi is Boo's fiancée, like sweet Tabatha is mine!".
"Why don't you tell us more about Tabatha?", Imoen asked excitedly, "You never told us much about her". A fond smile curved the Rashemi's lips as his gaze was lost in memories of the past, "Tabatha is the most beautiful, gentle and wise woman in all Rashemen. She is now a priestess of Chauntea at the House of Bhalla in our home city, Immilmar. We met as children, when Minsc was still a young scholar and she was just an acolyte at the temple. Our parents made an agreement, so we were engaged when we were four years old and we should get married as soon as I finish my dajemma", he said, "She has always been nice to Minsc, always taking care of me even if I was not that nice to her, like that time…".
oxoxoxoxoxo
Eight years ago, Rashemen
"Minsc? May I come in?", a soft female voice, warm and similar to the purring of a cat, called from behind the closed door. The imposing man at the desk frowned, an impatient huff escaping his lips, "I'm busy, Tabatha", he snapped, "Can't it wait?". "Well, not really…It's dinner time, I brought you some stroganoff and water", she said hesitantly, "You can't skip meals, you know this: it's bad for your health". He grumbled under his breath and stood, opening the door and shooting the raven-haired beauty a glare, "Fine, put it on the desk then. Just don't get my books dirty".
She nodded and placed the tray carefully on the only unoccupied portion of the table, that was otherwise filled to the brim with old tomes and scrolls, "What are you studying?". "You wouldn't understand", he said dismissingly with a wave of his hand, "Thanks for the food, now get out". Tabatha sighed sadly, "Okay. Goodnight, Minsc", she gave him a weak smile and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, causing him to blush deeply. "Goodnight", he mumbled, going back to his seat as she moved to leave.
He watched her go, admiring her delicate face and her slender but well curved body highlighted by her velvet blue dress. His and Tabatha's marriage had been planned by their parents when they were only four, as his father wanted to raise their station in the village and her mother was one of the othlor and now that they were older, he could honestly say that he had been lucky as hell to be destined to marry her: Tabatha was not only beautiful and kind-hearted, but she was also quite intelligent and eager to expand her knowledge.
Theirs was a combined marriage, yet in the long years he had known her, he had ended up genuinely falling in love with her, even if he was not capable of showing it, too lost in his studies and too afraid of his feelings to open up to her. For her part, Tabatha loved him deeply and admired his intelligence, he was probably the most brilliant scholar their village had seen in the last four generations and he had even written two books that had become worldwide known: one was about the history of Rashemen; the other was about the origin of the Mulhorandi people, complete with speculations about their original homeworld and even a small chapter dedicated to Sigil and the Multiverse.
Yes, she was proud of how smart her future husband was, yet she couldn't help but feel her heart break a little more every time he pushed her away, refused to spend time with her or treated her with indifference and a bit of condescension. She knew he was reserved, but she still craved some signs of affection from him and was constantly disappointed. She leaned her back against the closed door and sat on the floor, wrapping her arms around her bent knees as tears streaked down her face.
From inside the room, Minsc heard her cry and his heart shattered in his chest: he hadn't meant to hurt her, he never had. Maybe he should go to her, apologize and hug her…"Bah, nonsense. Not my fault that she's so emotional and weak", he then spat under his breath, shaking his head and tuning out her sobs as he focused once more on his studies.
oxoxoxoxoxo
"Minsc was very nasty to sweet Tabatha back then", the big ranger recalled sadly, "I loved her very much, but I did not know how to show it and I was afraid that she would not like it and that others would make fun of me for being nice. But after Boo found me, everything changed! I wasn't afraid anymore and I could finally hug Tabatha, tell her how much she meant to me, kiss her and…". "We get it, Minsc", Anomen hurriedly said, not wanting to hear the most intimate details of his friend's life, "You got together as man and woman".
Minsc nodded with a big smile, "Yes, we did! I did not study anymore, it was confusing and made my head hurt, but that was good because I had more time to spend with my Tabatha and she was so happy about it! She said she loves me even more now and that she likes the new me much, much more than the old me, not that Minsc blames her, old me was very bad to her. He would have deserved a mighty kick in the backside! Right, Boo?", he asked. His hamster twitched his little nose and stood on his hind legs, squeaking in agreement.
"Oh and you don't know the best part: Tabatha likes Boo! And like Minsc has Boo, she has cute Mimi, so Boo has his own betrothed at home waiting for him to come back!", he added, beaming proudly. Imoen's eyes shone, "Aaaaawwww, so you'll have a double wedding, that's so cute!". "Yes and we'll have a litter of mini-Boos and mini-Mimis around for our children when they grow up! We will start a legacy of ranger-hamster companions, the first in all Rashemen and history will remember us for it!", he boasted and everyone chuckled at his enthusiasm. The rest of the meal proceeded with a much lighter atmosphere then and after dinner, Minsc wrote the letter as he had promised, while the rest of his companions went to their rooms to study their spells and sleep.
oxoxoxoxoxo
The old temple of Bhaal was still in the same pitiful conditions they remembered, but this time they trudged through the rotten plants and broken walls with new faith as they carried the hearts that would give them the chance at victory against Yaga-Shura. Nyalee was already waiting for them and stretched her hands eagerly as soon as she spotted them, "You are back with the hearts! Give them to Nyalee, quick, so she will perform the magic against the boy!".
Meg handed the bigger organ to the old witch, who placed it on an altar and muttered something under her breath, lolling her head back and forth and occasionally throwing some stinking powder on it, until the flames surrounding it died down and the beating stopped. "See, the boy is vulnerable now, you can kill him". Sarevok nodded, "That's good to know, let's go then", he turned on his heels, but Nyalee called out. "Wait! You didn't give Nyalee her heart back, golden Spawn-child!", she protested and he turned his head to shoot her a glare. "You raised him and cared for him, why should we give you your heart back? Most likely, as soon as you have it back, you'll regret turning on him and you'll attack us. I'm not going to risk another fight that will make us waste precious time", he spat, amber eyes as hard as steel.
The old witch gasped, then her own eyes filled with tears, "You promised, you promised! Cruel child, leaving poor Nyalee here to rot without her heart…", she sobbed, sagging to the ground as tears streamed down her cheeks. Meg felt her own heart clench in pity and sighed, "We can't go back on our word, Sarry". "But…". "No. I promised and I can't leave her like this. I'm not Yaga-Shura", she stated, handing the smaller heart to Nyalee, "Here you go and I apologize for my brother's coldness. He is not as cruel as he seems", she said in a gentle tone.
The witch brightened up immediately and snatched the organ from the Ilmatari's hands, then she ripped the front of her vest (much to the men's disgust) and literally pushed the heart inside a gaping hole in her ribcage, muttering a spell until the flesh mended and her body was whole once again, "Oh…I feel it! Nyalee is whole! Thank you, kind green Spawn-child, thank you! But…", her face fell and guilt hit her like a truck at full speed, "But you will kill my son now…What has Nyalee done? I…I can't let you kill the boy! DIE!", she yelled, summoning a score of Earth Elementals to fight.
Sarevok sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Maggie, I hate having to say this, but I told you so". "Eh…Sorry?", his sister replied sheepishly as she dodged a blow from the closest enemy. The fight was easier than what they had faced in the Marching Mountains by far, the experience gained against the Fire Giants helping a lot in facing the huge elementals and the old witch. Margaret Dawn deeply regretted having to kill her, but then she reminded herself that Nyalee had been and still was a priestess of Bhaal and had slaughtered countless of innocent infants on the altar not two feet from her, so all in all, one could say she had it coming.
As the rest of the group sat on the floor to catch their breath, Aerie went to rummage into a pack that lay on a pile of rubbish in a corner, her eyes widening when she found an impressively large and thick tome that was without a doubt a spellbook, "Meg, I found something useful!", she announced happily, causing the Ilmatari to join her. "What is it?". "I think this is a spellbook, look how thick it is! I cannot even begin to imagine how many spells it contains…".
Edwin was at their side in an instant, "Well, then I should be the one to examine it, since I'm the most skilled wizard of this party (And probably of this side of Faerun)", he said, stretching his right arm towards her and flexing his fingers in a 'gimme' motion. The Avariel frowned and turned her upper body to keep the book away from him, "No way, I was the one who found it!", she protested. "Aerie, just give me that spellbook", the Thayan's tone dripped with impatience.
"Hey!", Imoen intervened, storming to them and planting her hands on her hips, "What about me? I'm a mage too and have seniority privileges since I've been in the party the longest, shouldn't I be the one to take a look at it?". "What of me?", Chinchilla piped up, "Just because I'm a chicken doesn't mean I can be left out!".
Meg pinched the bridge of her nose as she felt the beginning of a raging headache crawl up her neck, "Guys, calm down, I want all of you to examine the spellbook together. Let me explain", she cut off every possible protest, "Each one of you is specialized in a different school of magic, correct?". They all nodded. "Good. Judging from the size of that tome, it is likely that it covers more than one school, so each of you will find something useful to add to their own spellbook. There is no need to act greedy, I'm sure there are more than enough spells for all of you to learn and use to kick ass in battle", she concluded with a smile and the four mages looked at each other, before nodding again.
"All right then", Edwin conceded, "Sharing it is (Could have been worse, at least I get to put my hands on that treasure. Ooooh, maybe it contains the spell to summon and submit Demons! It would be just perfect, Sekhmet would love having a pet Baatezu!)", he muttered to himself, his eyes glazing slightly and a small childlike grin lighting up his face as he got lost in his little daydream. The Ilmatari had to bite her lower lip to hide a chuckle: despite being a full-fledged adult and a very badass wizard, sometimes he was just too cute! "Let's save it for later though, okay?", Meg said, "First of all, we need to get to Yaga-Shura. Link hands, we'll use the portal in the Pocket Plane".
oxoxoxoxoxo
House of Bhalla: it's the Temple of Chauntea situated in the capital city of Rashemen, Immilmar.