„A Good Plan"
It began with an argument. The moment Daria presented her carefully constructed plan, involving a burglary into Roenalls family house, revealing Isaea's contacts with pirates and slave-traders, confronting Ployer and last but not least getting some rest, she got a full-scale battle over her head, made by Jaheira. She couldn't believe that the calm and comforting druidess was the same person as the raging woman standing by her bed, asking her how brainless she was to divine again after being left alone for a single second. The diviner missed the most of it however, since after first few Jaheira's not-so-carefully-chosen-anymore shouts her headache-infected head decided that it's time to turn the lights off and faint.
By the time she woke up the druidess was still visibly pissed, but restrained herself from shouting this time. Daria knew she crossed the line of the druidess' patience dividing in such a state, but she had to. She couldn't wait when one of her friends was hurt, other two imprisoned. She had to act. All her companions were surrounding her bed, Xan looking two points in scale more forlorn than usual. Her nose stopped to bleed finally, but the handkerchief was all red, beyond any chance of saving. She knew he was more worried by her state than the loss of an item, but made a promise to herself to try to find this bloodstains removing spell she heard so much about.
"We need to divide into three groups" the diviner said. Her own voice sounded strangely alien to her. She needed rest, but that could wait a moment longer. She saw that Jaheira is clenching her teeth, but she said nothing.
"Yoshimo, you're in for a bit of a burglary." The bounty hunter nodded unsmilingly. "Inside the Roenalls house there's a book with full account of business operations, including gem smuggling officer Braga in Council Building should be very interested in." She explained in detail the images from inside the house she saw and features of the book.
"Valygar, you and Jaheira will go to the docks." Daria was hesitant to let the druidess out in her state, but judging by her previous yelling she wasn't in that bad condition yet and she wouldn't agree to be left out, hypocrisy as it was. "In a tavern by the name Sea's Bounty you will find the mages who created the curse. They cannot reverse it however, but you can pay them not to appear when Ployer calls for their help again." She took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Please keep your hood on" she warned the ranger. "We don't want any Cowled's agents to recognize you. Near the middle dock there should be a man named Barl, who could point you to the right place to ask about Roenalls' connections with the slavers."
"Xan, Minsc – you're the last group. You are going to locate a house in the eastern slums. It has a characteristic sign on the door." Daria tried to rise on her elbow to scratch the symbol on a piece of paper from her spellbook, but her headache decided to stay on the pillow along with her head. She sighed closing her eyes.
"It's a star in a square with some sort of an animal underneath, green paint" she continued after the room stopped whirling.
"Ployer family's crest. He must have signed his house for the mages to find it" Jaheira explained.
"You will go there and deal with Ployer." Daria didn't know what the former slaver would do. Minsc would go, in case he needed to be hacked to pieces before freeing Jaheira from the curse, and Xan would take care of the other, more official and less drastic alternatives. "You have to take the thing he used to curse Jaheira. It could be anything."
"Magic detecting spell should theoretically work" Luckily Xan didn't have many opportunities to use up his spells on a long boring road to Athkatla.
"Anomen, you're staying with me." Daria momentarily fell asleep after finishing the sentence. It was all she had to say and she couldn't wait much longer with her rest. She didn't manage to say a prayer for her friends' success, but she hoped her god would pardon her for that and guide them nonetheless. Her headache wouldn't let her sleep for long and she would need the priest's spells to get any further respite. She made herself comfortable in the blackness on the other side of her eyes.
***
It certainly wasn't the most fortunate night of Xan's life, but there was hardly a moment in his life from a long time he'd actually consider fortunate. He wasn't fond of wandering about in the poorest districts of the city, even in company of a large berserker, working as a highly effective thug repellent. Being deprived of his enchantments, as meager defense as they were against the dangers lurking around every corner, did wonders to his feeling of security, decreasing it to the level he didn't think accessible. The reason why he couldn't use any magic was unclear, since he saw Anomen casting healing spells outside his house to stop blood pouring from Daria's nose and he didn't seem to suffer any consequences from the officials. Nalia mentioned once that they can use their spells inside the buildings, so the system seemed to be full of holes and nonsense, as most laws imposed by humans. But it was pointless to try to change it and he didn't delude himself that he would be able to avoid such situations in the future. Where his missions would lead him, he would have to go.
Finding one house in a mass of dwellings only a very compassionate or absolutely blind would call buildings was not an easy task without the use of magic. The mud and the smell of Slums didn't make the search any easier or more pleasant. And Xan was impatient to get over it as soon as possible, not only to leave the stinky place. He was worried about Daria, not quite trusting Anomen to take proper care of her. He was a priest, it was true, but he didn't seem very reliable and had a lot of personal trouble on his head. He could easily overlook some important symptom and she would be the one to suffer. And she still had the illusion on her face. Xan tried to tell about it Jaheira, but he couldn't catch her being alone and now clouds of doubt were massing over his head. He needed to find the house and come back before anything happens to his former student.
He missed the sign, almost brushing against it, too lost in his thoughts, despite having an exact copy of it in his hand, painted by Jaheira on a piece of scroll. He only realized his eyes slipped over the house they were looking for, when a series of high squeaks came from Minsc poach. He loosed his fingers readying for casting.
***
Valygar wasn't very surprised when Jaheira used her quarterstaff instead of money to keep the mages from teleporting to help Ployer, should he call them. They weren't in much of a condition to help anyone in the first place, as they sat in the tavern spending the money on ale, but the druidess wanted to be sure, what of course was only coincidentally connected to beating the mages who cursed her to unconsciousness. A drunken mage could be more dangerous than a sober one, Jaheira knew that from drastic personal experiences. The ranger wondered what the high class wizards were doing in such a seedy tavern, but he suspected that mercenaries such as them were somewhat uncertain with their incomes and thus preferred to stay in place they could afford despite the Tymora's momentary frown.
He had no qualms about throwing the unconscious men in to one of the empty storerooms by the docks, taking all gold they had in their possessions. They were mages cursing people, it was all he needed to know, and Jaheira's almost predatory smile told him that she thinks about it as of some sort of justice, that the money they received for cursing her would end up in their pockets. Their next target, pirate Barl, finished up in the same storeroom two hours later, after being extensively questioned about Isaea Roenall's contacts with slavers, giving them another lead. The druidess corrected the grip on her quarterstaff, strange viciousness appearing for a moment in her eyes. She seemed to have a very 'strong' opinion about slave-traders.
Valygar unsheathed his katana. It was going to be a long night.
***
They ended up killing Ployer anyway. Xan silently hoped they would be able to persuade the man into surrendering to the authorities, but after the first affront towards their druidic friend left the former slaver's mouth Minsc flew into berserker's rage and all the enchanter could do was avoiding the chopped off limbs.
He was content to be over with it anyway, despite the bloody ending, free to come back to the Copper Coronet, with their objective – a lock of Jaheira's hair, sparkling with magic under detecting spell, safe in his pack. He made his way through the dark slums, reaching the inn the easiest way he could find in the maze of poor's dwellings. Xan almost run up the stairs to the room where they left Daria, but stopped momentarily by the door. Should he knock? She was most likely asleep, so he decided he shouldn't. He quietly moved the doorknob, opening the door slowly and quietly.
Daria was there, but she wasn't asleep, her slim arms circled around Anomen's neck and head, the priest holding her as well, so close that Xan wondered if he hadn't broken her ribs yet. His whole body was shaking strangely, but only when he produced a trembling sob, the enchanter realized that the arrogant squire was crying. Daria raised her eyes and saw the elf standing motionless by the doorframe. Never stopping stroking the crying man's hair she pressed a finger of her free hand to her lips, voicelessly asking for silence. The priest sobbed again and her dark violet gaze full of compassion rested on him again.
Xan closed the door as quietly as he could and moved few steps back from the door. He looked at his trembling hands as if they betrayed him. 'It was normal!' he tried to shout in his head. Something strange was happening to him, when it shouldn't. He didn't see anything shocking or wrong. He swiped from his face what couldn't be tears gathering in his eyes, nor sweat on his brow. He didn't know what that moist was. 'She was comforting a friend! She would do it for Imoen and Jaheira, for Minsc!' The enchanter suddenly felt bad, not a localized pain, but a general unpleasant feeling spread around his body. He didn't know what caused it, he didn't want to know what caused it. He bumped into Minsc, who stayed behind as the enchanter went to check for their leader.
"They're busy" Xan said. 'They're busy' his own voice repeated in his head. At the glade, divining, she was with him, he held her when she was trying to find out who murdered his sister and now they were busy! The enchanter shut the door behind him in the other room they rented.
He was the one to hold her during the divinations, keeping some part of her in the present, he, not Anomen. And he was much better at it, since he knew exactly what to do, after all the times, different situations, dangers more thrilling with every step they made towards the discovery of the cause of the iron crisis. He was always by her side, as a friend of course, and a teacher at times, Anomen being almost a newcomer, a recruit. Was he really that dispensable to be replaced with someone like that? And… she always comforted him, no one else, Xan admitted to himself with some measure of shame. Was it that strange that she was there for Anomen when he really needed it?
He remembered the dreamy looks the diviner was receiving from Ajantis not so long time ago, the way he was keeping to her side, but the enchanter wasn't very surprised when the overzealous squire was turned down. He wondered by then, if she would ever find a person to share her life with, so divided between the elven and human word as she was. He wished, knowing it was hopeless and that she would most likely die in another ambush set by assassins, creeping on her all over the Sword Coast, that she would find someone she could share her feelings with and leave this doomed mission to lead a happier, simpler life. He had a partial answer of his pleas now and he should be happy. He wasn't.
And to think he called the previous situation hopeless. How could he name their current mission then?
'But why Anomen?' he directed the question to no one particular. He was just another obsessive knight, aiming to get himself killed facing enemies far exceeding him in numbers and resources. Xan treated him only slightly better than Ajantis, since he didn't try to smite everything on his way yet, but other than that he could hardly tell a difference between the two men. It made no sense since Daria rejected Ajantis. Did she really change that much?
'No, stop. Stop such thinking and consider for a moment before you do something foolish again.' An inner voice decided to be helpful this time. 'She was only holding him and he most likely needed it after losing such a close relative. She held you many times and you don't think she loves you, do you?' Xan closed his eyes and slowly swallowed. 'She loves me as her friend and I love her… as my friend' he said solemnly. But then he recalled how he treated her for the previous few days, avoiding and pushing her away for something that wasn't exactly her fault. Even after they cleared the situation up, he held distance between them through the two days it took them to get back to the city. He wanted to show himself that he didn't… that nothing changed in how he felt about her, but he ended up doing the exact opposite. And he ignored her feelings completely, too absorbed by his inner turmoil. She needed someone by her side to help her heal, guard her against her nightmares and keep the visions at bay, as independent as she pretended to be, as strong as she was. Someone, anyone, even Anomen.
It was her role to make him smile before, to take care that he's not sulking in the corner of the inn again, or moping under a tree away from the camp. Now it was her who needed care and lo… friendship. And Xan doubted he was the right person to comfort her, though he decided to try his best. Anomen was much better to do it, as much as he needed help himself. And if there was to be something more between them… it wasn't really his business, was it? All he could do was to try being more caring and considerate about her feelings in the future. He promised himself to never talk about the priest with Daria. It was her probl… friend, and he shouldn't interfere.
The door opened letting candle light from the corridor inside the gloomy room. A heavy cough announced Jaheira's entrance.
"Minsc told me you have something belonging to me…" the druidess stopped for another coughing fit. "…the cursed item? And for the love of nature, what are you doing sitting alone in a corner of a dark room?!"