„The Day of the Rat"
The diviner slept for the most of the next day, only brushing with consciousness for short moments, hearing her friends bustling around her room and checking for her state from time to time. She half-consciously covered her face under a pillow once the illusion faded from her face, the stained material matching the scarred cheek. By the evening she still held to the remnants of her sleep, hesitant to open her eyes and face the reality again. She was all too aware of the fact that a safe shelter of a bed in an inn once on a while was all she could ever count on in life, without a house or family.
She felt wrong about lying to Anomen about his sister's murder, guilt entwined in her half-conscious thoughts. He was supposed to be a paragon of justice and law, a member of an order of knights, and she lied to let him achieve that. She was lying and covering so many things that she could fill a diary with other people's secrets instead of her own. She never kept one because of that. And the priest's sister… Daria only caught a glimpse of her in her vision, a very bloody glimpse, but she heard few stories about her from her brother. The diviner told him that she saw the killer, but didn't recognize the man and without the name she couldn't even try locating him. It was a poor lie, leaving Moira's death without revenge, but she hoped the girl would forgive her, happy in the place she went to, seeing her brother fulfilling his dream. Anomen would find out what happened sooner or later and she wasn't that naïve to count on his forgiveness, but after the initial rage would wear off he wouldn't do anything irrational. She didn't feel comfortable with such a responsibility over her shoulders and something made her think that being able to choose Anomen's future for him was some sort of a debt she would have to repay.
A shuffle under her bed announced that yet another rat found its way to her room in a never-ending search for debris. She threw an uncaring glance at the floor, noticing a big grey rodent, standing on its back legs, sniffing in the air. It appeared to be somewhat familiar to her, despite being completely devoid of any distinction marks, just as any other rat. A gray tangled and flea-infested fur, a wormlike tail twitching on the floor and black shiny eyes certainly weren't anything rare among the rat population in Athkatla. It seemed old as much as the sun elf could tell. Feeling something her body remembered and her head couldn't recall she gathered some bits of bread from the table and moved her opened palm forward without getting up from the bed or making any sudden movements. The dirty creature carefully paced, at first in place, but then carefully forward. Daria was imagining that all she would end up with would be a bitten finger, or some disease knowing her luck, but when the rat cautiously touched the tip of her gloved finger with its wet nose a sharp vision came into her mind.
The cold metal of her cage was pressing the wounds on her back, making her feel as if she was being bathed in boiling water. The cage was too small for her to stand up, but it hardly mattered since with her both knees broken she could only dream about walking. She didn't though. She didn't dream or reverie in this horrible damp place, pain keeping her awake, chasing away her memories and thoughts. She was fresh after another session of tortures, blood pouring from the opened injuries, mixing with sweat and tears. He would come and heal some of them, keeping her alive as always, but leaving smaller wounds to torment her before another session. She only remembered she deserved it and it was all that mattered now. If she did something to deserve such a horrible pain, then she really should suffer and if she suffered, it meant she did something to deserve it. Her tangled mind thought about it as only logical conclusion.
A rat made its way through the bars of her cage, interested in a pool of crimson liquid gathering on the metal floor. There were many rats in the dungeon, but they didn't give her any troubles, sating their hunger on the dead and leaving the problematic living to their misery. One of the rats visited quite often however. At least she thought it was the same rat.
"You came back, my friend" she croaked with what was left of her voice after hours of screaming. "You have been visiting me quite often lately. I should warn you. My friends don't end up well" she sobbed quietly not to chase the rat away. Tears were leaving two lines on her face, removing the dirt.
The rat lifted its eyes from the ground, black shiny spots looking at her with curiosity.
"You like me so very much, so maybe you would be my familiar? I heard all mages have familiars, it was in a book… someone read it to me…" She moved what was left of her hands to press it to her aching forehead. For a moment she almost saw a vision of a smiling gray-haired man with a long tidy beard, handling her something green.
"I would name you Gooseberry. How about that?" she giggled slightly hysteric at the rat sniffing her toe.
"Gooseberry!" she cried in surprise and lifted the animal from the ground, placing it in her bed. He didn't appear to be startled by the sudden recognition. She carefully fed it with all the bits of bread she could find and took a careful look at her pet. It was slightly skinnier than she remembered, and a true heaven for fleas. She should ask Jaheira to free him of this problem before he shares it with the others. Besides that he looked like a piece of old stinky carpet on four legs, just as she remembered.
How did he find her? He had to make quite a journey, not only for a rat, from the sewers, where the hidden dungeon was, to the surface and Copper Coronet. She heard that mages and familiars have some sort of telepathic connection allowing them to communicate on long distances, but since her summoning skills were hardly worth mentioning in anything but a joke, she never thought about having a familiar herself and didn't have much knowledge about the subject. She read about fairy dragons and imps, following their masters' every wish, but Gooseberry was just a simple sewer rat. He couldn't read her mind.
Could he? She felt a strange tingle, something not yet in her mind, but certainly somewhere behind her eyes. A suggestion of more bread? She let the rat down on the ground to find some more food for himself. The moment her newfound friend disappeared under her bed a careful knocking sounded by the door.
"Come in!" she asked.
Xan entered with heavy load of various meals, mostly vegetable, creating a small pyramid in his arms, his morose expression barely visible through the jars he held. He didn't have a free hand and had to maneuver the doors with his foot. Daria tried to get up, but the sudden rising caused black specks appearing before her eyes. She received a worried glance from the enchanter as she sat back on her bed, but he couldn't do much, loaded as he was. He began to free himself from the burden, placing the plates and the jars on the table.
"I heard you finally woke up. It is all from Jaheira, she said you have been mumbling something about vitamins in your sleep and she made Bernard prepare something better than white goo. She says you have to eat it all." Daria wondered what made the enchanter suddenly so obedient towards the druid, as he listed Jaheira's commands. But thinking could be left for later and her stomach was empty right now.
She was making her way though one helping after another, dropping some food seemingly accidentally on the ground for Gooseberry, lurking in the shadows. There was almost more food than her stomach could digest, but she couldn't stop herself from eating. Some deep instincts told her that if there was food she should place it where nobody would be able to take it away from her. After the fourth meal she slowed down enough to notice Xan was wearing a new set of mage's robes in his favorite purple. It was a good idea to make provisions and buy new equipment while she slept and she was a bit ashamed that she didn't thought to mention about it.
"How is Jaheira?" full mouth didn't get in the way for Daria to ask questions.
"She's in the other room, most likely asleep, but she is in nearly perfect condition if you consider her ordering around and yelling just before she went to have her rest." Daria giggled quietly. Given Xan's gloomy demeanor and sour tone she had a strange certainty about who was the target of the druidess' shouts.
"And Nalia?" the diviner stopped eating to ask, but quickly resumed devouring the food.
"We delivered all the incriminating proofs to Isaea Roenall's superior. He told us to come back tomorrow morning and if he is not in Isaea's pocket, which is doubtful knowing the corrupted amnian system, he should release her by then."
"Good." It seemed that everything went according to her plan. She knew from her divinations that the commander was the only person who could oppose the Roenalls. She rewarded herself with another helping of broccolis. Xan watched her with an odd look on his face.
"What do you think familiar tells about its mage?" Daria asked casually after a moment of intense chewing, opening a jar with mashed potatoes.
"It' is not one of those tricky questions of yours, is it?" Xan looked around as if expecting a dragon hidden behind the wardrobe. Surprisingly there was none. "Most mages choose their familiars fitting their status" the enchanter continued, somewhat reassured. "It is common that evil mages choose their familiars from the ranks of abysmal or hellish armies, such as hell hounds or imps. The more rational wizards pick minor elementals, like various mephits, or simple animals. Some chosen ones are rewarded with the company of minor celestial beings or rare magical creatures" he began a talk watching Daria finally giving up the use of the fork and returning to the roots, using her gloved fingers to eat. It was both funny and sad to see her like that and since he felt more inclined to sadness he sighed mournfully.
"And how do you think, what familiar would I get, were I able to summon one?" she resumed eating after finishing the sentence, but kept her eyes up, looking at the enchanter.
He was a bit surprised with the question, but gave it a moment of thought. Something to express her nature, a hidden taint of her father, but also her inner self and elven spirit. Something a laughing girl could have by her side as well as a serious woman. A mysterious and alluring creature, both dark and bright, maybe a sign of precognition and divinations. What could it be? His imagination failed him this time.
A swift movement on the floor made him shift his eyes to the floor, noticing a large gray rat by Daria's foot, eating some of the food she dropped.
"Why do we always end up in such pathetic sordid inns, even with enough money to allow us for a much better sleeping place?" he asked without expecting an answer. "There's an ugly rat by your foot. Is it not enough that you are doomed by your heritage, do you also have to catch some plague from an undoubtedly disease-carrying rodent?"
"…Xan? About the rat…" Daria lowered her hand to the ground and let Gooseberry climb her robes to her lap, where she fed him with some mashed potatoes. "…it's my familiar". Xan's jaw dropped.
The diviner carefully caressed her pet, scratching it behind an ear, causing few fleas to flee in panic.
"His name is Gooseberry" she took the rat in her hands and pointed it at the enchanter in a very Minsc-like fashion. Xan immediately jumped back from his seat, throwing a look of horror at a ragged creature, but it was already too late to stop a series of sneezes, a reaction at the furry rodent.
"Sorry, I forgot about your allergy" Daria hastily put Gooseberry back on the ground. Xan couldn't help but notice that the rat left a sheer amount of his fur on the diviner's lap. He cautiously sat back on the chair, watching the dirty creature disappearing under her bed.
"Where did you get such a…" Xan found himself lacking the words to describe his friend's new pet, or rather its positive values. "…familiar" he ended awkwardly.
"It was… back in the dungeon" Daria averted her gaze to the ground, unpleasant memories catching up with her once again. Xan reminded himself the promise of trying to be more considerate, but Seldarine knew it wasn't easy to be comforting with his attitude. He covered her hand with his carefully, ready to withdraw at the first sign of discomfort from her. He remembered she did the same for him, long time ago in Nashkel inn, at the first night of his freedom after long time underground, in Mulahey's lair. She approached his secluded corner of the common room and smiled broadly at him, like she always smiled, till now. And then she covered his hand with hers, ungloved by then, pointed him a moon on the night sky, calm glow shining through the window and asked if he was a moon elf. He thought it was incredibly childish back then, human even, unaware that she was ignorant of so many more details of her elven heritage.
The simple gesture back then was the beginning of something between them, something that with time fastened into friendship. He never imagined it could be that difficult to place a hand on someone else's.
Daria raised her eyes at him. And smiled. He involuntarily squeezed her hand feeling the corners of his mouth rising.
I took him a moment too long to realize he's staring at her with an adoring expression like a fool. He cleared his throat to cover the blush and produced a package from one of the pockets of his new robe, placing it in front of the diviner.
"Jaheira sent everybody to do some shopping for the reward we received from the mayor of Imnesvale. I saw these and thought you may find a use for them."
She threw a curious glance at the package and unwrapped the material, exposing a full set of runes for dividing, mystic symbols carved on small stones, not very fancy set, but well made and suitable for an adventurer.
"Oroth uum whopei…" she began to read a scroll from the package. The runes began to glow with faint emerald green light.
"Thank you!" she said with her eyes widening from awe. She studied each glowing stone separately, removing her gloves to move her fingers along the inscriptions. He noticed the fingers weren't bruised anymore, but still bent and slightly crooked. It was only too cruel to know that her hands would never be smooth and slender again. He shook away painful feeling. She didn't need him to remind her that.
"I hope it will stop your suicidal tendencies to driving yourself to the state of unconsciousness every time someone gets in trouble, at least for few days" he meant to sound sarcastic, but some more or less happy tone treacherously made its way to his voice somehow. He was… pleased to have noticed the set of runes on one of the shelves of Adventurer's Mart. It was strangely fortunate that he still had enough money to buy them.
He suddenly sneezed again and looked down to see Daria's fur-losing familiar watching him from the level of his feet, little pink fore-paws placed on his shoe.
"I better go now" he said, slightly bothered, removing his foot from under the rat carefully and circling the rodent. He expected an amused smile from Daria, but she was strangely serious. 'Why did she name a rat Gooseberry?' he wondered for a moment, but closed the door, leaving her to get known with the spells connected with divining runes.
***
"And this will…?"
"Yes."
"All of them…?"
"Yes."
"Completely…?"
"It should, yes. Don't make me say it again."
Daria stared at a small jar handed her by Jaheira. If what the druidess said was true, it contained a salve which could remove all her scars without a trace, leaving plain skin without any marks.
"But remember, it will only work on the surface scars, not the damaged muscles underneath, so don't exert yourself" the druidess reminded. She was still cross at her ward, but she wasn't brewing this balm for so long just to let it waste away because of an argument.
Daria didn't avert her gaze from the jar. 'With a whole jar all scars would be gone in no more than five days, maybe a week. I could have a smooth face again, I could take off the cloak… hells, I could wear a dress with low neckline! Why only neckline, I could…' her mind was whirling with new ideas. And then a more rational thought came. 'The moment the last scar disappears I'm off to get myself the scantiest revealing dress I can find.' Only slightly more rational thought. Or at least a bit less chaotic.
The balm was green and stinky, smelling only slightly better than Gooseberry. Jaheira said she made it herself from the herbs of the forest, buying the more rare ingredients in what was left of the Promenade, mixing them with her druidic magic. The diviner was almost overjoyed feeling stinging when Jaheira began to rub the balm in her skin. It made her believe even more that it would work. Her delight lessened somewhat, when she heard she has to stay motionless until the layer on her skin hardens, for at least an hour. She already spent the whole day sleeping.
The druidess left the room, after covering her ward tightly with a blanket, which got stuck to her balm-covered skin at once, and taking Gooseberry's fleas with her, to find them a new home. Daria's fed, de-fleaed, washed and brushed familiar curled into a ball by her head, taking a deserved rest from all the hustle and bustle around him. His new smell was the one of soap and jasmine, a scent of his newly found mistress, and he was missing half of his fur, lost in the process of being washed, bald spots visible on his body. In the other hand he was now unquestionably the cleanest rat of Athkatla.
The pair made good use of their free time probing the link between them. Daria couldn't guess how exactly it was assembled. It couldn't be as simple as saying 'you're my familiar from now on', could it? She slowly learned how to send small signals to her new pet, giving him small tasks, and received questions about bread and soap in return. She easily sensed when Gooseberry got bored with dozing on the bed and decided to let him have a walk in the inn. She was immobilized in her shell made of hardened layer of a green balm and had to stay in her bed until it crumbled, but she wouldn't fit the rat holes anyway. She wished she could though.
She gasped in surprise when she realized she's looking at the room from her familiar's perspective. As always, she discovered something new completely by accident, but the finding was quite entertaining, at least as long as she would be able to come back to her own head afterward. An agitation coming from Gooseberry showed he was just as surprised, but they quickly got used to sharing one pair of eyes. Instinctively Daria knew she could control her pet's movements, but she chose to let him lead.
It was out of the ordinary to see the word from a perspective of a rat, she realized when Gooseberry got from the bed to the ground. The furniture was gigantic and she could notice other rats lurking by the wardrobe. Her familiar directed his pink paws to the small gap leading to another room. The wooden walls of the inn were thick, but generations of mice and rats inhibiting a labyrinth of holes and fissures in Copper Coronet kept themselves constantly busy producing more and more corridors and passages in the wood. Most of them still bore the marks of hungry teeth.
The next room was empty, save for an elven enchanter, circling around as if trying to set a path in the planks on the floor. The rat's ears distinguished the words he was murmuring and the elven mind of his mistress recognized them as one of her friend's favorite lines.
"It's hopeless. It's so unbelievably hopeless that it's not even worth thinking about. It's just too hopeless…"
Gooseberry was referring to Xan as 'the one like his mistress', rats not knowing a lot about names. Daria wondered if it was caused by the fact they were both wizards, or elves, but she didn't question her familiar's choice of nicknames. She could sense her pet shares her sympathy towards the enchanter since the time he brought food to their room. The reasons were different, but the good will sincere.
Xan finally stopped by the wall familiar just crossed, falling silent, and raised his hand to touch the wood hesitantly, as if trying to make out what was on its other side. There was an intense expression on his face, but Gooseberry couldn't guess what it showed, since he knew little of humanoids' facial expressions, though he could feel his mistress react, something in her mind changing. The rat hasn't felt anything comparable in his short lifespan, his wizardess' emotions being a complete new experience. All he knew was that the living was friendly. It was strange since he usually rated all he saw as rats, living and debris, and living were mostly to be shunned as they held brooms and knives, the bane of the ratkind. The one like his mistress certainly wasn't a rat however, but Gooseberry squeaked a greeting nonetheless.
Only his mistress' presence in his mind stopped him from running away when the living jumped away from the wall as if burned, rapidly looking around for the source of the sound.
"Oh. Raspberry" Xan calmed seeing the rat on the floor. He didn't have any problems with recognizing the familiar, since no other rat in Copper Coronet was that clean and smelled with jasmine. For a moment he was terrified that Minsc came into the room, catching him on… what exactly he didn't know. But he knew he shouldn't be thinking what he was thinking.
"It's Gooseberry, Xan" the enchanter almost fainted hearing Daria's voice coming from the rat's mouth. Both familiar and his mage were just as surprised. The link was more efficient then they thought.
"D-Daria?" he asked, praying it was only his imagination, but no. He knew only too well that wizards could share their minds with their familiars. The door opening suddenly caused him to almost have a heart attack the second time. When he turned his head again, there was only a bit of fur in the place where the rat stood only second ago. He faced Minsc standing by the door.
The third and the last room rented by the party was occupied by Jaheira, who made it a makeshift base of operations. Valygar was the current object of interrogation she called a chat for short. Gooseberry chose a secluded corner by a bed for himself, allowing his mistress to listen to the conversation. Moments after he made himself comfortable two more men entered. Daria couldn't see who it was from under the bed, but rats didn't need their eyes to recognize. 'The one like mistress and the one who carries a rat' he signaled. Daria instantly warned him against calling Boo a rat in close proximity of Minsc, but thanked for the information. If only she could use all her senses as efficiently… She was too used to relying on sight, enhanced or not.
"Tolgieras, the Cowled Wizard that sent us to find you, gave us two weeks to complete the task. We still have about three days before he sends someone else on your tracks. I know every day we linger we raises the risk of being found, but I don't think Daria is in state to leave her bed." Jaheira had two ways of conversation. One was interrogation, the other – informing. None allowed the other side to have its own opinion.
"I don't think out honorable leader will agree to be the reason of delay, my dear friend" Yoshimo as always made the title sound like a mockery, but no one cared about it anymore, used to the bounty hunter's strange manner.
"That's why you will tell her I haven't recovered fully from the curse yet." Gooseberry's fur bristled at the feeling of anger from the link he shared with Daria, a reaction to Jaheira's calm words.
"You know she may be listening to us even now?" Daria could imagine Xan glancing nervously around the corners as he said that. She sensed Gooseberry's curiosity. Rats didn't have the benefit of imagination, it seemed, and he couldn't guess how his mistress knew what the elf was doing.
"Stop being paranoid, Xan. Even she isn't that reckless to try divinations now." That wasn't exactly praise from Jaheira's mouth. Daria mentally asked her familiar to come out from the shadow and show himself to the enchanter. He noticed the rat at once and gulped, sensing the coming storm.
"She's not going to listen to any reason, as always, so it will be your job to keep her resting… what are you looking at?"
"I admire your concern Jaheira" a deaf silence fell over the room at the sound of Daria's voice. Everybody turned to look at Gooseberry. "And I understand your worries. I only done what I thought was the best and most efficient in getting us to Imoen. However, I trust you, as my healer and my friend, and appreciate that you want me to be rested by the time we begin the fight. We shall stay in the inn if that is your wish" Daria tried the same psychological trick Jaheira used so often, making her listener feeling guilty for thinking, breathing, existing and all other sins of the men-, elf- and half-elf-kind. She let the moment of silence prolong.
"If I'm not needed anymore I shall attend to my rest" she overdid a little with the last sentence, but the effect wasn't ruined. She asked Gooseberry to turn around in a classy manner, as much as he understood what it meant, and return to their room. The rat broke into run as soon as he was out of sight of the gathering.