"Don't We All Have Scars?"

Of course they had to enter a small lone house in the middle of nowhere, because no sane, or maybe rather no typical adventurer would pass an occasion to explore such a place. As they entered the shaggy hut Daria moved ahead to talk with its owner barely sparing a look at the insides of the house. If she wasn't that detached as she was, musing over her latest vision, she'd notice earlier than standing few steps from it, that she was facing a tall humanoid with head of a tiger and talons longer than the her fingers. She flinched as the creature addressed her.

"Can I help you with anything, lass?" yellow eyes in the tiger's head glanced malevolently at Daria. She gulped loudly and rubbed her eyes to make sure what she sees it's real.

"I… well… I, er…" Looking a bit more carefully Daria noticed what left her companions standing right behind her unalarmed by the monster's appearance. There was an image of an elderly woman with gray hair in a tight bun and garland of herbs in her hand glimmering faintly before the tiger-thing.

"Is everything alright?" The voice of the creature was also changed to resemble a frail and good-mannered old herbalist. Daria pitied it didn't work on her and she had to listen to low murmurs and hisses imitating the common language, rising hair on her neck. She felt Gooseberry curling in fear in a pocket of her robes. His little claws pinched her skin through the robe.

"Yes, right. All is right. We better go." The diviner unsuccessfully tried to move her stare from knife-sharp talons gathering her deepest reserve of free will to leave the hut.

"You will go nowhere" a harmless pleasant gibberish turned into a threatening growl instantly after Daria made first step back. The elf should have realized that staring at tiger's yellow eyes, when the image of a woman was at least a foot shorter, was going to betray that she saw through the masquerade. The monster tore through the illusion like through a paper picture, leaping at the diviner with agility of a hunting cat, only to bounce harmlessly from her stoneskin.

"Team, attack!" Daria shouted, moving from the creature's way, letting Minsc block it with his two-handed sword. Lilarcor the Sword squealed happily. The others needed a bit more time to get over the shock of a normal-looking woman changing into a monster before their very eyes, but adventurers' impulses quickly took over. Jaheira and Valygar moved to help the large Rashemi, leaving Xan and Yoshimo without cover, while Anomen began to chant, summoning forth a blessing of his god. It was the first mistake. Unfortunately the first mistake didn't need the second or third to be lethal.

Two more monsters with tiger's heads jumped from their hideouts, unforeseen by Daria. Yoshimo fell with a long slash at his back, but gave Xan a second he needed to draw out his Moonblade. Mazzy appeared by his side.

Two monsters didn't give the pair any time to prepare, attacking with ferocious fury using longswords they held in their paws. The strength of the monster was sending numbness up Xan's arm each time he blocked a blow and he knew he wouldn't be able to stand up to it for long. His opponent was faster than him and though the difference wasn't significant as long as it used a sword Xan had no delusions about being able to dodge, once the monster decides to shorten the distance and make use of its claws. He hoped Mazzy was faring better than him, but in the swirl of dodges and retreating he couldn't risk a moment of distraction to check if help was coming.

And suddenly the monster moved ahead, shoving his Moonblade out of his hand and pushing him with its shoulder on the wall. Xan only managed to see a paw with talon-like claws moving like a lightning in the direction of his face, with his body far too slow to react against such reflex. Even his eyelids were too slow and he didn't manage to close his eyes before the world exploded in pain. He landed on his knees, unable to see anything anymore. All he had left to do was to wait for the final blow to fall.

A loud shout and crash of a humanoid smashing into a wall after being hit with magic of Ring of the Ram echoed to his left, but he couldn't see what was happening. His world was reduced to clinking of metal hitting metal, a feeling of hot liquid covering his face and great part of horrible pain.

"Jaheira, heal him!" Daria's piercing voice rose above the battlefield. "Valygar cover them! Anomen leave this flail and get to healing! And help Mazzy with Yoshimo!" Xan was barely conscious of the commands, slowly losing to the numbness dragging him down.

"By all divines, Xan say something, anything… please…" The elf came around hearing a voice by his ear. The pain lessened somewhat, but he still couldn't see a thing.

"What is the point? I'm already a dead man" he murmured, wanting only for pain to go away.

Hysteria must have reached its peak, because he heard Daria burst into desperate laughter, ending with hiccups. He considered trying to move, but since he was about to die in few seconds anyway, what was the point?

He was carried outside, someone's metal gauntlets cutting into his armpits, someone else lifting his knees from the ground. He felt warmth on his face, indicating that the sun was now shining on him or, more likely, that he was getting feverish. He couldn't see the light.

"Put him down carefully" Jaheira ordered to who was carrying him. He felt a blanket under him when he was carefully placed on the ground. The scent of the grass was proving that he was indeed outside. At least he could die in the fresh air now.

"Set the camp and let me and Anomen work." It was the last thing Xan heard.

The rest faded away.

***

Xan woke up. Or maybe he didn't. It was hard to decide without being able to see a single thing. The pain was completely gone at least. For a moment he considered if he wasn't a part of his Moonblade already, imprisoned for a large part of eternity inside the enchanted weapon, but he suspected he wouldn't be able to feel the smell of the marsh if that was the case.

He tried to use his hearing to find out where exactly he was. A fireplace was scorching, accompanied by the sounds of the swamp. A nightingale was singing in the distance and wind danced to the tune among the leaves of the high trees of the grove. A lone camp among the trees was a likely possibility. He moved his hand to touch something covering his face tightly.

"Don't take it off yet" a soft and quiet voice sounded to his left. A gloved hand entwined with his fingers and led his hand back to his side, but not before he could feel the surface of a bandage covering his eyes.

"Daria?" All he could hear was the voice and it sounded strangely hoarse.

"I'm sorry. I screwed up again… It was a rakshasa. I saw through the illusion, but didn't realize what it was… I never saw a rakshasa before…" He knew with all certainty that she was crying, even though he couldn't see or hear it. Sitting by his bedroll with tears in her eyes… it couldn't be a sign of anything good.

"How bad it is?" He asked, though he honestly didn't want to know.

"Anomen and Jaheira healed everything. Your eye was damaged badly, but they said… they said it would be fine by tomorrow." Daria's voice shook and quivered, but she tried to mask it awkwardly, speaking as quietly as she could. He tried to find her hand again.

"I'm sorry." She slipped her hand into his. It was shaking as badly as her voice. "Jaheira will take the bandages off in the morning and then we'll take care of the scars."

Scars. Perfect. An enchanter with scars on his face. He was getting tired of fate's newest offers of how to make his life even more miserable.

"My lady…" Xan groaned hearing the voice. "…you've been sitting here for half of the night. Perhaps you should rest?" Anomen put an effort of keeping his voice down. Xan couldn't guess why, since his heavy steps could be heard from a distance of a mile.

"Elves don't need that much sleep, Ano." Daria explained. 'So, it was 'Ano' now…' "And Xan is awake".

"Then you shouldn't keep him from his rest, my lady." Xan felt somehow missed out in this conversation. "I'll send lady Mazzy to sit by him."

"It's…" Xan wouldn't say it was all right, would he? He sighed and continued. "Go get some rest."

Daria might have nodded. It was strange to be deprived of his sight, and undeniably unpleasant. She squeezed his hand before releasing it.

"Don't worry, my lady. I shall watch over you" Anomen said in a distance of few loud steps from where he heard him before.

Xan tried not to think of how it frustrated him.

***

He groaned looking into water surface. Three sharp cuts of rakshasa's claws left ragged parallel scars, the longest ending by his right eye. He tried to ignore it, washing blood from his face, but they were hard not to notice. He most certainly felt them even while blinking. The most basic tool of every enchanter was his appearance and now he could only pass for a necromancer. It would take years for scars to fade.

"Gloomy thoughts again. At least for that you shouldn't worry, scars can be fixed. Turn around." Daria stood behind him for some time it seemed. Or she could just guess what his thinking about, not that it was excessively difficult given his grimace. She held an opened jar in her hands, with the same green balm Jaheira prepared to heal her scar. Xan wrinkled his nose when the smell reached him.

"Are you sure it would work? It was a burn mark on your face."

"Pfeh. It worked with all others just as well, even the whip scars and they were much worse these little scratches. Two doses and you'll be as good as new. Close your eye."

She began to rub the balm into his skin when he cautiously obeyed. She took of her gloves and he could see that her fingers were treated the medicine as well, looking better than the last time Daria revealed them. It made him feel better not only because it ensured that Jaheira's balm was working.

"It may sting a little bit. And it will stink a lot." Daria's fingers were massaging his skin. He closed the other eye as well, focusing on her touch.

"Done." It ended quicker than he hoped, but then again, why would she sit with him all day?

"It will harden in few minutes and after half an hour it should crumble. You'll just have to walk with a green patch for a mile or two."

"Thank you. And Daria… Please, don't blame yourself for such things. We are adventurers after all, in case you managed to forget already. It's a small miracle we are still alive."

"I know. And don't worry, I won't start divining all the time again. I promised myself that I'll reach Imoen alive. I was just… scared out of my wits." She threw him a disarming smile.

"I know the feeling" Xan answered sourly.

***

The djinis tent wasn't hard to locate. It stood on a fairground outside the town, currently more resembling a puddle of mud after a recent rain that left the entire party soaked wet. The field must have been filled with other stands and pavilions before, with colorful banners making it look like an everyday carnival. Now only single tent remained - the place where the djinis harassing Trademeet dwelled. Only now, walking among the no longer present stands, Daria realized how desolate the town became.

"Fresh fish! Get your fresh fish here!" The diviner jumped as someone shouted straight into her ear, but the mirage faded back to its past or future before she could see who was shouting.

"Is everything alright, my lady?" She heard Anomen would ask in two seconds.

"Just a vision. Nothing important. I think I'm a bit over-sensitive here" she answered automatically before realizing her mistake. "You haven't asked yet, have you?"

"I haven't, my lady. But I was meaning to." Anomen gave her a formal bow.

"Perhaps you'd rather stay outside?" Xan almost sounded jealous for the attention Daria was receiving from Anomen. 'Xan jealous of me. Now that is funny' she thought bitterly. Somehow she didn't feel like laughing.

"My lady! Please allow me to accompany you in the tent." Anomen reacted before she could answer. He seemed quite eager not to leave her side even for a second.

If she agreed Jaheira would start considering what to buy for a wedding gift for them, but now that he offered to go in with her she couldn't choose anyone else without offending the proud squire. And for all divines! He was her friend. She wasn't going to avoid him only because Jaheira had a bad nose for romantics.

"The tent is small, so the rest – you'll have to stay outside. It should go smoothly."

"What should go smoothly adventurer? Or should I say… customer?" was the first thing Chan Zahraa, the Dao djini asked when Daria and Anomen entered his little kingdom. The djini made himself comfortable on the pile of cushions, surrounded with all the splendor he managed to buy off from Trademeet. He looked almost like a human, an exotic human, except from an azure shade of his skin and his smile. No human could smile like that.

"This" Daria took out a severed rakshasa's head from her pack. It left bloodstains inside, but at least it wasn't beating. Gooseberry permanently moved to one of the pockets in her cloak, having enough of such mess in his abode. Even a rat ought to have some standards.

"Now that's a surprise! Our dear Ihtafeer found her way to us at last!" Chan Zahraa grinned showing a line of bluish teeth.

"I take it you will leave now?"

"Of course, brave mortal. We have no intention to stay on your little plane, pleasurable as it is. And a prize for your good work" Chan Zahraa took his scimitar with one rapid movement and handed it to Daria, handle first. Anomen flinched and began to draw his flail, but his movements were foppish in comparison to djinis.

Daria's eyes silvered a moment before the 'attack' and she gracefully accepted the weapon. The djini sent her a broad blue smile.

"Come, my Dao. It's time for us to return home." He turned to two other djinis. In a spectacular puff of white smoke, they returned back wherever they came from.

"Arrogant creature!" Anomen muttered to himself and then turned to Daria. The frown immediately disappeared from his face. "My lady, seizing an opportunity that we're alone for a moment, I'd like to express how honored I am to be in your party. In all my years as a squire I never accomplished that much goodness and brought that amount of safety to the realms."

Great. And Jaheira was only a layer of fabric away. She was probably wondering how they would name their firstborn child. Was it that hard to comprehend that they were just friends?!

"Even killing a wyvern single-handed wasn't that glorious?" Daria sent the squire a smile, deluding herself silently, that maybe Jaheira and anyone else would have enough tact not to eavesdrop.

"I… might have exaggerated a little with the wyvern, my lady" Anomen blushed profusely. She grinned and patted him on his armored shoulder. "But, my lady, what I mean to say is, that I'm truly fortunate to be in your company and not only because of the matters of goodness."

"W-what do you mean?" Did he just hint that…? It couldn't be. It couldn't be that she was the blind one, that Jaheira was right. But he said she was like a sister to him!

"I would like to repay you somehow for your kindness, my lady. There's something I'd like to talk to you about later. In private, if you don't mind." Anomen obviously hinted, smiling back at her.

"We should join the others." Daria just stated listlessly.

"What took you so long?" Jaheira stood with the rest of the team away from the tent, but Daria would bet her right hand that the druidess heard every single word spoken inside. Xan was sending her fugitive glances and Yoshimo openly smirked, so the druidess most probably wasn't eavesdropping alone.

"The djinis are gone. We should go and inform the mayor." She had enough of this situation. One could think that informing the mayor that his city wasn't going to starve was a touch more important.

***

No stones were thrown at them anymore, what was a pleasant change of situation, but an official celebration in their honor was more than they expected. The crowd's favor was changing quickly, it was no surprise. Daria recognized few people from the crowd who was chasing them only a day ago, now cheering them as they walked through the city and her visions pointed few others who thrown stones at them now smiling openly at the new heroes. She was only a step away from very cynical thoughts about humankind. A very small step.

The party was given a day off, or at least half a day, since it was already well after noon, and Daria hurried to fulfill one rash promise she made. All their things were left in the inn, where they received the best rooms, free of charge again, while the rest party scurried to take care of their business, mostly repairing equipment and making provisions for themselves in shops, opening one after another.

The diviner looked at herself in a mirror. It might have not been a best idea to ask for a most classy, fashionable and what seemed to be naturally consequential - revealing dress the seamstress had. She promised herself that if she gets rid of all scars she would buy such outfit, but she was beginning to realize that smooth skin wasn't all. She had the money to buy of course. The mayor, Lord Logan Coprith was quite generous after they proved that his town is free of any dangers, both military and economic, but she had to admit with shame that she didn't have anything to 'fill' the dress with. She wasn't as skinny as after leaving the dungeon, and her ribs weren't looking as if they were going to tear through her skin at a deeper breath, but she still lacked some weight. And some flesh in places she should have it as a woman, she had to admit, blushing. The halfling seamstress had a hard time finding something to match her lack of figure.

And the effect was… Daria knew how a revealing dress should look like… in Baldur's Gate. In Amn, many miles to the south, where sun shone throughout most of the year, limits for revealing were practically nonexistent. The dress was revealing more than Daria actually had. Should a neckline really have to end only an inch above the navel? And a high cut skirt shouldn't be cut in a half, should it? She hoped she would never have to travel to Calimshan.

'Why am I doing this?' It was a valid question. And she didn't have a reasonable answer.

But she had to admit that the dress was pretty. Cream white and with golden ornaments, matching her brown skin nicely. If only there was more of the fabric… And more of the elf inside it…

She felt gazes of people following her as she walked through the city back to the inn. Strangers were cheering and greeting her as a new hero of Trademeet, but she couldn't get rid of the feeling that no man was looking in her eyes. The chill was making her shiver, since her skin was unused to the lack of thick black robe covering it from the general weather. Her doubts about the point of it all resurfaced again.

'And now the inn…' She gulped and tried to appear confident. 'Straighten your back, don't look at the ground and don't blush' these were the basic lessons of acting like a lady Phylda gave her back in Candlekeep. She entered.

She was immediately stunned by the cheers and some whistles as well. The barman served a round in her name and she was pulled inside. All the way to a table where she expected to meet her party, she was patted in her back and almost couldn't free her hands from one handshake to another. At least she could divine where her friends gathered and didn't have to circle the common room. She doubted her spine would survive that intact.

"Child, what are you wearing? And where's the rest of it?" Jaheira greeted her, as always happy to see her.

"Look Boo! Daria has a new dress! It's good because the previous one smelled with demons!" Minsc comment wasn't exactly tactful, even though completely true. At least Daria's old robes could stink all they wanted now… on the junk heap.

"It's a… very beautiful dress, my lady." Anomen valiantly tried to steady his eyes at her face.

Xan just looked at her. And then his eyes fell lower. And then lower. And then even lower. His gaze hit the ground almost with a thump. He tried to keep it in there.

'So Xan isn't actually made of stone under this controlled façade.' An evil grin curled Daria's lips. She felt strange looking at him, knowing what she knew, but she would tease him were the circumstances normal, wouldn't she?

"So you like my new sandals, mellonamin?" she asked innocently.

"No! …I mean yes." Xan was now beginning to sweat. He didn't know what awaited him yet.

Daria moved closer, so very close, and reached to straighten a fold on his robes. His eyes fell where they should.

"Maybe you could use new robes as well?" she asked, stiffening the collar of Xan's purple shirt. He appeared to be fighting for control over his actions, but she broke through all resistance like a ram. His lips were trying to form any sort of answer, but no voice came out.

She left him heavily traumatized, red and embarrassed, and turned to the rest of the party. Her precognition failed this time and she yelped in pain when Jaheira caught her pointy ear and began to drag her towards the kitchen door.

"What do you think you're doing?!" The druidess shouted once they were outside.

"But… Jaheira, my ear!" The ear was mercifully released and Daria took few steps away from the druidess, looking at her with the eyes full of failed trust.

"I didn't make you this salve to make such a circus from yourself! Do you think what you did was funny? You're a woman Daria, not a child anymore. Your looks work on men, but using them to manipulate… Consider other's emotions!"

"I was only…"

"Having fun?! You think it was funny?"

"I… I'm sorry…"

"It's not me you should apologize to." Jaheira turned at her heel, disappearing back in the inn, leaving her distraught ward alone.

It was meant to be only a little tease… to be close to him for a short moment. No, it wasn't the reason, at least not the only one. Truth was that she didn't know how to behave. Xan might be married in the future… kind of. It was complicated. She knew she should stay away. And she couldn't.

She sighed deeply. It was so complicated… Future was complicated. All the consequences, causes and the links between them… Trying to figure it out tired her long time ago. What was the point of doing something what had no point? Then again the pointless actions led to the functional ones, but that itself didn't necessarily give them any sense… But she had to apologize to Xan at least. It would be enough for now.

A vision came in time with a ready solution, making a smile appear on her face once more. Daria checked how much money she had left on her and began to march in a direction of a part of the town where she thought the shop she saw was. It wasn't there unfortunately, but after additional wandering around she finally located a small armory, where the item of her search was hidden.

She found it after leafing through almost entire shop under astounded supervision of a shop keeper. Xan's robe of Archmage, the old thing with vine stains from the nightly libation he had with Kivan in Cloakwood, torn on more than occasion, and washed after a close encounter with more than one ogre, gibberling and kobold, but warded with the most complicated defense magic she ever set her eyes upon. The fabric was covered with dust of many miles on the road, but for a trained watcher magic runes were as evident as the Sun on the sky. Now she only had to haggle. If she'd play it right, she wouldn't even have to pay for the extensive cleaning attempts wrought upon the set of robes.

"This robe belonged to my friend and was stolen from him in Athkatla." Daria took a threatening pose she picked from Jaheira. "Care to explain how did it get here?"

"I'm sorry, I had no choice! You have to understand… Please forgive me!" She didn't have to put much pressure, for the trader instantly began to cry, falling to his knees. "My family was starving, my children were hungry and we were going bankrupt! I had to make a contract with the Shadow Thieves! I had no choice, believe me!"

Now that was embarrassing. The man indeed was working with the Shadow Thieves as she saw, and his family was indeed starving, what she saw as well. And he was crying on his knees now, what she saw even though in this case she didn't have to use any divination.

"Alright, fine. How much do you need?" Haggling was out of question it seemed.

"Five thousand gold… I don't want the Shadow Thieves to hurt my family…"

A contract with the Shadow Thieves… A candle lit in Daria's head. She heard about them… A powerful illegal organization, gathering pickpockets and cutthroats, burglars, fences, assassins and spies. They were said to be the most powerful organization of Amn and beyond, more powerful than the government, more powerful than the Cowled Wizards… All-knowing guild with spies and informants behind every corner. A localization of secret prison for detained for illegal use of magic couldn't be much of a secret for them. Shadow Thieves would be able to tell her where Imoen was… if she could afford it.

"I need you to arrange a meeting with the thieves for me."

The shop keeper stopped crying and looked at her startled.

"You heard me right. Just pass the message that I have an offer for them they might find lucrative. I will come here tomorrow at noon for their answer. And I'm taking this with me." Daria took Xan's robe from the counter, seeing pearls of sweat appearing on the trader's brow. She threw him one of her purses with exactly five thousand gold pieces in it before she left.

Happiness was like wings, lifting her from the ground of mundane. Her vision was right! She found a way to rescue Imoen and that must have meant that she was on the right path. She hurried back to the inn, following the noise of the loud celebration. Searching for the robe took her longer than she though, judging by the stage of drunkenness most celebrants were showing. After short consideration she decided to slip through the back door.

"Child, where have you been?" Jaheira of course had to be the first person Daria bumped into in the back of the common room. "I've sent Anomen to look for you an hour ago!"

"Where is Xan?!" The sun elf tried to shout through the racket of music and singing of the common room with her meager voice. Jaheira only pointed upstairs. Even she wasn't able to give reproaches in such conditions. She watched her ward climbing the stairs clutching something purple in her both hands.

The noise was a bit quieter upstairs, but Daria knew that it wasn't quiet enough for anyone to sleep, especially for an elf, so she had no qualms to knocking on the doors where she thought Xan resided.

"Come in… if you really have to." A somber voice from inside the room confirmed her suspicions to its resident.

"I have something for… are you alright? You look a bit sick." She forgot about the robe, seeing her friend sitting on bed, pale and even more forlorn than usual. Today's rain left them all soaked and catching an infection wouldn't be a surprise.

"How does it matter? I'm doomed anyway."

Daria recognized his worse mood immediately. She sat down on his bed next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the touch and took off her hand. Another sudden feeling, that the dress was probably one of her worst ideas so far, dawned to the sun elf's conscience.

"I went shopping and look what I found" she tried to smile, despite knowing that even if all the gods went down from heavens to smile at Xan he would only say: 'Is that all?'

He barely spared a glimpse at the robes she placed before him, but then he recognized the old stains he wasted whole morning on trying to get rid of, unsuccessfully, long time ago, and the arcane symbols on the fabric that saved his life on more than one occasion. He looked at Daria astonished, but knew better than asking how exactly she found it.

"And I think I found a way to discover where Imoen was imprisoned as well. Though you probably won't like it… Shadow Thieves have a branch in Trademeet. They may be persuaded to give us contacts in Athkatla."

"Shadow Thieves? Daria, you truly have a deathwish? They will use us to their own goals and stab us in our backs when they're contentedly done. Those are not people to be trifled with."

"We can at least try. It's not that we have any other idea. But let's not talk about it now. And since you won't get any sleep in this noise anyway, how about we go downstairs and have some fun?" Daria didn't really believe that Xan would say, 'Sure, why not?', but she had to ask first, before she begins convincing him.

"Isn't Anomen waiting for you?" he only asked coldly.

It hurt. Of all people she didn't expect Xan to be a supporter of Jaheira's nonsense ideas. At least he could know her well enough not to think that she would be impressed by the tales of heroically slain orc. She turned her face so he couldn't read anything from her expression.

"Jaheira said he went somewhere to look for me, but he hasn't come back yet, so he's probably celebrating somewhere else" she tried to sound neutrally.

"He'll come back. Don't worry."

Daria grit her teeth. So she was a child in his eyes, swiped to her feet by fabled stories of brave aspiring knight. She didn't want to offend Anomen, he was a friend, but that was the point. She didn't see him as anything more than a friend.

"But… Perhaps going downstairs isn't such a bad idea." Xan knew that saying it was exactly a bad idea, even before he said it, but he couldn't help it. A memory of Daria, laughing in the dandelion fluff was still fresh and very contrast to her saddened expression now. He could serve her as a source of entertainment for the time being, that was what friends did, wasn't it? Until her knight on white stallion came. Problem was…

Problem was that Daria was a demon of dance, Xan thought while being practically dragged to the common room. She was unrelenting in her swirling and spinning until her partner was coved in sweat and completely without breath. He already had a doubtful pleasure of being driven to final exhaustion by her before and wasn't up to repeat the experience. But it was already too late to withdraw. And she still had this… lack of dress on her, which only made the matters worse.

The crowd moved aside as they entered the common room and place was made for them in the middle of the dancers. Plainly perfect. Now everybody would be able to see how she wipes the floor with him. Xan sighed and took her hand in his, circling the other round her waist, trying hard not to touch her skin. He seriously doubted he would lead in this dance.

The music started once more after a short silence that fell at their entrance. A group of bards was playing lively and quick, but Daria didn't fit into the rhythm immediately, instead following it with gentle movements in each step. Xan knew he wasn't much of a dancer, but now he had no problems in keeping up with his former student. After a moment he took the lead, guiding them slowly from the center of the room. Every step led him further to understand something and when he looked at Daria, focused fully on the rhythm, he realized what made his friend change so much over past months.

She was hurting. He took a step back and guided her to turn around. The dress wasn't a display of vanity or another one of her jests. Ironically a revealing dress what hiding better than anything else, hiding the fact that underneath the healed skin the scars remained and the sun elf wasn't as strong or as dexterous as she used to be. He guided them to the corner of the big common room, watching her all the time. She was hiding that she couldn't always keep up while they marched, tried to deny that she couldn't stay conscious after her most of her visions, didn't want to acknowledge her own weakness, felt humiliated by it. He saw through her illusion-mask before, but it wasn't the only one she created.

He slowed in the rhythm even more, now completely removed and unfitting the vigorous melody. Previously it was a dark cloak and a hood, even her face hidden in an illusion, all creating a wall shielding a hurt elf from the world around her. Now she took the cloak off and the disguise became even more perfect, since nobody seemed to look beyond the most obvious, seeing a beautiful girl, instead of a hurt woman.

Xan stopped among the dancing crowd and looked at Daria. Their eyes met for and infinite moment.

"Allow me, my lady!" Anomen appeared from among the people, snatching the surprised diviner, leading her into the fast tempo of dance, without even noticing the enchanter standing beside her.

And Xan was left alone.