Sweetest in the Gale

Family Matters

Duncan Farlong thought he could be pretty well forgiven for not recognizing Esmerelle's little girl when she'd walked into his inn. Elyssia wasn't exactly "little," for one, and she had an uncanny resemblance to her mother that had him wondering exactly how much he'd had to drink that night. He hadn't had any at that point, but that was beside the point; dead women did not waltz into Neverwintan inns, especially not with the kind of ragtag group that followed her.

So it might have been a bit of an inconvenience to have to go fetch the hedge-wizard about those shards - and he still couldn't believe that Daeghun, of all the people in Faerûn, had made Elyssia dig that thing up - but insulting Sand was always fun, and the elf gave as good as he got. He'd admit to being a bit annoyed when the wizard had bent over her hand like some besotted nobleman, even though he knew it was just another of those "fair weather charms" and even though Elyssia had grinned and flashed her left hand at the moon elf, age-worn copper standing in stark warmth against her fair and slightly blue-tinged skin. He was still her uncle, after all, even if it wasn't by blood.

They didn't get a good chance to talk, uncle to niece, until after Bishop had slunk off and the rest of the regulars had gone and Elyssia had chivvied the dwarf, tiefling, and wood elf off to their rooms - at least the one she traveled with was a hell of a lot more sociable than his brother.

"I can't thank you enough for letting us board here," Elyssia said, rolling her tankard between her hands.

"No trouble, lass," he drew his own tankard, plopped down across the table, and took a deep pull. "You're family. Though your friends'll be paying rent."

She laughed. "Until they decide that they want to go their own ways, I'm sort of holding the collective purse strings. Majority vote after Khelgar drank his own body weight in ale and came close to tearing up one of the taverns in Highcliff. It's like traveling with children some days."

"And have I got any little grand-nieces or -nephews running around back in the Harbor?"

"Hm?"

"The ring, lass."

"Oh! No, it's not official yet, and no kids, either. Not," she muttered, "that it would've stopped Father in the first place."

"There's a lot about Daeghun that I don't think anyone living could understand," Duncan said slowly. " Gods know your mother and his wife had a hard enough time of it."

"He was married?" Elyssia said, choking a little on the ale she'd just sipped. "Daeghun Farlong, my foster father and your half-brother, found a woman who'd put up with his moods?"

"He wasn't always that bad, you know."

"I don't know."

Hells, and now she was wearing that stubborn expression that was thoroughly her mother's. Esmerelle had been bad enough when it came to any hint of gossip, and she'd only been a wizard; Elyssia was a bard, which meant she had a nose for the stuff - going by past experience - and it didn't help that he'd stupidly brought up things that Daeghun Did Not Want Her To Know.

He grumbled a little, and sent a pointed look towards the ring. "So tell me what 'not official' means, then. Who's the young man?"

A perfect distraction. Elyssia shot a fond look down at the thing, her cheeks going pink. "Wyl…"

"I didn't hear a last name, lass."

"Mossfeld. We grew up together. In West Harbor. He and his brothers used to tease us horribly when we were kids."

Duncan couldn't help the wide grin he felt growing on his face. "Pulled your pigtails, eh?"

"Something like that."

"Hm. He treats you well?"

"You and Father would be making do with what's left if he didn't."

The grin grew even more. "Good lass."

The conversation meandered for a while after that, news of the Harbor and Highcliff and the weird little things that had come after her shard. The more he heard, the more Duncan wanted to rip his brother the proverbial new hole. A sweet little girl like Lyssi should not be risking life and limb chasing ghost stories, not when Daeghun had two working legs. She should be home raising kids and snuggling in front of a fireplace with her young man, not trying to supervise a bunch of overgrown two-year-olds.

But when he said that, she just smiled.

"Uncle, if I didn't do it, who would?"

And that made it official: Daeghun was a dead elf walking.