Disclaimer: I don't own Neverwinter Nights 2 or the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Those belong to Obsidian et al and Wizards of the Coast.
Sweetest in the Gale
Blacklake, the First
"I think I'm going to snap fairly soon." She wasn't even looking at Cormick when she said it, instead picking at a blotch of drying paint on her uncle's bar. You couldn't even tell there had been a scorch mark on the ceiling, except for some of the random paint drops over the rest of the Flagon.
The larger Harborman just snorted. "Pigs'll fly on their own first, you know that as well as I do. Just give it a little longer."
"Cormick. It's been three months, almost four, and I don't feel like I'm any closer to getting into Blacklake than when I started working for the Watch."
"Aye, but think of all the good you've done for the Docks. And the Waterdhavian ambassador, to boot."
Lyssi barked out a humorless laugh, one hand drifting to cover the most recently healed sign of that lovely little trip. "And what a hellish round of happy-fun-time that was."
"Least you got a paladin from it."
She shot him the most withering look she could muster. "More like at least I got Grobnar from it, you mean."
Cormick looked like he was trying to hide a smile. "What, you're not fond of Tyrran paladins?"
Lyssi turned to face him and started counting off points on her fingers. "One: Casavir is the most stubborn, protocol-laden stick in the mud that ever lived, probably gives my father a damned good run for his money there. Two: I'm spoken for, so stop that eyebrow-twitching - yes, that twitching, Cormick. And, last but certainly not least, three: the sooner I get to see Aldanon, the sooner I can go home and start planning my wedding - you're invited, of course, since I doubt Wyl will have any objection to that."
Cormick shook his head at that, taking another pull from his ale. "Still can't believe you ended up with one of the Mossfeld brats."
"They're not that bad anymore."
"Your dad know about the engagement?"
"I haven't told him, and I haven't been sent bits and pieces of my fiancé yet, so…probably not. I'll tell him the next time I'm back home, hopefully soon."
"Hm. Any thought to if you'll stay in the Harbor?"
"I'm…not sure. Wyl and his brothers have been talking about making their way up here for years, and I like it here, too, so… Well, there's things to do before that, aren't there?"
"Nothing I tell Brelaina will make her make up her mind any quicker and you know it."
Lyssi shrugged, laughed. "A girl can at least try, can't she?"
"Ah, Lieutenant, your timing is perfect. There's a Luskan ship, the Sea Ghost, that is planning on making port. I want it turned away."
"The Nine have asked the Watch to clear out a den of suspected assassins. I want you to carry this out, and return when it is finished."
"Oh, come on, Elyssia. It can't have been that bad."
"…She sent us into the midst of a nest of githyanki, Cormick. Right after the Sea Ghost debacle. Were I a lesser woman, her name would be first on The List."
"Tell me you don't actually have 'A List,' lass."
"Do you really want to know?"
"…I'm not going to ask, just for the sake of my sanity."
"Smart man."
Somehow, Lyssi thought absently as she fingered the slip of parchment, she'd expected more than "Here, thanks, be good or else" when Brelaina finally softened up enough to give her the Blacklake pass. Not that she wasn't grateful, mind; it was just rather…anticlimactic.
"I've got yer 'anticlimactic,'" Khelgar had muttered when she had mentioned it in front of him and Neeshka. "Lass, we deserve the damned thing. Don't go lookin' a gift horse in the mouth."
"Yeah," Neeshka had said, not even seeming to notice that she was, wonder of wonders, actually agreeing with Khelgar. "I mean, a challenge might be fun - I love a challenge just as much as the next girl, let me tell you - but stuff like this is supposed to be easy, y'know?"
Lyssi had rolled her eyes and agreed - under duress. But there was still a nagging little feeling somewhere between her spine, brain, and gut that said something was going to go wrong. It was becoming a trend since she'd left West Harbor, so Lyssi felt perfectly justified in her paranoia.
But she was going to think positive, even if it killed her. So while the guards at the gate into Blacklake hemmed and hawed over her pass and the chore of opening the heavy gate and getting some random Watchman to chivvy her around to Aldanon's and back, she was making wedding plans. With a vengeance. So much so that Neeshka had to poke her to get her to notice that their "guide" was waiting.
She muttered a quick thanks, and followed along.
Aldanon was, in all senses of the word, unique. Sweet old guy, fanatical about his research from the looks of things, but Neeshka had the sense that the guy wasn't all there. Had some nice stuff just sitting around, though.
"Down, Neesh," Lyss said quietly, the corners of her lips twitching. "No stealing from the nice sage."
Neeshka stuck her tongue out. "Spoilsport. Is His Holiness rubbing off on you or something?"
"Neesh! Ugh! Even if he wasn't something like twice my age, there is no way in any of the Hells I'd even think about it."
"That's just because of your swamp sweetie."
"Even if I wasn't spoken for, I wouldn't even think about it - he's a bore."
"He is, isn't he?"
Lyss gave her a look that said, "You think?" as clearly as if her friend had shouted it from the rafters.
"So what about that other guy who's around the Flagon all the time? The one that tried to make a pass at you before Duncan went to 'Scary Uncle?'"
"Rude, crude, and smells like a dog that's been drenched in cheap ale. Do you know how many times I've been tempted to make sure he can't ever reproduce?"
"He can't be worse than Leldon, y'know? He's kinda cute, too, in that rugged-nature-man kind of way."
"If you want, him, he's all yours, Neesh."
"Ah, good, you're still here!" Neeshka and Lyss stood as Aldanon practically skipped back into the sitting room.
"Did you find anything out? About what the shards are?"
"Oh my, yes. They're pieces of a githyani Silver Sword…"