Many Meetings

Crossroad Academy's moon glowed softly above the Keep; Lyria's Tear, as it was known hereabouts, outshone the fainter stars, leaving only the brightest visible in the night. Swirls of silver smoke spiralled out of the chimneys of the houses around the keep, their curling patterns strangely luminous against the darkling sky. The warm breeze carried the smell of barbequing pork and the talk and music and laughter of the tavern.

Making her way down the slope to the inn, Mliss felt sorry she had already eaten, as another waft of sizzling bacon assaulted her nostrils. The inn was brightly lit by forces unknown, and in the corner a trio of musicians played merrily, as a number of the locals danced around a table.

The Knight Captain, or Headmistress, as she was now known, was leaning against the bar, chatting animatedly to the balding barkeep. When she saw the students start to arrive she straightened up, and motioned towards an empty corner littered with chairs and sofas. Mliss, Shar'ri and Sebastian flopped down on a squashy three-seater, as the Headmistress slouched in an armchair. Gradually the others filtered down, each finding somewhere to place themselves; Shaiith perched provocatively on the arm of the Headmistress' chair. She pushed him off, and he sat where he landed on the floor.

"Well," Lyria began, pausing to thank Sal as he deposited a round of beers for the students and an orange juice for her. "I've introduced myself, so now why don't you all tell each other a bit more about yourselves?" She looked enquiringly at a ginger haired girl sat on a wooden stool.

"My name's Anita," she said. "I'm from Waterdeep. My parents read your book and decided to send me here."

"And would you thank your parents again for their very generous donation, Anita?" smiled Lyria. "But you haven't told us what your talent is."

Shar'ri shifted nervously in her seat. Anita blinked, and then said "I'm a sorceress."

"Please tell me you don't worship Kossuth?" Lyria said, pleadingly.

"N-No, I worship Waukeen."

Merchant's daughter, Mliss heard someone whisper.

Lyria turned in the direction of the commentator, and said "And yourself?"

"My name's Devin," a small dirty looking boy spoke. "I guess I'm a shifter, and I worship Selûne."

"And where are you from, Devin?" inquired Lyria.

Devin glanced at his feet for a moment, before answering in a small voice, "Luskan."

A general hiss of anger and ill will rippled around their little circle, and Shar'ri asked "what's so bad about that?" Everyone stared at her. "What? I'm not from around here!"

The Knight Captain chuckled lightly at this statement of the blatantly obvious – with her horns, tail and great leathery bat wings, it would be difficult to mistake Shar'ri for a local. "Relations between Luskan and Neverwinter are strained, at best; and not so long ago there was a war between the two cities," Lyria explained.

"Oh," said Shar'ri, before hissing something to Sebastian in a scandalised tone.

"And you are?" Lyria asked the fiend.

"I'm Shar'ri, though that's not my real name, you know? I'm from Sigil, most recently. Though no one really belongs there. Except people like me, y'know? People who don't belong anywhere belong there…"

"So where are you from originally?" asked another student, eying her suspiciously.

"Err, well… I suppose I was born in Baator…"

"The Nine Hells?" asked Anita. "Which one?"

"That's not really…" Shar'ri was interrupted by Shaiith.

"Nessus," he revealed. "Her father is Asmodeus, King of the Devils." A massive intake of breath gratified Shaiith for his intrigue.

"How did he know that?!" whispered Shar'ri to anyone who was listening.

"Well, he is a drow…" Sebastian began, "probably summoned something from the lower planes and asked it."

"I accepted Shar'ri into the academy personally," said the Headmistress, with an air of finality, her silencing gaze sweeping the students.

"So," she turned to the drow, "who might you be?"

"Shaiith Ssinaeth," said the drow confidently. "I have come from the underground city of Sshamath. My skills are in diplomacy and persuasion," he finished with a small smile which had a strange effect on the female presence in their group; excepting Mliss, Shar'ri and the Knight Captain, who looked hard at Shaiith for a moment, before turning to the next in line.

"Shantah Salaereon," said a dark haired elf girl. "I can talk to spirits… I come from Silverymoon." A murmur of interest went around at this declaration, but the elf girl disregarded them, and turned to Shaiith with an air of open dislike. "Why do you call yourself Nameless Addiction?" she asked him.

There was silence. To Mliss' lasting satisfaction, Shaiith looked extremely uncomfortable for a moment, before recovering his poise. "It is a name given to me by my former mistress," he offered with a shrug and a roguish smile. "I shall let you guess why."

Rolling her eyes slightly, Lyria gestured for the next in line, a blond human boy, to say his bit.

"Dante Calverley of Athkatla, Sorcerer," he said. "The Athkatla Cowled Wizards don't care too much for individuals like myself – I can't always control my magic, and my father can't afford the magic license fees, so I came here…" He trailed off, looking to Sebastian to take over.

"Sebastian LaMonde of Baldur's Gate, Bard," he said. Lyria smiled and nodded, looking to the next girl.

"Raisa Nekrasov, of Port Llast; Warlock," explained a chestnut haired girl, to a chorus of conspiratorial whispers, that were swiftly silenced by the Headmistress as she looked to Mliss, the final student.

"I'm Mliss," she began. "I don't have a second name, but I come from Darromar in Tethyr. I'm a favoured soul."

Again, the murmuring broke out, and was interrupted, this time by Shaiith. "Yours is a soul favoured by whom, jallil?"

Mliss glanced at Lyria nervously. Taking the hint, Lyria intervened; "That is not your business, Shaiith. Now that we have all traded introductions, you can all return to the Keep. Breakfast tomorrow is at seven thirty; gather in the atrium at eight. Goodnight."

Mliss leapt up and headed for the door, followed by Shar'ri and, after a wistful glance at the bards playing in the corner, Sebastian.

"That little berk," said Shar'ri. "I can't believe him!"

"Why is he even here?" Mliss joined in. "As if a drow would want to learn anything from a surfacer, he's probably here to spy on us all for some ghastly drow invasion party."

"He'll probably poison us all or kill the captain in her sleep," Shar'ri agreed.

"I can't believe she let him in here!" Mliss ranted. "He probably wants to steal her baby when it's born and drink its blood!"

"Or sacrifice it to Lloth or whoever! And wear its sinew on his hand like a glove!"

"Like a glove?" Sebastian asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it's a lower planes thing; there was this Marilith-"

"Don't you think you're getting carried away?" interrupted Sebastian with a cautious glance at Shar'ri.

"Perhaps, but you never can tell with drow," she said, sagely.

Their banter had brought them to the top of the stairs by their rooms. "Well, I'm whacked," Mliss lied. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." She shut her door before her new friends could object, and flopped down on her bed to begin her longwinded beauty routine before bed.

An hour later, she opened her diary and diligently recorded her thoughts about recent events, threw a shoe at the keyhole when she saw a fiery eye peering through it, and poured herself a nightcap of damson gin before finally turning in.

xox

The world swirled around her, and for a moment there was only darkness. Gradually some objects took shape around her, like strange stage lighting, she could see a boulder, a tree, some rocks. She felt a sharp breeze; she was outside, but there was no sun, no moon, not a single star shone in the sky; there was just a yawning void above her, and an almost magical darkness below her, concealing her feet. There were no bird calls, no crickets, no sound of any other living creature, and Mliss felt as though she were witnessing the dawn of time.

Something drew her attention behind her, and she turned to see a tiny oval rock-like object. As she watched, it grew in size, and took on a speckledy hue; a bird's egg, she realised. When it had reached its full size, slightly bigger than a chicken's egg, it seemed to pause for a while, as if considering what to do next. Then it began to crack, and a small, white and bedraggled chick emerged.

The chick soon became fluffy, and began to grow, losing its white feathers and growing brown ones. When its body had reached three foot in length, sleek and powerful, the golden eagle stretched out its massive wings and flew to the boulder beside Mliss.

As the eagle looked her fiercely in the eye, she heard her own voice echo in her thoughts: And this too shall fade away, she said. As if on cue, the eagle became bedraggled again, its feathers falling out, it collapsed; dead and decomposing in seconds. Maggots writhed in its corpse until there was nothing left but bones, and then they too were gone.

When there was no trace left of the eagle, Mliss looked down at her feet; the darkness seemed to recede, and she saw that she was standing on nothing at all. The veil that was covering the world seemed to lift, and she saw mountains and forests and rivers around and below her. In the sky the sun shone and birds flew, but she began to fall away from them, leaving only her stomach behind.

Down and down she fell, never reaching the bottom, until she seemed to land in her bed with a knock at the door, dawn peeking between the curtains.

xox

The morning was grey, cold and damp. Mliss dressed warmly and made her way to the dining hall where waffles with a sweet caramely sauce were being served for breakfast. Mliss was torn between greed and concern for her figure. Greed won.

"Did you sleep well, jallil?" said an annoying voice behind her. If she noticed, she gave no sign, and Shaiith stalked off to the opposite end of the hall.

Breakfast concluded, and the students assembled in the atrium, as per the captain's request. Presently, she made an appearance, looking decidedly nauseous.

"Good Morning, everyone," she sounded tired. "Let me introduce you to your first instructor, Guyven." Lyria gestured to a halfling man who was smiling broadly. "Guyven and I ran into each other several times whilst I was in Neverwinter. We first met in a camp of Orcs; then again outside of a Githyanki hideout, and finally in the village of Ember – right after I had been accused of its massacre. Then Guyven came here and helped with the war effort."

Guyven bowed deeply. "He's had a great deal of experience adventuring, and he'll be teaching you the basics."

"Now, I will introduce you to your personal tutors. Anita, you will be tutored by Sand. Shantah, you will be taught by Gann." She gestured to a moon elf wizard and a blue skinned man, respectively. Shar'ri gasped when she saw Gann, and said "Gann! That was his name..." Gann shot her a quelling look, and Shar'ri said nothing further.

"Dante, you will be tutored by Safiya." Lyria went on, determinedly. A bald, tattooed, red-robed woman nodded to the boy.

"She– She's a red wizard!" he blurted.

"And a good friend of mine," Lyria nodded, and Dante had the grace to look ashamed of himself. "Sebastian, you will be taught by–"

"Deekin!" squeaked a raspy voice. Much to everyone else's amazement, Sebastian looked very pleased, and shook the kobold's scaly claw enthusiastically.

"Raisa, you will be tutored by Ammon Jerro," Lyria gestured to the bald, tattooed man Mliss had met in the basement the previous day. Raisa nodded, trembling slightly.

"Devin, your tutor will be Neeshka, except during the periods we discussed. Shaiith, I have a special tutor assigned for you, follow me upstairs in a moment." Shaiith looked very smug. "Shar'ri, please follow Ammon Jerro down to the basement, where he will introduce you to your tutor." Shar'ri glanced wide-eyed at Mliss, and nodded dumbly.

"Mliss, I have a series of tutors arranged for you, the first of which is Ivarr the Blessed, priest of Tyr." A robed dwarf nodded to Mliss, who smiled back charmingly. "Well, that's that, folks. All of you follow your respective tutor, for your introductions. Mid morning you will all be shown to Guyven's classroom. After lunch you'll meet some more of your teachers." Lyria waved them all away, and Mliss turned and followed Ivarr to the Church of Tyr.

"Lyria's told me you may require help figuring out from whom you get your powers?" Ivarr addressed her genially.

Mliss nodded happily; that was precisely what she needed.