Out Of The Shadows

Chapter Thirteen:

Street Magic

Imoen staggered hazily down the hall. All things considered, she had slept quite well, as far as she could remember. Still, she felt drained and somewhat detached, like a part of her refused to leave dreamland. Maybe she would feel better after breakfast. She entered the little dining room and found that she was the only person awake in the whole guild, apart from a greasy round, balding brick shed of a man who was preparing breakfast. The kitchen was in the same room as where everyone ate, which was a shame since it meant she could see him wiping his face with his hands before throwing some more vegetables into the pot.

"What'll it be?" He asked gruffly as she approached the long table that separated him from everyone else.

"Croissant?" She asked optimistically.

"This ain't the Den of Seven Vales lass," he scoffed, "we got no fancy foreign stuff like that. We got soup, we got eggs, we got bread."

"Fine… I'll have some bread, a Chicken abortion, and two fried slices of dead pig, please."

"'More like it," he said and proceeded to slap it all on a plate. Again just using his hands, which she could see now had slightly overgrown blackened fingernails.

"Hmm… yummy," she smiled sarcastically and sat down in the corner, wondering if she could spare some money for a tavern or Inn; come to think of it, that was probably where everyone was.

At least someone seemed to still be on a high; Aerie flounced into the room, and sat at the table opposite her, smiling contentedly, still.

"Morning, Aerrers," the redhead said with a faint smile.

"Morning," the Elf beamed. But then she furrowed her brow and tilted her head slightly. "H-how do you feel?"

"Fine, I guess," Imoen shrugged.

"No… no headaches, or anything?"

"No. No headaches, no strange voices," no 'other' Imoen… Aerie's medicine seemed to still be working. It was probably nothing really, anyway; all just a symptom of the panic attack she'd been having. "I'm just still kind of tired," maybe there were some errant thoughts that had stopped her sleeping properly. Faces from the past… but it was all kind of fuzzy, now.

"Are you sure you slept well?"

"Honestly, Aerie, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me," Imoen changed the subject, "what about you? What was it like sleeping in an actual bed?"

"Oh… the mattress was so soft. I felt like I was floating!" The Elf beamed and stretched out her arms. Imoen found it to be one of the hardest mattresses she had ever lain on, but she supposed if you were only used to that shelf. "B-but I couldn't sleep like that, so I lay on the floor instead."

"Okay," no pleasing some people, Imoen guessed. "Did you do that other thing I asked you to?"

"Oh, yes," Aerie unbuttoned a pouch on her belt, and pulled out two sets of papers; one set were the notes Imoen had swiped from Irenicus, written in Elven, the other a version of them Aerie had translated into common. "I'm… I-I'm afraid it doesn't really say much. It's mostly just notes and observations about various types of experiment… h-he talks about his followers. There was something wrong with them, a-and it seems like he was trying to help them. But then…"

He forgot about his followers and it became all about the Bhaalspawn, and Imoen. He talked about extracting something from her, but how it needed to be nurtured made to grow more… so, some kind of affliction and somehow she was the cure? That didn't seem right; not like him at all. Imoen had a slightly biased opinion, of course, having been imprisioned and tortured and made to watch her friend sliced up, but he wasn't trying to help anybody. Whatever he wanted, he wanted it for himself. There was also a list of names; possibly other children of Bhaal scattered around Amn and the surrounding territories. Abdel, Talyn, Amber, Illasera, Nathan, Gromnir… none of them were names she recognised, yet she pored over them for some time. They were all her brothers and sisters… probably about half of them would try to kill her if they knew the truth of who they were. What a mess.

"Are you okay?" Aerie asked, looking concerned as Imoen had been silent for some time.

"Uh… yeah," the redhead stuffed all the papers into her own pouch. "Thanks for this."

"It was nothing," the Elf smiled sweetly. "I-I want to show you something else."

"What?"

"Well… I-I'm glad to be out, o-of the Circus I mean. But I didn't waste all my time there; I-I learnt a few tricks. Can I show you?"

"Sure," Imoen shrugged. It might be fun. She watched Aerie place three mugs upside down on the table, and then place three small balls about an inch across on top of each of them. The old cup and balls trick… Imoen had only seen it about eight hundred times. In fact, ol'Puffguts Winthrop used to do it sometimes in The Candlekeep Inn; it was sleight of hand, rather than real magic, and as such it easily dazzled and confused learned sages. Still, she might as well play along, if it made Aerie happy.

One by one, the Elf picked up each ball and made each one 'magically' disappear in her hand by fluttering her fingers. She then tapped the top of each mug, and then lifted it to show that the ball had appeared underneath and placed it back on top. She then took each of the side balls and threw them away, and put the middle ball under the middle cup, tapped the lid, lifted it… all three balls underneath! Amazing! At least, it would have been if Imoen didn't know exactly what Aerie was doing. The Elf juggled them, threw them away, then tapped the middle cup again, lifted it up again to reveal one big ball, and then two more big balls under each other cup.

It was like this; there were in fact four smaller balls to start with. One was already beneath the first cup. When she revealed it and placed it on top, she slipped a larger ball inside. With the second cup, she slipped in the first she had vanished as she lifted it, and with the third cup she simply picked the ball up with one hand, moved it to her other hand and slipped back underneath when she lifted the cup, and then again slipped in of the large balls when she lifted it up. With one ball already in the middle cup, when she pretended she putting in just one she was in fact slipping in two. She then just had to slip the final big ball under the middle back; the juggling and the throwing away helped distract Imoen for a split second as she did. The Elf was far better at doing all this than Winthrop had been, but the redhead could still see every one of her moves.

But Aerie wasn't done yet. She had a soft, knowing smile on her face which Imoen didn't understand at first, but it became clear momentarily. The blonde did the same trick again, but this time when she was supposed to reveal all three smaller balls under the middle cup, she and leant forward, resting her head on her elbow.

"How many balls do you think are under each cup?" The Elf asked. Imoen arched an eyebrow suspiciously; clearly, there was something up here, but she went ahead and said what she thought anyway.

"Three in the middle, and two big ones either side," she shrugged.

Aerie closed her eyes, her nose wrinkling slightly as she started to lean back still with a large grin on her face. She lifted the middle cup; one small ball. She lifted each side cup; one small ball beneath each. She leaned back further, lifting each cup again to reveal each of the larger balls.

"Okay," Imoen chuckled, shaking her head. She knew that Imoen knew, and she used that knowledge against her. That was… smart. And nice; she knew Imoen wasn't stupid, either. "You got me, kid… you got me."

Aerie's smile broadened, and she held up a finger; her performance wasn't over yet. Once again, the same trick, but this time she just made a little visually more exciting by using her actual summoning skills; at least, Imoen assumed that the three little chirruping chicks she revealed where there had been the larger balls before hadn't been stored up Aerie's sleeve. And for the finish, she tapped the middle cup one last time and when she lifted it, there was a flurry and fluttering of feathers as a white dove flew out. Imoen applauded.

"And you never thought about performing in the circus?" The redhead asked disbelievingly.

The Elf's head withdrew slightly as her cheeks flushed. "N-no… I'm not good with crowds. To be honest, I-I've never done this in front of anyone before."

"You're good," Imoen still wasn't sure how she'd done the second trick. "Hey, if you could fool me, you could fool just about anyone. With all that sleight of hand stuff, I… I don't suppose you've ever thought about being a pickpocket?"

Aerie shook her head.

The reason Imoen had asked was that later that day, Anishai took them all out to work the streets… not like that. She took them to the Bridge District which was, as the name suggested, a whole neighbourhood built upon a thick, stone bridge. The river that ran through the centre of Athkatla marked a physical divide between the rich and poor halves of the city, and so this was the only place where they overlapped. Well, there was also The Promenade but Anishai, the guards there had doubled because of all the incidents lately.

"Now then, my pretties," Anishai stood, hands on hips, in the shadow of a tavern. "I take it you all know why you are here, yes? There are a lot of merchants around here whose purses have grown a bit too heavy. So, show me what you can do to relieve them of some of their burden," she explained as if they were performing a great humanitarian service. "Simple pickpocketing to start with. I don't expect you to write a receipt for that, but the same rules as mugging still apply; never take any more than fifty golds worth. Of course, it might be harder to prove it if you get caught… but you won't get caught, will you?"

"I will not get caught," Jaheira folded her arms and glared at her, "because I will not be taking part in this ridiculous game."

"Now, now… no need to get testy. I appreciate that you two are," she put a hand on Minsc's chest, while her other started rubbing Jaheira's upper arm, "hmm… muscle. And you," she dropped her hand from each of them and stroked Aerie, "magic, healing… all that's useful, sometimes. But what about you two?" Imoen and Yoshimo were the only ones left. "You're surely up to a challenge, hmm? Who can pinch more? Oh that's right, yes, a competition! How wonderful…"

"Heh," Imoen stood straight, although with one foot further to her side than the other, and arms folded confidently. "Only if he's ready for a good licking."

Yoshimo arched an eyebrow. "Is that what is on offer if I lose? In that case, I give up now."

Imoen stuck her tongue out. "In your dreams, muttonhead."

"Actually, last night you and Aerie were both…"

"Can we just get on with it," Jaheira slapped her own forehead, rubbing it side to side slightly, "please?"

Yoshimo went first, picking out a merchant in a bright green waistcoat, tights and a round cap and most importantly who seemed to have plenty of money to spare.

"Excuse me, good sir," the Kara-Turran bowed as he approached. "As you can tell by my appearance I am not from this fair city. I wonder if you can help me find the Temple of Lathander…"

Ah, the old lost tourist routine. Imoen had learnt that when she'd ran for a short time with the Thieves Guild back in Baldur's Gate. The man was very helpful, and as Yoshimo repeated back each one of his directions, apparently to confirm that he'd got them right, he deliberately pointed made big hand gestures. Just like in Aerie's sleight of hand trick, really, when she did the juggle and threw to make you look someone else. As the stranger looked where Yoshi was pointing, his other, not pointing hand, relieved the fellow of about twenty gold. Good job, mentioning the Temple of Lathander, too. Surely, only a good, honest person would have reason to go there.

Sure, it was a classic, but Imoen had come up with a slightly different version, which she liked more because it was far cheekier. Although it carried a bit more risk too, so she had to pick her target very carefully… there was someone who looked just about stupid enough. He was carrying what looked a reasonably priced cane and wearing striped pantaloons.

She went in carrying a map. Same as Yoshimo, she smiled and innocently and explained that she was from out of town and lost. She made him hold part of the map to show her the way.

"So, are you sure it's left here?" She asked.

"Oh, yes; left, right, left, right, left, right, and left again," he asked.

"Sounds like you've given me my marching orders. So right here… here, let me hold that for you," the man handed her his cane so he could point out the route more clearly. The important thing now was to just keep yapping pointlessly so that even he finally got lost in what she was saying. "So left at this sign… you haven't got a little bag you put coins in, have you?" That was very cheeky, but amazingly it worked and he handed over his purse. Finally, she nodded and thanked him and left, quickly, disappearing around a building to meet the others.

"Got his purse, and his cane," she boasted twirling it. Yoshimo shook his head, obviously impressed but not sure how that could have worked without some kind of charm spell being used. "Top that, bozo."

"Good sir!" Yoshimo ran out into street up to another (he'd ran around the tavern a few times beforehand just to make sure he looked really out of breath). "Please… sir," he panted, hands on knees. "Please, sir… you must help me. I need to report a crime!"

"A crime?" The gentleman looked about warily, making sure he was safe.

"Over there… in that alley. There was a girl… pretty thing. Crying. I went over to try and help, but… it was a trap! I was set upon by two, or perhaps three rapscallions! They stole my purse."

"Good Gods!" The gentleman could barely contain his outrage. "Well, clearly you must report this to Lieutenant Aegisfield at once!"

"Indeed sir. Although I don't know what I will do then… you see, they took all the money I had earned from working at the docks, shifting heavy crates around all day. Now I cannot afford this month's rent for my room."

"You poor man. Here, I have some coin," the gentleman held out his purse. "Perhaps this will tide you over until your coin is recovered?"

"Oh no… I could not…"

"I insist, please!"

"Well, in that case sir, I thank you."

"Not a problem," the gentleman stepped forward, putting a hand on Yoshimo's shoulder. "You know, it's honest, hardworking folk like you that keep this nation's great economy going." He looked about to well up.

"Indeed sir. I thank you again," Yoshimo decided it was time to get out of there.

Well… when it came to theatrics like that, there was no way Imoen was going to be outdone…

"So-o cold…" the redhead's voice trembled. She was sat on a low brick wall, huddled up with Aerie under a large thick blanket.

"Um… there, there… er, sis," usually actresses wanted more lines, but Aerie had only agreed to play along on the grounds that this would be the only thing she said. "It'll be okay…"

It wasn't long before people started to stop and ask them what was wrong… indeed, pretty soon a small crowd had gathered to offer comfort to the two obviously distraught young women.

"I'm sorry," Imoen sniffed, accepting a nice warm drink from a kindly old woman. "It's just, we've travelled such a long way, my sister and I…"

"Sister?" One of the men asked, doubtfully.

"Yes… er, uterinal. Same mother, a Half-Elf, but her father was an Elf and mine was Human… but that hardly matters now!" The redhead sobbed loudly. "Although… her father is the reason we came to this city. You see, he vanished, years ago, but there was a man here who said he could track him down for her… not for me, you see. I just… I wanted so much to make my sister happy!" Imoen blubbed. "Look at her!" She put one hand Aerie's face. The Elf's eyes bulged out slightly in surprise. "Isn't that the saddest looking Elf you've ever seen? I just wanted her to smile, once…" the gathered agreed that Aerie's face was indeed sad.

"What happened?" A young man asked.

"We… we used the last of our gold to hire the man, but… h-he kept asking us for more. Said we had to pay his expenses… and we needed a place stay as well. I ended up working a barmaid part time, and my sister, she… she pawned her ring! It was the last thing she had to remember her father by… and the man we hired, he just vanished, and now we have nothing!" She wept profusely. "We… we can't even afford a ship to take us home…"

"That scum!" They gasped.

"Sounds like you were had, lass," a guard had come over.

"But, why?" Imoen sobbed and shook her head in stunned disbelief at the cruelty of the world. She wasn't the only one; Aerie found the whole story particularly tragic. "Why would anyone take advantage of two innocent women like that? We trusted him… why are there such bad people…"

"Oh here, dear," the old woman said, "I can spare ye a bit of change if it'll help…"

"Thank you," she sniffed, "it will. Maybe… maybe we can afford a cup of clean water tonight, at least…"

It wasn't long before everyone gathered was dropping change in Imoen's lap. Not just chance either; rings and necklaces and even a small cake… she ate that right away.

"Well," Anishai arched an eyebrow when they returned with the loot, "I think you went well over the fifty gold limit, but I guess since those people gave it all freely, it doesn't count as theft… still, rather shameless, I thought."

"Me too," Aerie squeeked.

"Still, effective. I suppose I will have to concede defeat," Yoshimo bowed gracefully.

"Yeah… but I'm not licking you," Imoen quirked, "you understand, that was a figure of a speech?"

"Oh, you westerners with your strange phrases," Yoshimo shook his head disappointedly.

"Well, what a productive use of our time that was," Jaheira looked frustrated. It was understandable; she was a physical woman, but the last few hours she'd had nothing to do but stand there, waiting on the others. Imoen hadn't thought about that until now; she supposed she should really have asked the druid to look around the city a bit more, see if she could find other sources for the information they were after, while she got on with the thieving. Maybe then Jaheira wouldn't be so tense… being responsible was complicated.

"You remember the plan, Jae," Imoen said, taking her a bit aside while Anishai packed up the loot. "We prove what good thieves we can be, then Mae'Var can't ignore us. Don't worry… I'm sure he's not gonna go down without at least a bit of a fight."

"I can only hope," the druid said, clenching her fist.

"Well, let's not push our luck around here anymore," Anishai called over to them, "we'll head back and then I can discuss your… performance," she grinned like a snake.

As they started to make their way back, Imoen noticed Aerie looking, well… bothered.

"What's the matter, kid?" Imoen asked. "Not having fun?"

"I-I'm not sure how I feel," the Elf answered. "I feel assured, s-seeing that people can be so generous, even in places like this…"

"That's the important lesson to take away from today, I think," the redhead nodded emphatically.

"B-but we were just taking advantage of their generosity…"

"Well… yeah," Imoen tugged her own collar slightly. Okay, so… she was a bit of a rogue. If she hadn't been completely turned off books when she was young by being forced to read so many of them, she might have started studying magic sooner. If she was strong, she'll have been a fighter and used her deadly martial arts skills to protect the innocent… but she'd never been strong, and come to think of it, Aerie was the first person she'd ever been able to beat in martial combat. Aerie, who was about an inch shorter than her and half the weight; not a terribly impressive feat, was it? So anyway, she was a rogue first, and sometimes that meant doing things that were a bit questionable in order to gain an advantage. Except that, today, she hadn't really stopped to question what she was doing. Aerie, however, never stopped.

"It's… not like anyone really got hurt," Imoen tried to shrug it off.

"But that story you… you made up," Aerie looked at her oddly, "t-things like that really do happen to people, don't they?"

"Well… sometimes… I guess…"

"W-what if the next person those people talk to really does need help, b-but they decide not to help them because they realise they were lied to by us?"

"Yeah, it's… possible… I suppose," Imoen hung her head, her face reddening slightly. She really hadn't thought… she had thought, that it was a bit of playacting, a bit of fun… but she hadn't thought that anyone else might actually get hurt because of it. Perhaps not directly, but, there was no refuting Aerie's logic, was there? Damn that Elf and her thoughtfulness… now she was looking at Imoen like she was expecting an explanation that would rationalise everything. But… Imoen think of any. She'd actually been rendered speechless, and that took some doing.

Aerie apparently realised that there was no answer coming. She panicked, a little, and hung her head, ashamed and embarrassed, although more that she'd embarrassed Imoen than anything else. "I-I'm sorry," she said, "I know I don't really understand yet how things are here. O-or what people need to do to… survive…"

"No," Jaheira spoke. Imoen jerked up suddenly; she hadn't noticed the Druid standing right behind them. "Do not apologise, child," she said to Aerie, "especially not when you are the only one making sense, here. Of course, it might have been more useful if you had spoken your mind before taking part in that little one act drama…"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Okay, Jae, if you're so wise, why didn't you say anything?"

"You wanted to make your own choices. Hopefully you will learn from your mistakes as well."

"Great," Imoen breathed out slowly. "I'm sorry, Aerie. You're right; we shouldn't have done that. I guess I got a bit carried away with the competition with Yoshi… I didn't think. From now on, I promise I'll be an honest thief. I'll only pick pockets and cheat people without lying to them. Well, I'll try. You gotta know, I'm not always perfect, right?"

"No," Aerie smiled, "i-it's okay."

"And sometimes," the redhead sighed, "we have to some things that are a little bit bad, in order to do something good. I know that totally makes no sense to you now; it didn't to me at first, either. But it will. Trust me."

They returned to the guild. Anishai seemed pleased with their work; she made particular mention of how Imoen had swiped a drink off a man she'd done the map trick on outside the tavern. She really admired the cheekiness of that. She went to report to Mae'Var right away, saying she thought they were ready for harder and possibly more dangerous challenges and the couple of people who had at least some musical talent played their lutes and beat on some make shift drums, much to the resident cooks dismay.

So, the rest of them had a small party, involving a few of the other thieves. Imoen didn't like to drink much, but she didn't really need to to lose her inhibitions. In fact, she found she could have just as much fun as other people by not drinking, and got to avoid the whole melancholy stage of alchohol consumption and the waking up in a shed with a dead dog lying next to you; it was never nice when that happened. In case, it wasn't long before she was dancing on the table, and then swinging from the ceiling beams while people clapped and cheered her on to ever greater stunts.

Another person who didn't like to drink much, apparently, was Aerie. She'd only had a few sips of Elven wine and, although it would have been comical if it had made lose her inhibitions and get up, singing, dancing, picking a fight with the cook, it didn't. If anything, all this going on around her just seemed to make her withdraw into herself even more. She retreated into a corner, away from everybody.

"You're a quiet one, aren't you?" Aerie's body involuntarily tensed, and she withdrew slightly more into the corner as Anishai sat next to her. "Oh, do I frighten you, dear?"

"I…" Aerie gasped, only now aware of her own reaction. She didn't know how to answer; she could envision both 'yes' and 'no' being taken badly. So she just resorted to honesty, again. "A… a little…"

"But that's good," the assassin smiled softly, "you see, close as we are right now, I could snap your neck far faster than you could utter a syllable to any one of your spells. Unless you have… what do you call it? Contingency? A pre-cast spell that triggers under special circumstances, like if I were to attack you, hm?"

"I… I haven't," the Elf admitted. It was a good idea. She would have to learn that as fast as possible, if she got out of this…

"Here's another tip, dear; don't always tell the truth," A knife shot it into her hand, Aerie jumping back instantly, although her heart jumped a little higher than the rest of her. Anishai just smiled at her, showed the Elf an apple in her other hand, and started peeling the skin.

Aerie's heart settled. She tried to sit more upright. Being scared didn't mean the Elf was a coward, and the Elf was determined to prove it.

"That… that wasn't nice," the blonde said, trying hard to keep eye contact with Anishai.

"No, it wasn't, was it?" The assassin said, crunching down on her meal. "Don't worry, little one; I'm not going to hurt you. At least not yet. At the moment, I rather like you. Of course, that could change if you keep looking at me like that..."

Imoen did a couple of somersaults, rolled off the end of the table, landing on her feet with her arms raised triumphantly to a round of applause. She decided, that was the finale of her act. Even if she had the energy, there wasn't much she could do to top that in this relatively small space, at least not without taking her clothes off and unfortunately for the male audience that just wasn't something she was interested in doing. Not even if they gave her cinnamon cookies, which were her favourite treat.

"What's the deal with her?" One of the men nodded to the corner where the Elf was sitting, now accompanied by Anishai.

"Aerie?" Imoen asked as if she didn't know.

"Yeah. Why's she not join in?"

Another young woman stood next to them. "She's a bit boring, isn't she?"

Imoen looked crossly at them. Okay, obviously, Aerie would rather read books than perform table gymnastics. She clearly wasn't a party animal… but to call her boring because just wasn't fair. She was just interested in other things.

"Aerie's great!" The redhead said loudly, still feeling a bit of a buzz from all her exertions. The Elf heard her, and looked up. The other rogues seemed unconvinced. "Hey, I know! You should her magic tricks. Hey, Aerie!" She called. The Elf slid around Anishai and stood up on the other side of the table. "Show everyone those tricks you showed me."

The blonde's head tilted, and she looked at Imoen oddly. "I… I-I can't," she said, shaking her head a little.

"Sure you can," Imoen tried to encourage her, "just like you did it this morning… c'mon!"

Aerie started to look around the room, the people, all starting to close around her, eyes watching her expectantly… her heart rate visibly quickened. Imoen was holding out her hand encouragingly, but Aerie started to step back, away from her…

"N-no, Imoen… please," she said more pleadingly, shaking her head more vigorously.

"C'mon, Aerie… everyone wants to see you perform!"

"I -I'm sorry!" The Elf snapped tearfully, and ran out the door.

Imoen blinked a few times, utterly bewildered. Not mention, made to look kind of dumb now in front of half the Guild, who now shook their heads and went to other side of the room, whispering things like bufflehead (although not exactly like that). She oughta slap that girl silly… Instead, she took a deep breath, and turned to face Jaheira.

"Well, what's wrong with her now?" She asked sulkily. "I was only trying to involve her, make her less afraid of people. If she didn't want to do it, she could have just said so."

Jaheira sighed. "She did try to say," the druid pointed out, "you weren't listening."

"Well, okay… still, bit of an overreaction, wouldn't you say?"

"Perhaps, yes. Still, it always amazes me how such an astonishingly clever person as you can at times be so exceptionally stupid," the druid shook her head, walking away.

Imoen raised her hands in exasperation. So, she was supposed to just figure this out on her own, was she? Fine, then.

The redhead thought about it as she ascended two flights of staircases; it seemed reasonable to assume that Aerie had gone back to the room they'd been given. She still kind of wanted to slap the Elf. It was ridiculous. Sure, she knew Aerie was quiet and shy around most people, but Imoen was there… she would have helped. It was only a dumb cup and balls trick, anyway; she didn't have to say anything to anyone. But, she'd already invested too much of her time in Aerie to stay angry at her over something silly like this. She just wanted to understand it.

She thought about how Aerie had done the trick; pretty, standard stuff, until the second run through when she changed it slightly specifically to fool Imoen… just to fool her. That whole performance; it just been for Imoen, because the Elf was naïve enough to trust her and wanted to share something with her. More than that, putting Aerie in that position again where people were expecting her to 'perform'… she'd actually used the word 'perform'. She was starting to see just how stupid she really had been.

Imoen found Aerie in the corridor outside their room, the Elf leaning on her side against the wall, her little chest expanding and deflating slowly.

"Listen," the redhead approached her tentatively, "I'm… I'm sorry, okay? I guess all those people surrounding you freaked you out, huh? I didn't mean to make you feel like a… like a sideshow or anything. I just wanted you join in the fun we were having. That's all," Imoen sighed, "of course, y'know, you were kind of stupid as well. I'm not gonna take all the blame for this one. You know, I'm trying to learn how to be all responsible and be in control of my own destiny, but it turns out its pretty hard and you could help make it easier by not just suddenly rushing off like that and leaving me to have figure it all out on my own."

"I'm sorry," Aerie turned around bowing her head. "I-I don't know why I ran off like that. I know it was silly. I guess… I just panicked, a little. I-I'm not perfect either, you know."

"That's okay," Imoen grinned and gave her a small hug, "so, you wanna go back and join the others?"

"No… n-not just now."

"You wanna help me break in to that magically locked door over there?"

"Um… okay."

"Okay… let's break in."