Disclaimer: The Forgotten Realms are not mine but Whizban and everyone in it are, so ask before using. Violators will be fed to my rampaging hoardes of carnivorous dwarf hamsters.

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Teilla wandered around the field that the monastery of Kelemelvor had set aside for scheduled competitions. Gorbsen had given the bard the time of the much vaunted archery contest before starting the morning routine for his tavern. Given Lannlia's, Farnier's and Gorbsen's smug looks that morning, the half-elven bard's curiosity had been thoroughly perked. So, Teilla decided to watch the archery match to see if their assurance had any real basis.

At around midday, a pair of charcoal robed monks at the far end of the field busily erected a couple of blinds and straw stuffed stationary targets a few hundred yards away. Teilla blinked at the distance. A large number of competitors would be eliminated right off the bat if that distance was set up for round one. Another monk walked towards the newly set up blinds carrying a basket of tightly bound straw balls the size of small melons and what looked like a small trebuchet. Teilla gave a low whistle. Most archery matches she had been to started at a range of about fifty yards and simply got longer with each round. Moving targets at range were not the norm, an opinion made clearer when Teilla saw the competitors taking the field.

Teilla saw insignias from more than a few renowned armed companies. A few Purple Dragon knights were going to try their bows opposite a few Zhents and a full third of the two dozen archers assembling were elves wearing the colors of Evermeet, Evereska, Silverymoon and a few other symbols that Teilla did not recognize. The majority of the archers had the look of woodsfolk although some had the armor of soldiers on under their surcoats. The bard scanned the line for Farnier's half sister. White hair gleamed at the far end of the archers' line and Teilla saw a small elf with braided white hair and brown skin jog up to take a position at the competition line with a bow in hand just before a stern looking monk in grey close to her bellow, "The archery contest is now closed!"

The monk in grey hung a wooden symbol of Kelemelvor around his neck and started to walk the competitors' line. At each archer, he stopped and inspected the archer's bow and arrows, ensuring the equality and quality of each competitor's equipment. Two young woodsmen were disqualified for trying to use heavily enchanted arrows and refusing to use the quivers the presiding monk offered them. They slumped as they took places among the crowd of spectators. When he finished checking everyone's bow and arrows, the monk acting as referee stepped to one end of the competition line and pulled a bright orange flag from a pocket. The monk yelled, "Clear the range!" and then raised his flag. After waiting a moment, he brought the signal flag down and the assembled archers loosed their first volley of the day.

The first few rounds saw fewer and fewer competitors as the judges eliminated anyone who failed to hit a target as the range increased with every volley. When the officials started the rounds with moving targets, the competition had been whittled down to eight. The half drow elf, one moon elf from Evereska, two gold elves wearing Evermeet's colors, two human rangers without any distinguishing marks, another human ranger wearing Waterdeep's device and one nervous looking young sellsword from the Flaming Fist mercenary company in Baldur's Gate. The archers shot at targets that the monks downfield pushed across the firing line and also brightly colored sawdust stuffed balls that the monks threw from one end of the line to the other. Teilla could barely see the target balls from a position of a few hundred yards away, let alone well enough to hit them with anything.

The remaining archers had a difficult time. The sellsword, two of the rangers, the moon elf and one of the gold elves missed and were eliminated from the field. The line judge who checked the bows called out the names of the remaining three archers, Orino L'Lewin of Evermeet, Carson Swits of Greenest and Mirandaline Sparrowhawk of Whizban. Teilla cheered with the rest of the locals when the half drow's name was called. The line referee bellowed for quiet to describe the parameters of the last round of the archery contest. Each of the remaining three archers were assigned a ball of a different color. The idea was to shoot it as many times as they could before the ball hit the ground. Each archer would go one at a time to avoid confusion.

Teilla spotted Ricardt a little closer to the archers' line than she was. As the line judge determined the order that the finalists would go in, Teilla slipped through the crowd to whisper in the paladin's ear, "Quite the show isn't it?"

Ricardt jumped and spun to meet the tawny eyes of the grinning bard. He smiled back, "Yes, you got me this time. And it is quite the show even though I missed the first part of it." Ricardt glanced at the competition line. "I think we're going to see the end of the contest now." The three remaining archers took their places and it looked like Orino of Evermeet got to go first, pointedly ignoring Mirandaline and Carson as they exchanged a quick good luck handclasp.

The gold elf stepped to the line and waited for his target to show itself. Ricardt and Teilla saw a bight red ball fly up into the air before suddenly and erratically shifting in its descending parabola as Orino landed arrows into it. When it hit, one of the two monks down range of the archery line ran out, picked it up and ran back behind his blind. Mirandaline went next, with a similar show, followed by Carson. One of the monks from down range ran up to the line referee and whispered to him for a few seconds. The line referee turned to the waiting crowd and competitors and shouted, "Carson Swits wins with eight hits, Mirandaline Sparrowhawk places second with seven hits and Orino L'Lewin takes third with five hits." The crowd cheered as Carson grinned like a grimalkin, Mirandaline slapped him on the back in congratulations and Orino sulked off to the side.

The crowd started to converge in to add their own congratulations and Teilla and Ricardt started to join the stream of people towards the archers when someone tugged at the backs of their tunics. Teilla spun and hopped to the side as Ricardt spun into the lean, lanky man wearing a badge of Tyr on the front of his tunic. Unable to completely halt his momentum, the paladin bumped into the stranger hard enough to send him stumbling to the ground. Ricardt offered a hand and an apology to his fellow Tyrran as Teilla asked curiously, "So what do you want from Clunky here?"

The lanky man dusted himself off and replied, "I've a message for you, Knight Arniss. The headmaster of Valor Hall requests that you present yourself there at the earliest opportunity."

Teilla blinked, "Valor Hall in Suzail?"

"Know of any others?" Ricardt glanced at the bard before turning back to the messenger, "Any indication of what I should expect when I get there?"

"Just that you should get there as soon as you can manage," the messenger shrugged, "If you will excuse me, I had a few other messages to deliver here." He turned and started jogging through the crowd.

"Safe journeys," Ricardt called to the runner's receeding back. The paladin turned to Teilla and sighed, "It looks like I won't be able to stay for the rest of the festival."

"Forwards and onwards then," the copper haired half laughed, "You didn't think I'd let you brave a city by yourself, did you?"

Ricardt smiled, "We will need someone to give us the fastest route to Suzail then or hire a wizard to teleport us there."

"I'd go for a guide first. Wizards charge too much." Teilla snapped her fingers, "I know, we'll ask Mirandaline to guide us out. Lannlia said that she tends to wander extensively."

"Worth it to ask her," Ricardt shrugged, then rummaged in his belt pouch "Oh, I found this at one of the vendors' stalls. I thought you would like it." He produced the pale rose crystal on its cord and handed it to Teilla who exclaimed, "It's lovely, you flirt!" She smiled at the flush that crept up the paladin's face as he cleared his throat and said, "We should find that ranger now."

"Sure thing, 'sweetheart'" Teilla grinned as she tied the crystal in place around her neck, "Lead the way." Ricardt started weaving his way through the dispersing crowd to where he thought the archers still were. Soon enough, as they pushed their way through, Ricardt could see Mirandaline's white hair peeking above the shoulders of the taller people around her. As the bard and paladin neared, they heard the half drow talking quietly to one of the monks about teaching archery to the students of the monastery in the spring. The acolyte of Kelemelvor chuckled and replied, "Don't make promises you are not sure you can keep, Ranger Sparrowhawk" before turning and mingling with the crowd.

Ricardt figured now was as good a time as any and called, "Lady Sparrowhawk, a word?" Teilla waved at the smaller elf.

Mirandaline turned curiously towards the pair. "No one ever calls me 'lady,'" she said, "At least not usually on purpose the first time. Who are you?"

"I'm Ricardt Arniss in service to Tyr and this is Teilla Hawksman, bard of note," Ricardt replied. "I take it you don't get much courtesy often."

"Sad but true. Mirandaline for formal occasions but I'm Mir to friends" The elf looked at Teilla, "You're Gorbsen's niece, aren't you?"

Teilla nodded, "Lannlia said you knew your way around here better than anyone. We need to get to Suzail in a hurry. Can you help?"

The ranger blinked and a grin broke out on her dark face. "Is she always this blunt?" she asked the paladin.

"Sometimes she's worse than this," Ricardt sighed, "But usually not."

"To the frustration of everyone nearby, I suppose," Mirandaline smiled wider.

Teilla could feel her temper starting to slip, "So can you get us there or not?"

The dark ranger turned back to the red haired bard, "I can get you there in three days or so." Teilla started to ask how when Mirandaline held up a hand. "I'll explain how on the way, not before. How soon can you two be ready to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning?" Ricardt suggested. Teilla nodded.

"I'll meet you at Gorbsen's then. I should go see Lannlia and Farnier," the white haired ranger started off through the wandering festival goers. "See you tomorrow!" she called back before slipping from view.

Ricardt offered Teilla his arm as the very paragon of chivalry, "Shall we enjoy the festival while we can, Lady Bard?"

"And purchase the finest of travel fare for our journey," Teilla accepted the raven haired paladin's proffered arm.

If it seems like a while since this story moved, please keep in mind that I sometimes have to kick my muse awake to write this thing down and then kick myself to type it out. I do have a plan though, just be patient!

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Time to press the happy author button...