It's all in the little things.

The way Valen moves to her side almost immediately when he hears the duergar slaver offering to sell her the mind-protecting helmet for 'services rendered from a comely female such as you', shoulders hunched and lips baring teeth in a snarl. He is only a fraction of a second faster than Deekin piping up ' uh-oh, you really shouldn't have said that to Boss', but still, it's unmistakable, and once the slavers all lay dead, Adele inclines her head and thanks him.

"I know you can take care of yourself, Lady," he says with by now customary gruffness, then shrugs. "However, there's no reason anyone should talk to you like that, just because you have…" here he stammers a bit and, Adele notes with amusement, his cheeks color faintly, "…well, just because you are not a man, I mean."

…

The way Adele's eyes narrow and her hand clenches into a fist by her side upon seeing the first mindflayer slaves wandering around with vacant smiles on their faces. Her breathing quickens for a second and she quells it with a deep swallow, but her eyes harden to gray chips of basalt under that awful helmet's browridge and her steps quicken as she turns towards the shallow bowl of the arena where the slave auctions are supposed to be held.

"With your permission, sir, I am reassessing our priorities regarding negotiating with the illithid about their support of the Valsharess," she says with deceptive mildness as they look at the scene of a barely-clad human woman being paraded around on a collar and chain and being praised for her 'unusual ferocity in combat and the womanly arts'. "In fact, I believe that option has just been taken off the table." She caresses Enserric's hilt with an almost gentle motion, then turns to Deekin. "Master Scalesinger, may I have a financial assets report please? I wish to make a… purchase today."

…

The way Valen immediately takes off his cloak and gently wraps it around the woman when she is handed over to them. The way he's standing there quietly while Adele talks to the slave, whose every movement speaks of long years of abuse; the way he nods almost imperceptibly as Adele, realizing that there's no other way to do it, haughtily throws a few pieces of gold to the woman and orders her with as much coldness and authority as she can muster, to go, purchase supplies, and deliver a message with all haste to the city of Lith My'athar's Lolth temple. Her voice is raised, so those around them hear and understand clearly, and Deekin whispers quietly that the illithid who followed them from the auction site withdrew, content that they were just another group of slavers.

"She'll be taken care of by The Seer and Nathyrra,' she says quietly when the woman rushes off, still wearing her rags, her slave collar and Valen's cloak, clutching the little piece of scrap paper she scribbled a few words on. "Sorry about your cloak, sir," she adds, and grimaces. "I'll try to get you another one next time I get the chance." Her eyes are very bright.

"Don't worry about it." Valen says and, for the very first time since he knows her, reaches out and gently squeezes her shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"As soon as every one of these sons of bitches is dead, I'll be just fine," she snaps savagely, then gulps. "Sorry, sir. I haven't cursed since I became a warrior for Torm. This place is…getting to me. I…" she stops and swallows thickly, her fingers touching her chest where her god's holy symbol hides under her jerkin. "Just let's go and be done."

…

The way Adele stops at every single fallen gladiator slave from the Pits as they finally leave the smoking ruins of Zorvak'Mur's main illithid compound behind. The moves she is going through are the same: go down on one knee, one hand reaching out to gently close the eyes, another to pull a piece of clothing over the face if possible. The pale lips utter a short prayer, the brows draw down determinedly: Adele stands up, looks around and continues down the winding path. Enserric is drawn in her hands, but is silent since it took the Overbrain's life. Deekin is quiet, very quiet, on occasion throwing a worried glance at her as they hurry towards the gates amongst the sounds, smells and sights of chaos their arrival and the rebellion they instigated thrown the city.

"I completed the mission." Adele whispers much later, when they are in the relative safety of their camp in a small cave, halfway back to the river. They risk a fire, because her teeth were chattering audibly towards the end of their march, and Valen overrules her objections mercilessly.

Deekin lits their fire, with a carefully modulated cough from deep his throat, and looks at them as if it was the absolute most natural thing that ever happened. "You…can breathe fire now?" Adele says then, eyes widening, and the little kobold just shrugs. "Deekin learns things," he answers and goes on to find some rations in their packs.

Valen looks up at her whispered words now: Deekin is already curled up and sleeping in a corner, little snoring noises coming from him accompanied by tiny puffs of smoke from his nostrils at each exhale.

"Yes, you did, Lady," he says, brows creased with worry. "Most admirably so, if you ask me. So what's bothering you?"

Adele grimaces.

"Not a very heroic story, but… since you've asked, sir. Last time…" she begins haltingly, "…I killed the bad guys but I've failed the mission. I was tasked with guarding and preserving the life of a…" she hesitates. "You probably don't know what a Harper agent is, sir?" Valen shakes his head. "Right. A…member of a secret society that… shares the interests of my Order and thus, by the Penance of Duty, we're compelled to aid them. I was…dispatched to make sure he came to no harm from agents of a certain Power that was, as we discovered later, threatening to unleash untold destruction by reviving an ancient flying city with an artifact he was in possession of."

"A succinct summary of something that is probably a long tale." Valen says carefully and Adele nods, staring at the flames. "What happened?"

"When we realized what exactly was going to happen, and how, there was very little time to make decisions." She bites her lip. "Master Drogan, my… the mage I was supposed to guard and I reactivated a portal that was used by our adversary to flee with the activation statue of the city, and discovered that there was a trap woven into its magic. By our enemy." She lets the air out in almost a sigh. "I wanted to stay and evacuate Master Drogan, to pray to Torm for some miracle, I am not sure. But he… ordered me to go and stop the woman. He said that was more important than the life of some cranky old wizard who already saw everything there was: so he stayed behind to keep the portal open until I got through." Her voice is brittle and without any emotion, as if she is citing a written action report. "I crossed through, pursued her, and after some brief delay, managed to destroy her and the entire flying city before it could cause any harm."

"So you saved countless lives. Stopped an ancient machine from wreaking untold destruction. You killed the bad guy." Valen shrugs. "I don't quite understand…"

"No you don't, sir." Adele shakes her head. "The mission was to save Master Drogan at any cost, even the cost of my life. He ordered me not to do that. He ordered me to go and in doing so, made me fail at my duty."

"But you would have died otherwise." Valen says slowly. "Surely your Order and your god can't ask you to lay your life down uselessly when you had a chance to succeed."

"I failed the mission," she repeats stubbornly. "Master Drogan died, I did not recover the mythallar, and the city of Undrentide has risen. I had to destroy it to stop Heurodis. I was there—I was supposed to die there."

"And you didn't." Valen's voice is slow. "As someone probably told you already, your god must have had a plan for you if you got out." He scoffs. "If nothing else, then sending you here to aid us. I am certainly no authority on matters divine, but even I can see something not quite ordinary in that." One hand reaches out, rests on Adele's shoulder again. "I'm sorry that someone had to die that you obviously cared for, but you did good: then and today, Adele. You did good. And at the end, that's what counts: not what some paper-pushers of your order no doubt said."

She startles at him using her first name the first time since they've met, and Valen, sensing her surprise, pulls his hand back quickly.

"Regarding our mission here, you've assessed the situation correctly. The price the Elder Brain has asked for was too much," he continues instead, voice brisk, "as we couldn't afford to cede the possession of such powerful artifact as the Mirror to them. The Underdark already suffers enough from the Valsharess' successful attempts to consolidate power in one hand: we do not need a unified, strong illithid empire to rise as well—which undoubtedly would have happened, had they received the Mirror. We not only broke Zorvak'Mur today: we also won some allies and experienced fighters once those freed slaves reach Lith My'athar after plundering the city." He grins at Adele's surprised expression. "I took the liberty of speaking with a few or their scouts and sending a message to the leaders while you were, ah, otherwise engaged during our withdrawal from the city. They'll regroup and advance towards Lith My'athar at their earliest opportunity, once they finish off the last thrall resistance points in the city."

Adele nods.

"That is… great news, sir," she says slowly, and her eyes are less feverish now. "Thank you. For that and… you know."

"The Underdark takes some getting used to, however much experience you have topside; you are acclimatizing well, considering. " He nods, then stops, and looks at her with definite mock surprise this time, voice lightening up a bit. "Wait just a minute. Did you just thank a demonspawn, paladin?" He gestures at his horns. "I meant to ask you earlier, you know, but we were busy somewhat. But this is just as good a time as any. Does this… bother you?"

"The horns and tails bit?" Adele reaches into the fire with a small, dry root and pulls it together carefully before answering. "We paladins can't lie, sir, so forgive the complete honesty, since you asked a direct question." Valen nods and watches her with steady eyes. "It irritated the hells out of me first that I had to work with you." Her words are slow and pondering, as if she mulls this over for the first time. "We didn't exactly meet under the best circumstances, after all, and you must admit that your kind doesn't necessarily have the best reputation in my circles." Valen snorts, but remains silent so Adele continues. "After that, I was too busy learning the ropes to afford any second opinions about the man The Seer entrusted with her people and her own life. However, like I said, I asked around about you and literally everyone was both terrified of you and admired you to the point of hero worship. I heard the stories of how you pulled them together and kept them alive during the retreat of Eilistraee's Chosen to Lith My'athar when the Valsharess attacked. I guess my prejudices suffered greatly in the light of direct evidence." She looks up, directly into his eyes. "I was taught to judge people by their actions, not by their looks; and what you did, what you do every day for your chosen people, sir, is something every good man would be proud of." Adele takes a deep breath. "An old, very wise man once told me something that maybe should be etched over every paladin's holy symbol, so there is less prejudice in the world: 'You are/What you do/When it counts.'" She shrugs. "Although that was kind of the long-winded way to go about it, I guess what I want to say, is that no; it doesn't bother me anymore, sir."

There's a brief silence after that, not uncomfortable, accompanied by only the noises of the fire crackling.

"Valen." The outsider says suddenly, as if he came to a decision. "My name's Valen: and I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady."

"Oh." Now it's Adele's turn to blush as she awkwardly stretches out a hand, and there's a real smile on her face as they shake with a firm grip for the first time since they've met. "Adele, please, sir… ah, I mean…"

"It's all right." Valen says, also smiling, still holding her hand. "It will take a while, I suspect."

"Yes." Adele murmurs, looking at him with little reflections from the fire dancing in her eyes. "I reckon it will."

…

It's the little things that lay hidden, take root, and grow.