Chapter 49 Uneasy Alliances

Usual disclaimers:

Most of the characters in this story are owned by Bioware and a whole lot of other people other than a bear and paladin-lovin' ranger and an occasional NPC. Also, some of the dialog is paraphrased from MotB. Reviews, concrit, suggestions, and advice always appreciated.

Rashemen:

Dee stirred in her sleep as a gust of wind blew across the barge, and snuggled closer under Okku's massive foreleg. As she moved away, Safiya, lying between Dee and Cillian and huddled in her bedroll, shifted closer to her, and Dee reflexively put her arm around her and Kaji.

Casavir was on Dee's mind now as he was increasingly every day they were apart; she recalled that his birthday was drawing near as she returned to sleep, and she was fretting that she might not be with him to celebrate it (while at the same time forcing herself not to think that he might not even be alive to celebrate it), and trying to think of a special gift for a man who always insisted he needed nothing.

Gann finished his shift manning a pole to help guide the barge as it slipped across the lake. He drained his water skin then relieved himself over the side of the barge into the inky water. He was unused to such strenuous exercise as he had gotten since agreeing to help the outlander, and his arms and back ached. At the same time, as he rubbed the stiffness out of his arms, he smiled at the feel of the firm muscle he was building. He walked around a stack of crates and lay on the deck against the stack then drew his cloak more tightly around himself. It seemed Old Man Winter was threatening to come early this year. He watched his companions, all but the Dove, who kept to herself on the far side of the barge. But now that he was free to sleep and to dream, he willed himself into the dream realm to wander through the dreams of his companions, though he already knew there was only one dream he would be exploring.

Kaelyn's dreams were an merely an echo of her waking fanaticism to destroy the death god's Wall of the Faithless, so he avoided those. Indeed, it occurred to him that her waking life was dedicated to carrying out her dream; she seemed bereft of any other passion. He thus found her dreams boring. As for the others, Gann told himself he had no interest in the bear god's dreams, though he wouldn't admit that the truth was he feared to approach him in that realm. And he had only needed to explore Safiya's dreams a few times to decide that was not a place he wanted to visit again. He had wandered into the dreams of lunatics a few times over the years, and once he had even entered the dream of a woman who had been possessed by evil spirits in an attempt to free her, but they had almost killed him and trapped him forever in their insanity before he managed to fight his way to an escape. To his thinking the lovely Thayan mage's dreams were far too similar to those dreams.

Since first exploring her dream, during his waking hours he studied Safiya from his regular position in the rear of their party where his bow did the most good. He had come to the conclusion that she was only vaguely aware of the strangeness within her, though he had overheard her talking with their leader once about the voices in her mind that had plagued her since her childhood, infrequent, yet disturbing nonetheless. Yet he sensed that her affliction was more than mere madness. It went far deeper, but it was as dissimilar to possession as it was similar. She was a mystery, and his spirits had no answers to his questions regarding her mystery either. He considered taking their fair leader aside and relating what he had seen, but he wasn't sure if she would believe him. Nor would he blame her.

That left their leader. To his mind Dee was nearly as fanatical in her religious beliefs as the Dove. As the days wore on when they weren't fighting all manner of undead or malevolent spirits and creatures that she seemed to attract like a flower attracts bees, she could be found in prayer to the gods she followed, Mielikki and Tyr, and increasingly, Kelemvor. But considering the nature of her curse, he supposed he couldn't blame her for her prayers and petitions to her gods, though he still believed them pointless. She and the Dove were two sides of the same coin. Their fair leader's dreams were a different story, however. And thus his choice was easy, and he willed himself into a trance then wandered until he found her. Besides, he was afraid that she might need his guidance through the dream's landscape or be tempted to surrender to the dream forever.

There was no cake, for he admitted he did not care for it, which was another piece of information that she had had to wheedle out of him. Dee had muttered as he grinned sheepishly, "You would think I was askin' you to give me a map of Neverwinter or turn over all the state secrets." But that look was so adorable. He confessed he preferred pies and tarts, or a simple bowl of fruit with cream, and he loved berries best of all the fruit. So berries and cream it was.

She swayed seductively to where he sat at the table, wearing an apron over leather trewes and a linen shirt. No, that wasn't right. She was wearing his current favorite of her small clothes and stockings held up with blue silk garters under the apron. She spooned him out a heaping bowl of black raspberries as he watched her, his blue eyes sparkling like sapphires. She frowned for a moment wondering how she had acquired such ripe, fresh, plump berries out of season. But then she caught sight of him gazing at her with a sweet smile that lit up his entire face. He took her hand and kissed it and drew her to sit on his left thigh as they shared the bowl so that he could caress her with his free hand. He managed with one hand to untie the apron and tossed it aside, and he paused to give her a long, lusty look. She leaned against him, nesting her head into the crook of his neck, taking in his scent of pine soap, marble dust, and a subtle trace of his own masculine scent he hadn't washed away.

He kissed his way across her throat between bites then pulled back to look in her eyes. "You're sure you don't mind staying in tonight, my love? I know you wished to go see that new bard."

She slipped her hand, which had been caressing his back, under his shirt. No, that wasn't right, he removed his shirt when he washed up when he came in from his workshop; she ran her nails lightly through the mat of dark hair on his broad chest. That was better. "We can go out any time, love. He'll be there tomorrow or the next day. This is your birthday, and if you want to spend it here with me, who am I to complain?" She shifted on his lap so she was facing him when he finished his berries and smiled coyly, purring, "But tell me, what shall we do to pass the evening, hmm? Is there anything particular you have in mind? A game of chess, mayhap, or will we spend it reading before the fire?" She kissed her way across his strong jaw then took his chin in her hand, stroking his neat, silky beard. When did he grow a beard? She immediately dismissed the distracting thought. It didn't matter; he was as handsome with it as she had always imagined he would be.

He did have something in mind that he had seen in a Lantan pillow book at the festhall. His hand toyed with the ruffle on the edge of her small clothes, lightly stroking the top of her thigh. "Well first, would you..." though he flushed crimson and still felt he had to whisper his desire to her as he nipped at her earlobe then drew back to gaze into her eyes. "Then we could..." He whispered that too. "That is if you don't mind..."

No, she didn't mind at all. She found herself giggling like a schoolgirl as she put her arms around his neck and whispered, "But you don't have to save that for your birthday." He slipped his hands under her legs and stood and carried her to their bed. It was perfect—too perfect, and the off details that had been nagging her began doing so again. And suddenly she knew why. It was only a dream, and yet the dream did not unravel with this realization. She also knew why.

This is what Gann had called a lucid dream. She could try to control it as he had taught her a tenday ago when they traveled to Immil Vale. They had camped at an ancient site of power, the Mosstone, an astonishing single rock the size of a mountain. Gann had explained that night as they met in her dream that the site was another nexus between the planes, and the wall separating dreaming from waking was especially thin there. But he had explained that lucid dreaming was a skill developed with practice, and she didn't think she was practiced enough to control her dreams without his help. That meant he was here somewhere, watching them. She was angry, furious in fact, but in a few heartbeats she thought better of it, calmed herself, and reclaimed her dream. She murmured, "Fair enough. Let him watch if it means I can have my Cas," and returned her attention fully to her husband.

The better part of an hour later after they had laid together basking in the afterglow, kissing and caressing one another softly and talking quietly of nothing in particular, he drifted off to sleep as he often did. She did not want it to end, but Gann had warned her she could become trapped in her dream like the girl they had encountered at a farm outside the Wells of Larue. With all of Gann's power, he had been unable to free the girl. She was doomed never to awaken. Dee sat up in bed and looked around the room. With a thought on her part there was a roaring fire in the fireplace, which provided a warm light. Gann was sitting casually at the table with a glass of wine, watching them. He smirked as he met her eyes and conjured a lit candle at the table. "That is your paladin? No wonder you have no eyes for another. He's very handsome, and I sense his looks haven't been enhanced by you either, though you have enhanced your own features."

"What do you mean?" She was taken aback and looked down at herself, noting the rounded breasts and hips and the firm flesh covering her muscles. "Oh, I see." But it occurred to her that this was how she always saw herself in her dreams. Her reality was far different.

He echoed her thought. "You look healthy and...quite fleshy. You are much altered from your waking cadaverous appearance. The dark circles under your eyes and your sunken cheeks are also gone. This is how you truly see yourself."

She leaned down and gave Casavir a kiss on the forehead then stood, walking across the room to the spirit shaman. As she walked across the room, she frowned, and with another thought found herself wearing a long azure dressing gown. She sat at the table opposite him, regarding him coolly for a few minutes before she spoke. "I should be very angry with you, Gannyev, but then again, I should thank you for showing me this was only a dream before I woke up and had my heart crushed again when I figured out I wasn't home."

If he was chagrined, he didn't show it. "There is enough pain and horror in your waking life, fair leader, without it polluting your dreams as well. So yes, I came to help you. Your dream walking abilities are growing by the day, but I thought you might need me to guide you back if you got in too deep. Though it pains me to say it, we should return soon. It's all too tempting to remain in the dream beyond its time." He paused and leered at her. "Unless you wish to wake up your husband for another round..."

She growled, "Don't make a habit of this, Gann. This isn't a festhall where you can watch through a peephole for a few gold." Cillian, who had been dozing by the fire, stood and ambled over to her and chuffed at the spirit shaman.

He frowned at the scolding and at her conjuring the bear to back her up and changed the subject to divert her anger. "Is this your home that you're always talking about? Is it accurate?"

Dee looked around. "This is our chamber at the Keep. But looking at it again, things are off. That hideous carpet in front of the fire is gone, for one thing. I suppose that means my perception is off?" She glanced across the room to where Casavir was sleeping peacefully. "Do you think he knows I'm here? Is it possible I'm in his dream and not the other way around?"

Gann tossed his hair and replied disdainfully, "Even I'm not powerful enough to travel that far, fair leader, and you certainly are not. No, this is all yours. Are you ready to go now?"

She looked away from his gaze. "Why, are you in a hurry to find some farm girl's dream to explore? If not, let us go for a walk about my Keep. I feel like talkin' and for some reason I feel freer to talk here than in the waking world." She stood and crept over and gave Casavir another kiss, smiling as he murmured her name. She sighed "I'll be right back. I love you," and reluctantly rejoined Gann by the open door.

She led him out and down the hall then down the stairs. They walked past the guards, who were unaware of their passing, and continued down towards the dungeon levels. She pointed out Sand's workshop as they walked by, but Sand was not there. "He's probably in the library or at the Ginger Cat. He's a favorite of the ladies there." The sounds of Grobnar's lute and another played by someone who was less skilled flowed under his door. "Sounds like he's giving his student a lesson."

He smirked at her. "It occurs to me you said you wished to discuss something, but you're stalling, fair leader. Or is it that you're stalling because you're reluctant to leave the dream?"

Dee shrugged guiltily. "Wouldn't you be? I'm home with the man I love. So much has happened in the past few tendays it makes my head spin. At least I know more about this curse, but I'm still not sure how Safiya's ma plays in to this yet. Safiya looked just like Akachi's lover in my dream at the Mosstone, but she or her mother would have to be a thousand years old, and she sure as hells isn't an elf. But I've heard mages can extend their life unnaturally through their magic, so mayhap it was her." She didn't know why she had led him this way, but as she drew near the glowing runes of the summoning circle first etched into the stone by Black Garius and his minions and saw Neeshka standing there staring intently into the circle, she thought she knew.

Gann stopped dead in his tracks and pointed at the tiefling. "Who is this vision of devilish beauty? I must say you certainly collect some interesting friends, fair leader."

She leaned down to whisper to Gann (noting that her dream version seemed much shorter), "That's my friend Neeshka I told you about, the one who taught me to pick locks. I s'pose she's my closest friend here besides Sand. She comes here to talk to a pit fiend that the warlock who traveled with us had bound into his service."

Gann arched an eyebrow. "A dangerous hobby. And yet you trust this ruby-eyed temptress? Look at that tail swing. It boggles the mind imagining what she could do with it."

She didn't even have to think about her reply. "Yeah, I trust her with my life. She's a lot like you, a cambion for a father, mayhap, and abandoned by her mother at a temple of Helm when she was but a newborn babe. I'm not happy about her spendin' so much time here conversin' with a pit fiend, but he hinted that he knew about her that enough he got under her skin. He's a handsome, persuasive devil, not a regular pit fiend. I guess that makes him more dangerous. She's also convinced herself he's her grandfather."

She gasped at a sudden idea. "If there was some way of summoning Mephasm, I could get a message to Neesh!" But she shook her head sadly as she immediately realized how futile that was. "But I don't know anyone besides Ammon Jerro who could do it. Safiya said when we were talkin' about Jerro a few days ago that she felt he walked a dangerous road, and there was nothin' she wanted that would be worth the risk of workin' with fiends. So she wouldn't do it, even if she knew how to cast the circle."

Gann nodded as he continued to study Neeshka. "Nor would such a creature be likely to deliver a message for you without your taking a chance of paying more for his service than you might wish to pay." At that moment Neeshka turned her head and peered searchingly in their direction for the space of a few heartbeats then turned back to the summoning circle. Gann arched an eyebrow. "Now that's strange. It seemed for a moment like the she knew we were here."

Dee studied Neeshka thoughtfully. "I don't want to get my hopes up, but mayhap 'tis because of her lower planes blood. But let's go on." They walked up another flight of stairs and through the kitchens then through a door leading outside to Elanee's herb garden.

Gann looked around. "This is a lovely garden, but it's deserted. We should return."

Dee shrugged defensively and looked down at the ground. "Soon. Just a bit longer. I will try to go back on my own but let you watch and take over if I can't find the way. You're right though, my ability to control the dreams has gotten stronger. I wonder if 'tis somethin' I inherited from my mother? She was said to be able to see the future in her dreams or travel to see her friends, and some I've met who knew her said it nearly drove her mad. She saw her second husband's death in a dream a month before the word reached her."

He stroked his smooth chin as he thought. "Indeed? Perhaps she was a dream walker then, but without proper training, she could indeed go mad or lose herself in drink or narcotics." He stared at Dee until she began to feel self-conscious and reached up to fasten the top of her robe. After a few moments he spoke. "I did not want to say it, but your body isgrowing weaker even as your control over your curse grows stronger. One of the abilities of a spirit shaman is that of traveling to this plane to diagnose illnesses and other maladies in our those who put themselves in our control. I can see a black aura surrounding your heart and spreading out from there. I never thought I would say this, but I think you should give in to the hunger every few days and stop feeding it from your own body." He peered at her again and frowned and looked as if he was on the verge of saying something more, but being unsure of what he saw, he decided to keep it to himself.

But she was adamant. "No. Once was enough. It took me more than a tenday to get Okku to forgive me for that. I will not destroy another spirit if I can help it. Discovering that denying the hunger when I'm surrounded by spirits can strengthen me nearly as much as giving in to it—the gods must have shown me that. I never would have figured it out on my own. Granted, it is hard on me now while we're traveling and so far from spirits to resist devouring, but once we reach the sunken city I'm hoping that will change. And I sensed something else when we explored Myrkul's vault that I fear to use, but I know I can use it if I must."

He leaned down to a large rosemary bush and took in its scent. "What a delightful herb. Very invigorating. But do go on. You mean discovering you could do something besides devouring the spirits of the priests and criminals trapped there?"

She reached for a sprig of lavender and broke it off then tucked it behind her ear and murmured, "Cas loves the smell of lavender. I keep a big sachet of it in my trunk with my clothes." She offered another sprig to Gann. "Yes, my discovery that I could tap into the god's power and send those trapped spirits to the afterlife instead." For something changed when she found herself sympathizing with the spirit of a murdered priest of Myrkul as she listened to his story of how had been thrown alive into the temple's crematorium for refusing to give up his god's secrets to the new priests of Cyric. Suddenly she knew how to use the power to send him on, though she wasn't sure where she sent him or the spirits of the Myrkulan priests and scribes since their god was dead. But it was enough that they were no longer bound to Myrkul's temple on the shadow plane.

He frowned skeptically. "I do admit you tapped into something. I find it hard to believe it stems from the power of a dead god, however."

It seemed they were doomed to argue as well. She sighed in exasperation. "I don't want to quarrel about faith with you again, Gann. I do enough of that with Kaelyn. So tell me then, what is your explanation if you don't believe I managed to tap into his power that Myrkul imbued the curse with?"

Gann tossed his hair out of his face, trying to hide his annoyance. But not having a ready answer, he changed the subject again. "Indeed you do seem to quarrel with our little songbird, though you both remain disgustingly civil when you do so. Still, I can't help but wonder how long your alliance with her will last, especially if we cannot find a way through that portal. Now if you are ready, we should really be going."

Dee stood and gestured him on. "It's not too late. Let us tarry here a little bit longer." He joined her and they retraced their steps. "I don't know how long Kaelyn will stick around either. I s'pose we both expect we can sway the other in time. There's not much we can do anyway until we speak to the hags of the Slumbering Coven, and that's assuming they will even grant us an audience, and assuming then that they will tell us what they told Safiya's ma and her sister. That's a lot of assumptions. They might refuse us or tell us to go jump in the lake. Or we might have to fight our way out of there. Are you alright with that if we do?"

He nodded. "If we must. Despite being born of one I have no particular love for hags, though I must warn you not to underestimate them if it does come to that. Besides, I seek my own answers there as well. I've been seeing the sunken city calling to me in my dreams for some time now."

She paused opening the door. "Aye? You never told me that."

He chuckled. "We are both of us freer to bare our souls here, fair leader."

They walked up to the main door of the Keep, though they should have had to walk through many hallways and stairs to reach it. Dee smiled, realizing she had been thinking about this door, and there they were. "I only hope 'tis not another a dead end. I don't know what I'll do then or how I'll be able to go on. And I'm sick to death of bein' used by the witches or anyone else who needs a dirty deed done."

He uncharacteristically put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "They haven't all been dead ends, Dee. We cured the Woodman and delivered the Ashenwood from the damage brought by other spirit eaters. It seems as if you gain a bit more knowledge about Akachi and his rebellion everywhere we've journeyed, more pieces to the puzzle. But we still must fit the pieces together into a recognizable form, and...as I said, I don't know how long your body can endure. Perhaps we should go back to the Wells of Larue or the Ashenwood if we...if there is nothing more to be done. You were so joyful there in those woods, running with a herd of telethor deer, teaching Kaji's the names of the plants and trees and showing him how to read tracks. And I'll never forget watching you fishing in that creek with Cillian and Old Father Bear. I half expected you to stick your head under the water and come up with a fish in your teeth like they did. I still can't believe you caught one with your bare hands."

She gave him a hug, something she had never done in the waking world. "Thanks, Gann. You remind me that not every experience here has been bleak. I am a ranger, and this place reminds me of that. I let myself get away from it for far too long. And I love Rashemen. The wilds are unlike anything I've seen outside of Arvahn. I would love to bring Cas here some day to see it and introduce him to the barbarians at the Ice Troll Lodge now that I'm an official member. But I meant what I promised Okku. If we can't find the way to end this curse forever, I'll willingly go back to his barrow with him as that mage who bore the curse before me did, and Safiya said she will recast the binding runes to trap it there. I would rather die than see the curse pass on to another."

Gann swallowed hard. "I believe you. For someone who can be so full of life, you seem very willing to throw it away."

Dee shrugged. "I've spent the past two years of my life ready to die, so you could say I have practice. I bought a vial of black lotus extract in Mulsantir, and that'll be just the thing to bring me back into this dream forever. Beats slowly starving to death waitin' for the curse to consume me."

Gann hugged her back. "I cannot fault you for that. But come, we should return."

Dee looked around the Keep longingly. "I'm almost ready. Please, just a bit longer?"

"Very well then, but only a few minutes longer." They walked down the hill and past the temple of Tyr, except she pointed out that it was bigger than the last time she saw it. She told him that a wing housing an infirmary and a school had been added on one side, and a smaller wing enclosed by a low wall and a garden had been added in the back. "I drew that out with Brother Ivarr. I wanted to build that wing to house a monastery for my friend Khelgar." She gasped in delight. "And look, he's sittin' yonder in the garden."

Gann snorted and pinched her cheek. "But of course, silly woman, you were thinking about him." Gann looked where she indicated and saw a bald dwarf whose chest was covered with a thick russet beard sitting cross-legged with his hands resting lightly on his knees. He was also chanting softly and hovering a few inches above the ground. Gann blinked, shook his head, and looked again.

Dee grinned. "Your eyes aren't deceiving you. I caught him doin' that more than once." As they watched, Khelgar slowly opened his eyes as he floated to the ground, and he turned his head and smiled benignly at them. She whispered, "This is very strange. 'Tis like he can see us too!"

Gann studied the dwarf. "Indeed. This is unexpected. Try speaking to him."

She crept forward. "Khelgar?"

If Khelgar knew she was there, however, he didn't show it. Instead he bounced to his feet, stretched until his back gave a satisfying crack, and began a series of slow gestures and kicks. After a few minutes of trying to communicate with him, Dee gave up and turned away. "Let's go to the festhall. Sand is probably there. But then again, I don't know if I want to interrupt him if they're in the shrine to Sharess in the cellar."

Gann smirked. "A shrine to Sharess? Finally, you bring me to one house of worship I don't mind exploring."

Dee chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I bet you don't. That painting that Neesh posed for should be done by now too. The Mistress planned to hang it over the bar. Let's pretend we're havin' a drink and listen to the bard and you can ogle Neesh lyin' there with Cillian."

They walked through the door. Gann paused on the threshold. "But I insist we return after the drink. She posed with your bear companion?"

Dee took his hand and led him through the crowded festhall and replied with a touch of desperation, "I just want to hear the bard, and then I promise we'll go. But yeah, there it is. The Mistress thought it was a joke. Neesh in her bare skin lyin' on a bear skin. She didn't have a bear skin rug though, so Cillian was willing to lie there and let Neeshka snuggle with him." She looked around, conscious that Cillian wasn't with them. But then there he was, by her side as always. She reached down to stroke the top of the bear's head.

Dee looked around for familiar faces. Mistress Maisie was by the stairs, introducing a few of her entertainers to a customer, and her husband Jalboun was wiping out a mug at the bar while keeping a practiced eye on the crowd for trouble. Gann sat at an empty table which materialized for them and turned so he had a good view of the painting of Neeshka. "Such a saucy beauty. I certainly wouldn't mind meeting her in a dream."

Dee handed Gann a goblet of harvest mead and took a sip of her own, which tasted just as she remembered it. "If we're end the curse, you can come back with me and meet her in the flesh. At least the other witches are convinced I'm not an abomination now. I'm not feelin' nearly as much hate and loathing from the Rashemis either. I have to admit 'twas most satisfying watching Kazimika eat crow yesterday after wantin' to toss me off the top of the cliff since I got here. I know our reception wouldn't have been as warm if we hadn't cured the Woodman, not to mention saving their sister witch Dalenka from her apprentice's plot."

Gann took a deep quaff of the harvest mead then reluctantly turned from the portrait of Neeshka to regard Dee coolly. "Can I ask you something?"

Dee had been distracted trying to will Sand to appear, but nothing was happening on that front. "Hmm?"

"That odd word. I've heard you use it, and I observed that you nearly broke down in tears when Sheva Whitefeather told you it was the password for the barge, though you recovered quickly enough. Wendersnaven. What does it mean? It must have some esoteric significance. Care to explain, fair leader, or would you have to kill me if you did?"

Dee grinned and sipped her mead before she replied. "I won't have to kill you. How likely are you to remember when you awaken? Very well, you've heard of the Harpers? 'Tis a code word that agents who are far from their contacts and in trouble use to identify one another. I can't say whether Sheva Harps, but she's very friendly with at least one senior Harper agent if she knows it. In that one word she let me know I was among friends and that she would pass the message about where I was as soon as she could. So even if Azim and Mavish's son doesn't find his way to the Keep, the Harpers will get the word to my foster father eventually." She tried not to think about the danger of sending a boy of seventeen winters off with a merchant caravan to deliver her letter, but she reminded herself he was of age, and it had been his choice to go. But even in the dream she still felt guilty.

Someone rang a bell to get the audience's attention, and the bard stepped onto the stage and bowed to the audience then began his performance. Rather than singing, he announced he would deliver a dramatic soliloquy. Of course it was from a play, Merry Merry Milkmaids, that Dee and Gann were very familiar with as the troupe at The Veil had been rehearsing it for a tenday, so it was no surprise it found its way into her dream. After he had recited a dozen lines, Gann tossed his hair in disgust and whispered, "He's dreadful. He has no sense of timing whatsoever! Why, I reckon our bargeman could do better."

Dee grinned and whispered back, "Or you, you mean. You gave quite a performance when you stepped in for Sweet William the other night when his gout flared up." She shook her head, still amazed that as weak and sick as she felt, she had still summoned the strength to watch the opening performance from the wings, but she could lose herself in the performance and forget her troubles if only for an hour. "I've seen you mimicking the actors, and you're a natural. You should consider joining a roving theater troupe. My foster father said my ma did that. 'Tis a good way to see the world."

Gann had enough of the bard. He muttered, "No, no, no! This is how it should be done!" He stood told the bard to take a seat then repeated the lines in the way he felt they should be delivered.

The patrons applauded him when he finished and retook his seat. Dee slapped him on the back. "Well done! And you were right. That was much better." She sighed and finished her mead. "But we should be getting back. We'll arrive at the sunken city tomorrow afternoon. I have a strong feelin' that the answers we seek are there. We know it was after their audience with the hags that Nefris and Lienna decided to steal me away."

Gann was still flushed with excitement. "Yes, it's just as well. You could have easily persuaded me to stay to give another performance. Go on, I will follow."

Dee stood and glanced back over her shoulder at him then found herself outside. She looked up at the stars, one of the only familiar things in Mulsantir, and put her hand on Cillian's head. "It's time for this dream to end, but only until I'm back where I belong. Come along, my love." They walked back using the stars to show her way and wasn't surprised at all to find in a few moments that she was flying.

She was cold despite being sheltered by Okku's body. Dee coughed as she awoke and slipped out from under Okku's leg. She sat up. Lathander's light painted the eastern sky with the faintest touch of white. She reached for her water skin and quaffed it deeply. Cillian disentangled himself from Safiya and ambled over to her and nuzzled her, and she hugged him back. She looked around and spotted Gann lying beside a crate wrapped in his cloak. His eyes met hers for a heartbeat, and then he stretched and turned over facing away from her to return to sleep. It was tempting to do likewise. But tired as she was, Dee dug through her pack until she found her journal. She crept over to the other side of the crates so she could use her mage light without awakening anyone then took out a quill and jar of ink to write down as many details as she could remember before they faded with Lathander's rosy dawn.