Chapter 61: The World as Nim Sees It
"You know, it's amazing how much fun this little excursion has been," Khelgar chuckled. "Despite the fact that there have been no battles or enemies to fight." They were camped a few hours outside of Fort Locke and he was waiting with the others for Nim to return with dinner. The fire was going strong and he couldn't wait to see what Nim would bring back.
"I know what you mean," Neeshka laughed. "It's nice being able to just do whatever we want, whenever we want, without having someone tell us otherwise."
"Well, I suppose part of it is due to the fact that Nim has changed so much since the last time we were in the area," Khelgar added.
"Yeah, she has hasn't she?" Neeshka agreed. "I especially thought it was funny that time she teased you," the tiefling giggled. "The look of surprise on your face was priceless."
"Yeah well considering that she'd never done it before," Khelgar grumbled, his face coloring a little. "Still, there's no denying that it is much more pleasant this time around."
"I think you're good mood is also because you found out that Commander Tann managed to take care of the bandits in the area all on his own," Neeshka said pointedly. "You were pretty upset that Nim decided to help get the commander back but left those settlers to their own devices."
"Yeah, and I still don't understand why she made the decision she did," Khelgar replied.
"Well why don't you ask her when she gets back?" Grobnar chimed in cheerfully. "I mean, I ask her all sorts of things and she's never failed to answer. I always say that if you want to know something about someone then just ask them. What's the worst they could do?"
"Huh, Nim's worst is something even I don't want to contemplate," Khelgar snorted.
"Well a few months ago, if Nim didn't want to answer she'd either ignore you or disappear for a while," Neeshka told the gnome.
"Talking about me again are you?" Nimbrethil had returned unnoticed and had heard what the gnome had said. "Someone wants to ask me something?" she queried, pinning the dwarf with an intense stare.
Khelgar studied her closely but saw that she didn't appear to be too upset and so decided to grab the bull by the horns. "Yeah, I wanted to know why you helped get the Fort Commander back, but not help the others who needed it."
Nimbrethil heard Bishop snort a little as he helped her clean and prepare the rabbits they had caught for cooking. "I helped find Tann for two reasons. One was that Cormick, who was from West Harbor, asked me to and I liked him enough to say yes. The other was because of the way the soldiers treated Neeshka. I knew that the only way to prevent someone else from being victimized by the soldiers was to find Tann and restore him to command. Once that was done, I saw no reason to stay further."
"But, those innocent settlers needed help as well," Shandra spoke up in protest. "You couldn't possibly know what their families would suffer as hostages to the bandits."
"Innocent?" Nimbrethil asked archly. "Maybe, but they were adults and their children were not taken as hostages. Tann handled the problem once reinforcements arrived from Neverwinter."
"So, you're saying that if there had been children being held you would have helped?" Shandra asked in confusion and saw the elf's eyes narrow a little as a look of irritation crossed her face. "You'd help the children but not their parents?" she pressed.
"Children don't have the ability to help themselves, adults do," Nimbrehtil responded flatly. "I am not some do gooder out to save the world like Casavir."
"But that gith cleric said you were the only one who could stop this King of Shadows person and save the world, remember?" Neeshka chimed in. "By the way, I'm glad you told her to stay at the Keep, she gives me the creeps."
"Yeah, you're gonna end up saving the world anyway," Khelgar echoed the tiefling. "So how much trouble can it be to help a few others along the way?"
"Those who want to live will fight for it dwarf, not cower like sheep," Bishop sneered. "I say let those who can do for themselves solve their own problems."
"Well, I don't recall asking for your opinion ranger," Khelgar growled back.
"Knock it off you two," Nimbrethil warned them and both of them fell silent, knowing better than to cross her. "Shandra you seem to be confusing me with Casavir so I'll see if I can't set matters straight for you."
"I'm not confusing you with him Nim," Shandra protested. "I'm just trying to understand why you make the choices you do."
"Humans, elves and dwarves have the ability for higher reasoning," the elf began as she spit the rabbits for roasting. "As we grow to adulthood, we learn to do all kinds of things. Now, most of the time what we choose to learn is the things we need to live comfortable, happy lives. However, if we see something that isn't right or we feel the need to make our lives better, we have the ability to look at and reason out what we need to do. If someone or something is making life difficult for us, or trying to kill us, we have the ability to choose to fight for what we want, to protect ourselves. Or we can choose to submit to pressure and not fight. Either way, it is a conscious choice we make, one that we have the capacity and ability to make."
"So you're basically saying that everyone is on their own as far as you're concerned," Shandra interjected, unable to keep the disapproval from her voice. "So, what was done at Ember didn't upset you for the same reason as it did me, Khelgar or the others with us, did it?"
"It did anger me that Luskan massacred their own people just to try to frame me," Nimbrethil answered. "I could never condone something like that and unfortunately there is no way anyone in Ember would have been able to prevent it from happening completely. However, if the village had had a well-trained standing militia, then they would have been able to put up enough of a resistance for some people to escape. Many would have still died because they were attacked by hardened, battle-trained, experienced men, but more would have lived to tell the tale."
"Luskan probably chose Ember because they knew there would be no resistance," Bishop growled out. "That's standard Luskan tactics for you."
"Lass, most villages don't have standing militias," Khelgar stated. "It may be a common practice amongst those surrounding dangerous areas like the Mere, but it just doesn't happen elsewhere."
"Knowing what I do of Luskan, I would not live in a village anywhere in Luskan territory that did not have a militia," Nimbrethil retorted. "That is what I meant by conscious choice to fight or surrender. I choose to die fighting rather than submit to oppression or slavery, and so can others if they really want to."
"That's not completely true Nim," Shandra spoke up. "Maybe because you've had to take care of yourself for so long it seems that simple, but it isn't. People everywhere, regardless of race, tend to see the world in a better light than they probably should. Most would not dream of ever needing to learn to fight simply because of the remoteness of where they live. It usually takes something to spur people to do such a thing. For me it was the knowledge that I was hunted and that no one else, especially not you, would keep me safe forever." She saw the elf shift uncomfortably and bit back a smile. "Face it Nim, when I first joined the group, you made it perfectly clear that if I didn't learn to defend myself that you would just wash your hands of me. Maybe you feel differently now, but back then I was an unwanted burden and if the gith had caught me and killed me then it was no big deal."
"Yeah, but you learned to fight your own battles farm girl," Bishop snorted. "Because Nim refused to coddle you, you took it upon yourself to learn. That's what is really wrong with most people. They expect someone to just come along and solve their problems for them, so they don't bother to try to do anything themselves. Those who go around defending the weak people of this world just keep those people weak. That makes them easy pickings for the predators out there."
"I defend those who truly can't defend themselves," Nimbrethil stated firmly. "The animals and children of this world. They are the only true innocents and are also the only ones not capable of figuring out a way to defend themselves against more intelligent, aggressive people. Only a rare few creatures, such as Thorondor, have the mental ability to adapt to different situations. All the others need someone like me watching out for them or they would be pushed aside and trampled upon by the smarter predators. As for this greater threat, this King of Shadows, we only have the word of Zhjaeve that I'm the one who can defeat him. She has so far not convinced me that she is right and I have no intention of blindly walking down whatever path she has laid out. She doesn't have all the answers, even if she likes to pretend she does."
"Shandra I understand where you are coming from, but I also feel much the same way as Nim," Elanee said softly. "No one person can help everyone, and sometimes the hardest thing one can do is turn their back on those in need. Nim's errand to Neverwinter turned out to be of far greater importance than anyone knew at the time. Staying to help those settlers with the bandits would have delayed her arrival in Neverwinter, perhaps enough so that we would not have the time now that we do. Any soldier knows that if he stops to help a downed comrade in battle, then he gives the enemy an opportunity to make a preemptive strike. So the better option is to continue fighting and stop the enemy, even if by doing so it means that the injured friend will die. It is a tough decision, but a necessary one, and it helps insure that more will survive than die."
"But this wasn't a battle Elanee and Nim didn't know how important the shards were until much later," Shandra argued. "She didn't decide to ignore the settlers problem out of concern for the greater good. She truly felt that they should have been able to handle things themselves and it was just luck that things turned out so well."
"Yes Shandra, I did feel that way and I still feel that way," Nim said flatly, a touch of anger coloring her voice now. "They were grown men and women and should have taken the initiative long before they found themselves in that situation. The regular patrols had stopped and bandit activitiy had increased long before any of them were taken captive. They knew this and yet they still did nothing to try to protect themselves. So, when their families were kidnapped, they scurried off to Fort Locke and just expected the soldiers there to do something about it. When that didn't happen, they merely stood around and complained amongst themselves and to everyone that came along. I chose not to help them because they had already chosen not to help themselves."
Shandra could think of nothing to say in response and looking around, saw that only Khelgar seemed to share the same opinion as her. Grobnar was off in his own little world again and seemed to have not taken notice of the topic of conversation. She also understood that this was something that she probably would not be able to change Nim's opinion about and to press the issue would alienate the girl from her. After having regained ground with the elf, she certainly wasn't about to do anything to jeapordize that. "Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree about some things and leave it at that," she said aloud and gave Nim what she hoped was a placatory smile.
Nimbrethil nodded at the farmer and began to pull the rabbits off the sticks and divide them up. She knew that many people felt the way Shandra did, Casavir especially. She also knew that they wouldn't change the way they saw things any more than she would. She could live with that just so long as they accepted and respected her feelings about such things. "I want to get an early start in the morning," she said aloud after she finished her food. "So no staying up late playing cards tonight," she looked pointedly at Neeshka and Khelgar.
"Aww, I was hoping to fleece moss-breath some more," Neeshka protested with a snicker.
"Hah, not a chance goat-girl," Khelgar retorted. "The next time we play I'll be the one doing the fleecing, not you."
Nimbrethil shook her head and then moved off a little as the two of them started their bickering again. As she settled on the ground she felt Bishop sit behind her and then felt his arms encircle her. Sighing a little, she leaned back against him, knowing that at least one of her companions understood her and her feelings.
"Don't bother trying to change the way the farm girl sees things elf," Bishop murmured softly. "She hasn't seen enough of the world yet to understand how we can believe the way we do about these things. At least she is willing to let you be yourself and not try to change you like so many of the others around you."
"True, she does try to understand me, even if she doesn't agree with me," Nim said just as softly. "It's too bad that she can't see how much she has benefitted by having to learn to look after herself. If more people were able to learn what she has learned, then perhaps the world could truly change and become a better place to live for all creatures. If more people chose to fight than submit, then perhaps there would be fewer thugs, bandits and tyrants running around."
"Tyranny only happens if the people let it happen," Bishop snorted. "But, enough of the serious talk," he whispered and began nibbling along her neck to her ear, chuckling as he felt a shiver go through her. Getting to his feet, he pulled Nim to hers and led her into the woods.
Shandra watched them go and sighed quietly. She could only hope that someday Nim would see that it wasn't always for the best to ignore people who needed help. While it was true that she had learned to fight, she also knew that not everyone had the ability or the inner strength to do the same for themselves. However, as long as Bishop was around then she knew there was no way she would be able to get the elf to see that. The man only seemed to reinforce her views and opinions and the fact that they were intimate gave him more influence than he normally would have. Mentally shrugging she turned her attention back to the bickering of the others.