* 32 * 7/15/12

When there weren't any extremely long quests to go on, the group usually woke up every morning around eight to discuss what had to be done and who would be going to do it that day. Today, however, was different. Given that the celebration had lasted far into the night, more than a few members of the party were oversleeping.

It was already the afternoon, and Lily was wide awake. After Bishop had left the previous night, she had slept like a baby. She wasn't sure if that was partly due to the empathogen the ranger had given her, but she wasn't feeling any adverse effects now, much to her relief. Whatever he had given her, it didn't seem to be very harmful. She felt pretty normal again, but had to admit that the mindset the drug had put her in hadn't been so bad.

Lily thought with a nervous expression that all it had made her do were things that she already wanted to, but simply held back from...

She sat alone in the dining room, having just finished her brunch. Well, she was nearly alone. There was one other inhabitant who was just as alert as she was, despite not having gotten a wink of sleep the night before.

Khelgar bit into a large piece of chicken and proceeded to chew it loudly, but was looking off into the distance, deep in thought. Lily guessed that Khelgar's consternation dealt with their mission today: to retrieve the Belt of Ironfist from Mount Galardrym so Keros would consider listening to him again. One thing was for certain: at the end of the day, whether they had gotten the belt or not, Khelgar was going to fall over from exhaustion.

When the dwarf had found Lily the previous night, he hadn't alerted her to his presence; she had been facing away from him and toward Casavir, and Casavir had had his eyes closed. Though Khelgar wasn't particularly a quiet walker, the two had been absorbed in their own world. Thus, Lily had no idea that the dwarf had seen them. He planned on keeping it that way for as long as he could.

But, despite being as unintrusive as he was, after what he saw, even Khelgar couldn't help but wonder now about what was really going on between Casavir and Lily. Did their Leader now have feelings for the paladin who so devotedly protected her? And just how involved was Casavir becoming with Lily? Was it going to become a problem, or simply serve to motivate them both to defeat the Shadow King together?

Khelgar remembered back to when Casavir first showed up at Old Owl Well. They'd all come a long way since then, had done a lot of things and saved a lot of people. After terrorizing all those orcs back then, did the Katalmach decide to seek comfort in a woman, or was it a split-second change in demeanor as soon as he saw her? When did the paladin's attraction to Lily first manifest itself so seriously? Was it in those very first few moments those months ago?

The dwarf was amused that he was even thinking about these kinds of things. They affected his own emotions not at all, but he couldn't help himself after catching the two embracing. He wondered what this all meant for him in battle. Part of why he thought on it was because if they were to come along with him to Mount Galardrym, he wanted them to be fully focused on what they were doing, who they were fighting.

He hoped to Tyr that Bishop wouldn't be joining the party at the same time, because that was just asking for a problem.

As if on cue, a quiet and particularly distracted Bishop stalked into the room. He sat down at the table right across from Lily and began piling up pieces of fruit and chicken in front of him. Khelgar grimaced. The only way this could get worse was if...

Casavir entered, causing Khelgar to bury his face in his hands. One dirty look from his holy rival and Bishop was already on the offensive. As the dwarf expected, the suvivalist's silence didn't last for long.

"Got your beauty sleep?" joked the ranger, biting into an apple and looking indifferently into the paladin's face as he chewed irreverently. Casavir ignored him.

"Aw, come on. There's no harm in a little bit of conversation, is there?"

"Bishop, stop badgering him," commanded Lily. "Since you're acting like that, we're leaving you behind," she said simply.

"What? Please," Bishop scoffed, tilting his head as he took another bite. "You can't leave me behind. You're trekking into mountains. Dangerous territory, ladyship. You need me." Casavir winced at this proclamation.

In response, the elf solely raised an eyebrow and sat back in her seat, folding her arms.

"Fine. I won't pester your stupid, drooling puppy anymore, elf."

The paladin grit his teeth, but in the interests of letting the banter die down, said nothing. He walked around the table and sat himself down at Lily's right, earning a frown from Bishop before the ranger returned his attention to his food. Shortly thereafter, Casavir felt a light pressure on in his side. It was Lily's hand. She was trying to get his attention. He obediently turned to her, but instead of saying anything, all she did was smile at him. Not wanting this to alert Bishop, Casavir pretended to be very interested in the food on the table, though he didn't take nearly as much as Khelgar or Bishop.

Bishop hadn't been paying attention, choosing instead to scarf down his meal so Lily couldn't use the excuse that he wasn't done eating to not bring him with Khelgar and the others that day.

It was by now understood that, unless told otherwise, Casavir was a permanent member of the active party, just as Khelgar was. They were the up-front, melee support, and were very adept at working together after having so much practice. Who filled the other two available positions changed depending on the circumstances of each quest.

This meant that, if Bishop was coming, he'd be going to the left of Casavir in the marching order, just as Khelgar had dreaded. The dwarf tried his best to ignore that fact and concentrate on the task ahead of them, but for now, he had to finish his meal. He didn't want to be fighting while both exhausted and hungry.

But his thoughts drifted yet again as another realization suddenly occurred to him. Casavir had been a member of the active party ever since he first joined them. The significance of this lay in the fact that Lily handpicked the party if there were too many volunteers. She had favored the paladin ever since they first met him. Had Khelgar simply been blind to it the whole time?

But perhaps at the beginning it was actually because no one else was able to stand their ground as well as Khelgar in the front ranks, and Casavir was the first to ever come close. Since then, though, the dwarf was almost certain Casavir was kept in the party for other reasons. Content with his draw of cards, however, the paladin didn't really appear to mind that he was always chosen to go. In fact, to the contrary, he seemed exceedingly pleased about it, honored to be of such use. Khelgar wasn't even sure how Casavir would react if he was suddenly told to stay back, but he didn't imagine that the holy warrior would be very happy about it.

Taking note of what Bishop had proclaimed a few minutes prior, Lily figured the ranger would throw a fit if he wasn't chosen to go with them. She wasn't sure if it was worth stepping on Casavir's toes, though, and Khelgar almost certainly wouldn't be happy that there'd be a distraction with them at such a crucial time for his clan.

"Bishop, if you're going to come, you have to promise not to say a single thing to Casavir that would set him off. We need to work together today; getting this belt is very important," Lily commanded. The first time she'd demanded this of him, she had thought for sure he would disobey, but surprisingly, and to her immense relief, he hadn't. Now she felt she could trust him enough to understand when the time for bickering was, and when he had to be serious.

"Fine."

"Bishop," she implored. He hadn't looked at her when saying that, but now he did.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep my mouth shut. Mostly." He took the opportunity to stare at her for a few more seconds. He had to admit he liked the hostile attention she was giving him in that moment, and liked when she said his name in such a commanding fashion. He winked at her, but she wasn't sharing his gaze.

Casavir, obviously not thrilled with the fact that Bishop would be joining them, decided to change the subject. "My lady, it appears we are all finished. Shall we be on our way?"

"Yes, sure," Lily answered, about to get out of her chair. "Let me find out if Neeshka or Qara want to go." She considered for a second. "With Bishop using a sword, it'd probably be best for Qara to come along."

"All right, I can do that," a voice answered, as if spoken to. Qara came into the dining room, having awoken the earliest of them all that morning.

Lily waved spiritedly. "Hello! Did Neeshka want to come?"

Qara gave her a look. "Lily. She was hammered last night. You don't even want to know what she's been doing in her room for the past few hours; the smell is terrible," she responded in her trademark deadpan voice.

"Probably involves a lot of last night's feast," Bishop commented idly, beginning to pour himself a drink.

"Bishop, we're going about now," the eager sorceress chastised, giving him the look she'd just given Lily.

The ranger gulped it all down in one go and got to his feet, eager for some heart-pounding action. "Well, alright. Let's go."