Thank you, please read and review. Now the story intertwines with Storm of Zehir, but never mind, only a few references are made. And the OCs will be played down, only one of them actually counts.
A few weeks passed, and Sand's attempts to scry on the Knight Captain kept on failing. He had almost finished transferring almost everything from his Docks shop to his new quarters at Crossroad Keep. He insisted on going alone, even though Khelgar assured him a few workers or Greycloaks could help him carry all his books and trinkets. Every night he would throw the white flowers into the sea, trying his best to accept that Rustyn was gone forever, and that she most likely was in a better place – with the Gods. Mystra must have welcomed her…
"Goodbye" he let a last white blossom fall into the sea "I might not be able to do this every night from now on, my precious… but I'll never, ever forget you."
He packed his remaining books, and mounted his horse.
Closed, said the sign on the door of Sand's shop.
He didn't know the choices four different people made in four different places of the Realms would soon change his life forever. It was merely a few months before that they embarked on the Vigilant, coming from totally different lives.
The first one heard the call of wild nature, and, along with his bear friend, left his family's farm.
The second one stepped through a divine portal, ready to spread the faith of her god in other kingdoms.
The third one, her shackles broken, gathered all her will to cross a gate to a world she had never seen before.
The fourth one cut her extremely long, unkempt hair, which turned to kelp as it fell into the sea waters, and left her tiny island with the shrine she had built behind.
"Good day, Sand!" said Khelgar "ye should take a look at the guestbook, some four adventurers showed up just today…"
"And…?" Sand really couldn't care less; mages skilled in scrying would have been much more useful.
"Nothin'… just thought I'll tell ya. They're off now to do some trade business, I think."
Sand walked to his room and unpacked. Looking at the desk, with all the scrolls and books that should have helped him find the Knight Captain, he felt totally useless. Nothing helped… nothing at all…
He opened up a new book about divinations and diviners he had recently found, but, apart from the usual tactics which he had already exhausted, it contained just a hundred-page long glossary of skilled and recently deceased diviners. Sand closed the tome and placed it back on the bookshelf. Perhaps it was for the better; reading about one of the children he taught among them, even containing his last words, would have not helped in diverting his thoughts.
In Darromar, mysteriously planted white flowers blossomed on Xavier's grave, his mighty marble statue standing where his shop used to be.
"Oh, all right, where's that guestbook?" he asked Khelgar in the end, resigned; maybe some distraction would do.
"Ah, and that lad Volothamp Geddarm is at the Merchant Headquarters too…"
"Hold it!" Sand held his hand up "I don't want to hear about him."
He opened the guestbook.
"Arlian Loren" he read up the first name.
"Ah, nice fellow, if it wasn't for that huge bear following him around…"
"Kelly Burnington-Elfland."
"Helpful priestess, that one, also seemed nice…"
"Jyissi Windrider… what kind of a name is that?"
"Svirfneblin lass, doesn't talk very much, ya know… except when arguing with that horrible mage, that is…"
"Which mage?" Sand looked up, tired, already believing this was a total waste of time "there are only three names here."
"Ah, yeah, she didn't want her name to be on the same page as that of a svirneblin's… creepy lass, that elf…"
Sand turned the page more out of courtesy than curiosity.
"Sand…?" Khelgar asked suddenly.
"Ack… that potion… must have gotten something in my eye… sorry!" he ran off.
Some months before, when the Vigilant was getting ready to depart, and three would-be passengers were waiting at the port.
"Quiet, Argien" the ranger said to his bear "I'm sorry, my lady."
"Never mind… lovely animal" the half-elven priestess smiled "my name is Kelly, glad to meet you."
"Arlian" he said.
A short elf sat not far from them, reading a thick book; some candles were floating in the water in front of her.
"Waiting for the Vigilant, are you?" Kelly walked to her "my name is Kelly, and yours?"
"Does it matter?" her sharp, almost angry voice surprised the other two "I had none for the past 96 years, and nobody cares anyway!"
The waves grew slightly.
"Sorry…" Kelly began to feel uncomfortable; she could feel an aura of evil around her.
"Boarding!" called halfling captain Lastri Kassireh "and keep that beast at bay!"
"What did you say?" the elf walked aboard first "my Falma is not a beast!"
Lastri merely threw a quick glance at the rabbit the woman was holding, then pointed at the bear. The ranger nodded.
"I'm Volothamp Geddarm, nice to meet you all!" Volo greeted the adventurers "and now I'm writing a book that…"
The priestess and the ranger were just about to sit down and listen to him, when the elf pushed them out of the way.
"You!" she pointed at Volo "you wrote this!"
She held up a copy of Volo's Guide to the Mysteries of the Seas.
"But it… you!" Volo backed away.
"Just keep in mind… I am not a priestess!"
"B-but you built that shrine for Umberlee and… y-you…"
"I am a wizard!" the book suddenly got encased in ice, and a moment later shattered into pieces.
Volo was shaking like a leaf; he would never forget the day he ventured to the island where he met the woman. He would never forget her eyes…
"Well, that's settled" she said as naturally as if she'd just greeted a friend or something that usual "and be glad I didn't drown you!"
For the remaining days of the journey, whenever the elf appeared on deck, Volo would run off to hide in the opposite corner. And she did not spend much time belowdecks, for she would usually just quietly stand against the balustrade, reading a book, or sometimes just staring at the sea.
"So, um, what's your name?" the ranger dared to ask her one day, when she seemed calm. She was short, even for an elf, barely reaching the ranger's chest, but she gave him shivers nonetheless.
"I told you nobody cares!"
"Well, the Captain does, she's upset you didn't write it in the passenger manifest…"
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
The sea roared, waves began forming.
"What kind of a joke is this?" Lastri walked up to her; instead of her name, all that was written there was Glory to Umberlee, followed by the goddess' symbol "yes, I agree that she should be feared, but…"
"Nobody cares!" the elf cried, the sea roared even louder, and the waves stood up taller "I knew I should have just walked, instead of forcing myself to bond with any foolish beings!"
She leant against the railing again, and even Lastri found it better to retreat, as the sea gradually calmed.
The worst came when a few days later the first mate discovered a stowaway hiding in the cargo hold.
The svirfneblin, bound, was brought before Lastri.
"You'd better pay for this passsage."
"I haven't got anything" her eyelids didn't even flicker.
"Then you'll have to work…"
"Never again!" she said sharply.
"I know!" the elf showed up suddenly, grinning maniacally "sacrifice to Umberlee!"
"Oh, let her live" the priestess suggested "I'm sure she would have paid if she had the chance."
"Drown her! Drown her!" shouted the elf.
"Please!" the priestess threw her an angry look "really…"
In the end, the svirfneblin was allowed to live, but closed in a separate cabin belowdecks – and as a far as possible from the scary elven wizard. Anyway, their destination in Samarach was quite close.
But no one could anticipate the terrible storm that hit the ship.
"You… whatever your name is!" Lastri ran belowdecks to the elven wizard.
The captain had to do a double take, however, for she seemed to look at a page of a tome about diviners almost gently, and smiling slightly, with her rabbit sleeping at her side. None of the evil grin she used to show the days before.
"Uh?" she asked, the hard look returned to her eyes; only then Lastri noticed their unusual color, but it was the last of her worries.
"We're heading into a gale, maybe you could help us appease Umberlee…"
"Oh, but showing her wrath is the greatest gift she could give me! Let me see!" she ran up the stairs.
A while later, as the wind tore at the sails and the waves stood up like walls, though Lastri urged everyone to get belowdecks, the elf would never. She stood proudly at the bow of the Vigilant, laughing and not even slightly wavering, even when water washed across the deck.
Nobody had seen her get into a lifeboat, and she seemed gone when the ship wrecked on the coast of Samarach.
"Are you all right?" asked the priestess.
The ranger and the svirfneblin nodded, though they were both a little hurt and feeling dizzy. With an annoyed growl, the bear showed up too. They managed to stay alive even if there weren't enough lifeboats to accomodate them.
Too bad the first thing they saw was Volo running from a huge band of enraged monsters.
The three immediately leapt to attack, but soon it became evident that they were to be overpowered soon.
None of them would give up, though; but suddenly the incredible happened.
The sea roared, and a gigantic wave formed. The priestess managed to shield the others just in time before it literally washed away all of their enemies.
They barely had time even to recover from the shock and astonishment, when the elven wizard graciously stepped ashore after a brief walk on the water, holding her rabbit.
"I say, I really could have just walked" she seemed not to notice the dumbfounded looks, as she simply slipped back her shoes "guess I came just in time, right?"
"You…" began the ranger.
"My, my, I guess I could help you, as you're not very likely to survive on your own…"
"Um, we could use your magical powers…" he said a little hesitantly.
"Very well then."
"Will you finally tell us your name?" asked the priestess.
She let her rabbit down, then bowed.
"Rustyniel Khelekba Lae'raien, countess of Evermeet."
"What the…"
"Oh, I know, I know, that's too much for your small minds… give me that guestbook or whatever… no, not on the same page as a lowly life form… here, another name that I believe I once had."
Sand tried to dry his eyes and calm down, but he couldn't. He wished to go back and read the name again, as he could only once, then tears blinded his vision. Was his mind playing tricks on him?
For when he turned the page, a name stood there in small, well-rounded letters: Rustyn Khelba.