Chance Meeting (part 2)

“Just a simple job, couple hours work, won’t be any danger at all. Yeah right! I swear Jangles, old friend or no you’re getting a slug for getting me into this mess.” Newt Ironhill complained to the air as he struggled for a land mark somewhere in this endless forest. “Sky pirates! Why is always sky pirates? What did I ever do to them....oh yeah that. Where in Xenos am I?”

Newt prided himself in his navigation skills but two days locked below decks of an airship left too many options. He’d only gotten out of there by the skin of his teeth but with no supplies and had been wandering for another 3 days. He knew his crew had to be worried. Bal was fretting no doubt. If only he could find a road or a river or a mountain he could figure out where he was. A hot meal and a stiff drink sounded so good to Newt that he was able to keep going. He was starting to get worried that he might be in the thick of the Great Green Sea and knew how few and far between towns were in this province. He kept heading south hoping that if that was the case he wasn’t too far into that massive forest.

Spotting some water near the base of a tree he stopped to drink some of it. It was stale and stagnant and didn’t taste good at all but he had no way to carry water with him so he had to take advantage of things like this. Awkwardly he climbed up the tree thinking that his was as good a time as ever to try to get a good look around. “Trees, trees, trees, look more trees..... Wait....is that...” Newt climbed a little higher and checked again. He was certain this time, “That’s chimney smoke looks to be a village that way.” Pleased to no longer be lost he jumped down and headed southeast towards it. He wouldn’t make it there before nightfall but maybe he’d still manage to get into the Inn and get to sleep in a bed.

He was in such a good mood he almost missed the leather satchel hanging on a bush. “Did someone lose this?” Looking inside he saw half empty water flask, some bread that looked a little stale some beef jerky a nice looking compass and a rough drawn map of the area with some things noted on it. The initials ND were stamped inside the inside flap and he figured that it was likely someone from the village that had lost it. He figured ND wouldn’t mind him eating the bread and jerky or drinking the water but he’d turn the rest in when he got to the village as the compass at least looked like it would be missed and maybe the bag too.

“Maybe this hasn’t been such a bad day after all.” Some food would make it a lot easier to get out of here so in a cheerful mood he continued on towards the smoke.

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A figured crashed through the dense underbrush.

Run, run, run.

The words were like a pressure in his mind an outside force he was unable to ignore. Blood seeped down his leg and filled his boot but he was numb to the pain. The sun had gone down some time ago and he was long past the point when his endurance should have given out but on he ran.

Run, run, run, run, there is no time.

The urging guided his steps. He couldn’t think about where he was going all he could do was run through the dark forest trusting his instincts to guide him. Nothing looked familiar but yet the figure knew he was going in the right direction.

Run, death is coming, run.

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Raven hadn’t thought that she wouldn’t sleep at all since she was so excited. The adventure she had always wanted seemed to be so close she could taste it. However come bedtime Sera had to take out her spell book and go over some things. She said it was preparing spells but to Raven it was all vague handsigns and a white noise of soft spoken unknown words. The humm of it had caused Raven to drift off sitting on the ground with her back to a cart wheel.

She had started to dream, a familiar dream of a formless danger and a child’s pain. She knew this nightmare and fought vainly against it. For once though she was jolted out of that darkness and came awake. It took her several moments to realize that her own will hadn’t pulled her from the dream but a loud banging sound that it was impossible to sleep through.

It took a few moments for her sleepy mind to figure out what was going on. The sound was some kind of drum and was coming from the watch tower. When she realized that it had to be an alarm she scrambled to her feet and only then realized that Sera had already grabbed up her stuff and was running. Not towards safety though no she was running as fast as she could towards the fire blazing near the top of the hill.

One of the buildings was on fire and it was already starting to spread. The buildings were already pretty close together but if the whole hilltop caught on fire it would cost the town it’s livelihood.

“Raven grab my healing kit and come with me.” Nana shouted. “Everyone else help the villagers put that fire out.” and with that the Greenbottles scattered into the chaos of the night to try to help how they could. Raven grabbed the leather handle of the wooden box Nana kept all her medicine in and followed after her. Hopefully no one would be hurt worse than Nana could heal. She wasn’t a cleric or even an apothecary or midwife but Nana had a knack for healing that usually was just enough.

When they got close to the fire the smell of blood soon hit them over the smell of smoke. The whole village had to be there some of them trying to put out the fire but many of them were just standing there stunned and hopeless.

Mayor Evans lay on the ground in front of his home bleeding, burned and dying. Liam was kneeling over him trying to stop the bleeding and not far away there was another man coughing and struggling to breath. Garrett was with this man trying to help him looking a little banged up and worse for the wear himself.

It took everything in Nana not to rush right over to her son and check on him but Garrett seemed fine and the mayor was anything but. She rushed over with Raven right behind her and started doing her best to stem the bleeding.

Raven thought that Evans might already be dead and doubted anything short of magic could save him now but understood why Nana had to try. She passed medicines as they were needed and assisted like she had in the past for minor family injuries. Glancing up she noticed Sera standing in front of the spreading blaze. The townspeople were not going to be able to put it out there were merely slowing its spread at this point. With deft hands Sera started pulling strange thin blades from one of her belt pouches and tying thread to the loops that were where handles should be.

“8...no better make it 10 to be sure.” she said to herself thinking through what she was about to do.

“That won’t work child.” glancing up Sera saw an old elven man standing there. A quick glance at the sash on his belt showed red symbols that told of a long magical career but little of it impressed her. “You’re trying to cast a water ritual right? It won’t work in these conditions and by the time you get the ritual ready the fire will have spread too far to matter. It’s impossible.”

“Don’t tell me what is and isn’t possible.” She snapped back her voice carrying over the sound of the fire and Raven smiled when she heard it. “Slow down the fire for 5 minutes and I can make it possible.”

Turning back to the fire Sera started chanting strange words and then threw the first of the blades into the fire. The line tied to it spooled out from her belt pouch and the other 9 blades were pulled along after it. Sera put both hand in front of her and made a snap with her thumb against her middle and pointer finger on both hands and then she seems to enter a trance her eyes focused far away as she continues to recite strange words.

Sera’s action had moved some of the villagers to act and try to hold back the fire but there were still many too filled with dread to do anything. Their jovial mayor was dying and no one knew what had caused this feeding the fear and anxiety of people that didn’t know if they were going to have to flee their homes or not.

"Please allow me to assist this man and he will live..." The gentle and calm voice seemed to come from nowhere. It was a soft voice yet it still grabbed the attention of everyone and Raven found herself looking up to see who was speaking.


He was a young man but with a world tested look to him. He was dressed in humble cloths that were caked in dust and mud and around his neck he wore a simple wooden medallion with a tree carved on it and yellow paint around the outer rim. Raven knew this marked him as a cleric and though she didn’t know the order that had a tree as it symbol the yellow meant that it was a part of the church of light. She wondered if he was one of the healing clerics that traveled between the sparse villages in the Great Green Sea tending to the injured. The villagers didn’t seem to recognize him though.

Everyone started to fall back to let the cleric get to the injured mayor and when he came to kneel next to Evans both Raven and Nana were able to get a closer look at his face. And Raven almost gasped when she realized that he was another grey elf. Only after a second glance did she realize he wasn’t a full blood grey elf. Oh yes he had the same tawny complexion as her that faded to an ashy grey at the tip of her pointed ears but that was the only really elven thing about his features. She couldn’t tell what the other half was at a glance though her first instinct had been human until she noticed his eyes. They were a golden color and seemed to shine with compassion and patience there was a very old scar that ran from the underside of his right eye down his cheek and stopping at his jaw line. Raven had never seen anyone human or elf with gold eyes before.

The cleric examined the Mayor a moment and looked at what Nana had tried to do to save the man. He looks at Nana and nods to her. “You’re pretty good madame if he hadn’t lost so much blood you might have been able to save him but you did keep him breathing long enough so I could get here.”

He places a hand on the Mayor’s chest and starts to speak a strange sing songy language that caused his hand to glow muscles, tendons, blood vessels, skin all started to knit back into place. It was clearly causing a strain on the cleric but his face stayed calm and composed as the mayor started to breath more easily and his color slowly improved. The glowing stopped and the cleric removed his hand and let out a slow breath. “He will live. He’s still weak and will need to rest for some days to get his strength up but he should be awake by morning.”

It seemed to take a long time but there couldn’t have been a minuted between when he arrived and now but the feeling of hopelessness had seemed to have been chased away. Liam ordered some of the towns people to take the mayor to the inn since right now Mayor Evans didn’t even have a bed to rest in. He then turned to address the cleric as Nana moved to see if she could do anything for those with minor injuries. “You have our gratitude ...uh I’m not familiar with your order so I’m not sure what the correct title is to address you with.” Liam wanted to try to be polite to the man who had saved his friend but clearly didn’t know a lot about these formalities.

“Dar, just Dar no title or anything fancy like that.” He said to Liam as he tried to get to his feet but one of his legs buckles as he tries to get up. Liam reaches out to try to brace Dar but Raven is just a hair faster and manages to grab his arm and keep him from face planting.

“You’re hurt.” She says noticing blood trickling down the cleric’s leg. “Why didn’t you heal yourself?” she half scolds and starts grabbing a few things out of Nana’s healing kit. The cut didn’t look that bad and Raven thought she could handle it on her own, at least get it clean.

Dar looked at her a moment bashfully and blushes just a little needing a few more moments to answer than would be normal. She had already pulled up his pant leg and was starting to clean the blood away before he answered. “I needed to conserve my magic. I didn’t know what I would find here and it took too much of my spiritual energy to boost my endurance to get me here in time. It doesn’t feel like the danger here has passed but it took everything I had to save that man. Was anyone else hurt?”

“Nothing serious. One of my men got a bit too much smoke in his lungs but he’s breathing okay now and a few minor bumps or burns.” Liam says but he looks uneasy. “I still don’t know what happened here. The house was on fire when we got here and whatever did it was long gone. We may have to wait for the mayor to wake up to find out what happened. Once we get the fire put out everyone should just rest for the night.”

“I don’t think the fire will be a problem for much longer.” Raven says with a proud smile as she finished cleaning the wound in Dar’s leg and started wrapping it. It might need stitches but the light was too bad to do that here.

Sera was blind to the things happening behind her as her whole mind was on the spell she was weaving. At that moment she flung her arms apart and the 10 blades flew out of the fire a few feet in all directions around the blaze. The thread that had been attached to the blades was barely visible but seemed to have been woven into a complex web and both blades and thread glowed faintly with blue light. Throwing her hands skyward she suddenly shouted the only words that those around her would understand. “Water that brings life come forth. I invoke the torrent.”

There was a crack of energy and suddenly rain started to pour down on the on the burning building beating out the flames to the cheers of the villagers.

Raven beamed proudly at her friend though she noticed that Sera seemed to be focused stil onl her magic and making sure that the fire was put out. Figuring that she had things handled she turned back to Dar to find him watching her. “Come on Sera has that handled, she is one hell of a mage after all, the best. Why don’t you come with me to my family’s camp and i can get a better look at your leg. Besides my mother cooks when she’s worried so we should be able to get you something good to eat to get your strength back.”

Dar’s stomach rumbled reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since that morning as there had been no time to stop once he’d hear the call. “I wouldn’t want to impose.” he said shaking his head but Raven wasn’t going to let him go that easily.

She was curious about the half elf cleric, sure that like Sera he had more than one interesting story in him so she wanted to know him more. On top of that she’d never been around another Grey Elf before and she remembered what Sera had said before. If they were going to seek adventure they’d need someone to patch them up and she had her eye on recruiting him.

“Impose? If you knew my family you’d know that was impossible.” She laughed and held her hand out towards him. “I’m Raven Greenbottle by the way and I won’t take no for an answer.”

He seemed almost stunned for a moment but eventually a gentle smile formed on his face. “I’m just not used to a warm welcome from Grey Elves.”

Raven laughed. “Good thing I’m more halfling than elf then.” She knew he’d understand what she meant when he saw her family. However he finally accepted her hand and she helped him to his feet and started to head back to the carts.

As the fire died out and the danger of the night seemed to be past many of the towns people started to filter away to their homes. Finally the fire seemed to be out and Sera let the spell end, the rain stopped and the wire and blades fell to the ground with no more glow. As the remaining villagers ran to make sure that there were no hot spots or embers left that could cause problems Sera started to respool the wire wiping the ash off it as she did and cleaning and putting away the blades.

“How did you?” the old elven man who had doubted her before was looking at her stunned and a little humbled.

“I went over 5 minutes a little though. It is a lot harder to do in these kinds of conditions and it took a while to figure out how to adjust for updrafts but i don’t like to fail.” Perhaps it was just being stubborn or used to fighting against the odds but Sera had never thought of not being able to do it. For the sake of her pride though she wasn’t showing how hard that had been or the strain that it had put on her. Rituals usually took a tole on the mage when they were cast making them tired or physically weak, it was part of the reason they weren’t used in combat. The way Sera did them was even more taxing and right now all she wanted to do was eat something sweet and climb in bed and sleep for a week. She wouldn’t let any of that show as she cleaned and put away her gear and calmly started to walk back to the Greenbottle camp wondering if Cookie might have some pie hidden away somewhere.

The night was now peaceful and still as the people of Thetford went to their homes with hope if just a little uneasy about what had caused this. Soon things were still and silent for the most part as if the night's events had never happened.

Sera was lost and had no clue how that had happened. The Greenbottle carts shouldn’t be missable even in the night but when she came back to the Mayor’s burnt out house for the third time she had to admit she was lost. “Come on even I’m not this bad.” she moaned to herself blaming her fatigued state for amplifying her poor sense of direction. This village was too small for her to be lost in normally. Reasoning that if she just went downhill she had to find them eventually she started in that direction and walked right into what felt like a brick wall in the middle of the road. She fell back with an undignified grunt landing on her back side momentarily winded but not hurt.

“My bad pretty lady I wasn’t watching where I was going. Let me make it up to you, if you point me to the inn I’ll buy you a drink.” A suave voice came from the form that she thought had been a wall but with the fire out and most everyone turned in for the night she couldn’t really make out who was talking to her.

Feeling at unease with the flirting at not being able to see the face of someone addressing her Sera cast a quick light cantrip and an orb of light flared to life in the palm of her hand. The man was dressed in plain dirty cloths and looked like he’d been stranded for days. For a moment she couldn’t tell if he was a dwarf of a halfling but it only took her a moment to recall her lessons and figure out what he was. A halfling taller and more muscled than most with dark skin and fire red hair he had to be an Ironhill halfling. A small halfling tribe known for their strength and hardy nature, only as far as the world knew all the Ironhills had been wiped out about 2 decades ago. He looked to be a few years older than her and right now he was looking at her like she had performed a miracle or something, the light spell wasn’t that impressive.

Realizing that he had his hand outstretched to help her up Sera decided to take it. He pulled her to her feet with ease and before she could thank him he pulled her close to him and kissed her without warning wrapping his arms around her as he did. This was not the kind of kiss you should be getting from a stranger whose name you didn’t know. This was a kiss with history and longing to it like lovers who had been apart for years.

For several moments Sera was too shocked to do anything. She had never been kissed before. Magical studies left no room for dating after all. Her mind couldn’t quite figure out what was happening but finally her mind restarted and she started pushing frantically to get away from him. He let go right away and she almost fell back again if he hadn’t caught a hold of one of her arms to keep her upright. Her other free arm hauled back and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. Sera felt like she had just struck bedrock and was pretty sure she had hurt her hand more than him but refused to yelp for the sake of her pride.

“Let go of me you scoundrel! I’m not some floozy who you can just...AHHH.” Sera was too upset to form words at this point but she felt that anger slowly burning away as he let go of her and held his hands up as if surrendering.

“My bad, I’m sorry. I thought you were an angel....er someone I know but haven’t seen in a long time. Listen it’s no excuse but I’ve had a really shitty week and....” He made a vague gesture in the air in front of him as if that explained how that had all lead to him kissing her but he did seem apologetic. “We clearly got off on a bad foot here so let’s start again. Newt Ironhill, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He says extending his hand towards her again.

She eyed his hand suspiciously for a moment remember what had happened when she had taken it moments ago. She didn’t want a repeat of that but she didn’t want to be rude and was far too tired to figure out if his explanation made sense right now. “Sera Goldmantle.” She says taking his hand and this time getting a firm handshake back though he seemed a little reluctant to give her back her hand and held on perhaps a few moments longer than he should have. When he let go Sera found herself putting her hand behind her back though she couldn’t think of a reason why she was doing that that didn’t seem silly.

“Well Sera it is a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t know mages could be so pretty, sexy and smart you are a double threat.” He gave her a charming grin and she felt the desire to slap him again but the sting in her hand stopped her. “Perhaps we could head to the inn and I could buy you that drink I mentioned before and we could get to know each other better.”

Was he really asking her out? Sera had no idea how to handle this situation and really wanted this conversation to end or at least be paused until she wasn’t feeling like crap from doing a 12 minute ritual in 5 minutes. So she just shook her head and walked away no longer able to care if she was being rude to this stranger that she’d likely never see again. She walked briskly away and let out a sigh of relief when she realized that the light spell that was floating next to her now let her see the Greenbottle carts and walking that way she finally found the right turn off to go towards them. She noticed that Cookie seemed to be making some food and spotted Raven near the cook fire so she started in that direction letting out a sigh of relief at not being lost any more.

“What smells so amazing?” Newt’s voice comes from right next to her. For a big lug he had kept up with her pretty easily.

“Well I’ll be an Ironhill. Don’t see many of your kind around anymore.” Nana noticed their guest and saved Sera from having to answer. “We performed in the Bloodstone Valley about 30 years ago. Always said we were going to go back but now we don’t have that chance. You look pretty road warry, would you like something to eat?”

Sera felt like she should tell Nana that Newt might be one stray that the Greenbottles didn’t want to pick up but she knew that wasn’t really fair. Feeling like she did it wasn’t really fair to judge anyone but she did try to put a little distance from him as he was introduced around to the rest of the family and though those introductions Sera finally noticed that Newt wasn’t the only new face as she noticed Dar. Raven had stitched up his leg and rebandaged it and he was now politely eating a large plate of hash that Cookie had wiped up.

Another large plate was handed to Newt and the hungry halfling shoveled it into his mouth as if it was about to vanish and he didn’t stop until he was just about done. As she was given her helping Sera snapped her fingers and swatted Newt on the back of the head. “How can you even taste Mrs Cookies’s good cooking when you eat it without chewing.” she scolds him. If she could eat normally when her body needed sugar so badly and a dish with panfried potatoes and caramelized onions in it was placed in front of her he had no excuse.

“Hey I can taste it just fine and I’ll taste seconds even better.” He says grinning at Cookie as she reached to take his plate back and refill it. He thanked Cookie with a kiss on the cheek. “Good food and pretty girls all around who could ask for more?”

As everyone ate and slowly decompressed for the events that had just happened Raven leaned over to talk softly to Sera. “Before I forget that magic thing you did back there was awesome. I didn’t really get what you were doing until it happened but it was like something out of a story. You and I should definatly adventure together and I think we found our other two. Dar seems interesting, easy to get along with and a strong cleric and Ironhills are supposed to be pretty good fighters. You’ve heard the stories of the Bloodstone Valley Defenders and how everyone called them The Walls of Tenacity haven’t you? Didn’t your mentor say you’d need a wall in your group of companions.”

“He didn’t mean that literally.” Sera said shaking her head. And Raven could tell she didn’t want to talk about it anymore right now so she let the matter slide for the time being.

“Say Dar was it?” Newt says glancing at the cleric as he finished his plate. “I don’t think we’ve meet before but I keep thinking I’ve heard of you before so maybe we have a mutual friend somewhere? You know anyone that works on airships or any mercenaries?”

Dar shakes his head. “I don’t believe so but i don’t always know someone’s profession when I heal them. I’ve never been on an airship and most of my life I’ve lived in isolation with my mentor Jacob Lightstrider he is fairly well known among the church and from deeds he did in his youth.”

Newt shakes his head fairly sure that wasn’t it. “I don’t think that’s it. I keep getting the feeling that it was on a wanted poster but that can’t be right.”

“Which one?” Dar asked casually and the comment seemed to confuse the whole group. The soft spoken cleric didn’t look like the type to run cross with the law.

“You mean there is more than one wanted poster out there for you?” Raven asked shocked.

He calmly nodded. “According to the kingdom of Casel my birth caused my mother’s death and since she was a nobel I am guilty of her murder and would have already been punished for it if my mentor hadn’t taken me away. Last year I also had a run in with the Legionnaires who were trying to hang a woman they say killed her husband without giving her a trial. My only regret was that i was unable to save her and could only clear her name for her. I don’t recall what they actually charged me with, interference I believe but i just made them look bad.”

Raven felt hot anger bubbling in her stomach for Dar’s behalf that he had been treated so unjustly but it really didn’t seem to bother the cleric.

“So that’s where I know you from then. I have a drinking buddy that’s in the Legionnaires one of the few decent ones and I remember he was saying he hoped he never met you because he wouldn’t want to arrest you. Heath would arrest you too, feel real bad about it and make sure you got a fair trial but he’d still have to arrest you.”

“Heath Dopple by chance?” Nana says with a grin. “It is is a small world but I can’t imagine many honorable Legionnaires with that name. He got us out of a pinch with some permits in Kassantia a couple years back. I remember how young he looked.”

“Yup that’s Heath, he’s got one of those baby faces that will make him look like a kid when he’s all grey. He’s older than me but most bar keeps don’t think he’s old enough to drink.” Newt says with a laugh finding it strange just how small a world it was but figuring that with how much he traveled around it only made sense for him and the Greenbottles to have a few similar acquaintances.

Several of Raven’s siblings had already started to settle back down for the night. Liddy had put her head on her mother’s lap and fell asleep as Cookie stoked her hair. Merla and Roscco had both gone to bed both knowing that the morning would no doubt bring more work.

“Well Dar and Newt you're both welcome to bunk with the boys tonight if you want.” Nana offered. “Things might be a little hectic at the inn still and i don’t know if they’ll have any rooms free.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Newt said with a charming grin. “I had wanted to sleep in a bed for once but just having a blanket is good enough for me and I didn’t have any money for the inn anyways......uh Sera....”

Sera’s fork had hit the ground as the tired mage had fallen asleep sitting up and her plate was starting to slide from her fingertips. Worse still she was starting to sag back off the log she was sitting on. Raven tried to steady her but missed everyone else was too far away. The thud onto the grassy ground wasn’t enough to hurt her but the jolt was enough to wake her up as she looked around confused about how she was on the ground. She didn’t even seem to notice the plate cracked in two on the ground next to her.

“You look done in my friend.” Raven says with a soft laugh extending her hand to Sera. “Come one I’ll let you borrow my bunk for tonight.” He offers and Sera just nods in agreement and yawns before Raven helps her off and leads her off to the cart where most of the girls bunked.

Newt picked up to the broken plate and handed it to Nana. “I think a mage can fix that with ease so I’d just put it aside until that one has had a little sleep or else she’ll feel bad about breaking it.”

Nana had a knowing smile on her face. Of the three young people she had met that day she was the most curious about Newt. Sera and Dar were interesting for sure but she also felt that with both of them they didn’t hide who they were. Newt on the other hand, well she didn’t think he was being deceitful, but there was more to him than he showed. At the very least he was smarter and more perceptive than his laid back nature let on.

“Well thank you very much for your hospitality Nana Greedbottle but I think I will go into the forest to rest. My meditations are easier when I have a living tree nearby and it seems that you have a full house so to speak but thank you very much for the offer and the meal.” Dar said getting to his feet and picking up his pack from where he had left it while they were eating. He headed towards the trees just south of the common pausing once to glance at the direction Raven had gone before continuing on.

Everyone was turning in now and Cookie even left the cleaning up for in the morning as she went to tuck Liddy in bed. Nana found an extra bedroll for Newt and he headed off to the cart that the guys all slept in. He paused though when he heard the snoring coming inside and wondered if Dar had made the right decision after all. Glancing under the cart he noticed Roscco in a nest of dogs.

“Enough room for me under there too?” He asked.

On of the dogs looked up at him a brute of a dog all black with a pointed muzzled and ears. He barred his teeth at Newt and growled softly. Roscco made a clicking noise and the dog settled back down. “Don’t mind Interceptor and go right ahead as there is plenty of room. If I’m not worried the dogs won’t bother you.” he says yawning which two of the dogs do right after him and then settling back down to sleep.

Newt fell asleep pretty easily and it didn’t surprise him when he dreamed of the first time he met his angel. It was a pleasant enough dream though he always cringed a little thinking of the person he had been back then. Thirteen and too full of crap to know how full of crap he was. It still boggled his mind that anyone had put up with him back then and he often wondered if he would be the man he was now if he hadn’t met her.

Meanwhile not far away Dar was finishing his meditations and became aware of someone near by. He opened his eyes and saw Raven standing there.

“I’m sorry if I’ve bothered you but i wanted to talk to you for a little bit if you don’t mind. It can wait though you’re probably tired.”

Dar shook his head and motioned to the ground in front of him. “Sit and tell me what’s on your mind.”

She smiled and did just that sitting facing him. “I’ve never met another Grey Elf before have you? Have you ever been to Casel...probably not if they want to arrest you.”

“I was born in Casel but I don’t remember it and besides you every other Grey Elf I’ve meet has tried to kill me.”

“Their loss.” Raven said casually causing Dar to blush. “Oh hey could i show you something?” Raven started undoing the top buttons of her shirt.

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Dar was too shocked by what it seemed like she was doing to react and before he could she pulled her shirt down over her left shoulder so he could see the scar there. It was a large irregular starburst shape almost 3 inches across and covering her shoulder joint and collar bone. She turn around and shows him that on the back of her shoulder there was a tiny perfectly round scar not even half an inch wide.

“Have you ever seen a wound or scar like this before? I don’t know what caused it. I don’t remember.”

A pained look came to the cleric’s eyes as she saw her scars and even got a glimpse of the lash scars on her back when she turned around. His hand touches her bare shoulder and glows softly like he was trying to heal it. Magic could only take away wounds not scars.

“I have never seen anything like this but i don’t understand how your shoulder is not messed up and painful. It looks like something was run through your arm but it was a very odd shape. Maybe it was some sort of magical attack but I’m surprised you didn’t lose that arm.”

Raven just shrugs and pulls her shirt back over her shoulder. “Nana’s pretty good at patching things up. Sometimes the muscle aches a little but the joint has always been fine, I can do tumbles and handstands and flips no problem. And please don’t look so sad about it I don’t remember it hurting though I suppose it must have.”

He was so easy to talk to that she had no problem telling him the story of how she’d become a Greenbottle though she felt she didn’t tell it as well as Nana did. In return he opened up with her some telling her about the peaceful life he’d lead with his mentor Jacob the human cleric that had been like a father to him. But Jacob had not been young when Dar had been born and had passed onto his eternal rest peacefully 4 years ago. Since then Dar had done his best to do good in the world and more than once got himself in trouble by doing the right thing.

“That scar on your face, there’s got to be a good story about it right? Who were you helping when you got it?” she asked and a strange look flickered in his eyes that made her regret asking.

“My mother gave me this scar. I can not blame her for it though. She was young and had suffered a great trauma, I was the product of that trauma.” He said trying to be tactful. “The high priests in Casel put off her request to end her pregnancy and she took matters in her own hands. She tried to cut me out of her and that was how i got this scar. I survived but she did not. Jacob had been trying to console my mother to be patient and he found us and took me away before I could be executed for her murder.”

Raven was in shock sure that she’d never heard anything so horrible in all her life and a hot rage on his behalf started to bubble up inside her. Several halfling curses slipped from her lips. “That’s unforgivable that your own mother would do that. No real mother could do that to their child and what idiots to blame you for all that! None of that was your fault.” She made a strangled cry of frustration trying not to get more angry and worked up and let a few more halfling curses slip. “If all Grey Elves are like that then I’m glad to be a tall halfling. How are you not furious about all this?”

Dar put a hand on her arm and shook his head. “I don’t blame my mother, I forgave her long, long ago. Those that charge me with her murder are just following the law. It is an unjust law and I don’t intend to just lay down and die because of it but anger itself won’t change that law. Thank you for your concern but there is really no need to get so worked up on my behalf.”

Raven looked at him a long moment a strange feeling she couldn’t quite explain made her chest feel tight as she thought he might be the most forgiving person she had ever met.

“I still don’t think what she did was right.” She says as she lets out a long calming breath. She didn’t think she’d be able to forgive this woman she’d never met for what she did. She had no problem though letting him change the topic when he asked her about all the places she had been.

She had seen much more of Xenos than he had as he’d never gone farther south than Soulspire. Due to the crime in that area the Greenbottles seldom stayed there but she knew there was an large old temple there that tried to help the poor and wasn’t surprised to learn that was part of the reason why he had been there the other was to meet with a friend of his mentors.

Dar woke just before dawn realizing that they had talked until they had both fallen asleep leaning against the tree he had meditated under. Her head was resting on his shoulder and he was reluctant to move at first. He watched her sleep for a moment knowing full well what he was feeling and that he’d have to do something about it sooner or latter. What he wouldn’t give to be able to speak to Jacob right now and get his guidance once again but he knew he’d figure out somehow.

Remembering that he had to check on the mayor soon he finally moved trying not to wake Raven and when he got up and picked her up and laid her down on his bed roll so she could sleep properly for what was left of the night.

When Raven awoke sometime later the sun was just up above the treetops and she was a little surprised at how deeply she had slept. She was able to guess where Dar was and felt a little bad that she seemed to have fallen asleep on his bed though she didn’t even remember falling asleep.

Heading back to her family she saw about half her siblings were up and about already but there was no sign of Sera up just yet. Newt must have been up early as well as it seemed he’d already been to the bath house in the inn and was now helping to chop some firewood for Cookie. He had his shirt off while he did that and Merla was taking the occasional look from where she was helping with breakfast and Jillian was making no effort to hid the fact that she was enjoying the view even though Newt was at least a decade older than her. Raven had to rib her sister a little though she knew that at 18 Jillian didn’t really know much about romance but had been in love with love for ages.

Sera came out and offered to help with breakfast preparations and pointedly didn’t look at Newt as she greeted Raven. She was feeling a lot better than she had last night and told herself that she’d definitely be able to handle his flirting and teasing now. However a strange thing happened. As she was helping Cookie and not looking at him she started to notice something. What she had taken as flirting the night before couldn’t be because he was doing it with everyone. All the girls were getting compliments even Nana and little Liddy and there was even the scattered one for the guys as well. She started to wonder if she had misread him and taken a general charming and silver tongued nature for something else.

Then he had finished with the chopping and when walking past her to put the wood up gave her bottom a pinch. She gasped and slapped him with a helping hand spell going right back to thinking that she had been right the night before and he was a scoundrel. She went back to work making sure to ignore him again while making sure he didn’t get behind her.

Breakfast was a simple affair mostly coffee and porridge but Cookie had made up some sweet rolls as well and when they finished baking the smell was enough to get the last stragglers out of bed. They all started eating when Dar came back from the inn with a resigned look on his face.

“Is Mayor Evan’s doing okay?” Nana asked when she saw Dar.

“Physically yes. If you have medicine to sedate him that might be for the best. No one realized last night some how but his daughter is missing.”

---End Ch1---