NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1258756" data-attributes="member: 143">And so we begin again...* * * * * The Shackled CityBook III: Zenith TrajectoryChapter 84“Blast it!” Zenna said, leaning back from the desk against the plushly padded cushions of the weathered oak chair.  “Difficulty?” Dannel asked, from his perch in the cozy windowbox across the room. The two adventurers were in the comfortable surroundings of Esbar Tolerathkas’s study, in one of the more rarified neighborhoods of the city of Cauldron.  The arcanist was not present, having departed on an extended visit to the city of Almraiven, but he’d allowed Zenna the use of his rented home during his absence, in exchange for keeping an eye on the place.  Given the breadth of the man’s library, and the facilities in his workroom, Zenna considered herself much the better for the exchange, and had spent a lot of time here in the last tenday. She glanced over at the elf, who was holding both his silver flute and a small notebook balanced expertly in his lap.  Dannel’s relationship with the devotee of Azuth remained somewhat murky to her.  Clearly the two were friends; and Dannel had all but told her that Esbar had set him to keep an eye on her.  Whatever his motives, Dannel had proven himself repeatedly to be a boon companion, aiding them first against the brigands that had seized the Lucky Monkey, and again in the dark tunnels under the city where the cult led by Triel Eldurast had been based. Zenna let out a sigh and pushed the parchment she’d been working on away.  The scroll was covered with arcane formulas and notes in the quixotic language of magic, and while there was no actual spell scribed upon it, to one familiar with the Art it would hold an air of mystery and power.  “Just frustrated, I guess,” she said.  “I feel like I’m stuck in a rut.  I’ve mastered a number of spells... a great number, if you consider the power that Esbar’s meditative techniques have opend to me.  But all fall within the lowest valences of magical power; for all my work, the more potent works may as well be in Netherese for all I can make of them.”“They will come,” Dannel said simply.  “Consider the progress you’ve made since arriving in Cauldron—how long has it been, a month, in total?  I know mages who took years to get where you are now.”Zenna nodded, but she didn’t look convinced, and her eyes stole back to the scroll. “I don’t see why you are so preoccupied with power, anyway,” Dannel went on, closing his book and leaning back against the weathered wooden boards that framed the broad windows.  “There’s much more to life, you know.”Zenna’s gaze snapped back to the elf, and she said sharply, “I know that,” she said.  “But it’s a fact of life in Faerûn, in case you haven’t noticed, that power is a necessity to survival.  Life is hard, dangerous, and unforgiving to those who lack talent or dedication to improving themselves.  Even if I wanted to forget that, what’s happened since I arrived in Cauldron has only served to drive that lesson home.”Dannel regarded her with an expression that wasn’t quite pity—he knew her well enough to know that such would only fuel her rage.  Instead, he nodded.  “What you say is true.  But it’s also true that life is beautiful, and wondrous, and full of mysteries that tickle the soul and challenge the spirit.”And he lifted his flute to his lips, playing a soft tune that floated across the room, hanging in the air.  Zenna had heard him play a number of times, but this melody was unfamiliar, evocative of joyous homecomings and the promise of friendships both old and new.  Despite an unwillingness to let her guard down the song crept into her and softened her anger, awakening memories that she’d struggled to forget, of a home she had denied and people she’d cared about... but who had abandoned her.  Those memories always left her with a bittersweet feeling, and uncertainties that she preferred not to revisit.  Still, when the song ended, she felt as though a weight had been lifted from her, and she turned away, not wanting the elf to see how deeply she’d been affected. Dannel complied in this little deception, making a show of gathering up his possessions, uncoupling the flute into its component pieces before sliding it back into its sheath.  “We’d best be on our way,” he said.  “We’ll be late for our meeting with Mole and Arun.”He took up his longbow from its perch leaning into the adjacent corner, and rose.  She watched him, still trying to sort out her own feelings.  As he crossed to where she stood, near the exit to the landing that led downstairs, she said, “It’s too bad that life isn’t always like a song.”He turned, and without warning, leaned in and kissed her. Completely surprised, Zenna felt a million emotions warring with the immediate sensation of the elf’s lips pressed against her, his arm firm against her side as he pulled her to him.  At the same time she was indignant, shocked, amused, excited.  Before she could decide how to react, it was over.  He drew back, unapologetic, that familiar twinkle in his eye that she found both endearing and infuriating. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t settle on what to say, and nothing came out.  She suddenly felt very self-conscious, and snapped her mouth shut, feeling awkward under his scrutiny.  “Well,” she finally said. “Well,” he echoed, with a smile that demanded nothing, but also promised nothing.  “We’d better get going, the others will be waiting for us.”And with that, he turned and left, waiting at the landing until she started to follow.</blockquote>

Verification