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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 507682" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks for the supporting posts, all.  * * * * * Book VII, Part 7Dana grimaced as she slipped and the tunic she’d been repairing fell off her lap onto the floor.  She quickly picked it up and saw that last three lines of thread that she’d just sewn had torn.  She forced herself to take a deep breath before starting again.  The tunic was really past its days, and she already had more than enough new clothes to replace it, but she wanted something to do with her hands, something to focus on other than...  So far, it wasn’t helping much.  From the doorway behind her, Benzan watched her, watched the movements of her hands as they moved across the cloth, admired the muscular curves of her neck and shoulders, the way her hair drew back casually into the cord she’d wrapped around the extra length to keep it out of the way.  She normally kept her hair trimmed short, but lately she’d let it grow out some, enough to fall almost to her shoulders when she didn’t keep it tied back.  His breath caught in his throat as he admired her.  By the gods, she was beautiful, even in her current state of casual disarray.  She wasn’t an alabaster model of beauty such as noble society held up as an ideal, but a strong, capable woman whose skills had been tested in the chaos of battle, the trials of spirit that the four of them had faced in the last years.  The strain of those tests showed in her face, but to him they only bolstered the appeal that she held for him. Not for the first time, he wondered why in the world she had fallen in love with him, of all people.  Not that he was going to question that good fortune.He hadn’t made a sound, but suddenly she turned and looked up at him.  She smiled, but there was tension there, as well. “Hi,” she said.“Hi.”  He came into the room, toward the chair where she was sitting.  “Looks like that patient is already too far gone to save,” he said, indicating the worn tunic.“Yeah.  Well.”  She looked down at her lap for a moment, and while her head came up again quickly, he sensed the turmoil within her.  “Did you see... did you see Elly?”“Yes.  Thank you, for telling me.”“You had a right to know.”The chair wasn’t really big enough for two, but he leaned on one padded arm and reached down to touch the side of her face.  “I love you.  It’s still strange to hear myself say it, sometimes... but it’s true.”Her eyes shone.  “I love you too.”  Then she snorted.  “But don’t think this means that I’m going to take it easy on you.  Somebody’s got to help keep you in line, and alive—gods know that Cal and Lok alone can’t do it.”He smiled, and took her hand, pulling her up to him.  For a moment they held each other, then melted into a long kiss.  “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked him, when the finally pulled back. “Later.  Have you talked to the others yet?”“Just briefly.  They’re down in the library, waiting for you to get back.”“Let’s go talk to them, then.”The two of them left the room and went down the back stairs to the comfortably furnished library that adjoined the storerooms at the back of the inn.  Although Alera had offered to let them stay at the Calloran home as long as they wished, Cal had finally insisted that they take rooms in the city.  The inn where they’d spent the last two tendays, “The Laughing Dragon,” was a sprawling three-story extravagance that took up half a city block.  It was expensive, of course, but the four of them had more than enough money even after their numerous purchases and projects of the last few weeks.  Cal still spent a lot of time at his family estate, working in the laboratory maintained by his great-aunt, but recently he’d come here more often, as eager as the rest of them to finally be going once again. The library was big enough to accommodate a dozen people easily, but Cal and Lok were the only ones there when Dana and Benzan entered.  The four of them gathered around a round wooden table under a pair of slanted windows that let in twin rays of light from the cloudy day outside.  Cal was the first to speak.  “Benzan?”“I’m ready to depart,” the tiefling responded. Cal nodded.  “Then we are all prepared?”  He briefly met each of their gazes in turn, long enough to register their nods.  “The only question, then, is how we will proceed.  Dana has stated her desire to visit Iriaebor first, to see her father.”“And the full moon is only a few days away.  At the Temple of the Moon in the city, I can attempt another commune.”Cal’s expression darkened briefly.  “We’ll need all the guidance we can get.  Our combined researches have not yielded much in the way of clues.  We were able to get some information on certain known Demon Princes, and we can only hope that it is enough for us to ask the right questions of the Goddess.  Assuming there is more we can learn from that source—I mean no offense, Dana, but these beings are virtually gods themselves, in their own dark realms, and divinely provided lore can often be murky when it involves the private affairs of such entities.”Dana nodded, they’d been over all of this before.  One thing was sure, though, they’d exhausted all of the options available to them in Waterdeep, and the City of Splendors was a place where virtually anything was available for sale, even information, if you had the right price.  “Of course, arcane magic hasn’t been of any more help,” Cal said.  “But this side-trip to Iriaebor may prove fruitful for another reason.  It’s not far from Berdusk, where Twilight Hall is located.  The followers of the Harp are renown for their command of obscure facts and legends thought lost.  Cylyria Dragonbreast, in particular, is one of the most knowledgeable bards in the West, and she is only one of many agents who come from all over the Realms.  We’ve done favors for the Harpers in the past, and they might prove willing to help us.  And even if they do not have ready answers, we can try our luck at the temple of Deneir in the city, which is located adjacent to the Hall.”None of the responded immediately.  All of them were ready to do something, to replace this inactivity with decisive action, but all were experienced enough to know that they were grasping at straws, with no concrete leads to guide their path. “All right then, let’s do this,” Benzan finally said.“It will take many days to reach Iriaebor,” Lok commented.  “Were you thinking of taking ship down to Baldur’s Gate, and then heading upriver to the city?”Cal and Dana exchanged a glance.  “Actually, we think we’ve found a much more... expeditious... means of travel.  We mean to be in Iriaebor by the end of the day, if not within the hour.”Benzan shot Cal a wary look.  “Uh oh, you don’t mean...”“It’s safe,” Dana insisted.  “I will take us someplace that I know intimately, so much so that the chance of mishap is nearly nil.”“Yeah, but we’re very good at beating the odds on that sort of thing.  Besides, how can you take all of us?  I thought that even a powerful mage—or cleric—could take only a small amount of excess weight with them.”Cal interjected, “I believe that I may have the answer for that.  How do you feel about cats?”Benzan raised an eyebrow, suspicion in his eyes.</blockquote>

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