Adrian: Baldur's Gate

The next morning Adrian woke with the sun dazzling in his face through the room window. Viconia was snuggled next to him, head on his shoulder, looking up at him with those red eyes of hers in a way that reminded him of a cat, for some reason.

"I had a dream," she murmured.

"Oh yes?" Adrian asked.

"Yes...I dreamed I had never left Menzoberranzan. That I had become a high preistess, killing any and all that opposed me, even those that might have been usefull allies. It was...unpleasant." She shivered.

He held her close. They said nothing for a while.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Mmm? What about me?"

"What if you woke up back in....Candlekeep I think you called it....and your Gorion was still alive, and none of this had ever happened?"

"Strange question. Not something I would think about; I tend to deal with things as they are." He paused. "I probably would have left anyway, before much longer, and become much the same mercenary that I am now, though without the same driving motivation. Everyone in Candlekeep hated me, except Imoen and Gorion. A few of the tavern wenches had let me have my way with them, but that was out of an excited fear, not caring....anyway, I would be more or less the same man, just less driven."

Viconia raised her head and looked at him solemly. "Life is bitterness and pain."

Adrian nodded. "Unless you fight to make it better for yourself."

There was a long, sober pause, and then they made to get dressed.

In another room, Edwin came slowly awake like a cork bobbing to the surface of a river. He opened his eyes. Jessa was standing in front of the windowframe, blocking most of the sunlight, strapping on her armor.

"Leaving so soon?" he murmured. "Last night you were excellent. (Indeed, such skills would be worthy of a courtesan.)"

She smiled. "You weren't so bad yourself, but I've got to report in. Long day aahead." Then she frowned thoughtfully. "We'll probably be travelling together again, and I'll be happy to repeat last night with you when we do, but don't get attached. I've learned that that's a mistake."

He smiled thinly. "Wouldn't dream of it."

She smiled, gave him a gentle mock salute, and stalked out of the room with an athletic grace.

Edwin's smile faded. "Wouldn't dream of it," he repeated in a sad, quiet voice. "Such a dream would never be fulfilled. (Yes, she is a queen amongst pawns, but she will never be my deva.)"

He sighed and got up.

The others were waiting for them when they got downstairs.

"I've added that fool to my creation," giggled Xzar. "He's truly monstrous now."

"Tiax is impressed with the Necromancer. He understands the uses of the dead."

"Charmed, I'm sure," said Adrian, grimacing as he sat down and ordered eggs and a triple portion of hashbrowned potatoes from a serving wench. "What word on comissions?"

Kagain spoke up from where he was gobbling down ham and bacon. "Something about the lost artefacts of Balduran, the founder of the city, if one only searches for them in the right places."

"No doubt a foolish notion," Edwin sneered.

"Perhaps," said Adrian. "But this morning I've a mind to indulge foolish motions and...dreams," he said, pausing thoughtfully. Viconia and Edwin each looked at him. Adrian shook it off. "Well hit the streets after breakfast and see what we can find."

"What about your dear brother?" Xzar giggled.

"Not so loud," Adrian hissed. "I'm wary of him, belive me. But we've else to do here first."

Imoen's dreams were alltogether of another sort. After meeting Adrian she had recovered some of her old spark. She dreamed of a glittering crystal city, set at the edge of a desert. She knew that on the other side of the vast mountain range behind the city was the sea.

She woke with a start, and knew it was no mere dream. She would travel there, someday.