Sketching... sketching seemed to be all she did to spend her days. That and tending bar at the Mithrest, of course, but mostly, Rose was withdrawn and preferred to let the brush slide over the canvas, or the charcoal over the paper... it soothed her to a degree.

"Drawing again?" Risa asked her older sister as she walked into the yard where Rose did her work sitting on a small wooden bench on the back porch.

"Hmmm," was Rose's only reply. Then, she looked up from her work, smiled and ruffled up Risa's hair.

"I'm glad you're here," Rose smiled. "Keeps this big old house from getting dull and frightening."

"Gee, now I feel guilty about getting out to play with Becky," Risa grimaced.

"Don't," Rose smiled. "Your old sister will be fine. Go out and have some fun. Get away from the gloom for a bit."

"You're not gloomy... your drawings are, but not you," Risa smiled.

"Have some fun." Rose ordered with a smile.

"So, where are we going? Turnip-king?" Becky asked.

"No, they closed that down when the turnip-beetles were found in the kitchen," Risa said as the two girls walked across the boulevard in the Temple-District. "Playground?"

"Too dull... Spitting off Waukeen's Promenade?"

"And have another spit-covered half-orc chasing us across the city? No thank you. Woodshop?"

"Viconia had to use magic to put your fingers back on your hand last time. And she's not here, so we can't risk it."

"I wish Laska was here," Risa said. "She was always fun to hang around with."

"Remember the time Biddy picked on us, and Laska beat up his dad?"

"Oh, yeah, that was fun. And what about the time she mooned that elf-hater at the fountain?"

"Hey, she couldn't know he'd have a heart-attack," Becky chuckled. "Funny, though."

"Hey," Risa said and pointed as a slightly befuddled looking gentlemen, dressed in adventurer's leathers. He was tall, slightly lanky, and had soft-blonde unkempt hair. He seemed very nervous while he ripped an inked feather across a paper in his sweaty hands. "I... I... sing of your undying... fortitude? No, no," he scratched out the words wildly with his feather. "Love? No, no, too presumptuous... Affection? No, too vague... Affirmation? YES, that'll do..."

"What's he doing?" Becky asked.

"I dunno," Risa asked. "Let's check it out."

The man, in the meantime, continued. "I worship... No, no, NO! I HUMBLY worship the ground you..."

"HI! Whacha doin'?!"

"AAAAAHHHH!" the startled man throw the parchment and quill in the air and, after a neat little parabolic flight, both landed in the middle of the canal... and it didn't take long for the piece of parchment to sink straight to the bottom.

"Great," the man sighed.

"Sorry," Risa said. "Nice goin', Beck, geezzz..."

"Well, excuse me. How was I supposed to know he'd be so nervous?"

"Kids, don't fight," the man sighed. "Don't fight over this failure of a man standing right here. Me, a bard that can't even string a simple love-poem together. Dad was right, I should have become a dung-merchant, just like him."

"Geez, great. More gloom," Risa sighed. "I'm sure things aren't that bad."

"They are," the man said. "I'm Garrick, a bard from up north. See that lady over there?" he pointed at the two guards standing in front of the Order Guildhouse. One was a burly male with a small beard, the other a lovely young woman with golden locks. Both were wearing plate-mail, and the symbol of the Order. "That's Lady Irlana, the one I worship from afar... but only from afar."

"What's the problem," Becky asked. "Just go up to her and tell her you like her."

"I can't!" Garrick all but wailed. "I've tried to walk up to her, but my mouth stops working when I'm near her! Only gibberish comes out! So, I thought writing a love-poem would get things flowing, but I'm agonizing over every word! I just HATE being bard," he sighed.

"Hey, it sounds like all you need is some help," Risa smiled.

"And lucky for you, the Terrible Twins," she said, using the nickname Laska had been using for the two girls ever since they had stolen her and Rose's clothes after they had just made love in a patch of bushes in a public park early in the morning and had to return home wearing wooden barrels. "Are here to help you out."

"Have you got them?" Risa asked the panting Becky as the other girl snuck behind the bushes just in front of the Order guildhouse. In front of the bushes, stood a trembling Garrick.

"All of them, straight from Imoen's bedroom," Becky said. "Heaving Bosoms and Torrid Passions, Licking across the High Seas, Breathtaking cod pieces and Flimsy dresses, Intimate kisses in Intimate Places, More Intimate Kisses in Even More Intimate Places, The Erotic Adventures of Lady Alustriel, Aksa does the Pirate Colony and Elves XX and X."

"That last one is Laska's book! You weren't suppose to take that!" Risa hissed back.

"I wondered why there were so many pictures," Becky said. "Let's bring this one to school next time. Hey, do you think Laska and Rose did some of the things in these pictures?"

"Well, remember the time we peeked through the keyhole?" Risa said. "That was a lot wilder than in those pictures."

"Oh, hey, Garrick is getting nervous, we should hurry up."

"Okay," Risa said, "Just open a book and read any line."

Back in front of the Order guildhouse, the two guards had already seen Garrick. "Oh, no," the man said. "Looks like you have a puppy-dog following you about."

"Doskias, shush," Irlana chuckled. "He means well, I'd hate to crush his spirit. Besides, it's flattering..."

"It's flattering for someone to throw up all over your boots?"

"He was just nervous," Irlana smiled.

Back in the bushes, Becky was flipping through books. "Ah, he're a good starter," she spoke then somewhat louder, but still out of earshot of the two guards, "I see, nay, feel thine presence in my heart and parts beyond!"

Loyal as a puppy... a sweating puppy at that, Garrick repeated the line, adding a flair of his own. "I see, nay, feel thine presence in my heart and parts beyond," he announced.

"Oh, my," Irlana blushed.

"Smooth," Doskias admitted.

"Here's one," Risa giggled. "Thy sheer femininity is only surpassed by the softness of your skin, the smell of your hair, and the cries of passion while the game of dance continues deep into the meetings in the night."

"Thy sheer femininity is only surpassed by the softness of your skin, the smell of your hair, and the cries of passion while the game of dance continues deep into the meetings in the night," Garrick repeated.

"Go on," Irlana beamed.

"Kill me now," Doskias sighed in irritation.

"Another one," Risa smiled. "Press me against your bountiful bosom and shower me with kisses. Join me on my voyages across the pirate-infested waters. Together, we shall sail the seven says and love in the most exotic locates!"

"Press me against your bountiful bosom and shower me with kisses. Join me on my voyages across the pirate-infested waters. Together, we shall sail the seven says and love in the most exotic locates," Garrick repeated dutifully.

Irlana blushed softly.

"He's never been aboard a ship in his life," Doskias muttered under his breath.

"Got one!" Becky flipped through a book. "If you but let me love you, I will slide my tongue around you like a snake over a tree trunk."

"If you but let me love you, I will slide my tongue around you like a snake over a tree trunk," Garrick repeated."

"Excuse me?" Irlana seemed dumbfounded.

"Yes," Doskias chuckled. "Are you flirting with her or with me?"

"Idiot!" Risa said. "SHE's saying that to HIM in the book."

"What?" Becky said. "But, it sounded pretty romantic. Is it really a woman's line?"

"Hellllooooooo," Risa said. "Don't you know what that was all about?"

"No."

"Remember the time when we looked through the keyhole and Laska had brought home that nice half-elf adventure-guy? Before we met Rose?"

"Oh?...Oooohhh," Becky blushed as she thought back of what they saw and what was said in the book.

"You're ruining it. You're stupid," Risa hissed, a little too loud unfortunately.

"Garrick?" Irlana asked. "What's going on? What were you saying just now?"

Garrick, the poor fellow, too nervous to do anything else, could do nothing else but to repeat Risa's words. "You're ruining it. You're stupid," Garrick said.

"WHAT?!" Irlana exclaimed.

"Oh, yeah?!" Becky retaliated. "And you've got a fat butt!"

"And you've got a fat butt," Garrick started to sweat now.

"You... you..." a series of expletives unbefitting a paladin flew out of Irlana's mouth before she stormed off into the building.

"Nice going, suave," Doskias said through his snickers, leaving Garrick standing... a defeated man.

"Okay, it didn't go that well this time, but this is bound to work," Becky chuckled. Garrick had taken the ladder from the house's toolshed and was unfolding it against the wall of the Guildhouse. Irlana's window was on the second floor, and Risa had decided that Garrick could best sneak up to her room to give her some flowers.

"I've picked a nice bouquet for her," Garrick smiled.

"You just want to get out of town when Laska finds out that you've raided her garden," Becky grimaced.

"I'm sure this'll work, though," Risa said. "Laska always said that 'chicks go nuts when you sweep them off their feet'. Remember the time she climbed across five roofs to get at a girl's umbrella which the wind had caught?"

"She picked up a girl just like that?"

"Duh," Risa said. "She said she had to have her bedsprings replaced the next day."

"Well," Garrick smiled as he put his foot on the first rung. "Let's get to it. I must declare my love to..."

Suddenly, a murky-soapy liquid splashed all over him, drenching him to the bone. Looking up, he noticed an elderly woman looking down upon him.

"Irlana?" he asked.

"Other side of the building," the woman replied. "This is the West Wing. Irlana keeps quarters in the East Wing."

"Ah," Garrick replied.

"Hey," Risa said. "How was I supposed to know?"

"Third time is the charm," Garrick said as he put the ladder against the window and clamped the flowers in his mouth.

Down the ladder, Becky and Risa gave him a double thumbs-up.

Trying not to think how high it was, Garrick climbed up the ladder... the very wobbly ladder. The higher he got, the wobblier the ladder. And his nerves didn't help the case all that much, especially not with his now newly soaped boots. When he finally reached the last rung, he finally did slip. With a yelp, he managed to just barely hang on to the ladder... but the taste of stem and fluid in his mouth made him painfully aware that he had clenched his teeth... while the bouquet was still in his mouth. Bit-through stems and flowers wafted down in the slight wind.

'Great,', he thought, 'What else could go wrong'.

"Who's there?" he heard Irlana say, and heard footsteps approaching the window... Only now noticing that the ladder was actually leaning against the window.

"NO!" Garrick shouted as the window was opened, but found that the ground was approaching fast... After landing with a painful thud, insult was added to injury when the ladder crashed on top of him. The two little girl sadists, though, were having a whale of a time... Their giggles were the last think he heard before falling into unconsciousness.

"Oh, Garrick!" he heard as he opened his eyes... and found himself being closer to Irlana as he'd ever been, staring in her deep blue eyes.

"I... I... I... I..."

"The girls told me everything," Irlana smiled. "It's, well, really very sweet."

"Ajhfhsgaghdfhhdgagdg," this impossible sound emerged from his throat.

"Come," Irlana said. "There's a nasty bump on your head. Let me treat it," she said as she prepared some alcohol on a small piece of cotton.

"Will, will you let me press your bountiful bosom to my chest and let me love you forever?" Garrick gulped. There, it was out.

Irlana chuckled and blushed for a bit. "Let's just... start with a date first, okay?"

Garrick smiled in return. And, in the background, Risa and Becky shared a high-five, having done their good deed for the week... and were getting ready for the mischief of the day.