She fell... while her headless corpse stayed afloat.

With a gasp, Laska found herself sitting up in bed, starting into the darkness with wide eyes. Rain was slamming into the window-panes and lightning lit the skies as she took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself while the sheets clung against her sweaty body.

After briefly checking if there wasn't a deep, gaping wound between her breasts, she also felt her neck... and was actually quite relieved to find her head was still attached to her body. There was no sign of anything from her dream, save she could see shadows dancing on the walls.

Beside her, Rose still lay sleeping on her side as peacefully as a new-born baby. Still feeling uneasy about the whole thing, she leant back and curled up against her sleeping lover, pulling the sheets over both their heads. Sleep did not come easy the rest of that night.

"Thou lookest terrible," Dynaheir said to Laska while she and her friends were gathering at the breakfast-table. "Hast thou not slept well?"

"Oh, yes," Minsc said. "You look like you have been chopping up many Orcs while sleeping even! Now that's a hero's feat!"

"I would not know about that, Minsc," Dynaheir said. "Though I've read about a girl named Mary Sue who could kill Orcs in her sleep and knit sweaters with her fingernails, but I'm pretty everybody hated her. So it might not be a good thing."

"I had a nightmare," Laska said while Rose offered some comfort by raking her fingers through Laska's hair. "I don't remember having any nightmares since I was seven, and that was only because of all the chocolate pudding I ate before going to bed."

"Guilty conscience?" Imoen spoke while not looking up from her breakfast and popped a piece of bread in her mouth.

"Maybe..." Laska said after a long silence. She and the others finally sat down at the table to eat.

"So," Risa said, making exaggerated kissy-noises, "enjoy your chat last night?"

"Risa, please!" Rose blushed... but that didn't cover up Imoen's audible sigh.

"Har!" Korgan chuckled. "Bet you made the bleedin' earth shake."

"'Bleedin'' is the right word," Laska sighed, still feeling her throat.

"You know, Im," Laska said, probing the grounds. "I was thinking the other day about the time Gorion took us for a walk in the countryside and we wandered off and ended up near a meadow with a bull in it? So, I climbed over the fence and flashed a red cape around? And then the darn bull ran at me and threw me in the air like a dirty sock? And then, you ran away back to Candlekeep shouting 'my sister has been gored in the ass!'. I was alright, though... Remember that?"

Imoen said nothing, continuing to stare past her sister while popping another piece of bread in her mouth.

"Or... or... the time we were alone in the tower and we ate all the chocolate in the store? We were sick for weeks, and Gorion made us work off the debt by cleaning out the stables for a month?"

Again, Imoen said nothing. Around the table, uneasy looks were exchanged.

"Or... what about the time you were practising your bowcraft and you missed the target, but shot Ulraunt in the butt? Gods, he chased us all over the courtyard... I really though he was going to kill us."

Imoen sighed.

"And... and what about the time when you thought there was a Pool of Radiance under your bed? And you made me look and I, like, pretended it sucked me in and went like 'Aaah, AAAH, it's got me, I'm dying' and you believed it and took a candlestick and bopped it under the bed, only it wasn't a monster but my hand you hit? It was painful but it was fun and we laughed and laughed and we had fun..." Laska gulped.

Imoen shook her head, still not looking at Laska.

"LOOK!" Laska shouted. "Just... talk to me. I don't care if you're angry, forgiving or what! Yell at me, scold me, call me names, tell me to shut up, just TALK TO ME!"

"What's left to be said?" Imoen finally spoke. "It's all about you again, isn't it?" she said, standing up. "I've lost my appetite..." she concluded and slowly walked back to her room, not even once looking at her sister.

"I'll... talk to her," Viconia said, getting up and following Imoen to her room.

Laska stared blankly for a moment while everyone held their breath. Suddenly, Laska picked up her plate and threw it across the room where it shattered against the opposite wall. Then, uttering a guttural snarl, she took a standing candlestick and slammed it against the wall with devastating force. Seething with anger, Laska stormed towards the door.

"Laska, wait!" Rose called after her, but Laska had already opened the door and disappeared into the curtain of dense rain outside.

"Gin!"

"What do you mean 'gin', we're playing Old Maids!"

"Old Maids?! I thought we were playing Poker!"

"Poker?!" Gaelen Bayle sighed. "I thought we were playing bridge!"

"No wonder nobody won."

"Oy, lads," one of the thieves spoke. "Sounds like there's someone at the door."

"Well, open it!"

"What?! Not me, I have a cold!"

"I have a hernia!"

"I have rheumatism!"

"And I have a crossbow!" Bayle snarled. "Now one of youse go open that door or I'll give ye all a third nostril, mates!"

"Aye, Aye, I'll go," Cleft, one of Bayle's lowlifes agreed and walked to the door. He slowly opened it and as soon as he did, a figure stepped from the rain... a female figure... a very voluptuous female figure. A beautiful tall elf with long wet hair clinging to her wet tantalizing grey skin. Her small vest, which normally straining to contain two of Laska's most prized bodyparts, was now even more engaging, since the wet fabric left very, very little to the imagination. The leather pants had the same effect... and then there were the many exotic tattoos the lady was sporting on her arms, midriff and... breast. Cleft gulped and prayed to any god who would listen that this woman was a local prostitute looking for work.

However, his hopes were short-lived. With one foul stroke, Cleft lay moaning on the floor cradling his broken jaw.

"BAYLE!" the woman shouted.

Another thief came running toward her, shouting as he raised the dagger in his arm. Laska sidestepped him, her arms lashing out to grab his head. The sudden stop of his head in sharp contrast to the momentum of his body caused his neck to break with an audible snap while his limp body slid to the floor. Laska didn't hesitate, took the fallen thief's dagger, and used to cut the third thief's throat before he could raise his sword.

Laska was upon him. She grabbed his neck ... The thief was a small, slight man, somewhat resembling a rat in that respect, so he and Laska were still

Bayle was fumbling with his dagger, but before he could use it, Laska was upon him. The thief was a small, slight man, somewhat resembling a rat in that respect so she grabbed his neck, hoisted him in the air and pushed him against the wall. Bayle wasn't a tall man, because he and Laska were still at eye-height when she had him a foot off the ground.

"Get me to Spellhold, Bayle," Laska snarled. "So I can get back Imoen's soul and fix up this mess!"

"Coo," Bayle said cheerfully, but almost choked in the elf's iron grip. "And 'ere I thought elves be all... friendly-like."

"Think again," Laska snarled. "And don't say 'Coo' again or I'll twist your head off your body!"

"If you kill me... the Shadow Thieves will hunt you for life!"

"Let them all come!" Laska snarled. "I'll give you biggest bloodbath on this side of Sembia. And that's a promise..."

"Okay, okay," Bayle choked. "You know the price... 20.000."

The force of the elf's grip increased, making Bayle feel like his eyes were about to pop from their sockets.

"Okay!" Bayle wheezed. "15.000!"

"Tell the Tanar'ri Laska Leafwalker sent you," Laska smiled.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, don't be killin' me!" Bayle pleaded. "5000 gold... at least give me something! Here's the key to the lair! Just go to the guild and ask for Aran Linvail! Now, please, let me DOWN!" he wheezed as he produced the key from his belt with great effort.

Laska took the key, pocketed it and let Bayle drop to the ground as if he was a rag doll.

"Ta very much," Laska smiled faux-sweetly and turned around, strutting back towards the door. She felt eyes burning into her backside and, glancing over her shoulder, she could see the first thief she had decked when she had come in was staring at her bottom.

"Wow, you've got a great body," he slurred. "So, how much fer an hour, honey?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Laska asked and swiftly kicked the thief in the gut, silencing him for the rest of the day.

"OY!" Bayle shouted. "What about me 5000 gold?!"

He would swallow those words later, as he suddenly saw a large bag filled with coins flying towards him. It hit him square in the face, slamming his head in the wall and causing him to fall unconscious on the floor.

Meanwhile, Laska gripped the key in her hand. In a way, it was the key to the salvation of her relationship with her sister. The elf was determined to fix the mess she had caused.