Rush Of Blood To The Head, part 7.14.
First is the sound. The chirping and twittering of the birds… hmm, that doesn’t seem to be characteristic to the Abyss… I guess that means I have defeated Irenicus. But where am I…
I open my eyes and am momentarily stunned by the bright light and my eyelids shut reflexively. I go for a more cautious approach and open my eyes slowly, while they adjust to the… sunlight? Examining my surroundings, I realize that I am in a large room that looks like… hmm, like an infirmary. Many beds, most of them empty… the room is lit up in the bright sunlight, it streams in through the wide windows of the room. I have to cut my inspection short, however, as something, rather someone, suddenly hugs me from behind.
“Yay! Welcome back, bro! And here I started to worry that you won’t make it…” Imoen chirps, “Boy, am I happy to see you again!”
“I’m happy to see you again, Immy,” I smile, turning around to look at her and can’t keep but notice her puffed, red eyes… “Where… where are the others?”
“Keldorn, Eddie and I awoke almost half a day ago,” she speaks, trying to avoid my gaze, “Viconia awoke only an hour before and I was so worried about you…”
“Jaheira? No…” I slump down on the bed and bury my face in my hands.
“Look, don’t get too worked up, bro… she may wake up yet, don’t lose hope,” Imoen tries to cheer me up, “I had to wait for many hours, thinking that I will never see Vic alive again…”
“Where is she?” I ask her and Imoen points me towards one of the beds at the left side of the room. Quickly, I rush towards it and Imoen follows me.
“She… but she is not hurt?” I establish after a quick check-up, “only… only cold…”
“That doesn’t mean anything, Theo,” Imoen explains, “you were stone cold just a quarter of an hour ago… and you were not hurt either, but I clearly saw Irenicus tearing up your chest. Besides, Ellesime said that our physical bodies were here all the time, even as we fought Irenicus down there…”
“I wonder why they didn’t bury us… she could have taken us for dead,” I say.
“Nalia stopped them. She knew what happened to Bhaalspawn after their death and knew that your death was not final,” Imoen explains, “then Demin tried to resurrect the rest of us… and she said that the spell appeared to have worked in one case, yet something powerful blocked the soul from returning. So, they decided to move us here and wait… poor Nalia, she has a bad ulcer now.”
I instinctively put my hands to my chest to make certain that Imoen is not joking and there isn’t a large hole in my flesh. “Why do you think we are not waking up all at the same time?” I ask.
“I dunno, but Vicky thought that it might depend on how severely everyone of us was injured. See, Keldorn, Eddie and I were all healthy, so we woke up first,” Imoen explains.
“Yeah, makes sense, but… but Jaheira was healthy as you cast the invisibility spell…” and then I realize, “oh no… NO! She… she didn’t! Tell me that she didn’t!!” I spun around and shake Imoen at the shoulders, but she withstands my outburst easily.
“Irenicus was killing you, Theo… she had to save you by buying you a moment of time,” she speaks pensively, “I don’t know how badly she was injured, bro… she leapt on the Slayer and swatted him aside and he retaliated and… she got hit… pretty badly, I think… but she couldn’t have been dead, I think… I couldn’t check, you killed him soon afterwards and then everything went black…”
“That is just not possible… she can’t die on me! I didn’t come all this way just to lose her at the end… so foolishly noble of her to try and sacrifice her own life for me. Silly woman… no, I… I refuse to believe this. I refuse to accept even the thought,” I speak, lifting her cold, limp arm and brushing my lips against her smooth skin.
“Ahem… I hate to interrupt in such an emotional moment, but…” I will recognize that squeaky voice anywhere… it is Ellesime, “I wish to express my most heartfelt gratitude in the name of all our people for helping us in these dark times. But… I see that this is not the most appropriate time for that. I shall leave you to grieve for your companion.”
“Hey! She’s not dead… I mean… well, she is now, but she may come back!” Imoen shouts.
“Yes, I realize that… but it has been a long time. And Demin tells me that resurrection is not even the possibility here, she must find her way back here, on her own,” Ellesime explains, “meanwhile… there is not much we can do. If you need anything, ask Demin or me without hesitation and we will see that our hero has everything to satisfy his needs.”
“Can you give me her back?” I ask, rising from the bed to look the Queen in the eyes and she shifts with unease, “Jaheira, I need only her, nothing else.”
“Ah… it is not in my powers, godchild,” Ellesime smiles bitterly, “I was… I was unaware about your… closer connection with this woman. I apologize most profusely… and I suppose we will call the celebrations off, at least we won’t hold them tonight…”
“I don’t care for your celebrations, Queen. I would not care for them, had Jaheira been alive right now,” I feel that I start to lose my temper and Queen notices the same as she slowly retreats back to the doors and then quickly exits the room… no doubt, having received yet another proof of how uncouth and barbaric, we, non-elves are.
“Theo? Theo! Come… come quickly!” Imoen suddenly speaks in an enraptured voice, “her… her hand! It is… getting warmer! I can feel it!”
All the anger in me is immediately replaced with joy and excitement as I quickly join Imoen beside Jaheira’s bed and reach out to touch her face… and her cheek is indeed warm, the warmth still very faint, but I can also now see the color returning back to her face… she is coming back to life. And probably due our combined attentions, her eyes snap open very soon and I conclude that she looks absolutely adorable in the brief moment of vulnerability, until she has come to terms with her surroundings and has reasserted her control over them.
“Mhhhmm… I must have overslept…” she mutters dreamily, “Did I miss anything important?”
Imoen and I exchange looks of disbelief before I continue, “Err… not really… see, I awoke recently myself, so I didn’t get to worry too long… and the others are all right, too…”
“What were you worrying about?” she asks, grabbing my shoulder for support as she slowly rises from the bed.
“Err… I think there was a possibility that you would not come back… after all, we were all dead, remember?” I say and she winces, probably the memories starting to return to her, “and… as Imoen says, you didn’t quite hold the promise I asked from you, to stay out of my fight with the Slayer…”
“You cannot seriously expect me to stand aside and watch yourself get killed, foolish man,” she snaps back, “what is a few bruises here and there, if you die before my eyes and I do nothing to prevent it.”
“Well… you did save my life… and all our lives with that, but… you do realize that it’s a miracle that you actually survived?” I point out, but she just shrugs at my implication, as if it was not something worth pondering upon.
“Um, perhaps you could change the topic of conversation?” Imoen, who has been watching our exchange silently, peeps up, “You do realize that finally we have put this whole Irenicus saga behind us? So be happy and smile and laugh, instead of growling at each other!”
“Um, that’s our way to express our joy to see each other, I guess…” I suggest and Jaheira chuckles at that, “but you are right, Imoen. For the first time in almost two years we do not have a villain to chase, a quest to complete… we can do anything we want, go anywhere we want… and… and we can love each other as fully as before…” I direct my last words at Jaheira and am filled with joy, seeing the beaming smile on her face.
“You are fully restored… yes, I see that now,” she looks deep into my eyes, “it is… after all this time, it is almost too good to be true… I… I will need some time to truly believe and comprehend what you just said…” tears of joy flow from her eyes as she gently leans against my chest, holding me tightly.
“How touching,” Viconia’s voice suddenly startles us as she has entered the room silently, “good to see the two of you back. Imoen has been telling me about the final battle… I curse myself for not being conscious and able to witness such a grand spectacle.”
“Gods, you speak just like Bhaal, Vic,” I say, but she looks unfazed.
“What are the others up to?” Jaheira asks as Viconia settles in beside Imoen and wraps her hand around my sister’s shoulders.
“Let me think… last I saw them, Edwin was playing chess with priestess Demin,” Viconia chuckles.
“Demin? Has she forgiven him for trying to kill her?” I ask in disbelief.
“Apparently so. The old fool and the spoiled brat are helping to look for the last survivors in the ruins… I don’t think they will stick around for long though. After having visited the Hell itself, our Keldorn seemed to be very anxious to see his wife again,” Viconia snorts, “apparently, he’ll be taking the girl with him and good riddance, I say. Oh and… Ellesime is throwing a party in our honour, but the date is not specified yet. I do hope she is going to present us with something valuable, otherwise it will only deepen my existing hatred for these arrogant pieces of surface scum.”
“Err… I see. Then, I suppose we will have to stay for the celebration,” I conclude, “after all, we deserve a bit of relaxation and… of course, there ought to be a reward. I understand Keldorn and would gladly follow his example, the company of this Ellesime does not seem very attractive to me… but I suppose, we are in no rush, are we?” I muse.
“Well, I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary, I am already fed up with those hateful stares these prissy elves give me,” Viconia snarls.
“I think that a celebration might be a nice distraction… we have not attended anything like that since Baldur’s Gate,” Jaheira sighs, “let us stay here for a few days at least… and during our stay, we can also start to plan our near future… something that I am very inept at, I admit.”
“Heh, me too, to be honest… I’m quite at a loss of what we should do… it’s confusing,” I smile, “umm… by the way… are we supposed to stay and sleep here, or has Ellesime given us some rooms to stay?”
“Oh, she has! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the palace… and our rooms are in the upper floor, the sight from the windows is breathtaking!” Imoen exclaims, “And our room is so large and comfortable… and Vic says that the bed is… err, oops…”
“What she meant to say is that your room is right next to ours, Theodur,” Viconia saves Imoen from further embarrassment, “and Jaheira’s is at the end of the hall, but I don’t think she’ll be using it much. Now gather your equipment and follow me, I’ll show you to the rooms.”
Jaheira reddens slightly from the implication, but at the same time I feel her squeezing my hand affectionately… and I have no doubt that she is immensely glad to once again have a lover with a soul… albeit a slightly tainted one.
On Friday or Saturday: …and there was much rejoicing.
