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part 13/Conclusion : Past, Present... Future


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#1 Weyoun

Posted 12 January 2003 - 09:26 PM

 
A'mael Mellonamin part 13 : Past, Present... Future.

"Dear, pass the sugar, please?" the elven cleric Linu asked.

"Sugar?" Sharwyn said, "you shouldn't, really. Remember what happened on your last sugar rush?"

"I, errr, was really happy and made everyone laugh?" Linu smiled uneasily.

"Well," Tomi grinned (as usual), "if you consider accidentally setting fire to the local temple of Helm as something that makes people happy... It did make me laugh, though."

"Hey, that was an accident!" Linu said, "how was I supposed to know I'd knock over a candle... and, how was I supposed to know it would fall into an open keg of amontillado?"

"It was bad luck, no doubt," Aribeth smiled encouragingly at her elven sister.

"Here speaks Aribeth, keeper of the peace... which is ironic, really, considering the war she..."

"Tomi!" Sharwyn hissed sharply.

"It's alright, Sharwyn," Aribeth said, "he's quite right."

Alris' party had gathered in the deep forest of Coldwood, still about half a day's travel from Thundertree, Aribeth's former home. They had set up camp at night, like they always did during nightfall when adventuring in the Neverwinter region. While warming themselves at the fire, they had made the most surprising discovery : Tomi could actually cook edible food. Both Alris and Aribeth confirmed that there was almost no game in this area, so Tomi had took it upon himself to turn stale rations and some dried jerky into a feast. His secret? Lotsa ketchup.

Earlier, an almost chance encounter reunited the party with an old friend : Linu. The hapless elven cleric almost knocked Aribeth over the head with her mace when the former paladin had jumped from the bushes. Apparently, Linu was hailed as a hero for bringing home the Volcano Wood by her fellow elves of Evereska at the edge of the Auranoch desert, but, or so she told, she could not handle the stress of her newly gained status of elven hero, which became quite apparent... though she was sure the flood didn't do any permanent damage.

Aribeth had been glad to exchange her bulky platemail for a soft and supple green leather armor. The lightness of the armor, allowed her to return to her first weapon of choice : the bow. Though she was still mean with her sword, she had come to a re-appreciation of this traditional elven weapon of choice. Still, she had an important decision to make, now that she was no longer a paladin.

"I could be a good rogue, I think," Aribeth said. "I can move very silently... I can set traps and hide rather well..."

"After my job, eh?" Tomi grinned. "I'd rather like to see you try to pick a pocket, missy. As soon as you enter a room, all the eyes are on ya. Or, to be precise, on your chest..."

"Hey," Alris said.

"Oh, come on, mate, don't tell me it's not true! For you too, I bet..."

"Err, well, I, I, I..." Alris stammered and blushed.

"Hmmm, no," Aribeth sighed. "I'm not one for breaking and entering... nor for black-jacking people."

"Hey, not all thieves are like that," Tomi snorted. "No, we don't all blackjack people from behind."

"The only reason you don't do that, Tomi," Sharwyn grinned, "is because you're too short to reach the backs of most people's necks."

"Well... yeah," Tomi chuckled. "What's yer point?"

"Well," Aribeth said. "Fenthick always said I had a wonderful singing voice and..."

"No, no, no!" Sharwyn winked. "There's no room for two divas in this party, unless you'd like to be my back-up vocalist."

"You're right," Aribeth said, "perhaps I can sing, but I could never discover the secret of poetic writing. Even the reports I wrote could bore the readers to tears and those bureaucrats were definitely used to boredom."

"Well, you could be a cleric?" Alris offered.

On the opposite side of the campfire, Linu almost choked on a particularly hardened bit of ketchup. "Err, are you sure about that, dears? I can handle most of the party's healing needs... you're not trying to get rid of me, are you? Are you?!"

"Bad idea," Aribeth smiled, "besides, what god would have me after what I did? No, I'd best seen a completely different career."

"Hey, I know! Mage!" Linu said a little quickly.

"I don't know," Aribeth muttered. "The arcane isn't really for me, I feel. I don't think I could ever solely concentrate on studies of the arcane. No, I think it is best if I remain a warrior for now. There is one thing I do know I can do and that's bowcraft."

"Well," Alris said while holding and gently rubbing Aribeth's hand. "Perhaps it's time we turn in? We have a long way to travel tomorrow and..."

"The two of you want to get some shagging done before the hours of the night are up," Tomi grinned. "We understand completely, don't we, Sharry?"

"You won't tonight, Tomi," Sharwyn grinned.

"Tomi?" Alris asked. "Will you ever stop being interested in my and Aribeth's sex-life?"

"Hmmm, let me think," Tomi said, "errrrm... no."

---

Thundertree was a quint little village, at the edge of a great forest on the one side, and on the edge of a large collection of open green fields on the other. A pastoral, peaceful little town, made up from a haphazard collection of stone buildings alongside a small river.

Thundertree was mainly known for it's logging camps, but for the most part, the village was self sufficient and sported a small population made up from almost all the major races of Faerun.

Though, right now, Alris and Aribeth (and Linu, back at the inn) were the only elves in town. Aribeth was ready start a new life, away from the past... but she felt it necessary for her own healing process to make a last visit here. To say goodbye one more time.

"Oh, how little Thundertree has changed," Aribeth whispered, a slight melancholy entering her voice. "There's the well," she said. "I used to run around here when I was a child. I used to play by the river, run into the forest..."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Alris asked as he slowly started to rub his love's shoulders.

"I have to," Aribeth smiled and allowed Alris to continue his soothing massage for a short while longer, before they moved to the western part of town. They finally came to the place where the orcs attacked, and where the town's defenders fought them off... It didn't look like a warzone, not anymore. The foundations of the burned buildings still stood, but they blended into the landscape as nature had recovered and turned a warzone into a green pasture.

Aribeth strolled through the remains of the western part of town, which were not rebuild by the townfolk out of respect for those fallen, until she arrived at the foundation of what had been the western-most building, and the first one destroyed by the raiding orcs : her parental home and her mother's bakery. She knelt down at the side of the building and placed her hand on the remains of one of the walls. The elf took a bit of sand in her hand and rubbed it a little, allowing the grains of sand to sink through her fingers.

"I buried them over there," Aribeth said as she stood up and pointed to a large oak near the building. Together, the two lovers stepped over to the tree, where Aribeth knelt down again. "My mother, my father, my brothers," Aribeth sighed. "I... wrapped their remains in honeyleather and interred them between the roots of this tree. I remember it used to scare me, and later my two brothers, because it's branches tapped against the windows of our bedrooms whenever it was windy. We use to climb this tree to the top so we could overlook all over the valley..." Aribeth said, rubbing her hand over the symbol of Sehahine Moonbow, which she had carved into the tree with her dagger after she had finished burying her family. "I had hoped to see them again in Arvandor."

"You will," Alris said as he gently kissed the nape of her neck, "I just hope it's later and not sooner."

"Perhaps," Aribeth said. "A long life will be worth living again. Funny... I always thought a visit to Thundertree would be paining, but... all I can think off now are the good memories, not the bad ones. Going fishing with my brothers, hunting with my father, helping my mother in the bakery, tasting my mother's pastries, stealing apples with my friends from the orchard, playing by the river, my first kiss..."

"Really?"

"Well, Fenthick wasn't my first lover," Aribeth chuckled. "No, I had a couple of boyfriends in Thundertree, almost all human. Funny thing, the boy who gave me my first kiss grew up, married, had children and died before I was even out of my puberty. Such is the lot of an elf living in a human community, I suppose. And it would explain why my elven is so horribly accented."

"Believe me," Alris teased, "I noticed."

"Have you now?" Aribeth smirked. "Perhaps... you should teach me how I can improve my diction."

"About... Fenthick," Alris said, a pang of guilt crossing his features.

"You are sweet to consider my feelings," Aribeth said and briefly caressed his cheek. "But... I'm not sure if I ever really loved him. I am complete now, but back then, I was suppressing so much of myself. He was naive, even moreso than I... was. I'm not sure he could love what I am now, or if I would have fallen in love with him, being who I am now."

"It's just that," Alris sighed. "Well, I felt so guilty, especially after we fell in love so quickly after his death and..."

"Hanali once said that two elves who fell in love while experiencing a hardship are destined to remain together forever," Aribeth said, her voice taking a bit of a nervous tone as she spoke. "And we definitely had a share of hardship thrown our way," added. "I feel... this is so real for me, don't you?"

"Yes," was Alris' simple, yet all-saying reply.

"I think," Aribeth smiled, "that we should... seal our union, don't you?"

"You mean we, you, I... Are you asking me to marry you?" Alris blushed.

"That was my whole point," Aribeth smirked.

"Aren't I supposed to ask you?" Alris offered.

"Modern times, modern places," Aribeth grinned. "Besides, I'd think you'd faint from nerves before you would be able to ask."

"True," Alris smiled.

"So, will you?"

"Will I what?"

"Marry me, of course!" Aribeth snorted. "I can see the blood rush to your face."

"Of course I will," Alris finally blurted out, releasing a big sigh of relief after finally got the words out.

"Funny," Aribeth smiled, looking up at the tree. "That the moment I've been dreading ever since I left this town so long ago, should bring me so much joy."

"Life has an odd way of steering one into different directions that one might expect," Alris said as she two lovers embraced briefly. "If I had never decided to leave Evermeet, I would have never met you, for example."

"And if you'd never had met me," Aribeth said, while briefly pressing her lips on those of Alris, "we never would return to the inn right now to have a lovely dinner, and then go upstairs to our room to... celebrate our engagement."

"You know," Alris chuckled. "I never figured you were so..."

"Promiscuous?" Aribeth finished for him, with a tell-tale smirk. "There's a lot about me that you don't know... but which you'll find out soon. Besides," the elf whispered in Alris' ear, "I'm sure you won't have any complaints..."

"No," Alris said quickly, his face turning into a red beet.

"You'd better not have any," Aribeth said. "Come, let us return."

The two lovers slowly walked hand-in-hand back towards the inn, leaving the past behind them as they were ready to face their future together.
 
TnT Enhanced Edition: http://www.fanfictio...rds-and-Tempers

---
Sith Warrior - Master, I can sense your anger.

Darth Baras - A blind, comotose lobotomy-patient could sense my anger!

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"The New Age? It's just the old age stuck in a microwave oven for fifteen seconds" - James Randi




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