A Matter of Balance

Jaheira could not breathe. Please, child, she prayed. It took all her willpower to stand quietly by while Galvarey interrogated Renai. Please be wary. Galvarey may not in truth be the Harper Herald, but these fools that stand with him do not know this. Be wary or we both shall hang.

But on Renai's face was that look, the one that meant she no longer cared about later because she was going to score points now.

"My first memory, hmmmmm," Renai replied to his question. Jaheira moaned softly; the girl was baring her teeth at him! "I remember ... coming through those doors behind me. Everything before that's pretty hazy."

"I hoped for too much by expecting cooperation from you, I see." Galvarey narrowed his eyes and looked at Renai from top to toe. Renai, standing stiffly in the studded leather dress she wore as armor, clenched her fists so tightly that Jaheira thought she heard something crack. "Tell me, Daughter of Darkness ... "

"Don't call me that. That's not my name."

"But it is. 'Arengil,' in an old druidic tongue, means daughter of darkness. Surely you knew that, didn't you?"

"So what." Renai's voice grew thinner as her breath came harder as she held her temper in check. "'Galf eiri' in that same language means duck mucas. So what's in a name?"

Torn between laughing at Renai's retort and smacking her for not realizing the gravity of the situation, Jaheira settled for poking Renai in the ribs. "This is not the time or place for such a display," she hissed.

"Tell him, he started it," Renai answered loudly enough for Galvarey to hear.

Galvarey nodded at the two lieutenants standing at his side. They readied their crossbows but stopped short of actually taking aim at Renai. "And I will finish this. Tell me, Daughter of Darkness, do you have violent thoughts?"

Jaheira slapped her hand over Renai's mouth before the girl could reply, but Renai shook her off and cried out, "You should see the ones I'm having right now!"

"Just as I suspected. Would a child of murder be capable of any others?"

"It is likely she would answer so, you insufferable pig! You are goading her!" Jaheira snapped, then she slapped Renai on the back of her head. "And you are goading him. Keep your tongue civil lest it get cut out of your head!" The girl shot her a baleful glare but had the sense to keep quiet.

Galvarey's glare was just as sharp as Renai's. "Then permit me one last question," he said to Renai. "What is your favorite color?"

"What?" Jaheira and Renai cried in union.

Renai shook her head. "That's it, I'm outta here," she growled and took a step toward the door. "Don't think this hasn't been a slice of heaven. Because it hasn't."

"Stop!" Galvarey's shout made everyone in the room, including Jaheira and Renai, crouch defensively. "I am not finished with you, Bhaalspawn!"

"But we are done with you!" Jaheira shouted. "All night we argued over this, Galvarey, and today against my better judgment -- against this," she motioned at the opulent building that housed Athkatla's Harpers, "against you, I have brought her here to be questioned, as ordered. And you've done nothing but harraunge and insult her."

"You walk a thin line, rebel. And your voice counts little here. It's well known that you consider yourself a friend to this ... creature."

"And your voice should count even less. You have your opinions decided, based not upon her character but upon your ambition. These questions are pointless."

"But there is a point, Jaheira. I needed to know her true nature, and I have discovered it. Angry, hateful, obstinate. Rebellious. Look at her!" Galvarey waved a hand shaking in rage at Renai. "She's barely human!"

"That's probably because I'm mostly elven," Renai said. Jaheria tried to smack Renai again, but the girl dodged her blow and looked daggers at her. "Stop that! And don't talk about me like I'm not here, you know I hate that."

"You will be silent!" Galvary came forward and stood before Jaheira to look down at her. "You knew that this day would come, Jaheira. There are protocols to be followed. The Daughter of Darkness will be confined."

"That has never been decided. The Children are to be observed, led or taught if possible." Jaheira felt Renai's gaze burning into the back of her neck. There would be much to explain later. If there was a later. "You are not Herald, but you seek to climb to that position atop Renai's pain. That will not happen."

Renai grinned hard at Galvary's lieutenants, who were circling them. "I'd like to see you try to take me. This place is nothing compared to the last dungeon I left."

"He means a spell," Jaheira had to fight not to grimace at her words. Yes, she would have much to explain. "You would be imprisoned in a small container leagues beneath the earth, forever, with no chance for escape."

"Not the room with a view I hoped for. I'm afraid I'll just have to pass on this one."

Galvarey laughed, the smug titter of a man who knew victory was certain. "You have no choices left, Daughter of Darkness. There are six Harpers within this room, and but one of you."

Jaheira again could not breathe. Think, dammit, think! Khalid always told her to thinking often produced better results than fighting. Dammit, Khalid, why aren't you here now to think for me! But before her only was a choice: the Harpers, whom Galvarey in his arrogance counted her among, or Renai, the daughter of two beloved mentors who was now Jaheira's best friend.

Renai's dark eyes met Jaheira's green ones, and the choice seemed not so difficult after all.

Before she could speak, Renai grabbed her by the collar and dragged her forward. "You ... how could you!" she spat into Jaheira's stunned face. But with the eye Galvarey could not see, Renai winked. "You lying, backstabbing bitch, you dare call yourself a friend to me! Faithless betrayer!" She arched her eyebrow and glanced at Galvarey, then shook Jaheira so hard her teeth rattled. "I could find a better friend out of a pack of summoned monsters! I should have expected a plague of problems like this from you!"

Galvarey looked delighted at Renai's sudden outburst of temper, but Jaheira noted that he hadn't ordered any of his lackeys to help her. They all stood by with weapons lowered, seeming to enjoy the potential catfight.

"If this is the path, so be it!" Jaheira balled her fist and punched hesitantly at Renai, trying to let her defend herself. But Renai easily blocked her strike, grabbed a fistful of Jaheira's hair and clawed at her eyes with her other hand.

Jaheira's hesitation at Renai's fierce attack rewarded her with a long scratch from Renai's nails down her cheek. But the girl backed off and looked almost contrite before she pulled hard again on Jaheira's hair. Jaheira managed to snag some strands of Renai's dark hair and accidentally pulled them free from her head. I hope you know what you're doing, child. Even if this impromptu distraction works, the odds still are five against two.

Hours of practice together made their choreographed dance seem a true fistfight. Jaheira even heard two men placing bets on the outcome and was irritated that they bet against her. "Reckless brat!"

Laughter danced in Renai's eyes. "Pompous ass!"

Beneath the sounds of the battle, Jaheira whispered her spell. As they slapped and pulled each others' hair, they manuevered next to Galvarey, who watched with a cruel, satisfied smile.

Jaheira finished her spell, and three leopards materialized with a flash in the center of the room.

"Now!" Renai screamed. Her fist and Jaheira's connected hard with Galvarey's jaw. He fell to the polished floor before his four lieutenants understood what had happened.

Renai threw herself down beside Galvarey, ramming her elbow into Galvarey's chest. He grunted loudly and lost consciousness. "That's four of you to five of us now, Duck Mucas," Renai muttered as she pulled her quarterstaff from its holder on her back and blocked a burly Harper woman's punch. Nearby, two leopards pounced on a man with a crossbow and a third cornered a priest of Torm.

Jaheira pointed at a mage who had been standing behind Galvarey and chanted her spell. Warmth coursed through her body, climaxing in a dark mass that swirled from her fingertip. Seeing Jaheira's magic and hearing the angry hum coming from the mass, the mage flailed his arms to make the arcane motions and stammered out his spell, but it was too late. The swarm of insects engulfed him, biting and stinging, and beneath the buzzing Jaheira could hear muffled screams.

Stupid mages, she thought, easily dispatching him with her scimitar. If they intend to go into battle, they first learn how to live outside their magical bubbles. Fools. She turned and quickly surveyed the scene: The woman Renai had been fighting lay in a pool of her own blood, and the two leopards had torn their prey to pieces. One was contentedly chewing away on the man's boot.

The priest of Torm had killed the leopard that attacked him and had engaged a very angry Renai into battle. Jaheira smiled despite herself: Renai, using her quarterstaff like a club, was pounding repeatedly on the priest's prone body.

Jaheira cleared her throat. Renai kept pounding.

"Renai?"

Pound, pound, pound.

"I think you can stop now, child," Jaheira cautiously tapped Renai on the shoulder.

At her touch, the girl started, then ceased her activity. When she composed herself, she leaned on her staff, panting. "Are we done?" she gasped.

"I believe that is the last-" As soon as the words were free of her lips, Renai grabbed Jaheira by the collar again and shook her hard.

"Protocols?" she shouted. Looking into her eyes were like starring into dark pools of concentrated fury. The fear and unease Jaheira had felt before the battle against five Harpers were nothing compared to the terror in her heart now. "What in the Nine Hells did he mean, 'protocols'?" She released Jaheira with a push, sending her skidding across the slick floor made slicker with gore. "You owe me answers, Harper."

"Manhandle me once again and I shall summon a bear and direct him to sit on you." Jaheira tugged on her blouse to straighten it and to buy time to think. Renai was not the killer Galvarey believed her to be, and Jaheira was certain she would walk out of this compound alive. Unharmed, however, was another matter entirely. "It is an explanation that will take time to tell."

"Goodness, Jae, how much more time have you needed except for the whole year we've been traveling together! Renai screamed, thumping her quarterstaff on the floor so hard blood and grime rained off it and pattered across the floor. "You've been lying to me all this time! How could you!"

"I have not been lying to you!" Jaheira shouted back. "I have simply not bothered you with details you did not need to know!"

"Details I didn't need to know. Such as that my father is a dead god of murder? You didn't tell me that either until after I found father's letter!"

Jaheira winced. I despise it when she is right! No, I place the blame with Gorion. He should have told her long ago. It is his fault. But she sighed. "I should have told you, yes. For that, I apologize, you are right. And for this as well." Jaheira gestured at the dead and unconscious bodies strew about the compound. "But I had hoped, as you have hoped, that perhaps it is Gorion's blood within you, and if that is the case, the protocols the Harpers share would be irrelevant."

Some of the anger on Renai's face faded, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. After a moment she muttered, "That's a hope that's run its course."

"Let it remain. Moren believed you were Gorion's child. She would say always, 'See how she resembles Gorion so, her eyes are just like his.'"

Renai's smile was bitter. "Father's eyes were blue."

Jaheira inched forward, keeping her eyes on both Renai's hands and her staff, to squeeze Renai's hand. "You will remember that your mother defied her druid circle for you. They decided your name to be Arengil, Daughter of Darkness. Moren named you Renai, Light. Does this mean nothing?"

"Compared to this?" Renai nodded at Galvarey's prone body. She swallowed hard and did not answer. After a moment, she whispered, "So did you and Khalid meet me at the Friendly Arm last year because of your Harper protocols?"

Jaheira inhaled against the pain she expected to come at the sound of Khalid's name. And there was pain, but it was tempered into something softer. She could not identify it now. "No," she said after a moment. "I came because I loved Moren as a mother, as I did not love my own. And I wanted to know Moren's daughter. And here you are."

Renai did not reply but looked again at Jaheira. "Anything else you need to tell me? Like that you're my clone or that you're in love with me, or anything like that?"

This time Jaheira allowed herself to smile at Renai's irreverance. "I have told you everything I judge you should know."

"Good." Some of the fury returned to her eyes. "Becauase if I find out otherwise, if you've kept back something about me or my life, then we're quits, you and I."

"Of course."

"I mean it, Jae. In this world, I trust Imoen and you. If I can't trust you ..." She did not finish. She did not have to finish.

Not certain her voice would not tremble, Jaheira nodded. A careful grin returned to Renai's face. "Shall we go, then?"

Jaheira looked around the room. Although the large building looked as if it was home to many Harpers, none had come to assist the Harpers during their battle. Perhaps that meant that these five were this group's only members, but Jaheira doubted that.Sooner or later, news of this slaughter would be heard, and it would bring trouble. I have been gone too long and lost many allies. I know when I cannot fight. Perhaps it is time that I would renounce my life as a Harper.

"No," Renai said sharply. Jaheira started, then realized she had spoken her thought aloud. "You can't do that, it's been your whole life. Don't do that because of me."

"Not everything occurs because of you, prophesized though you are to change the world." Jaheira walked over the Galvarey and looked down at him. Matching purple bruises colored his jaw, and he snored lightly. She poked him with the tip of her scimitar. "What of him, then?"

"What about him?"

"We've made an enemy of him today. He shall not stop until we are dead. We should be safer if he were not alive to persue us."

Renai studied Galvarey for a moment. "I've been thinking a lot about death today," she said slowly. "This makes ... thirteen people killed today either by my hand or because of me. I didn't mean to kill them, but I was defending myself. It's not all right, but it'll have to be. I can live with it if I have to. But to kill Galvarey, now ..." She shook her head. "He's a dog, but he's defenseless, and we're sitting her trying to decided his death. That would be murder."

"Sometimes such things are necessary."

"If the blood of Bhaal does run in my veins, Jae, shouldn't I be more than what I am?"

Jaheira made a face. "You pick an awkward moment to argue ethics, child."

"Faerun's a big place, Jae. Let him find me." Renai kicked Galvarey lightly in the ribs before turning toward the door. "Come on, we've got a schedule to keep."

"Go ahead. I shall come along behind you. I must ... I would restrain him, at least." Jaheira held Renai's dark stare until Renai reluctantly turned and left the building.

Jaheira turned back to Galvarey and gripped tight the hilt of her scimitar. There is murder, and there is preservation. Such is the way of balance, she thought and raised the blade.