Chapter 40: The Hall of Wonders
"This is an inexcusable waste of our time. We should not be here," Edwin grumbled as he followed Coran and Imoen through a conveniently open window into the Hall of Wonders. "(Risking life and limb for something so trivial...)"
"Didn't you feel the least bit sorry for Brevlik?" Imoen asked.
"No."
"You don't have to come if you don't want to. Imoen and I are perfectly capable of handling it alone," Coran said. A foolish grin was smeared across the elf's face, as usual.
"(You'd like that, wouldn't you.) Someone has to make sure you don't get Imoen in trouble with your simian antics," Edwin said.
"Ah, but haven't you heard that luck is always with the romantic?" the wretched elf said, winking at Imoen.
Edwin had never missed the paladin as much as he did at that moment. Muttering a choice selection of Thayvian curses under his breath, he followed Imoen and the lout into the Hall.
The Hall itself was not too inferior, Edwin had to admit. A depressing lack of gold, but no more than Edwin expected after several months in the west, and in the faint light from the torches on the walls, he could tell there were vast expanses of marble. Giant staircases led to the main floor, where the exhibits where displayed in large cases made of glass with a more than adequate clarity and smoothness. Not a single guard was in sight.
"Where's the telethingy?" Imoen asked.
"Over there," Coran said, pointing towards a dark corner. Flaunting his night vision for her, Edwin thought with disgust.
They walked slowly, with soft steps, towards the display case the elf had indicated. "Yes, here it is," Coran said smugly.
Someone squealed behind the display case.
Moments later, a wide-eyed face surrounded by a wild mop of dark auburn hair peered out from behind the lower section of the case. "Oh! Scared me you did!" the face said. "I suppose I'm caught then? Peacefully I'll go, I'm not much for fighting... Wait a minute... Holy Leapin' Lavender Lizards! You're not the guard! You're... you're burglaring just like me!"
"Burglaring is such a distasteful word," Edwin said.
"Now this IS exciting! We should... we should work together! Yeah! I could use the help... uh...I mean, we could just help each other a little bit. Whatcha say?"
"Aren't you a bit young to be burglaring?" the elf asked.
"Young! I'm not young, I'm eighteen!" the face said.
Edwin took a second glance at the slanted eyes and pointy ears of the face, estimated a height based on the face's position, and congratulated himself once again on possessing a brain vastly superior to Coran's. "You are a halfling," he stated.
"That I am!" the face said cheerfully. "Alora's the name!"
"I'm Imoen," Imoen said, "this is Eddie, and the elf there is Coran."
"Hello, Imoen, Eddie and Coran!" she said, stepping out from behind the case.
Edwin sighed. "My name is Edwin Odesseiron. It is not 'Eddie'. (Why do I even try; it's probably too late already.)"
"What are you burglaring?" Imoen asked.
"Why, this Golden Farseer, of course! There was this poor gnome, and he was so sad..."
"Brevlik, right?"
"You met him too?"
"He hired us to steal the telethingy as well!"
Alora's face scrounched up with disappointment. "Now why would he go and do that? I'm good at stealing! Did he think I couldn't do it just because I am short?"
She is taller than the gnome, at the very least, Edwin mused.
"Maybe he just wanted to be sure he got it," Imoen said. "But let's do like you said and steal it together, and then we share the reward! How about it?"
"Double good and done!" the halfling said with a grin. "Oh, it'll be great fun having someone around to talk to! I don't meet many nice people in this trade. Just because we steal doesn't mean we have to be bad. Mostly I'm just curious what people have. He he, such fun!"
Imoen smiled at the shorter girl. "Let's look at this display case, shall we?"
Somehow, disaster was avoided. The worthless elf kept watch for guards, Imoen discovered and neutralized an alarm mechanism that protected the case, and the halfling proved to have considerable skill with lockpicking - all in the fingers, she'd said. Within five minutes, the object was safely in their possession, and within fifteen minutes, they had left the Hall of Wonders and closed the window behind them.
"I wonder what it does," the halfling said, juggling the telescope (at least one person was able to remember the correct term for the appliance) and peering through the lenses at each end. "Hey! Your nose looks huge in this, Eddie!" she said, and laughed.
Before he could stop his hands, he'd involuntarily reached up to cover his nose. He lowered his hand irritably. "(Foolish reflexes.) My nose is perfect in every way," he proclaimed.
"Let me see!" Imoen said. She took the telescope from Alora and looked at Edwin through it. "You're right!" she laughed.
"(Wonderful. Just wonderful.)" Imoen's penchant for foolish behaviour was running wild again, thanks to the meddling elf and his need for an adventure. The presence of the halfling, who clearly ingested too much sugar, merely aggravated her condition. "(And the evening started so well,)" Edwin muttered.
When they returned to the Elfsong, they found the gnome waiting where they'd left him; he was sitting in the corner booth where Edwin and Imoen had been studying. A small mug of ale stood in front of him, untouched.
"Hello again my rogueish compatriots!" the gnome exclaimed, apparently forgetting that the halfling had been hired separately. "Ooh, this is so exciting; it's like an adventure tale starring you and me! So, do you have it yet?"
"Here it is!" Imoen said, displaying the telescope with an artful (and impressively so) flourish.
"You are well worth your pay my friend, well worth it!" Brevlik said, eyeing the telescope greedily. "Oh, but it is a beauty... I'll be the toast of Amn, for sure, when I display it!"
"Amn?" Edwin asked.
"You plan to display it yourself?" Imoen asked.
"I... er... Oh, but who else can display such a treasure in a manner that'll most highlight its glory!" the gnome said.
"Or best line your pocket," Edwin said.
"You're tricksy!" Alora cried. "You didn't trust little Alora to get it for you, and you want to use it for money! Do you know how sad that makes me?" A tear trickled down the halfling's cheek; all in all, her face was an astounding portrayal of a deeply wounded heart, and Edwin couldn't help but feel impressed.
"The deal is off," Imoen said, clutching the telescope to her chest. "We're taking it back."
"But... but... you can't!" Brevlik pleaded. "They'll just keep it locked up, never to be touched! No gnome will know the true joy of such an artifact!"
"We can, and we will," Edwin said, positioning himself between the girl and the gnome, as the latter appeared on the verge of attacking Imoen for the prize. "(He'd have it worn out and broken in a fortnight with his display methods, I believe.)"
"You have to let me touch it! I must inspect it!"
"Just order a copy. It'll work exactly the same way," Imoen said as the four of them left the tavern and the now wailing gnome.
Restoring the telescope to its display was a simple task. Edwin stood guard (he did not trust Coran to fulfil that task properly) while the two girls repeated their work with the locks and the alarms and gently replaced the telescope. They snuck out of the Hall within five minutes; once again, the operation had gone unnoticed by any guards. The whole affair had showcased Imoen's manual skills (oh, and the halfling's, as well) and if not for the fact that it'd wasted valuable time that could have been otherwise spent on magical research (and the fact that it'd been time spent with Coran), Edwin would almost have been satisfied with the evening's activities.
"Wasn't that great fun?" Alora asked as they parted outside the Elfsong. "We do pretty good for just meeting! How about we do this again, like all the time?"
"A splendid idea!" Coran cried.
"Well, we'll have to ask the others, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Imoen said, smiling. "How about you meet them for breakfast tomorrow?"
"I love breakfast!" Alora said. "See you in the morning!"
---
Imoen opened the door to the bedroom as carefully and quietly as she could; she didn't want to wake Ember if she could help it. The soft, frustrated sighing she heard from within changed her mind.
She ran towards Ember's bed and reached for her friend's hands. Ember was fast asleep, but her hands were twisting and clenching so hard that the tendons stood out like cords. Washing her hands again, Imoen thought with dismay. She knew this dream wasn't as bad as the ones with the mean voice in them, but she knew Ember hated it almost as much. Imoen had offered to watch her at night and wake her, but Ember had insisted that Imoen needed the sleep more; besides, she didn't always move or make sounds. Still, this was the third time Imoen had caught Ember dreaming. At least I can wake her from this one.
"Em, wake up. It's me, Imoen," she said, holding Ember's hands with her own. "You're only dreaming. Wake up."
There was a ragged gasp, and Ember's hands relaxed; Imoen felt them tremble from the exertion. "Immy?" Ember asked hoarsely.
"Yep, it's me. It's all right," Imoen whispered and stroked her friend's sweaty forehead.
"I have to stop this, Immy," Ember mumbled, still half asleep.
"I know. You'll figure it out, just you wait and see!"
But how? Imoen sighed and crawled into Ember's bed, nestling against her friend's back and wrapping an arm around her. Ember had stopped touching her hands - she did that every time Imoen woke her from that dream, as if to check that they really weren't sticky with blood - and her breathing had slowed to normal. Soon, she'd fallen asleep again.
Imoen stared into the darkness for quite a while before she too fell asleep.
