Part 8

Sunlight poured, spattered like gold, like amber mead upon the emerald leaves of the clearing.

"Are you sure you don't want to lie down?" Alyndria asked anxiously.

Jaheira clung to the low-hanging branch, arching as another contracion swept through her. Her honey gold hair hung in sweaty tendrils around her face, its loveliness strained with the fierceness of her expression, and somehow all the more poignant. Though the day was cool, more sweat plastered her light tunic to her body, outlining the burgeoning curve of her abdomen, full and ripe, round as the moon. She was ferocious in her labours, mad with pain, and longing, vengeful as a thunderhead - in this, as with anything else Jaheira did, she was utterly, breathlessly magnificent.

"I would prefer this child were born sometime this *century*," Jaheira hissed between clenched teeth, her voice like a serpent over grass. "You've been listening far too much to the city healers, child. They have such foolish notions about childbirth, while most of them have never borne a child themselves. And do you know why that is? Because they are *men*! They have their little rut, roll their eyes back in their heads with a blissful smile, and that's the end - leaving us to deal with the consequences. I swear, Khalid, by Nature Herself, if you *ever* want another child, I will buy two girdles of gender and then *I* will do the impregnating!"

Alyndria rubbed the Druid's back soothingly. "You know, Jaheira, you may just have something there. I think you would be simply enchanting as a woman, Khalid."

"Don't encourage her," begged the already nervous father-to-be, with a quaver in his voice most would have mistaken for a natural reaction to the excitement of the impending arrival of his firstborn.

"Even better, I... AUGH!... will buy *one* girdle of gender, and then you can get a notion of how uncomfortable it is when..."

"Now, Jaheira," Khalid interrupted. "We can work out the details later..."

"Jaheira, you're a little overwrought," Alyndria soothed. "And a little overheated. Khalid, will you bring me some water?"

Warily the fighter approached, canteen in hand.

"Here, Khalid, let me take that - and you take over here. My hands are getting a little tired. See, it isn't so awful, really - and if you do a really good job, you may just regain her favours when she is feeling more like herself."

"Forgive me love," Khalid whispered, rubbing Jaheira's back in slow circles as Alyndria sponged her face and arms with water. "I cannot bear to see you in pain and I know I am the cause."

"Don't be... Ugh! foolish, Khalid - women have been having babies for as long as there have been stars in the heavens."

"Jaheira...!" Alyndria exclaimed excitedly. "I see it! I see the head - you have to push! Push now!"

"What do you think I have been doing child?!"

"Hurling threats at your poor husband and scaring him witless," Alyndria replied cheerfully, flashing an impudent grin. "Now do what comes naturally."

"Easy for you to say," Jaheira groaned, bearing down. "Now come, child, no more wasting time - already you resemble your father."

"Come on," Khalid encouraged his wife, ignoring the barb. "That's it, beloved, just a little more."

Jaheira's hands were white-knuckled on the branch as she gave a last, defiant shout and the child suddenly slipped forth into Alyndria's outstretched hands.

"Excellent work!" Alyndria crowed, beaming over the tiny, slippery bundle. "It's a girl, you have a daughter..." With her smallest finger, she swept the child's mouth, and was rewarded with a cry near as loud as Jaheira's had been. "And she has your lungs!"

Quickly she worked, tying the cord in two places and sponging the tiny baby off. Fingers, toes, two perfect pointed ears, tip tilted eyes like sapphires... A glance at Khalid told her he was too dazed to be much use, except to help Jaheira to a more comfortable position on the ground. Deftly Alyndria cut the cord. The baby was still an angry, vicious red, her head slightly misshapen from the trauma of her birth. "Oh you beautiful thing," Alyndria crooned, meaning it with all her heart, as she wrapped the child in the first thing to hand - Khalid's last clean tunic - and passed the tiny girl to her adoring parents. "You must be so *proud*!"

She saw Khalid brush a wondering fingertip through the wispy darkness of the baby's curls, saw Jaheira's smile, tired and radiant at once. Saw time begin to slow around them to a crawl as she understood, suddenly... suddenly...

This was not... they were not... there was something she should remember but did not.

Jaheira met her eyes and smiled, again, a look of such peace that it curled, warmly tangible, into Alyndria's very heart. It did not matter, all was well in this place. She didn't understand what it was that had been troubling her before - how trivial it seemed, whatever it was... Jaheira was fine and well. So beautiful... So happy...

"I have done what I needed to do," Jaheira told her.

A shadow fell across them where they sat. The shadow of a man.

Suddenly Alyndria remembered. "No... you are... no..." She turned to see who had interrupted them -

And awoke, frozen stiff, heart pounding, emotions warring as reality sank in. Next to her, Aerie slept on, oblivious, the elf girl's soft breathing almost too real for Alyndria to bear.

"No..." a soft, whispered denial, and it did not come from her. "No..."

Alyndria poked her head through the bedcurtains, saw two shapes, crimson to her elven vision, curled in their blankets on the floor.

Yoshimo had still not come in, then.

"No..." again the denial, louder, and Alyndria emerged from her sanctuary.

The smaller shape twisted, tangled itself in its coverings as Alyndria drew closer.

"Khalid?" tentatively she touched the fighter's brow. "Khalid, you're dreaming... Shhh..."

He opened his eyes, to her infravision black and blood red in pools of shadow. She could see tear tracks - zones infinitesimally dimmer on the planes of his face.

"I... Sorry..." He rubbed at his eyes harshly, as if he could rub out what they had seen, what he had been dreaming of - what they had seen in waking nightmares. "Did I wake you?" His voice trembled over the words.

"No, my own dreams did that..." She brushed her hands over his face again, felt the moisture she had known would be there. Her hand continued back, over his hair. He kept it bristle-short for convenience under a helmet, but though there was barely an inch of it, it was springy and silken to the touch, curving obstinately, threatening curls if it were allowed but a fraction more growth.

He said nothing as she continued to stroke his hair absently, as she would have one of Candlekeep's more friendly cats.

"That feels... nice," Khalid finally murmured after a moment.

Alyndria started a little - she had thought he had fallen back asleep, the hypnotic brush of his hair beneath her fingertips had done a surprising amount to send her that way herself. "You don't mind?"

"No. I was getting a headache, but it seems to be fading now..."

"Is it your helmet? I know it's not the one you're used to - we could get you another..."

"My helmet is fine..." she could hear traces of amusement in his voice, a warmth that seemed to mimic the red haze of infravision that shrouded him, lighting him dimly to her searching gaze. "I do miss that old one you had me in, though - the one we found in Durlag's Tower. I know it looked funny on me, but I felt strangely better while wearing it... I think perhaps you were
on to something with that dragon helm of yours."

"Never underestimate the all-conquering power of the silly hat," Alyndria whispered, eliciting a sound suspiciously like a giggle from Khalid. "Why do you think all the nobility affects such ridiculous headgear? Surely even they can't be foolish enough to believe they look good!"

This time Khalid did laugh softly, a bright spark of unexpected mirth that warmed her. "They say laughter is good for the soul," he mused, "and here you are, helping me to find it even in the midst of my grief. Truly you... are a wonder."

"Didn't a certain someone tell me once 'That's what friendship is about'?"

"Yes, well... we should rest now."

"Yes," Alyndria agreed, rising reluctantly to return to bed. "We have another friend who needs us."

**********

Alyndria stretched luxuriously under the covers, she was enjoying this first warm, proper bed she'd had since leaving Baldur's Gate - and even more so since the room outside the nest she shared with Aerie was rather chill. The young elf woman was a polite and welcome bed companion, neither too distant, nor too clingy or possessive of the blankets. Her gentle, benign presence was soothing, though nothing could replace Imoen's comfortable sisterly familiarity.

What was Imoen doing right now? Alyndria hoped fervently, prayed that she suffered from nothing more than boredom.

Suddenly the quiet of the room was disturbed by a tiny rattling sound outside the door. Evidently Minsc and Khalid heard, for there was the distinctive shing of swords being drawn. Alyndria reached for her own morningstar off the floor while nearby Aerie slumbered on.

Alyndria nudged the elf awake.

"Huh?"

"Shhh... grab your mace, someone is at the door."

The door creaked open.

"Oh! It's you, Yoshimo," stammered Khalid. "We thought you were..."

"A thief?" said the man from Kara Tur. Alyndria heard the smirk in his voice. "Rejoice all, for I am not here to make off with your valuables, but I have spent the night plying my skills to benefit my comrades, yes? In the darkness all the world was blind to my passing, and I made the riches of
countless strangers mine with none the wiser."

The bedcurtains were flung abruptly open, and Yoshimo's grinning visage appeared.

Aerie shrieked and dove beneath the covers, but Alyndria regarded him with a forced calmness.

"My lady," Yoshimo said gravely, "I humbly offer tribute."

Unknotting the strings of the small bag he carried with him, Yoshimo poured its glittering contents onto the counterpane. Jewels, gold - there must have been easily over two hundred - and magical scrolls spilled into her lap. She could feel the impact of the coins, like hailstones, even through the blankets.

It was decadent and strange to be caught thus in bed, wearing only her shift, and showered with wealth. She wondered if this was what it felt like to be an expensive courtesan. Across the room she could see Khalid and Minsc watching open mouthed - chivalry wasn't dead by any means, but sometimes it could be downright confused.

Yoshimo watched her face impassively for a reaction.

"Your contribution to the group is welcome," she told the bounty hunter in the same formal tone he had used. "You didn't take anything from anyone who couldn't spare it?"

Yoshimo bowed. "Never. I merely relieved a few fat merchants of the burdens of their fat purses."

"Well done then," she said, trying to smile convincingly. "Aerie and I should get dressed now."

Yoshimo bowed again.

"The ummm, bedcurtain, Yoshimo?"

"Oh. Yes." He released the curtain and it fell with a rustle, once more dropping soft blue shadows around the occupants of the bed.

A tousled Aerie emerged from beneath the covers, a faint blush staining her cheek, but she grinned irrepressibly at Alyndria, surveying the glittering bounty which was spread out over them. "Ha, it is nice to have a woman in charge for a change. Men always steal the blankets!"

Alyndria arched a golden brow as she regarded the young elven woman - she would have hardly picked her as someone who would know much about that particular subject. Feeling bold, she asked, "And what do you know of men?"

Aerie's blush deepened as she confirmed Alyndria's suspicion. "Not very much at all, but if I find one kind enough to share the blankets on a cold night, I think I would... I think I would like him very much."

"On that we are agreed," Alyndria found herself saying, all the more surprised because it was true. Things were so different now... she had seen so much of men and women, and their ways, all the while not really touching it herself. Some of the things, like the Undercellar, had disturbed her, but some... moonlight on the shores of a distant island... Her first kiss. Durlyle. She had not had time to think of him, not since before their capture by Irenicus, but she had carried dried belladonna flowers ever since that night, until all their things had been taken from them.

She remembered what Jaheira had told her, that sometimes the supposed 'gift' of lycanthropy could be controlled - that some high level Druids were masters of this, took willingly what Kaishas Gan had given them unknowing, and learned to dominate their bestial side, train it to serve them and their cause. It had not been said in so many words, but Jaheira had hinted that it might be possible, if Durlyle were with them, if he lived still on the island gone mad... She had hinted that he could be so trained, could walk at Alyndria's side... could lie in her bed... The thought had grown in her mind, captured her imagination... she had thought at the time that perhaps she could love him, remembering the unfamiliar feelings his kiss had aroused in her, aroused, yes... perhaps... and that perhaps then she would not feel so alone, alone on those nights of firelight and soft cries, barely muffled against skin. Those nights when Khalid and Jaheira...

"Alyndria? You've gone far away suddenly. What is it?"

"Nothing Aerie. Did you sleep well?"

"I--I had a dream that I had wings again and was resting my head on the cloudy peaks of home. Oh, Alyndria, it was just beautiful." Aerie's fingers twisted in the covers. "You must wonder what happened to them, my wings I mean - I'm surprised you haven't asked."

"It isn't any of my business, Aerie, unless you choose to tell me..."

"I... well, you see, I used to be an attraction at the circus. A caged attraction. And my wings couldn't handle the small confines of a cage, they became diseased from lack of use, and had to be removed."

"Removed... oh gods..." Pictures of just what ‘removal' entailed flashed across her mind, and she felt her gorge rise. "How could they? None of it would have happened if they'd kept you in a bigger cage... What am I saying, you should not have been kept in a cage at all!" Alyndria shuddered, revolted by the horror to which this young innocent had been subjected. "I should have taken you out of there and let Kalah have his way with the rest of them."

"But then we wouldn't have saved Uncle Quayle," Aerie pointed out. "And the circus is under new ownership since then... the owner who bought me was killed in a rather nasty bar fight. Things have a way of coming around naturally sometimes."

"I'm sorry, Aerie," Alyndria murmured softly. "You've lost something I cannot begin to imagine."

"Everyone has lost something in this circle of yours, I think," Aerie
replied, patting Alyndria's arm. "Maybe together we can all find something too."