- "Mmmh?" Sarevok felt an anxious precense and stirred in his sleep, carefully opening his another eye. His bedroll was next to Peri's, and they held each others' hands. This was how they nowadays always slept. Peri was fast asleep.
Cespenar was fidgeting next to Sarevok and kept glancing at him, but didn't seem able to look him straigth in the eye.
- "Sarevok? Me'se very worried and can we'se talk?" Cespenar looked sad and guilty. "Pleasepleaseplease?"
- "Mh. All right. Give me a minute." Sarevok gently pried Peri's fingers from his own, yawned and stretched, and walked to the remnants of the magically conjured campfire with the nervous imp.
- "I hope this is something good. It is the middle of the night, and we have to fight a drow priestess and an assortment of her minions tomorrow," he irritably added, and regretted immediately as Cespenar's large and pleading eyes saddened even more.
- "I am sorry, Cespenar. Of course it is important, if you are in distress," Sarevok said more softly, feeling foolish and out of his depth.
- "You'se think... can have many best friends, maybe? Not only one best friend, no, but also one two three four..." Cespenar started to babble, avoiding Sarevok's gaze.
- "I get the idea," Sarevok interrupted. "As an answer, I think the concept of a 'best friend' loses something essential if you can have infinite number of them, but I think it is perfectly possible to have a few you can not put in an order of preference."
- "Sarevok really thinks so? Not just saying it is all good good good can have many best friend so that me'se all happy and then Sarevok really crying all sad sad sad and think Cespenar not his best friend anymore and not like poor Sarevok and then Sarevok thinks everyone is like nastybad demon and not like..."
- "Cespenar! I rarely lie to others in order to make them to feel better. I gather you have a new best friend now?"
- "Oh yes oh yes! But Sarevok still also me'se best friend in all world and Abyss and Carceri and Hades and Gehenna and Baator and..."
- "Cespenar."
- "Cause pinkhead is really really really nice and pinkhead hug little Cespenar and pinkhead spells say all ooooooomph and Sarevok not cast spells at all and imps can be special friend to a magician and Cespenar still wants to be Sarevok's..."
- "I believe you. It is perfectly all right if you want to be best friend to both me and Imoen, with the additional responsibility of being Imoen's familiar," Sarevok sighed.
All the anxiety was gone in a second. Cespenar's face was alight with joy, and he started to sing in out of tune.
- "Meeee'se the happy happy imp, meeeee'se can coooooks a spicy shrimp, meeeeee'se pour me'se friends some self-made meaaaaad, along with some..."
- "Cespenar! You'll wake everyone up!"
Sarevok frowned, but the overjoyed imp hugged him, flapping his leathery wings. Sarevok hugged back, sighing again. Come to think of it, Cespenar was probably the first entity he had started to treat decently. Or perhaps Myra.
Sarevok didn't get sleep in a while. If someone had told him when he was at the height of his madness that he would care about the feelings of a silly imp to the extent that he'd let him interrupt his sleep and still comfort the thing, he would probably have split that person in half for the mere insult. But still... it didn't make him feel weak anymore. Imoen always cared about others' feelings, and she wasn't weak. She had such courage... and she had her upbeat personality almost intact even after all that shell of a magician had done to her. Granted, sometimes little sister chirruped like a little, annoying bird, jumping about and interrupting his moping and thought processes... but that was who she was. Little Imoen.
Sarevok drifted asleep and was in Candlekeep. He walked in the garden and was wearing his old armor. At the old times he had felt safe inside of it, but now it felt like a prison around him. He walked to the bench on the sunny side of the library, the bench he had seen Gorion and Peri sitting on. The old sage sat on the bench, his gray-blue eyes looking expectantly at Sarevok.
- "Strip that armor, Sarevok. You don't need it anymore," he said in his gentle voice. "No-one will hurt you."
Sarevok took the plate mail off. He felt sun and the gentle wind on his bald head and marveled at the beauty of the garden for a while. Gorion gestured to him, beckoning him to sit next to him on the bench. Sarevok sat there, shy and hesitant. Gorion took hold of his hand.
- "You have come a long way, Sarevok," Gorion said.
Sarevok felt like crying, but in a good way.
- "I have something to ask to you," Gorion continued.
- "Anything," Sarevok said.
- "You must help Peri. I can't approach her directly as she is still much influenced by her divine sire. More than she knows. The blood is so strong in her, so strong... and she shares something with you. Nothing gets her more than powerless rage, the inability to protect those she loves. Things will not be easy to any of you, and she will be tempted by the power of Bhaal to be able to protect those close to her. She may delude herself to think she can handle the taint as her power grows, against her better knowledge. She listens to you like she listens to no-one else. Sarevok, watch my daughter's step."
- "You have my word. Nothing would please me more than to be able to give back something," Sarevok sighed.
His dream faded into surreal, unrelated images.
-------
Cespenar is worried, as he wants to be also Imoen's best friend (and familiar), fearing that Sarevok would get sad. Sarevok assures that he can be best friend to both of them.
Sarevok dreams of Gorion. Gorion asks her to help Peri, as he foresees a great danger of Peri being tempted by the Bhaal power.
Makings of a monster
