In The Cards

I've never been one to pick my friends depending on how 'socially acceptable' they are. My friends are my friends, and that is really all that matters to me. I don't need them to be paragons of virtue and respectability, after all I'm hardly one myself.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

For a bandit-infested forest Peldvale was actually a surprisingly pretty and peaceful place, Zaerini decided. Birds sang in the tall trees, swooping and diving through the flickering patches of light and shadow in the air. An uncountable number of small lakes were everywhere, glittering like diamonds in the afternoon sun. The half-elf smiled as she saw Imoen wade into a large patch of pink and sweet-smelling flowers, stirring up a cloud of yellow butterflies in the process. A few of them even settled in her hair like living flower-petals.

"You know, Rini," the young thief exclaimed, "this was a great idea. This place is beautiful. Want some flowers?" She grinned and held out a small bouquet towards her friend.

"Pink isn't exactly my color, Immy," the bard responded with a warm smile of her own. "You keep them. And you're right, it's really beautiful." She was pleased to see her friend so happy. There had been far too few pretty places in their lives lately.

"Apart from the small fact of the bandits no doubt lying in wait to ambush us even as we speak," Jaheira said. The druid hadn't exactly approved of the current plans and not even the calm of the forest was enough to get her into a more peaceful mood. "Oh, I am sorry," she said, green eyes flashing. "Your bandit friend promised not to do any such thing, and of course we all know the wisdom of trusting in complete strangers, particularly dangerous ones."

"Jaheira, you were a stranger to me once," Rini said, trying to bite down on her irritation. "A potentially dangerous one, I might add. If not for the fact of you being Gorion's friend I probably never would have trusted you enough for you to become mine. And for the record, I don't trust him yet, at least not fully. I'm sure he has his own agenda, but who doesn't? As long as he's willing to help I'm willing to let him."

"I a-agree," Khalid said unexpectedly. "Any a-ally is valuable, and should not b-be rejected."

"Khalid, he is a bandit. As Harpers we should…"

"As Harpers we should d-do what we c-can to h-help those who need us. The b-b-bandits are a danger, and this p-person has offered to h-help us against them. I w-will reserve judgement until I have actually m-m-met the man."

Jaheira sighed. Golden-brown hair glittered in a stray ray of sunlight as she shook her head. "Very well," she said. "I do not like it, but I will hold back. Just please do not trust him blindly. Promise me that, child."

Zaerini nodded and gave the druid a small grin. "I promise," she said. "Anyway, I get the feeling he'd be rather disappointed in me if I did." She turned to Edwin to draw the wizard into the conversation. "Say, Eddie, what do you think?"

Edwin didn't answer at first. The wizard had seemed very preoccupied the entire day, as if he had a lot on his mind, and he had been unusually quiet. "What?" he asked, almost tripping over a fallen log until he caught himself. "What did you say?"

"I said, what do you think about Adahn? Think we can trust him?"

Edwin laughed a little morosely to himself. "Trust him? (Oh, the delicious irony of it all.) I'd say you can, up to a certain point. He certainly did seem to like you well enough. (Not that that is likely to help us much.)"

"Think so?"

"You're still alive, aren't you? Even after pulling that imitation stunt. I'll have you know my heart almost stopped at that point. I thought you were about to die."

"You're being no fun at all," Rini complained. Then she grinned and leaned closer to whisper into the wizard's ear. "I don't plan to die anytime soon, not if I can avoid it. And I think our new acquaintance has more of a sense of humor than you do." She used the bandit's voice once again, pitching it so low that only Edwin could hear. It was remarkably well suited for that sort of thing, she thought.

Edwin's reaction to this little joke was spectacular to say the least. He leapt a foot into the air with a small yelp and when he came down again his face was white with anger. "Don't ever do that to me again," he hissed. "I really mean that. Not ever, or I'll kill you myself."

"All right," Rini said, surprised at this sudden vehemence. "I was only kidding you know. No need to be so prickly about it."

"It wasn't funny. (And there is all the need in the world, though you wouldn't know that.)"

Rini would have questioned the wizard more about this strange fit of temper, but at that moment the conversation was interrupted by a strange voice. "Help me! If you don't help me, they'll kill me." It was a woman's voice, low and melodious. Zaerini turned to see who had spoken, and then she had to make an effort of will in order not to gape. The woman who came running towards the adventurers as fast as her legs could carry her was had the build and features of an elf, with a proud and beautiful face that spoke of spirit and determination. Her hair was snowy white, her skin as dark as night, marking her as a Drow, and though she was clearly fleeing for her life she had the look of one used to commanding those around her. Fleeing she certainly was though. A Flaming Fist soldier was chasing after her, brandishing his sword as he ran and screaming curses and vile epithets. He was still some distance behind, but he was starting to gain on the woman who looked pretty much exhausted.

"Over here!" Rini yelled. "We'll help you." The woman was a Drow, and probably dangerous. That didn't mean she deserved this treatment. After all, the half-elf thought, I'm pretty dangerous myself.

The strange woman came up to them, breathing so hard that she was hardly able to speak. "My name is Viconia," she said. "I....I'm not from around here, thank you so much for helping."

The soldier was almost upon the party by now. "Step aside travelers," he cried out. "I am a member of the Flaming Fist. The woman you are harboring is wanted for murder of the foulest sort. She is a dark elf; it should be obvious that she is evil."

Oh, it should, should it? Rini thought. "How very comfortable it must be to live in a world where good and evil are as obvious as the color of another person's skin," she said. "I envy you, really I do. It must be a rare occurrence for you to suffer the pain of actually thinking for yourself."

"He lies," Viconia spat. "I have done nothing wrong."

"Rini, we can't let him do this," Imoen whispered. "She can't help where she was born, can she?"

Zaerini nodded, feeling the heat rise and simmer in her blood. Hotter. Hotter. A fire burning in her veins, roaring in her heart and mind. Her vision was narrowing until the only thing she could see was the soldier in front of her, with his shiny armor and plumed helmet, with his absolute conviction of being on the side of justice and goodness, and the edges of her vision were flecked with red. Like fire. Like blood. The soldier took a step backwards and she guessed that the light in her eyes had flared up as it always did when the rage was approaching. "And do you have any other evidence for her 'foul evil' than who her parents were?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. Not the tremble of fear. More like a volcano getting ready to erupt.

The soldier hesitated, but he wasn't wise enough to know when to stop. "No other evidence is necessary," he said. "Everybody knows that the Drow are born evil."

Born evil. The words rang through Rini's head and for a few seconds she was quite unable to speak. She had the dim impression that she had bared her teeth in a snarl though, and her fingers were clenching and unclenching like claws. The fire was a roaring inferno by now.

"Yes, that is always a convenient excuse," Edwin remarked. "I am a bit curious as to how you know this, though. You must have met a large number of Drow babies to be able to be so sure of your conclusions. Did they perhaps treat you badly? Crawl after you and bite your ankles, while cackling evilly, that sort of thing?"

"One final question," Zaerini hissed. "On the basis of this 'evidence', which is apparently her black skin and fondness for darkness, assuming you were to catch her, what would you do with her?"

The Flaming Fist soldier responded automatically. Finally something easy. "Why, that's simple," he said. "I'd just kill her and…AAAAARRRRRGH!" The bard's spell hit him full in the face, blasting him with a ray of burning flames that scorched and blistered his skin. His scream trailed off into a gasping moan as the strong smell of burning flesh filled the air. The spell in itself wasn't enough to kill him, but the blade that buried itself in his neck definitely was. "Sorry," Zaerini said and pulled her sword out. "Wrong answer."

Viconia had an appreciative look on her face as she watched the smoldering corpse lying in a thick patch of lovely blue flowers. "I thank you, stranger," she said. "Perhaps not all surface females are as weak as I once thought."

"We are not," Jaheira said. "You would do well to remember that lest you have cause to regret it. And I wonder what a Drow is doing so far from home. Perhaps you can answer that question for us?"

"I wasn't addressing you, elg'caress," Viconia said, giving Jaheira a contemptuous look with her unnerving red eyes. "You would do well to hold your tongue in the presence of your betters, lest I have cause to remove it." Then she turned to Zaerini again. "You have no reason to trust me," she said, "but I ask you to all the same. I am an outcast from my people, and I no longer receive my powers from the spider queen of the Underdark. The goddess Shar grants me wisdom now, and she is a surface divinity. If you allow me to join with you I will be pleased to fight at your side."

"No!" Jaheira shouted, her face a mask of anger. "Zaerini, it would be unwise in the extreme to do this. Saving her life is one thing, I admit that it would have been unjust to slay her, but taking her into your confidence is quite different. You cannot trust her."

"Jaheira…what did I say about trust and allies before?" Rini asked, feeling quite exasperated. "Let's see what happens, all right? I'm prepared to give her a chance, even if you're not." She nodded to the Drow. "Let me explain a little of what we are about," she said. "No details, just the general outline. Then, you will be welcome to join us if you still want to, though I won't blame you if you don't."

"I'll go where you wish," Viconia said and pulled the hood of her cloak higher. "As long as you keep me from this accursed sun. I fail to see why surface dwellers are so foolish as to want to run around in the sunlight when there is darkness and cool shadows to be found at night."

"Don't you worry about that," Rini said with a small grin. "We have an appointment to keep after sunset, and I have the feeling we'll be taking full advantage of the night ahead. You should at least have something in common with our final group member, or so I think."