Chapter 3 - Comedy
To My Dear Distinguished Colleagues:
Veil has learned that she is an elf. As you know her interests for the past two years have extended little beyond what has become a daily physical regimen of running, climbing, and balance excercises. With the discovery of her race this seems to have changed almost overnight.
She is now fascinated by anything to do with elves. She begs to be taught more of them, and has begun to show an interest in her reading lessons with the promise that they will allow her to learn more of elves on her own. And she will now properly speak with others besides myself, provided the subject of conversation is elves.
It will not surprise any of you to know that this pleases me to no end, and I sincerely hope it is only the beginning of an expanding interest in the world around her. I eagerly await the opportunity to relate any further subjects she chooses to take up in the future.
Sincerely,
Gorion
--
Mijandra reached into Gorion’s pocket and removed his coin
purse. She stared at it a moment before
turning her eyes to his shoulder, his face still difficult to look upon. "Thank you, father," she said. If he could have given his consent he would
have, and as far as Mijandra was concerned he had handed her the coins himself,
an act she would not allow to go unacknowledged. She had taken far too much for granted already.
"There should be a letter in his inside pocket," Imoen said
behind her. Mijandra wordlessly began
to search for it, the specifics of how Imoen came by this information being
both insignificant under the circumstances and rather obvious given the many
feats of espionage they had shared over the years. She found it shortly, unfolding it as Imoen looked over her
shoulder, the both of them reading it together.
My friend Gorion,
Please forgive the abruptness with which I now write, but
time is short and there is much to be done.
What we have long feared may soon come to pass, though not in the manner
foretold, and certainly not in the proper time frame. As we both know, forecasting these events has proved increasingly
difficult, leaving little option other than a leap of faith. We have done what we can for those in thy
care, but the time nears when we must step back and let matters take what
course they will. We have, perhaps,
been a touch too sheltering to this point.
Despite my desire to remain neutral in this matter, I
could not, in good conscience, let events proceed without some measure of
warning. The other side will move very
soon, and I urge thee to leave Candlekeep this very night, if possible. The darkness may seem equally threatening,
but a moving target is much harder to hit, regardless of how sparse the
cover. A fighting chance is all that
can be asked for at this point
Should anything go awry, do not hesitate to seek aid from
travelers along the way. I do not need
to remind thee that it is a dangerous land, even without our current concerns,
and a party is stronger than an individual in all respects. Should additional assistance be required, I
understand that Jaheira and Khalid are currently at the Friendly Arm Inn. They know little of what has passed, but
they are ever thy friends and will no doubt help however they can.
Luck be with us all.
I'm getting too old for this.
E
"Um…," Imoen began, and Mijandra turned to see her blink a
few times before voicing her thoughts.
"Looks like one of Gorion’s Harper friends sent him a warning that
someone is after you. Right?" Mijandra nodded, wondering why Imoen always
bothered to check with her when they both agreed – Imoen with most of the
enthusiasm – that she was the smarter between them. "But…why would anyone deserving Harper attention be after you?"
Mijandra shrugged.
"Maybe it has something to do with my true parents."
"Yeah, maybe," Imoen answered as she took the letter and
scanned over it again, frowning. "Looks
like the Harpers might have been helping protect you, too." She looked up again, worried. "Out of a favor to Gorion or because…?"
"I’m that important," Mijandra finished as Imoen trailed
off, her words seemingly punctuated by another flicker in her vision. She fought a tremor before making a rapid
turn to begin looking for her dropped blades.
"So…what now?" Imoen asked, failing to keep the fear out of
her voice.
"We find Jaheira and Khalid. After that we’ll see."
"You sure? We don’t
know who this E guy is…"
Mijandra found her blades and sheathed them, feeling some of
the edge come off her anxiety. "Father
told me about Jaheira and Khalid before we left Candlekeep. He trusts them."
"Oh." Mijandra could
feel Imoen’s anxiety soften some as well.
"And what about…his body?"
Mijandra had to fight to turn and look at Gorion again. Then she had to fight to turn back. "We’ll have a message sent to Candlekeep as
soon as possible. We need to be away
from here quickly, and they’ll give him a better burial than we could."
"Okay," Imoen said softly, following Mijandra as they began
the walk back to the road.
Mijandra reached behind her for Imoen’s hand. "I’ll keep us safe," she said, and they both
knew it was to reassure herself as much as Imoen.
Imoen smirked as she moved to Mijandra’s side. "Me too," she
said, giving Mijandra’s hand a light squeeze before briefly resting her head on
her shoulder.
They continued to walk that way as they stepped onto the
road, and for some time after, until Imoen released Mijandra’s hand to wipe her
own on Mijandra’s sleeve. "Sheesh,
sweaty aren’t ya?"
Mijandra raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me? I never had
to wear gloves to pick a lock."
Imoen gave a mock glare.
"That was years ago, and I was still better at it than you."
Mijandra snorted.
"Uh huh."
Imoen stuck her tongue out in response, then released a
small giggle that served to officially declare the change in mood. For now at least all of their worries were
forgotten.
They continued in comfortable silence for a time, until,
mere seconds after Mijandra predicted she would be wanting more conversation
soon, Imoen asked, "So what will we do for a living?"
"Depends on Khalid and Jaheira."
"Ookay, but they’re probably Harpers, how fun will they
be? If we end up on our own what will
we do for a living?"
Mijandra smiled slightly.
"I assume you already have something in mind?"
"Yeah, but I’m asking you."
"And you’re ready to mock whatever I come up with if it’s
not the same thing you’re thinking of?"
"Yes, of course. Now
answer the question."
Mijandra pursed her lips.
"Farm."
"Ugh. You’re really
not good at being funny."
"Comedy."
Imoen snorted.
"Okay, that was better. But come
on, serious answer."
"Well…I suppose we’d be professional thieves."
Imoen smiled and pat Mijandra on the shoulder, saying in a
patronizing voice, "Very good! We could
start in Beregost to get the hang of things, then before you know it we’d be in
Baldur’s Gate, the best thieves in the whole city, our names cursed by the rich
and celebrated by the poor as we give them half of all our profits!" Mijandra raised an eyebrow at that which
Imoen deliberately ignored. "Oh, and
we’d be worshipped by all the other thieves in the city, too! In all of Faerun, even! And then Ao would kick Mask out and put us
in his place!"
Mijandra grimaced and whispered a brief prayer to Mask for
Imoen’s sake, hearing Imoen do the same.
She added a prayer to Erevan Ilesere, as well, for good measure.
"I suppose we’d join a guild," Imoen said after her prayer
and delusions of grandeur were over.
"Maybe. Depends on
how they operate."
Imoen made a face.
"Yeah, I don’t want to work with any muggers and assassins."
Mijandra nodded her understanding. The two of them shared similar views on thievery, which they made
into their own code: A thief is not
seen, a thief is not heard, and a thief is not felt. By extension a thief does not threaten or kill. And though they both followed the code
completely, they followed it for different reasons. For Imoen it was a matter of principle, while Mijandra simply
preferred the challenges of real thief work.
"So, what would our names be?"
"Names?"
"Yeah, the names we’d earn for becoming infamous thieves,"
Imoen clarified, showing she was not yet finished making grandiose visions of
the future. "Let’s see, I’d be… Imoen the Quick. Imoen the Sly. Imoen the
Beautiful."
"Imoen the Humble."
Imoen blinked once, then twice, then broke into a
deliriously happy smile that left Mijandra stunned. "That’s perfect!"
She gave Mijandra a comically loud kiss before throwing her arms around
her. "I love you!"
"Um…you’re welcome," Mijandra said dumbly.
Imoen let go and almost danced a few steps ahead before
repeating the name and giggling. "Imoen
the Humble." She then turned to
Mijandra, allowing her to catch up before asking, "Now, what will your name
be?"
Mijandra shrugged, then smirked. "Mijandra the Comedian."
Imoen snorted again.
"That’s twice now in one day that you’ve almost made me laugh. You’re starting to scare me."
Now that Mijandra thought about it, it kind of scared her,
too, so she answered seriously.
"Mijandra the Shadow."
"Hmm…that’d work.
Though I think Mijandra the Whisper would be better." Mijandra was about to nod her approval when
Imoen continued. "Would fit your skill
as a thief and the fact that you never talk to anybody," Imoen smirked.
Mijandra scowled. "I
talk to you and…father. I don’t need
anybody else."
"Mijandra the Lone Wolf?" Imoen asked amused.
Mijandra nodded, repeating, "Mijandra the Lone Wolf, except
for Imoen, she’s okay."
Imoen snickered.
"Mijandra the Anti-social."
Mijandra scowled again, though now clearly in jest. "Mijandra the
It’s-Not-My-Fault-People-Are-Irritating."
Imoen finally laughed outright at that, though she cut it
abruptly short as they both began to take an avid interest in their surroundings.
"I’m hungry," Imoen said as she slid her bow off her back,
"You think there’s any raccoons around here?"
"Probably," Mijandra answered, adding, "I’ll help skin
them," as she drew her blades.
"Thanks. How many do
you think there are?"
Mijandra was quiet a moment. "Seven."
"Stop where you are and drop your weapons!" a voice shouted
as seven bandits armed with bows stepped out of the trees around them.
"Damn, I woulda guessed six," Imoen whispered.
Deviant Hearts Archive | Back to main index