The Survivor

Mira nearly died countless times on the way out from the dark. Her wounds had festered and she had seemingly lost the will to survive. Ulrika used every trick of healing craft and divine favor she had learned over her long career and it was nearly not enough. Mira hovered at the edge of death, her bright blue eyes as distant as the clear sky.

Mallathar's body was wrapped tightly in a cloak. Ulrika spared what blessings she could to stave off corruption. It was strange to see a man who had been so full of life reduced to a mere parcel.

I bore both Mira and Mallathar's remains on a cushion of air, and could only hope that we would be swift enough to help. Travel across the Plains of Duhr-Mhorzu was the worst of it, for once we reached the dwarven settlement on the other side, we were able to enlist some sympathetic help.

We stayed there for a week. Ulrika was able to bind Mira's wounds and purge the corruption from them. We replenished our supplies, purchased clothes for Mira, and a wagon drawn by a pair of aurochs. The beasts were smaller and denser than the kind I was used to in the countryside of Rhandonia, bred by the dwarves to haul goods to the surface.

They hauled us as well, and when we emerged into the Esmian sunlight, it was blinding. I had lost track of the seasons while we were underground, and it appeared to be late in the winter. The chill in the air had teeth, but compared to some of the deep places, those teeth were blunt.

Maireili withered as soon as the sky yawned overhead, putting the hood of her Widow's Cloak up and hiding in the wagon with Mira and Mallathar. I thought that the sight of a ghoul might disturb Mira, but the rogue was completely insensate. She huddled limply in the corner, and submitted to Ulrika's care, but did not speak or react in any other way.

I checked my map of standing stones, thanking the Order of Owls for that. "We are a few days away from the nearest set," I said. "Are we taking Mira home to Freeport?"

"Mira is not from Freeport," Ulrika said. "She's from Saumont. In Mairault."

"I know it, though apparently, I did not know her well. There are stones on Mairault, and we could take a ship over."

"No. I cannot explain it, but I think a city would be too much for her. She needs to recover someplace peaceful." Ulrika snapped her fingers in realization. "Brennan's farm."

"The turnip farm?"

"We're going to a turnip farm?" Threch asked.

"A stop for now, lad," Framzet said.

Brennan's farm was in southeastern Rhandonia, as far from my childhood home as it was possible to be and still be in Rhandonia's vaguely-defined borders. Brennan had settled in a tiny vassal kingdom called Warestal, though I would not have been surprised if Rhandonia's king was entirely unaware that it existed. Warestal consisted of scattered farms, a couple villages, and a single castle so small and rural that sheep often wandered through the throne room. It was the kind of place many adventurers claim to want to retire in, yet rarely ever do.

Brennan was on the edge of the kingdom, near a flyspeck of a hamlet called Cloppenwig. The closest standing stones weren't very close at all, and after we exited them, we had another week and a half of navigating down tiny, winding roads barely worth the name. The weather was warming, and the rolling hills were only beginning to sprout a spring coat of verdant grass.

We camped under the stars. Maireili only truly calmed at night. She told me she could imagine the night sky was the comforting ceiling of a cave.

"And the stars?" I asked.

"Many things glow in the deep," she said. "I do not like the way your stars do not move."

"That one does," I said, pointing to one soaring across the sky.

We slept in each other's arms, and thanks to the lack of privacy, that was all we did. I longed for another taste of her, but that would have to wait. In the meantime, I could rejoice in our closeness and ruminate on the fantastic luck that would bring her to me.

Every time we stopped for the night, Framzet poured over a map he had found in Thabban's hoard. He had initially taken it for a puzzle cube of some kind, but Maireili had explained how the object functioned. A map of the surface could be represented in two dimensions, but underground, one needed three. Since the ghouls moved to the surface, they have lost this art. I have perhaps the finest collection of these old maps in Thür.

Framzet turned the box over in his hands, moving the minute pieces that tracked all the various tunnels and chambers. Threch often joined him, and the two lost themselves in deep conversation, tracing route after route through the deep.

One sunny day, the road crested a short hill, and stretching out in the dell below was a farm. A few copses of trees perched atop the hills, and a short distance away, a stream glittered in a sapphire line. I have never been one for a pastoral existence, but in that moment, I thought perhaps a farm was in my future.

We came down the hill. Off to our right, the turnip field climbed over the gentle slopes. A man and two children, a boy and a girl, were working in the fields. The man was leading a plow pulled by a strong auroch, the children following with seeds. It was a moment before I could recognize Brennan through the veil of years. His hair and beard were salt and pepper, with far more of the former. He was still a powerful man, with broad shoulders and thick arms. The children watched us curiously.

Ulrika raised her hand. "Brennan!" she called.

"Ulrika?" he called back. He approached and the two of them embraced. His eyes went to each of us in turn. "I'm beginning to think this isn't a social call."

"No, I'm sorry. I can explain everything."

"Of course, come with me."

"Papa, who are these people?" asked the boy.

"This is Ulrika, an old friend of mine."

Ulrika hunkered down. "Your papa is one of the bravest people I've ever known."

The little girl giggled. "He's afraid of antlions."

"Who wouldn't be," Brennan huffed. "With those awful mouths." He held his hands up like pincers and lunged for the kids, who ran off squealing happily.

"They're fine children."

"You've only just met them," Brennan said with good humor. "Aspar and Heva, named for Elianor's parents. Come inside, you can see her again and you can tell me what's put the clouds in your eyes."

Brennan escorted us down to his farm, secured the aurochs in the barn, and brought us into the farmhouse where we met his wife. A handsome woman, she must have been gorgeous in her youth. Her hair was a lovely honey blonde, piled high on her head. Her features were round and pleasant, and she had the warmest pair of brown eyes. She greeted us like old friends.

"Ulrika, you haven't aged a day!" said Elianor.

"Tell that to my bones. Everything aches. Let me introduce my companions. This is Framzet, Belromanazar, Threch, and Maireili."

The ghoul put the hood back, and Elianor jumped, casting a look to Brennan.

"Welcome, Maireili," he said warmly.

"I knew she was there, but I did... understand," murmured Elianor.

"Her cloak is enchanted," I explained. "She may be seen, but when the hood us up, it is impossible to find her unusual in any way."

"You look familiar, friend," Brennan said.

"We knew each other briefly."

He snapped his fingers. "The barrow! By all the gods, you can't be that apprentice!"

"I am."

"Look at you!" he thundered, clasping my hand. "I thought these were ill tidings, and Ulrika has brought me a friend."

"They are ill tidings I'm afraid," Ulrika said. "Mira went on a quest, hunting a sorcerer in the deep. She vanished. We went after her, in hopes of extracting vengeance."

"We," Brennan said, indicating us.

"And Mallathar."

"I see," Brennan said. "Was he the body wrapped in cloth I saw in the wagon?"

Ulrika nodded. "He wanted to be buried in the sun."

"I can manage that. There's a hill he would have loved. Looks out to the mountains. He would have said they reminded him of..." Brennan coughed, glanced at his wife, and managed, "better times."

"There is more. We found Mira, but she was held in their dungeons, likely tortured. Even if they never laid a hand on her, the conditions would have driven the strongest to madness. I wanted a place where she could begin to recover."

"And you shall have it," Brennan said. Elianor nodded without hesitation.

"We will work," Threch said.

"Of course you will." He looked the half-orc over, then to Ulrika said, "Looks like you've gotten yourself a better warrior."

"I don't know about that, but Threch can certainly handle himself."

"They call him Threch the Bold in Castellandria," I said.

"Threch the Bold!" Brennan took Threch's hand. "I was Brennan the Blade."

"It's an honor."

"It most certainly is not." Brennan clapped his hands. "We do not have much space, but we will make do. Today, you will rest. Tomorrow, we put Mallathar to rest. Beyond that, we will have to see."

Framzet and Threch stayed in the house's front room by the hearth. Ulrika and Mira found a place to stay in the storeroom. Maireili, Quiyahui, and I made ourselves at home in the barn's hayloft. My ghoulish bride might have preferred the root cellar, but I thought this place might help her better become accustomed to life on the surface. That first night, preparing our bedrolls with the close smells of hay and animals all around, I thought of my barn home in Pelesamatu, all the way across the world. I had been at peace there too. Brennan farmed turnips and not pepper trees, but I understood why he would want such a life.

I stripped out of my robes and boots and settled upon my back, head pillowed on my arms. I knew what Maireili had on her mind as she stripped out of her costume, revealing her moonlight pale flesh. She could sleep quite comfortably in that garment. She did not have sleep on her mind. Fortunate, as I didn't either.

She settled down next to me, sitting demurely on a hip. Her autumnal scent wafted from her, whetting my appetite for what would come. Quiyahui lay coiled not far from us, her lightning blue eyes unreadable.

"What is Quiyahui doing?" she asked.

"I don't know. It's not a full moon."

"I don't understand what that is."

I stood, going to the window in the barn. I wrapped an affectionate arm about her cool waist and gestured to the moon, explaining its phases. "Quiyahui can take human form when it's full. It's almost full, but not quite."

"Is she beautiful?"

"She is. She..."

I fell silent because I watched the feathered serpent slither into a shaft of moonlight. Then, her form changed. This was not the sight of bones liquifying and flesh reshaping, the way of the skinchangers. Quiyahui was a creature as much of magic as flesh. Her aspect as a feathered serpent faded like a cloak, and then she was a young woman.

Her features were Uazican, with wide, slanted eyes, a subtle nose, high cheekbones on an oval face. Her lips were thin, her mouth apparently small, but I knew she could open it to an astonishing degree. She still held traces of her inhuman nature. Her skin was icy-blue white, and her hair, both on her head and between her legs, were downy feathers, the same iridescent white of her serpent's coat.

"She is beautiful," Maireili breathed.

Quiyahui scarcely paid attention to me. The first time she took human form around one of my brides, she was the one the coatl wanted far more than me. I believe my love for them stretched across the bonds that made us two halves of the same being. She pulled Maireili to her, and Quiyahui, even as a little nymph, is far stronger than she appears.

She had to stand on her toes to kiss the taller ghoul, and soon, had her on the bedrolls, her face pressed between Maireili's slender thighs. The ghoul's mouth opened in a soundless scream, and then, almost too quietly to hear, whispered. "It's so deep!"

Quiyahui's mouth was latched over Maireili's pouting mound, and I knew from the cries of my brides, that the coatl's tongue was deep inside her.

I kissed Maireili, and she responded sluggishly, as though waking from a lovely dream. "Enjoy it," I murmured.

Maireili's back arched, her fingers buried in the coatl's feathery mane. I moved around behind my familiar, taking her slender haunches in my hands. Quiyahui's flesh was cool, like the ghoul's own. I teased her feathered sex briefly, but she reached back, guiding me into her. She had been too long without a proper fucking.

In the aftermath of our loveplay, the three of us lay entwined on the bedrolls, the scents of the barn now joined with our own. I stroked the feathers on Quiyahui's head while she caressed Maireili's arm.

"Tell me of this woman. Mira," Maireili said in the stillness.

"She was my first. She taught me the arts of love."

"Do you love her still?" I thought I detected worry in the ghoul's voice.

"I never loved her the way I love either of you. She is important to me. I would do anything for her, but I wouldn't share my life the way I do with you."

Maireili nodded. "I understand why you need to help her."

"Do you know what happened to her?"

"Perhaps. The Rising Shadow treats with creatures that are vast and terrible. They are to us what we are to flies. I have seen others, when confronted with such a creature, break rather than understand. Or perhaps their cruelties over time. There is no evil they would shy from."

"What do they want?"

"They wish to reshape the world in their image. We struck a blow, slaying Thabban and that lesser god of his, but there are far worse things looking for a way to the surface."

I conjured a bird and sent a message home to my brides on wings that crackled with lightning. I told them the reason for our delay and of the ghoul who would soon be joining us in Azureview. Parts of her reminded me of parts of each of the remarkable women who scared my life. She was shy like Sarakiel, but as fierce as Tanyth and as loyal as Lysethe.

Their answer returned in a week in a bird with wings of sunlight. "We miss you my lord," said the voice of Lysethe. "We understand why you must stay, but we long for your return." I knew that we meant not only them, but Arkohnus, Faustan, Malycent, and Belazei. I had a family now. I missed them as much as they missed me.

Before I could return, Mira would have to be put together, if such a thing was possible. I suspected that even if we returned her to a recognizable shape, she would never be free of the scars she had suffered. Ulrika took the lead, her healing skills, and her place as one of Mira's closest companions made her the logical choice.

The rest of us made ourselves as useful around the farm as we could. Threch and I assisted in the fields, while Framzet helped in the kitchen. I learned a little of the art of farming turnips, though I would never call myself close to an expert. I was most useful in the periodic rains I brought to the farm, and Brennan remarked that he needed a wizard to work the full year.

Elianor was initially wary of Quiyahui and Threch and frightened of Maireili, but Brennan calmed her. Before long, she had taken to the ghoul, who helped around the kitchen because it kept her indoors. I suspect that it was Maireili's obvious fear that made her seem less a figure of menace to Elianor. Soon she and the kids took it upon themselves to turn her fear into mere wariness. They met with mixed success, but Maireili preferred to be a project than a nightmare.

Threch, I believe, missed his little siblings. Whatever trouble there was between us did not exist when it came to Arkohnus, Faustan, and Malycent. He spent much of his time with Brennan's kids, playing whenever they weren't working. Threch would one day make an excellent father, better certainly than I ever was.

Ulrika spent her time with Mira. For the first week, I saw almost nothing of them. Early in the second week, I stood in the threshold of the house, watching the rain I'd summoned as it clattered down. I felt the storm humming in my tissues, a peaceful buzz, so unlike the anger I so often brough. Today I used my power for life. Diotenah hissed in my mind, but I ignored her. It felt good to call the storm for nothing more important than the growing of turnips.

"Bel?" Ulrika came up next to me. "Can you come and see Mira?"

"Of course. Is she talking?"

"No, but I wanted to have more familiar faces around her."

I looked out to where Quiyahui danced in the falling rain. "Are you certain I'll be helpful?"

"I'm certain you can't hurt."

"Good enough."

I followed Ulrika to the storeroom at the end of the house. Since winter had only just passed, the room was mostly empty, with only a few burlap bags still with food. Brennan had provided a simple straw-stuffed mattress, and Ulrika's bedroll sat next to that. Mira was on her side, back to the door, curled up in the middle of this.

"She is eating without difficulty finally," Ulrika said, "but that is the limit of her recovery. She won't talk, except in her sleep, and those are cries of terror."

"Has she not recognized Brennan?"

"No. I believe she recognizes me, but it is hard to tell."

"She knew Brennan better than she knew me."

"In some ways. She was intimate with you in a way she never was with him. Mallathar would have..." Ulrika trailed off. We had laid him to rest on the first day, on a sun-soaked hill on the edge of Brennan's land. Ulrika broke into a humorless smile. "It is worth a try."

"What do I do?"

"Sit down next to her. Talk to her."

"That's all?"

"That's all. I want her to hear a friendly voice."

I sat on the mattress next to her. I expected her to shy away, but she didn't. In a way, her motionlessness was more disturbing. "Mira. I don't know if you remember me. I am Belromanazar. We knew each other briefly over twenty years ago." I glanced at Ulrika. She gave me an encouraging nod. "You were... you are important to me. Let me tell you a story."

I tried to think of something to tell her, and I realized that I had the perfect thing. "Many years ago, I was an apprentice to a cranky old wizard in a small and unimportant part of Rhandonia. I went into town for supplies, and like I always did on those errands, I wanted to see the baker's daughter. I found her at the inn, and there I met a party of adventurers."

I slipped into the story that you know. I held off on some of the more intimate details, but it was as you know it. I finished talking about the heart Mira had carved into the bottom of my table, and how for a long time it was the only secret we had. It had made me feel powerful. Alive. In charge of my destiny in a way nothing else had. That heart had been an incomparable gift, maybe even an equal to the love we'd shared for the space of a single night.

I finished the story and looked to Ulrika. "That's enough for now," she said. I went to the door, and Ulrika stopped me, "I didn't know that, about the heart."

"You are the third person to know of it."

I visited Mira daily and told her stories of my life. Many of those tales are in these volumes, but just as many are in the legitimate histories. I think that organizing my memories in this way helped me at least as much as it helped Mira, though I would not begin these volumes until countless years after Mira's death.

For at least a week, she was as she was that first time, curled on the mattress, never acknowledging me. Then, she began to stir a little here and there. Shifts in her breathing, minute movements of her body, all signs that she listened rather than passively hearing.

Then came the day she turned to face me. I was in the midst of the story where I met Diotenah and Maireili, and my breath caught as Mira rolled over. Her eyes, still that bright impossible blue, had regained some of their brightness. She looked at me for the first time, and I nearly lost my place in the story when it happened.

The joy I felt was nothing compared to the day Mira sat up. I was in the midst of telling the story of journeying into the Mixtayhua, where I met Quiyahui and her leviathan of a mother Ocoxochi, when Mira stirred, rose, and put her back to the wall. When her eyes found mine, I thought I saw a challenge in them. I gave her a tiny nod of approval, and continued my tale.

Ulrika was thrilled. On impulse, on the following day as I was telling her a story of an adventure on the Edda Aroyac, I stood up. As though connected to me, Mira stood as well. As I walked out of the storeroom she had taken as her own, she followed as though connected to me by a tether. Elianor was in the main room, tending to a pot of soup over the fire with Maireili by her side and their eyes widened as she watched the two of us walk out the door.

"It's a beautiful day," I said on Brennan's doorstep. I could understand why he wanted to spend his old age here. The winding paths through verdant hills, the air heavy with the bright scents of the countryside, the sense that even if the world were to fall to chaos and ruin, this place would be a haven.

My own paradise, Stormspoint, is unlike this idyllic part of Rhandonia. This place was all rolling hills, covered in green, punctuated by copses of trees, with a perpetually blue sky overhead with a few ragged clouds ready to be united by my magic. Not my kind of paradise, but paradise nonetheless. As I reflected, Quiyahui swirled down next to me, pressing her feathered head under my hand.

"We came here together across the world," I said absently. "Even in the Ocaital, she was a remarkable sight. Out here, she is even more incredible. Coatl did not often come to this part of the Edda Aroyac, and so many thought of her as a monster."

I walked a simple path from the cluster of buildings that made up Brennan's farm, down a path that looped around a short hill, finishing the story. A pond, fed by a small stream was here, and Brennan sometimes used it to water his livestock. As we approached, a cat-sized salamander slid into the water. I thought of the frog-lions at Storm's Rest. This thing, with its speckled orange skin, looked to be a distant relative, and if I were one of the shrimp who prowled the shallows, I might be as frightened of it as I was of its cousin.

"Would you like to hear the story of a shipwreck?" I asked abruptly.

Quiyahui threaded herself through the trees that partly shaded the pond. I unlaced my boots and set them aside, the girded the loins of my elven robes, and waded out into the shallows. The water was sweet and cool on my feet. I launched into the tale of my shipwreck after the war, though I didn't linger on the death of my familiar. I was in the middle of my duel with Old Heacharus when a sound crept over the surface of the pond, adding to the whirring of the dragonflies.

I turned. Mira's impossibly blue eyes were fixed on me. Her mouth moved, and the sound that reached me was at the edge of hearing. I waded to her. "Mira?"

"I am safe," she murmured, over and over, repeating her mantra.

Without thinking, I knelt before her, taking her hands in mine. The water soaked me from the waist down, but I didn't care. "We're safe here, Mira. No safer place in the world. Trust me, I'm from Rhandonia. Even the natives forget this place exists from time to time."

"I know you," she whispered.

"I didn't have a beard then. I was smaller."

She touched my face, and then fell silent. That was all she would say that day, but it was an important step. Ulrika had explained that I was not to push her, and so I didn't. I merely waited with her in pleasant silence, then turned back to my story.

That afternoon, after I walked Mira back to her room, I told Ulrika what happened in a hushed whisper.

"That is wonderful!" she said.

"What is wonderful?" Brennan asked, coming over.

I repeated the story and he clapped me on the shoulder. "You're doing well, lad. Mira was always a brooder. You've found her pathway out."

It was only a few days later when, after breakfast, Threch and Framzet called the rest of the Night Delvers to speak. "As you know, I found a map in Thabban's hoard. And thanks be to you, Maireili, for showing me it was no mere toy for a child."

The ghoul gave him a demure smile, which could be intimidating thanks to her teeth. "I was pleased to help."

"The map is an ancient one. Shows the maps of the fortresses that the Pit of Khazal was but one of many. Like many ghoul strongholds, it was built in an earlier age by dwarves."

Now, I would recognize it as dating to the Fourth Strata, during the dominance of the elves, when the dwarves were their rivals below ground. Then, I had not yet developed my current understanding of the sweep of history.

"I believe," Framzet went on, "and Threch concurs, that these fortresses might still possess lost dwarven riches. Certainly the kind of thing that merits a brave party of adventurers."

"I can't leave Mira," Ulrika said.

"Nor I," I said.

"Understandable. Maireili? We would be honored to have you with us."

"No. I too am committed here."

"I hope you do not think less of me," Framzet said. "I never knew Mira before now, and she seems in capable hands."

"Your obligation, if you had one, has been served," Ulrika said. "Go with my blessings."

"You want to go as well," I said to Threch."

"I do," he said. "It is time for me to make a name for myself. Not merely as a companion of my father's."

I took his hand. "Good fortune to you, Threch the Bold."

"Thank you," he said, fighting not to glow beneath the praise.

"We're going to Freeport first," Framzet said. "It's not terribly far. We'll deposit our ill-gotten gains in the Market Bank under the names of our party. I was thinking an appropriate chit would be the feathers of your familiar, Belromanazar. If she would not mind losing one now and another when one of you wished to redeem your gold."

The serpent slid through the doorway from my summons. I picked a feather from her and handed it to Framzet. "Should be fine," I said.

"Excellent. I imagine I can recruit a few more to our cause there."

"A healer wouldn't be the worst idea," Ulrika said.

"I won't find your equal," said the gnome.

"When will you leave?" I asked.

"Now," he said. "Our things are gathered up, and there's no reason to delay."

Threch and Framzet departed shortly thereafter. I felt a surge of pride watching my son's back. They were as good as their word, and located every one of those old dwarven fortresses. I would not see my son for several years, and when I did, he was a fully-fledged adventurer.

I told Ulrika that Mira had spoken at the pond. The priestess was pleased, encouraging me to continue on that path, and trust my instincts in that matter. I took Mira out on walks every day, and it was not like magic, but she slowly emerged. It was less like a butterfly leaving a cocoon and more like a lizard who had once evaded a predator regrowing its tail. The limb had returned, but the color and pattern were different. The scar remained, but the creature was whole. Beautiful in a different way.

I continued telling my stories. Mira liked the more romantic tales, more adventurous. I wouldn't lie to her, but I'd play up the aspects that would help her emerge into the sunlight. One day was more beautiful than the rest. Clouds had piled up in the sky, ready to sweep in, but it was still bright and blue on the farm. Sunlight streamed through the leaves where dragonflies danced. We were in the midst of spring, so everything was so perfectly alive. Death could not get its fingers in.

I had waded out into the shallows, while Mira sat on a flat rock, listening to my tales. Now her eyes followed me, keen and focused, and she even spoke from time to time. Her words and meaning were intelligible to the here and now. No longer was she spiraling somewhere in the dark. The shadows still clung to her, but she was here.

On impulse, I sent Quiyahui back to the farm. The serpent returned with Maireili, who held onto Quiyahui's feathers and allowed herself to be led into the shade of the grove.

"Bel? Why did you bring me here?" She no longer felt terror at the open sky, but in the middle of the day, she was always distinctly uneasy.

"Come into the water with me."

Maireili broke into a sharp-toothed smile. "You called me here to go swimming? Aren't you talking with Mira?"

I did not want to tell Maireili the bolt of inspiration that led me to call her. I had remembered the way her unease helped Elianor get over any lingering fear, and I thought the same could be true here.

"I am. I thought you might enjoy the stories as well."

"You have an inflated opinion of yourself."

"It's one of my many flaws."

"Do you mind?" she asked Mira.

The rogue hesitated, and then shook her head. Maireili took off her cloak, setting it on a rock. Then she stripped off her costume, revealing her slender body and its moonlike glow. She stepped into the water and I chuckled.

"What?" she said.

"I did not realize you had nothing else to wear."

"Is this wrong?" she asked, and this was one of my first real exposures to her culture's lack of a nudity taboo. In that way, she was more similar to Kharsoomians.

"It's fine, my love."

Maireili waded out into the water, pausing under the thickest shadows. After a moment, she knelt down until the water came to her neck. "It's nice," she decided.

"I thought it might be." I launched back into the tale, this one of a jewel that a certain thief and I liberated from its owners. Partway through, I had become distracted describing the thief's charms, and noticed Mira was moving. She slid from the rock, and was now in the water. She still wore the garments we'd gotten from the swarves, a simple blouse and breeches. She stepped into the water with winder, stopping where the sun shone down.

"You don't like the sun?" she asked Maireili.

Though Maireili was not as frightened as she had been, she stayed to the deepest shadows. "No," she said.

"You don't see it very much underground."

Maireili broke into a smile. "No, we don't."

Mira held out her hand gingerly. Maireili took it, and the two of them stepped into the center of the pond. The water closed over their waists, then up to their hips. Mira shivered. Mairieili was used to the water, and I expected the chill underground was far worse. Mira went underwater, and surfaced, her black hair slicked down, droplets beading on her dark eyelashes. Maireili followed suit, but it clung only to bare skin.

"You are not afraid of me," Maireili said.

"My companion, Tandor, was a ghoul. He was a wizard..." Mira trailed off, grief seizing her. Maireili reacted instantly, wrapping the rogue in an embrace. They held each other in the water, and I fell silent, letting the two of them help each other.

Maireili spoke, her words muffled by Mira's neck. "My people do not have many friends. We have a tradition. If you are friend to one of us, you are friend to all."

Mira clutched Maireili, her shoulders shaking, her face buried in the ghoul's neck. Maireili held her without judgment, merely allowing Mira to cry. Finally, the adventurer pulled away. "Thank you," she said simply.

"You need not thank me," Maireili said. "We are friends."

"Tandor was..." Mira trailed off. Both Maireili and I recognized what was in the silence.

"He was more than a friend," Maireili said.

"I thought of retiring with him, when it was over."

"Did he know?"

"I did not tell him, but I think he felt the same. And now he is..."

"Not gone," Maireili said. "As long as you remember him, he will be with you. His friendship will light your way."

"Thank you," Mira whispered.

Sometime later, we pulled ourselves out of the water. My attention lingered over the beading water on the ghoul's flesh. I brought her to me, her body cool, and kissed her. "You are continually surprising."

"This was your plan," she said.

"The edges of it. You were wonderful."

Maireili donned her cloak over her naked body, carrying her clothing beneath it. Mira was soaked, and we made our way back to the house. Ulrika and Brennan conversed on his stoop, and as we approached, their expressions went from shocked to amused.

"Where were you?" Ulrika asked.

"The pond," Mira said. "Brennan... do you have extra clothing? For Maireili and me?"

"I think Elianor has some old dresses," he said carefully, as though to avoid shocking her from this new place of healing. "Will you join us for supper?"

Mira looked at us and nodded. "Yes. I think so."

Mira was not suddenly better, but she continued to improve in fits and starts. There were bad days where she regressed but they grew fewer and farther between. The road was a treacherous one, but we could see sunlight. Maireili accompanied us on our walks, and Mira held her hand, the two of them drawing strength from one another. I continued my stories, but just as often the three of us talked. As important as Mira was to me, I didn't know her well, and in those days I grew to know her.

"I didn't remember you at first," Mira told me one day. "Even after you told me the story of you and me, it took me time to remember you. The more I tried to remember you, the less I thought about..." she trailed off. I never would learn what happened to her when she was in Thabban's clutches. She never spoke of it. I think for her it was enough to know that she had Ulrika, Maireili, Brennan, and me.

"Ulrika told me there were a lot of us. You enjoyed being a first."

"If I had not been a first, would you have crossed a world to save me?"

"He would have," Maireili said promptly.

"Bad example. Not every man is you, Bel."

"If they were, it would get confusing."

Mira chuckled. "Mallathar and I shared a bedroll much of the time, but we both enjoyed our dalliances. When you're the brave adventurer, every maiden and strong young man has stars in their eyes. You have a special place in their memory forever."

"I can't stand in judgment," I said. I held Maireili's hand, the ghoul's palm cool against mine. "I don't think I would be who I am if not for you."

"I don't want you to think that I was only ever one night at a time. Mallathar and I had something for years."

"You were with Alia of Freeport for a time as well."

Her eyes softened. "Oh, Alia. She was special."

"She was."

"How did you..." she trailed off. "Hold. You know Alia because of me."

"She formed the Mythseekers with two others and they wanted a wizard."

"And I told her of you," Mira finished. We arrived at the pond in the late afternoon. The whirring of insects lulled us into a dreamlike state. Quiyahui twined herself in the branches, watching us with her lightning-blue eyes. "Would you like me to tell you the tale of how I met Alia?"

"Very much."

She stood on the rock, dropping the clothing from her body. She had regained much of the weight she had lost in her captivity, but new scars crisscrossed her milky flesh. I suspected she was softer than she had ever been in her life. She was twenty years older, and though she aged more slowly than most, the years had touched her. She was still beautiful to me. She always would be so.

The dreamlike hum in the air worked into my tissues in a delicious tingle. I felt what was in the offing. I believe we all did. I doffed my clothes as well, Mira's eyes lingering on my staff as I dropped into the water. Maireili was last. The three of us were in the middle of the pond, letting the water rise to our necks.

Mira began to tell us the story of how she met Alia of Freeport. Alia had been a working thief in the city then. She had started as a pickpocket on the streets and had managed to work her way into the local guild. Alia had chosen adventurers as the best prey, since they were the ones with the best treasure and the fewest local connections. Mira caught her in the act, but instead of stopping her, pursued her back to the guildhouse. Alia had been humiliated, and immediately besotted.

Mira took the younger thief under her wing, training her as a proper adventuring rogue. Those lessons had included loveplay once Mira seduced Alia. As she spoke, Maireili squirmed beneath the water, and I felt myself growing hard.

"You taught her well," I said.

Mira smiled, her blue eyes smoky. "I know. You had her?"

"Many times."

"She never expressed any interest in men."

"I was an exception," I said.

"Because I taught you."

"I think so," I said. With each sentence, we drew closer, and this last, we were inches apart. I drew her into my arms, my mouth finding hers. She was softer than I remembered her being, more cautious. I was the dominant partner now, these many years later. I wanted to show her the care she had shown me, to return to her the love she had given. To show her what that carving beneath my table had meant to me.

Her hand found my staff, running lightly up and down me. "I remember this," she purred into my mouth.

I responded with another kiss, caressing her body, and when my hand found her breasts, another cool hand was in the way. I looked up, and Maireili was over her shoulder. Her black-in-black eyes were hard to read, but I thought I saw desire in them. I kissed her, and her cool tongue danced with mine.

"Take her," Maireili said. "Love her."

I needed no further encouragement, and neither did Mira. Her legs hooked about me, and I found her warmth in the middle of the pool. She took me with a happy sigh, clutching me. She leaned back into Maireili, and the ghoul held her. Mira's head tipped back and the two of them kissed, Maireili's agile hands toying with the rogue's breasts.

I pushed myself into Mira, as deeply as once I had back in my chamber in Thunderhead. She moaned as I reached my limit. I brought my hips up, holding hers, taking her with slow, aching thrusts. She leaned back, her arms twining about Maireili's neck, their kisses growng more passionate as we built our pleasure.

Mira's nipples were rocks, Maireili gently raking them with her claws. My heart pounded in my chest, and through her sex, I could feel her own. Our heartbeats joined, with each sweetly savage thrust into her. Water flowed about us, pooling between her breasts, then cascading off of her.

I do not delude myself into thinking that this was an act of healing. This was lust, pure and simple. The three of us wanted one another, and this pond was the place that we had made our own. We were as much compelled by it as by our own desires. This site had been a place of healing, but it had also been a place of subtle lust. So subtle, I had not noticed it simmering until the need boiled over.

The bliss took me in its talons. Mira broke from Maireili's hungry kisses for long enough that her bright blue eyes met mine. I released my grip upon the pleasure, and it broke from me in a great gout. I felt myself filling her with hot jets, and that was the moment her shivering turned to a full quake. Her back bowed and she held Maireili, her expression almost panicked in its need.

The three of us somehow made it to the rock, the dappled sun kissing our cool flesh. A bit of pearl peeked from Mira's folds. "Not terribly fancy," she teased me.

"We have all afternoon," I said. "And Maireili has not had a turn."

"So she hasn't," Mira pouted. "She... oh." Mira's head went back. The ghoul was between her legs, industriously cleaning her sex. I watched the ghoul's tongue find a pearly strand in Mira's folds and take it into her mouth.

"A wonderful idea," I said, kissing Mira.

"Isn't it?" she teased, pushing me onto my back. She sucked me into her mouth then, and a moment later, Maireili was beside her. A hot tongue ran up my length followed by a cool. The sensation was incredible, and I knew then I would have to repeat it with my brides.

"Who is next?" I asked. I was fully hard now, ready for either one.

"I think we both are," Mira teased, pushing Maireili back on the rock. She spun about and soon the two of them were in the midst of an amazon circle. I chuckled, as my own ego had brought this upon myself.

"I suppose I should show you something I learned," I said to Mira as I found my way to her haunches. I spread her buttocks and relished the happy yelp she gave as I forced my tongue into her rosebud.

The three of us spent the rest of the day in various entanglements. When night fell and we could stay no longer, we made our exhausted way back to the barn. I thought that would be the end, but it was not. Mira wanted more and we would not deny her. When sleep finally claimed us, it was because we had no strength left.

We lived for a little while longer at Brennan's farm. Mira, Maireili and I enjoyed each other in that time. Soon, I could no longer justify staying. My family awaited me in Castellandria, and I had helped Mira as much as I could. Staying would only be a continuation of an affair that would only ever be temporary.

"We will be returning to Castellandria soon," I told Mira one night while the three of us were entwined in the hayloft. I'd already spoken to Ulrika and Maireili, and we were all agreed.

"We, meaning you, Maireili, and Quiyahui."

"Ulrika too."

"It couldn't last."

"No."

"You have lives there, and I'm grateful for the time you gave me."

"I can speak for Ulrika here. We were all happy to give what we could." I paused. This was foolish, but I knew I would regret more not saying it. "You could come with us."

"And be one of your wives?"

"It doesn't have to be that. Castellandria is a big place. You could join the Order of Owls."

"I don't think I could face a place like Castellandria," she said. "At least, not yet. I think I would like to stay here for a time. See what it is to farm turnips."

"You are always welcome in my home."

She kissed me. "I have loved many, and never regretted a single one. I have never not regretted any more than you. Now, do the two of you have one more in you? I'd like you to say goodbye properly."

We did. The next morning, with grateful thanks to Brennan and his family, Ulrika, Maireili, Quiyahui, and I departed for Castellandria. As we made our way out of the dell, I turned once. Mira stood on the path. She raised her hand and I raised mine. Then we were over the hill and well on the way home.