The Harvest Moon Consortium

[Child of Stark]

The day was warm with clear skies when a young girl by the name of May walked around picking out weeds that were growing in her parents’ gardens. She hated the chore but knew she had to do it. She’d rather be picking pretty flowers in the woods surrounding her family’s remote cottage or even heading into the city to sell her family’s harvest. The outskirts of Silverymoon were a nice enough place for those seeking solitude, but for May, she’d rather be in the city watching the jugglers or the shows put on in the theaters. Why did she have to be stuck here picking weeds? One day she’d be able to save enough of her allowance to be able to stay in the city for a time and enjoy all the interesting things there! She knew that would be a long time from now.

While she was whining to herself about her current state, she felt an odd chill run down her spine. She looked up to see what was amiss but didn’t see anything. With a sigh, she went back to pulling weeds. Suddenly she saw the tiniest movement out of the corner of her eye. When she looked toward it she saw a figure leaning against a tree several meters beyond the edge of the garden. The woman, for upon second glance the figure’s curves clearly marked her as a woman, was garbed in red leathers and a red hood that covered her face entirely. For a time they simply stared at each other. The strangest thing was that May didn’t feel the need to call out to her parents. There was something about the woman, something that made May feel as if she belonged there, next to that tree. After a moment of staring May found her tongue.

“Hello!” May called and began walking slowly to the edge of the garden. “Are you looking for my Da? He’s inside the…” but the woman was already shaking her head.

“Are you lost?” said May. The woman shook her head again. “Then… why are you here?”

“I’m looking for someone,” the woman replied softly. Her voice was cold but not unkind.

“Who?” May’s curiosity got the best of her.

“A woman who lived here long ago,” the red woman replied. May couldn’t help but frown as she thought back through her memory.

“My Da said he found this place abandoned, many years before I was born. He said it had looked like whoever lived here before just up and left all their things behind. And he said that it was falling apart when he started fixing it up for us to live in.” The woman stared at her as she spoke. She didn’t give any indication that she heard May’s words. “You can ask my Da about it if you want. Come on!” and she motioned for the woman to follow her as she turned and headed toward the house. After three steps she heard the woman’s voice, faint as the wind.

“Thank you, child.” When May turned, the woman was gone. When May walked over to the tree by which she had stood, she could see no sign that the woman was ever there. For a moment May was sure she had imagined the whole conversation. Just then the glint of something red caught her eye. At the base of the tree, leaning against a root, was a ruby the size of May’s fist. She knew then that it wasn’t her imagination and that someone, somewhere had heard her prayers. With a smile, May slipped the ruby in her pocket and went back to the gardens. Her time of saving was nearly at an end.

[Child of Stark]

Relief flooded through Peteran, Priest of Chokra, as the woman in red stalked out of the temple. The woman gave off one of the strangest auras that Peteran had ever felt from an elf. If she was, in fact, an elf. Her hood had kept her face obscured the entire time she was there. And her voice made joints rattle. Who was she to question his knowledge of what happens in this temple?

And her query? Outrageous! In all the many years he had served at this temple he had never heard of a drow paladin serving Chokra. What a foolish notion. Perhaps it was some sort of trick? Who would have put her up to such a thing? And why would she have gone along with it? It was obvious the woman wielded great power, so why play a jest on a simple priest like him?

Unless perhaps she wasn’t tricking him at all. Perhaps he should have gone through the temple records more closely. Well it was too late now. All he could do was hope the woman wouldn’t later seek retribution for his rudeness. And maybe he would look into the idea of a drow paladin from a century or so ago. If she did come back, he would want to have some way of placating her prepared. With a sigh, Peteran turned toward the door to the basement.

[Child of Stark]

The place was relatively quiet tonight. Relatively being the key word. There was tension in the air. It was all because of her, the woman sitting alone at a table in the corner of the tavern. Every time Ervin looked at her he felt a chill run down his spine. There was something off about her but he couldn’t put his finger on it. It didn’t help that she was wearing bright red leather armor and a hood to hide her face.

The way Ervin heard it, she had come into Tethyr looking for signs of the passage of a drow woman who wielded a particular sword. The blade was wrapped and strapped to the red woman’s back even now. The hilt of the blade was all that was currently visible. It was obvious that the woman herself never wielded it. Her questions around town had stirred up a hornet’s nest. Why should the people of Tethyr care about some drow woman that may have passed through the town ages ago? Everyone knows drow are evil and deserve the beatings they get! Foolish of them to come anywhere near a town like this.

While Ervin was considering these thoughts he felt the draft as the door to the tavern was opened. When he saw the men that walked through it, anxiety washed through him. With dread he watched as the four men approached the table where the red woman was sipping her ale. He had to do something before things got out of hand.

“Barnes!” he yelled. “Not in here! If you’re going to start something, you’d best do it outside!”

“Oh relax, Erv! I’m just gonna talk to her!” Barnes called as he stepped up to the table in front of the red woman. His eyes had never left her as she spoke quite loudly. “So! I hear you’re looking for a drow that came here some years ago! Do you know what we do to them stupid enough to come here? Do ya?”

Every eye in the tavern was drawn to the red woman. She seemed not to notice as she sat motionless and stared at Barnes. He waited for her response with a grin. When he realized she wasn’t going to say anything, his grin turned to a frown. His voice dripped with malice “Perhaps you should find out. Perhaps…”

“Barnes! I SAID not HERE! Take it somewhere else! I can’t have the damage!” Ervin yelled, but Barnes wasn’t paying attention to him.

“… you’re a drow! Maybe that’s why you wear that hood” as he spoke, he reached out for the edge of the red woman’s hood.

“If you plan on keeping it,” she nodded her head toward his hand ever so slightly, “I wouldn’t do that.” Her voice was cold and emotionless.

“Ooooo!” Barnes pulled his hand away slightly, “so you’ve got a bit of spunk in you afterall! What do you really think you can do? You’re surrounded and outnumbered. Now lets see.” And with that he touched the edge of her hood.

Ervin couldn’t be sure what happened first. Had Barnes’ fingers touched the hood before his hand was severed from his arm? Maybe. In any case, in one fluid motion, the red woman had drawn a blade from nowhere, sliced through Barnes’ wrist with the short blade in her right hand, stood up while putting a shoulder into him, drawn Barnes’ own dagger out of his belt, and put the dagger to the throat of the man on Barnes’ left.

The man with the knife to his throat and the other two men had moved to draw their weapons but paused when they realized a knife was at the throat of one of them. All three men stared at the red woman in shock and fear while Barnes had fallen backward, crashed through a table and was rolling around holding his spurting stump.

The red woman considered the three men for a moment, looking from their grasped but still sheathed weapons, to their faces. She spoke a single word softly but in the silence of the room, it carried to every corner. “Really?”

With that, the three men raised their arms and each slowly backed away. When they were halfway across the room, the red woman stepped toward Barnes while the room gasped. Instead of attacking the whimpering man, she took hold of his shirt and wiped the blade of her short sword on it. The frozen crystals of blood slid off the freezing blade without leaving a trace of blood behind. Without another word, the woman rose, removed a small bag of coins from her belt and tossed it onto the bar while striding toward the door.

“Sorry.” Was all she said as she stepped out of the door, into the rapidly cooling night.

Ervin looked from the door, to Barnes, and finally to the heavy bag of coins on the counter. He knew then that he wasn’t going to have to worry about paying for damages for a long time.

[Child of Stark]

The night had grown chill as Henry waited for the woman to leave Ervin’s Tavern. His joints had already begun to ache as he leaned against the building across the street. He knew he wouldn’t have to wait long after he heard the sounds of commotion in the tavern so he wasn’t surprised when the woman in red stepped out of the bright tavern and into the dark streets. He didn’t bother attempting to hide his presence as he knew that she would spot him the moment she stepped out of the building.

As she took a few steps toward the street he spoke in a normal conversational tone, “That wasn’t entirely necessary, you know.”

The woman regarded him levelly, “I warned him.”

“I’m sure you did. I didn’t say he wasn’t deserving.” As he spoke, Henry pushed himself off the wall with a soft groan. He was getting to old for late night encounters. The woman seemed to pay him little mind as she had already started walking down the street away from him. He had to get to the point fast.

“That’s a unique sword you have there.” She didn’t pause as she strode down the road. “It’s just as unique as its TRUE owner.” He hoped that his accent on the word “true” would finally get her attention. He was right. She had stopped walking and turned her head slightly toward him. Unfortunately this wasn’t the place to speak plainly. He dropped his voice slightly, hoping it wouldn’t carry much past the two of them. “We have much to speak about, but not here. Come.”

Without looking back, Henry started walking the other direction on the road. For a moment he wondered if the woman would follow him or distrust him enough not to come along. He couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t follow. He represented no threat to her. He was old, unarmed, and wore nothing but a simple robe. After a few heartbeats, he could hear her near-silent tread on the street behind him. Slowly Henry led them to a small shed where he had tied up his horses. She had easily caught up with him and he could feel her stare on his back. “We have to move quickly. It’s going to take us half the night to reach the temple and unlike you, I need at least a few hours rest if I’m going to be able to get through the day tomorrow.” He couldn’t help but grin slightly.

Without a word they both mounted and Henry lead the way out of town and down a flat, curvy road through the trees. Luckily the horses knew the route so they could move at a steady pace. They rode in silence. When they reached the temple stables they handed the horses off to a red-eyed and yawning stable boy. As they talked toward the temple entrance, Henry answered her unspoken question. “Yes, I knew her. Well, a little at least.”

“How?” her response was immediate.

“I was a mere boy when she came to the temple. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, she was discovered in Tethyr and severely beaten by the villagers. A group of our priests found her left for dead just outside of the town. They brought her here. And it was here that she found her true calling… and her God.” His eyes looked up above the entrance to the temple where two hands bound by a cord were etched into the stone. He felt the woman’s gaze follow his. He watched her for some outward clue to her thoughts, but she didn’t react at all.

“It doesn’t make any sense. She is a paladin of Chokra, not…” she went silent as they crossed the threshold and entered the temple. The main hall was dark and silent when they both noticed a faint golden light coming from behind them. Henry watched in silence as the woman in red looked behind her and noticed glow of the sword wrapped and bound to her back. Slowly she untied and unwrapped it to reveal the faintly glowing blade.

“Now you see… “ Henry said softly, “the blade knows its home. Amysara.” The woman flinched at the sound of her name. “You are both like and unlike her description of you. “ Henry was sure she could see the pity in his eyes, although he tried not to let it slip into his voice.

“Why…?” Amysara spoke softly. Her voice seemed to falter for a moment. She tried again, “Why bring me here?” She stared up at him and he could feel the slightest chill run down his back.

“To bring your search to an end.” Henry said slowly.

“The end?” Henry’s heart lurched at the hope he heard in Amysara’s voice.

“An end… not THE end. I brought you here to give at least one of you a small measure of peace.” Amysara was staring at him from beneath her hood, utterly unmoving. Henry went on slowly “She devoted her life to finding you after you… disappeared. She said that all she found of you was a plain ruby where you had vanished. It was her most treasured possession and her one small hope that you still lived. She was wracked with guilt over something that happened between the two of you before she lost you. It pained her every day. So she searched for you. I don’t know what happened between you two, and it isn’t my place at ask. All I know is that your mother blamed herself your disappearance. And she wouldn’t rest until she found you.”

While he spoke she turned her gaze to the sword. She stared at it as if looking at it would make her mother appear. After a few moments Henry went on, “She stayed here for a few years then resumed her search. None of us here at the temple have seen her in nearly half a century.”

“You don’t have any idea where she is?” The guilt in Amysara’s voice was heart wrenching.

“I know where she is not.” Said Henry. At those words Amysara took her eyes from the blade to look him full in the face. “She’s not HERE.” At her confused silence he went on, “she is not in any of the known planes. Wherever she is, she out of the sight of Ilmater and his servants. Personally, I do not believe she is dead. But I can offer you no proof of that. I can tell you only that she is outside any but a God’s reach. You won’t find her.” It broke his heart to watch her head fall as he spoke the hard words, but they were what she needed to hear.

“Then I’ve failed her.” Her soft voice was devoid of emotion. She reached a hand beneath her hood and rested her head on it.

“No! Not as long as you live your life as she would want you to. She wouldn’t want you to waste your life searching for her. Tiberia wasn’t that type of woman. Be true to yourself and by extension her. Go! And live your life as you were meant to.” He watched her for a moment longer. “Listen. Spend the night here, then you can leave in the morning. The chambers are cramped, but they’re warm and comfortable enough. In the morning, if you want, we can talk more. Come. Let me show you where you can stay.”

Henry led her to a tiny room with a bed for guests of the temple. After he closed the door, he went to seek his own chamber and a good night’s sleep.

Henry rose with the sun and made his way to Amysara’s room. When he knocked and entered, the room was tidied and empty. She was gone.

[Child of Stark]

The cries of seagulls overhead could be heard as the small boat made its way slowly to the city of Lapis Port. The city was a spec on the horizon surrounded by the green of the countryside.

Amysara Di’malle was surprised by the feeling of relief she felt when the city came into view. It was the first real feeling she could remember feeling since her night in Ilmater’s Temple. “Peace” the old priest had said. She didn’t know peace. Perhaps she never would.

Her head throbbed, her brain dully thudding against her skull. The headaches were growing more painful, and more frequent. Well, there was time enough to deal with that later. In only a few hours she would back amongst the familiar trees and the hills.

Soon she would be home.

Home? Almost there was a hint of a feeling there, but she couldn’t say what it was.