IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

HARVESTTIME – PART 3: TEE AND THE GREETING OF OLD FRIENDS

PBeM – November 12th through December 1st, 2007
Harvesttime in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

When Tee said her farewells to Tor and asked him to pick up her dress from the Jade Woman her intention was to return to her room and recuperate the injuries she had suffered. Instead she found herself pacing endlessly, lost in eddying currents of hopeless thought.

She knew that only a scant distance away, the Harvesttime Festival in Narred was getting ready to begin. There would be song and dancing on the green. The community hall would be opened for food and drink. All her kin and friends would be there.

It was more than she could bear – to be so close to her old life and yet unable to touch it.

Unable to stay where she was, but unwilling to lead any danger to her community, she decided to seek counsel from Doraedian. She headed towards Iridithil’s Home. But when she arrived, Doraedian wasn’t there. He had been summoned away to a meeting of the Twelve Commanders and would likely go straight from there to the festival at Narred.

Intensely frustrated, Tee returned to the Ghostly Minstrel. By the time she got there, she’d made her decision: She sat down and quickly wrote out notes for her childhood friends – Aradan, Rissien, and Santiel – saying that they should meet at her house as soon as they could. She paid a messenger to deliver the letters and then hurried over to her house.

By this time she knew that the crowds of the Harvesttime Festival would have already gathered around the communal hall and Moon Lily Pond. So, being as discrete as possible, she circled south around the Herbalists’ Guildhall. Approaching her house from behind, she came up Vadarast Street. The familiar, if somewhat disturbing, scents of Bueles’ potion shop just a few buildings down Iron Street brought back sharp memories as she slipped around the corner of her house and, with a cautious glance, unlocked the door.

She was fairly certain she wasn’t noticed, although she could see the crowd gathering across the Narred green. Her thoughts were naturally distracted as she quickly gathered up the drop-cloths and tried to make the house look a little less deserted – not so much lived in, but at least a little more familiar… a little more welcoming.

Then she sat down to wait.

A DIFFICULT REUNION

After a nervous twenty minutes, an uncertain knock came at the door.

“Teethen?”

It was Santiel’s voice, and the nickname she used to call her by. Tee hurried over to the door. “Santiel?” Cracking the door she could see both Santiel and her big brother Rissien standing outside, the expression on their faces lying somewhere between worry, confusion, and anticipation.

Tee’s thoughts flashed back to the letter she’d received from Aradan: He was right. Rissien had sprouted. He’d gone from being six inches shorter than her to being six inches taller; his childish features had become lean and long. It was a little disconcerting.

Santiel, although a little older now, still looked the same – a sweet-faced girl with brown hair in tight curls. She had a large, pearl-white moon lily tucked behind her ear and Tee realized she had just come from the flower ceremonies at the pond. Tee’s thoughts were suddenly filled with the memory of her own parents telling her tales of Moonsilver Forest – of how the trees were festooned with beautiful moon lilies. Now the rare flowers only grew in Moon Lily Pond upon the Narred green, and there they had to be nourished with constant alchemy and magic.

While Tee stood there, dazed in thought, Santiel took it upon herself to rush in. Rissien hestitated for a moment, but followed. As Tee shut the door behind them, Rissien suddenly turned: “Tee, what’s going on? Where have you been? Why are you hiding?”

Tee chose to ignore him. “Goodness, you’ve grown!” she exclaimed, stepping up to hug him tightly. “And you! Look how lovely you are!” she said, rushing to hug Santiel in turn.

Turning back to Rissien, though, she saw the pained question in his eyes. “Patience, Rissien. Patience. It’s not a simple thing to explain, and I don’t know that my answers will give you much satisfaction, anyway. Is Aradan going to be able to join us? I’d rather not go through all of this again when he gets here.”

“Patience?!” Rissien glared for a moment, but then seemed to think twice about it and shrugged. “Aradan performed in the Arrow’s Flight this year. We left the hill about an hour past when it was done so that Santiel could come for the moon lilies. But he should have finished about half an hour past. I don’t know how long it’ll take him to get free of Leytha Nyphistree, though.”

“Well, let’s not wait for him, then.” Tee sighed, uncertain of how to begin. “I wish I could join in the festivities, but…” She shook her head. “First, what do you know? When I left… I was told not to share too much of what I was doing with anyone, and you both are… were so young. You are still young, to tell the truth of it.”

“You’re treating us like children now, Tee? Is that all you think of us?” Rissien’s voice rose slightly, stopping just short of shouting.

“I am not treating you like children, and just because you have grown taller than me does not mean you have grown wiser, Rissien.  There are consequences to telling you too much, ones that might put us all at risk.  Ones I am reluctant to face.  I think that it is safe enough for me to be here now, though you must know how much it would pain me if I brought any danger to our home.”

Rissen threw himself into a chair. “Fine. We don’t know anything. You’re not going to tell us anything. That’s fine.”

Tee’s smile faltered a bit, but Santiel just scowled at him.”Stop it, Rissien.” Then she turned back to Tee. “Aradan told us you’d been sent on a very important a mission. A quest. But that’s all he’d tell us. And then he started spending more time with the Order and stopped saying anything at all. Nobody else would tell me anything, either. Just that you would be back when you were back. Which I thought sounded pretty stupid. Of course you’d be back when you were back.”

“You know I don’t like keeping secrets from you, and if it were up to me I would tell you everything I could.  But those wiser than us all have told me to keep quiet about where I have been and why it has been so long…and why I must continue to stay away.  But I wanted to see you both, and to let you know I am alright.  I am back in Ptolus, though I do not know how long it will be before I can return to Narred and resume my life here.  Please, let us spend the afternoon together, and let that be enough for now.”

Rissien grunted and crossed his arms. Santiel ignored him and smiled at Tee. “It is good to see you again, Teethen. It’s good to know you’re well. You are well, aren’t you?”

“I am mostly well, and another day of rest will see me fine.  I wanted to be here for the celebration, not spend the day in bed.”  Tee smiled again, looking from Santiel to Rissien, “Now, tell me how you are!  It has been so long.  What is new with you both?”

“Aradan’s been helping me learn the bow,” Santiel said. “I think I’m going to try to join the Order. I’m going to try to take the trials before the end of the year.”

“Don’t be stupid, Santi,” Rissien said. “You’re too young.”

Now it was Tee’s turn to ignore Rissien. “That’s wonderful, Santi. I’m sure you’ll do well when the time comes to take the trials. Listen to Aradan. He’ll know when you’re ready.”

Santiel beamed.

There was a knock at the door.

ARADAN

Tee slitted the door. It was Aradan. She stepped aside to let him slip in. He looked worried.

“Tee? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” Tee shook her head. “Everything’s fine. I just… I really just couldn’t go any longer without seeing all of you. I’ve been away from home too long.”

Aradan relaxed and smiled. “I can understand that. It’s true, you have been away too long.”

Tee sighed. “But I’m realizing now that this was all a mistake. I shouldn’t have come. I could be putting all of you in incredible danger. It was selfish.”

Lookng around, she could see that all of them were worried. Santiel looked like she was near to tears. “Does this mean you’re going away again, Teethen?”

“Yeah.” Tee crossed her arms across her chest. “It does. I’m sorry, Santi. I’m really sorry.”

Rissien’s anger seemed to have been washed away by concern. He leaned forward. “Are you going to be all right, Tee?”

“I hope so,” Tee gave a weak smile. “Look, I can’t be here right now. I hope that’ll change soon. But until it does, I just want you to know that I’m thinking of you and I love you and I miss you all terribly. I can’t even tell you where I’m staying, and that’s horrible. But you should know that I’m close. And if you need to get in touch with me, give a letter to Aradan and he’ll pass it on to Doraedian. Doraedian knows how to get in touch with me. All right?”

They nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “Then I should go.”

“So soon?” Aradan frowned. “But we just got here.”

“I know, but…” Tee tried to come to grips with her inner turmoil. “But I’ve got to go.”

Tee headed for the door, but Aradan called out to her, “Tee!” She turned. “Be safe.”

Tee smiled. “I’ll do my best.”

And then she was gone.

RANTHIR – IDENTIFYING POTIONS

Ranthir’s studies had brought to his attention several time-consuming projects which the lack of time and busy cycle of activity kept him from accomplishing. Among these were his desires to identify the strange alchemical compounds they had recovered from the laboratories in Ghul’s Labyrinth and to obtain a supply of cindershards to combat the effects of the sickstone caverns.

Querying Elestra as to the best options for find alchemical assistance within the city, Ranthir received a list of several potential apothecaries. The most promising of these seemed to be a potions shop run by a man named Buele on Iron Street.

So, after completing a variety of miscellaneous studies in the privacy of his own rooms at the Ghostly Minstrel, Ranthir headed down the slope in the early hours of the afternoon. Arriving at the apothecary he had a rewarding collaboration with the proprietor, identifying several of the concoctions as alchemical means of imbibing physical or mental enhancements to the receiver’s body.

Strangely, however, several of the chemicals taken from the fungal pits defied identification. It wasn’t clear if they were simply esoteric in their concoction or if they had been hopelessly corrupted over the endless years since they were left there.

Satisfied that all the progress that could be made had been made, Ranthir left these unidentified chemicals with Buele and left the shop. He also picked up a small supply of cindershards (as many as his meager coin purse could afford).

He was intent on returning directly to the Ghostly Minstrel. Heading back up Iron Street, however, Ranthir was surprised to suddenly spot Tee moving down the street towards him. “Mistress Tee!”

Tee whirled to face him, and for a moment it seemed as if a look of fear crossed her face. But Ranthir quickly concluded that it had simply been startlement as she smiled and made her way towards him.

“Ranthir… What are you doing here?”

Ranthir quickly explained his alchemical errands, and as he chattered endlessly about the differing properties of the compounds involved the two of them proceeded down Vadarast Street, through the northern reaches of the Guildsman District, and from there up Rachen Street and hence to the Ghostly Minstrel.

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