'Well, either one… both, really,' Joel explained. 'Finder's life and his music are sustained in his realm, and it's also a place where he can rest.'
'There's a road leading off in that direction,' Jas said, pointing along the ridge above the river valley. 'I saw it from the air.'
They made their way along the ridge until they reached a hard-packed dirt road. In one direction, it wound down into the valley to a bridge supported by seven graceful stone arches, then wound back up the valley toward the Gilded Hall. In the opposite direction, it led along the ridgeline into a dark forest.
'How about a light?' Emilo asked.
'I don't have the power to cast another one tonight,' Joel said.
'Not to worry,' the kender said. He pulled a small torch from his backpack and flint and steel from one of the pockets of his vest. With expert ease, he lit the torch from sparks in a matter of moments. Jas applauded his skill. Emilo bowed and handed the torch to the winged woman.
They plunged into the forest, moving at a quick pace down the road. The ground was dry, but not dusty. The canopy of leaves overhead blocked their view of the stars and moon, but the forest itself twinkled with fireflies.
They'd traveled for some time when Emilo reported he heard someone coming toward them from up ahead. A few minutes later, they saw lights and heard shouts and laughter. Despite Joel's protests that there could be no harm in greeting the natives, Jas was loath to encounter strangers. She insisted they put out their torch in the dirt and take cover. Once Emilo smothered the torch in the dirt, Jas flew the kender and the bard to a branch high overhead, then settled beside them.
The strangers, dozens of them, moved as one, not like a troop of soldiers but more like a mob of revelers. Occasionally one stumbled but was kept from falling by a companion. There were both men and women in the group, all shabbily dressed and dirty. They passed about wineskins from which they drank as if they were dying of thirst. Arguments broke out whenever one failed to pass a wineskin quickly enough to suit his or her companions. One of the women carried an enormous rat in her arms, which she stroked as if it were a pet cat. As the mob passed below the trees where Joel, Jas, and Emilo hid, the stench of wine and unwashed human bodies assaulted the adventurers' noses.
When the last of the strangers' torches had disappeared behind a bend in the road, Jas turned to Joel. 'Not the sort of natives we really needed to greet, were they?' she asked with an air of the worldly wise.
'I take my hat off to your superior distrust,' Joel replied.
Jas harrumphed. When they'd relit their torch and were once again safely on the ground, they continued through the forest more warily. Emilo traveled in the front since he had the best hearing of the three.
By the time they finally came out of the forest, the moon had set. Some distance ahead of them, the sky was noticeably lighter, as if from a well-lit city. The road now passed through meadows and fields planted with grain and grapes.
The road led through a grove of ancient oaks, and Jas tripped over a huge tree root.
'That's it,' the winged woman said. 'Time to make camp.'
'But it can't be far now,' Joel protested.
'Joel, I'm dead on my feet, and I'm willing to bet you've been overly optimistic about the distance we have to travel. Besides, in the dark we might miss the path to Fermata. I think we should rest here until dawn.'
'I think she's right,' Emilo said. 'I'm beginning to feel stretched a bit thin.'
Joel sighed. He was eager to see Finder again and excited about the prospect of visiting Fermata, but he knew Jas and the kender were right. It was too late to continue, He nodded in agreement.
Nestled between the roots of the largest oak tree in the grove and wrapped in their capes, Jas and Emilo were soon asleep. Joel, less tired than the others, sat up and kept watch. A trio of raccoons, a mother and her young, trundled past and climbed into their lair in a hole in a nearby tree, but otherwise the grove was peaceful save for Emilo's soft snoring.
As the sky began to lighten, Joel softly hummed a song to greet the dawn. Songbirds began to stir and chirp in the trees. Teasingly Joel began whistling back replies. He felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder.
'Good morning,' he said, turning about, expecting to see Jas.
The hand did not belong to Jas, however, but to another woman. An elf maiden was Joel's first guess, until he saw that her curly hair was as deep green as the leaves on the oak trees that surrounded them. Still, she was very, very lovely, slender and graceful, with dark amber-colored eyes and skin as smooth as satin. She wore a gown pieced together of light, shimmering bits of fabric in a variety of colors, but mostly green, gray, brown, and pink.
'Greetings,' the woman said in Elvish. Her voice was soft and deep, but there was a slight hint of disapproval in her tone.
'Soft light, sweet lady,' Joel replied in the same tongue.
The woman drew back a step and giggled.
Joel stood and bowed. 'My name is Joel. These are my companions, Jas and Emilo. If you make your home here, lady, please forgive our intrusion,' he said. His words came slowly, since he was taxing his knowledge of the elves' language to its limit.
'I am Ada,' the woman said. 'Your Elvish is not very good,' she chided.
'I have very little practice,' Joel admitted. 'But so sweet a voice as yours could teach me well.'
Ada giggled again, lowering her eyes to the compliment. Then she slipped behind the tree and disappeared from view.
Joel circled about the tree, but the woman had vanished.
'Ada?' Joel called softly.
Jas moaned and rolled over in her sleep. Emilo snored on.
Something tugged away the strip of leather that held back his hair. The bard spun about. Ada stood behind him, appearing as if out of nowhere. Joel grinned. 'How did you do that?' he asked.
Ada stepped closer to the bard. A sweet scent rose from her skin. She stroked Joel's long hair and smiled with pleasure.
Without thinking, Joel reached out and ran his hand through the green curls that crowned Ada's head. They were soft and warm.
Ada brushed her lips against the bard's, then quickly drew back. Giggling, she disappeared behind the tree again.
'Ada, come back,' the bard called softly, circling the tree once more.
Ada appeared suddenly before him and wrapped her arms about his neck. Joel embraced her about the waist. As if in a dream, he felt no embarrassment whatsoever about kissing this perfect stranger. Her mouth was as sweet as her laughter, and her caresses made his heart pound. Joel couldn't understand why he should suddenly feel so enamored of this woman, unless he was indeed dreaming.
That was it, he decided. He was more tired than he thought, and he'd fallen asleep. He really should stir himself awake, he thought, but he had no desire to do so.
From the edge of the grove, a familiar voice called out in Elvish, 'Hold, sprite! Release him.'
Ada and Joel turned to the speaker. Finder stepped into the grove. The god wore the form he had possessed when he'd been mortal, that of an older man, but one still in his prime. His bearing was strong and regal, and his dark brown hair and beard held only the slightest streaks of gray. Joel found himself unable to speak but wishing he could tell his god that he didn't wish for Ada to release him, ever.
'I'm sorry, Ada,' Finder said, 'but you cannot keep him, He is mine, and I have far more important things for him to do than fetch you honeycombs and weave clover crowns for your hair.'
'You should have to ransom one so fair and sweet,' Ada said, tossing her head saucily.
Finder held out his hand. In his palm rested a large golden acorn carved from an amber so dark it seemed to have blood mixed into it. 'To match your eyes,' the god said.
Ada kissed Joel once more on the lips and stroked his stubbly cheek. Then she ran to Finder's side and snatched the acorn gem from his hand. With a laugh as thick as honey, she ran back toward the largest oak and disappeared like a ghost into the tree's trunk.
Finder moved toward Joel and set his right hand on the bard's chest, just over his heart.
Joel felt a sudden shock, as if someone had splashed cold water on him. Although the attraction to Ada
