there now if you want.'
Jas shook her head vehemently. 'I'm going to handle this myself. I don't want any god's help.'
'Jas, you're being ridiculous about this,' Joel said. 'Give me one good reason why you won't come with me.'
'I don't have to give you any reasons,' Jas retorted. 'This is my business. Why don't you just let me be?' The whites of her eyes and her dark brown irises began glowing green.
'You don't mean that,' Joel argued.
'Damned if I don't,' Jas snarled.
'Damned if you do,' Joel whispered softly.
The winged woman glared at Joel for a moment, then whirled about and grabbed at something behind her chair. Something yelped behind her. With a sharp yank, she pulled the something forward, depositing it on the table in front of her with a unceremonious thunk.
The something was a small man with pointed ears and a topknot of very long brown hair. Over his indigo homespun trousers and shirt, he wore a scarlet vest covered with pockets and an orange cloak over that. He was holding a crystal paperweight full of some dark liquid, in which floated a thousand glittering specks. Joel recognized the paperweight. Holly had bought it for Jas as a gift to help remind the winged woman of the stars, which couldn't be seen in Sigil. Joel didn't recognize the small man. He guessed that he was some sort of halfling who'd just picked Jas's cloak pocket.
'You lousy little halfling thief!' Jas hissed. She had both her hands about the creature's throat.
Joel gasped, alarmed by the sudden transformation of Jas's hands into the talons of a bird of prey. Her claws were piercing the thief's flesh. Blood was trickling down his neck.
'Ow! Careful with those claws,' the creature squeaked.
Joel put his hands about the winged woman's wrists and managed to pull one talon away from her prey. The little creature tried to pull away, but Jas caught a clasp of his vest with the claws of the other talon, and he was stuck fast.
'You're mistaken, lassie,' Jas's captive said with an offended air. 'I'm not a halfling thief.'
'Halfling, tiefling, leprechaun-I don't care,' Jas said. 'It won't matter once I've put you in the dead book.'
'Render, lass. I'm a kender,' the creature said proudly. 'I don't think I'd fit in a book, not even a great mage's tome, though once when I was a child I managed to crawl into a magic pouch. Magic is tricky, though, you know, and I couldn't find my way back out. My parents searched for me for hours. Finally I kicked my way out. Tore a huge hole in the back, ruined it. The man who owned it was furious, but, really, he shouldn't have left it lying around where a child could find it. I might have suffocated.'
Jas growled at the kender.
'I was just going to ask if this was yours,' the kender concluded quickly, holding out the crystal paperweight. 'It's very lovely. Is it magical?'
'Jas,' Joel whispered softly, 'think what you're doing. Let the authorities handle this.'
Jas snarled, deep in the back of her throat. If Joel were to release her wrists, she could tear out the kender's throat with a single blow or even break his neck.
'For gods' sake, Jas, if you're going to lose your humanity, at least do it killing something your own size,' Joel implored.
'It reminds me of the stars on my home world,' the kender said, peering into the crystal, apparently oblivious to how close he was to death. 'Funny you can't see the stars in this town, or the sun. I miss the stars, don't you? Of course, if you're from around here, you've never had them to miss. Which is a real shame.'
As if they were a magical chant, the kender's words softened Jas's heart. Her eyes became human again; her talons transformed back to hands. She pulled her hands from Joel's grasp and pushed her chair away from the table. She put her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands so Joel couldn't see her face.
'Is something wrong here, sir?' a waiter asked Joel.
'Just a little misunderstanding,' the kender said.
Joel might have asked the waiter to remove the kender, but the creature was still bleeding from the wounds Jas had left about his throat. Brawling would get a person bounced out of Chirper's, but if they suspected Jas had drawn a weapon and wounded someone, the staff would alert the authorities.
'No problem,' Joel said coolly.
The waiter studied the bard's face, searching his even features for any sign of a lie.
'Except that we could really use a plate of sandwiches and an ale for our friend here,' Joel added.
'Yes, I'm parched and famished,' the kender said.
'As you wish, sir,' the waiter said with a shrug. He hurried off to the kitchen.
'Urn, I'm Joel, a priest of Finder,' the bard introduced himself.
'Pleased to make your acquaintance,' the kender replied. 'My name's Emilo Haversack. Just call me Emilo.' He held out his right hand.
Joel accepted the kender's handshake.
'Finder, hmm?' Emilo queried. 'That's another god I've never heard of.'
'He's a new god from another world,' Joel explained. 'Let me have a look at those cuts on your neck before our meal comes.'
'I'd appreciate that,' the kender replied.
There was nothing in Emilo's tone that was the least bit sarcastic or threatening. His voice and manner were soft and mild, rather different than one might expect from a thief, but also different from the behavior of an innocent man accused of a crime. It was as if the creature were completely indifferent to the violent skirmish his actions had caused.
Joel pulled a stool over from the bar for the kender, and Emilo slid down onto it. Very gently Joel laid his fingers about the kender's bloody neck. Emilo closed his brown eyes, as if he thought the healing might hurt. He re minded Joel of a boy waiting for a birthday gift to be set down in front of him.
Joel noticed Jas looking up at the kender. The woman's face was pale beneath the feathers that covered her flesh. There were tears in her eyes, though whether from shame or self-pity, he could not tell. Noting that Joel was watching her, Jas looked back down at the floor.
Joel returned his attention to his patient. He noticed there were streaks of gray in the hair gathered back from Emilo's temples and fine lines all over the kender's face. In a soft voice, the bard prayed to his god. A dim blue aura of healing energy illuminated Joel's hands and seeped into Emilo's body.
The puncture wounds sealed up easily, leaving little scars, like flea bites. Joel wiped the blood from Emilo's neck with a handkerchief. 'That's much better,' Emilo said, opening his eyes wide, as if surprised. 'You're good at that,' he said to Joel.
Joel bowed his head modestly. There was an awkward silence as he realized he was stuck with a chatty kender when what he really needed to do was talk some sense into Jas. 'So, where is it you're from, Emilo?' he asked politely.
'Well, I was born and raised in the East, about twenty miles south of Render-more, in a small village called Ten-grapes,' Emilo explained. 'I've been wandering most of my life. Before I came here I was in the lair of a dragon called Flayze somewhere near Thorbardin. I stepped through a magical vortex and ended up in this city. I've been trying to get my bearings ever since I got here three days ago. I've asked all sorts of people, but not one of them can tell me how to get to any major city or kingdom that I've ever heard of.' The kender gave a tiny shrug. 'Geography seems to be a lost art among the people of this city.'
'True,' Joel agreed. 'Maps are not particularly meaningful to them.'
'We don' need no stinkin' maps,' declared a drunken man seated at the bar. He wore a chain mail shirt and carried a double-headed axe. He pointed the axe handle in Emilo's direction. 'You don' like that, you clueless sod, go back to Prime.'
Jas stood up, whirled around, and took two steps toward the bar so that she stood nose-to-nose with the interloper. If the man had been standing, he would have towered a head taller than the winged woman. In a harsh whisper, Jas asked, 'Did it ever occur to you that if you were on a Prime world, you'd be the clueless sod?'
'Never happen,' the drunk said with a grin. 'Never be so addle-coved that I'd leave the Cage.'
'The way you're drinking, it's only a matter of time,' Jas retorted. 'Some night you'll make a wrong turn and
