CURTAIN CALL
The vision of Ayryn, the genasi server, was so lifelike that the Sensates had to shield their eyes from the explosion of the fusion chamber projected into the sensorium.
Kenda Fretterstag rose to leave. 'I was really looking forward to experiencing the creation of a new power,' she sighed.
'You did get to witness a paladin disobey her god,' Bors pointed out.
'Why, yes, I did,' Kenda noted. 'Any chance you might risk your god's wrath?'
Bors frowned. While he had been proud of Holly's strength of character, the thought of what she had risked filled him with fear.
'Thought not,' Kenda taunted as she grabbed her fur coat and made her way to the exit.
Ayryn continued to project the images of Lathander, Holly, Jasmine, Emilo, and Tymora. There was no sign of Joel or Finder. Though the others stood on the steps of Lathander's temple, it appeared to the Sensates as if the gods and adventurers were sitting among the Sensates in the sensorium.
Lathander and Holly Harrowslough stood off to one side, their image projected so that they appeared to stand beside Ayryn. They had been blasted from Lathander's realm and had only just returned. They were engaged in earnest discussion. Now the Morninglord cupped Holly's face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. Apparently the god of beginnings had decided that his paladin's good sense and stout heart outweighed her disobedience.
Quellig, the tiefling wizard, sat up and leaned forward as Jasmine asked Emilo Haversack, 'So, your friend Fiz Whatever made you unnoticeable to all but people from Krynn just so you could uncover Xvim's fraud? Why? What's it to him?'
'Well, it's a little more complicated than that,' the kender said. 'The way Fizban explained it, gods from one world aren't supposed to let gods from another world harm each other, whether they're good or evil. It's against the rules. It could start a war between the gods from Krynn and the gods from Toril. If it really was Sirrion helping Lathander to drain the power from Tymora and Beshaba, or some other god from Krynn impersonating Sirrion, Fizban was going to have to step in and make him stop. But since it wasn't a god from Krynn, Fizban didn't have to get involved. He didn't want to get into an argument with Lathander if he could help it. That could start-'
'All right, all right,' Jas said. 'I don't need to know any more about the gods. What I want to know is, if you're unnoticeable to everyone except people from Krynn, why is it that I can see you perfectly?' she asked. 'I wasn't born on Krynn.'
'Actually, you were,' Tymora said, laying a hand on the winged woman's shoulder. 'Your mother and father took a spelljammer to Krynn, and you were born there before they returned to Toril.'
'So Jas has been spelljamming since she was a baby,' Emilo said. 'No wonder she likes the stars.'
At that moment, Beshaba suddenly appeared in front of Lathander. 'I've teleported here to share my gift with you, Lathander,' she said, and she gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. Then the Maid of Misfortune vanished again.
The Morninglord looked mildly alarmed. 'I don't suppose you'd care to balance out Beshaba's ill luck with a kiss of your own?' he asked Lady Luck.
Tymora stepped back and pointed at Holly. 'You were blessed with far more than your share of luck the day this girl entered your service,' she informed him.
'Yes… I've come to realize that,' Lathander said.
Finder and Joel appeared and approached the gods and mortals assembled on the temple stairs. Finder casually tossed the finder's stone in the air and caught it again. The magic crystal was once again intact.
'No sign of Xvim,' Joel reported. 'We've searched everywhere.''
'I can't believe he let Beshaba destroy his bastion and didn't raise a finger,' Tymora said.
'He was playing for high stakes,' Finder said. 'He couldn't bring himself to abandon the evil deception he'd set up. If he had been successful, he would have possessed all of your power, Tymora, and all of Beshaba's power as well. He never intended to return it to Tyche.'
Tymora put a hand on Jas's shoulder. 'We have much to talk about,' she said. 'Will you accompany me back to Brightwater?'
'Yes,' Jas agreed. 'As long as you don't serve me any more of that wine.'
'I think you'll find that wine tastes quite different now,' the goddess replied. 'Finder, Rebel Bard… until we meet again,' she added, saluting the god and his priest.
Tymora teleported herself and Jas from Morning Glory, and their projected image disappeared from the sensorium.
Finder bowed low to the Morninglord. 'Well, Lord Lathander, it's always interesting when we disagree,' he said.
'Good-bye, god of reckless fools,' Lathander said. 'Fare thee well.'
Finder chuckled. He bent over and kissed Lathander's paladin. 'Good-bye, Holly Harrowslough. May songs of purity fill your heart, and may you always hear them singing.'
'Good-bye, Lord Finder,' the paladin whispered. She looked down at the ground, unable to meet Joel's eyes. She couldn't forget that she had risked his life.
The bard stooped in front of her. 'It's all right, Holly,' he said, kissing her cheek. 'I know how hard your decisions were. In the end, you made the right ones.'
Holly threw her arms around the bard's neck and hugged him unashamedly.
Finder and Joel strolled away from the temple to have one last look at the crater made by the gnomes' fusion chamber.
'Hey,' Emilo cried. 'Wait for me.'
'I'm sorry, Mr. Haversack,' Finder said. 'I thought you had gone with Jas. I'll be glad to take you home to Krynn if you'd like.'
'Not yet,' the kender said. 'First I want to see this place you call the Realms. I'd like to meet some halflings.'
'And I'll wager the halflings would like to meet you,' Joel said.
In the sensorium on Sigil, Factol Erin Montgomery laughed. She had spied on the Rebel Bard long enough. She had seen all she desired. As far as she was concerned, this adventure was over. She rose to leave. Cuatha Da'nanin and Annali Webspinner followed her from the sensorium. Slowly the other Sensates began to depart as well.
'A kender in the Realms…' Bors said thoughtfully as he found himself left alone with Ayryn in the sensorium.
'It could be most interesting,' Ayryn commented.
'Yes, most interesting indeed…' Bors agreed.
