laughed and took Mari in his arms. The two embraced for a length of time that might have seemed improper were they not alone.
Suddenly the sunlight that spilled through the doorway darkened. Caledan looked up in surprise to see a hulking shadow standing in the open door. The shadow took a step forward.
'Tyveris!' Caledan exclaimed. 'It's about time you came by for a visit.'
The big loremaster smiled, pushing his gold-rimmed spectacles up on his nose. 'Things have been busy at the city lord's tower,' Tyveris said, joining the two at the table. He sighed ruefully.
Caledan laughed. Tyveris was working as an advisor to City Lord Bron, helping to plan the restoration of Iriaebor. It was a position Tyveris had taken reluctantly. After leading the victorious battle in the dungeons, the big lore-master had become nothing less than a hero in the city. The day following the battle the citizens had called for Tyveris to enter the High Tower as city lord. It was a job he did not want. He was a priest, and perhaps even a bit of a warrior still, but he was most certainly not a bureaucrat.
Luckily for Tyveris the old city lord, Bron, was discovered that same morning locked in a small, hidden chamber in the dungeons beneath the tower. Though pale from lack of sunlight and weak from over a year of confinement, Bron was still a man of considerable presence, and the cityfolk were overjoyed to see him alive and well.
However, despite Bron's reappearance, a significant number of citizens still called for Tyveris to take up rule. It was Bron who had proposed Tyveris accept a position as his advisor, and the loremaster, realizing he had little choice in the matter, had agreed. Everyone in the city was thereby made happy-except Tyveris, but apparently he did not count.
'You're looking almost respectable today, Caledan,' Tyveris remarked, eyeing Caledan curiously. Caledan had finally traded in his worn black leather traveling gear for newer, less unsavory attire, and he had even taken to shaving regularly. However, much to Mari's chagrin, he still hadn't given up his road-worn, faded blue traveling cloak. He had to draw a line
'Thanks,' Caledan said, almost surprised at the pride in his own voice.
'I thought you might like to know that the last of the Zhentarim from the dungeon have been sent in a caravan to Darkhold,' Tyveris told them.
'I'm still not certain that was such a good idea,' Caledan remarked with a frown. 'Why give the Zhents their own warriors back? We may have to fight them again someday.'
'Bron didn't want them filling up the dungeon indefinitely,' Tyveris explained. 'They're a rather dangerous bunch to have hanging around, and, what's more, they eat a lot. Besides, Caledan, I think you know how the Zhentarim treat those of their number who fail them.' He drew a finger meaningfully across his neck.
'I'd forgotten about that,' Caledan admitted.
Jolle came into the common room after a time and joined them, and not long after Estah returned from the market. Pog and Nog squealed in delight at the sight of the big Tabaxi Chultan and immediately scrambled to their favorite perches atop his massive shoulders. Kellen sat quietly at the table, though he did flash a brief smile at Caledan and Mari. Caledan reached out and tousled the boy's dark hair.
My son, he thought, as he did numerous times each day. Kellen was still a very serious child. Caledan supposed he always would be. Yet somehow being raised by Ravendas had not left as great a scar on Kellen as Caledan would have imagined. The boy had about him an air of gentleness that made folk forget the odd things he sometimes said.
He looks like Kera, Caledan suddenly realized. The resemblance was clear, in the line of his jaw and the fine shape of his nose. Indeed, he looked far more like Kera than he did his mother, Ravendas.
Tyveris stayed for supper, and for a time the common room was filled with laughter. Their mood saddened only once, when they drank a toast to Ferret, but even then they couldn't help but smile at the recollection of the thief. 'Would that there were as many men in the world as full of greed as Ferret,' Caledan said as he lifted his mug. Everyone knew exactly what he meant.
Finally the shadows began to lengthen outside the inn, and Tyveris bid them all farewell, promising to return soon. He stepped outside into the gathering twilight.
'There's something I need to do,' Caledan said then. 'Something I've been meaning to do for a while.' He stood and threw his multi-patched cloak over his shoulders against the cool onset of night. Estah, her eyes sparkling, nodded in approval.
'Come back soon, Father,' Kellen said, holding Caledan's hand tightly for a moment before running off to entertain Pog and Nog.
'Yes, come back soon,' Mari said softly. She stood on her toes and kissed him fleetingly.
'I will, Harper,' he said gruffly. 'I promise.'
Caledan retrieved Mista from the inn's stable. The pale gray mare tried to nip his shoulder as he saddled her. Apparently she felt she had been neglected of late.
'Well, I'm sorry,' Caledan said in mild annoyance. 'I've been rather busy, you know.'
Mista snorted. Apparently she cared little for excuses. However, despite her surly mood, she allowed Caledan to mount, and soon the two were making their way through the streets of the Old City.
Iriaebor was a much different place than it had been when Caledan had first ridden across the bridge that gray, rainy day in late winter. Free of the oppression of Ravendas and the Zhentarim, the cityfolk had set to the task of restoring their city. Streets had been swept clean, buildings repaired and painted, wells dredged so the water ran clear, and stains scoured from the city's stone walls.
Of course there were some wounds that would take longer to heal. Willowy saplings now grew in gardens where ancient oaks and ash trees had once stood, before they were hacked down and burned by the Zhentarim. But scars such as these only served to remind cityfolk how much their homes meant to them and how valuable their freedom really was.
The evening air was sweet and clear, and the stars began to come out one by one in the slate-colored sky, winking above the tops of the towers like jewels. Torches lined the streets, filling the city with light, and despite the coming night the avenues of the Old City were alive with people bustling about their business.
As Mista walked on, Caledan drew out a'baliset and began to play a soft melody. The baliset, fashioned of maple and ash, had been a gift from Mari. Caledan smiled. After seven years, he had forgotten what a simple pleasure making music could be. He was glad Mari had reminded him of that. It seemed the Harper had reminded him of a good many things he had forgotten in his wanderings.
Caledan and Mista made their way past the Temple of Selune, and finally he brought the gray mare to a halt before a well-kept but stark tower.
'Do you mind waiting out here?' Caledan asked the mare as he dismounted.
She answered him by stepping on his foot.
“Tough,' Caledan replied, tickling her knee so that she would lift her hoof. Mista snorted in indignation, and Caledan slapped her flank affectionately. The mare laid her ears back and bared her teeth.
'I'll be back soon,' Caledan said with a laugh. Mista let out an indifferent whinny, then leaned forward and nuzzled her soft, velvety nose against his cheek.
Caledan shook his head, bemused, then turned to lift the knocker on the tower's door. The full moon was just rising over the city's towers, filling the streets with its pure, silvery light.
The tower's door opened, and Morhion stared out in apparent stupefaction.
'Well, can I come in?' Caledan asked. 'Or are you simply going to stand there staring at me?'
The mage blinked his eyes. 'I am sorry, Caledan… I mean, Caldorien.' There was a trembling note in his normally smooth voice. 'Please, come in.'
Caledan followed Morhion up the tower's steps into the mage's study. He sat and accepted a glass of wine, from which he drank deeply. All the while Morhion regarded him with an expression of confusion mixed with amazement.
'I suppose you're wondering why I've come here,' Caledan said finally.
'I know why you've come,' Morhion replied gravely. 'You've come for satisfaction, to gain vengeance against me. I cannot say that I blame you. I have betrayed you twice, Caldorien.'
'I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not vengeance I want,' Caledan said flatly. He set down his glass and stood before the mage.
