timeskip

	Linus settled down at the edge of the small stone bath and sighed.  After a month of non-stop flying and traipsing around in the woods, a soak in a real bath was a luxury almost beyond compare.  He had already emptied the tub twice after soaking and scrubbing, and now a hot dip was exactly what he needed.

	He smiled faintly as he heard the soft music from the downstairs music hall drifted up to him.  He had been discreetly offered the service of a private attendant for the evening, and politely declined.  Tonight was for himself, and himself alone.

	His smile faded as his mind turned to the fey he had befriended.  Viri certainly, Castinuve too, he supposed... yes, perhaps even Xuriis.  No, Xuriis wasn't a friend, but he had at least learned responsibility.

	The ache in his muscles flared as he sat up to grab his drink, then diminished as he sat back against the wall of the tub.  His holy symbol hung, shining and freshly scrubbed, from the shelf where he had cached his things.  It caught the light from the candles.  He sought out Celestia in his mind and relaxed.  Prayer and quiet relaxation soothed his aching soul.  Once every ten days or so, he would feel the sting of death in his mind once more.  Last night had been especially rough.


	Linus rose from his tub and started rubbing the water away.  He yawned as he toweled off, feeling deliciously tired and hungry after all his work.  Half an hour later, he was reclining in the seat by the window of his upscale coaching house inn room.

	This was positively luxurious, by the standards of the ravaged city of Neverwinter.  The earthquake zone had flattened huge swathes of land, and the closing of the fissure had created much more.  Whole pocket industries of coaching houses, inns, taverns, brothels, stables, and public gathering spaces had popped up all along the rebuilt roads, with no sense of coordination or planning, and competition for the limited customer base was fierce.  It was a buyer's market, for rest and relaxation.

	Linus finished his meal and set the plates by the door.  He stretched and started to change into something more comfortable to sleep in when he heard the discreet knock.

	"Yes?" he asked as he cinched his robe back up.

	"Chamber service," a woman's voice said from the other side.

	"Nothing here but dishes, come on in," he said.

	He heard the chambermaid walk in and quickly collect the plates and cups, then vanish into the hall.  He sat down on the side of the bed and yawned again, wondering if it was even worth the bother of trying to stay up and read.  He had to be up at a sane time the next day, at least.

	He closed his eyes and thought.  He had to go back to Conyberry for a while, and watch as the Farview team designed the defenses to make sure they were in the specifications of the Colony Group's needs.  He should go check up on the Near Green and make sure all was well...

	A discreet cough caught his ear.  He opened his eyes to see the chambermaid standing at the door again.  "Will there be anything else, sir?" she asked.

	Linus yawned again, feeling the folly of trying to stay awake.  "No... no, thank you," he eventually managed.  "I should just turn in."

	"I see.  Good night, sir," she said, shutting the door.

	The sun shone in his eyes as he rose up to the sky the next day.  He shielded his face from the glare as Noble soared off over the trees of the Neverwinter woods to Conyberry.  The wind tugged his dreadlocks and fluttered his new cape.

	As he came in to land in the village square, Linus saw a few carts there he didn't recognize.  The newer Ambassador, Henry, spotted him as he approached, and waved him down.  "Ah, Sir Vorth, welcome," he said.  The jovial fellow looked harried, but in his traditional good spirits.  "Some of the people who lived here before the werewolf assault are moving back into their homes."  He indicated a few with a wave of his hands.  "The abandoned buildings are going fast, as you can see!"

	"So they are," Linus said.  He patted Noble's neck, and the great Pegasus spirit wandered off to find something to eat.  "And your troubles with the drow fellow?"

	"Resolved.  Marshal Kretta rode into town this morning with the Guards we sent with the Farview mercenaries to find his headquarters, and they apparently stayed behind to finish evacuating people," Henry said.  "Now, the reconstruction begins in earnest."

	Linus nodded, impressed.  "A remarkable job, dismantling an entire criminal organization like that in under a month," he said.  "Do pass along my regards to the others."

	"So now that we will be gaining some more colonists and guards, do you imagine your role here changing?" Henry asked.

	Linus shrugged.  "That's up to Lord Neverember, but I suspect it shall.  Now that there will be more convoys coming and going from the city to here, I'll need to patrol it often, but not as often as before.  He may ask me to visit the Feywild to maintain contact with this Duke Severus, or... who knows."

	"Then if you don't mind, I think I'll stay here for the night," Linus said.  "In the morning, I'll head off to the Near Green and see how things are there."

	"Very well, you're always welcome here."  Henry bustled off after some of the returning settlers who were apparently less than thrilled over the condition of their abandoned home.

	Linus turned on his heel and walked off to the Bedded Landing Inn.  He had a few hours before sundown, and he was already looking forward to a proper sleep.


	From the treeline, unseen eyes glimmered.  Slicce glared at the distant Paladin.  Of course he would have returned then.  Right when all those new people had arrived, fresh for the conversion.

	She scoffed and melted back into the shadows.  She ran and ran, feeling leaves and bushes brush against her sweaty body in the thin light of the forest, until she arrived at the new court.

	Gillint looked up from his makeshift throne and threw his arms wide.  "Ahh, Slicce, my faithful scout and second.  What new sights in the village have you reckoned?"

	Slicce bowed to her master on his cobbled-together chair of bone and rock.  "The Paladin Vorth has returned to the village.  I do not think it presently assailable."

	Gillint sighed and looked over his little court.  It was no substitute for Capricorn's normal court, far off in the Feywild, but it was to his liking.  Skulls decorated the trees and stones of his slowly-expanding demesne, mostly those of the beasts his tempt had slain, and a few of his guests whose bodies had been unable to withstand his revelry.  The remains of Countess Capricorn held a place of particular honor; her bones had been boiled clean and sat upright at his table.  If the other Satyrs thought that odd, none had voiced concerns.

	"Then it seems we shall have to pick our prey, my dear, from the farms and roads and mines which lie near.  The supply of proper wine and spirits to to our court is necessary for our noble sport."

	"Guests too, my kindly master, for we are going through them faster," Slicce tried out, and he nodded indulgently.

	"So it is, Slicce, my spirited toy and slut."  Gillint patted his knee, and she obligingly crawled over to him.  "From the herd of these local humans, shall we enjoy a cut.  Their labors to make our food and wine may be unwitting, but for their products and flesh to sate us is so fitting."

	Slicce giggled.  Everything made sense when Gillint said it.