the party and the fight

	Eladrin gold, it seemed, was as valuable as Prime gold.  Tumnal's soldiers collected drink and took it to tables, and the room started to loosen.  On the stage, the flutist was playing again, and even some of the fey were sitting at the bar or at tables, drinking and eating.

	The spectacle of alternating armored and naked people was starting to sink in by the time Linus arrived.  The Celestial Pegasus outside disappeared as Linus dismissed it, collecting the blanket and tossing it over a handy railing as he ran towards the tavern.

	On the very threshold, he slowed, listening.  Music.  Not good music.  It wasn't a satyr playing.  That was a good sign.  He pushed the door of the wooden building open.


	He had expected an orgy, but what he got was a party.  Linus wilted on the door as he saw fauns, satyrs, and dozens of Eladrin soldiers sitting and drinking with the tavern-goers, and even a few dancing by the stage.  He recognized Capricorn standing by the door, a few feet away, and Xuriis and Viri by the stage, watching the flutist.

	“Oh, Knight Vorth,” the Countess said.  “Are you well?”

	“I am now,” Linus said, closing the door.  “I heard that some members of the flock were coming here to party, and I made... certain assumptions.”

	“Oh.  Hmph.”  Capricorn looked slightly miffed.

	“Assumptions grounded in the one satyr party I have attended,” Linus reminded her.

	“Hah!  If only such a thing would happen here,” Capricorn said, which eased the throb in her head, for some reason.  “But nay, we sought only an evening's diversion.”

	“I see.”  Linus removed his helm and clipped it to his armored belt.  “Then I suppose I should say my own farewells.  I understand that the flock is leaving.”

	“They are.”  Capricorn sipped her whiskey and made a face.  “Hmm.  I do not care much for Prime alcohol.”

	The flutist finished her song to some polite applause.  She started to climb down from the stage, but hesitated.  Xuriis was climbing up past her.

	Linus' eyes widened.  “Oh no.”  He started walking over to the stage when Viri stepped up between him and the steps.

	“Linus!” she said happily, and rose up in her hooves to hug him.  She nuzzled him as she did. “I'm glad I got to see you before we left.”

	“Hello, Viri,” Linus said.  He started to move past her. “I need to keep Xuriis from playing his spell song on the stage.”

	“Oh, hush,” she said.  “Do you really think he would?  He's just playing a normal song.”

	Linus paused.  As Xuriis started playing – far better than the flutist had, at that – he felt no magic swell behind the notes and enter his mind, as he had in the flock's presence.

	“I suppose he is,” Linus admitted.

	“Gillint is gone, you know,” Viri said.

	Linus took his hand from his hilt and leaned back against the wall beside his friend.  “This is an odd time we live in.”  He looked down at Viri.  “Are you going home soon?”

	“Yes!  Tomorrow afternoon, apparently, if all goes well,” Viri said.  She sighed happily.  “Home.  The Oldest Glade, the island.  I can't wait.”

	“That's good.  I'm glad this is working out for you.”  Linus looked up at the stage again.  The dull wood arch of the stage had its curtain pulled back, and the masterful music of the satyrs was flooding the room.  A few more townsfolk walked in and took in the scene, and to his relief, a few Eladrin started buying more drinks from the awed staff.

	“I was afraid I was going to have to break up a fight,” Linus remarked.

	“Why?”

	“Because this village has been through some shit lately, and the locals are on edge,” Linus said.

	“Well, then, they should be glad we came,” Viri said primly.  “We know how to have a good time.”

	Linus chuckled.  “You do.”

	Capricorn watched the proceedings over the lip of her drink.  The strange pull in her mind was growing stronger.  She gave rote responses when people approached her, and she smiled when she needed to, but she was miles away, beneath dark trees and dark spells.


	Linus returned to Viri's table with the plate of food he had ordered.  She stared at the meal in wonder and dug in without hesitation, as did the other fauns.  Linus chuckled at the child-like joy on their faces as they tried the new foods.

	“Looks like we may need more,” he said.  He turned back to the counter and flagged down the barmaid again.  “Hello, can I get another dozen of those?”

	The barmaid stared at him, then glanced over his shoulder to see the fauns consuming the bread and fish and salads on the table.  “Uh... coming right up,” she said, and scurried back into the kitchen.

	Linus walked back to the table and cleared his throat.  “Perhaps you could be convinced to take this outside?” he asked.  “The floor may be needed for more seats when the usual evening customers here come in.”

	Viri picked up her food obligingly and troops out, followed by the others, and Linus gave the stage one more appraising look - still no magic he could detect - and followed them out.


	A troupe of five adventurers walked past the Paladin as he watched over the fauns at their meal.  Linus nodded politely as he recognized a few from the other night.  The Paladin crossed his arms and leaned back against the doorframe, listening to the music and forcing himself to relax.  For once, maybe a night could go by without something unpredictable going on.

	Viri sidled up beside him and poked his armored side.  “So, Linus, will you miss us?”

	He chuckled.  “Yes, Viri.  I'll miss you.  Greatly.  You and the flock have been... interesting, to say the least.”

	“If only you could have attended a proper revel in the courts of the Countess or the Duke,” Viri said.  “I know ours made you a bit uncomfortable, but the real thing is just so grand.  The whole room lights up and shifts around.  It's beautiful.”

	“Hmm.”  Linus nodded noncommittally.  “Well, I hope we can find a way for your people to come visit ours sometime.”

	“Why not the reverse?” Viri asked.  “You can come visit us sometime, too.”

	Linus rubbed his chin.  He needed a shave, he noted.  “I suppose I could, yeah,” he said.  “That would be nice.”  He tapped his pockets.  “You know, I don't drink much, but I think I'll have an ale.  Would you like one?”

	Viri watched as one of the adventurers walked outside with a huge pair of mugs.  “I think we may be getting some now,” she said.

	Linus chuckled and walked in.

	Inside, he watched as Capricorn irritably fended off one adventurer who somehow looked drunk already, then made his way over to the bar.  He dropped two copper on the table and grabbed his mug of ale when the barmaid finally brought it over, then walked back outside.

	He leaned against the brick and mortar as two other adventurers - he remembered them as Ixan and Bonecrusher - chatted with each other beside the building.

	“You, me, the ring, now,” Ixan said.

	“Hah!  You want to fight me, little man?” Bonecrusher laughed.  “I'll knock you to the dirt!”

	Linus chuckled again.  “You two neophytes are going to spar?”

	Both looked over.  “How about, shall we say, a greater challenge?”  He finished his ale and stood up straighter.  “How about you both fight me?”

	Bonecrusher chortled.  “Hah, sure!  That sounds like fun!”

	Ixan hesitated, but nodded.  “Fine, then.”


	A few minutes later, Linus was stretching in the fighting pit behind the stables; his driftglobe was bobbing around in the air beside an adventurer who was flying for some reason.  Bonecrusher had his great axe out, and sent a shock of lightning along the edge as he channeled his ancestral powers.  Ixan had an arcane arrow nocked behind his barbarian friend.  Linus briefly debated calling his divine power through his blade to sharpen the hits, but decided not to bother.  He doubted he would need it.

	He and Bonecrusher locked eyes and moved at the same time.  Linus struck first, channeling a blast of divine energy through the impact.  Bonecrusher nearly crumpled from the first bow, but struck back with a blast of lightning.  Linus blinked at the brief jolt of pain, then ducked to the side as Ixan's arrow zipped past.  He struck again, and blasted Bonecrusher to unconsciousness.  He stepped over the toppled Goliath and charged at Ixan, who scrambled backwards, but not in time to avoid a blast to the chest of divine energy.  He rolled back and fired another arrow, which Linus took in the plates.  He snarled at the pain, then charged forward and blasted Ixan again with his divine strike.

	The archer crumpled.  Twenty four seconds had passed.

	Linus sheathed his weapons and knelt by Ixan's side, returning health to him with a surge of his Lay on Hands ability.  “Sorry, I didn't think that would be over so quickly,” he said bashfully.  “Maybe you could bring your friends next time,” he teased.

	“Oh, shut up,” Ixan sighed.  He rolled to his feet and collected his ammo as Linus revived Bonecrusher.

	“That wasn't much like you,” Viri commented as Linus returned to the side of the fighting area.  “You usually don't throw your power around like that.”

	“No, you're right,” Linus said.  “I normally wouldn't do that sort of thing.  I suppose I'm just overstressed.”

	“And that justifies picking a fight?” Viri asked.

	“No, but there was no chance in them being actually hurt,” Linus said.  “Believe me, I could have healed them both from a deep coma if I had to.”  He patted her shoulder.  “Sorry if I was weirding you out.”  She wasn’t wrong, though.  Picking on uppity punk neophytes was well outside his usual combat routine.  He resolved to consider that later.

	She shrugged.  “No, I was just curious.”

	Linus hopped up on the fence beside her.  “So, do you intend to leave tonight?”

	“No, we'll just leave in the morning, I suppose,” Viri said.  She nuzzled him gently as he yawned.  He started, but laughed and playfully squeezed her in a one-arm hug.  The other adventurers rounded the building and walked back into the tavern.

	“Linus, I'm really glad you came to help us,” she said.

	“So am I, Viri,” Linus said.  She nuzzled him again, and then hopped down.

	“Well.  If I can't persuade you one last time to romp in the grass,” she said cheekily, “then I'm going to go try some more of that delicious food.  What was it?”

	“It's called tilapia,” Linus said as he followed her back around the edge of the building.  “And of course, you can have as much as you like.”


	Capricorn staggered through the woods.  She remembered arguing with her bodyguard... what was his name?  It didn't matter.  All that mattered was following her instincts.  She wobbled through the narrow, dead woods, not even noting the cuts and scrapes she was picking up from the trees.  They weren't alive, not really, not like the Feywild's trees.

	She wouldn't see those again, which was fine.  This was where she belonged now, and where she would stay.  The Dance Lord knew what was best.