It Was a Good Day

I awoke early that morning, earlier than normal, I can’t say exactly why. I had some aches and pains from the fight in the mine, but they were not the cause. In fact I actually felt a little better than normal. As I sat on the edge of my bed pondering this feeling, I began to feel that maybe I have been blessed by Tempus for the skill I showed in battle. This indeed will be a good day I decided, yes I shall get around and have a nice breakfast and then head off to the tavern to see on my companions.

Not to my surprise Lady Brenin was up and around and had started breakfast already. Oh can that lady cook. I often lie awake at night wondering what could ever cause one of her tenants to move out. This sweet lady may be the best cook in the Realms. Beside that she is honest and sweet; it’s almost like being a child and having a loving mother dote over your every move. I can’t tell you how many times she has sewed my items for me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining about the love I got growing up. In fact I still believe my mother to be one of the greatest women to ever live. Maybe it’s all in a matter of perspective, I expected my mother to love me and take care of me, she is my mother after all. But Lady Brenin has no such claim on me, and I can only believe her affection for me comes from her true love of people. No other explanation is possible; she is simply a loving and kind person. Never would she admit to it though. She has a different sense of humor, maybe dryer, often it will take me a while to figure out the joke she has played on me.

Well after a fine meal I gathered some things and headed off to find my companions to see if we can check on Deitricha and collect our money. As I walk along the winding streets I get nods and friendly waves from every town guard I pass. Sometimes I think they all know me a little too well, and to think I probably have only talked to three of them in all the time I have been here. I think they all keep an eye on me, to make sure that Lady Brenin is safe. I do not take offense by it, it didn’t take me long at all to realize the effect that Lady Brenin has on people. I tell you if I ever find out that someone ever hurt her, well, that person wouldn’t have to worry about much any more, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I get to the tavern at a decent time and find the lanky Antonio already there. After a few words of welcome he informs me that our cleric friend should be around today, in fact she is supposed to have been healing at a remarkable speed. That is a good bit of news, worthy of celebration if I don’t say. I order an ale only to find that a meal came with it, courtesy of Antonio. That fellow should run for a government position, never have I seen anyone in this town do as much as raise their voice to him. And no one should let a fine meal go to waste, especially when someone else paid for it, so sat down by him and had my second fine breakfast of the day. Wow, truly a great day this is.

A bit of a while later all of my companions arrived, wanting to get over to Lord Greycastle’s and collect out fees. Now mind you, I am not one to want to go and work all the time, not that I am unable to, just... a man needs to relax once in a while. But, I cannot deny how well we had worked together, and I have enjoyed more and more each time Theona takes the time to argue with me. I can’t think of us ever having a good reason, but the joy I feel each time I get her flustered has become one of the highlights of my day.

The group headed off together and was a bit jovial on the way. The feeling of collecting money always puts people in a good mood. We were once again greeted by the butler, who again refused to fill my ale-mug. This Lord Greycastle is not the most hospitable man, he never even offers us a meal.

As I was not drunk enough to help in the negotiations, I resolved myself to looking at my friends. I quickly hid the smirk from my face, Theona was listening and talking about the business at hand, yet her eyes continued to dart about the room. Ha!, not a thief she always tells me. Antonio, while also talking business, keeps his eyes focused in a small hearth near by. Fire-bug I call him, fire-bug he is. Deitricha, unconcerned with the art of negotiating completely, has resolved herself to drawing her holy symbol on the floor with her toes. Areon, while I get the sense he does not like this entire business end of it all, he seems more determined to make sure we get a fair deal than the worth of the deal.

After a few moments of blissful thoughts of the statue they will assuredly build me in Luiren, I am brought back to reality by the poke in the ribs by Antonio. “Yes” I answer, not really sure of the question. The answer made him happy; it must have been the right one. As we all depart and walk back to the tavern Antonio hands me my share of the money and tells me we will be leaving in two days. Friggen Ey!, I have got to learn to pay attention to them. I got no clue to what in the Nine Hells we have agreed to do.

Well, back at the bar Areon explains to me that we agreed to be caravan guards on a short trip to the south and back. Unable to consider this bad news, again I am convinced this is a blessed day for me. I order another ale, then it starts. Deitricha sits down next to me and begins to tell me the evils of my ways. “Drinking will kill you,” she says. After a few minutes of this, and remembering that I have seen her drink, I put out an offer, “Sit down here and tell me about your god all you want,” I say to her, “But, you will have to drink the entire time.” Thinking she wouldn’t drink while telling me I shouldn’t drink, my face suddenly contorted from my jaw dropping to the table as she accepted my offer.

Still trying to figure out if my good fortunes have turned or not, I bought us drink after drink. Let me tell you, for a woman that says she can’t drink much, she can really drink. As our mood turned more to the silly we were joined by Theona. Wow was she not in a fun mood. We tried to get her to drink and have a good time but all she could talk about was work, work, and work. This lasted for what seemed forever when suddenly she got up and said she had to ask someone a question. Deitricha and I quickly gave each other a wink and ducked out the door to go and find a less somber place to continue our fun.

In the next two hours we went to two more bars, unable to find the right place to drink. It seems that noon was not the time anyone wanted to see two drunken people laughing at the top of their lungs. Then I realized, no problem, we can go back to my place and drink without all these people bothering us. Now I know what you are thinking and I will swear on my left eye that my plans were not really what happened next. Yes... I did mention that halflings are taller when they lay down. Yes, maybe a few more similar things may have been mentioned, but I swear those are things I usually end up saying when I am drunk.

What happened was an epiphany, a time of total rapture and happiness. It seems one way or the other we ended up not wearing any of our clothes. And that glorious moment was only the beginning. Now this was not the first time I have ever been with a woman, although it was the first time with a human woman, yet that was not where the experience of grandeur really came from. I cannot name the feeling or the reason for such a moment. Not that over twelve hours has ever been called a moment before.

The time passed with unbridled passion to the likes that I could never have dreamed. I won’t be a cad and go details of that time, just know that it was a glorious day indeed. That time would be enough for any man, but that is not the key to the time that I cannot forget. The thing that will never leave me was the time we spent talking and just being ourselves. I absolutely will not pretend I did not enjoy the touch of her silky skin against mine, which the memory of I shall also always carry. What was amazing was the way she made me feel. Never was I so alive or filled with as much joy.

We talked until near dawn, and for the life of me, I can’t really tell you about what. After she fell asleep I spent some time just watching her sleep. It was in that time that I realized that this was just a fleeting moment. The most meaningful time in my life was just a romantic moment to her. My eyes were then drawn to her holy symbol, and I could not hold back the sigh. Never would a cleric of Tymora fall in love with someone like me. Never could a cleric of Tymora dedicate themselves to one man either. That is not a bad thing for them, simply the way they are, and for all my efforts I could never hold it against her.

Needing to clear my head I went out to get some air. Not knowing my direction I found myself buying Deitricha flowers. Apparently I decided to try to woo her, subconsciously I decided to try this mad course even knowing the chance for it to work. A little while later I arrived back at the house, and slipped back into the room, to wait for her to awake. I think the moment was a bit awkward for me when she awoke, more so for me than her. She slowly got out of bed, kissed me on the forehead and then got dressed.

Neither of us said a word for a while, then she decided we should go to the inn to get some breakfast. As we left the room we became frozen in our tracks, a voice from another room chilled us to the bone. “Breakfast is ready for the two of you!” came the call from Lady Brenin in her kitchen. Quickly Deitricha glared at me and whispered, “You said she wouldn’t be up yet!” and, “I hope for your sake we didn’t offend her.” To Deitricha’s disappointment all I could do is shrug my shoulders and lead her into the kitchen. “She knows we are here, we should eat.” was all that I could come up with.

Then began the quietest meal of my life, Lady Brenin wasn’t eating with us, but she still hovered around the room straightening things and humming to herself. Deitricha never looked up from her plate. I felt knee high to a pixie at that moment. Finally we were done as we both got up and thanked our gracious host for the meal. Slowly we made our way to the tavern to see the group already there. There was a couple of subtle jokes made, and a lot of smiles from our friends, but we endured.

Still my subconscious was in control, trying to be nice and sweet. Eventually reality set in and I ordered some ale. Ah blessed ale, nectar of the gods. How often this liquid came to my rescue. After a little dry and typical conversation Theona broke into the adventure of the night before for her, Antonio and Areon. They had gone to the docks to investigate some disappearances and ended up in a battle in the sewers. It was an exciting story, it got better with each ale. We stayed there for a while waiting and relaxing, knowing the next day would bring adventure.

Eventually Deitricha got up and mentioned it was time to get some rest. I tried one last time to invite her back to my room, she politely declined, citing the need to get some sleep before the trip. And as the last sliver of hope I had was completely crushed, I finished another ale and headed off to get some sleep myself.

Walking though the streets I noticed that I was not going the direct route, in fact I was meandering all over the place. Eventually I came near the docks and saw Portia at work, removing the heavy load of coin from unsuspecting sailors. I wonder is she my future, a woman that doesn’t see me. A woman that thinks me a foolish man without the cash or power to command her respect. With a firm hand on my coin pouch, I left the docks and headed back to my room.

And as the day before had been so splendid, today refused to release me from torment. Calron, one of the town’s more elite guards pulled me into an alley and held a dagger to my throat. As I try my best to hold my bladder, Calron presses the dagger tighter against my throat. “Calron, how are you today?” was the bravest thing I could muster, convinced he was going to kill me for breaking Lady Brenin’s trust, or worse yet her heart. “You would do best to keep the sanctity of the Lady’s house, or …” Calron had said his piece and stared into my eyes. The longer he looked, it seemed the more he realized that his threat was meaningless to me, but the thought that I had hurt her feelings was the truest fear in me. Eventually he let me go and walked off to towards the docks. As I watched him leave, seven other guards came out of nowhere and followed him, more to set in the point of their leader’s threat than anything. One of them mumbled something about killing me now to save Lady Brenin’s feelings. Another said, “Not again.”

About a minute later I realized I wasn’t breathing and had to force myself to take a deep breath. Then again I headed off toward my room. It was only a little past sundown when I arrived, Lady Brenin was sitting on the porch. I tried to make a slight hand wave and sneak past her when I heard, “She was very lovely Tassar.” Frozen for what felt like the tenth time that day, I quietly answered, “Pardon me Lady Brenin,” trying to pretend I didn’t hear.
“Tassar, I am not that old to forget the desire of men and women to spend time together.” This time I saw a bit of a smile on her lips.

“I apologize…” I began to say only to be cut off by the raising of her hand. “You owe me no apology Tassar. I have seen this lady about town before, she is very pretty. Perhaps you notice she is a cleric of Tymora. She will only break your heart, they almost never have marry.” she began to tell me.

“And who said we were …” again she cut me off. “Tassar I have come to think highly of you. You know you have lived with me longer than anyone not related to me. Perhaps you could learn to call me Trisha.” she stated as she pointed her thin finger at me.

Then we began to laugh, me at this kind woman scolding me like a mother, and her at my fears of what she would think. She invited me to sit on the front porch swing with her for a while, and I accepted gleefully. Several hours passed as she told me of her childhood, I listened until a chill wind came along and convinced her it was time to go in.

“Good night Lady Br…” a tried to get out, only to be cut off again by her hand.

“Trisha.” she said.

I gently took her hand and kissed it as I said, “Goodnight Lady Brenin.” Then off I went to get some much needed and deserved rest. It is funny how things turn out for me, whenever I think I am doomed, I end up having a great time. And when I feel nothing can go wrong, I end up eating crow. Three years have passed since I was sent from my home, and in all that time I have tried to figure out the way to become so famous and powerful that my family could not refuse to take me back. For the first time I began to wonder if I ever wanted to go back. And then I fell asleep.