Kirathae sat down beside me quietly, she didn't say anything for a long
time.
    "How long?" I asked quietly.
    "Since you left."
    "Three months?"
    "Yes."
    "Why?"
    The question was rehtorical but Kirathae answered it anyway.
    "To hurt you."
    "Me?  What did I do?"  It was a stupid question, I knew what I'd done I'd
abandoned Quinn for months on end with no contact.
    "You know what you did Nicci."  Kirathae put her hand on my shoulder, I 
turned around to look at her.
    "What was I supposed to do Taea?  I couldn't stay hear and keep screaming.
It was killing us both."
    "I know that, you know that but Quinn doesn't understand, she misses you 
when you're gone."
    "So she take up with Troll-features."
    "His name is Gyora-"
    "I don't care what his name is Taea, in fact I don't care at all.  Quinn 
can keep Troll-features for all I care."
    "You don't mean that," Taea's deep green eyes were so full of compassion 
I couldn't keep up my tirade.
    "You're right Taea, I don't mean it, but I still don't understand why Quinn
did it.  To hurt me, fine, it worked."
    Taea wrapped her arms around my shoulders and hugged me in an attempt to 
comfort me.  I turned my head slightly to look at her.
    "Taea, your eyes are the most extraordinary shade of green."
    I shouldn't have said it, but it was nothing compared to my next actions,
my actions that night were inexcusible.
    Taea blushed and dropped her arms from around my shoulders, but I didn't 
drop my gaze.  I placed one hand under her chin and kissed her.  Not gently or
tenderly but hard, passionately, demandingly.  I want to make this clear my 
actions did not stem from any love for Taea or even any attraction.  I was in 
pain and I wanted comfort, I simply desired what Taea could give me.  Taea 
gave in to me, something I am grateful for, because if she had not I am sure
I would have taken her forcibly.
    My actions were not only selfish but illegal, the differance in our ages
amounted, by Elvish law to statutory rape.  She hadn't even reached her eighty
first year where as I was well into my hundred and twentieth.  For all you 
humans out there in your terms she was younger than sixteen and I was twenty
two.

Interlude 2: Nic's apology to Taea






    The following day I was sitting by the stream throwing rocks in the water,
again, (you'll find when I'm angry I find some mindless activity to occupy myself)
when Miquaele strode upto me.  He stood in front of me hands on hips 
glaring at me.
    "What do you want?"  I was extremely irritable, surprise.
    "Do you have any idea of the consequence for your actions Master Calaudra?"
    "Yes," I knew exactly what he was talking about, but i was in a foul temper
because I'd been beating myself up about it all morning.  "When I throw a rock in
the stream there are ripples and all the fi-"
    "I know you know what I am talking about Nic.  What you did to Kirathae, What 
were you thinking?"
    "I wasn't."
    "You weren't?"
    "Not about Taea anyway, I wanted to hurt Quinn, the same way she'd hurt me."
    "That is your excuse?"  He was inncredulous.
    "No Miquaele, that is my reason.  I have no excuse I know what I did to Taea,
I also know it's illegal and I'm guessing she came to you to ensure that she isn't
pregnant."
     "Yes Nic, that is how I know."
     "Is she?"
     "Pregnant?"
     "Yes, what did think I meant?  'Is she going to turn into a horse?'"
     "No Nic, she isn't pregnant, not as far as I can tell.  Why?  What were you 
proposing to do if she was?"
     "Same thing I'd do if she was any other woman."
     "Oh, and what's that?"
     "Up and leave."
     "Is that your solution to everything Nic?"
     "Yes."
     Miquaele was lost for words he just stood there watching me throw rocks into 
the stream.
     "Why did you do it?"
     "Why?  Because I was in pain Miquaele, Quinn betrayed me and Taea was there 
when I needed comfort so I took it from her."
     "Would you have raped her Nic?"  His voice was soft, I don't think he believed 
what I was telling him.
     "Yes Miquaele, I would have."
     "But why?"
     "Because I was angry and betrayed Miquaele and Quinn was not there to bear the 
brunt of my anger."
     "So you would have taken it out on Kirathae?"
     "I did take it out on Taea Miquaele, I was vicious.  She evidently didn't 
get you to take care of her other injuries."
     "What other injuries Nic?"
     "Ask Taea."
     Miquaele tried to keep me talking but I just got increasingly irritable and 
short with my answers.  Miquaele got tired of trying to talk to me so he left me, 
brooding and throwing rocks at the stream.
     When Quinn and I were talking again things only got worse, we'd scream for hours 
on end until one of us stalked away, usually me.  Both Quinn and I were involved in a 
string of emotionally sterile extra marital affairs.  I think we seduced half the 
camp between us, meanwhile I was leaving more often and for much longer periods of 
time then one day I made a decision.  I left and didn't go back.  I was one hundred 
and twenty one.  I haven't seen Quinn or Taea in ten years.
     That was one of the most painful times in my life, I hurt Quinn, I hurt Taea and 
I hurt myself.  I deserved it, Quinn may have but the one person who got pulled into 
that mess Quinn and I created who did not deserve to be there was Taea.  She was 
innocent of any wrong doing and I caused her so much pain, I'll never forgive myself.





The Third Story

Brotherly Love




     Ah, brotherly love was there ever a more glorious concept?  Yes.  Lot's of them.
     I didn't know my eldest brother Abel, and I hated my other brother, Dwale.  Abel 
from what I was told was a warrior and a philosopher, destined to become a ranger 
from birth.  My brother Dwale however was a pain.  Dwale was twenty years older than 
me and very angry when I was born.
     Dwale saw the fact that mother had carried me and birthed me as favouratism, it 
never occured to him that she'd done the same for him.
     From the day I learned to talk I spent most of my time baiting Dwale, and being 
the big dumb bullock he was, he always fell for it.
     My father favoured Dwale above all the family, Abel was too mild he gave in far
to easily.  I on the other hand was too ill to attract my father's notice.  I spent 
the first two years of my life bedridden, our resident clerics didn't think I'd live 
to see my fifth birthday.
     I did however get better, evidently, I still have a delicate constitution but I'm 
no longer as worried about my various allergies.  Even from a young age I enjoyed Music
and reading over weapon training with my brothers, my father was disgusted.  My mother
encouraged my reading though, by the time I was seven years old I'd read our entire 
library and I'd taken up basic music as a passtime.
     Anyway I'm straying from the point.  This story should explain my aversion to dogs.
     Not long after the clerics decided it would be good for me to get out in the open 
air my brother Dwale decided it would be a good idea for me to get to know the family 
pets.  The dogs.  My father and brothers were all avid hunters so we had many houng dogs
most of them unfriendly.
     So during my third or fourth excursion into the outside world Dwale set the dogs on
me.  I was still shaky on my feet still spening most of my time abed, reading or writting
so I couldn't outrun the animals. I didn't even know they were a threat until one of them
latched onto my leg, I don't recall very much except screaming and pain.
     When they finally managed to pull the dog away from me I was bundled up into my mother's
arms and rushed off to the clerics, the wounds were not all that serious but they did scar.
I still have a huge mangled scar on my left leg, thank Erevan it doesn't impede my walking.
     So the moral of that little anecdote is, if you ever meet Dwale Calaudra give him
a punch in the head for me.





The Fourth Story

Baby Sister




    I hope nobody minds a little sentimentality because I'm about to get horribly so.  
If you dislike sentimentality I suggest you move onto another section of the story 
more to your liking.
    Mirei and I are only separated by twelve years, not a long time by elven 
standards.
    I remember the day my little sister came into this as clearly as if it were only 
yesterday, she came into this naked, pink and screaming.  We managed to make sometimes
her wear clothes sometimes, but she still screams, alot.
    Anyway I'm straying from the point again.  The day Mirei was born I wasn't told 
anything all I knew that after glowing, and growing, for nine months the one person in 
this world that I loved above all others was locked in her room screaming and I 
wasn't allowed in to see her.
    As the hours ticked past my father returned from his hunt with my brother Dwale 
and went straight to my mother's chambers.  She kept screaming through the night, I 
sat outside her chambers until one of the younger clerics, who was no longer needed 
inside came out and found me, he was a wood elf, like most of our household staff.  
He looked down at me curled up with my arms around my knees and my knees next to my 
ears and chuckled.  He picked me up with little effort as I was short and light for my 
age and carried me down to the kitchens.  I've always liked kitchens and cooks, our cook 
was a fussy old matron wood elf female with piercing strangely accented voice and an ample 
paunch.  No-one ignored Wikalie's instructions not even my father.
    So when she placed a plate of roast guinea fowl in front of myself and the cleric
whose name I'd discovered was Torcuin and instructed us to eat neither of us disobeyed.
    "Did anyone tell you what was happening young master?"
    I shook my head, eyes wide and mouth full of guinea fowl.
    "Ah," I couldn't understand at the time why he was so red, the kitchen fire didn't
seem so hot to me "I suppose I should explain then."
    I nodded emphatically.  Torcuin just when another five shades darker.  He was just 
about to launch into his explianation when Wikalie's shrill voice cut in.
    "Oh Correlon forbid, they have nae told the wee bairn?"  She plopped herself down 
next to and bundled me up in her arms and held me against her ample bosom.  "Ye puir 
wee lad Nicci, nevermind, yuir aunt'll explain everythen'"  Nobody, not me, not my 
brothers and definately not my parents every pointed out to Wikalie that she wasn't 
actually our aunt.  She was a wonderful woman who spoilt myself and my brother Dwale
unmercilessly, constantly telling us we were underfed.  When I was older I'd return
with comments about her cooking skills, or lack thereof, which was naturally
untrue I swear Wikalie was the best cook in Faerun.  Wikalie was a down to earth 
woman from a strong hearty background having two children of her own, so her 
explianation ran a little like this.
    "Well first Nicci, yuir mam's havin' another wee bairn to keep ye company.  This 
is how et happened.  When two elves, or persons of any race love each other very much 
they sleep together."
    Being young and naive as I was my next remark was entirely pertinent "Like me and 
mother do?"
    Tocuin eye's nearly fell out onto the tables and it took a long while for Wikalie's
laughter to subside.
    "Nae ye silly wee bairn this is different, firstly they dinnae wear any clothes
and then they start kissin' each other."
    At this point I remember screwing my face up with distaste, a sentiment I have 
long since lost.
    "Dinnae look like tha' Nicci.  Anywae, when they start kissing things start tae 
happen.  It's a special kinda magic Nicci an' I hope tha' yuir goin tae feel it some 
day, but anyway tha' is when a babby first happens."
    "And then a bird flies it in and drops it down the chimmney."  I was very pleased 
with myself for being able to finish this lecture by myself.
    "Nae ye silly bairn, the babby is in yuir mam's tummy."
    My face was screwed up in thought.  "Then how can she still eat?"
    Torcuin was left with the somewhat tedious task of answering all my questions, 
and believe me, there were alot of them.







    I reveried in the kitchen that evening, beside the hearth and the following 
morning I was awoken by the shrill cry of.
    "Nae ye daft idiot!  Dinnae put tha' in the soup, do ye want tae poison the 
household?"
    Wikalie was in full bluster but it died as soon as she realised I was awake, 
she scooped me up into her huge arms and informed me very seriously that I could 
no longer reverie in the kitchen because I had a 'wee babby sis' to take care of.  
She called over one of the maids, a thin bustling woman in her mid-two hundreds 
called Rita to take me up-stairs and get me cleaned up then she was to take me 
straight to my mother and my new sister.
    I was as yet unawake so I followed all instructions given with little or no 
compliant.  When I was clean and tidy, relatively, Rita took me by the hand and 
marched me to my mother's chamber.  I was ushered inside and had to stand there 
squinting because the curtains were drawn shut and the only light was a small oil 
lantern beside my mother who wasn't even looking my way.  She was instaed looking 
down at the small wriggling bunch of blankets in her arms, she looked up at me and 
smiled.
    I loved seeing my mother smile, she was the most beautiful elf in Faerun when 
she smiled, her soft brown almond shaped eyes lit up when she smiled and all the 
lines on her face smoothed out and she became very young again.
    "Come here Nic, quietly, come and meet your little sister."
    In the face of her smile my planned stubborness melted away, I padded over to 
the bed and crawled up fixing the bundle in my mothers arms with a dubious stare.
    "This is your baby sister Nic, her name is Mirei."
    I looked at the wriggling pink thing with distatse "Will she always be that 
ugly?"
    "Nic!"  My mother rebuked sharply, glaring at me.
    "What?"
    "Don't say that."
    "Why not?  It's true.  She is ugly."
    At that point in time Mirei started to scream, loudly, she screwed up her tiny 
face more than I would have thought possible and let out the most blood-curling yowl 
I have ever heard.
I glared at her.
    "Hush."  I told her seriously.
    To mine and my mother's surprise Mirei quieted.  She blinked baby blue eyes at 
me, eyes that would soon turn the same green as my own.  She reached out with one 
tiny hand and grasped my hair with her tiny little girl fingers and yanked, hard.
Now it was my turn to yowl, and I did so as loudly if not louder than my baby
sister.  Our first and certainly not our last screaming match.
    My mother and I were the only members of the family to take an active role in
Mirei's upbringing and education, my mother handles the letters and ettiquette, 
while I handled the important stuff.  Like how to steal food from the kitchens, the
best ways in and out of the manor, if you didn't want to be caught and various other
things important to children of our age.
    If my family thought I was annoying with my constant pranks when Mirei was old
enough to understand the game we became terrors.  My father even found a dead toad 
in his bed once a gift from Mirei and myself.  Wikalie took to chasing us around the 
courtyard with a broom as a displinary measure and Dwale, oh poor Dwale.  How many
innumerable pranks did we play on him.  Salted water, buckets of ice, or paint
depending on the time of year, trip wires, falsified love letters you name it,
we did it.







    As Mirei grew older she grew more beautiful and the sons of other small baronies
would come seeking her hand, Mirei invariably turned them away.  Usually by putting
a frog or other such creepy crawly in their food or drink.  
    One of the most memorable occaisions was when Randall came courting for the first 
time.  Mirei had climbed a tree and refused to get down.      
    Mirei pouted at me as we sat opposite each other in the self-same tree that I had 
climbed years before, although the pouting expression suited Mirei much better than it 
ever had me I had to admit.
     "Don't wanna!" she grumbled to me, the favoured brother "Don't wanna meet yucky boys, 
they smell."
     "Aren't I a 'yucky boy'," I asked curiously.
     "Nah, your just a boy, but your not yucky, not like Randall, he smells like a horse."
     "Oh, that's because he rode here."
     "Nah, it's cause he's yucky!  Don't like boys, Randall smells, Girls don't smell, girls 
like mummy, she smells nice."
     I laughed, and scrambled over to hug my little sister, the only girl in the family 
and the baby, everybody doted on her, but she only returned the favour to me, the second 
youngest.
     "Don't laugh at me," she pouted again and shoved me away and nearly out of the tree.  
"Don't like you."
     I smiled "Aw, you don't mean that, not to me,"
     "Yeh, I do, don't like you you're just another yucky boy, go'way, Nicci" Mirei shoved 
me again, this time I feigned a fall and "landed" several branches down, groaning in "pain". 
     NICCI!" Mirei shrieked leaping from branch to branch down to where I lay, "Nicci, I 
didn't mean it I do like you, don't be dead Nicci please don't be dead."
     I opened one eye slowly and groaned again "Mirei, is that you?  I can't see," I asked 
plaintively choking back my laughter.
     "Is me Nicci, are you 'kay?  Please be 'kay."
     "I'll be okay," I groaned "But you have to do something."
     "What I'll do anythin' Nicci."
     "You have to meet Randall."      "NO!" Mirei folded her arms and pouted at me.
      I groaned then coughed for good measure "What was that Mirei, I can't hear properly, 
I think I'm dying."
     "Okay I'll meet Randall! Just don't be dead!" Mirei yelled shaking my shoulder.
     "Gotcha," I yelled wrapping her in a gigantic bear hug "Now you have to meet Randall,"
     "Dat's mean Nicci!"  Mirei pouted.
     "I know, now get out of this tree and get ready or I might die again."
     Mirei didn't for a long time after that incident, in fact it was nearly a year until 
she spoke to me again, but seeing as I was the only person in the manor who was willing
to terrorise nobles and servants alike we were soon rampaging again.







    As Mirei grew even older she revealed the fact that she didn't even like men, I told
this story earlier.  So you've probably read it already which means there is no need for
me to tell it again.


Part 3