A Strange Meeting

The characters all meet at The Spice of Life: The Herbalist Veralynn's herb shop.

A Strange Meeting

Shesi was a city bursting at the seams with soldiers. Five forts filled with Fenaril military kept the businesses lining its streets filled with silver, and the five-hundred-odd fighters kept them safe even though they were so far from the civilized cities of northeast Fenaril.

The lands around Shesi were the site of the bloodiest battles of the war between Fenaril and the elves of the forest of Tre Galisti. Two hundred years later, and those lands hadn't seen a host of elves since. But, the elves were growing bolder, and travel into the human-inhabited lands of Fenaril were beginning to increase. Tensions grew, and hostilities constantly seemed imminent, but life went on.

The gnome and his companion walked the streets of Shesi without hindrance. The gnome was a strange little fellow, as all gnomes are. But this one was exceedingly strange. A toupee adorned his head, skewed and off-center, as if it were no more than a hat. The gnome reached up to check its setting, and spun it a little more off-center. It was his third time messing with it in less than a minute.

“Your hair looks nice,” his companion told him. His companion was a moon elf, slender and thin, yet possessing the look of an experienced warrior ready to explode in to violent motion at any second.

The gnome glared up at his protector, “Ya know, Draco, one of these days you're gonna get in trouble making fun of people. And I'll laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more.”

Draco looked down at the top of the gnome's head. He couldn't see much more. His friend's head only rose to his knee, so there wasn't much else to see except the ridiculous toupee. “What else would you do if someone was in trouble?”

The gnome spluttered in outrage. “Wh�"I could�"I'd find some way to save us!”

The elf shrugged, “Sure, Melvin. Whatever you say.” Draco continued walking, being careful not to outpace the quickfooted little gnome. He wondered again how he had gotten tied up with the hotheaded little guy.

Melvin was an explorer. At least that was what he claimed. From what Draco could glean, Melvin's 'Exploring' had involved nothing more than traveling from his home in the hills to the north of Triplip to Triplip itself. There he had met Draco, and then accepted a job from the mayor to find a rare plant atop a mountain in the forest of Tre Galisti.

Unfortunately, Draco had agreed to travel with him to keep him safe. Draco had trained on the outskirts of Triplip as a crusader. But, after choosing three separate gods and subsequently giving up on each of them, Draco had scrapped that idea. He hoped he could eventually find someone worthy of his service, but it was a distant hope. The moon elf resigned himself to being nothing more than a sellsword. A mercenary traveling on some crazy mission with a gnome who had no idea what they were doing.

“Alright, so who's this Herbalist we're takin' along?” Draco relaxed as they entered the southern part of town. Northern Shesi was a hotbed of activity, with one of the fort commanders doing as he pleased with the townspeople. The city was set to explode before too long. It wasn't such a hard thing to see coming. What else were the people supposed to do when women were being kidnapped off the streets for the military's uses? Eventually the people would have too much, and the soldiers would be attacked by the very people they were meant to protect.

Melvin shrugged, “Some girl who owns a shop in the south of town. The shop's called 'The Spice of Life', and she's been heralded as the best herbalist in the area. That one back in Triplip couldn't even spell herb, so I certainly wasn't going to bring him along. This one knows her business from what I'm told, and she agreed to come along.”

Draco frowned, “Why? If she has a shop here, why is she willing to travel nearly six hundred miles into Tre Galisti? The elves are liable to start a war while we're traveling. The last place any human wants to get caught is on the road to Tre Galisti when the fighting starts.”

“She's an elf.” Melvin responded. He was scanning the buildings on the far side of the square for the shop he was looking for. His eyes were well-suited to the dark, as were his companions, but he had only been to the store once, and it hadn't been easy to find the first time.

Draco blinked, “An elf? That's...Well, that was a good idea on your part.”

Melvin nodded, “Of course. I know what I'm doing after all. I studied all my life to be able to go adventuring, and exploring requires that we plan for every eventuality. Taking you elves along will help if we're caught in Tre Galisti when the war starts.”

“What about getting back after the war starts?” Draco smiled at his friend.

Melvin glared at him again but figured it was best to ignore the remark, “There's the store. Let's go meet our herbalist.”

* * * * * *

Teral Charleston was sleeping beside the door to the Spice Of Life when a light knock woke up. Sleeping next to a door is never an ideal situation for rest, and he had been nervous about falling asleep the night before. The city was on edge, ready to explode at the first signs of violence, and Teral was stuck there until some kind of pay came his way. With the way things were going, he might be willing to leave even before pay came his way. He had made his way in the world without coin before, and sometimes it was better to have nothing.

Teral was a bard, albeit one that wasn't known far and wide for much of anything. He was happy to learn the songs others had written, and play them for the masses. For the common folk, that was the way they normally learned history. It was the way they learned nearly everything.

He had thought Shesi would be a great place to make himself a little coin. A place to relax in a nice inn, playing his music every night, with good food, good wine, and good company to go along with it.

Oh, how wrong he had been. Every inn, common room, and even the homes with a room to let had a bard staying there already. So, Teral was left sleeping by the door, a sad little guard who played his music for the girl living upstairs and no one else.

Bodyguard was a strange occupation for a halfling, but Teral had been in enough scraps in his travels to understand how to stay alive. When he was offered fifty gold a week by the town's treasurer to keep a willowy little herbalist safe he couldn't say no. Who would have? That was more than he could make in a month living in the biggest inn in the city. His only problem was not being able to play his music for anyone.

At the second knock, Teral hopped up and dragged his stool to the door before sliding open the slat and looking out. A man in ring mail stood outside, glancing around nervously.

“Let us in, Veralynn!” A voice shouted from outside. But, it wasn't the fighter who spoke.

“Uh...” Teral didn't know how to react to the disembodied voice. “Who are you?”

“It's Melvin! I'm here to speak with Veralynn. Where is she?!”

The invisible Melvin was shouting, which was a bad idea on a street before dawn. No one knew when the city would explode in violence, but most people were speaking in hushed whispers rather than shouting at sleeping people.

“Shhh!” Teral hissed urgently. “Are you crazy? Why the hell are you out here shouting?!”

A grunt of disbelief reached Teral's ears. “Am I crazy!? Are you crazy?! Let me in! I need to speak with Veralynn immediately!”

“Who are you?” Teral tried to tone his voice down, attempting to trick whoever was talking into doing the same.

“I told you! I'm Melvin! I'm here to see Veraly�"Ahhh!”

Out of nowhere a shower of glowing embers fell all around the men outside. The big man in ring mail darted back in surprise, although not much fear. But Teral finally saw who he had been talking to when the little figure of a gnome darted away from the door screeching in terror.

“Ahhh! Fire! We're under attack! Run, Draco! Run!!!” At that the little gnome attempted to dart past his elven protector, but Draco reached down and stopped him.

“You're fine, Melvin. Calm down.”

Before Melvin could argue, or attempt to do anything, they heard the sleepy voice of a woman float down to them. “Will you please be quiet! Teral, go ahead and let them in before they wake up the whole neighborhood.”

The men outside heard the quiet cursing coming from the upper floor, but decided it best to not mention it. They didn't want any more flaming plants thrown on them.

Teral reluctantly let the two strangers inside, and quickly locked the door behind them. If anyone had heard their noise, no one had come out, yet. It was best to get them inside and hidden before anyone showed up to stir up trouble.

Draco stepped inside and headed straight for one of the small tables set up inside. The shop walls were covered in drying herbs, while a few shelves held dried leaves, roots, powders and an impressive collection of the tools an herbalist used.

“So...Who're you guys?” Teral finally asked when the two were seated.

Melvin climbed up on the chair and then onto the table to settle himself in. Standing up to his full height he couldn't have been more than two and half feet tall, so having him on the table didn't seem much of an imposition.

“Well, I'm the great Melvin!” The little gnome exclaimed. “An explorer of great renown and standing. I have been assigned a task by the mayor of Triplip, and Veralynn has been generous enough to aid me on my journey.”

The man he called Draco glanced at him and shook his head. “I'm Draco.”

Teral nodded, “Alright...So, what's this journey?”

Melvin began to answer, but Veralynn chose that moment to make her appearance. It was obvious that her sleep had been interrupted. As an herbalist she knew all kinds of tricks to make herself sleep better, and she used them. In excess. So, waking was always a chore that involved a tea with enough stimulant properties to get her ready for the day.

Veralynn was a moon elf, although she lacked the usual coloring of their people. Her hair was a cherry red that would have stood out even in a sun elf, but it was usually kept roughly pulled back in an untidy pony tail.

“Ms. Veralynn! How nice to see you!” Melvin stated enthusiastically, standing on the table to give the moment a bit more gravity.

All he received in return was a disgruntled look from the elven woman that said she wasn't excited to see him. He frowned, then everyone spun around when someone on the other side of the room cleared her throat.

“She's not a fan of being awake in the morning.” A woman's voice said from the shadows near the door.

Teral nearly fell off the stool he was sitting on, and Draco was standing with his sword drawn before they even saw the speaker. Veralynn simply continued making her tea, ignoring the fact that someone had sneaked in behind the others upon their entrance.

“How'd you get in here!?” Teral asked in shock. There was no point in being scared, the intruder had obviously been inside since the gnome and his companion had entered.

“I was invited.” The woman stated before stepping into the light. She wore a cloak of dark greens and browns, and had a bow slung over her back. She set a heavy pack down beside the others next to the door, and approached in the least threatening manner possible.

“By who!?” Melvin asked loudly, standing on the table with his hand on a throwing axe.

The woman in the camouflage cloak simply stared at the two foot tall individual threatening her, and nodded toward Veralynn. “Her. And it's 'By whom'.”

Melvin turned to Veralynn, then turned to the woman at being corrected, then turned back to Veralynn. “Why'd you do that?”
“'Cuz she actually knows what a Cu looks like. And if you wanna find this plant in Tre Galisti, then you'll want a druid along. There isn't an elf in the world that will interrupt a druid on a quest, so she's going.”

Melvin looked like he wanted to argue, but Draco lifted an eyebrow at him. It was obvious the two women knew what they were doing, so there was no reason whatsoever to argue. The only thing Melvin would do by arguing was make himself look like an idiot.

Veralynn finished making her tea, and looked toward the group after taking a long drink. “If anyone wants any, I made enough for everyone. Let's get down to planning this trip before this town explodes.”

Author's Note

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