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Five years later...
Drake enjoys the brisk morning while sitting in his chair on the front porch with his coffee in his hand. A cool breeze blows through with the sun above the horizon as he listens to the birds singing, the locusts resonating, and the various other sounds of nature. "Gods, what a beautiful morning."
Taking a sip of his coffee, Drake smiles and leans back, reveling in the peaceful scenery. He pauses a moment, narrows his eyes, and looks over at his sleeve, relieved to find no burn marks. He then looks down and reaches for his chest with his free hand, patting himself down to make sure there's no blood - or coffee - upon him. He then looks to his left and right - he should've looked behind him - and slaps himself a couple of times. Smiling at his silliness, "Yep, that smarted a little. It's been five years, Drake, let it go. THIS is real. It's not a dream."
During the time he investigates himself, behind him is his lovely bride, Niss, wearing a long-sleeve dress while leaning up against a post with her arms crossed, and a hand over her mouth as she works to contain a chuckle at the man's antics. Moving up behind him, she wraps her arms around his chest, just below his neck, and rests her chin upon his shoulder. "What are you doing, my love?" she asks playfully, knowing full well what he's doing.
Slightly startled - although this time, he managed to keep his coffee from spilling too much as he was holding it out to the side - he smiles wide at the arrival of his wife. Placing his free hand upon her arms, "Doing? I'm doing nothing, sweetheart. Just sitting here enjoying the morning. Yep. That's all that I'm..." Angling his vision toward her, the look on her face easily tells him she already knows. Plus, he always was a bad liar. "You saw all that, did you?" He grins sheepishly. "Okay, okay, I guess I was just making sure this was all real and I wasn't going to wake up bleeding to death or something. Just needed to be sure is all."
Rolling her eyes, "It's been five years, love. Trust me when I tell you this isn't a dream," she says with a smile.
"I know, I know. I don't know, I guess it's just hard to shake. Fear I guess."
Not a moment later, a little girl who is the spitting image of her mother - with the exception of her green eyes that she inherited from her father - walks up with a stuffed cat doll in her arms. "Daddy, mommy, Fin won't wake up. Could you wake him up for me, please? I want to play 'Catch the kitty'," she whines.
Drake chuckles and Niss grins as she rises and places a supporting hand on the ranger's shoulder. With a big smile, Drake says to her, "Emma, my little princess, he's an old person. He's like a couple of hundred years old or something. He needs his sleep."
Covering her mouth with her little hand, she chuckles. "Silly, daddy, he's not a person, he's a kitty." She chuckles some more.
Unable to contain a laugh himself, "Okay, okay, you're right, he's a kitty. But you know how cats are, they love their sleep." Or they love to PRETEND to sleep so they don't have to play 'Catch the cat'.
She looks up at him with her big grin eyes for a moment, looking as if she's thinking about something really difficult. "Um, well, could you wake him anyway? I like that game. It makes me laugh when I hit him with the tiny rocks." She giggles.
Rolling his eyes, "Sweetie, what have I told you about throwing rocks at Fin? You know you're not supposed to do that. Actually, if you used your arm he might not mind it so much. Odds are extremely high you'll miss a lot more than when you throw things with your mind." He looks over at Niss and grins, shrugging.
Turning back to Emma, "Look, how about this: why don't you ball up some of your old socks, or something like that, and use those to throw at Fin? I think he'll appreciate it a lot more and maybe he'll 'wake up'."
Out from behind them all, "Did someone mention socks? Hello, little princess, I am awake now and will oblige you in our little game of cat and mouse. And as always, I will be the mouse," he says, sounding somewhat reluctant about it.
As they all turn and look at Fin, Drake and Niss grin, and little Emma exclaims with excitement, "YAY!" before launching a small pebble at him. Fin just barely manages to dodge out of the way. The mechanical cat is still unable to contain a grin at how much she is like her mother, and how good she has become with her ability at such a young age.
Drake and Niss erupt at the same time with, "EMMA!" as Drake rises from his chair.
The little McClain girl drops her eyes and says in a sad tone, "I'm sorry. But I don't have any socks right now, daddy."
Setting his coffee down, Drake moves over to her and places a loving hand upon her back, and says, "Well, you just go on in your room and gather you some socks, okay, princess? C'mon now. Let's go." Giving her a slight nudge, she smiles big and responds, "Okay, daddy!" before skipping her way into their quaint cottage to fetch those socks.
Looking over at Fin, "Sorry about that, Fin. We'll get her learned... eventually. I hope."
"Not a problem, Drake. She is truly a child after her mother." He smiles, proud of that fact.
"Well, after what I went through," Niss says, "I am glad she has learned so much at such a young age. It will benefit her in the future. We just have to get her to control it a bit better. In time. She'll get there."
Nodding in agreement, Drake takes a deep breath, and says, "Well, Baradim and Tamli and their son should be back in a couple of hours. Hopefully, they've got some good game for lunch later today. It's funny, that boy of his is a heck of a shot with the bow. Who would've thought, with Baradim and Tamli such frontline-type warriors, their son favors the bow? I guess you just never know."
Placing an arm around his wife's waist, he walks with her a bit, looking out into fields of gold as he speaks. "You know, my darling Niss, I'm thinking that adorable little daughter of ours really needs a playmate she can have around all the time. What do you think? Maybe? Maybe not? What?"
Grinning wryly, "Who's to say that's not been solved already, my dear husband?" She winks as Drake's mouth drops open, clearly unprepared for that bit of news. "You-you-you, you on the nest?! Really?! How do you know, Niss?! Really?!"
Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, she lays a loving hand on her husband's cheek and smiles. "A woman always knows, my love. Always. And that pretty much goes for everything." She winks, giving him a couple of loving pats on the cheek before kissing him softly.
"What is it?! Is it a boy or a girl?!" he asks excitedly.
Smiling, Niss nods and simply says, "Mm-hmm."
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Forged in the fires of battle, of love, of friendship, and in a few cases near death, is a bond that will never be broken among the four. Four individuals who's lives will forever be intertwined and who will forever be know as 'The Princess Guard'.
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Almost a week after the battles and purging of the plague from Plaguestone, Finoan watches as the town of Etran's Folly rolls slowly into the distance as the caravan makes its way towards Almas once again. "They really just need to rename that town. None of its names are very appealing."
During the day he approaches Drake and Niss. "You know, you both still have people who are after you. I've been thinking about that for the last couple of days. I don't think we need to do anything lethal about them. Especially in the case of Niss's foster mother - that could destabilize things politically and cause a lot of suffering for a lot of people."
"No, I think all we need to do is let them know that you are irrecoverably beyond their reach and that trying to get you back would be very ... detrimental to them." Fin gets a sly grin. "How about we send out marriage announcements? I'll deliver them personally. With gifts."
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Finoan has been laying motionless on top of this armoire for seventeen hours. He snuck into the room in the early morning after the target had left and the servants finished their rounds. Finally, the target has returned and is now solidly asleep.
Fin creeps down from his hiding perch and retrieves the gifts from under the bed. He places the card with Niss's letter prominently on the bedside table after clearing everything else from it.
Then he begins the slow and careful process of looping the collar around the woman's neck without waking her, and then chains it to the bed. It takes the better part of an hour to complete. It is a standard mage restriction collar. It technically prevents spellcasting as well, but the main reason he chose this one was because it prevents speech. Fin learned from his first visit here two days earlier that no servants are allowed into this bed chamber. The locks on the door were in fact rather difficult to bypass.
Finoan looks over his results. Target is restrained, but alive. Target has no useful items in reach, is unable to call for help, and no assistants are scheduled to pass by. Message has been delivered. Perfect.
Fin goes to the window, opens it, and climbs out. Then he closes the window behind him and leaps from the tower wall, casting Feather Fall on the way down. He hits the ground running, going at a moderate pace. If anyone is watching, they will likely see what they expect to see - a stray hunting dog searching through the fields for mice or rabbits.
Once he is out of sight of what passes for civilization in this part of the world, Finoan breaks into a full run. He comments out loud to himself, "Need to pick up the pace a bit. The caravan travels slowly, but it will likely reach Almas before I do. I don't want them to have to wait for me for long, and if they leave without me it may be a bit annoying to track down where they went." He gets a bit of a grin. "But I do still have another marriage announcement to deliver first."
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Looking over at Fin, "Sorry about that, Fin. We'll get her learned... eventually. I hope."
"They always have before. Many generation of children have grown into pleasant people. At least as long as they are under proper guidance from caring and responsible parents."
"But I can't stay and play for too long today. Tamli's caravan is rolling out again in a day or two and I will want to be prepared for that."
"But for now..." Fin reaches out with and slashes one of Drake's pants legs off at the knee with a few deft cuts from a claw. He cuts the fabric into strips and ties it into a crude ball. He tosses the ball to Emma. "Catch me if you can," he says while casting Invisibility and fading from view - trying his best to clear his mind of emotions and sneaking his way towards the front door.
"Agreed." Baradim muttered to Finoan as the caravan finally departed from Etran's Folly, the worn appearance almost looking brighter than it did the day that they arrived. Little had truly changed but the people there had a chance, a chance to do something better. As Finoan left, Baradim's attention turned towards the entourage that they traveled with. Tamli barked orders, only one orc suffering a broken nose for thinking the half-blood didn't have the fire in her blood. Graytusk was almost thankful for the chance to rest and relax, the makeshift tribe walking alongside the caravan. Baradim's eyes met hers and a smile spread across both of their faces. New challenges and new threats would be on the horizon but the Princess Guard would be ready for it. Forged in battle, friendship, and love, the mismatched team travelled deeper.
Almas, the metropolis it was, was almost overwhelming the first year that they arrived. Discrimination, overpopulation, slum conditions, none of it was easy and all of it was difficult. Amidst the broken streets, where even the guards did not tread, a new gang seemed to manifest. No city thieves and backstabbers, no mere simple thugs and bandits, a group of orcs gathered together in one of the worst neighborhoods and began to enact change. Gangs that had held power for decades found themselves swearing oaths of peace and moving to safer territories. The city's local name began to shift, changing into something new.
Newhold.
A poor but friendly district, Baradim and Tamli found themselves as unwilling faces of the refugees from the Whispering Tyrant's forces. What had started as violent defense gave way to a new level of irritating; politics. Baradim found himself as the elected representative of Newhold and delved into politics with a communal, blunt, and forceful approach. Few had the stomach to hold the orc's glare when they boldly lie and his lack of tact was reinforced the first time there was an assassination attempt and the Princess Guard deposited them before the local guard. The survivors, anyway.
Even then though, Baradim's oath was not forgotten. The caravan grew in wealth with connections but Tamli and Baradim's status stayed the same; most of the profit going to support the war against the Whispering Tyrant. With his child born, Baradim's fear of failing his comrades shifted away from avenging them to living a life worth living.
On a warm morning, the experienced warrior stood, walking with a bit of a limp from a poisoned bolt. Bort, named after Tamli's father figure, played outside with his short bow and blunt arrows, while Tamli corraled the large operation. Another journey east laid ahead, another long trip back through Etran's Folly to see old faces and to grieve those lost.
"Come Bort, we're seeing Niss today. We'll see if she shared the good news." The low, gravely voice of the orc said. With a careful gait, he stepped in line with his mate and breathed in the warmth and noise of the day and how it compared to the silence in his mind.