Chapter Ten: Highwind!

[Purr]

Spoiler: Mood Music

"Loved by the Sun" by Jon Anderson (of Yes) and Tangerine Dream for the Legend Motion Picture Soundtrack

At her final words, he looked up and smiled warmly. "I thank you for the honor and for your trust, Forest Lady. I will do all I may to aid you and yours, and hope to be worthy of it."

Mielikki beamed like the dawn breaking over a summer forest. "Then I bid thee rise anew, Sir Brendoran Sarabina, Paladin of the Hunt!"

Bria raised her hands to the skies and cheered, all for Bren. Powerpaw and Mamapaw hopped and roared together. Bonny and Whittle clasped hands and celebrated with a hobbit dance. Stewart clapped and tipped his hat. Glider grinned and applauded sure in the knowledge that Killane's boy had made his father, mother, and family proud. Shalin, his staff in hand, just gave a long, warm smile as inside that staff, Havoc chuckled gruesomely, imagining the looks on the faces of evil creatures all over when they learned another paladin was now walking Sharseya. Just inside the Adventurers' Wagon, the three Killer Mimics, Arfy, Barfy, and Snarfy, bounced and barked happily before being told to return to their room by Stewart. Sparkle sighed happily for another holy knight in the realm was nothing but a good thing for everyone.

Mielikki stepped back as her songbirds resumed their pretty songs. With a space now open before him, Bren saw Star the war-steed impatiently striding forward, his new wings tucked carefully at his sides. Bren knew that look. Star was longing for adventure.

But there was Bria whose natural cuteness and sunshine smile gave even the war-pegasi reason to soften. The peaceful healer rushed into Bren's arms, freely hugging him the way Ko hug anyone they cherish. "Hooray, Bren! You did it! I knew you could! We should celebrate!" Then Bria paused as if sensing something. She exclaimed, softly brushing one hand through the open air as if she could touch something solid. "Yes! Just like Ragnar!" She invoked the name of Highwind's only Paladin of Thor. "The aura. Bren, you have it too."

There was now an important difference in Brendoran's presence - a new radiance that sturdied the spirit and strengthened one's soul. Proof enough that the enemies of Highwind had just one more reason to fear, for Brendoran Killaneson Sarabina of Summerset had become both a knight of the highest goodness and a true-hearted paladin of Mielikki.

 

[Sherwood]

Luna lets out a happy sound and claps her hands in joy for Bren's new station in life. "Wonderful, Bren! I am so happy for you!" She gives off a beaming smile and, if she can make it to him in the press of people, she will give him a congratulatory hug. "So! What is our first step? Is there a specific location that must be prepared for the temple, or will any spot that is properly sanctified do?"

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

.:|Nivirea - The Sorceress|:.

Even the young sorceress, who had been the most reserved regarding Mielikki's appearance, even skeptical at first, couldn't help but stand in awe at the brief but profound ceremony that had just taken place. She stood very still, her lips slightly parted, staring at Bren and his goddess while they exchanged words and vows. She had not yet witnessed such an event - but then, who had? By the time it was over, the last of the cheers finally settling, Nivirea was left smiling as well.

"Actually, that won't be necessary." she said, moving to stand next to Luna and Bren with all the smug grace of someone about to reveal something that only they knew. "I have it on good authority that Tapio's original temple still stands, you see. Desecrated, yes, and vandalized to an extent - but not destroyed. It's still there, in the same location where it always was."

She paid Mielikki a subtly inquisitive glance, as if questioning if the goddess already knew this.

 

[Purr]

She gives off a beaming smile and, if she can make it to him in the press of people, she will give him a congratulatory hug.

Luna is able hug Bren easily as when her intent is shown, the good-hearted people she is near make way as good-hearted people do. Luna soon learns that Bren is every bit as solid in muscle as his armor unlike the bookworms and acolytes she schooled with in Boccob's "Knowledge College" in Summerset. There is something to be said of those who strengthen their minds to a wizardly degree and something too for those who forge their bodies with the daily fires of dedication.

Yet there is something more. Luna, too, notices a subtle but important difference when she is near Brendoran now. Bria was correct - there is some kind of new aura surrounding Bren - and it feels good! It is both unseeable and unmistakable. In Sharseya, Paladins are about as rare as half-elves and so too are the stories surrounding them. And now Luna is living in one of those stories in this very moment.

"I have it on good authority that Tapio's original temple still stands, you see. Desecrated, yes, and vandalized to an extent - but not destroyed. It's still there, in the same location where it always was."

Melshaef leaned forward. "Indeed? This is fine news!"

She paid Mielikki a subtly inquisitive glance, as if questioning if the goddess already knew this.

Observing the goddess of the forest was like looking into the face of a mountain in springtime; deeply beautiful and absolutely mysterious. Nivirea could not tell in any way what the Mistress of the Forest knew for the deity's mannerisms betrayed no clue whatsoever beyond that which she decided to share, at least none that a mortal could discern. If Mielikki knew, she was not sharing.

Mielikki held out her hand and gazed upon Oscar. Oscar immediately noticed and padded forth on his four fuzzy paws until he rested at her feet. Mielikki waved her hand. "Wayward Wanderers? Here before you lies your guide to mine husband's holy grounds. Oscar of Highwind has ne'er forgotten the path to Tapio's hunting lodge nor have we forgotten his hospitality and assistance in making it a reality - all that time ago."

Oscar stood up on his hind legs. "It does seem like an age, doesn't it? So very much has happened since then."

Suddenly, the loud, and by now familiar, voice of a middle-aged man shouted out from behind his throng. "And there is more to be done still! OSCAR!! I hear your voice!! You have returned to us! Oh, saints bless you, you have--" Grand Vizier Randall Flagg of Highwind stormed forth, robes flailing, his face a twisted mess of worry as he looked all over for someone over a head taller than he. Someone human. "Uh, where... Where are you?"

"Down here, grand vizier." Oscar waved a paw and gave a little grin.

Flagg's eyes seemed to grow to the size of twin moons as he stared at Oscar. Rooted to the ground in shock, he gasped horribly and staggered. His entourage caught him this time. Then he screamed in anguish. "AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"

Bria shook her head. "Oh dear! But I think he's even cuter than before! Don't you?"

"YOU!" Flagg recovered and stabbed a finger at one unworried Bria. "YOU DID THIS TO HIM!!"

"Yep yep yep!"

Flagg waved his arms at the long ornate casket. "After all I did to prepare his body for return! Look, Oscar! I polymorphed your corpse into the way you are supposed to look - not that blasted wretched thing the Tempus Fugit reduced you to!"

(Dungeon Master for Luna, Otiorin, and Nivirea)

Spoiler

If Flagg is telling the truth, the only way each of you know this could be possible would be through a Polymorph Any Object spell. A corpse is considered an object. If Flagg can cast this, then he is able to call upon 8th-level arcane spells. This is knowledge your non-arcanic friends probably have no way of knowing short of personal experience.

Oscar peered and bowed. "Ah, I see! Very kind of you, grand vizier!"

"But... but... what are we supposed to do with your corpse now?!"

Oscar replied, "I will leave such matters to the divine, for that vessel served me very, very well when I inhabited it. Perhaps burial is the answer so that my body can nourish the very soil of Sharseya that replenished me so very often prior to my demise?"

Melshaef and Bria shared approving glances and looked to each of you while Powerpaw, openly puzzled, silently scratched his head. Many matters, divine or arcane, were far beyond his fighting brain and he well knew it.

Just then, Nivirea felt eyes upon her. Divine eyes. Mielikki was looking at the sorceress with a mischievous smirk. Then, out of the blue, Mielikki asked all of you. "Wayward Wanderers? Dost thou know one of the best things about being a deity, especially one fully restored to health like myself?"

"Um, what's that?" Bria wondered.

"The ability to do... this!" Mielikki threw her hands into the air and gave a joyous shout - and in doing so, she ended this chapter and began another!

(Dungeon Master note for all)
What's going on, you ask? See the first post At the Adventurer's Table: Chapter Eleven for details! See you there! =)