Page 7 (1/2)

Part 2

The Ranger

Does anything in all the world force a heavier weight upon one’s shoulders than guilt? I have felt the burden often, have carried it overroads

Guilt resees On the one hand, it cuts for justice, i practical morality upon those who fear it Guilt, the consequence of conscience, is what separates the goodly persons froain, most drow can kill another, kin or otherwise, and walk away carrying no eht fear retribution but will shed no tears for his victim

To huoodly races - the suffering ih any external threats Souilt - conscience - is the primary difference between the varied races of the Realuilt must be considered a positive force

But there is another side to that weighted ement Guilt is always a self-ihtly i the road from Menzoberranzan to Icewind Dale I carried out of Menzoberranzan guilt for Zaknafein, denstone guilt for Belwar Dissengulp, the svirfneblinthe many roads there came many other burdens: Clacker, killed by the nolls, slain by my own hand; and the farmers - hest whelp

Rationally I knew that I was not to blame, that the actions were beyond nolls, that I had acted properly But rationale is little defense against the weight of guilt

In time, bolstered by the confidence of trusted friends, I came to throw off many of those burdens Others remain and always shall I accept this as inevitable, and use the weight to guide my future steps

This, I believe, is the true purpose of conscience

6 Sundabar

"Oh, enough, Fret," the tall wo his hands away She ran her fingers through her thick, brown hair,it considerably

"Tsk, tsk," the dwarf replied, i his hands back to the dirty spot on the woer’s continual shifting kept hi much "Why, Mistress Falconhand, I do believe that you would do well to consult a few books on proper behavior"

"I just rode in fro a wink to Gabriel, the other fighter in the room, a tall and stern-faced man "One tends to collect soo!" the dwarf protested "You attended the banquet last night in this very cloak!" The dwarf then noticed that in his fuss over Dove’s cloak he had sed his own silken robes, and that catastrophe turned his attention fro a finger and casually rubbing it over the spot on her cloak, "you are the most unusual of attendants"

The dwarf’s face went beet red, and he stamped a shiny slipper on the tiled floor "Attendant?" he huffed "I should say"

"Then do!" Dove laughed

"I aes in the north! My thesis concerning the proper etiquette of racial banquets - "

"Or lack of proper etiquette - " Gabriel couldn’t help but interrupt The dwarf turned on him sourly - "at least where dwarves are concerned," the tall fighter finished with an innocent shrug

The dwarf trembled visibly and his slippers played a respectable beat on the hard floor

"Oh, dear Fret," Dove offered, dropping a co the length of his perfectly trimmed, yellow beard

"Fred!" the dwarf retorted sharply, pushing the ranger’s hand away "Fredegar!"

Dove and Gabriel looked at each other for one brief, knowing moment, then cried out the dwarf’s surnahter "Rockcrusher!"

"Fredegar Quilldipper would bedwarf told the , so he scooped up his pack and darted fro only to slip one final wink Dove’s way

"I only desired to help" The dwarf dropped his hands into impossibly deep pockets and his head drooped low

"So you have!" Dove cried to comfort him

"I mean, you do have an audience with Hel so the Master of Sundabar"

"Indeed one should," Dove readily agreed "Yet all I have to wear you see before you, dear Fret, stained and dirtied froure in the eyes of Sundabar’s master He and my sister have becon a vulnerable pout, and though her sword had turned er could play this game better than most

"Whatever shall I do?" She cocked her head curiously as she glanced at the dwarf "Perhaps," she teased "If only"

Fret’s face began to brighten at the hint

"No," Dove said with a heavy sigh "I could never ilee, clapping his thick hands together "Indeed you could, Mistress Falconhand! Indeed you could!"

Dove bit her lip to forestall any further dehter as the excited dwarf skipped out of the room While she often teased Fret, Dove would readily admit that she loved the little dwarf Fret had spent many years in Silverymoon, where Dove’s sister ruled, and had made many contributions to the fae, known for his extensive research into the custoood and evil, and he was an expert on issues demihuman He also was a fine composer How many ti aa cheery melody composed by this very saer whispered under her breath when the dwarf returned, a silken gown draped over one ar across the floor! - assorted jewelry and a pair of stylish shoes in his other hand, a dozen pins sticking out fro looped over one ear Dove hid her sive the dwarf this one battle She would tiptoe into Helown, the picture of Ladydo proudly by her side

All the while, Dove knew, the shoes would pinch and bite at her feet and the goould find some place to itch where she could not reach Alas for the duties of station, Dove thought as she stared at the gown and accessories She looked into Fret’s bea face then and realized that it orth all the trouble

Alas for the duties of friendship, she mused

The farhting of a dark elf often had such effects on siers He had taken two horses out of Maldobar; one he had left a score of miles behind, halfway between the tns If he was lucky, he’d find the animal unharmed on the return trip The second horse, the far to tire Still the far the steed on The torches of Sundabar’s night watch, high up on the city’s thick stone walls, were in sight

"Stop and speak your nauards when the rider approached, half an hour later

Dove leaned on Fret for support as they followed Hel and decorated corridor to the audience rooe without handrails, could fire her boith deadly accuracy atop a charging steed, could scramble up a tree in full chain armor, sword and shield in hand But she could not, for all of her experience and agility, e the fancy shoes that Fret had squeezed her feet into