Chapter 10: Oaths and Honor

Wearing our Legion Armor with the special undergarments was much better, as Grandpa Dave and Uncle Con had suggested. I was used to calling them that already. It hadn't needed the meditation session, or that amazing refining my mind got during Grandpa Dave's joining with ours. They made it so easy for me to feel like family.

What did Sid think of me in nothing but the Legion undergarments? He said I was the sort of vision around which legends are written. He wasn't just trying to get me into our bed, but it succeeded anyway. If he hadn't begun smooth-talking me the moment we got back, I'd have done a little smooth-talking of my own.

We came out of our room at the Falling Pine for morning meal looking as if we had just finished a rousing round of lovemaking. Sometimes reality is the best disguise. And Sid did find those undergarments inspiring.

"Haven't seen much of you two, but I guess we don't need to ask why, eh?" Our waitress commented. I managed a good blush, but Sid just smiled back at her.

"Wouldn't be exactly polite to go around asking those sort of questions anyway would it?" He asked.

"No, I suppose not." She answered. Now it was her turn to blush.

"We've got another couple of days here, and I don't expect you'll be seeing any more of us than you have so far." I said in as sultry a voice as I could manage.

"Perhaps I should ask the cook to fix you up something to snack on in your room?" She asked. "We do get honeymoon couples here now and then. We know how to treat young people in love."

"This is more like honeymoon practice than the honeymoon, but that sounds nice, thank you." Sid answered. I punched his arm and giggled. I hoped the giggle didn't sound forced.

We ate our meal, though we weren't that hungry. The time differences between here and the McKesson house on Meadow had managed to cram several mealtimes pretty close together for us.

As the meal ended, our waitress brought us a basket with a selection of sausages, fruits, nuts and even some cheese, a relatively dry, firm cheese, which was uncommon here on Arbor, as well as a couple of the softer cheeses more familiar to me. There were some small breads and crackers as well, along with butter and some jams. All in all it was an impressive bundle.

"This is incredible." I said to her. "Thank you."

"You may not be thanking me when you see how much it adds to your bill." The waitress said with a grin.

Making the jump to Meadow and having to deal with the time difference between their valley and our inn was, in the end, a good thing. It reminded us that we had to be sure of the details before we began jumping into places we didn't know, without intelligence or reconnaissance. We were going to have to provide our own.

"Foxfire Aligos was never one to talk about his family, or his situation in life." Sid said. "I only knew that he was from one of the Trail kingdoms."

"Didn't you say you had been through the Trail Kingdoms with Trunk?" I asked.

"Yes, we went to Berkedt on business for Trunk's father, to the city of Harecht. The organization we were investigating was called the Trail Hills Shipping Consortium. The factor there was a good man, one I think I could trust to find me some connections."

We got back to our room, putting the basket by the small window and debated changing out of our Arborian leathers and into our Legion Armor.

"I don't believe we're that much further east or west from Berkedt to think we will arrive under the cover of darkness." Sid said.

"Then we should go in our regular clothes and avoid drawing attention to ourselves." I said."Maybe even a standard dress for me, and a tunic and trousers for you?"

"That's a good idea." Sid said. "We'll be as non-threatening as possible, and to be honest, you do draw a lot of attention in your leathers."

"Why thank you sir!" I said with a laugh.

We may have been in regular clothes, but I did have a travel dress, a skirran, they're called in the Sparine. It was made of a heavy cloak material with a built in hood and long sleeves that could be worn open or tied at the wrists, or even folded back and tied at the elbows. It came tight at the waist and then belled out into a skirt that ran almost to the calf. I wore my normal heavy riding boots. I looked nothing like I did in my leathers, and the huge sleeves had plenty of places for my throwing daggers.

Sid had to decide whether he had to hide his Wizard's staff or not, and I could tell immediately that he was reluctant to do so. He was still building his connection to it, and leaving it at the tower while we were off Arbor had been hard enough.

"So be a Wizard." I said at last. "Just don't be the Wizard they're expecting."

I got a kiss for that, and Sid took some of the Light and made a set of his own heavy street clothes change into a Wizard's robe. I was definitely feeling the Light now, and could almost follow the work he was doing. His Grandfather had done more than dump the operating manual for the Legion Armor into our minds, I think. Sid's familiarity with that kind of work was new.

Dragon's Eye itself underwent some changes too, but these were of the Magical variety. Unlike the Light work, these efforts could be detected, but who would be surprised to find traces of Magic on a Wizard's Staff?

With our changes in place, Sid gave me a smile, closed his eyes for just a moment, and in a blink, we were standing near a river laden with barges. There was a grassy, tree-covered median with a series of brick and stone benches between us and a busy street. Not a soul looked our way.

"Welcome to Harecht." Sid said. I took a moment to drink in some sense of the surroundings. It was a little overcast, and their was a morning mist on the river. The stones, the river, the bridges and the architecture, it all made for a lovely picture.

"This is a lovely town." I said.

"Yes, I was struck by it when we were here." Sid said. "The factor's office is across that street. He should be there if its not too early in the day, and his house is a few blocks further from the river up that street over there." Sid said, pointing.

"Shall we go see if the factor is in his office?"

As we walked, I was soaking my inner senses in the river beside us. It had a lot of power and a lot of... 'character', I guess I'd have to call it.

"Mat?" I said as we crossed the street.

"Sparrow?"

"If we get a chance to live a normal life someday, lets put this place on the list of places we might live, okay?"

"Absolutely!" He agreed.

A bell rang as we opened the door to the office, and I saw a man at a desk stand up as we entered. He was thin and bony, but as he moved out from around the desk to greet us, I noticed a certain grace in his movements.

"Good morning! Welcome to The Trail Hills Consortium." I'm Yoke Ghunst."

"Firestone." Sid replied. I had wondered what he would call himself. "This is my companion Sparrow."

Saved from having to come up with something myself, I took the factors hand and shook it. "Good morning Mister Ghunst."

"What brings you to my office this morning." He asked."Can I offer you both some Cintosa? I have a fresh pot."

We accepted and he offered us a couple of seats near his desk as he prepared the cups for us.

"You were referred to us by Trunk Gurmot, who we met a while back in Seacroft. When we said we had some business in the area, he suggested we look you up."

"Ah, I remember the young man, he and his companion were quite the pair as I remember. Good men in a pinch, I always suspected."

The man was staring quite intently at Sid as he said this. Sid smiled in return.

"Yes, that is true. Fortunes change, but good men are good men, don't you agree?"

"I do, and I am seldom wrong when it comes to those sort of things."

We had our cups of Cintosara by this time, and the factor was back at his desk. I suspected that he and Sid had just said far more just now than the mere words conveyed. Yoke had said he knew who Sid was, Sid had admitted it, and both had agreed that it didn't affect things for now, all without giving up any information.

"Now, again, what can I do for you?"

"We're looking for information on someone Trunk has recommended to me, a fellow classmate from the Academy named Foxfoot Aligos." Sid said. "Having been at the Academy, it is assumed his family is of some prominence, but he came away from the Academy only knowing that his classmate was from the one of the Trail Kingdoms, and nothing more."

"If they were a prominent family in Berkedt, I would probably recognize the name, but I'm not familiar with it. I would do this for nothing if I thought this was Gurmot, Gurmot and Sons business, since I'm on retainer, but I suspect this is not?"

"No, its a bit more personal, Mister Ghunst." I said. "We are prepared to pay."

"Please, call me Yoke." He said. "Give me five crowns as a retainer and I will go to the Royal hall of records and do a little research. I a a frequent visitor there, and will have no problems getting the information. If they are involved in commerce anywhere in the Trail Kingdoms, there will be a record of the family name and their business there."

Sid handed him a ten crown piece and told him not to worry about change until we met again.

"Are you staying at the Green Circle ag..." He cleared his throat and started over.

"Are you staying at the Green Circle?"

"No, we won't be staying the night." Sid said. "We can come back tomorrow again if you need more than the day, but we can't spend the night, we'll be expected elsewhere by then."

"I shouldn't need more than a couple of hours. I'll start now. There's no pressing business here for me this morning anyway. Why don't you take this lovely young woman for a stroll along the river, and show her the view from some of the bridges? Try the Quillion Bridge, the view is said to be particularly romantic."

So that was what we did. The river, with its stone borders and seemingly endless series of parks, fountains, statues and stone gazebos was meant to be walked arm in arm with your love, and I walked it with mine, feeling warm in his arms. There were musicians and other entertainers scattered here and there, though it was probably too early for all but the most dedicated or desperate.

The Quillion bridge was indeed romantic, and we stood at its center, watching the small boats and barges passing under us. We kissed there at that spot, and a whistle from one of the passing ships had us laughing, as the pilot had spotted our efforts and had decided to add a comment. It didn't bother either of us, and when we had stopped laughing, we did it again.

"Sparrow, my precious little bird." Sid said as we broke our kiss. "We have spoken of being wed, and it has become an assumption not just between us, but for everyone who truly knows us, but I want to ask, now, here in this place. Will you marry me?"

"Of course! Yes!" I said, with a level of enthusiasm that surprised us both. We kissed again.

"When?" I asked, after the kiss broke.

"Before we end this Spirit-forsaken quest." Sid said with some seriousness. "Whatever our destiny may be, and we both know there are some hints that it could be something cataclysmic, I want us to face it as husband and wife."

"Of course." I said again, but this time it echoed my own thoughts. Of course we needed to be husband and wife to face what was coming. We should have come to this decision some time ago.

"Who would you like to have speak for us?" I asked.

"Master Jo, if it is possible." Sid said with a sigh.

"Yeah, he would be my choice as well." I said, echoing his sigh.

"Well then so it shall be, my children." Came Master Jo's voice beside us. "It would be my pleasure to speak the words for you."

We both turned, and of course he was there, as solid as he'd ever been.

"Master Jo!" I called, rushing over to give him a hug.

"Well met my children." He replied. Sid wasn't embarrassed at all when he too bent down to give the old weapons master a hug.

"Master, you are back to looking like your wise old self!" Sid said suddenly. It was true, I realized, he looked much older than I remembered him being.

"This is the way I see myself, so it is the way I must appear, for the time being. For you too, it is close to how you see me as well, kindly, old and wise, yes?"

Yes! Oh! I am so glad to see you again." I said. "I was so afraid we would never see you again."

"It is conflict and the threat of it that keeps me away, for now, but we will find no conflict here, so I am free to come to you."

"We hope to see you again, many times before we end this." Sid said.

"There will be some, but not many, and so if we are to see you married, it should be here and now." Master Jo said.

"Right here, on the bridge!" I said, stunned.

"Well, it is a lovely spot, but how about we walk over to that lovely little gazebo, and we'll do it there."

We walked, each of us with an arm around the Master, and as we walked, the weather broke. The overcast sky parted, just enough to let a little shaft of light run across the small stretch of park where the gazebo stood. The air grew warmer and the sounds that surrounded us seemed to soften. It might have been the way we walked, or the way Sid and I held each other once we reached the gazebo, but several people turned to watch as Master Jo began.

"Though I have never heard these words spoken before, I know them." Master Jo said so only we could hear. "These are the same words spoken atop the Tower of the Wind only a few years ago. Listen to them and take them to your hearts, as Sid's parents did when they were spoken to them."

He spoke the words then, raising his voice so all nearby would hear them.

The blessings of the Spirits on you.

Their hand guides yours. Their eyes are upon the path ahead and shine their light upon the true path that is yours. Give your hearts to each other and let the Spirits wrap yours in their comfort through all the years ahead.

Love is a blessing and a gift.

Love is given to us by the Spirits and it is our task to share it in turn with our family and our friends and our mates. Honor this gift every day of your life by sharing it.

Master Jo bowed to us both, and took our hands and joined them, one over the other.

"Obsidian and River, I join you now, but you are already one. Obsidian and River McKesson are one and the Spirits rejoice. Let all on Arbor rejoice with them, and let none deny what the spirits have declared."

With those words, I was wife to the man I loved above all else, and my husband took me in his arms and kissed me, and I kissed him in return. There was some applause from those people nearby who had noticed us, and we accepted their congratulations.

"We should walk back towards the office." Master Jo said. "Your friend will be back shortly."

We walked along the river once again, enjoying the pleasant air and the feeling of peace.

"We're not likely to have a day like this again for a while, are we?" I asked.

"No, you will be too busy for peace to find you like this, once your current plans begin in earnest."

"What do you see ahead for us?" Sid asked.

"The Spirits only know, my children." He answered. "They will not say, but I can say this. You are not headed for your doom. There is no horrible end to what is asked of you. Of course you could die. Life would not be life if there was not always some chance of that."

"No matter whose version of the prophesy we fulfill?" Sid asked.