Tymora's luck

ACT ONE SCENE 4

Jas slid her dagger blade across several strands of Joel's hair near the nape of his neck. "I can't believe you're doing this," she muttered to the bard. Joel gave her a weary smile as he retied his hair back up with a strip of leather.

They stood before a doorway in some dark, secret chamber. Annali had brought them here via two magic portals, but Joel felt sure they were still somewhere beneath the Civic Festhall. He could hear music playing somewhere above. He took the strands of his hair from Jas and handed them to Annali.

"It's a lovely color," the bariaur Sensate said as she wrapped the strands around her fingers.

"Thank you," Joel replied.

"You need to take these," Annali said, handing Joel three acorns. "They act as a key to the portal. Simply step through. Your friends should follow right behind you before the portal closes. When you arrive, you'll be facing the Gilded Hall of the Sensates. It's a place of great beauty… some would call it a paradise. I do not think you will be visiting there, though, will you?"

Joel shook his head. "I have another destination in mind. Thank you again," the bard said, bowing briefly before the bariaur. He turned and stepped through the magic portal. Jas and Emilo followed close on his heels.

They emerged on a wooded hillside beneath a moonlit night sky. A mild breeze cooled, but did not chill, the summer air surrounding them.

"I can't believe you gave them a lock of your hair," Jas said, stepping in front of Joel. "They could use that in all sorts of magic spells," the winged woman lectured. "You know that, don't you? What were you thinking?"

The bard was temporarily distracted by the sight of Jas's wings. Whenever she traveled to a different plane, her wings took on a new form. Her face was still covered in the black feathers that had come with the curse of Iyachtu Xvim, but since she'd stepped through the magic portal, her wings were no longer hard and metallic, but feathered, as they'd been in the Realms where she'd been born. In the Realms however, her feathers had been white, tinged with pink. Here in Arborea, they were deep blue, brilliant green, and sparkling gold, in the pattern of peacock feathers.

"Joel, stop looking at my stupid wings," Jas snapped with exasperation. "How could you let them have some of your hair?"

Joel sighed. "Jas, Holly said I could trust Bors. I trust Holly's judgment," he said.

"It's the loveliest thing I've ever seen," Emilo said softly.

"What?" Jas growled, prepared to berate the kender for admiring her wings.

The kender pointed outward.

Jas looked up, then breathed in sharply in astonishment.

"The Gilded Hall," Joel said. "Annali didn't exaggerate. It is a place of great beauty."

In the distance, across a valley, on the opposite bank of a shimmering river, stood a castle that seemed to glow in the moonlight. It was crowned with several domed towers of varying sizes, from graceful spires that soared into the sky to massive halls that hugged the hillside. The reflections of the moon and stars sparkled on the domes and on a tremendous fountain outside the castle, which splashed as high as some of its towers. Waterfalls spilled from the fountain into a cascading stream, which glittered all the way down to the river. Fertile fields and lush woodlands covered the outlying lands like plush velvet surrounding a rare and stunning piece of jewelry. Although they were some distance from the castle, Joel could have sworn he smelled roses and petunias from the gardens. He even imagined he heard laughter and music wafting across the river valley.

Emilo tilted his head back and looked straight up. "It's good to see the stars again," the kender said, "even if I don't recognize any of them."

"Yes," Jas agreed. Suddenly she laughed and launched herself into the air.

Joel looked up at the sparkling lights in the black sky. Their pattern was completely unfamiliar, but they were lovely to look at. As he watched, a few of them shot across the sky and vanished. The moon was only a sliver, but bright and silvery as an elven blade.

Jas soared out over the river and arched back. In the peaceful stillness, the bard and the kender watched the winged woman in companionable silence. Jas landed beside them.

"Sorry about that. I just suddenly had to fly. I don't know what came over me."

"Perhaps it was simply the beauty of the place," Emilo suggested.

Jas looked around and shrugged. "Maybe," she said. She changed the subject, as she often did, to avoid discussing her feelings. "So. Where's Finder?" she asked Joel.

"His realm is between here and the town of Brightwater."

"I thought you said the portal led to his realm," Jas said.

"Well, near his realm," Joel said. "It's a nice evening for walking. We should be there before the moon sets."

"We'd better be," Jas said. "We don't have Holly with us anymore to help us live off the land."

"I'm good at that," Emilo said. "I can bring down a bird with a stone. Once I brought down two birds with one stone. And I can fish. I love to fish. And I can trap rabbits. That's almost too easy. If you want to know what berries are good to eat, you can't always rely on the birds because birds can eat poisonous berries, but people can usually eat what the bears eat. Bears also know how to dig for roots. If you're not sure about eating something, you should find a bear. But be sure the bear doesn't find you."

Jas laughed. "Well, we're lucky to have your wisdom because Joel and I are both city folk and haven't a clue about trapping or what berries are safe to eat. And I certainly don't want to find any bears."

"I can create food with a spell," Joel reminded her.

"Bread. You can create bread with a spell," Jas corrected.

"It's good bread," Joel countered.

"When you can create stew and custard and berry pie, then you'll be creating food," Jas retorted.

Joel harrumphed.

"I like bread," Emilo said. "Especially herb bread. Though I'm also very fond of sweet rolls with raisins. Herb bread is good with little bits of cheese baked into it. Though not necessarily with stew. With stew, you want a plain bread you can use to sop up the gravy. One with a lot of bite to the crust, but soft inside. Of course, berry pie is always good. I know some people who won't eat raspberries because of the little seeds, but that's as silly as not eating fish because of the bones. The really good foods always have little annoying things like seeds and bones. Like life, I guess. Of course, bread doesn't have seeds or bones. But I do like bread."

"Well, it won't really matter if we reach Finder's for breakfast," Jas said. "Which way?"

"There should be a road leading from the Gilded Hall to the town of Brightwater. There's a path that heads away from the road that leads to Fermata."

"Fermata?" Jas asked.

"That's the name of Finder's realm," Joel said. "It's a musical term for a hold over a note or a rest."

"So which is it?" Jas asked. "A hold over a note or a rest?"

"Well, either one… both, really," Joel explained. "Finder's life and his music are sustained in his realm, and it's also a place where he can rest."

"There's a road leading off in that direction," Jas said, pointing along the ridge above the river valley. "I saw it from the air."

They made their way along the ridge until they reached a hard-packed dirt road. In one direction, it wound down into the valley to a bridge supported by seven graceful stone arches, then wound back up the valley toward the Gilded Hall. In the opposite direction, it led along the ridgeline into a dark forest.

"How about a light?" Emilo asked.

"I don't have the power to cast another one tonight," Joel said.

"Not to worry," the kender said. He pulled a small torch from his backpack and flint and steel from one of the pockets of his vest. With expert ease, he lit the torch from sparks in a matter of moments. Jas applauded his skill. Emilo bowed and handed the torch to the winged woman.

They plunged into the forest, moving at a quick pace down the road. The ground was dry, but not dusty. The canopy of leaves overhead blocked their view of the stars and moon, but the forest itself twinkled with fireflies.

They'd traveled for some time when Emilo reported he heard someone coming toward them from up ahead. A few minutes later, they saw lights and heard shouts and laughter. Despite Joel's protests that there could be no harm in greeting the natives, Jas was loath to encounter strangers. She insisted they put out their torch in the dirt and take cover. Once Emilo smothered the torch in the dirt, Jas flew the kender and the bard to a branch high overhead, then settled beside them.

The strangers, dozens of them, moved as one, not like a troop of soldiers but more like a mob of revelers. Occasionally one stumbled but was kept from falling by a companion. There were both men and women in the group, all shabbily dressed and dirty. They passed about wineskins from which they drank as if they were dying of thirst. Arguments broke out whenever one failed to pass a wineskin quickly enough to suit his or her companions. One of the women carried an enormous rat in her arms, which she stroked as if it were a pet cat. As the mob passed below the trees where Joel, Jas, and Emilo hid, the stench of wine and unwashed human bodies assaulted the adventurers' noses.

When the last of the strangers' torches had disappeared behind a bend in the road, Jas turned to Joel. "Not the sort of natives we really needed to greet, were they?" she asked with an air of the worldly wise.

"I take my hat off to your superior distrust," Joel replied.

Jas harrumphed. When they'd relit their torch and were once again safely on the ground, they continued through the forest more warily. Emilo traveled in the front since he had the best hearing of the three.

By the time they finally came out of the forest, the moon had set. Some distance ahead of them, the sky was noticeably lighter, as if from a well-lit city. The road now passed through meadows and fields planted with grain and grapes.

The road led through a grove of ancient oaks, and Jas tripped over a huge tree root.

"That's it," the winged woman said. "Time to make camp."

"But it can't be far now," Joel protested.

"Joel, I'm dead on my feet, and I'm willing to bet you've been overly optimistic about the distance we have to travel. Besides, in the dark we might miss the path to Fermata. I think we should rest here until dawn."

"I think she's right," Emilo said. "I'm beginning to feel stretched a bit thin."

Joel sighed. He was eager to see Finder again and excited about the prospect of visiting Fermata, but he knew Jas and the kender were right. It was too late to continue, He nodded in agreement.

Nestled between the roots of the largest oak tree in the grove and wrapped in their capes, Jas and Emilo were soon asleep. Joel, less tired than the others, sat up and kept watch. A trio of raccoons, a mother and her young, trundled past and climbed into their lair in a hole in a nearby tree, but otherwise the grove was peaceful save for Emilo's soft snoring.

As the sky began to lighten, Joel softly hummed a song to greet the dawn. Songbirds began to stir and chirp in the trees. Teasingly Joel began whistling back replies. He felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder.

"Good morning," he said, turning about, expecting to see Jas.

The hand did not belong to Jas, however, but to another woman. An elf maiden was Joel's first guess, until he saw that her curly hair was as deep green as the leaves on the oak trees that surrounded them. Still, she was very, very lovely, slender and graceful, with dark amber-colored eyes and skin as smooth as satin. She wore a gown pieced together of light, shimmering bits of fabric in a variety of colors, but mostly green, gray, brown, and pink.

"Greetings," the woman said in Elvish. Her voice was soft and deep, but there was a slight hint of disapproval in her tone.

"Soft light, sweet lady," Joel replied in the same tongue.

The woman drew back a step and giggled.

Joel stood and bowed. "My name is Joel. These are my companions, Jas and Emilo. If you make your home here, lady, please forgive our intrusion," he said. His words came slowly, since he was taxing his knowledge of the elves' language to its limit.

"I am Ada," the woman said. "Your Elvish is not very good," she chided.

"I have very little practice," Joel admitted. "But so sweet a voice as yours could teach me well."

Ada giggled again, lowering her eyes to the compliment. Then she slipped behind the tree and disappeared from view.

Joel circled about the tree, but the woman had vanished.

"Ada?" Joel called softly.

Jas moaned and rolled over in her sleep. Emilo snored on.

Something tugged away the strip of leather that held back his hair. The bard spun about. Ada stood behind him, appearing as if out of nowhere. Joel grinned. "How did you do that?" he asked.

Ada stepped closer to the bard. A sweet scent rose from her skin. She stroked Joel's long hair and smiled with pleasure.

Without thinking, Joel reached out and ran his hand through the green curls that crowned Ada's head. They were soft and warm.

Ada brushed her lips against the bard's, then quickly drew back. Giggling, she disappeared behind the tree again.

"Ada, come back," the bard called softly, circling the tree once more.

Ada appeared suddenly before him and wrapped her arms about his neck. Joel embraced her about the waist. As if in a dream, he felt no embarrassment whatsoever about kissing this perfect stranger. Her mouth was as sweet as her laughter, and her caresses made his heart pound. Joel couldn't understand why he should suddenly feel so enamored of this woman, unless he was indeed dreaming.

That was it, he decided. He was more tired than he thought, and he'd fallen asleep. He really should stir himself awake, he thought, but he had no desire to do so.

From the edge of the grove, a familiar voice called out in Elvish, "Hold, sprite! Release him."

Ada and Joel turned to the speaker. Finder stepped into the grove. The god wore the form he had possessed when he'd been mortal, that of an older man, but one still in his prime. His bearing was strong and regal, and his dark brown hair and beard held only the slightest streaks of gray. Joel found himself unable to speak but wishing he could tell his god that he didn't wish for Ada to release him, ever.

"I'm sorry, Ada," Finder said, "but you cannot keep him, He is mine, and I have far more important things for him to do than fetch you honeycombs and weave clover crowns for your hair."

"You should have to ransom one so fair and sweet," Ada said, tossing her head saucily.

Finder held out his hand. In his palm rested a large golden acorn carved from an amber so dark it seemed to have blood mixed into it. "To match your eyes," the god said.

Ada kissed Joel once more on the lips and stroked his stubbly cheek. Then she ran to Finder's side and snatched the acorn gem from his hand. With a laugh as thick as honey, she ran back toward the largest oak and disappeared like a ghost into the tree's trunk.

Finder moved toward Joel and set his right hand on the bard's chest, just over his heart.

Joel felt a sudden shock, as if someone had splashed cold water on him. Although the attraction to Ada remained, the enchantment he'd felt for her dissolved. "Finder," he gasped. He bowed formally, embarrassed at his behavior.

Finder chuckled. "Somehow I suspect that was the first dryad you've ever met."

"A dryad? That's some sort of tree sprite, right?" Joel asked.

The god nodded. "In my youth, you could always find a tree sprite in the Realms if you knew where to look… and were fool enough to do so. These days they are far more rare in the Realms. The ladies of the oaks wield one of the most powerful enchantments known to men. They like to use it on men they find to their liking. And here in Arborea, where passions tend to run strong, it's even easier for their enchantments to succeed. Sorry, but I had to rescue you."

Joel blushed. "Thanks… I think," he said with a sheepish grin.

"Fermata is less than a mile off," Finder said. "Wake your companions and bring them along. I'll see that breakfast is waiting." The god winked, then disappeared.

Cautiously Joel approached the large oak.

"La," Ada called out from above. The dryad sat in the crook of a branch, smiling down on the bard.

"Sorry, but I have to leave," Joel said.

"Come back sometime," Ada invited.

Joel took a deep breath. The memory of her caress was like a flickering shadow in his mind. "I will," he promised.

Ada giggled again and disappeared, melding into the oak branch.

Joel gave Jas and Emilo a gentle shake and called out their names. Emilo smiled cheerily upon rising. Jas was as grumpy when she awoke as Joel had always known her to be. When he told her that Finder had been there and promised them breakfast, her mood improved. Joel did not mention Ada.

They traveled through fields of oats and wheat and meadows of grass and wildflowers. Golden-fleeced herd animals somewhat larger than sheep dotted the meadows and viewed their passing without any apparent fear. They spotted a shepherd on a hilltop playing a flute. It was a tune Joel recognized, something from the Realms, but in a strange key. Several of the herd animals flocked about the hilltop as if they were an audience to their tender's performance.

Cedar trees began lining the road to their left. Then, between two especially large cedars, there appeared a road paved with cut gray stone. On either side of the road stood a man-sized pillar constructed of similar stone. Both pillars were marked with two symbols, Finder's white harp and the bird's-eye shape of the symbol for a Fermata.

"Finally," Jas murmured.

They turned onto the road, which was lined on both sides with more cedar trees, forming a tunnel of green, A hundred paces beyond, the tunnel opened out onto a vast green blanket of short grass, at the end of which stood Finder's home. Joel stopped to admire it. The other two halted behind him.

In the nation of Cormyr, where Finder had grown up, the building would have been referred to as simply a manor house. Finder had built his new home, however, on a scale far larger than any manor house that Joel had ever seen, larger even than many castles. Two massive square towers flanked the central hall. The towers were four stories high, the hall only three, and built of the same gray stone as the road and the pillars, but the stone was merely a framework for the dozens of great glass-paned window that sparkled in the early morning sunshine. Joel counted twelve chimneys beyond the ornate stone parapet surrounding the roof.

"If it weren't for the sunlight, that place would look a bit forbidding," Emilo noted.

"If it weren't for the invitation to breakfast, I don't think I'd go near it," Jas declared. "But it does remind CM of Finder, I've got to admit."

"How so?" Emilo asked.

"It's very showy and, as you said, a trifle forbidding."

"Finder's not forbidding," Joel argued. For his own part he found the building much to his liking. It was grand, magnificent, inspiring. But then, that was how he felt about Finder. "Just what is Finder a god of?" Emilo asked in a whisper.

"God of reckless fools," Jas declared.

Joel shot Jas an annoyed glare. While Finder had at one time called himself that, it had been a joke. "Finder is the patron to all those who seek to change and transform art, to renew art. He also has some limited power over the decay and rebirth of living things."

"An eclectic sort of fellow," Emilo noted.

"Yes," Joel agreed. It was one of the things that he admired about Finder.

Joel strode up to the manor, with Jas and Emilo following a pace behind him. The doors to the front hall stood wide open. Joel stepped inside. The grandeur of the front hall was breathtaking. The floor was of polished marble, in hues of white, black, and gray. In the center of the room, Finder's harp symbol was inset into the marble floor. The walls and ceiling were painted with intricate floral designs that created an illusion of movement when anyone looked at them for very long. Two huge curved staircases of marble climbed up to the next floor; pairs of dosed doors on either side of the hall undoubtedly led to the rest of the manor. The only furnishings in the room were two carved marble benches.

The bard called out, "Hello!" His words echoed throughout the building. For several moments there was no reply. Then, from somewhere behind the staircase, a young woman appeared. She wore a simple short-sleeved smock of pink covered with a thin film of white-gray dust and several black smudges. She had blue eyes and long, thick, light brown hair, which she wore pulled back in a blue ribbon. She was small and slender.

There was something vaguely familiar about the woman, but for the life of him, Joel couldn't recall ever having met her.

"Welcome to Fermata," the woman said. "I'm Rina. Lord Finder has asked me to bring you right in to the morning room." Her voice was soft and husky.

They followed Rina through the doors on the right. She led them through several large empty rooms until they arrived in a room with windows on three sides. Chairs and settees covered with cushioning and pale yellow fabric were grouped about the room. In its center, on a small round table covered with a quilted cloth of shades of green and yellow, someone had laid out a breakfast worthy of a king. Ham and sausages, fish and fowl, bread and muffins, strawberries and raspberries, milk and cream, butter and cheese, tea and wine, custard and pies filled the table Three places had been set with shiny white dishes, cups, and saucers decorated with tiny blue flowers, silver tableware, linen napkins and shiny blue bowls filled with water and rose petals.

Finder rose from a chair by the window and crossed the room in long strides. "Welcome, my Rebel Bard," he greeted Joel as he embraced his priest.

"It's good to be see you again," Joel said. He had been friends with Finder long before he'd known the older man was a god. He was comfortable in his god's presence and happy to be reunited with him.

Finder turned to Jas and Emilo. "Jasmine," he said with a nod. "I'm glad you've decided to come. And Mi. Haversack, welcome to my realm."

Emilo bowed low, sweeping the marble floor with his top knot. "Pleased to meet you, sir," he said, his brown eyes as wide as saucers.

Finder nodded. "Thank you, Rina. You may go about your work now," he said.

Rina bowed quickly and left.

Finder sat down at the table and said, "Please be seated and help yourselves to breakfast. I'm a little short of all kinds of staff at the moment, let alone waiters. Don't much care for the magical kind."

"Who's Rina?" Joel asked curiously as he took the seat to Finder's right and stabbed a slice of ham and a slab of bread. Jas and Emilo followed suit.

"She's a petitioner," Finder replied.

"A what?" Emilo asked.

"A petitioner. Someone who worshiped me in her life, so she ended up here after she died."

"You mean she's a ghost?" Emilo squeaked.

Finder shook his head. "No. Ghosts are people who, for one reason or another, never come to the Outer Planes when they die. They remain undead. Rina is one of the only two petitioners who have come to Fermata so far. She was a potter in Tilverton, working on uncovering the secrets of how the Kara-Tur make porcelain. Her skill went beyond mere craft, however. She created works of art from porcelain, encouraged by a speech Joel gave to some artists in a tavern once."

"She looks familiar, but I don't remember her," the bard said.

"She was a shy thing. Sat in the back, listening quietly but intently."

"How did she die?" Jas asked.

"She worked late at her master's shop every night to do her designs," Finder explained. "An enemy of her master's, intent on his murder, poured smoke powder into a chunk of coal that fired the shop's kiln. Rina was the only one in the shop when it exploded."

"That's horrible," Jas said.

Finder nodded. "Fortunately she doesn't remember it. Petitioners don't remember anything about their previous lives, but she's still an artist. When I don't need her to greet visitors, she's working with the kiln she's built."

"Did Rina make these?" Emilo asked, holding up one of the white dishes. "It's so light, and look, the sun shines right through it." The kender tapped the dish with his spoon and it rang like a bell. "Did you hear that? That's real pretty."

Finder nodded. "Rina made all the dishes, pottery, jewelry, statuary, anything porcelain you find here. The other petitioner was a painter named Springer who died of old age. He painted the front hall. He's around here somewhere, painting one of the other rooms."

Joel remembered Springer. The old man had gotten into an argument with an Iriaeban merchant over what should be painted in the merchant's hall. Springer had walked off the job and promptly offered his services at a cut rate to paint the hall of one of the merchant's rivals. The painted hall, and thus the rival, had become renowned throughout the region.

"So if you only have two petitioners, who cooked breakfast?" Jas asked.

"I've hired some local help for a while," Finder explained. "I'm not expecting many petitioners in the near future. With any luck, my worshipers will remain healthy and alive for years to come." The god snagged a strawberry and stood up. "I have something I'm working on at the moment, so I'm going to leave you to your meal. When you finish, climb the staircase beyond that door." He pointed to a smaller door than the one by which they'd entered. "I'll be in the room at the top of the tower," he explained. Then he vanished.

"He just disappeared, like a wizard," Emilo noted. "I guess gods can do all sorts of tricks, can't they? Your Finder seems like a splendid fellow."

"He is," Joel assured the kender.

"One of the nicest reckless fools you'll ever meet," Jas added, serving herself a helping of raspberries. "God or no god."

They proceeded to dine in earnest, speaking now and then only to comment on how good the meal was. Joel, anxious to speak with Finder, hurried through his meal Then he excused himself from the table, insisting the other two not rush on his account. He received no argument from either of his companions. Jas was busy playing with the custard, and Emilo was creating a very artistic sandwich far too large to fit into his mouth. Joel hurried up the tower stairs.

The room at the top of the tower was nearly empty. Several books were spread out on a table on one side of the room. There was a single wooden chair in which Finder sat. The god was pondering a yellow crystal that hung suspended in midair in the middle of the room.

The crystal, an artifact known as the finder's stone, could locate just about anything or anyone even slightly known to the bearer. Once upon a time it had also contained spells, like a wand. The spells could be cast by any member of Finder's family. Included in the spells were illusions of Finder singing any of the many songs he had composed in his life as a mortal man. Finder had cleaved the stone in two, however, to get at the shard of para-elemental ice within. He'd used the ice to destroy the evil god Moander, after which he claimed Meander's power and godhood for his own. Each half of the finder's stone still worked as a magical locator, but the stone no longer held any spells.

Finder gestured with one hand, and blue fire engulfed the gem. Joel could feel heat radiating from the stone.

"Have you put it back together?" the bard asked excitedly.

Finder lowered his hand and the blue fire faded. The god shook his head. "I haven't quite figured out how to do it," he explained. "Any power great enough to reintegrate the crystal's structure is equally likely to destroy the magical properties the stone already has." He lifted the top half of the crystal from the bottom and tossed it to Joel.

Joel caught it. It felt warm, but not hot. "What will you do if you do get it back together?" he asked, admiring the stone's sparkle.

"Try to do what I did before. Put another shard of para-elemental ice in the tiny flaw in the heart of the stone, and then see if I can store magical spells in it, and music- mine and the songs of others."

Joel set the top of the stone back down on the bottom half. The two halves fit together perfectly. "Do you know why we've come here?" he asked.

"Jas's condition is getting worse," Finder said.

Joel nodded. "I don't think it will ever improve in a place like Sigil, but the way she looks, she doesn't want to go home."

"Sigil's restless atmosphere is only part of the problem," the god explained. "Iyachtu Xvim's power and influence is growing stronger throughout the Realms. Jas's condition is a reflection of that."

"You said you might be able to help her," Joel said.

"I'll try," Finder said, though he didn't sound hopeful.

Joel could read his god's mood. "You're not sure if you can, are you?" Joel asked.

"I suppose I'm just feeling less certain because I haven't yet succeeded in gluing this rock back together," Finder said. He took up both halves of the stone. "And, of course, Xvim is more powerful than I am. It's entirely possible the priests of Xvim just shape-shifted Jas's form and relied on Jas's own hatred and anger to transform her into a creature of darkness."

"But how can that be?" Joel asked. "Jas isn't evil and her will is strong."

"She was forced to watch as Walinda systematically tortured her friend Arandes and the rest of her crew to death. She was a victim herself of the priestess's sick practices. That changes a person, even one with a will as strong as Jas's. That doesn't mean there isn't some way to help her," the god added, mustering a little more enthusiasm. He juggled the two halves of the stone in one hand and gave Joel a wink.

"I also told Emilo Haversack you might be able to find his home and help return there," Joel said. "But then, you know that, too, don't you?"

Finder nodded. The god had the power to sense whatever occurred in Joel's presence. He didn't need Joel to explain how he'd met the kender. "Yes, I know of his world. Krynn, it's called. I can show him a magical gate that goes there," he said, "though I suspect he's not in any big hurry to get back. Kender spend a good portion of their lives in wanderlust."

"He did seem pretty curious about Jas's spelljammer stories," Joel recalled.

"I'm more curious about the circumstances that brought him to Sigil," Finder said. "Magical vortexes don't lead from Krynn to Sigil."

"So you don't trust him?" Joel asked.

"Let's just say I'm uncomfortable because I can't predict the outcome of his actions. The vestiges of a superstition from my mortal days remains in me. Halfling luck, they called it when I was a boy."

"But Emilo's a kender," Joel said.

"He's a short person with clever hands and a quick wit who's been thrust under mysterious circumstances into my priest's life. I can't help but wonder what will come of it."

"So should we just send him home?" Joel asked.

Finder shook his head. "Not unless he wants to go. Whatever or whoever brought him here isn't a force I want to trifle with." From the stairway came the sound of Emilo's chatter and Jas's laughter. Finder stood as the winged woman and kender entered the room.

Jas looked over at Finder. She shifted her weight to one foot nervously. She was uncomfortable asking anyone for favors, and Finder was no exception.

Finder didn't make her ask, however. "Jasmine, there you are. Joel says you've agreed to let me take a stab at reversing your condition."

"If you're not too busy," Jas said without enthusiasm.

"My appointment calendar is empty. Have a seat," Finder said, pulling forward the chair from which he'd just risen.

Jas sat down with her ankles crossed and her hands in her lap, looking like a prim schoolgirl.

"I'm going to do a little metaphysical examination first," the god said. "Shouldn't hurt, but I'm going to have to touch you."

Jas shrugged.

Finder reached out with his right hand and touched Jas on the forehead lightly with his fingertips, then stepped back. He studied her for several moments.

"I'm going to attempt a transformation now," the god said to the winged woman. "Relax. Don't resist the magic."

"I'm as relaxed as I get," Jas said through clenched teeth.

Finder reached out and laid his hands on Jas's head.

Immediately the winged woman's form started to shimmer like the air over hot desert sand.

"It's working," Emilo whispered.

The feathers covering Jas, from the green crest on her forehead to the small black down on her face and hands, began to sparkle. Jas brushed at them irritably, and they fell from her flesh as if she were a molting bird. Her skin glowed softly, and the scaly pores that held the quills sealed over. She was left with the same rosy complexion she had when Joel had first met her.

"Why does she still have the wings?" Emilo asked Joel in a whisper.

"They weren't part of the curse," Joel explained. "She had them before that." Jas's eyes were fixed on the floor.

Finder placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Jas looked up into the god's eyes and shook her head. "The dark stalker is still in me. I can feel it," she whispered. There was a trace of fear in her voice.

Finder looked surprised for just an instant. "Hmm," he said. "Well, let's try something else, shall we?" He reached out with both hands and laid them on Jas's head. His hands began to glow with blue light, which seemed to seep into the winged woman's body. Very gently Finder's hands touched Jas's forehead, her eyelids, her lips, her ears, and finally her shoulders. The blue light seemed to shine out of Jas's flesh, then faded. Finder stepped back with a smile.

Jas sighed. "That didn't do it either," she said. "It's still inside me."

Finder stroked his beard thoughtfully. Then he said, "It's possible, since Iyachtu Xvim had a hand in your curse, that you will need help from a god more powerful than Iyachtu Xvim."

Jas sighed. "It's never easy, is it?" she muttered.

"We can pop on down to Brightwater," Finder suggested, "and have Tymora take a look at you."

Jas glared up at Finder.

"Or not," Finder said.

"I need to think," the winged woman said. She stood up and strode over to the door. As she hurried up the stairs to the top of the tower, she called out over her shoulder, "I'll be back later."

"Should I follow her?" Emilo asked in a whisper.

"Can you fly?" Finder asked.

Emilo looked momentarily confused by the question. Then he understood. "You mean she's going to fly off to do her thinking?"

"That's what she usually does," Joel said. "Is there some reason she doesn't want to see Tymora?" he asked.

"She and Lady Luck have a history," Finder said. "It would be better if she told you about it herself."

"Why?" Joel asked. "Don't you know it?"

"Better for her," the god explained. "It will help her decide what to do in the end. In the meantime, why don't you get some sleep? You kept watch last night while Jas and Emilo slept; you must be dead on your feet. I'll entertain Emilo. We'll call you when Jas gets back."

The moment Finder mentioned it, Joel became aware of his exhaustion. 'There's a bed calling my name somewhere in this manor. I can hear it," he joked.

Finder led him to a room furnished with a four-poster bed and heavy curtains covering the windows. Then the god and the kender left him to rest.

Joel stripped off his boots and clothing and slid between the satin quilt and the featherbed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so comfortable. Sleep did not come immediately, though. He spent a long while wondering about what kind of history Jas had with the goddess of good luck. Whatever happened, in the past or the future, the bard was determined to help the winged woman overcome the curse of Iyachtu Xvim.