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I let Trent and Grey handle all of the Manifest-theory chatting with Sasell (who could allow them all to communicate for short periods of time) while I found something more interesting to do over those couple of days in which we waited to travel to Thay.

Namely, I did a bit of sight-seeing, window-shopping, and spent the rest of the time hanging around the Inn.

The first day I mostly hung around the Inn and chatted with Drellin in the common room while he worked. Quite a bit I talked to him, about all sorts of things – similarities and differences between our two worlds, about our groups (adventuring parties) and the adventures we got into, and about ourselves in particular. In fact, I started to realize, I think around dinner time, that I was inexplicably and quite powerfully attracted to him. He wasn't my usual sort, being nearly 30 years as Farne reckons time, not particularly magical, and not blond (although I did find him physically appealing despite that). (And, just to cover all of our basic positive attributes, not that these meant that much to me, but he was also neither rich nor nobility)

So then what was he if there were so many things he wasn't? I had to think about that a little bit as I sat there at the bar staring up at his big, magical axe, somewhat flabbergasted about my realization. His easy-going, good-natured personality, his honesty and genuineness, the way he smiled at me while we chatted, his gentlemanly manner… I don't know. I could feel my face getting hot just thinking about it, and found myself feeling like love-stricken teenager. And to that end, I had to really watch myself to keep myself from behaving like a teenager, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't completely contain myself and started flirting with him despite some reservations I had about getting too involved with anyone from this place.

To make it even worse, he seemed genuinely surprised by my flirtatious behavior. Harrumphf, why did he have to be such a nice, unassuming guy? Anyway, he got over it quickly and started flirting back, seemingly very agreeable to my increasingly obvious overtures (was I getting a little bit toasted here?).

After Drellin closed up the common room of the Inn that night, he took me out for a walk in the city (it was quite late so almost no one else was around), down by the riverwalk, and talked to me about the constellations and stuff of that nature. I was only a little bit toasted fortunately, and while I enjoyed the time we spent, I was somewhat confused by this date-ish behavior when I thought I had made it clear that I was game for bedroom antics. I'd never seen a guy who didn't just immediately drag me back to his room and have his way with me. Only Ari had done anything remotely similar, and that was after I'd known him for a while and had already “been with” him at least once. It was baffling coming from someone I'd just met.

Anyway, we did eventually head back, it was pretty late after all. I found that I was not particularly drunk anymore I commented as he held the door to his room open for me. To amend that, he replied, he had some really fancy and expensive alcohol in his room that he had been saving for a special occasion, which he implied that he considered this to be, heading over to the cabinet to retrieve it. I felt bad and told him that it was ok, that he shouldn't waste it on me. He seemed about to protest, but I instead moved next to him and pushed him down into the chair he was standing next to, and then climbed onto his lap, straddling him. I leaned forward to kiss him and all thoughts about fancy alcohols and whatever else were lost as we got down to business.

The next day I spent out in town a lot more, trying to keep away from the Inn so I wouldn't be around Drellin as much this day. I checked out a few clothes shops, some weapons shops, other misc shops, and sampled several local food items. I also did a lot of people-watching in the town square; people going about their business here looked about like it did in Farne, which was interesting to me for some reason. I think I must've sat there watching people bustle around for several hours.

Eventually I headed back to the Inn, around sundown, and spent most of the evening listening to the bard who was playing this night, helped Boyce out with some translations when he decided to try to get up some girl's skirt at one point, and chatted with Drellin and others nearby intermittently.

Once Drellin finally closed up the common room, this time he headed up to his bedroom directly, and I followed with an palpable anxiousness about me. The previous night I had found myself stupidly promising him something a little special tonite, and it was actually going to require a lot of magic and effort on my part, not that he'd notice (well, the powers I was going to use didn't cause flare and obviously manifests don't make the types of magical displays that he's used to seeing of magic in his world).

I'd never really done anything like this before and I was about to burst with nervous anticipation; add to that the fun bonus that this was going to be something significantly more intimate than the usual fun, meaningless romp. But, part of the benefit of never seeing Drellin again after tonite was that if it got… weird, awkward… I would never have to hear about it; not tomorrow, not ever again.

And so, up we went. An then, antics ensued and ensued and ensued and…. Well one thing's for certain, Drellin would certainly be sleeping in late, very late, the next morning. Fortunately I had some magic that would counteract the exhaustion, so I would not be a zombie on my feet when I went to meet up with the others to head off to see Sasell in the morning.

Drellin, for his part, seemed to be enjoying himself immensely (which was really the goal here), although I was having trouble reading him beyond that (and I refused to use powers to do it). Perhaps I should have. He obviously liked me to some degree or other, but I got the impression that the intensity of my feelings for him wasn't precisely reciprocated… at least not to the same degree.

I dimly realized that I was probably in love with him. At least, such that a person could be when they first meet someone that just hits all their right buttons. It's weird, everyone else I was “involved” with just seemed to fade out of my mind and I was almost nearly unable to think of anyone or anything else but him. I had to wonder if this is how Akira had felt when he first met me? I started to bad for him; my affections for him had never been this strong. Which is probably why I was so easily able to tell him to leave and never come back. If I had felt this way, I probably would've gone to more extreme lengths to remain with him (Akira). And in thinking that, I had to say, I was sorely, SORELY tempted to remain here in Highmoon, but… I couldn't do that. For a number of reasons really, besides the fact that I would be dishonorably abandoning my Veris Oath.

Anyhow, by the time Drellin awoke, I would be long gone to Thay or perhaps even back in Celestia or Farne. But, on his bedside table I had left a note that explained to him (vaguely, and in a sanitized way) how much I had enjoyed meeting him and spending time with him, and that I would miss his company, but that if he should ever inexplicably wind up on Farne, that he should come look me up. And next to the note sat one of the fire dragon scales from my necklace with magical etchings freshly engraved onto one side of it that amounted to a list of the things he would need to be able find me on Farne, written in Thalian: Alestia, Alestia City, Occluded Rainbow Inn, Cassie.

I didn't really expect to ever see him again which made me incredibly sad. But who knows, stranger things have happened. Just rarely to me, it seems.

Knowing that I was probably never going to see Drellin again did seem to have the benefit of forcing me to re-evaluate this stupid “Wil” thing I had going on. The guy had been in the back of my mind almost constantly since last seeing him, which at this point had been months ago. …Even though I never would've admitted such a level of preoccupation, even to myself– until now. But now I did admit it; it was true, I was infatuated with him (little did he know… I guess).

But this recent thing with Drellin had managed to sort of shove my feelings for Wil to the side and then sat down right next to it. As the two stared up at me in my mind's eye, I started to question my feelings, to wonder now if I ever really did like Wil all that much. It's been so long since I'd seen him, it was hard to tell.

Really, at this point, what with leaving Drellin behind and my jumbled emotions over the two (funny how they're almost completely unalike one another), I was left feeling a little worn out and numb about the both of them. Everyone else I had met besides them was just static in the background at this point.

My brain was busily processing these things over and over again as I stared silently, vacantly at Sasell while he did some finger-wiggling and chanting and sprinkling of sand around the boys and I. With a dramatic and loud POOF, a major lurch of my stomach, and a big showy display, the four of us appeared suddenly in a rolling landscape that angled sharply upward toward what appeared to be a very large volcano. Well, that was certainly a lot different from Boyce's Gate spells.

Anyway, we had finally arrived in the country of Thay and I needed to get my mind focused back on the more important things at hand.