A Leap of Faith

Fineth was true to his word about being a gentleman. Not a single gesture of affection was paid to you that night on the journey to your apartment, or as he arrived the following morning. While it was appreciated, not needing to be concerned if some token act of affection may be the move that sends you back to Hylsa, or worse, it still left you feeling an awkward state. He may just have problems with commitment, or be much more of a philanderer than he let on. If he didn't know where he ever sat with Amandra, a lady who clearly had some interest in, what did that mean for you? The question provided no easy answers as you ate breakfast on the walk, each enjoying a citrus fruit fresh from the market stalls. His affable nature was welcome and even needed here, but was that all that was going on here? If this plan were to succeed, and these bystanders were to become charitable in their moods towards you and Drow at large, would Fineth still seem all that he is now?

The answer to that would have to wait for when, or rather if, that problem would rear it's head would need to wait, at least for now. The two of you had joined Armanda at the docks, sat on a barrel near the pier where you had arrived here but two short days ago. It had already felt much longer than that, with all the activity that's happened. A new ship had already come in to port, overnight by the looks of it, based on the activity of the crews hurriedly working about.

"An uneventful morning, I presume?" She asked

"As much as one can hope for, given the circumstances" You began "Nasty looks and some foul words, but nothing that wasn't expected, or that can't be handled."

"I'm sorry to hear that. That the behavior is indefensible doesn't mean it isn't also understandable. Both before and during the war, your kind were made out to be the eternal enemy. After your general surrendered and Hylsa became T'saras largest prisoner camp, the Emperor had to tone that down. The gentler message may have worked on our generation, but the others?" Armanda looked at a small group forming nearby, staring at the three of you. Middle Aged by elvish standards, they were still enough to cause a problem if they wanted to, or were foolish enough to not heed advice. "My father, rest his soul, would probably disown me for even speaking to you."

"Lovely" you replied with thick, clear sense of sarcasm, your arms subconsciously crossed against your chest. "So what you're saying is I'm just going to be stuck being one bad day away from contending with a lynch mob."

"For the moment, yes. You're not shying away from the challenge, not as far as I can see, so that tells me two things I need to know."

"Oh?" You asked as your arms started to drop "What might that be?"

"You're not governed by fear, which means to me that your General must have picked right, and your Goddess for that matter. It also means that I can trust you to have my back when things get scary or hard, which is more than can be said for most, of any nation."

"Thank you" You said earnestly. This relative stranger putting so much faith in you so early and fully was unexpected.

"Well, don't thank me yet. This is hardly what we call inroads, and we have an uphill battle."

"How so?" Fineth asked, finally speaking up.

"Well, I spent most of last night looking for leads for work we could do, some small scale adventuring. Let you get back into the swing of the things." Amandra looked at Fineth as she spoke, and than to you "Let you ease yourself into it, as much as anyone can ease into this life. Let slip that who would be a part of this little company of ours, and that closed off doors fast. Sometimes literally."

Fineth shook his head in frustration "Amandra, I really wish you hadn't done that. We're moving one step forward and two paces back."

"I'm doing this for her, you know?" As the rogue hopped off the barrel and matched Fineth's energy, and added her own anger into it "I don't like seeing our partner, your friend, left in the lurch. Folks only find out after the work is done that she's involved, how many do you think would be willing to pay her? Or let us do repeat work. If we can't take jobs and be honest, than they're jobs that aren't worth doing."

"Fineth" you were slow to speak up "I believe Amandra is right. We don't win people over by being deceitful. I understand that you want to see this mission succeed too, now that you've been swept up in it, but we can't take the easy path and expect to be rewarded for it. That's not what faith teaches us."

"Maybe you're onto something" Fineth acknowledged as he looked down at the ground for a second. "I don't want this to be harder than it has to be, though I can't imagine you risking your life for ungrateful folks like this is what I would call the easy path. I'll tell you what, this certainly isn't what I thought I was being roped into."

"What?" Amandra asked "You expected to be escorting around some old hag or something?"

Fineth let out a nervous smile, unwilling to comment on that aspect "When I was told a missionary was coming, I thought I'd just be responsible for getting your affairs in order, and leaving you to at the temple or some city street to preach until the people either bought in or threw you out. I have to say, I like this alot better, if we can actually have some meaningful work."

"Well, it's not all bad" Amandra began to say, and was cut off as a thunderous sound from behind surprised the three of you. As you all moved to look, bell sounds went off from the ship, calls of man overboard. As you looked, first glance suggested that cargo had fallen off, taking a Sailor with. In an instant, you knew what to do. In a flurry of activity, you started removing your clothes, dropping promptly at your feet.

"Amandra, I need a dagger"

"Breva, what are you doing?" Fineth asked

"I'm going in after him. Clothes will weigh me down, make it harder to swim and for us both to come up."

"No way!" Fineth spoke loudly, more out of fear than defiance "If that guy is panicking, he could hold you down with him, and you're both gone."

"I'm not going to just stand here and watch someone die!" Your voice clearly overpowered his "Dagger!"

Knowing better than to argue, Amandra freely extended her blade to you, facing the handle towards you. With a firm grip, you took a running and start dove off the pier, swimming down into the dark waters to find the missing sailor. The shadow from the ship above cast an early and profound shadow in the waters. Lucky for you, your kind was born in darkness. Despite only the few seconds in the water, the Sailor had already fallen deep enough that you could feel the pressure on your temples as you descended. Even with your Drow eyes, seeing what was going on as you reached him was difficult. He was still, possibly ****. The thick ropes had got around his arms; he may have exhausted himself trying to get free. It would take too long to try and cut through them. The time to unwind the ropes from him was a lengthy process too, and was pushing your physical boundaries. You could feel your lungs tire, your body in need of a new breath. It took considerable mental effort to fight off a panic, just as it took you physical effort to haul this poor soul up to the surface.

"Delanius, Varissa, hear me" You prayed in your mind as you spent your energy frantically kicking upwards "Help me, as your humble servant, forever in your debt." Through divinity, or a last frantic push, you were able to break the surface, gasp for deep breath of air. You saw and heard clamoring from the crowd on the pier and the sailors on board the ship. A flexible rope ladder was extended from the pier. Swimming to it was still a struggle with the weight you had to haul over, but you managed it. Getting out of the water, hoisting the elf up with, seemed impossible. The water had absorbed a good bit of his earthly weight, and pulling both of you out was too much.

"Just wait!" You heard a voice call. It was a complicated affair, exhausting your body as you waited, but the nearby elves found a way to lift him up to the pier for you, leaving you to solely get yourself out and onto dry land. You had to take a moment to regain yourself, feeling the warmth of the wooden planks soak into your tired body. A growing clamor came about and caused you to rise to your feet, seeing that it was the elf you'd gone in after that everyone was concerned about. He was still motionless, laid out flat, soaking clothes hung on his body. You managed to push through, much to everyone's surprise. Kneeling down, you took the borrowed blade and cut straight through his shirt, to the surprise of those around, taking the weight off of his chest and providing some greater understanding of his body. Placing the dagger down, you balled both hands together in a fist and slammed them down into his ribs. The crowd was once again shocked at the seemingly violent action, but it proved successful, if crude. A mouthful of water sputtered out his mouth, fresh air came in, and he had seemingly come to. There was a slight bit of frenzy, with him not immediately realizing where he was, to say nothing of the Drow knelt over him.

"Who? Wh-What?" As he stammered, fellow Sailors came in and helped him sit upright. The rescued elf, young for most sailors, seemed all the more youthful for being so startled, not that you could blame in.

"Gods, who are you?"

"I am Brenvira, of the Island of Hylsa. Child of The Absolved, Chosen by the First Sister herself."

"I can see why" a new, burly voice rose. A more veteraned crew member, based on his more hardened face and appearance. You rose to your feet as you spoke. "I've seen fish that haven't moved to water as fast as you dove in after him. A stranger to you, an enemy no less. Why?"

You took a deep breath, and had a slight smile. He, and the rest of crowd encircled you, were enraptured, and clearly willing to listen.

"He is no enemy of mine. Nor you. We are all sons and daughters of Varissa, just as all souls are children of the other Six Sisters. The only enemies are that of our own creation. I didn't choose for him to be my enemy, any more than he chose to go for a swim"

There were chuckles in the crowd, showing that they listened well and had sympathetic ears.

"We consider ourselves priveleged among mortals to live so long. Our childhoods last longer than the entire lives of men or goblins. Yet, this imperils often to be stubborn and slow to change. Both Elf and Drow have harbored grudges and war against each other since The First Age. How many of us have stopped to ask why? We have just accepted that this is the natural order of things. We can do better. Varissa has given me such a task."

There were murmurs of the crowd, that were swiftly broken by shouting and something of a carried bell. The crowd moved to allow the Imperial Guard to move in.

"What is the meaning of this? Public indecency, offering yourself up are we? Even a Drow should know better" It was only than that you remembered that your clothes were in a pile several feet away, and felt suddenly buried in embarrassment.

Fineth tried to jump in, "Nothing of the sort, I assure you. She's a guest of the Emperor, she'd just gone in after this young fellow after a mistake on the docs. See?"

"A Drow saving an Elf. Do you think I was born yesterday? Out of my way" As the Captain tried to step closer, the crowd filled the gap, with the burly sounding sailor speaking up first.

"We all saw it. She ain't deserving of a jail cell. She deserves a pint and a medal. You and your lads take another step towards her, and you lot will find out what you deserve"

"Is that a threat, Sailor?"

"Take it how you like. Just consider the odds before you order your dandies to make another step."

He grumbled hard, realizing he was clearly outnumbered, and the crowd had no qualms starting a fight "Get her decent, and all of you get out of my sight." The guards turned about the way they came, to the mocking laughter of the crowd. Armandra came in quick with your clothes as the folks dispersed back to their jobs, though you were still too wet to wear them comfortably.

"Wow" she said "I don't think I've seen anything like that. An actual, real act of heroism, I mean."

"It seemed natural to me" you said with a shrug "He needed help."

"I think you're underselling what you did Breva" Fineth remarked, his face beaming "You saved a life. That's not something that happens everyday. Not even the other Sailors went in after him, not before you. That you did it with so little hesitation just proves how remarkable you are."

"He has a point" Armandra added in "I'll admit, I was willing to go along just to get paid. You made a believer out of me, and probably that handsome fellow you plucked from the sea."

The town grew darker as some large clouds blew in front of the sun. As a strong wind came in with it, your body felt immediately colder, causing a large shiver.

"Think we should try to start the day over" Fineth said, shyly "Get you back to your place, put some dry clothes on, try again. What do you say?"

You nodded "Works for me, though I do need to be at least somewhat decent on the journey."

"Here you go" Armandra said as she handed them over, giving a wry smile as she walked away "Take your time. I'll know where to find you both if anything comes up."