Connections
5
DEC/21
Arban stood in front of the door. Snow covered every surface in every direction. It was hard to tell if he was covered in snow or just gray. He gasped a large gold ring in pocket. He had not been here in twenty years. The door opened with a thud as the ice that slight held it broke away. Warmth from the bar within rushed out the door and washed across Arban’s fur. Even with his ring of warmth He had not felt this warm in weeks.
There she was. The beautiful joyous giantess. Nalla danced through her own bar. She moved from table to table in the same dance like pattern she did in every engagement that had shared for years. Arban wondered how many of these men had turned weak in the knee for her divine graces.
She saw him from across the room. Her warm smile moved from across the room and hit Arban like an attack. His sad expression changed to a slight smile for the first time in all these years apart. He had missed his friend. He had missed all his friends. She was the only one he knew how to find.
Her smile expanded with recognition of her love missed friend. She looked back to some doughy eyed man behind the bar and headed towards the door. She did that thing she did that annoyed Arban the most. It made him feel uncomfortable and warm as her arms wrapped around him and pulled him in tight.
She broke their combined silence first, “How are you my beast of a friend?” She waved to a table that was their size and empty. She danced them over to the table. Arban signed out a few words, “I am good Nalla. How are you?” Arban almost magically had his huge mug out as he sat at the table. Wine started to fill it, “Have you seen any of the others?” Nightscream nodded a no, “Not in some time.” It was the first moment where sadness broke her joy, but only for a second.
Nalla sat next to him, “I thought you were going to head home.” Arban looked long into his drink. “You are the only home I know.” He started to tell her his tail. He did go back to his former tribe. He tried to rejoin the tribe but the leader, Blackstreak, needed to challenge him. Arban refused for weeks. He did not want to fight this bull. He was not wanting to take over. Arban had forgotten his tribal life and did not know the rules anymore. That was untrue, he knew the rules, he just did not want to follow them. He wanted to teach them a better way to live. He looked down again into his drink as he knew he failed.
Nalla using her amazing view of the world tried to make him feel better, “did you finally acquire your nose ring. I know you wanted it.” Arban pulled the ring from his pocket. It was a huge gold nose ring. Arban went on to tell her how Blackstreak forced him into combat. Arban had learned more about fighting than most of this tribe would ever know. He bested the tribal leader in moments. Arban stood over Blackstreaks dying body. He knelt and prayed to Torm. “Please bring him back to the my side.” Torm’s grace flowed through Arban and Blackstreak was heal to full in moments.
To Arban’s dismay, this made him the tribal leader. Arban did not want this. Blackstreak although a little too stupid to know he was not threat was a good leader. Over the next month most of the big bulls, Arban was still a runt, tried to kill him to take the leadership. This came to head when Blackstreak came back for his title with three lieutenants. By the time Arban had them all down, only Blackstreak survived. Arban went on to convince Blackstreak to lie and say he won. It was in the middle of the night. No one would know.
The Next morning Blackstreak was the tribal leader again. He gave Arban his nose ring. He took it but would never wear it. In the next moment Blackstreak exiled Arban. Arban helped him become leader again. He understood. He either had to kill him and become the leader or leave. Arban left. Most of the tribe stood in a line as he walked out of camp. Rotten fruit smacking against his body. He looked with wet eyes at Nalla, “you see I have no home.”
She looked up, “well you are always home here with me.” Arban slowly pulled the three gold rings out of his other pocket. It was the rings from the bulls he had killed. He took a long drink, nearly draining his cup, “I am not sure I will have a home again… but thanks.” Nalla pointed with her nose and chin and more wine arrived at the table and in their cups.
Arban drank again, “I miss the old days. I even tried to reopen Heimtien’s old temple, but the town would not except me.” He took another long drink. If Arban did not slow down, he would be drunk in a few hours. “To lost friends.”
“I am actually here for a favor.” He looked deeply at Nalla, “I have a task and hoped you would come with me.” She reached out to her god. She had worked the divine for a long time and was given this great retirement. She looked for a sign. A joy flowed through her bar. Only a follower of Lliira could see this type of divine intervention. Her sign arrived almost before Arban finished his sentence and long before he even had an ask, “I will do anything I can to help.” She looked over to her weapons on the racks above the bar and back to him, “What do you need.”
“I need to go to Luskan and bury a chest”. Arban started to tell her about the messages from Torm he had received and what he could only presume were visions from another time and place. He was to help some group in the future. He pulled a chest out of his bag and opened it. Inside where a grouping of gold disks and a slightly glowing coconut. Nalla looked over them but did not touch them, “what is that?”
Arban curled his lip. He went on to explain that the disks had the writing of many of the gods upon them. Torm has sent him to do this. Strangely some follows of Set helped him about a year ago. The disks are written in a language that neither could read without casting magics. Arban looked down a little explaining that he had not read them all, but Torm nor Lliira were included. He did not know what to make it of it. None of the great gods had a disk, unless you consider Lathander a great good. They both laughed at that idea.
After a long night of drinking, they went to bed. In the morning the two of them grabbed their weapons and headed to Luskan on one last quest for their god.