They walk towards Suzal, just a casual stroll. After a good 15 minutes Sam asks, “So why did you want me to join?” Adaly rubs the back of her neck, feeling nervous “Few reasons… firstly I wanted to apologize for pranking you. I went too far, and I wanted to apologize, so…. I am sorry.”
He smiles kindly at her “That is okay, I understand the need to sometimes blow off steam… did it help?” She smiles back at him “It did… normally I am more the type of person to fuck my feelings out, but Livia rejected my advances, so I needed another release. Speaking of which that is the second reason I prefer you right now, it is a bit awkward now with Livia.”
Sam laughs “Yeah, Livia agrees there. She doesn’t know what to do with herself around you now. But speaking of that, do you have feelings for her?” Adaly this time laughs “Gods no… but she is hot, and I have been flirting with her. Sex is not about feelings, it is just fun…” Adaly swallows imagining how sex with Sam would be. That would not be without feelings, it would be so much more complex.
She is glad that the blush forming on her is not visible thanks to the darkness of her skin color.
They keep quiet for another 15 minutes before Adaly continues “Another reason I wanted you to come is because… I hoped…. This is not easy for me sorry….” Adaly swallows, wraps her arms around herself “I already confessed to you my feelings about Jack the Wizard, so showing a bit of my emotions I expect is easier with you than with the others… And I… I have never been to a funeral, so I hoped you could help me fit in.”
“Never?” Sam says surprised, Adaly looks a bit insecure towards him “Never… the people that died that I cared enough about attending their funeral, died in a way that required me to flee. Devils chasing me, so I had to run away. Others I just never cared enough about. By now it is just a bit awkward to be the person at a funeral not knowing how to act.”
Sam visibly swallows “Okay…. I… There was no body, right?” Adaly sadly nods, grabbing herself a bit tighter, remembering how she wanted to drag his body, but knowing she was to weak. Sam lays a hand on her shoulder.
“Okay so they will probably still hold a ceremony on cliff side. During the ceremony everybody is supposed to be quiet, in respect to the death, except of course for the priest leading the ceremony… After the ceremony you are not allowed to speak until you see the first light. Typically, people go to a tavern and in the light of the tavern will share stories about him. I suggest we get an inn and drink with the two of us, leaving his comrades to mourn on their own” Adaly nods once more sadly.
The death of this random paladin hit her way to hard, but she appreciates Sam helping her through it. “Okay that sounds doable… Thank you” Sam kindly smiles at her “Of course… anytime”
They continue walking in quiet for a while before Adaly says “Now that I trust you with that, doesn’t mean I fully trust you, or my allies will trust you. I will still have to go to Smudge by myself. I have to ask you to wait a bit before we go to Ingry, otherwise Smudge will kill you and I have another funeral I have to go too” she jokes and Sam laughs.
She likes the sound of his laughs “I wouldn’t want to put you through that” he winks at her. She chuckles with him, relieving a bit of the tension that had been building up earlier.
Adaly quickly goes to Smudge and collects the potions and orders new ones, before meeting up with Sam once more. They go to the teleportation hall and teleport to Ingry, and book 2 rooms in an inn near the teleportation hall.
“There is another thing I would like to do while we are here…. I want to go to the temple which Es-Vahelieth threw at us” Adaly says hesitantly but Sam just looks at her understandingly and they walk in that direction. There are some people working on the temple “Stay here I want to go in” Adaly says while turning invisible and walking in. She hears Sam protest but ignores him.
Once inside she can see 3 people working on cleaning up the temple. Removing the loose rocks, creating a passage to the part of the tavern that is still intact and cleaning. There are no more corpses left, just the rubble and some blood stains.
She walks up to the largest one, remembering how Es-Vahelieths blade felt on her throat. She falls to her knees, starting to cry, with one hand touching her bloodstain and with the other one holding her throat. Feeling the new scar.
She hears Sam behind her walking in “Sorry sir, we are not open yet” one of the patrons says and Sam replies “Sorry I was just curious what happened here. I used to come to this tavern and was surprised to see this temple” one of the patrons chuckles “Always happy to see customers, but sadly we are closed for now. A group of heroes fought here against a fiendish attack on the city, this temple being thrown on top of my fine establishment” Sam replies “Oh that is terrible… but you said closed for now?” the patron laughs “Indeed we shall reopen on the eve of the 34th, a grand opening of the heroes feast, where heroes come to celebrate their victories.” “Great I shall return then” Sam says and then Adaly hears 3 thuds.
A few seconds later Sam is sitting next to her. She notices the patrons are all sleeping, so she drops the invisibility.
Sam puts a hand on her shoulder, looks at the bloodstain and asks, “How are you doing?” she swallows, tears still streaming down her face “I… it is rough… I think I was supposed to die here…. There was a moment of joy, I could feel my soul being pulled towards Grishbalan, away from my father, the freedom I always wanted. But…. I… I no longer want to die, I want to live.” She feels heartache while she admits that.
She always assumed she would be okay with dying as long as she would not go to her father, but no this had felt so wrong, so bad. Sam holds her while tears still stream down her face. “We…. How long does your spell last?” Adaly asks. Sam looks back at the sleeping patrons “Only a minute, so few seconds remaining. There is a safe house not too far away from here, maybe we can continue our conversation there?” Adaly nods and lets Sam guide her, away from her the pain, away from the trauma.
Stories of my brain 