A Wizard's Peace - Chapter 6

Dawn had barely broken when Rolan left a note in the kitchen for Halsin. It was brief and formal, conveying apologies for an early departure and reminding the archdruid of where he could be reached for further discourse. The sleepless wizard made one last walk around the Reach and grounds, desperately searching in the first rays of daylight for a person he could not find.

He stepped through the portal back to Ramazith's Tower almost unable to breathe from the weight that settled on his shoulders and heart.

"You're back! So soon!" Lia exclaimed, surprised to see him as she made her way towards the kitchen for breakfast. Her smile soon faded into stark concern seeing the state of him. "Brother, are you well? What's wrong?"

"I... I don't know. I'm fine. Just... I'm fine," he answered, at first distraught then abruptly curt. Lia reared back, shocked by how fast his emotions switched before he all but raced away from her. She stared after him and turned around, jogging down the hall back towards her other brother's room.

"Cal? Cal wake up, quick," she said as she knocked on the door again and again.

"Uuugh I hate early mornings what do you want," came Cal's plaintive response though he did shuffle over and open the door. He went from droopy eyed to wide awake in a hurry though at Lia's expression.

"Rolan just came back. Something's wrong. Raya's not with him and he's not talking."

Cal rubbed his face, consternation obvious as he went to pull on a robe. "Sure he's not just... being him?"

"Very. This is the old Rolan, the Rolan from before Ramazith's Tower became his Rolan."

That made Cal stop, the look that passed between he and Lia one of pure distress. Neither said another word, instead hurrying through the halls and up to the library in search of their brother.

"Leave me to my work," the wizard snapped as the pair entered through the wide doors. They stopped but did not obey the order.

"What's wrong? What happened in Reithwin?" Lia asked, taking steady but slow steps towards Rolan with Cal shortly behind her.

"I finished my business there and evidently, so did Raya," he replied in cold, perfunctory tones. The siblings knew that facade. They knew it all too well, the duo sharing an anguished look.

"Is she back in Baldur's Gate?" Cal braved asking, tentative in his approach.

"Probably. I have a lot of demands on my time, leave me be," he barked again. This time both siblings backed away and did as asked. It was only when the door was closed Rolan laid his head on his arms atop his desk, miserable and aching for having lashed out at those he treasured most.

~~~

When Cal and Lia set their mind to a task there was no stopping them. They made deals with other shop employees to tend the counter while they split up, investigating Rolan's situation without asking him another thing.

Cal went to the Elfsong, only able to uncover that Raya wasn’t there. He moved on to check at Jaheira's home, her children as confused as he was in regard to the elf's whereabouts. Lia had entered the shop from the tower when she all but ran headlong into Gale.

"Where's Aleida?" Lia asked, unable to help feeling a little scared as she did.

"You didn’t see her? She went through the portal just a moment ago," Gale answered, bewildered at the question. Seeing the look on Lia's face he went directly to concern. Lia spared no words, merely grabbing his arm and dragging him with her back through the portal.

BANG!

The sound caused them both to jump, stare at each other then run as fast as their legs could carry them up the stairs.

"Why am I getting sendings from Raya, Rolan? Why is my sister devastated, Rolan? I trusted you! My sister, my fragile sister, what have you done?!"

The yelling would strike fear into most, a paladin's anger not to be trifled with. Gale grabbed Lia's arm as they reached the library door. "I'll go to her, you get to him. I don't know what is going on, but I do know he doesn't deserve this."

"No, he doesn't. I'll go to him," Lia agreed quickly. They pushed open the door to see Aleida, thankfully armed with only what books she might be able to grab easily, stalking after Rolan as he backed away from her in abject terror.

"I did not do anything! I have been looking after her, endeavoring to cater to her every need and comfo--"

"LIES!" the fury-blind paladin yelled. Lia darted from the stairs to get in front of him, her meager frame between him and the golden elf. Fury rolled off her in waves that made Lia tremble, stealing her words as she simply made herself a physical barrier.

"Aleida. Please," Gale said, steady as he could manage. "My love there's got to be pieces to this story we lack. This is Rolan, he's not about to wound someone for the sake of wounding them if he's done so at all."

"If you make me regret my choices in the shadows that night...," Aleida snarled, still staring Rolan down. The words were sharper than any sword, leaving even Gale and Lia gasping at their cruelty. Darkness flashed across Gale's features as he stood in front of the paladin himself this time.

"Aleida Dekarios, I will not let you savage him. Your sister deserves your love and protection but not like this. Not. Like. This. You were never going to leave him there just as you were never going to leave the prisoners, no matter what anyone said. Their freedom was as important to you as any of our troupe. The woman I love does not let pain turn her into a blunt instrument wielded carelessly. She's too clever for that."

Rolan grabbed Lia's hand as she reached it behind her, his hand clammy and shaking. Neither said anything as they watched Gale and Aleida. They were too frightened of the confrontation getting worse.

Aleida stood still. Her bearing was stoic. Aloof. She put down the book she held, respectfully laying it atop several others as the intensity of her fury slowly seemed to dissipate.

"You have one chance, Rolan. One. What happened in Reithwin?"

Gale nodded to Rolan in encouragement after Aleida voiced her question. Lia squeezed his hand, letting him decide if he still wanted to hold on or not when he was ready to answer. He returned the squeeze, letting go and stepping from behind his sister.

"If I knew, if I had done something to directly harm her, I would lay myself at your feet right now. Whatever punishment you delivered; I would deserve for harming her. I swear, on my soul, on the love I hold for my siblings, the esteem I hold for your sister, I did not do anything I can think of at all. To harm her would be to harm myself."

Lia pressed a hand to her chest as she listened, tears in her eyes as she heard her brother's voice crack. She yearned to reach out for him but stood still, glancing from him to Gale and Aleida.

"I believe you," Gale said before Aleida could formulate a reply. He closed the distance between himself and Rolan, clasping Rolan's upper arms as he met his gaze. "I believe you," he repeated before he drew the younger man into the hug. Rolan crumbled into the fatherly embrace, fighting the urge to let his emotions get the better of him as he held on tightly to his fellow wizard.

"You have no idea how good she has been for him, Aleida," Lia began, her voice thick. "His whole being is lighter. He moves with genuine purpose and pride, no facades. Why would he cast that off rather than chase it?"

Aleida sighed and walked away from the group, standing looking out one of the windows. Rolan remained holding onto Gale as Lia joined them, rubbing her brother's back as Gale spoke in quiet words Lia could not decipher. They were not for her ears, she figured. Rolan nodded, taking a few deep, sniffling breaths before he let go. Gale took the younger man's face in his hands. "I'll see to her."

Lia took the opportunity to take Rolan's hand as the wizard nodded to Gale. They both thanked him, leaving Gale to talk with his wife as they slipped from the library to go sit on one of the balconies below.

"I ruin all I touch," her brother said brokenly as he sat on a bench, entirely defeated.

"You have ruined nothing."

"I haven't? Everywhere I go, misery. We were orphaned. We were attacked again and again trying to get to this damned city. You were captured with Cal. I let that bastard manipulate me into keeping you both hidden away like dirty secrets..."

His sister sat beside him, shoulder to shoulder. "How many of those things did you, yourself, actually do?"

He did not answer, staring despondently into the distance.

"None," she supplied for him. "When Elturel fell, you sheltered us. You got us to Zevlor. That was clever, quick thinking that saved all our lives. Who saved the children on the road, most of whom now reside with Halsin? That would be you. Cal and I tried but we were ... foolish..."

"You weren't foolish, you were brave. Powerful and brave," Rolan interrupted fiercely.

"And so were you. So were you, brother. You survived what that bastard Lorroakan put you through for what? Why did you endure that? The torture, the separation, the constant belittling and degrading, why did you suffer it?"

He lapsed into silence, tears spilling down his cheeks. He looked to Lia then away miserably.

"For a better life. So you could give us all a better life. You told everyone how legendary your name would be, how your prowess would be renowned and put on such airs but I knew. Cal knew. Gale and Aleida know. Dame Aylin sure knows. The façade that is the great Master of Ramazith’s Tower now is just that, a façade. The real man, the real Rolan, has such strength and conviction especially when it comes to those he believes in. Those he loves. And every day here you sit believing yourself somehow unworthy. How wrong you are, brother. How wrong you are.”

Lia got to her feet and gathered her brother into her arms, letting him weep as he had let Raya weep not so long ago.

"Gods, only took you how long to let this all out? Stubborn as an ox," she said to him as his crying slowed.

"Hello Pot, I'm Kettle...," Rolan mumbled back. Lia laughed, loosening her embrace and stepping away so she could sit beside him once more.

"Alright brother mine, how are we going to fix this?" she asked.

"I don't know. Can it be fixed?"

"Have to try, don't we?"

He shrugged, defeated and tired.

"We'll figure it out. We've all gotten through everything else together before. I am not letting you nosedive back into the Arabellan Dry again after we finally got the budget for that under control."

Rolan glanced at her sidelong but only huffed in response. She grinned, took his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Go wash up, take care of yourself and I'll deal with our rampaging guest and her more obliging spouse," she urged.

"Love you, sister," he said low as he got to his feet.

"Love you too, you lout," she answered warmly as she watched him go. She took several minutes and deep breaths before she headed back inside to see what battle awaited.

~~~

"So there I was, standing on the rope railing on the edge of the dock, balancing for dear life until suddenly one of the Bitch Queen's priestesses comes sauntering by. I thought I was done for. There was no way I could win that bet with a sight like-- Oh, hi Lia!" Cal said brightly from where he stood regaling Gale and Aleida with likely highly fictionalized tales of his exploits. "What's up? Where's Rolan?"

"Aleida ground him into a fine paste, I've stored him in a jar on one of the shelves downstairs."

"Oh really! Do we serve him on toast or is he purely decorative?"

"Decorative," she answered with a single nod.

"What a shame! I bet he'd be fine to serve on a good piece of rye," Cal, the seemingly unflappable went on as Gale fought to urge to laugh out loud. Aleida's attention was elsewhere as she looked out the window again, mind a thousand miles away.

"He's in his room I suspect," Lia said as she sat down, studying the group. Cal nodded, tipped a jaunty salute to Gale and Aleida then ambled off to find their brother.

"He alright, you think?" Gale asked, his concern obvious.

"He will be. This is chewing him up inside. There's so much he blames himself for and this is now part of it. Do you think Raya will come back to Baldur's Gate?"

"That I don't know," he answered after a glance to his wife. "I can hope, though. I can hope. I know Ena is with her. It must be a great relief for them to be together again."

Lia rubbed her forehead, trying to figure out what could be done.

"I will talk to my sisters. I'll try to begin untangling this. Sendings are too brief. I'll send letters when I can. For now, I'd like to go home," Aleida said as she got to her feet, the movement surprising both Gale and Lia.

"Yes, my love," Gale answered as he looked to Lia a last time. "I hope we'll have answers soon."

Aleida took a moment, pain flickering across her features before she spoke. "I owe your brother an apology either way. One I deliver myself, when he might be ready to hear it. My words went too far. It doesn't matter why, I should hold myself to a better standard. Hopefully when next we meet will be under better circumstances."

Lia braved a small, weak smile. "I hope so too. Whatever is going on, please give Raya my love. I miss our walks and lunches together and our time in the gardens."

Gale smiled as Aleida nodded. "I'll let her know." Gale paused to kiss Lia's cheek before he and his wife made their way back to the portals and out. Lia watched them go, lost in thought of how to fix a situation that seemed so strangely broken.