Dinner and a Wedding

The morning after my heart-to-heart conversation with Duraz, he begrudgingly informed me that his new ability let him find me with ease. He seemed put off by it, honestly. He also took good care of both Seksgar and I—the former spent a lot of time recuperating in ice, and it seems his arm is slowly improving. Duraz cooked for the three of us, and we spent a lot of time without outside interaction.
 
I spent a lot of the intervening two days working on researching a possible legal basis for getting Duraz out of his upcoming marriage, or at least delaying it, for which he was grateful. I spoke with him at length about the marriage and his feelings on the matter. He told me he always knew he would never pick who he would marry, and he seemed more or less fine with the setup, with the exception of the timing, calling it inconvenient. Through research, it became evident there could be three ways to delay the nuptials: (1) if both betrothed were in love with other people and it could be confirmed with a potion; (2) if one or both parties suffered grievous injury; or (3) imprisonment of one or both parties. I thought we might have had a shot with the first option, but Duraz was adamant that none of those would work.
 
It was also during this long stretch of research that he interacted more deeply with the heartstone—it carries within it a consciousness we first knew only as James, but later learned was James Deistar, Eva’s father. (This surprised Duraz—and me—because we had sort of assumed the voice Duraz heard was someone more closely tied to Chendes.) Through the unreliable narrator of Duraz, I heard that James felt his mortal memory was deteriorating quicker than he anticipated, and it felt like he had passed some 200 years in the heartstone, though it had really been merely 20. James told Duraz that his group had returned stones to Cofre, and when James died, he allowed his soul to tether to the stone in search of his wife, Ilyana.
 
I lost the thread a bit on why, but suddenly we were told that the wedding was moved up by a lot—there was to be a family dinner between Duraz’s and Brida’s families (plus CYA and some other friends) and then the wedding was the following day. It also was a double wedding, which is apparently a thing they do. And it was somehow preferable and good for the Stoneheart family standing? As I pondered that, I also got to hear Duraz passionately arguing for both Seksgar and I to wear what we wanted to his wedding—he even told his mother that I had saved his life multiple times and could wear “whatever the hell [I] like.”* We also met a high-ranking guard named Brenri, who may be lovely or highly abrasive—it is hard to tell anyone’s normal disposition if Duraz is the first to speak with them.
 
The dinner was honestly not as explosive as I anticipated it would be. It started out awkwardly, with stilted and/or smug speeches followed by table crosstalk and some drama due to the fact that Brida and her partner Dalen have been romantically intertwined until now (which it seems most people at the table knew). Her brother Ruggam was particularly rough around the edges, as was his partner, Brenri. The most confusing thing to me about this whole evening—and the days prior—was the way Duraz (and, at dinner and beyond the same was true of Brida) just… accepted that this marriage was inevitable and so they fell into dutiful, honorable lockstep on the whole matter. Brida was quick to defend Duraz as people around the table lobbed insults or accusations his way, and Duraz did some clever political posturing as he invoked his family’s considerable wealth and stature to shut people up. I would have thought they might actually want to be married in a more traditional sense if I hadn’t seen their sidebar conversation during which Brida asked Duraz what kind of marriage he wanted and seemed disappointed when he did not want an empty marriage leaving them both free to do as they pleased.
 
In no particular order, other things that became known during the course of that dinner include:

Brida will be traveling with us, since it is apparently the best option now that they’re to be married?

Seksgar and I were briefly in the spotlight, his demigod status coming out and mine as horizon walker and chosen.

Duraz asserted to Brida (and subsequently again after the wedding) that there was no one he was even semi-romantically involved with, leaving Brida resigned to go through with the marriage and the rest of us confused that he apparently harbored no feelings for Rose?

Everyone in Brida’s family expressed wildly different expectations about the number of children that should come of this union.

Dalen, Brida’s partner and now former lover, stewed over the turn of events the latter half of dinner. It seemed both he and Brida had assumed this would go a different way.

I scarcely had a chance to trance and mull everything over before we found ourselves at Duraz’s wedding. I never would have thought the first member of this party getting married would be Duraz. I tried not to pry too much, but Dalen pulled Duraz aside after the wedding ceremony and made a case for why Brida needed him (Dalen, that is) to go with us, for the sake of their training and professional partnership providing her the best protection. Duraz refused this offer quite quickly, and I turned my attention elsewhere. I should have probably read lips a little longer, in retrospect.
 
We then spent further time after the wedding in the vault. Our benevolent captors had deemed that it was not safe for our weird trio—well, quartet now, with the newlyweds accounted for—to venture out of the space still. Roscoe was free to come and go as he pleased, though, so we attempted to send some messages out to the world through him. I hope he transmitted the information required.** He did come back with sage advice from Myri that changed our trajectory a little—from here we will take up Fern and her companions’ trail to ensure their safe passage and then pass through Waterdeep before heading to Tantras to confront… whatever lies there. Having Myri with us will be a boon. If we can somehow also convince Fern—or any of the other clerics from the temple to join, we should. I need to speak with the scholars at the temple of Oghma, too, to see if they can spare any holy fighters or monks with a knack for fighting the undead.
 
I ended up, in this stretch of post-wedding time, having a lengthy conversation with Brida. I don’t know exactly why—Duraz came out of the bedroom and told me “she wants to speak with you” without context, but it centered around her finding out more concretely about Rose. I honestly had assumed that Duraz would have brought Rose up in some capacity at some point. I would have been wrong, but I would have assumed. Brida and I also spoke about whether she wanted Dalen by her side, at least temporarily, for the sake of survival and martial excellence. This, coupled with her frustration with Duraz for his lying by omission, made her decide Dalen should come with us.
 
Hilariously, she identified me as the leader and told me to tell Duraz as much, which I easily did. We do not want to bring anyone into battle that feels less than prepared, and I can only imagine how hobbled I would have felt in Eolas without Vicol in the early days, or without any of the handful of other capable partners I had for the rest of my time with the Protectors. Duraz didn’t seem keen to take my word for the decision, but that coupled with further private discussion between him and Brida sealed the deal. Three dwarves from Cofre… I’m honestly also a little surprised Dalen accepted the request after Duraz had turned him down at the wedding.
 
It has thus far been a little strange slowly telling someone everything necessary to know to be part of this rag-tag bunch… we have a lot of secrets, sensitive information, and heavy identities. Brida seems to be taking it all in stride, though. Duraz also brilliantly brought some stones from Arborea, which are worth a pretty penny here on the Prime. He generously used the proceeds from the sale of one stone to cover the cost of everything we were aiming to get made here before we go. I hope the new armor I requested with exacting diagrams and detailing works out.
 
I do not know how much longer we will be here—perhaps a few days at most. While it has been restful to be locked away in the most secure vault on the Prime, I am restless, and I desperately want to speak to Rue. We also really need to get in touch with Selma or someone else on the ground in Tantras as soon as feasible.
 
* Are Duraz and I friends now? I also promised not to tell the others he could cook. We share secrets now?!
** Who am I kidding? I definitely know there was some information lost in translation.
 
Margin notes in Sylvan and a cypher, for Rue:

Duraz referred to you as my “boy toy.” Thoughts?

Please never, ever choose me out of obligation or duty.

This semi-dwarven new braid style is quite secure. I think I like it.