Tinna handed Uncle Zophia a large tankard full of ale, then took her seat again. "Have you finished telling your tale to Gwion?"
Zophia took a large gulp of ale, then wiped his moustache. "No, dear, we thought we'd wait for you."
"All right," I said, fidgeting in my chair. "Go on. I want to hear the rest of this before I fall asleep!"
"You're an impatient little elf," Uncle Zophia said. "You must have gotten that from your mother, for your father was as patient as the day is long." He took another sip of ale. "Where were we... ah yes, we had just saved Tinna from the gnoll --"
"Helped me defeat it." Tinna glared.
"Yes, that's right of course, we helped you defeat it. After that we all sat on the ground to rest. Llewellyn -- he's always been very polite -- made a remark about the number of roaming Tesch Mas Gnolls in the area. Then I got an idea."
"He jumped to his feet," Tinna said, "And declared that the three of us should join forces to make the area safe for travellers." She looked at Zophia. "I remember you dropped quite a few things in your enthusiasm."
Uncle Zophia laughed. "Yes, I did. But you have to remember, our pockets were loaded with loot!" He looked at me. "Your father didn't seem too excited about it, but he did agree there were far too many gnolls in the area for it to be safe. So we decided to join together and kill some of them.
"They were nasty fellows. Remember that, Tinna? They were quite resistant to our magic, and your father and I weren't very good at melee combat. We relied on Tinna's training as a Knight of Innoruuk to help us. We must have killed three dozen of them that day, and still more came from the inside of the Den of Infected Paw.
"At last, we needed to rest. Your father and I were increasingly unable to regain our concentration, and Tinna was tired from swinging her sword. We split the money, weapons, and armor we'd gained, three ways. I took a tunic, which I wore well into my thirtieth season. Your father gained a fine steel scimitar --"
"That's hanging on our wall at home!" I said. The scimitar had a place of honor over the hearth. I now remembered Father telling me that it came from a gnoll.
"Heh! I wouldn't be surprised at that." Uncle Zophia smiled. "Your father never had a decent weapon before that day. Remember, I told you, he could hardly kill a fire imp with that sad old staff of his.
"We decided to move toward the river to rest. That would be on our way to Surefall Glade, and it would give Tinna an opportunity to wash some of the blood off her armor."
"Normally I would not have minded," Tinna said, "But it was beginning to smell."
"Yes, yes, I suppose it was." Uncle Zophia's nose wrinkled. "We went off toward the riverbank, but just at that moment, another rainstorm began. Almost immediately, we lost our bearings. Llewellyn had no natural sense of direction. And while I could read a map, charts aren't very useful when you can only see three feet in front of you. Finally, Llewellyn said he just wanted to rest anywhere, and he sat down under a tree."
"Or what he thought was a tree," Tinna said.
"Yes, well, it did look like one, dear," Uncle Zophia said. "It turned out to be a treant -- one of the sacred trees that roam the Karanas."
"Sacred to you," Tinna said. "It was not happy to see a Knight of Innoruuk."
"A treant?" I said. "I've never seen one. Why didn't it like you, Tinna?"
"I am not sure. I believe treants hold certain ideas which are not compatible with the views of a Knight of Innoruuk." Tinna shrugged. "I know not how it knew what I was, but it decided that it was going to kill me right then, though I had no quarrel with it."
"Oh no! What did you do?"
"Well, the treant cried out, then it began hitting Tinna, and casting harmful spells," Uncle Zophia said. "Llewellyn grabbed up his pack and ran out of the way. But the treant, being very old of course, was quite strong. It meant to kill Tinna. Well, that's when it happened."
"You helped her?" I sat motionless in my chair.
"Of course," Uncle Zophia said. "I had to. Tinna had done nothing to provoke it. I did not want to see her die, especially not after she had helped us so much that day. I evoked a burst of fire to harm it, and right away it turned its attention to me.
"I've never seen anything so angry. Somehow, it knew I followed Tunare. It must have, for the force of its blows on me showed the sting of betrayal. I thought I was going to die."
"But he obviously did not," Tinna said. "I cast a spell to frighten it, and it dropped Zophia, then began to creep toward the river."
"From there, I was able to snare it fast to the ground, and I evoked flames to harm it until it was nearly dead." Zophia looked sad. "Then Tinna was able to finish it off with her sword.
"After it died, Llewellyn came over from where he'd been watching. He didn't say anything, he just threw all his share of the Lake Rathetear plunder on the ground. Then he divested himself of everything we'd collected from the gnolls, all except for the sword. He stood there looking at me.
"Finally, I said, 'Old friend, surely you see why I made this choice?' He said he didn't see at all, and he was sorry that he hadn't seen me for what I really was -- a traitor.
"Well, I didn't know what to say after that. After a moment, Llewellyn picked his pack up and walked off toward the stone bridge that leads to North Karana. I haven't seen him since. He did write to tell me of your birth, but -- well, I suppose I was still too angry to congratulate him."
"But didn't you want to make it up?" I said. "Couldn't you have just teleported over to Faydwer and knocked on the door? I know Father wouldn't have been angry. He never loses his temper. He would have spoken to you!"
Uncle Zophia sighed. "This is the problem, dear Gwion," he said. "I continued to travel and adventure, often with Tinna as my companion. We helped others in need, whomever they were and whatever god they followed. I know I had Tunare's blessing, for she continued to add strength to my magic.
"But when we both reached our sixtieth season, Tinna and I came here to Freeport. We no longer hunt anything, except for food. And with each passing season, my magic grows weaker. No longer a Soldier of Tunare, I have lost many of my more specialized abilities." He shook his head. "I cannot cast a teleport spell now. I can barely kill a lion. Tunare has forgotten me."
"Tunare forgets people?" I was confused. Surely such a kind goddess would remember those who had served her.
Uncle Zophia didn't answer. I didn't know what to think.
Tinna finally broke the silence. "It is late, and you have had a long day. Perhaps some rest will help you to understand what Zophia has told you."
"But --"
"Sleep is very important, and not something that should be neglected at any time." Tinna pointed toward the bedroom. "Go."
I went.
