Chapter Text
When Qirin was told that a benefactor of the temple had left something in his will to them, they had no idea what it could possibly be. The head priest did say that this Steve Greenbottle often donated to the temple, so perhaps it was money that could be used to help the poor that the temple often served. Whatever it was, Qirin was on their way to Clear Harbor to hear the reading of the will.
The Greenbottle house was not difficult to find. There was a small group of people outside, mostly humans and halflings. Qirin suddenly felt very self-conscious, hoping that their pointed ears and height wouldn’t cause them to stand out too much. They were relieved when they saw a drow woman approaching the house as well. If anyone could draw the attention off of them, it would be her.
It had been a year since Qirin had left the safety of the temple. Truthfully, they weren’t sure if they were ready to be out in the world, but Izami had chosen them to receive whatever it was that was being willed to them, so they trusted in Her wisdom.
As they approached the house, an older halfling woman invited them inside. Her brown hair was streaked with grey and the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth gave her face told the story of a life well lived.
“Help yourself to some food,” she told those that had arrived. A few people offered their condolences and she smiled sadly at them while thanking them. Ignoring the food, Qirin found a place to sit and rest for a bit. Eventually, everyone who was coming had arrived, and a dark-haired human entered, stacks of papers in his hands. He lead everyone into a small office to the side of the room they were in.
The office’s furniture was obviously built for someone much smaller than Qirin. While there were a few chairs for taller individuals, most everything was too short for them to comfortably sit in. Outisde the office’s window was a beautiful view of the ocean. Qirin might have appreciated it more had they had any feelings other than abject terror at the thought of the ocean.
The dark-haired human, unable to find a comfortable place to sit, stood near the desk and cleared his throat and started to read Greenbottle’s will. The human’s voice was as boring as his appearance and Qirin found themself once again wondering what it could be that had been left to them. They vaguely heard the middle-aged man mention money and houses, all the while wishing this were over so they could return to the temple and continue their quiet life.
“Finally,” the human said, “Ramscliff Manor is left in equal shares to Marra Tilbin, Fireun Stonethrower, Zilah Yasriia, and the representative of the church of Izami.”
Surely that can’t be right, Qirin thought to themself. What could I possibly do with a manor?
The human pulled four keys from his pocket and placed them on the desk. “Always liked Greenbottle, good man. Good man,” a dwarven man said, presumably one of the other inheritors of the manor. A tall human near the back of the room stormed out, obviously upset that they had been snubbed.
A halfling woman quickly walked to the front of the room. Shortly behind her was the dwarf who had spoken earlier. Qirin rose to also head toward the desk when a voice from the back of the room spoke.
“Where is this manor?” It was the drow they had seen when they first approached the house.
“The manor is on Ramscliff Island,” the reader of the will said, “You can charter a boat that will get you there in a day and a half.”
“A boat?” Qirin asked, already starting to feel a bit queasy.
“A boat?” the halfling woman said, sounding much more excited about the prospect than Qirin was.
The human who had been reading the will looked over at Qirin. "Are you the representative of Izami?” he asked.
Qirin nodded. “Yes, I am a servant of Izami.”
The human looked him over, then gave a curt nod. “And what is your name?”
“Qirin Goldpetal,” they replied, giving the common translation of their last name. It was easier to use when dealing with humans, who often had a difficult time pronouncing Xiloscient.
The human scribbled something onto the document he had been holding. Qirin peeked at it and saw that it was a deed to the manor. Before he could reach for the pen to sign his name to the document, the drow took the pen and wrote her name onto the document and took a key off the desk. The others followed suit until all four of them had written their names on the document underneath where Steve Greenbottle had written his.
“Where is this ship?” the drow woman asked.
“There are ships down at the docks,” the dark-haired human told her. “You can charter one to bring you to Ramscliff Island.”
“I know some captains there, might be able to get us a cheap trip!” the halfling said. The drow looked in her direction, but said nothing.
“This completes the reading of the will,” the will reader said. The small crowd began to leave the room, including the halfling and the dwarf. A few people stayed to speak with Greenbottle’s widow. Qirin followed the halfling and dwarf outside, hoping to speak to them about chartering a ship together, as they hadn’t brought much money with them.
The sea air was cool and the slight breeze felt nice on Qirin’s face. They took a calming breath and approached the pair, who looked like they had been going through introductions.
“Excuse me, I thought perhaps since we all are heading in the same direction that it might be more feasible for us to travel together,” they said. Qirin cringed. It had sounded better in their head, but when they said the words aloud, they realized how insecure they sounded.
“I like the sound of that!” the halfling said to them. “Like I said, I can probably get us a cheaper ride. The will guy said you were a church representative? I didn't catch your name, I'm Marra.” She smiled at Qirin.
“I'm Qirin. I serve the goddess Izami.” Qirin told her, giving a small smile in return.
“I like the sound of that, just let me ask Lolair,” the dwarf replied. He then pulled out some kind of device and blew into it. Out of the sky came the largest bird Qirin had ever seen in their life.
“That’s.... That's a big bird,” Marra said, her eyes growing wide.
“What would you even feed a bird that big?” Qirin asked.
“BWA HA!” the dwarf laughed. “Halflings, of course.” At that, Marra laughed nervously. “No no, she mostly eats woodland animals. Deer and things. Feeds herself most days.”
Marra looked behind Qirin, who turned and saw the drow woman approaching the small group. “Oh, hello,” Marra said to the woman.
“You said you knew someone who could take us to the island,” the drow stated.
“Probably,” Marra told her, “Ships come and go as they please, but I may know a captain or two down there.”
“I intend to see this manor, I assume most of you are, as well.”