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Bravery stood in Auxiris for the first time in a long time on a familiar dusty street lined with shops and carts full of wares. She had confirmation that the Moonlit Guardians were inside the Bell and Candle tavern, a regular haunt of theirs, and all she could do was worry about what she was going to say.
She couldn’t tell them about being manipulated specifically to not join Thraemeus—that would cheapen her apology, even if it were true. Bravery would just have to hope that she hadn’t completely ruined her friendships when she left with Thraemeus months ago.
Bravery stepped into the familiar tavern, taking in the smell of good ale and fresh-baked bread. She heard the Moonlit Guardians before she saw them, making a chorus of celebratory sounds. They had just finished a job, then. Bravery could feel the urge to cry welling up inside her as nostalgia threatened to take over, something she had not expected coming into this meeting. Bravery turned her head to look into the corner of the tavern and was met with a sight for sore eyes—all five of her old party members together at a table, looking like they hadn’t changed a bit since she had left.
Krea’s shock of long, curly red hair sprung up and down as she used her whole body to tell what she thought was a riveting story, and the human mimicked aiming her bow and gestured to show how large the creature she killed had been. Zuri was unfortunately the victim of Krea’s lack of awareness and ducked to avoid her arm swinging into her forehead, but luckily Zuri’s dwarven height helped her escape. Once she had pushed Krea’s arm away, Zuri took a sip from her ale and then sat back into the booth, her dark hair and dark clothing hiding her in the shadows.
Terrowin was listening to his fellow human Krea with rapt attention while also supporting Aloth, who leaned on his large frame, already drunk. He had to push his own ale away from Aloth’s greedy hands, but she luckily gave up quickly. As Aloth laughed at Krea’s story, Bravery couldn’t help but wonder how she had already gotten drunk—the elf regularly won any drinking games the party ever played. Then it clicked—Cirdore. He had probably made a bet with her over how many ales she could drink, and Aloth was always up for a challenge.
The half-elf slouched in his seat with his eyes closed, pretending not to listen to Krea as he rolled a silver piece across his knuckles. Despite how the party seemed to have just finished a job, his hair was styled, and his dark blue robes were immaculate. His pretend disinterest was revealed when Zuri finally getting smacked in the forehead drew a laugh out of him.
Aloth turned in Bravery’s direction and squinted her eyes. “Guys, I think I drank to much.” A chorus of laughter at the obvious. “I think I see Bravery.” Bravery took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself and finally stepped forward. The clinking of her armor drew the party’s attention, leading Cirdore to open his eyes and the rest of the party to turn their heads.
“Hi,” Bravery said after a mildly awkward pause, not quite sure what to say.
“Hi, Bravery,” Krea hesitantly replied.
Entirely unsure of what to say, Bravery launched into her planned apology, preferring to get straight to the point rather than be stuck in vague pleasantries. “I can't give you an explanation for what I said and what I did. I was out of line. I regretted my words as soon as they came out of my mouth, but I was too proud to apologize, so I left things as they were. I hate that I'm coming back here and asking for the same things I wanted before, but this isn't theoretical anymore. The world is in danger, and we need as much help as we can get—and if anyone's up for the job it's you.
“I can't make things right, but I can tell you how sorry I am. I'm sorry I let my pride come between us and ruin what should still be a strong relationship.” Bravery stares at the ground, unable to look the Moonlit Guardians in the eyes anymore. “There's no need to forgive me, but will you please help us in our fight against Imix?”
There was a pause from the party members that, to Bravery, seemed to last for an eternity, but Cirdore finally broke the silence.
“I’m sorry, Bravery, but you can’t just come back here asking for favors after everything you said.” Coming from anyone else in the party, those words might not have hurt so much, but from Cirdore? Bravery could feel her heart shatter.
Despite his shady reputation, Bravery had always been closest to Cirdore of all the Moonlit Guardians. They had even dated for a brief period. While their romantic relationship hadn’t lasted, their friendship had never wavered through their time together in the party, so to hear rejection from Cirdore hurt more than Bravery had imagined it might.
“We told you,” he continued, “we’re sticking to the small things, keeping things safe around Auxiris so that we don’t die. Why—” Terrowin raised a hand and cut Cirdore off.
“Let’s hear her out.” Bravery was overcome with an urge to hug him, and if there hadn’t been a table in the way she probably would have. Terrowin looked at the other party members, face expectant. Krea was the first to come to his call with a question.
“Why should we care about Ekarthia? I get why you do, with all your paladin-y goodness and duty, but why should we go there to fight and risk our butts rather than just stay here and keep Auxiris safe?”
“Imix isn’t only after Ekarthia,” Bravery replied. “He wants the whole planet—including Auxiris. If we don’t stop him in Ekarthia, he will eventually come here and wreak havoc, and you won’t be able to stop him.”
“What do we get out of this?” Aloth broke in.
“I mean, the world won’t be destroyed.”
“Yeah, yeah, and that’s good and all, but what else do we get?”
Bravery could only smirk at Aloth—she would never have voiced her avarice sober. “I’m sure the governments of Ekarthia will be more than happy to compensate the heroes who saved their realm.”
“That’s good enough for me,” she stated before attempting to drain the dregs from her pint of ale.
“You said ‘help us,’” Zuri queried from her spot in the shadows. “You’re with a new group, then? What are they like?”
“What are they like? Would you like me to describe them?”
Zuri paused for a moment. “Who do you like more, us or them?”
Bravery raised her eyebrows at the question, but she didn’t need long to think in order to answer. “As a group, I like you all more, or course.” That was no lie. She loved the Keepers of Ekarthia, but she still had yet to figure out group dynamics. The Moonlit Guardians had been like a second family to her. “Individually, though… I have ended up in a romantic relationship—”
“Bravery,” Aloth chastised, knowing her proclivity for getting involved with people she had neither the time nor ability to have a real relationship with. Before she could continue, Cirdore cut in.
“Wait a minute, Aloth. I want to hear about this person. What are they like?” He rested his head on his hands and raised an eyebrow, dramatically letting Bravery know that he was all ears.
“Well, he’s—” Bravery was cut off as Cirdore turned his head and whispered to the group.
“He,” he reported.
“Yes, um, he’s a revenant dragonborn cleric of death, so not the type of person I usually date—” The table erupted in a cacophony of reactions, mostly incredulity.
“Is that even legal?” Zuri inquired.
“I—Yes, it’s legal. He’s only technically dead; he can consent.”
“Wait, so you’re dating a zombie?” Aloth exclaimed.
“No, he’s not a zombie. His god keeps him alive—”
“His god keeps him alive?” Zuri again.”So, wait, are you actually dating a god?”
“No, I’m not dating a god. It’s his own soul in his body. His god just keeps it there. Anyway, my point is,” Bravery said as she attempted to get back to the matter at hand, “we need help fighting Imix, and I couldn’t think of anyone more qualified than you. Will you help us?”
The group looked at each other, waiting for the first move. “How are we gonna get there?” Krea inquired. “Is that angel dude gonna give us a ride on his bull or what?”
“Thraemeus is here,” Bravery stated, gesturing to the bright glowing phenomenon out the window. He brought me here; he’d be more than happy to take you to Ekarthia.”
The group again stared at each other, before Terrowin, silent since his desire to hear Bravery out had been voiced, raised his hand. “I’m in. We might as well nip Imix’s invasion in the bud rather than wait for him to come to us.” One by one, the rest of the party raised their hands as they agreed to help in the fight against Imix. Cirdore raised his last.
“Of course we’ll help,” he sighed, the regret for his earlier words obvious in his face. “You’re family, after all.” Bravery could only attempt to hold back tears as they pulled up a chair for her, more than willing to accept her back into their fold.
“There’s something different about you,” Zuri observed. “I like it.”
There was plenty that was different about Bravery than when she left the Guardians all those months ago, but the difference she thought was showing most was her humility. Months ago she would not have even considered apologizing to be an option. The words ‘thank you’ were barely in her vocabulary.
Something about the Keepers of Ekarthia, though—they had humbled her, made her think about people other than herself in more than just a general ‘for the greater good’ way. She saw the individuals, she saw their distinctiveness, and now she knew that asking for help was not a weakness, but a way to rely on that distinctiveness, on the many talents of the people in her life.
“I think I like it too.”