He sought out, not Waithvine, but the kobold he traveled with. The young man, finding them along the trail, carried with him a basket of fresh fruit, fresh breads, dried meat, and sweet-filled pastries. Once he saw her, looking to the three travelers, the bugbear, the kobold, and the elf, the youth held out the basket to her, bowed and said softly, "Thank you." For he never forgot how she undid his bindings, and stopped him from ending his own life that terrible, lonely, night. -- Anon Guest
At last. He had found her. Beeyo checked the Basket of Preservation to be certain everything inside was intact. The spellwork was still secure. Everything in there was as fresh as the day it had been placed there. This was important. They say, "No good deed goes unpunished," but because of her impact, no good deed should go unrewarded.
On a dark night, a terrible night, so many years ago... Back when she was only known as Thief... a Kobold had crept past a boy in chains, and stopped to stare. Beeyo hadn't had a name, then. Property didn't often get names. He hadn't cringed, hadn't feared for his life. In fact, he had been trying to saw his wrists away with a moderately sharp rock. The only escape he had been capable of at the time.
Until a monster turned her lockpicks to his shackles, gave him a leaking waterskin and half a hub of stale bread and whispered, "Run." That night had changed his life. A pair of kind hands had changed his life. Made it one day longer. A Cleric formed the next pair of kind hands, taking in a lost and starving child and altering his path. Change for the better. Beeyo had never forgotten the monster that chose not to be monstrous, and paid the favour forward.
Of course she had another lost child with her. Even when she was Thief, Lady Anthe had a habit of trying to do good things. Often collecting the punishment for it. "There you are," said Beeyo, approaching them so they would not be alarmed. "I've been searching for you for a long time."
The tweenaged Bugbear journeying with them automatically went into a guarded stance. Beeyo smiled for the poor fellow. He remembered being young and learning to trust.
"Lady Anthe... Years ago you freed a child from chains. You fed me and gave me water. You didn't have much, but you gave all you had. I never forgot you." He put the basket down, showed what was inside. "I have a life. I found a family. I have paid your kindness forward. And now? Perhaps you can use this to pay even more souls to a better road."
Lady Anthe boggled at him, possibly checking Memory Lane for muggers in the dark corners. "Stonecrag Hollow? The slave pits?"
She remembered him! Beeyo could have levitated just from the elation, if he had had the skill for such tricks. "Yes! That was me."
Wraithvine the Eternal seemed impressed. "I didn't know I picked up a prodigy..."
"It wasn't right that a baby should be chained to a wall," said Anthe. "And I didn't have a pack back then, so I thought it was the madness."
"Any excuse is a good one?" guessed the Bugbear.
"Near enough," said Anthe. The introductions went about, and stories were exchanged. Rawr, the Bugbear, was learning all about the spreading aura of cause and effect, and what good two kind hands could do.
Two kind hands, paying favours forward, could change the world for the better. One small act at a time.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / benedektibor]
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