No Longer a Game Ch. 07

Chapter 7 - Shopping, Dove Falconhand, Cheap Wine, and Han Solo

Before Natalie went downstairs to meet Lou to go on their shopping excursion she decided to change clothes and when she took off her mage robe she noticed it clean as if new. She expected to find dirt and even blood on it from holding Rain the previous night but there was not a spec of dirt or stain on the robe.

"Better than dry cleaning." She commented.

As Rain and Christie talked about what they were going to do while stuck in the room all day, Natalie went through some of the extra clothes Habersham at sent with them. There were soft leather pants, some leather tops that looked more like corsets than something practical, and some cloth shirts. The elf wished for a nice skirt and top but settled on a one piece of clothing what Natalie could best describe as some type of dress. The top of the dress was very low cut but her larger elf breasts were firm and it held up nicely with two straps that crossed around her neck to a single strap in the back and two straps in the front that came down to her breasts. The bottom of the dress was long and had gold trim and the hem ended just above her ankles and had two slits that ran on each side of her leg about four inches above her knees. She then put on her boots and looked at herself in the mirror in the room. It was a hot day outside so the dress would be perfect for the heat.

"See, Christie, I told you Habersham was creepy. All the clothes for us girls are so revealing." Natalie liked the contrast of the black dress on her alabaster skin.

Christie laughed, "Well you do look hot but you may want to wear your cloak to hide some of that figure you have."

Rain grinned, "Yeah your breasts on this side are a lot larger and fuller than on the other side." The blue haired half elf teased.

Natalie hid a smile at the compliment from her girlfriend and stuck her tongue out at Rain. She still wanted Christie to think she still mad at her. She brushed her hair out and decided to keep it down and put on her silver head band. She did like her this side hair. It was thicker and wavy and longer than her other side straight hair and she was starting to think her elf ears were rather cute as they stuck out from her hair. She did decide to take her cloak but let it flow off of her instead of wrapping it around her. Her vanity about her looks would love the attention she would get from men but she did not want to look like a complete whore.

"God I still wish I had underwear." She muttered, "Going about with no panties is so white trash."

She left the room with Rain and Christie laughing at her comment and met the others downstairs. Natalie smiled when she saw Jason, Ahira, the innkeeper, and even Lou as they tried to look nonchalant as their eyes roamed up and down her body. She briefly wondered if a dwarf could have intimate relations with a human, not that she intended to but was just a thought. Everyone decided not to wear their armor or carry their better weapons or Natalie and Lou their mage staffs. Jason did have a longsword attached to a sword belt around his waist and Ahira had his hand ax in his. Lou still wore his red mage robes.

The party split into two groups, Natalie and Lou would do the shopping and Jason and Ahira would go to the tavern to try and book passage on a ship and they would meet at the tavern, the Laughing Maiden. The dwarf gave Lou and Natalie more gold and the two mages asked the innkeeper the best place to find the supplies they needed and he suggested to market square and he promised to send food up to the half orc and the drow prisoner but would leave the food at the door not wanting to chance an encounter with a drow.

When Natalie and Lou stepped outside the inn, Natalie got suddenly homesick and almost started crying as she once again wished she was home. The smells of the dock area of Lund remaindered her of her home city of Savannah. The city was built on a large river that led to the sea about fifteen or twenty miles to the east and while the smells were stronger with the salty marsh air and the smell of fish it reminded Natalie of home and going to the inlets with her father to buy fresh fish and shrimp and blue crabs. She thought Lund must have resembled Savannah over two hundred and fifty years ago.

"You ok?" She heard Lou ask and Natalie smiled and nodded.

"God, Rain was wrong. I could never get used to the smell of this city." Natalie commented as they walked to the market square. "So where first? Ahira and Jason said not to get much since we are going to Athkatla anyway and can get most of the supplies we need there, just to get some minor things like some more water skins and some odds and ins that would be cheaper here than Athkatla."

"And materials for a new spell book." Lou added quickly.

Natalie nodded, "Of course." She was getting a little concerned with Lou's obsession with his spell book and magic, but shrugged it off thinking maybe if she did not have hers she would be the same.

"So, ummm...what was this thing you mentioned earlier about losing faith?" Lou asked the elf as they walked.

"Oh nothing really, just that I am not a very good catholic anymore." Natalie answered as she looked around and noticed people staring at her. "Why are people staring at me?" She asked to change the subject. In truth she knew why the men starred but was a little curious why the children and women did, well some of the women. Natalie pulled her cloak around her body and started to regret her choice of clothes.

Lou laughed, "Your outfit for one thing, but more that you are a moon elf and people rarely if ever see a moon elf in a human city."

"Oh"

The two made it to the market without incident and as they walked Natalie asked Lou more about himself to get to know him better and found out he was an engineering student and very intelligent and had an IQ that borderlined on the genius level. She teased Lou about not having a long white beard like Gandalf and thought the man was somewhat handsome on this side and giggled as she told him he looked like a sixty year old Sean Connery making the wizard blush.

"Oh look that looks like a place that sells magic stuff?" Natalie said when she saw a building in the market. It was a single story timber framed building, with stained glass windows that depicted two wizards dueling on one window and a large dragon breathing fire on the other and a wooden sign hung over the door that read "The Invisible Fairy".

They walked into the shop that was full of shelves full of potions, jars, books, crystal orbs, even some magical items such as wands and staffs and other items. Natalie noticed the shopkeeper was haggling with a tall beautiful woman over a dagger. The woman was tall, lithe and had long silvery hair. The woman turned when the two entered the store and stared at Natalie for a moment.

It was not like the stares she got on the street by the men and some women whose eyes roamed over her body or the children and other women who looked at her with astonishment. The woman did not look over the elf's body and she did not seem surprised at seeing a moon elf. Her look was one of recognition and Natalie suddenly became very uncomfortable and nervous.

"Three hundred, Lady Falconhand. That's my best offer."

"Bah! You were always a crook, Yolnoth." The woman said as she turned her head back to the fat shopkeeper.

"But you always come back when you are in the area." He laughed and started counting gold coins.

Natalie quickly made herself look busy hoping the woman would leave quickly. She almost dropped a crystal ball she was pretending to study with interest when the female spoke to her.

"Do I know you?" She asked.

Natalie turned and looked up at the tall human women. She was very pretty and looked to be only in her early twenties. Her body was lean and well-toned and the green dyed leather jerkin she wore was tight over her small breasts. Her soft leather pants were the same woodland green of her jerkin and both looked well worn. She had a long sword on the right side of her hip, a quiver of arrows on the left, and a bow across her back. Natalie could feel incredible magic from the sword and bow, so strong it made her dizzy for second.

"Umm...no I am new to Lund and...and I doubt we ever met."

The blonde looked at her intensely, "What village are you from?"

"Savannah." Natalie blurted out without thinking.

The blonde frowned, "Never heard of it but then again I don't know every moon elf village."

Natalie thought quickly, "Oh it's a small village south of Silverymoon." She remembered Jason told her about Silverymoon and that most humans thought it was just a myth.

"So you know my sister then, well half-sister, Lady Alustriel Silverhand ruler of Silverymoon?

"Fuck!" Natalie thought to herself. "N...no...heard of her naturally but never met her." She hoped her bluff worked.

The woman nodded, "Well, you just looked very familiar. I will leave you alone and good day..."

Natalie knew she was prying for her name, "Natalian." Natalie told her the made up character name and the woman extended her arm.

"Dove Falconhand, pleasure to meet you, Natalian." Natalie shook the young woman's hand and gave a little curtsey. Natalie felt strength in the firm grip.

Dove laughed at the gesture and gave a slight bow in return. "Don't let Yolnoth cheat you. He charges double the prices on his items." The blonde human laughed as she walked toward the door. Natalie's eyes followed her and the young woman looked over her should and gave Natalie a last curious look before she departed the shop.

"Ah I did not know you were friends with Lady Falconhand, I am honored to have you in my humble shop." Yolnoth told Natalie.

"I...I don't know her. Who is she?" She asked.

"Why that was none other than Dove Falconhand, one of the Seven Sisters. A famous ranger. She always comes to me to sell or buy goods when she is in the area. She knows my shop is the best in two hundred miles." The shop owner said with a great deal of pride in his voice.

Natalie smiled her most charming smile at him and walked over to Lou, "Who are the Seven Sisters?" She asked quietly.

Lou, who was so focused on looking at the magical items and gathering supplies off the shelves from his list had not even noticed the encounter his friend had with the pretty young ranger.

"Who? Seven Sisters? Why concern yourself with them. They are just make believe anyway." Lou dismissed her and continued his shopping with great obsession. Natalie figured she would ask Jason or one of the others later even if the scrutiny of the ranger unnerved her.

As they haggled and eventually paid for the items; a blank spell book bound with a deep blue and very soft hide of what Yolnoth claimed to be from a behir. Natalie had no clue what a behir was but Lou seemed pleased with it. Lou also purchased a quill from a cockatrice, some magic inks of assortment of colors, and other ingredients needed to write his spells with that Natalie would have thought the witches in Macbeth would have used. The purchases cost more than Natalie expected but Lou was insistent he needed every one of them and more that the shop did not sell. Yolnoth assured him if he did not have what they needed no one in the city would. While a little upset over the amount of gold they spent, Natalie did get an idea of the currency value. When they left the shop they had broken a good portion of the gold into some silver and bronze coins. The shopkeeper told them he would be happy to have the purchases delivered to their inn for a small fee but Natalie haggled him down to free delivery.

"Don't worry, Natalie, the other stuff we need is not going to cost very much. I doubt we spend even four or five more gold. Think of that shop as one of you high end stores on...what is it...Rodeo Drive in Hollywood?"

"It's pronounced Ro-day-o not Ro-dee-o and it's in Beverly Hills not Hollywood." Natalie corrected him, "Ahira is going to kill us. He is so stingy with the gold."

Lou laughed, "It's the dwarf in him."

"Whatever, I'm kind of hungry let's see if we can some food."

They found an assortment of food vendors selling fruits, vegetables, cooked meats, and sweet treats. Natalie decided on just some fruit and a sweet cake as she did not trust the meats. While Lou was buying some type of sausage on a stick Natalie walked to one of the fruit and flower vendors ran by two young girls who were obviously sisters. One looked about twelve and the other eight or nine and Natalie thought both were just darling cute with their dirty blonde hair. She picked out a peach and something that resembled an apple but had blue skin. She paid double the asking price and did not even haggle with the girls who obviously needed the currency by the way they were dressed. She turned to leave when she felt a tug on her cloak.

The youngest girl held up a red rose and blushed when Natalie took the rose and kissed the girl's dirty cheek and thanked her. The girl ran and hid behind her sister but smiled brightly at Natalie.

"Sorry, milady, my sister meant no harm...its...it's just we ain't never seen a moon elf before and my sister thought you may like the rose. She can't talk but she wanted you to have the rose and thanks you are just beautiful." The older sister told the elf. "We ain't mean no harm I promise."

Natalie smiled at the two girls but her heart felt pity for them, "That's quiet alright, darling, it's a lovely rose from two lovely girls."

Both girls smiled and Natalie was about to turn and walk away then she suddenly bent over and pretended to pick up something off the ground and then held out her hand when she stood up, "Why I someone dropped these. Maybe they belong to you?" In her hand she held three gold coins.

"No, milady, they ain't ours." The girl answered and Natalie was touched by her honesty.

"Well it's certainly not mine. It has to be yours. Now go ahead and take it or I'll turn you both into toads." Natalie told her with a smile and a wink.

The youngest sister giggled at the teasing while the oldest took the coins from Natalie with a shy smile on her face. "Thank you so much, milady, this...this can feed us for a long time."

"Why don't think me, think the careless fool who dropped them", Natalie gave the girls a sly smile.

"That was very sweet. I think you have two admirers and I like the rose they gave you." Lou told. He had watched the scene play out.

"Just don't tell the dwarf." Natalie said and they both laughed. Natalie smelled the rose and smiled, "Beats getting a rotten tomato thrown at you."

Natalie or Lou did not notice a third figure who had observed the elf's interaction with the two human sisters. In an alley Dove Falconhand smiled when she saw what the moon elf had done. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a small bone white figurine of a hawk.

"Gwalchgwyn," she whispered and the small figurine transformed into a large white hawk.

"That was sweet of her, Gwalchgwyn." She told the hawk who pecked at her with affection. "Now go...go to Silverymoon and ask my sister is she knows of a moon elf village named Savannah and tell her about this elf girl. Something is odd about her not dangerous mind you just odd...like I should know her. I will be in Shadowdale with Storm and Sylune."

The hawk gave a screech and flew off to the north.

The peach was delicious and better than any Georgia Peach she had ever eaten and the odd colored apple was just as good and it was an apple. Natalie thought the sweet cake was a little stale but still good. They finished their shopping and noticed it was long after midday and decided to meet Jason and Ahira at the Inn. Natalie was glad to spend time with Lou and get to know him better. Besides his strange obsession with magic, the man was very nice and they got along very well and to Natalie's surprise he had a very good sense of humor.

After Natalie left them, Rain took a short nap while Christie tried to figure out why she had no faith. She tried to cast some minor spells that were in her head. She tried to create water, cast her light spell, and lit a small candle and tried summoning spell that would summon a minor extra planar creature she could control but none of them worked. She cursed and gave up and then removed her boots and rummaged through her pack for some more comfortable clothes to sleep in, decided on just a cloth shirt that came down to the top of her thighs and decided that Natalie must have taken all the pretty clothes and put them in her own pack.

Both girls woke when there was a knock on the door and Rain got up and cracked the door to their room and saw food and two pitchers of a red liquid that she assumed was the wine on the floor. There were also two foggy glasses and some utensils.

"Food was decent but this wine sucks." Christie commented as she lay on one of the beds with her back propped against the wall so she would face Rain who sat in the same position in the other bed.

"Well you sure are drinking a lot of it." Rain laughed. "Going to be funny when you have to pee and use the chamber pot in the corner."

"Oh God, don't remind me. I miss indoor plumbing." Christie sat up and the shirt rode higher up her thighs and Rain turned away quickly when she saw a flash of the girl's white pubic hair but Christie did not seem to notice. "Great, you had to mention peeing. Now I have to pee."

Rain chuckled, "I won't look."

Christie drained her glass of the wine and got up and walked to the chamber pot and looked at it.

"So this is going to be so gross. Just glad Natalie is not here to give me advice on how to piss in a chamber pot and still be a Southern Belle."

"Now I miss indoor plumbing and toilet paper." Christie said when she was done. "What do I do with the pot? I don't want the room smelling like urine."

"I don't know...maybe leave it outside the door and someone will collect it or be like everyone else and dump it out the window."

"Gross." Christie giggled in her slightly drink state and her drow voice made her giggle sound seductive and enticing Rain thought, everything she did was seductive and enticing in her drow body.

Christie decided on the second option and poured the urine out the window and was grateful their window faced an alley. She rinsed her hands with some water from her water skin and then poured herself some more wine before she sat back on the bed.

"You seem in a better mood." She told the half elf.

Rain shrugged, "I try not to think about it. Honestly I did not sleep well last night and had nightmares of Derrick and...and me killing that man."

"I understand, but you did what you had to. They would have killed you also."

"I know but does not make me feel better."

"So...what's the deal with you and Natalie?" Rain asked after a long silence.

"I don't know. She hates me and blames me for us being here and maybe it is my fault but seriously I am getting tired of her attitude about it toward me and her games."

"What games?" Rain asked.

Christie laughed, "Oh you were in the city...you were not there but she tried to seduce Jason last night. She does not think I saw them but I did."

Rain sat up, "Seriously? Did they...did he and her...well..."

Christie laughed, "No your crush still has his virtue. He turned her down, which is surprising since I did not think guys...and a lot of girls turned her down."

"I don't have a crush on him!" Rain exclaimed and blushed, "And what do you mean people don't turn her down?" She added quickly to change the subject.

Christie laughed, "Rain do you think I am stupid or don't hear things about her? I know she has slept around a lot at college...hell I know she has fucked at least two other people since her and I started dating. I have no illusions of my girlfriend."