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fateful evening nearly two years past.
    It had all started out well enough. The typical family response to a semi-important festival day: over the top and all the most elite of Selgaunt in attendance. Tazi had again favored a Cormyrean-styled gown chosen to drive her mother, Shamur, to distraction. Some details were vague but Tazi smiled slightly as she was sure Shamur had been angry about her clothing selection that evening. Tazi was also certain her mother was angered by the fact that her daughter was once again ignoring the eligible men Shamur carefully positioned before her. Tazi had chosen to give most of her attention to the daughter of a family friend: Meena Foxmantle. Tazi had chosen this course for its aggravation value alone.
    Meena was not the most exciting company, being rather a mousy sort of girl. Normally, Tazi would have only spent time with her if she had been forced to, but more than anything she enjoyed being contrary where her mother was concerned. Talking to a girl all evening was not what Shamur expected her daughter to do.
    As the evening and Meena’s ceaseless prattle dragged on, Tazi recalled letting her eyes wander. She remembered her elf friend Ebeian had been in attendance, but he was too busy working the room to do more than nod in her direction. Of course, Erevis Cale managed to catch her glance more than once that evening.
    Erevis…
    “What can I fix up for you?” a warm voice interrupted.
    Tazi was startled out of her reverie by the question. She looked up into the hazel eyes of Alall’s wife Kalli. The tall woman loomed over Tazi, who sat hunched in the corner. Almost as old as Alall, Kalli stood a good head taller than her husband. Tazi could tell that Kalli, like Alall, was trying to mask the concern etched on her face with little success.
     
    “Please don’t bother, Kalli,” Tazi said with a half-hearted smile. “I told Alall not to trouble you, but he just doesn’t seem to listen to anyone but you once he gets an idea stuck in his head.”
    “He knows well enough to mind me,” she replied jokingly, almost distracted by Tazi’s comment. But too many years in the Sembian army had trained the woman well. She could recognize misdirection when it came her way. “It really is no trouble. You should have something substantial inside you, especially if you’ve been up to no good.” At this, Kalli gave a slight nod to Tazi’s cloak and sack. “Even a bit of stew would do you good.”
    Tazi would have bridled if her mother had talked to her like that, even though their infamous quarreling had softened over the past year to something more like gentle fencing. But with Kalli, she had never felt anything other than companionship. Tazi respected and even envied the quiet discipline the older woman possessed. It went beyond her years of military service and training. Tazi recognized that Kalli felt complete in herself and with who she was.
    “Maybe just a little stew, if it isn’t too much trouble,” she relented, mostly to please Kalli but also to buy herself some time alone.
    The tall woman brushed a strand of her slightly graying blond hair from her eyes, and her strong features relaxed some at Tazi’s acquiescence.
    “No trouble where you’re concerned.” With that, she headed off to the kitchen.
    Tazi’s gaze drifted to the flickering light of the candle, and she shivered slightly. She could hear the rain pounding outside. It would take some time before her leathers would dry out after the night’s failed escapade. While it would only take a few moments to wander upstairs to her rented room and change, Tazi found that she was suddenly too tired to bother. Her failure weighed her down. Nothing seemed to go her way and hadn’t since that night. Involuntarily, her fingers
     
    trailed lightly across the faint scar on her chest. Once again, Tazi was caught up with memories.
    That night had carried on so uneventfully. Tazi’s only recollection of her conversation with Meena