Of Heroes and Happenings

The Perfect One, Chapter 4

Gareth woke up with Silver beside him and smiled his contentment, thinking that it wouldn't be a terrible thing to wake up that way from then on. He'd been thinking that for months, each time he woke up beside her. It was time to tell her so. At twenty-four, Gareth was ready to settle down and start a family of his own.

Silver was everything Gareth loved in a person; she was strong, confident in her own personality and wanted him, as opposed to needing him for anything. Being a rather unusual combination of half Elf, half Orc, Silver had inherited the strengths of both parents. From her Elven mother, Silver had inherited her lean grace, intelligence, beauty and innate connection with the weave of arcane ability that allowed her to wield magical abilities in furtherance of her profession. Silver's Orc father had left her with height, heft, faintly olive skin and slender tusks, along with a fierce love of battle that served her well as a bounty hunter in the king's employ. If any city's guard or the king's soldiers couldn't find whoever the crown desired to be under lock and key, then Silver's relentless, passionate hunting skills certainly could!

It was on a hunt that Silver had first crossed Gareth's path. Seated in a pub for his noon meal, Gareth and the other patrons had been rather annoyed by a loud, brash, inebriated, fellow patron. Gareth saw the tall, lithe bounty hunter attempt a spell on the man, watched him dispel it with a slightly clumsy counterspell of his own.

Curious about what the unusual-looking woman had attempted, Gareth had managed to duplicate her efforts well enough that the objectionable patron stiffened in his seat and fell immediately silent, appearing paralyzed where he sat. It hadn't been that difficult of a spell, and casting it had reminded Gareth of his early school days, nearly two decades before. It was a Hold Person spell.

Silver had thanked Gareth for his assistance and offered to pay for his meal in return. Of course, Gareth had asked her to join him. One thing led to another, until the two were together more than they were apart. Twin Scry and Telepathy spells allowed the couple to remain in touch while Silver was 'on assignment' for the crown. When she was finished with her work, Teleport reunited them again; sometimes even if she wasn't finished, if Gareth knew where she was and had time to join her.

Remembering how they'd met left Gareth with a deep sigh of contentment and a smile as he watched Silver wake up. She returned his smile, albeit in a sleepy fashion that Gareth found adorable. "I love waking up like this," she murmured, snuggling herself closer.

"So do I," agreed Gareth casually. "We should make this permanent."

"You want to go on assignment with me?" she guessed in confusion.

Gareth kissed her. "No, but I want to be the one you always come home to, in a place of our own. I'll put a Teleportation Circle right in our bedroom, if you like. It could be a wedding gift."

"You want to marry me?" She sounded so surprised! Then again, owing to her heritage, it always seemed to surprise Silver Starbrand whenever anyone offered friendship beyond that of mutual convenience.

"I really do," Gareth assured her. He took her kiss to mean that she agreed with him.

At the shop a scant four hours later, Gareth accepted his mother's hug that matched warm and hearty congratulations from the rest of his family since they were in port, thus at breakfast, and a resignation from Trystian, who'd been Windy's apprentice while learning the arts of the Mage. Gareth wasn't surprised by Trystian's reaction; they'd dated briefly nearly a year before and while they'd ended amicably, Gareth could sense a core of resentment and jealousy behind Trystian's eyes whenever Silver had been in the shop.

Gareth cast Sending as Trystian walked out of the shop. I'm sorry, Mother. This rather puts you in a bind for an assistant, once again.

You mustn't worry about that today! Surely, Madame Scilla will pass on a reasonable young candidate in due time. Trystian was almost fully trained, anyway. Her reply was a comfort. Madame Scilla, the Elf headmistress of the academy where Windy and all of her children had been schooled in the arcane, often sent promising youngsters who, despite that promise of greatness, couldn't afford the Arcane boarding school's steep tuition, to successful graduates of hers, such as Windy. Though the school had a benevolence fund for charity students, it was always more limited than the pool of potential candidates.