Part 1 - The End of the Time of Troubles

Part 2 - A Joining of Worlds

Part 3 - Separation

Part 4 - The High Forest

Part 5 - The Grand Druid

Part 6 - Return

Part 1 - The End of the Time of Troubles

The first few weeks after the climactic end to the Time of Troubles are a blur. There are reports to be given, tales to be told, people to see, places to go, items to check and rebuilding to be done. Although the group intends to set out to see Elminster something is always coming up to delay the departure. First it is Elrinith who must perform some duty for his church. "It is only a short journey," he informs us over dinner, "and I should be back before 40 days hence." Then Dre is wounded in a bar fight as she and Raagnar are accused of making up the stories they are telling of the OtherWorlders adventures. It's not a serious wound but it takes her off her feet for a time and the young elf plays it for all it's worth since she has Raagnar as a willing nurse and gopher.

Rio accepts the delays in stride and helps with the rebuilding of the Sacred Grove and the training of the young who have gathered there. With so many of the Circle fallen during that fateful night just weeks before there seems to be no end to the responsibilities and duties of the remaining druids both within and without the city. Throughout the whole time Glow is the anchor and the rock that holds Rio close. Her presence calms his mind and eases the ever increasing thoughts of flight from this city and this world.

Several months pass and the group gradually begins to see less and less of each other. Elrin returns but is called away again. He has become a figure of some power and prestige within his church and finds himself with the increasing duties and tasks that accompany such a position. Beccah, who has always been sort of a scatterbrain anyway, announces one day that she is tired of waiting around and has found other employment more suited to her tastes and talents. We wish her well but no one seems to go out of their way to dissuade her. Rio, Glow, Dre, Raagnar, and Elrin when he's around, settle into a routine of meeting weekly for dinner at one of the finer establishments. Again and again something comes up that keeps us here in Waterdeep for just another week, then we can get going. But the weeks drag on and it becomes harder and harder for Rio justify staying within the city. As the time passes and the Grove is slowly restored the old feelings of uneasiness and distrust of cities begin to resurface. Although he hides his feelings as best he can Glow has come to know him too well and as they lay together one evening she puts her thoughts into his head.

"I know you are troubled." she says with the gentle telepathic touch that Rio finds so soothing and wonderful. "What can I do to help ease your mind ?"

Rio rolls over, smiles and strokes her long dark hair. It takes him a moment to collect his feelings. "Dearest Glowing Forest… I…" but the words will not come and it is all he can do to hold her close, kiss her lips and nose and forehead and then bury his face in the her sweet smelling tresses. His tears burst out as all the repressed feelings of loss and sadness at the previous years events finally break through his self-control. Thoughts of his home, fallen comrades, dead druids, broken trees and nameless and named evil flow through their joined minds complete with pictures of Eric, Cherri, Sylvanis, the wood between worlds, Tyr, Angstrom, Dre, Raagnar and the countless faces of those affected and afflicted by the trouble of the world. He keeps his face buried until the worst is past and then looks up into her eyes and realizes with absolute certainty what in his heart he has known since he met her. Wiping away his tears he drinks in her beauty, takes her hands within his, and in a fine clear voice asks a question that until just this very moment he had only dreamed he would ever ask.

"Glow, if your grandmother will agree, and if you are willing I… I love you and I want you to be my wife."

[Continued in Part 2 - A Joining of Worlds]