Caelan's party

"A dwarf's nameday," Caelan was telling them as Alanon went to bring out the cake, "is a special day fer ev'ry dwarf. Yeh see, three days after a baby's born, the clan has a cel'bration, an' ev'ryone that wants ta gives the parents presents fer the baby. That's when the little blugger's given a name too, so that's why it's called a nameday."

It had been a long, but happy day. Caelan and Brewstein had been quite entertaining, as they alternated telling everyone tales about their clan and arguing enthusiastically about minor details. Pitch told them about his meeting with a devilsaur while he was in Un'goro, while Quae looked at him like she didn't quite believe him. They had an early supper which consisted of whatever each person wanted to get from the pantry, then as evening fell Alanon announced they had a cake for Caelan.



He brought it out now and set it on the table. Caelan admired it loudly for a few minutes, then blew out the candles on top and cut it up, serving everyone a slice. It was quite good, and Barraccus asked Quae if she had made it, since she did all the cooking while they were there. "No, Alanon did. He cooks even better than me, if you can believe it," she told him. He was surprised, it was one more thing about the druid that he hadn't known.

After the cake was gone, everyone sat up and talked more. Barraccus found himself telling the others about his work in Zangarmarsh. "You'll probably like it there, Rhokk," he said. "It's not particularly green, but it's still so full of life. And the druids are all good people." Jahira agreed, then started telling them stories of her own adventures there. Barraccus listened for awhile, then slipped outside when no one was looking.

Quae found him sitting on a fallen log, looking up at the stars through a break in the trees. She came up behind him silently, but he still looked over at her when she got close. He said nothing, however, so she sat next to him on the log and looked upward herself.

They sat there for a good while before Barraccus finally broke the silence. "I don't know when my birthday would be," he said, very softly. "I wonder if I'll ever know." Quae didn't know what to say to that, so she kept silent, just keeping him company. After a few minutes, she slipped an arm around his shoulders.