Cathari sits straight up in bed, her hands clutching her throat. She feels around her neck, as if making sure her head is still attached to it. She props her elbows on her knees and runs her hands through her hair, clutching her fingers around strands of hair.

"What is WRONG with me?" she asks herself. She sits there for a while, unable to get back to sleep.

"He stills haunts me, even in death. Bastard won’t get the best of me." She gets out of bed and begins to get dressed. Looking out the window, she figures it is about 10pm or so. "That nap was longer than I thought." She ties her two-handed sword to her back, grabs her backpack, heading out the door.

While walking down the street, she rummages through her backpack, checking for food. "Damn. One more stop along the way. Oh well, I don't feel like being a goody-two shoes right now anyway." She turns off the Trade Way, heading for a tent that she knew sold some inexpensive food. She enters the tent, as the owner tells her that he is closed. In her sweet voice, she asks politely, "Oh, I just needed to buy a little bit of smoked beef, just enough to last me until the morning. I will be fast, I promise."

"Sorry, I am closed. Try again later," the owner tells her. She smiles and turns away, walking out of the tent. She scans the area, looking for a place to hide. "Fine, I will teach him to act that way to me." She waits patiently until she sees the lights go off inside. She draws her two-handed sword as she hears the steady breathing of the owner inside, now asleep. For fifteen minutes, she slashes away at his tent, cutting long large slices in it. When she is satisfied, she sheaths her sword and heads for the Trade Way again, giggling to herself. She knew he would have it repaired in the morning, but it still gave her some happiness knowing he would have to go through a lot of trouble getting it fixed.

She makes her way to Odarion's Bearded Wench. She enters the little pub, taking a seat with a sweet smile on her face. No one was about, so she decided to cut the act for now. She laid back and enjoyed the lack of company for a while, thinking to herself.

A few weeks earlier, she had fallen to a wyvern three times, and to a snake going to retrieve her gear from the beast's lair. The gods sent her back to the Realms, declining to take her into their world. She laughed at the situation even now. "Even the GODS don't want me!" she giggled to herself.

She stood up at daylight and headed for a walk around the 'tent city'. She saw a few beautiful dresses that she had decided to buy for herself. She had never worn a dress in her life; being a slave to her father, she didn't need any. She bought three that she would try on when she got home. She folded the dresses nicely and put them in her backpack. She headed back to the tent that she had sliced her sword through a few hours earlier. It had been repaired by that time, and she entered it with the smile that came so easy to her now. She bought food, and headed back to Odarion's.

Thinking no one was in the tavern, she entered with a slightly evil grin on her face. Not knowing someone sat in the corner, she walked across the room, and propped herself against the wall. That was when she saw the elf that sat there.

He was a sight to see. A rough, rugged, and handsome man. She introduced herself, with no pretenses. She spoke to him, with no lies, and showed him who she really was. For some reason, she felt she didn't have anything to fear from him, that she didn't need to be someone else with him. She knew he was just as evil as she was, and he knew it too.

They talked for a while. She could tell this man likes to kill. She could sense it. She flirted, he flirted back, and they moved their conversation to his room, where things escalated. Much to their disappointment, nothing interesting occurred. Business needed to be attended to, and the elf led her back to the little pub. He promised to finish what was started as he kissed her passionately before leaving.

She went about the day, smiling and pretending to be the sweet virgin (of all aspects) that people thought she was. She met up with Vlazier in the Wench, and he asked her if she wanted to hunt with his group. She accepted, knowing now what she could do with a sword.

She knew she impressed those that she hunted with. Her massive slices going through the undead as if they were patties of butter. These people, believing she was the nice, polite, sweet half-elf that she led them to believe. These same people see a fairly inexperienced fighter decimate creatures of the Keep just as easily as them, sometimes even getting better hits than they did. She knew they respected her, and even admired her strength and skill. She can't wait until she gets better with her sword. Then, they will truly have something worth watching.

A few hours later, she ran into the elf again. This time, they hunted together. Killing the wyvern, going through the keep of the undead, and before heading back to Oda's, going back to the wyvern's lair, killing it's mate. When they got back, he shared a few of the riches he got from the beast they just destroyed. He turned to leave again, promising to return in a few hours, to complete the events from a few days earlier. She told him how tired she was, and that she would be going back to her room. One last kiss as they parted ways again.

She returned to the bed that had so frightened her just a few days earlier. She laughed at herself for it. She goes and hunts wyverns, zombies, vampiresses, sentinels, without fail, and yet she is afraid of a bed. Well, it wasn't the bed that frightened her, it was the nightmares that could come to her while lying in it.

She got undressed and cleaned herself off before laying back in it. She lay in bed for a while, as memories of her father, beating her and raping her repeatedly ran through her mind. She thought of how good it felt when she tied him up and heard his screams as she and her brothers stood outside of their burning house. She thought of how she would never have to face those horrors again. No. She wouldn't let these memories haunt her. She wouldn't let them ruin her sleep again.

She closed her eyes, thinking of the handsome elf, hoping he would bring her pleasant dreams. And he did.