PlanetADnD.com

"Renos teaches that friendship can be a weakness, but it doesn't mean that one can't have friends," Echo points out. "Renos is more about the individual than the group. Helping you also helped me, so it wasn't as if I wasn't also looking out for myself."

"So did you risk your life to help us because we were your friends or because you needed us?" asks Hollidan.

"It can't be both?" Echo asks curiously.

"You specifically said you helped us because we were your friends," Hollidan points out. "Does not mean friendship trumps helping yourself? Or are you using a different definition of 'friend' than most people?"

"I guess friendship trumps myself," Echo says.

"Then maybe we aren't as different as I first thought," Hollidan remarks.

"I think I'm confused," Echo says. She isn't terribly sure what the whole point of that conversation was. "So, since we are going to be here for awhile, I wonder if there is a place around here where we could clean ourselves up. Some of us are starting to get a little ripe."

"No, but that's a good idea," Hollidan says. "I'll ask the search parties to keep an eye out for some kind of barracks that, hopefully, has some facilities with it so people can get cleaned up."

"If there isn't, there might be some hot springs or something near by," Echo suggests. "Anyway, I'm going to finish up some of my work, and then get some sleep."

Hollidan nods. "Yeah, you don't want to keep the pharise waiting on that."

"Yeah, I guess not," Echo says with a shrug as she walks back to where she was working to continue what she was doing. She'll, most likely, work well into the night before she passes out right in her work space.

Echo performs her job as a scholar for the next three weeks, eventually earning the 8 GP she was originally promised. This, by itself, isn't much. But the money and gems she acquired along the way after fighting all those monsters really outshone that.

When her contract ends she departs and returns home to Rotwein to help her mother save her shop and train under her to learn new spells and abilities that will help her some day track down her father.

==========

End Arc 1.