It hadn't been hard at all for Wormwood to find their trail and follow it up but, by the time he'd spent a few hours poking around the city following a trail from a dwarven restaurant to the glassmaker and a weapon shop, they'd hired a wagon and been gone from the city for a day.
Clarke had argued vehemently for horses over the slow wagon, even threatening to leave Gwen behind if she couldn't keep herself upright but for whatever reason Wade had argued for her and the wagon.
“Give us time to get our heads in order.”
He'd said. That had been about the last thing she'd heard from either of them in the five days it took for the mountains to rise and the town nestled between them to grow into view. She looked back to tell them.
“We're here.”
Wade grunted, polishing his new morning star for the hundredth time. Clarke had been even more distant. He'd somehow propped open his magical transportable hole like a cave mouth hanging in the back of the wagon and stayed inside, the constant clink and drip of potions being made the only signal that he wasn't passed out in his own little world. He stepped out, jacket a little heavier filled with who knew what, and folded up the hole without a word. Gwen was the only one who had a semblance of happiness to her, excited at meeting a real hero.
“So, what's the plan? You've got to at least open your mouths and tell me where to stop.”
Being a quarry town the homes were made of mostly stone and the roofs of clay but the roofs were vivid, bright colors to liven up the otherwise grey building material. The people they passed in the street were either human or dwarf with little of any other race adding their face to the scenery.
Clarke turned his head slowly trying to build the image in his head of everyone he saw slaughtered where they stood, of the buildings smashed to the ground in heaps of rubble. He could see it perfectly in his mind but there wasn't a single sign of reconstruction, of shattered families destroyed by some wild creature and a town massacred.
It pissed him off.
“She's pretty famous. I bet we could ask anyone on the street and get directions right to her.”
Wade yelled at a woman as they passed.
“Hey, beautiful! We heard Alouella Lawfer was in town. You know where?”
She took one look at the dirty man and his scowling companion and her face wrinkled in disgust.
“Eww, no. Stay away from her.”
He hurled a five letter word after her, questioning the specific species of her parents before they parked in front of a stable. Clarke spoke the longest sentence he had in a week.
“It's a small town and she's a big name. It won't be hard to find her. In fact...”
He pointed across the street at the people gathered at the edges of an inn, many children leaning over one another for a look at something unusual for their usual lives and even some adults talking sideways at one another.
“Let's check there.”
He paid the stablehand for the time and feed for horses and they crossed the street to push past those looky loos with no business inside.
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“Whooold it right there.”
A gruff looking dwarf stopped them, big meaty fist held before them before they could even scan the room for an elf ear.
“Let's see yer cooooins. No one gets in without a cash check.”
“What? Why?”
Wade tried to push past when one of those fat hands slapped him uncomfortably in his inner thigh with a grip that could have extinguished the Bruin line.
“Cause we goooot some fancy robe wizard that everywooone wants a look at and it's pooootin' my brother out o' seats in his tavern. Now coooooins, present.”
He took their money pouches in turn, opening them, rifling through and occasionally biting a coin like someone would go out of their way to fashion counterfeit money for so simple a reason.
“Alright, goooo ooooon in.”
Clarke looked around the room, eyes studying head shapes, ears, searching for that familiar beautiful blonde hair he'd spent so much time with as a child.
There was a huge crowd in one corner, sturdy adventuring types from warriors to wizards to sneaky rogues. Koar was either the best kept secret of an adventuring hot spot or everyone wanted to ride Alouella's robe to fame and glory.
Clarke didn't have to try this time. His expression lifted to something more pleasant, the usually stormy gloom backing away. Wade stood taller and combed his fingers through his hair to push it back into a semblance of combed. Even Gwen took off her gauntlets but she was already as happy as she could be.
None smelled particularly good after being on the road.
They approached, the people on the outer edges growling as they were pushed aside.
“Hey, what the hell you think you're doing!?”
The table was chatting quietly and they only caught the middle of the conversation.
“...and we had the fabled eye itself so naturally...”
She was just the same and as different as could be from when she was a teenager. Long golden blonde hair that fell in ringlets around her shoulders, eyes that had you falling into the bright blue sky. She was taller though and with not much more muscle, short for an elf.
It was hard to tell who she saw first but she looked at them, away, then her eyes swung back and she jumped from the table, knocking her seat back and startling the speaker out of his story.
“Clarke! Wade!”
She pushed around the edge with muttered 'excuse mes!' and 'I'm sorrys!' and everyone turned to look at what could have so greatly captured her attention.
She hit Clarke like a bag of lightly stuffed sugar, squeezing him tight so his bottles rattled. It had been such a long, long time since he'd touched anyone, smelled something so sweet as her hair. He melted in her embrace and his arms came up to her shoulder blades to squeeze.
An old reawakening pushed up into his eyes, his throat tightening at everything she brought back with her touch. Better times.
“Alouella. It's good to see you.”
She pulled back and held him at arms length, her face lighting even more when she turned to Wade and threw herself at him. She disappeared in his huge grip and he lifted her up, shaking her side to side before letting her feet make landfall again.
“There's my favorite little lightning bolt! How are ya'!?”
The glares they got could have slain a god. Every adventurer within a hundred miles had come to recruit the girl, put in time and effort and tried to sway her to their own ends and some punks show up and get the biggest reception of all? The collective room temperature rose with all the boiling blood.
Gwen stared back at those angry looks and stepped between the watchers and the reunion, crossing her arms and each dist she made cracking from how tightly coiled they were. A lot of those looking at them suddenly found the digs and notches and stains of the table infinitely fascinating.
“I'm doing great! I've been traveling, working on spells, fighting monsters, righting wrongs and making the world safe for the weak.”
Clarke nodded at every item.
“Just like you always wanted. Sorry to break up your party but do you mind if we talk privately? We'll find a table and wait if that's alright.”
She nodded deeply.
“That's no problem at all. I've just been vacationing in this town and getting some rest before I head out again. I'll be with you shortly then.”
She waved even though she'd be seeing them soon and flesh searing, skin flaying stares followed them to a corner table from behind her back. Wade shot them all the finger behind Alouella's back. Gwen watched her back to her seat.
“She's so polite and graceful! Introduce me too, when she comes over.”
“Sure.”
Clarke spoke, waving the waitress over. Both men were struck with a rushing flood of memories of good, bad, and youthful pain from a lifetime ago.