* * *
Arachne had the sunset watch, along with Pug and Gala. Sometimes, she sat, ostensibly on watch, and whistled. The whistling was lovely, though the timbre held a sweet mournfulness. The quick movements sometimes showed excesses of empty, virtuosic passagework and the variation sets could lose sight of the original tune. But the ayres were lovely, though one had to wonder how well Arachne was doing at being alert to external danger. Perhaps it was just as well that most everybody was still awake during her watch.
Pug was very happy to have first watch with Arachne. He would tend to stay within sight of the small gnome while he alternately scanned for danger and worked on the new hat. Sometimes the mournful whistling would seem to strike a chord with him and the half smile would almost fade from his face or perhaps he had just heard something in the woods.
* * *
Arachne would refocus from her contemplations of eternal verities and horsehair when Aloysius came to walk alongside on the long marches. She listened to his convoluted declamations and, if she heard rhythm and rhyme in them, tried to respond in kind. It wasn't anything she was terribly good at, though, and she was once reduced to parodying a pointless rhyme she'd heard about some of the cities of the Realms:
"Fountains and wells chime the towers at Scornubel.
"Pains to remember call the towers of Marsember.
"Safe roads where you roam, hope the towers of Furthinghome.
"Alack and alas mourn the towers of Tantras.
"True heart and soul hale pray the towers of the Dales.
"Return to old haunts howl the towers of Selgaunt.
"I've willing loose whores call the towers of Iraebor --
Glancing at Pug and blushing, Arachne quit the series after quoting the last one.
He would attempt to follow what Aloysius was saying when they spoke but more often would just return to his sewing. Pug considered himself to be quick of wit but the purple man's speech would make his head hurt, more often than not. And once when Arachne stopped in mid-rhyme, Pug was intent on a difficult stitch and seemed not to notice.
* * *
One day, when Zond happened to be close, escorting Puddlejumper, Arachne abruptly emerged from one of her contemplative but companionable fogs and asked him, "Have you ever heard of a wizard named Balinthor?"
* * *
Pug was not very talkative, but always had that half grin on his face that made people think he was up to something. He would occasionally offer to mend someone's clothes if he deemed that they were worth the effort, but would usually be content to work on his own project. One day though, the idle chatting and sounds of travel was broken.
Arachne and Pug spent a lot of time together on Puddlejumper. Arachne, though, was generally quiet while on the horse. She'd stopped whistling when Zond put her on the horse and hadn't resumed except sometimes in the evening as long as no one complained. Sometimes, during the long hours on the horse, Arachne's gaze fell on Pug's perpetually stitching hands. She didn't quite say anything to him about the work he was doing, though. Finally, after a couple of days in which not much was said at all, Arachne turned to Pug and awkwardly blurted a speech:
"I know I haven't been very polite to you. I, uh, I'm supposed to tell you all about my family and then you tell me all about your family -- very dwarven that part. And we compare family notes and histories and figure out when the last time was that your family and mine exchanged greetings and we update that and there's all kinds of other polite greeting things I'm sure we're supposed to do -- at least, Cynthia tried to teach me about all the proper introductory things a well-bred gnome is supposed to do, but she said that I was hopeless at remembering it all and she's right because I have forgotten it. I don't really remember a whole lot about my family, either. Mostly, they're in Thesk, but Mama and Papa had moved away from that and settled themselves in Furthinghome before I was born. So there are a lot of family members I'd never even met. Mama gave me a list before I left home to go to Spandelyon, but I...well, I lost it. And Cynthia had kept saying that that's what I'd do and I'd be a discredit to the family Convola forever, so I couldn't tell Mama that I needed another copy of the list. That would've been too embarassing. So I've never done a proper job of introducing myself to another gnome. I remember a little: We're from Thesk -- have you ever been there? And the most likely Convola for you ever to have heard of is Simmons Convola. He's my uncle. Or was. We're not sure whether he's still alive or not, but if he is still alive, it's been an awfully long time since last he communicated anything to anyone in the family. So, um, I'm sorry but that's as much as I remember of properly introducing myself and I'm very sorry not to be doing any better at it. Cynthia, when she was feeling kind would tell me it wasn't my fault. She said that Mama and Papa had become very lax about observing proper custom once they moved to Furthinghome and away from polite society. Cynthia's my older sister; she was always pretty hard to take. Mama and Papa were kind of ambivalent about it when Cynthia decided that all the surrounding humanity in Furthinghome was too much and moved back to Thesk. They regretted losing their little Cynthia, but things were a lot calmer at home after she left.
"So, I guess that's it. I haven't introduced myself properly because of anything to do with you... Um. Have you ever been to Thesk, or heard of Simmons Convola? Or would you rather not talk to me at all?" Throughout her speech, Arachne's hands clutched each other and her eyes (more or less focused) were on Pug's face.
"Well, I'm not from very far away from here and I've never been to any of those places you mentioned. I grew up in a fairly small village at the base of the Far Hills and I never paid much attention to what was 'proper'. I was probably too busy getting into trouble and learning things that my parents would rather I not know. Anyway, all of those things, the trouble and never having been anyplace I mean, are the reason that I'm here." Pug blurts out after listening to Arachne. "I didn't think you were being impolite. None of the girls in my village talked much to me 'cause I was always doing things that embarrassed people. I guess I couldn't help myself. Sounds like you've been a lot of places yourself, maybe you can show me some of them after we deliver this chest." Pug stops and thinks for a minute. " Oh yeah, my family has been the village tailors for as long as anyone can remember. Its sort of like an addiction with us, if you couldn't tell. That's the only important thing I really know about my background."
"Ear and Stars!" Arachne exclaimed. "Yes, the family's occupation. That's one of the other things we're supposed to compare -- um, exchange -- Uh, you know, like if we were in one of those places, like Cormyr, where your precise standing in the community is important in determining whether you can kick dirt on someone else's shoes or he gets to kick .... Anyway, since we're both riding, I guess we don't need to concern ourselves with that, but I think, if it matters to you, that you ought to have choice of location on Puddlejumper here. My father is the Master Pest Controller of Furthinghome. He's very good at it. He and my brother look after a spinning of very well-trained spiders and if your house gets termites or has ants or even is infested by small mice, Pomritz Convola is the gnome to summon. "But I don't think a Master Pest Controller is considered a very lofty profession. I'm pretty sure that tailoring would outrank it." Arachne smiled shyly at Pug, hoping not to have to give up her place near the front of Puddlejumper. "We don't have to be that conscious of family status, though, do we?"
"Well, I should make you sit back here until you have a 'proper' travelling hat, but I guess I'll let it slide since you'll have one shortly" Pug says, his smile growing wider as he returns to his work.
Eyes wide, Arachne reached up and felt her hair, wondering how badly it had gotten loose.
