The tavern’s wooden tables glow beneath lanternlight and hearth-warmth. Kynes and Bren settle into a quieter corner with stew, dark bread, and spiced drink, well apart from the lively patrons.
Across Morningstar, Avaris remains inside the glasswright’s workshop with Nhal. The furnace casts colored light over their first lesson, while the glasswright’s trial waits unfinished.
Bren
You gave Avaris something useful tonight, love. Not an answer, not a place to belong, just permission to discover what they want.
Bren tears bread and dips it into her stew, her attention resting on Kynes rather than the room. Around them, ordinary conversation and clinking cups make privacy feel possible.
Bren
I watched their shoulders change when they chose the lesson. That was not obedience. It was curiosity finally allowed to breathe.
A serving girl, a young woman with a slim build, warm brown skin, tightly curled black hair, and a plain russet-and-cream tavern dress passes their table and refills Bren’s cup before moving on. From the workshop district, faint violet light briefly colors the tavern window, then fades.
Bren
Tell me honestly, Kynes. When you sent Avaris toward Phandalin, were you offering a road, or hoping they would choose the one you would have chosen?
“"honestly, the fact that void-kin, void-fed, and void-born are still losing their chains to the archive even after it's been destroyed for almost a year now. I figured a town with a void born population would help them adjust." I say plainly”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
Honestly, void-kin, void-fed, and void-born are still losing their chains to the Archive, even after it was destroyed almost a year ago. I figured a town with a void-born population would help Avaris adjust.
Bren listens without interrupting. Around them, the tavern’s ordinary warmth continues, but her attention stays fixed on Kynes and the reason he chose Morningstar for Avaris.
Bren
That makes sense, love. You were not choosing their life for them. You were choosing a place where their beginning would not need to be explained as a defect.
The faint violet glow from the workshop touches the tavern window again, then fades. Somewhere beyond the street, Avaris is learning among people who understand being made different.
Bren
Morningstar may not spare Avaris every difficult choice, but it can give them examples, patience, and room to refuse old expectations. That is a good road to offer.
Bren raises her cup toward him, her expression softening. The choice remains Avaris’s, but Kynes’s reason for bringing them here has landed plainly between them.
“" I mean, most of the void-kin at the Hall of welcome come here on their own." I shrug as I take a drink. " I mean why not.."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +2)
Kynes
I mean, most of the void-kin at the Hall of Welcome came here on their own. I shrug as I take a drink. Why not?
The spiced drink warms Kynes’s throat as he lowers the cup. Hearthlight glints across the table, and Bren watches him with patient attention rather than suspicion.
Bren
Because it is a place where they already chose to gather, love. That matters. You were not sending Avaris to be corrected. You were pointing toward people who had made their own beginning.
Bren’s expression eases, and the last uncertainty in her question disappears. She understands the choice as practical shelter for Avaris’s autonomy, not a plan imposed upon them.
Bren
Morningstar gives them examples without giving them a script. If Avaris stays, leaves, works, or changes direction, the town can still have been the right place to start.
She raises her cup in a small toast, accepting the reasoning plainly. Beyond the tavern walls, Avaris’s first lesson continues, chosen freely and without anyone deciding what it must become.
“"what road is next dear." I ask with a smile”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
What road is next, dear?
Bren sets her cup down and glances toward the tavern window, where Morningstar’s lanterns shine through the deepening evening. Her answer comes without hesitation.
Bren
The next road is a quiet one, love. We finish our meal, check that Avaris and Nhal are settled, and give them room to choose how tonight ends.
She reaches across the table, resting two fingers lightly beside Kynes’s hand without taking it. Her gaze remains steady, practical, and warm.
Bren
After that, we learn the town as ourselves, not as protectors hovering over someone else’s beginning. Tomorrow, we can decide whether the wider road calls us.
Beyond the window, Morningstar settles into its evening rhythm. The immediate road is clear: rest, reconnect, and let the choices already begun remain freely chosen.
“I ask Bren what troubles her”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
What troubles you, dear?
Bren’s fingers pause beside Kynes’s hand. The tavern’s warmth remains around them, but her attention turns inward before she answers, weighing how plainly to speak.
Bren
The quiet after danger troubles me, love. I know how to watch a door, follow a target, and find the next threat. I am less certain what to do when no one is asking us to run.
She turns her cup slowly between both hands, eyes lowered to the dark drink. No alarm sounds outside, and no shadow moves across the window.
Bren
I am also troubled by how quickly I make your dangers mine. Protecting you is part of loving you, but I do not want vigilance to become the only way I know how to stand beside you.
Bren finally meets Kynes’s eyes. Her expression is open rather than guarded, and the admission leaves the space between them quiet, honest, and safely hers to continue.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach a shared understanding with Bren about life beyond danger
“I straighten up " Bren Baenre, void construct of Emlarlra Baenrae, second daughter of Yvonnel Baenre. We have know each other in one form or another for more then 2000 years." I pause. "You've chosen to stand by me more times then I count. And I am grateful. I have never compelled you to follow." I pause giving her a playful grin. " You chose that." I say plainly.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
Bren Baenre, void construct of Emlarlra Baenrae, second daughter of Yvonnel Baenre. We have known each other in one form or another for more than two thousand years.
Kynes
You have chosen to stand by me more times than I can count, and I am grateful. I have never compelled you to follow.
Kynes straightens, then pauses with a playful grin. The tavern’s warmth continues around them, but his words leave their corner still and attentive.
Kynes
You chose that.
Bren’s guarded posture eases. She reaches across the table and closes her hand over Kynes’s, accepting the gratitude without deflecting it or diminishing the choice behind it.
Bren
I did choose it, love. I chose you, again and again, because standing beside you was never obedience. It was my decision, and I am still making it.
Her thumb brushes once across his knuckles. The old uncertainty in her face settles into quiet assurance, and the space between them feels shared rather than guarded.
Quest Complete
Reach a shared understanding with Bren about life beyond danger