Niminay and Penny

Penny had spent more time designing the quest that she was currently handing out than she’d spent on any ten battles of the war against the Consortium combined.

“I feel like we normally get some time off after saving the world?” Niminay said, tilting her head from one side to the other as she tried to parse out the meaning of the various figures and icons which were present on the mural in front of Penny.

“We do. We will I mean,” Penny said, without turning to face her. “I just want to be sure we’ve actually saved it.”

Niminay chuckled.

“I can understand the sentiment – it’d be nice if the world would stay saved for a change, but will all this really guarantee that?” she asked. She traced her fingers along the glowing lines which showed where different resources were meant to move and in which order they’d be deployed.

“Honestly? Not really,” Penny said, and sagged, placing a hand against the wall. “After everything we did though, we’ve got to try, don’t we?”

“No,” Niminay said, her voice as gentle as fingers she threaded through Penny’s hair. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“You’re going to tell me I’ve done enough already?” Penny said, relaxing back into the head massage.

“I’m going to tell you that ‘enough’ isn’t what you should measure yourself by,” Niminay said. “We’re never ‘enough’. There’s always some measure we can fall short of, especially if that’s what we’re looking for.”

“That sounds like quitter talk,” Penny joked, closing her eyes to enjoy the massage more.

“Yes, definitely, because you’re clearly all about quitting, Ms. ‘I have ten thousand copies running around fixing the world and that’s still not enough’,” Niminay said and paused for moment, “You did let that spell go right?”

“Mostly,” Penny murmured, hoping the massage would continue.

“Mostly? How many copies does ‘mostly’ leave you with?” Niminay asked, the implied threat of the head massage ending if she didn’t like the answer clear in her tone.

“Just a few,” Niminay said, knowing that indirect answers would probably not lead to anything good but rolling the dice on the low odds nonetheless.

“So three then?” Niminay asked. They both knew it wasn’t three. It was a test, one which Niminay gamely rose to meet.

“Less than three percent of what I had before,” she tried.

“But still three digits worth of copies,” Niminay said. It wasn’t a question. It didn’t have to be. “And you’re knocking yourself out here? What do you have them doing?”

She resumed the head massage but only after guiding Penny down into one of the nearby chairs.

That was good. Penny hadn’t noticed just how tired she was or how close she was to toppling over as the massage relaxed her more and more.

“Secret project,” she said, her words taking on the pleasant lassitude only the border of sleep could impart.

“Secret from who?” Niminay asked.

“Right now? Everyone.” 

“And when you’re done with it?”

“Won’t be a secret at all then,” Penny said.

“And can it wait?” Niminay asked. “Maybe till after you’ve gotten an actual night’s sleep for a change?”

“Nope,” Penny said. “Too risky. Just lucky it hasn’t been too long already.” 

“That sounds serious,” Niminay said, sounding not in the slightest bit convinced of that.

“Very,” Penny said, unconcerned about being convincing so long as the massage continued. “The most serious quest I’ve ever planned.”

“You did just save the world from a thousand apocalypses at once,” Niminay said.

“That wasn’t me. Lots of people worked on that one. Everyone really.”

“True, but a whole lot of the influential ones were listening to you, and you can’t say you didn’t do more than your share in making things turn out like they did.”

“You were the one out on the battlefields,” Penny said. “I had it easy by comparison.”

“No you didn’t,” Niminay said. “You stretched yourself past your breaking point. I worked hard, but I worked within my limits.”

“Because you’re smart,” Penny said. “A lot smarter than people seem to notice.”

“That’s because I’m standing next to you most of the time,” Niminay said. “If people have a question, they know you’re the right one to ask.”

“But I’m usually not,” Penny said. “I know tactics and strategy. I just know enough of other things to listen to the real experts when they’re talking.”

“In that case I have a new expert for you to listen to,” Niminay said.

“But I don’t have any questions I need to ask,” Penny said.

“I think you do,” Niminay said. “Probably several in fact.”

“Such as?” Penny asked.

“Well, I would start with ‘how did I get back to my bedroom’? And then maybe slide over to ‘why am I dressed in pajamas’? Maybe with a ‘whose pajamas even are these?’ thrown in too.”

Penny looked around. She was indeed in her bedroom. And dressed in pajamas. Surprisingly comfy pajamas. In her favorite colors. Made from [Perfect Cloud Down] if she wasn’t mistaken. 

“How?” was all that she asked.

“You are a lot more run down than you thought.”

“But…” Penny started to object.

“Is your Secret Project one that you really want to work on when you’re this out of it?” Niminay asked. “If it’s important, shouldn’t you be at your best for it?”

Penny grumbled.

“I’ll take that as firm agreement,” Niminay said and stood up from the bed where she’d placed Penny.

“You don’t have to go,” Penny said.

“I’m not planning to,” Niminay said. “I want you to fall asleep in my arms and wake up in them too.”

“Because you don’t trust me not to keep working in my sleep?”

“I trust you with all my heart,” Niminay said. “I’m not here to hold you back. I just want to hold you so that you’ll know I’m here and that, in this moment, you’re safe.”

She crawled into bed with Penny and resumed the glorious head massage, luring Penny into drifting down and down in the embrace of a gentle and rejuvenating night of dreamless slumber.

When she woke, dawn was long passed but Niminay’s arms were still around her.

A bright gleam of gold glittered between Niminay’s thumb and forefinger and caught her eye. Since Niminay tended to keep only the most unusual magical widgets the presence of one drew Penny back to full wakefulness, if along a slow and deliciously relaxed road.

“I still remember my first quest,” Niminay said when she noticed Penny’s eyes were open. “I’d scrounged up enough silver to make a single gold piece and that got me a stick that was masquerading as a bow and some other sticks that were pretending to be arrows.”

“I thought your first quests was in the [Dungeon of Draindell]?” Penny said.

“That was my first dungeon, and my first party,” Niminay said. “I’d started adventuring a few weeks before that.”

“With a really terrible bow?”

“Like I said, it’s questionable if I can even call it a bow, but it did shoot sticks                            out fast enough to do some damage.”

“What was the quest you took on with that?”

“Killing rats. [Belgenwatch] had a bounty out on them.”

“Those weren’t ordinary rats as I recall.”

“No. They were not. Little plague spreading monsters. It turned out even having a really awful bow put me ahead of the other fledgling [Adventurers] there. Everyone who ran into melee with them got so sickened they spent their reward money and more on the plague cures. I managed to make some gold at it because I mostly just ran.”

“Definitely a smart play. Especially if you could lead them into your traps.”

“I couldn’t set traps back then,” Niminay said. “In truth I could barely shoot either. But I could run, and I had the time and patience to make it work. I think I got five gold for that work. Took that right to the auction house and spent it all on better gear, all but one gold piece worth.”

“You wanted a memento?” Penny asked.

“I wanted to be sure I could buy another terrible bow if I lost the rest of my money on the next quest. I held onto that gold piece ever since with the idea that all I had to do was to run away at the right time and and I could start over again if I had to.”

“You’ve always wanted to be an [Adventurer] that much, haven’t you?” Penny asked, sitting up and turning to face Niminay.

“It what I wanted more than anything when I young, and it’s what’s made me feel needed and valuable in the years since. I just have one problem though.”

“What’s that?” It didn’t sound like it would be the sort of problem Penny would need to spin out a hundred duplicates to solve, but she was ready to rise to whatever the challenge might be.

“Being an [Adventurer] isn’t what I want the most, and I don’t want to run away from that anymore.”

Niminay turned the lump of gold in her fingers and Penny saw it was far too regular to be called a ‘lump’. It was thin though. Like a coin, except that wasn’t quite right either?

“So I’m not going to,” Niminay continued. “No more running away. And no more last gold piece either. I’m not interested in rebuilding the life I had before. If I have to rebuild from the ground up, I want to build a better life. One with you.”

She turned the bright gold in her hand so that Penny could see the ring she’d had cast from the coin.

“What? No!” Penny nearly jumping out of bed.

There was a brief moment of silence before Niminay chuckled.

“Okay. Not exactly the reaction I was expecting,” she said.

Penny shook her head and put up her hands in a beseeching gesture.

“I didn’t meant that. Obviously,” she said. “But I was going to surprise you!”

“I know,” Niminay said.

“You…how?” Penny asked.

“Your ‘secret project’? You did a great job on operational security, but I am a world class scout,” Niminay said. “I stumbled on one of your cloth shipments and thought it was for some new armor. I tracked it halfway around the world and found the wine requisition and the mystical lighting globes you ordered too.”

“No! That was all supposed to be a gift to you,” Penny said.

Niminay rose out of bed to stand in front of her.

“Do you think I was anything but a sobbing mess when I figured out what was going on?” she asked. “I literally leapt over a mountain when it sank in.”

“But, you stopped me? Why? I wanted to get everything ready last night,” Penny said.

“Because you were wrong,” Niminay said. “You thought you were running out of time. Like you had to catch me before someone else did. Like you didn’t catch me years ago.”

“But I kept putting you off,” Penny said.

“The time wasn’t right. That was okay then, and it’s still okay,” Niminay said.

“But it’s right now. I want us to be together too,” Penny said. “Forever.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Niminay said. “Would you like to take your ring perhaps?”

Penny grabbed it before the offer could expire.

“I love you,” Niminay said. “I have loved you for so long now, and I am so ready to let everyone know that.”

“But I didn’t get the preparations done,” Penny said.

“You didn’t have to,” Niminay said. “The site’s all setup. I had a few of our friends help out and pick up where things left off when you finally let your spell go.”

“A few? So three?” Penny asked.

“Why don’t we go see,” Niminay said, touching the [Magic Dresser] and letting it instantly cloth her in the stunning wedding gown Penny had designed.

Penny followed suit, donning her own gown and thrilling at the weight and comfort of wearing it at last..

“Put the ring on, I had it enchanted with a one-use spell,” Niminay said. “We can choose something permanent for it together later.”

“What’s the activation for the spell?” Penny asked.

“Just say ‘it’s time’ and hold my hand.”

The teleportation effect on the right turned out to be one that enveloped the travelers in a whirlwind of multi-colored petals. As the flower storm subsided, Penny saw they were standing on the small wedding stage she’d setup for them.

What she hadn’t setup for them was the guest list of those who were present.

The ‘few friends’ who’d helped out turned out not to be three people but closer to three percent of the entire population of the world.

Penny choked up. She’d wanted to make sure the world would know Niminay had chosen her and Niminay had delivered exactly that.