She woke up with a terrible pain in her head that seemed to throb with the beating of her heart. She was lying sprawled across a bed in an unfamiliar room. Though she was alone, she did hear voices from somewhere not far away. As her memory returned, Kreet realized where she must be.

She'd never drank much before. Of course, working as a tavern wench she had drank a bit of mead and ale on occasion, but she'd always found the taste unpleasant and the effects it had on the patrons was not really one she was keen to experience. So she stayed away from the stuff.

Until last night. Oh Pelor! Did she really? With the kobold bartender?! What was she thinking? What if she was pregnant? The worst part was, she could barely remember it. It had been her first real sexual experience beyond her furtive and doomed fumblings with Brand, and she could barely even recall what had happened.

She sat up. At least she was alone. Probably one of the band of adventurers she had been traveling with had carried her up here after she'd passed out. She hoped. Her gold was probably gone by now. She shook her head and the room spun. Somehow, her gold seemed the most important thing in her life. If she actually had gotten pregnant last night, she was going to need it!

Kreet stumbled out into the second-story hallway and headed toward the main tavern room. A man passed by, staring at her as if he'd never seen a kobold before - which was unlikely given that this tavern specialized in catering to the smaller folk like kobolds. She ignored him. Her brain still felt mushy, so she shrugged if off. She had to know if her gold was still hers.

As she descended the stairs to the common room, she was relieved to see most of her companions were still there. Most importantly, she saw the big man she'd entrusted with it, Sigmundurr, and she saw he still kept it nearby.

Eyes began to turn in her direction and the crowd's din quieted. She looked left and right. Why were they looking at her like that?

And then a cheer went up that resolved into, "KREET! KREET! KREET!" She looked to her companions and the big man came over to her, after grabbing a rather dirty tablecloth.

"Kreet! Glad to see you awake again!" said the big man.

"What's going on? Why are they... "

"Well, for one thing, it's not often they get to see a naked female kobold," Sigmundurr laughed.

Suddenly she looked down as he wrapped the tablecloth around her. If she could blush, she would have been bright red. Instead her eyes turned a deep shade of violet and she tried to crawl inside her new wrapping. The squeak she let out was unintelligible in any language, but completely understandable. Kreet was certainly not any sort of exhibitionist.

"Kreet, stop that. It's okay. They love you here!" said the giant - giant to her eyes anyway - and he pulled her back as she tried to flee up the stairs.

Kreet relented and followed him back towards the table where her companions were, but she kept the tablecloth tightly closed and pulled the corner of the tablecloth over her head in embarassment.

"Kreet!" said the monk named Dinkle, rising as she took a chair as far away and as out of sight from the rest of the patrons as she could. "Welcome back! Shall I order another round?"

Suddenly she realized something. She turned to Sigmundurr.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

He looked at her puzzled, "Since last night."

"We put you to bed around midnight," the ranger Aeverin interjected. "You've slept the whole day and now it's early evening. You don't drink often, do you?"

Kreet shook her head but then another thought struck her. Her eyes darted to the bag of gold beside the big man. "How much is left!" she screamed as she realized the bag was considerably smaller than last she'd seen it.

Sigmundurr shrugged, but the monk smiled. "Thus far your largess to the local population amounts to exactly 128 gold since arriving. You are now officially the most popular kobold that has ever set foot in this fine establishment. There is talk of erecting a statue in your honor... and after your entrance just now, I expect the statue will be much more accurate!"

At hearing the figure, the little kobold let out another squeak and her face became forlorn.

"No more?" the big man asked. He was a crude sort, and terribly, terribly violent. Not stupid by any means, but tended to pursue his immediate thought without consideration. Fortunately for Kreet, he'd taken a liking to her. He easily could have ran off with her gold, but he didn't seem inclined to do so.

"Please. No more!" she managed to say over the crowd noise.

She found herself nodding as the other patrons cheered her and raised their glasses too, her smile halfhearted. And then she saw the bartender. He was beaming at her as if she were a goddess. She wasn't sure she could face him. But then the ranger motioned him over to their table and he came scurrying up like a puppy.

"Yes? Is there anything I can do for you? Perhaps, Miss Kreet, you'd like to visit me again in the back room?"

"NO!" Kreet screamed too-loudly, but saw the hurt look on his face. He really was a cute little kobold. He stood a little shorter than her, but she was a bit taller than most kobolds. Now his eyes seemed to be glistening with impending tears. If only she could remember his name...

"I'm sorry. No, I'm... Just no. Sorry, um... what was your name again?"

"Kreet! Don't you remember? I'm Kallid! You remember we... last night... You were magnificent!"

"I'm sorry Kallid. I'm... sure you were too. I drank a lot though. My memory isn't what it should be."

"What the Lady wanted, barkeep, is to shut off our tab. The party is over," Sigmundurr interrupted menacingly.

"Oh!" the little kobold said, looking around. "Oh, they're not going to like that."

The big man puffed up at that. "If Kreet says the party's over, the party's over. If anyone has a problem with that, they can take it up with me!"

"Oh, to be sure! Please, no need to be offended! But... maybe before I announce it, you'd like to go back to your room? It would probably be best."

Kreet and the others nodded their agreement.

"Yes, come if you want guys. Let's go back to my room. I need to figure out what's happened. I... don't remember a lot."

"Certainly!" Sigmundurr said, rising from his chair. It banged to the floor as it lost its grip on his thighs. The ranger, Aeverin, and Dinkle the monk rose to follow, while the others chose to stay.

Once in her room, they all heard the moans from below as the announcement was made, but it was soon followed by more chants of "KREET! KREET!".

"You've made quite an impression!" Dinkle said as he sat on one of the chairs while Sigmundurr and Aeverin sat on the bed.

"Guys, would you mind terribly looking away for a minute? I'd like to change."

"What is it Kreet?" Sigmundurr asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Um... Would you mind refreshing me on what's been happening? I remember you all, but my brain's gone all fuzzy. Last thing I really remember clearly when we were all in that slaver's cage."

"The cage? You forgot everything since then?" Sigmundurr bellowed.

"Well, I remember bits. But it's all confused. Just... give me the basics."

The three turned away from her while she got her clothes off the floor and put them on underneath the tablecloth.

Aeverin began, "Well, you know, that guard let us out. And then Sig killed that crazed wizard. Threw him down the spider pit."

"Then on the way out we found that princess or whatever she was," Sigmundurr continued.

"Right, I remember her..."

Aeverin resumed, "and we all agreed to help get her out and to this city, but we ran into some elf bitch."

"And then you cast that disarm spell, that apparently released some cursed sword from her hand, and she turned into a cloud of locusts!" the monk concluded.

"Oh! I remember now. And that's where..."

"Yeah... you found that gold. 1000 gold. That you tried to hide from us, but got Sigmundurr to carry for you anyway. Kreet, it's not like we didn't notice!"

"And I've already spent 128 of it..." Kreet cried, looking at the dwindling bag.

"Plus expenses..." Aeverin added cheerily.

"And my 3 gold for carrying it," Sigmundurr chimed in.

Kreet used a word then that she really didn't use all that often.

The monk continued, "In addition to your room, we have 2 other rooms we have to pay for."

"Wait! Don't you guys have any money of your own? Why do I have to pay for everything?"

"I have 3 gold," Sigmundurr confessed. Kreet rolled her eyes.

"Kreet, until a couple days ago we were slaves. Not exactly a good paying job," Aeverin pointed out.

"Oh, dammit. So what do I have left after expenses?"

'You still have exactly 742 gold left," the monk said, that annoying smile still stuck on his face.

"I guess I'd better give you guys some," Kreet said, her eyes now a smouldering blue.

"That would be a nice gesture," the monk smiled.

"There are 9 of us."

Kreet began doing some calculations in her head. She'd never been trained much in mathematics, and it made her head hurt.

"Might I suggest 25 gold each? That would come to 225 altogether, leaving you with 517."

The monk's smiling face was beginning to really grate on Kreet's nerves as he calmly told her she had essentially lost half her fortune in one day. But then she sighed. What would a kobold do with money anyway? She was a cleric of Pelor and had spent it on drink and... debauchery.

"I guess that's fair. Dinkle, you're obviously good with math. Would you mind handing it out to the others? But I'd really like to try and get home now. I've had enough of this adventuring, and I have no idea where I am."

"Certainly, Kreet," said the monk and he began counting out the coins nearby.

"You're not staying with us?" Sigmundurr asked. As powerful and fierce has she'd seen him, she'd come to like him for some reason, even if she'd used her own small magic against him on occasion already.

"No Sig," she said. "I need to try and find my way home. I don't suppose you've ever heard of a small town named Fallon? There's a Monastery of Pelor right beside it?"

Her three companions shook their heads.

"Never heard of it," Aeverin admitted. "And I've travelled extensively. But I guess it is time to break up this little group. I'd like to get back home myself. And the sooner we get out of this town and the Underdark, the less likely we'll be enslaved again."

The three left Kreet in her room then, each 25 gold richer, and with the monk taking the rest of the gold for the others, but not before Kreet asked Sigmundurr to ask the bartender up to her room.

As the door closed behind them, Kreet sighed and looked at the little bag of gold remaining. Still a bit much for a kobold to carry, but far easier than she wanted it to be. She was no longer rich. Now she was middle-class at best. And she had no idea how to get home. She looked at her belly.

"Is there anybody in there?" she asked it. "I'm not really ready for you, you know."

A knock came at the door. "It's me, Kallid!"

She cringed at the eagerness in his voice. "Come in Kallid."

His eyes were as bright as candles. He looked so cute, she felt bad having to dash his hopes, and briefly considered whether she might... just one more time...

But no, that would just make an untimely pregnancy even more likely. Instead she shook her head and patted the bed beside her. "Sit here, Kallid. Talking is needed," she said in kobold, knowing she couldn't speak it as well as a native.

The eyes dimmed a bit. He couldn't hide it, but he sat beside her.

"Kallid... last night. It was... mistake."

Kallid responded in the Common tongue, "Certainly. You don't know me. You just wanted to fuck."

"I did. But it was a mistake. I can't stay here. I have to go to my home, and my home is Outside."

"You live Outside?"

"I do, Kallid. I was born in a place Under, but now Outside is all I know. I want to return."

"I understand," Kallid said, putting his hand on hers. "But, what if..."

"That's the problem. Kallid, if I am pregnant, I will raise your children well. But I will raise them Outside."

Suddenly his eyes turned sad. "Outside? How can I see them if they are Outside?"

"I'll teach them. I'll tell them about you. They will come to visit."

"But... they won't know me. No. This must not happen. I will go Outside."

"Would you do that?"

"If... I will, if you have my children in you."

Kreet smiled, for the first time since she'd woken up.

"Kallid, you don't have to. I have gold. You don't need to change your life for me."

The bartender looked at her, a flash of anger in his eyes.

"Not for you. For them!" he said, and touched her belly. Kreet had not been raised with a clan, and casual touching by others wasn't something she was used to, but she held his hand to her belly.

"You are a good kobold, Kallid," she said, suddenly realizing that this kobold was not just a bartender and a 'bold looking for somewhere to put his penis. He was a complete person, with a history and a morality every bit as valid as her own. Her story had intersected with his. She had offered him a way to let them separate again, but he was having none of it.

"Kallid, I... really don't remember much. I'm sorry to have interrupted your life so, for my own drunken pleasure."

He laughed - a short, barking sound. "Your pleasure was my pleasure, Kreet! You think I like working here? I do not. I don't know what life is Outside, but I will go with you, if you will have me."

She thought about that. It wouldn't be fair, of course. But she could use the company. And if she proved not to be pregnant, he could just return.

"Even if we don't do any more bumping?"

The kobold looked at her, his head cocked to one side. "No more bumping? Why not? You liked doing it with me last night."

"Because, silly, I don't want to be pregnant!"

"Oh," he said. "Oh... you don't want to have my babies."

"Well, Kallid, I only met you last night. Surely you understand..."

Kallid brightened up. "That's true. But if I come with you Outside, you will know me better! Maybe then you will...."

"Okay, that's fair enough. But, don't expect it, okay? I'm really not the kind of kobold you thought I was. I am a cleric of Pelor."

That caused a reaction, certainly.

"The lord of Light? A kobold? You are making a joke."

"No, Kallid. I'm not. I am a cleric of Pelor and I want to find my way back home. Are you still sure you want to come with me?"

He considered it for a moment, then shrugged. "My babies must be shown the foolishness of their mother's ways. I will come."

"Well then, you'd better make preparations. I leave tomorrow morning."

"Can I... sleep with you tonight?" he asked, eagerness in his eyes.

"Really? You want to sleep with me?"

His eyes began to glow again.

"Well, okay. But no bumping, right?"

"Sure Kreet! No bumping! Until you know me better... I mean... well, until you like me better?"

"That's more like it. And no promises. But... Yes. Until I like you better. Or I'm pregnant. Then, I guess I might as well!"

The door closed behind the little kobold, his eyes now glowing every bit as much as they had when he'd come in.

"Well that didn't go as I expected!", Kreet thought.

But she had to admit she felt better knowing she would have a companion at least. And, if she turned out to be pregnant, she would have the father with her. She could just start her own clan, after all. It's what she'd dreamed of, before him.

Brand. There were people she needed to find. It was home. She thought of Brand, and then Kallid.

"Oh Pelor," she said aloud as she flopped back onto her bed. "Pelor, help me. Guide me through this. I don't know what I'm doing!"