Session 6: Nomad's Reflection

I would have thought fate was intervening the moment I saw that demonic circle. But there was the dream before that, the familiar faces after, and everything else that's happened since. I wonder what this means for me, but more importantly, for Zora. I've always feared that one day I'd leave on some mission and not come back. She knows this. She accepts it, just as I do for the possibility it is. But I don't want to leave her, and I move forward with caution now that the stakes are only going higher. But there's a sense of resolve I haven't known in a while, and it comes from the people around me, I'm surprised to admit.
 
"Don't be ashamed of your face."
 
Kal's words to me. I don't know how much torment he faced at Hell's hands or what he was made to do, if anything at all. But he's retained his compassion, and while my mind was focused on addressing what I thought was a threat, he was more concerned with my wellbeing. Something only Zora and Orianna used to do, but then, they were the only ones I ever let close enough to express that sympathy. And then Angus...No hesitation. Simply, "how can I help?" I'd tell him more, but I'm beginning to realize there will be a time and place. Till then, I'll honor him the best way I know how: by fighting evil at his side as a brother.
 
Looks like we have a new home. It didn't come without its share of complications, but it also feels like a small victory for a number of reasons beyond the fact that we have a home now. For me, I'm realizing that there are walls within me that are either fallen or weakening. Where once I called upon the powers of Hell and saw it as a curse, I've already done so twice around them, and with the knowledge that they don't judge. They trust me to use it for good, much like any warrior with a sword in his hands. It's a tool. Nothing more. Nothing less.
 
Is this all it is now? I know better than to reveal this secret to the world for what it might attract, but around my companions, the circumstances seem clearer. Defined by intention. I learned long ago that evil will always exist. Darkness is an extant absence of light. One cannot eradicate the other, but it can influence what is revealed and what is hidden. What's upheld or what's destroyed. My being is a cursed one, yet from how they see me, whether it's with hope like Angus or with indifference like Illidrex, I wonder now if this curse might be molded into something more. A subversion of hate and acceptance of hope. I'm sure Asmodeus is laughing at that, but it's enough for me. At least for now.
 
Anyway, for the first time in a long time, I feel nobler. More aligned with what I've always meant to do. And despite how much it hurt, plunging my hand into that portal and helping to close that link to the Abyss felt a victory. Tearing the demons apart was a triumph knowing it safeguarded my friends and the folk of Waterdeep. I just wish the Watch could have seen us when we were fighting rather than trying to talk our way out of the alleged crimes. I trust there is a peaceful and honorable solution to this, but I know it'll cost us. I have an idea for it, as well as how I might find out more regarding the stone of Gallore and what's going on with the embezzled fortune.
 
First I'll talk to Volo and Floon. Then it's time to pay a visit to an old employer. Hopefully he's feeling charitable.