Teldin considered the big warrior's words for a moment, then nodded. "I'm going to tell you," he said firmly. "What happened today-"

The illithid's mental voice cut him off. Background is often important, Estriss said, and in this case I feel it is key. Perhaps you should start from the beginning.

Teldin nodded agreement. Quickly but thoroughly he repeated the tale of how he'd come to possess the cloak, of his encounters with the neogi, and how he'd escaped from Krynn with the gnomes. Throughout, Aelfred remained silent, taking it all in. Teldin watched the big man's intelligent eyes. He quickly recognized the flicker that indicated that he'd left something out or hadn't given enough detail, and made sure to remedy that immediately. As a result, there was no need for questions. "That takes us up to today," Teldin eventually concluded.

Aelfred rubbed his tired eyes. "Improbable, incredible, impossible," he grumbled. "If I hadn't seen what I saw today, I wouldn't believe a word of it."

The power is there, Estriss interjected, and the tale has its own kind of consistency.

"I know that," Aelfred countered, "and I don't disbelieve you, Teldin. It's just that…" He waved his hand in the air to indicate confusion. "I don't understand magic… and truth be told, I don't trust it or like it much, not deep down." He sighed. "You've got no idea who these… these creators are?"

"Estriss believes they might be the Juna," Teldin answered slowly.

Aelfred let out a bark of laughter. "Well, he would, now, wouldn't he? No offense meant, Estriss. It's just that you-or anybody, I'm no different-you're going to see everything through your own interests and preconceptions." He shot Teldin a keen glance. "What do you think?"

Teldin hesitated a moment, then shrugged.

The first mate laughed again. "Playing it close to the chest, I see. Of course you don't know who the creators are. Of course you don't have any suspicions. And of course your interest in the arcane was just coincidental. Well, I freely admit I know nothing of such things." The big man's humor faded, and his face grew serious again. "This cloak has cost a lot," he pointed out quietly.

Teldin felt cold. The cost weighed heavily on him, probably always would. All the deaths-the gnomes in Mount Nevermind, the crewmen aboard the Probe-were his fault, and would haunt him for the rest of his life. He nodded miserably. Aelfred's hand grasped his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. Teldin looked up. The warrior's expression was still grim, but there was understanding in his eyes. "Don't get me wrong," the first mate told him. "It's cost you, too. I'm not blaming you. Nobody who knew the facts could. You had no choice through any of this." He spat a curse. "Neogi. May the gods damn them to the lowest pits of the Nine Hells. How did they find us anyway?"

It seems possible the neogi are able to somehow track the cloak, Estriss remarked.

"How?" Teldin demanded, very glad that the conversation was on another subject. "You said you could only sense magic from it when it actually did something."

Estriss gave a broken-backed shrug. Through the use of my limited abilities, yes, he admitted, but that does not mean that others cannot sense it even in its dormant state. In fact, there are many legends that tell how various artifacts have other artifacts that are attuned to them. The illithid paused. There is also another possibility. Perhaps, when the cloak's power is used, the characteristics of that power can be detected and recognized from a distance. Did you first experience the powers of the cloak before or after the neogi pursuit began?

Teldin searched back through his memory to the start of this whole affair: not long ago, in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed now like a lifetime. Memories had begun to fade…. When had he first realized there was something unique about the cloak? Surely it was soon after the ship crashed, but was that before or after the first spidership had arrived? "It was after," he said slowly, "I think."

"You're not sure," Aelfred said flatly, "and how could you be? How could you know just what the cloak was doing, and when? Hells, it could have been protecting you from bird droppings from the first moment you saw it, and you just thought the birds had lousy aim." The warrior grumbled into silence for a moment, then took off on another tangent. "Neogi aren't common in Krynnspace," he mused. "It's one of the few places you're reasonably safe from them, but what happens? We take you-and your cloak-aboard, and we get intercepted by a deathspider. Coincidence?"

Perhaps, Estriss replied. It happens.

"I know it happens," Aelfred rumbled, "but think. We know there were neogi in Krynnspace, the ones who were after Teldin. It's possible-vaguely-that we were just unlucky enough to run into them, but do you know what the odds are of passing another ship in the flow so close that you're dropped to tactical speed?"

It happens, Estriss said again. Neogi, by nature, will attack my ship they encounter. That means nothing one way or the other.

Aelfred growled in frustration. "I know, I know, but I can't help thinking. If the neogi can track the cloak somehow, that explains how they intercepted us. It makes me wonder, Teldin. Those pirates who attacked the gnomish dreadnought, were they pirates? Just pirates? Or were they after the dreadnought for a reason?"

You may as well ask why the Probe happened along when it did, Estriss put in mildly.

Aelfred had no answer for a moment, then he smiled ruefully. "Aye, I know," he said, "that way lies paranoia." He turned to Teldin. "We've been arguing past you as though you've got nothing to say, while you're the person who can probably say the most. Have you got anything to add, or ask, or anything?"

Teldin had to admit he'd welcomed the respite while the other two shot comments and theories back and forth. While they debated, he could pretend the whole thing was an intellectual exercise, the kind of discussion he'd sometimes overheard between his grandfather and the old man's friends: interesting in its own way, but with little relevance to the real world of crops and plantings. Now he was forced to accept how deadly serious the whole thing was.

The other two were looking at him steadily, expecting an answer. He sighed, bone-weary of the whole burden. Why him? he asked yet again. But the burden was his, and he had to bear it as best he could. It hadn't been laid on Dana, or Sweor, or Shandess, or any of the others who'd died aboard the Probe. It had been laid on him and him alone.

"If the neogi can somehow track the cloak," he said slowly, "if they can-and I think we have to assume they can-then I have to leave the ship."

Teldin wasn't sure what kind of response he expected from the other two. What he didn't expect was the reaction he got from Aelfred.

The first mate threw back his head and roared with laughter. "You'll find it a long walk back to Krynn, old son," the warrior said.

Teldin felt his cheeks coloring. ""You can drop me on some other planet," he said sharply. "Anywhere will do."

Aelfred sobered immediately and laid a calming hand on Teldin's shoulder. "Sorry, friend," he said earnestly. "I shouldn't have laughed. What you said was nobly said, but none too practical. If the neogi can track the cloak, then they'll come and get you wherever you hide. If you're by yourself, they'll kill you and get the cloak." He grinned deprecatingly. "Truth be told, I'm just an old mercenary. I know little about magic, and that's just the way I like it, but I do know one thing." His voice hardened. "I've got good reason to hate the neogi, and just because they want something-whatever it is-well, that's quite enough reason to keep it away from them."