Contingencies for Contingencies

The heavy footfalls of Colin's boots along the wooden floor of the library echoed throughout the room.  Throm studied the warrior carefully. Predictably, Colin's rate of alarm had been steadily increasing since he had learned of Sanria's departure. His decision to follow and approach Sanria was already apparent in his body language.

'Where did she say she was going, exactly?'
Throm continued to study the man as he divulged the information that would soon put him on a course to Sanria.
'She'll probably be on her way to Torregiano. After that I believe Baldur's Gate and Waterdeep.'
Colin's frustration was evident in his voice as well as the increased speed of pacing as he glared at Throm, shaking his head.
'Just when things seemed to be coming together. I'm sorry, but there's no way I can just sit up in this house and not care that she's out there by herself with all that we've seen. You convinced me that this threat was big enough to go into the rift, yet you are fine with just letting this happen.'
Throm leaned forward upon the table as he nodded earnestly.
'Shall we pack up the ship, and bring her back by force then?'
Colin waved him off, his frustration clearly mounting as he detected Throm's sarcasm.
'No, don't you worry, you carry on however you want. I can take care of this.  Thank you for the information.'
'What would you do?'
Colin turned to Throm, signs of a cool anger simmering just beneath the surface evident even to the sorcerer.
'I told you, I'm going to make sure she's safe. After that... we'll see.  It wouldn't be the first time I've been a guardian. But maybe you've forgotten how.'

His comment hit closer to home more so than Colin could have known. He was right in ways he could not have known. Throm was accustomed to moving people about, as pawns on a chessboard, but even in the worst of times he had not made habit of doing so with friends. He had always drawn an invisible line in the fabric of his moral state, separating friendship from the cool calculating voice within him that always seemed to get things accomplished efficiently.

'If you must keep tabs, then do so. I know deep down I would feel better about it. But by blundering in, announcing that you don't respect her freedom to get away. Does that truly serve her...or does it serve you?'
This earned him another angry glance from the larger man.
'I'm not you Throm. I can't just sit back and watch things happen. I also won't slip about following Sanria like some king of thief, and I won't operate based upon assumptions.'
Throm nodded, reverting mentally back to his original plan. Colin was a man of action, Throm could respected that. His concern would lead him not to dance around the issues, but rather to charge directly into the heart of them. Throm knew his own concern was no less, but there was always a plan to be executed. A contingency for contingencies. While both may in truth have the same goals in mind, they were opposite sides of the coin in nature. But it would be both sides that would be needed to see this through.
'I hope you will keep me informed as well. I'll be leaving here as soon as I catch up with Thasmudyan. I will be staying at the Blockade east of the city.'
Colin issued a somber nod which did not necessarily commit to or against doing so.
'Well, time's wasting. I need to make preparations. I have a lot of ground to make up.'

The warrior departed, leaving Throm to scratch out the location of potential hidden caches upon a piece seconds before the man in black slipped back into the room, chuckling in sarcasm though speaking quietly so as not to be overheard.
'Long time no see.'
Throm folded the parchment and handed it to the man returning his comment equaling his tone of sarcasm, in the process.
'It has been indeed.'
The Cetra cast a glance at the doorway after Colin.
'It's good to know I still have friends out there. Ensure he doesn't know you're following.'
'No doubt.'
 
The man nodded and once more took his leave. Throm sighed, alone to his thoughts once more. He had but one more task to complete before leaving the manor. His gaze drifted to the small necklace that still lay upon the table. He would need to see to it's safety, and for that he would need Thasmudyan.

Contingencies

Little galaxies, each one containing perhaps hundreds of worlds. Be they symbolic or literal Throm knew not. The only thing he knew was that the necklace they had found within the cave inside the rift was a powerful artifact, and according to Kaliadra may perhaps be capable of travel to other worlds not reachable by standard arcane means. The journey back had been uneventful, the return home more so. Sanria had left after perhaps a day after their return, and Throm couldn't blame her. As glad as he was to have everybody under the same roof, he imagined the manor had become quite stuffy as of late. Even with the knowledge that she would be outside of his immediate protection Throm was secretly glad that she was headed east.  It was probably safer there than it soon would be in Westbridge.

Throm stood from the table where he sat within his library and walked slowly over to the map which covered the northern wall of the room. Most of it had been filled in thanks to efforts combined between the topographers at Melancholy's and his own personal travels. He inwardly mused which parts me might fill in next, turning away only at the sound of a polite cough in close proximity. He smiled at the darkly clad man before him 
'Apologies my friend, the older I get, the more I tend to drift off into other worlds.'

The man laughed, his leather armor creaking slightly at the movement. Shaking his head so as to neither confirm or deny Throm's statement he spoke in a voice that betrayed years of smoke inhalation and soft spoken words.
'We've been unable to locate her.  Thus it may prove difficult to ensure her safety.'
Throm nodded.  His eyes scouting over the man to determine the sincerity of his statement. A short time ago, it would have been only a quick word throughout the web the Emirc Dezinagro Syndicate maintained and the information would have been at his fingertips. He turned to the bookcase closest him, and slowly ascended the ladder to the top rung as he searched aimlessly along the upper shelves.
'There may be another way. As we speak a man by the name of Colin Stone searches the manor for either me or Sanria. He will fare better better than you I imagine.'
Again the man laughed. If his feelings were hurt his ashen face showed no sign of it.
'I suppose you'd like me to follow Stone, who will lead me to Sanria?'
Throm frowned.
'His name is Colin, and it's not quite that easy. I will see to it that supply caches are at your disposal in case the worst should befall him. He's still trying to figure out what may be happening to him and does not yet know the full of it.'
The man raised an eyebrow. He ran a hand through a tangled mane of black hair.
'I don't know the full of it, nor the empty of it. What's happening to him.'
Throm shook his head, glaring down from the ladder for a moment before resuming his browsing along the book shelf.
'You don't need to know that.  You'll know what to do when the time comes. But for now I'll recommend a hasty retreat, Colin is approaching.'

Throm didn't hear the man depart, but the voice of Colin behind him confirmed his leaving. 
'Throm, hello.'