A tale from Naridale by Darrin Trailsong, M.Bd., as told to Chris Ahrnsbrak

Dedicated to David & Valerie Black for all they've done for Lakeland and Sheboygan

"I've told you the tale of the curious hamlet of Howards Grove, have I not?" asked the famed bard Darrin Trailsong, leaning back in his chair atop the makeshift stage in his own Whistling Swan Inn. He was a man of no small means, his long past days of adventuring having provided him with more wealth than he would ever need. But the brown-haired bard took no small pleasure indeed in telling the tales of his past, each tale as alive in his mind as the flowers that dotted the landscape around his hometown of Naridale. "Nay? Perhaps it slipped my mind for the moment. But no more!

"A strange little place, this Grove," he began, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "I daresay it is not much larger than the whole of Naridale; perhaps it is indeed slightly larger. A bustling town it is, too, growing by leaps and bounds as nearby cities grow ever closer to it. It was a place very alive, filled beyond bursting with life!

"Outside of this village, however," he said, lowering his voice, adding to the very mood of the tale, "there was an even smaller community-- a small college, not unlike our own College of Magical Arts here in Naridale-- known to the world as Lakeland. Perhaps six hundred lived within its parameters, so small a place was it. And something there..." Darrin shook his head sadly. "When I first arrived at Lakeland, there was very little life to the place. It was a dark, perhaps gloomy place-- sure, there were a few interesting folk who made life bearable, such as Elder the Poet or Garland the Merchant, but beyond that... nothing. Even the waters of the land were foul.

"Into this land came a new force," Darrin continued, eyes bright. "Though their shared name, Black, meant darkness in many languages, they brought a new spark of light into the land. By their friends, they were known as David and Valerie.

"And those friends!" he shouted, rising to his feet for emphasis. "They numbered in the hundreds-- nay, the thousands! To the small community of Lakeland they brought life and, perhaps more importantly, they brought hope. David was a doctor in his own right, a man whose dedication to the small community of Lakeland was proven true when, during his reign, the community blossomed from a small group of perhaps six hundred into a robust legion numbering over two thousand, encompassing not only the small communities of Lakeland or Howards Grove, but numerous other places around the entire world!" Darrin spread his arms wide as though trying to envelop the whole world from his small stage.

"Not only did David expand the community," Darrin continued at length, "but he continued to improve the very heart of his own Lakeland community. In fact, he envisioned a new home for his people, a place where the mercantile arts could be taught to all who would come to learn. And that, my friends, was the hallmark of David's reign in the small community of Lakeland: anyone who wished to learn could sit at the very fount of knowledge and partake of its cool waters. It was not a place for the elite, but a place where even the common man could learn." His face took on a wistful expression as he looked around at the gathered crowd and, after a momentary pause, he continued his tale.

"Valerie was no less a force for education than her David," the bard said, smiling. "Pious, she was, as well as fair; it was through her own unique talents and drives that a smaller school in a neighboring city was similarly transformed, from a place dedicated to her God to a place rededicated to her God and to the concept of a family-- a concept that was sorely lacking in those changing, turbulent times, I must say. Together, the two were a nearly unstoppable force for the small communities of Howards Grove and Lakeland...

"Until the day they were called away." Darrin sat back down once again, much of the charged emotion draining away from his speech into a feeling of malaise. "A higher calling, said David, upon telling all of the news. To the east they would go-- Valerie first, to prepare the way, then followed by David some months later when all his affairs at Lakeland were settled. They would, of course, leave everything in good hands-- a valued assistant, the very capable Gould, in fact, had been named his successor-- but things were never to be the same at Lakeland.

"When he left," Darrin said softly, "the community of Lakeland entered a period of uncertainty. Which, not coincidentally, is when I took my leave of the place. Something was just... lacking. A spirit, perhaps, a sense of life. Something that the both David and Valerie provided that just seemed to be missing when they departed. Will that spirit return? I know not. Perhaps one day it will. And when it does, you can be assured that I will once again return to that place, to those gentle autumn breezes, to those wondrous winter nights when the snow blanketed the fields, and to the bounteous springtime within the small community that is Lakeland." With that, Darrin nodded his head, signifying the end of the tale of Howards Grove.

It was an hour before Darrin finally left the stage; he had been persuaded by those present to tell at least one more tale, and he shrugged and wondered who he was not to oblige them. Finally, after all the tales he would tell were told, Darrin Trailsong walked over behind his bar to relax as folks began to slowly filter out. "So what did you think of the story?" he asked a dark-suited man sitting at the cherrywood bar before him.

"I don't know," he said, running a hand over his chin. "But I think you gave me more credit than I deserve."

"Nonsense," Darrin replied. "I gave you less than your due, Doctor. It's not everyone who has the power to truly change lives. Even I, as but a visitor, was touched by your presence. I daresay it was somewhat... magical."

"Magical, eh?" the Doctor replied, finishing the last sip of his drink and turning the glass over on the bar. "Good choice of words. The adage is true, then."

"Adage?" Darrin furrowed his brow in puzzlement.

"Yes," replied the man-- Dr. David Black-- as he grabbed his hat and coat and headed for the door. He threw the coat casually over his arm and tipped the brim of his cap toward the befuddled bartender. "I guess it really is that good ol' Black magic that sets things right."