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"With...Elistraee..." Gale flinched. It was not the answer he hoped for, but he was not entirely surprised. Despite his more questionable actions, Caeral had been a good soul. It was only right he should be blessed with a peaceful afterlife in the warm darkness. It wasn’t too late to leave him be, let him rest. But cur... |
"Are you happy, where you are?" The whistling whisper squeezed forth again, lungs filled and emptied. |
"Yes...and no..." Gale quirked an eyebrow, but the corpse said no more. |
"Why are you not happy?" |
"Missing...home...Missing...love...". Gale’s heart seized and fluttered tumultuously. He had one question left before the spell’s power waned. He carefully considered, then took a shuddering breath in. |
"Do you want to come back?" |
The corpse rattled and twitched as one last whispered word bubbled forth. |
The spell’s power waned, and he watched as the man gently lowered to the floor once more. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He still didn’t believe that someone would abandon the afterlife to come back to him. He barely breathed as he readied the true resurrection spell. Concentrating hard, he let the arcane gl... |
After a beat, Caeral bolted upright, gripping his chest. His head whipped around as he heaved air in and out roughly, and finally his wide eyes landed on Gale. He froze in place, arrested by piercing ice blue eyes. Caeral’s face broke in a grin, and he flung himself at Gale, tackling him to the floor, laughing. Gale hu... |
"You came back," he half-sobbed. Caeral put his hand on Gale’s face, his gaze soft. Gale traced the lines of his jaw, his cheeks, looking into those crystalline eyes. "Your eyes are gorgeous," he murmured. |
Caeral smiled, pressing a kiss to Gale’s lips. |
"Of course I did. I love you." They stayed there for a long while, limbs tangled together on the floor, lips locked in a passionate embrace. Gale was at peace and deliriously happy. Slowly, that happiness ebbed away, and guilt crept into his gut. Tav would not experience this joy, not without his help. The worst thing ... |
"There is something I must do, and I must do it alone." He gripped Caeral’s hand and Caeral gripped back. "You might not like it." His eyes didn’t meet Caeral’s, already torn between staying like this forever or helping his dearest friend. |
"What is it?" He chewed on his lip absently, and Gale’s heart fluttered as he realized - no fangs. He pushed it aside, taking a deep breath. |
"I need to speak to the Hidden One and hope for his mercy." |
Thine own wish claimed this power, mortal. With power comes responsibility, and sacrifice. Without sacrifice, the world is unbalanced. I cannot grant thy request. |
Gale knelt on knees and elbows, fully prostrate before the Overgod, Ao. He was not corporeal, but rather the echo of the shape of a beard and pair of hands in the sky, infinitely tall and wide, His voice a whisper and a shout. It was almost too much for his mind to comprehend, and so he bent his face to the ground, shi... |
"O Great Watcher, I have learned the folly of my actions. I do not wish to ascend to godhood, only to live out my remaining years on the mortal plane. Tavwren has shown great spirit and heroism in completing her task - as such, the very fate of Faerûn has been altered, as You have requested. If she has not done so in m... |
If this mortal seeks a favor, why is not she before Me? Why do thou seek Me, instead? No, Gale Dekarios of Waterdeep. Thou wish to take from Myself two favors, though only one task thou hast completed. Is it not so? |
Gale pressed his forehead into the ground. It was true; he hoped the Overgod would allow his challenge to slip away, unnoticed, and help Tav. He thought for a moment, then stood. The glorious sight was wondrous and awful, but he kept his chin high. |
"I have completed the challenge You set before me. I can choose to banish Mystra, yet I will not. It would be an enormous detriment to the realms, all, should she be displaced by me. I wish to simply go my way, and ask only that You return Tavwren to her mortal state." He nodded his head, bowing at the waist. "I would ... |
Tav and Vivienne walked down the cobblestone street of Baldur’s Gate, soaking up the feeling of the sun on their skin. It had been raining when they set out from their comfortable home in the lower city, but now the clouds had parted. Everything was wet and sparkling, diamonds clinging to wood and stone. |
Tav was contemplative. It had been several months since the change. She still jumped when she passed a mirror and found that it was not empty. Vivienne’s pale cheeks had hardly changed, but the deep brown of her eyes added to her ever-haunted look. She could be a fey creature without the vampirism. Tav had not heard fr... |
Rounding a corner, a small dark man bumped into Tav and she startled. Looking at him, their eyes the same height, there was a familiar humor to them. She reeled back, mouth agape, just as Vivienne flung herself on him. Caeral grasped her about the waist and spun, and she shrieked in delight. He put her down and looked ... |
"Caeral? H-how? When?" Her brow furrowed angrily and she smacked him lightly on the arm. He laughed good-naturedly and rubbed the spot. "What the hells took you so long?" He grinned at her. |
"Good to see you, Tav." His piercing blue eyes were striking. Perhaps that was why his vampiric color was so light - the red couldn’t completely obfuscate the almost white coloring. She studied him closely, then looked behind him expectantly. |
"Where in the nine hells is Gale?" Her eyes were hard, and Caeral looked down. She softened, a small sound escaping her involuntarily. |
"He went to talk to Ao, and he didn’t come back for a long time." Tav blinked rapidly, confusion clouding her mind. |
"But he did come back?" Caeral nodded, shifting uneasily. |
"He’s mortal again. But he’s been...punished. He has his arcane hunger back. We’ve been far away, hoping to keep casualties to a minimum should the orb in his chest explode." A million questions sprang into Tav’s head, but they vied for her attention like yapping puppies and she couldn’t pin one down to ask. Thankfully... |
"What was he punished for?" At this, Caeral smirked. Tav quirked an eyebrow at him. |
"Insolence," he shrugged. Caeral recounted how Ao had been bemused, but not quite happy with Gale’s speech, and had agreed to grant his request, only if he would sacrifice something in return. They had agreed that he would be cursed with the netherese orb for the rest of his days, in exchange for Ao setting to right wh... |
Tav puzzled, her face falling. If Gale was no longer a god, then where was Astarion? Why hadn’t he been freed? Caeral seemed to glean her question from the look on her face, and he shook his head. He did not know. Tav’s heart dropped into her stomach, the world reeling around her. The devil had gone back on his word. M... |
"Come on, Mother. Let’s go home. We’ll figure this out." She looked at Caeral, a small smile playing on her lips. "Are you coming?" Caeral shook his head. |
"No, I’ve got to start heading back. It’s a long journey." He hugged the pair once more and Tav barely felt it as she was dragged away. Suddenly the sky looked gray and colorless once more, the shining diamonds more like tears than stars. |
She did not think on the walk home. She felt numb, empty. Silent tears ran down her face as Vivienne prattled on, heedless to the oblivious nature of her companion. Tav floated more than walked, her feet finding the path despite her empty mind. As they crested the dirt hill just outside of the city proper, her eyes wer... |
The figure turned halfway, and she was able to see more of his features. He was slightly tanned, definitely an elf; his long pointed ears stuck out slightly from beneath familiar white curls. As she approached, the world fell away and all that was left were two shining green eyes. She stared into them, and Astarion’s ... |
"Hello, darling." |
Astarion was a couple of chapters into just about the worst romance novel he had ever read. His companions were nearby, busying themselves with preparing dinner. Karlach and Wyll were tending to the campfire while Tav and Laezel butchered a freshly caught boar. Shadowheart was suffering through Gale’s long-winded expla... |
Needless to say, aside from a couple of butcher knives, a fire poker, and a rusty corkscrew, no one was exactly armed and ready for a fight when two dozen kobold raiders descended on their camp. |
Laezel was the quickest to react, grabbing a dinner knife in each hand and meeting a group of the reptilian humanoids head-on. Wyll and Shadowheart were tapped out of their spells for the day and Gale was too slow to react to be of much immediate use. Pure chaos was the only accurate way to describe it as each adventur... |
Astarion delved toward his tent, abandoning his dusty book on the ground as he went. He had disavowed himself of his armor hours before and left his weapons on his belt, hung over the large mirror outside of his tent. He had just unsheathed his primary blade when a sharp pain pinched through his shoulder. He belatedly ... |
He lands a hard kick into the stomach of a kobold, sending the creature to the ground before slitting its throat with his off-hand dagger. One of the wretched lizards charges at him from behind, sweeping his legs out from under him and knocking him prone on the ground. His head snaps to the side with a crack as a club ... |
But in the next moment, a ferocious roar scatters the creatures. They turn their backs on the injured vampire in favor of defending themselves from the raging brown bear charging their way. The beast does not give them an opportunity to regroup. It swipes a giant paw outward, sending a couple of the kobolds stumbling b... |
Halsin makes short work of the remaining kobold near the downed rogue, spilling their blood across his fur and onto the dry soil below. Once the creatures are cleared from the immediate area and the druid determines that Astarion is out of harm's way, he turns his hide and charges back toward the center of camp with an... |
Astarion stumbles to his feet and retrieves his dagger to defend himself. But the raid is over nearly as soon as it started, with few casualties. Tav has a few scrapes from where they fell in a scuffle, a nasty bruise is forming under Gale’s left eye, and a dull knife protrudes from Karlach’s back, which Shadowheart is... |
Astarion’s pride is more damaged than his body, though he does have this irksome arrow in his shoulder to deal with. Luckily, the arrowhead had not been poisoned as far as he can tell. Astarion considers that poor planning on the kobold’s part. His fingers wrap around the shaft of the arrow, but before he can yank the ... |
"Don’t. Allow me," Halsin tells him. The Druid is his elven self again, towering above the injured rogue. He looks... shockingly sexy tonight, which takes Astarion off guard. He’s not wearing a shirt and so his muscles are on full display, thick arms, and a chiseled chest with just a bit of fat around his belly. His ha... |
in blood, though Astarion cannot tell whether it is his or the kobolds'. As good as he looks, he |
even better. Spattered in blood from a dozen different sources, a variety of scents and flavors all mingle together into a decadent feast. |
Astarion’s fingers twitch against the splintered wood of the arrow. He halfway considers pulling the weapon free himself just to spite the druid. He does |
like being told what to do, apparently even when his health is at stake. "I don’t need your help," he says slowly. Despite his words though, he lets Halsin lead him to sit on the red velvet stool near his tent. |
The druid kneels at Astarion’s feet, bringing him eye level with the vampire. "Let me see," he says softly, taking the younger elf’s hand in his own. He guides Astarion to straighten out his arm before reaching up to pull the torn fabric away from where the arrow has pierced through his shirt. |
The vampire grimaces at the sight of the newfound hole in his camp clothes. He will have to patch it up later or shell out the gold for a new top. His eyes roam from the torn, blood-soaked linen to Halsin’s face. |
The wood-elf takes his duties as a healer very seriously. His large calloused hands are impossibly gentle as he pulls the fabric aside to examine the wound. "It doesn’t look like it punctured any serious arteries," he explains. His hands go firm then. One holds tight to Astarion’s shoulder while the other wraps his fin... |
Astarion holds still like a statue as Halsin works his magic. He watches with feigned disinterest as the skin around the wood begins to mend. His eyes flutter closed as Halsin’s thumb presses against the newly healed skin to check its integrity. His hand is so warm against the rogue’s undead shoulder. "How does your he... |
"It's fine," Astarion insists, though he does not fight the older man’s gentle hands. |
Halsin rests the pad of his thumb and the knuckle of his index finger under Astarion’s chin. He guides the vampire’s head to turn just slightly for him to inspect the wound. "How’s your vision? Do you feel dizzy?" |
Of course, he feels dizzy, though not for the reason that Halsin suspects. "I’m... fine," he insists again, though he is grateful for the druid’s magic now healing the broken skin at his temple. He does not miss the way in which the older man looks at him with such care and touches his pale skin as if it is the finest ... |
It’s been a week since their night in the woods. Something has certainly changed between the two elves. Halsin keeps his distance for the most part, particularly around their campmates. He allows Astarion to approach him, waiting patiently for the vampire to strike up a conversation. But there are times like these when... |
Despite their flirtations, the two have not seriously discussed where they stand now. And they haven’t had time enough to themselves to reprise the dance they did together. But judging from the looks they shoot one another over the campfire in the evenings, they both know that it is only a matter of time before they ge... |
"You should worry more for yourself," Astarion says finally. He wants to take the attention away from himself as he turns his head from Halsin’s gaze. |
"I am uninjured," Halsin lets his hands drop from Astarion’s face in favor of reaching into his pocket for a cotton rag. He mutters the incantation to create water and brings the damp cloth up to Astarion’s head to wipe the too-dark blood from his skin. "Even if I am injured when wild-shaped, my body returns to its pri... |
Astarion wrinkles his nose and sits back in his seat, leaning away from the other’s hand. He refuses to be coddled by the older elf. "Enough," he says with a tone of finality. He swipes the cloth from the Druid’s hand and uses it to scrub the blood from his temple. "Shouldn’t you be cleaning up yourself?" The tiny amou... |
Halsin watches Astarion wipe away the blood, before finally tearing his eyes away from the beauty of the high-elf’s face. "I’m afraid I will need more than a damp cloth," he chuckles, finally taking in the state of himself. It’s not the first or last time he will find himself bathed in another creature’s blood. Fightin... |
Of course, Halsin’s worry for him was rooted in his obligation as a healer. Astarion rolls his eyes and tosses the now bloodied cloth back at the older man, who catches it easily. "Well, you’ve done your duty, Druid," He says, though he immediately regrets the bitter tone of his voice. |
Halsin’s eyes roam over Astarion’s face, reading him far too easily. "It is my |
to heal the injured," he repeats, "But it is my desire to see you well and my sincere pleasure to tend to you." |
"Yes, yes," Astarion starts, waving his hand in dismissal, "I remember all too well how pleasurable you found |
to me." He smiles, proud of the innuendo and even prouder of the deep laughter that rumbles through Halsin’s chest. |
"I am pleased to know you haven’t lost your sense of humor," Halsin says as he stares up at the vampire with a fond smile. He rests his hand on Astarion's knee. Large fingers grip his lower thigh and the Druid leans his weight against the vampire as he stands from his kneeling position. It’s a casual gesture, but surpr... |
Astarion tries to ignore the way his stomach tightens with the fingers around his thigh. The large hand is gone in an instant. And the rogue immediately mourns the loss of the warmth of it. |
He stares down at where that hand used to be. He wants to say something smooth, something teasing, or coy, but nothing comes to mind. He looks up at Halsin from his seat. His eyes roam over the divots of the other man’s abs, the brown hair that dusts his stomach and chest. His strong shoulders and thick neck and the sl... |
Halsin blinks down at him. The two men don’t share an illithid connection. Oftentimes, Astarion wishes he could push his way into Halsin’s mind. He wants to show the other man exactly what he wants. But at this moment, he doesn’t need to. They both already know. |
"Are you two okay?" The sound of Tav’s voice severs the moment between them. |
Astarion smiles, flashing his pearly white fangs at the Druid. The mischievous expression fades as he turns to look at Tav. Sitting back in his chair, he crosses his legs, resting his right ankle on his left knee. |
The half-elf bard jogs over to the pair, slowing down as they get close. Their eyes dart quickly over Halsin and Astarion, searching for any visible injuries. They take in the state of both men, Astarion looking just a bit roughed up and Halsin covered in kobold blood. They let out a slow breath of relief when they dee... |
Astarion rolls his eyes at the question and crosses his arms over his chest, a retort on the tip of his tongue. But Halsin beats him to it. |
"Not at all," the Druid turns to face Tav. His carefree smile easily masks whatever moment the two men just shared. "Astarion had a few injuries I was tending to. How are the others?" |
"Everyone’s okay. I mean, Wyll’s tent has a hole down the side of it and Gale’s pot roast was knocked into the fire," Tav explains, "but other than that. We’re okay. None of them got away so we don’t have to worry about them coming back with friends. But just in case, we’re going to keep watch in pairs tonight." |
Halsin nods in understanding. "I do not require much sleep. I have no problem taking the first watch with whoever will join me. |
Astarion fights the urge to roll his eyes again. Ever the Nobel Druid, selfless to a fault. He is annoyed at the older elf’s goody-two-shoes attitude, but even more irritated that Halsin seems to have brushed Astarion’s desires to the side so easily. |
Tav nods slowly before letting out a quiet laugh. "I don’t think most of us will be sleeping for a while longer. Everyone’s pretty rattled. You should go wash up." Tav takes a step back and lets their eyes run over Halsin again as they speak. "You could probably use a bath." |
Astarion lets out a quiet laugh. Tav is clearly checking the Druid out. Despite their newly budding relationship with Shadowheart, even they cannot help but appreciate Halsin’s body for what it is: a true work of the gods. All muscle and tan skin and hair. They could at least try and be more discreet though, Astarion t... |
Halsin nods and chuckles quietly, unphased by the pair of eyes roaming down his body. "Of course," he says simply. "I will not be long." His eyes dart to Astarion, so briefly that Tav misses it. But the look he gives the vampire is unmistakable. Desire. An unspoken question, a request, and a plea rolled into one glance... |
Astarion watches Halsin leave and stares on as the Druid stops by his own tent to grab a bag. He waits until Halsin has disappeared in the direction of the river’s bank before looking to Tav. "What?" He asks with a tilt of his head. Tav is staring at him incredulously. "What is it?" |
The bard takes a step closer and leans in, dropping their voice to a hissing whisper. "I definitely interrupted something!" They hiss out, glancing between their pale friend and the direction in which the Druid had gone. "Why didn’t you say anything?" |
"What was I to say?" Astarion quips back with furrowed brows, "Begone, Bard, we have private matters to discuss? Or perhaps, you would have preferred something more direct: Go away so that I may cleanse our blood-soaked friend with my tongue?" |
Tav’s face flushes pink, undoubtedly imagining the scene. They puff out their cheeks, much like a petulant child. "I would have understood," they insist before shaking their head and continuing, "You need to go after him right now!" |
"Tav, My dearest, I do not chase after my bedmates," Astarion insists, though he remembers that enticing look that Halsin sent his way. The Druid |
for him. Would it be so bad to give the other elf what he wants? "Besides, the moment has passed." |
"Has it?" Tav asks, resting their hands on their hips. They fix the rogue with a hard, scrutinizing stare. They look Astarion over for a moment and the corner of their lip tugs up into a small smirk. "In that case, I might have to follow after him myself. Shadowheart has made it very clear that I can have a pass if I e... |
Astarion barks out a laugh at that. "Oh, did she really?" He asks with a smile, but when he searches Tav’s face he finds the bard harder to read than normal. Had they actually discussed this before? Shadowheart hardly seems the type to share, but then again, it is |
She would have to be blind or heartless to deny Tav that pleasure. " |
?" He asks again after a moment, his smile faltering just slightly. |
"I’d owe her details," Tav says with a shrug and a grin. |
Astarion knows what Tav is doing. They are trying to make him jealous. Trying to push him toward a decision. |
So why does this idea bother him? He is under no illusion his and Halsin’s relationship is exclusive. In fact, there is hardly enough of a connection there to even be considered a relationship at all. They certainly are not lovers and sleeping with someone twice does not exactly make them friends with benefits either. ... |
But the way Halsin’s eyes met his as he walked away... That look, seductive and inviting, was meant for |
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