Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"(This letter is written on plain paper, it has been carried in a pack for some time causing it to become quite crumpled. It is undated but appears to have been written over a period of several days)

Gale do you have any idea just how difficult it is to extricate yourself from a place like the settlement? It was unbearable. Completely ridiculous the fuss they made over me leaving. I shan’t miss it in the slightest."

Astarion set Morena's letter down carefully, then picked it up to read it again, as if doing so would change the utter impossibility of what it said. He inspected the paper, checking for signs of falsity and upon finding none, scrawled a reply on the back and sent it off. 

Packing to leave took almost no time at all given that he had never truly unpacked in the first place.

Actually leaving took significantly longer. First to town hall to inform the registrar that his home would no longer be occupied and could be given to someone else. Then to the communal pantry to collect a small portion of appropriate rations for his journey, he’d gotten rather used to being at least marginally well fed and would rather not give it up if he could avoid it. Onward to where he knew Dalyria would be working in the little clinic set up for the mortals living in the settlement.
The conversation was brief, Dalyria and the others have known the whole time that he wouldn’t be staying forever. He was here out of obligation and nothing more, the only real surprise was how abrupt his departure was to be. She gave him her best, said she’d inform the others, and made him promise to write using the now communal first prototype of Gale’s letter box.
He then had to escape the wailing clutches of several children, begging him alternately to not leave and to take them with him. He only barely managed to extricate himself after several minutes of reassurances that really he’d be just fine and that his journey would be a very boring one. 

That harrowing experience finally done, he made his way over to the docks to catch a boat to the Grymforge. The elevator there was the simplest way to the surface and as a bonus it wouldn’t take him too close to Reithwin Town which meant he should be able to skirt neatly around it on his way down the river towards the Gate. 

It was dusk when he emerged from the old temple, making it easy as thought to set off in the right direction, and with only a little staring at the map to determine what precisely that direction should be. He resolutely didn’t look back as he left. 

"The trek through the former Shadow Lands was utterly boring," 

Even in the darkness of night it was easy to see how much the land had recovered over the last year.  He’s glad to see it, not least because the land had settled somewhat from its previous roil of floating islands and insurmountable gaps, making his un-life far far easier. 

The trek was simple, quite boring aside from the slowly rising unease that Astarion categorically refused to acknowledge. One foot in front of the other, ignore the sound at the edge of his hearing that sounded upsettingly like a heart beat, climb down this hill, climb up that root. This land was cursed for centuries, the shadows flickering at the edges of his vision are perfectly normal if one took that simple fact into account. Pay no attention to how the branches of the gnarled trees almost seemed to reach out to him as he passed. Everything was just fine. 

"but I endured it with my usual unflappable calm."

Four hours on, the moon sat fat in the sky and everything was not fine. The trees no longer merely reached, they snagged and snatched at his clothing. The shadows no longer flickered, they loomed. The sound of giggling dogged his every stumble. 

Eventually, after one too many near face-plants due to an inconveniently placed root Astarion staggered to a stop and leaned face first against the nearest tree. If they wanted his attention so damned badly then they could have it. When he straightened and turned he was greeted with the sight of the two rapscallions that had been making his life so difficult. 

Thaniel spoke first, Oliver nodding along.  “We just wanted to say hello, and see where you were going in such a hurry.”

It was said with such false innocence that Astarion couldn’t help but laugh, making both of the boys grin. 

“We also wanted to say thank you! Since you kept running away whenever we tried before.” Thaniel continued. 

So it was this again, and with no easy escape this time. May as well get it over with. Oliver stepped forward holding out something for Astarion to take as he spoke.

 “You reminded me that the world isn’t fair and I can’t have everything I want so I should hold onto what I already have. If you hadn’t I would have kept on running away from Thaniel. You made me see clearly, so here’s something that can help you do that too.” The object he held out turned out to be a smooth river rock with a hole worn all the way through, a pretty enough trinket and one Astarion would be idiotic to refuse when coming from something like Oliver. Thaniel stepped up next and handed over a knobbly Y-shaped stick as he too spoke his thanks.

“You brought me back what I needed, this will help you find what you need. We’ll let you go now, just remember to let Halsin know where you’re going or he’ll worry.”

Then, with as little fanfare as they had appeared, the two were gone. That honestly hadn’t been as bad as he thought it would be.

"It was something of a slog frankly and took far too long for my tastes." 

The rest of his journey was fast, he learned quickly that if he wore clothes that covered all of his skin, a ridiculous wide brimmed hat, and a scarf that covered most of his face he was able to travel during the day and so long as he exercised caution the ability to travel during both night and day cut down his travel time significantly. 

"I took a rest in Baldur’s Gate and spent a night in style all over the city and then I easily secured a spot on a ship heading north for the winter. No need to waste my precious time walking after all."

He stayed only one evening in Baldur’s Gate and spent the whole time running around securing a spot on one of the very last ships north to Waterdeep. The whole thing cost him a pretty penny too for being so last minute. Worth it in the end to avoid the need to walk to Waterdeep. Even he couldn’t keep up the pace he’d been going forever and he had to get there as soon as possible. Gale needed him.

"My arrival in Waterdeep was met with all the fanfare I deserve, obviously."

The knock on the door early one rainy evening, not long after Morena sent her letters, was a bit of a surprise. Given that all of Gale’s local friends had keys and she wasn’t expecting any of his other friends for another tenday at the very earliest. She bustled down to answer the door fully expecting to shoo away some hopeful salesman or a mistaken visitor confused amongst the maze of the Sea Ward. What she actually found was an elf, soaked to the bone, who looked so tired he might just burst into tears, or perhaps pass out. Thankfully he did neither of those things and as the door opened he instead drew himself up to give her a charming smile that would have been much more convincing if the bags under his eyes didn’t look as if they weighed more than he did. 

“Hello, you must be Gale’s mother whom he’s told me so much about!” His voice was hoarse, from what Morena couldn’t tell, but he continued speaking nonetheless. “I am Astarion Ancunin, here in answer to your letter asking for my assistance.”

So this was the Astarion her dear boy spent so much time talking about, and here so fast too. She would have to interrogate him later about how he got here so fast. In the meantime though she ought to get him in out of the rain. 

"Morena was a most gracious and welcoming host."

“Oh come in, come in! You poor thing, it’s been pouring down like this for days, just terrible isn’t it.” She continued chatting about nothing at all as she pulled the poor man into the front room, snapping her fingers a few times to dry him out. He looked pleased and a bit surprised that she took the effort. He only had one bag which he set down carefully on the bench next to the door as he sat down to take off his boots. When he removed his coat he was far too thin for her liking, she would have to make a stop at the butcher tomorrow to get him a nice source of blood. 

When he was ready she bustled him down to the kitchen to get a cup of hot tea into him and then led him up to the guest room that Gale had ready. Bless that boy and all his ridiculous over-preparedness.

"She gave me a quick tour and then told me you could wait one night and put me right to bed." 

After Astarion had put his bag safely away she led him quickly through the rest of the tower to get him acquainted. By that time the poor man was practically drooping he was so tired. So she had pity and led him back to his room where he promptly fell onto the bed and into his trance. She watched him for a moment and then grabbed a spare blanket to drape over his prone form before she snuffed the lamps and closed the door.

"I woke early the next morning refreshed and ready to take on the world."

Astarion was pulled abruptly from his trance by the crack of thunder and sat up rubbing his eyes blearily. A quick look outside revealed the darkness of night, made darker still by the blanket of heavy clouds across the sky. After a brief, failed, attempt to return to his trance Astarion rose and lit the lamps; giving up on getting any more rest for the night. 

The room Morena had given him was nicely appointed, the furniture was in warm wooden tones and all of the bedding and other such items were in lovely shades of burgundy, just as he had advised Gale to use. Good to know that it turned out how he had hoped it would. It was all high quality work too, exactly as he would expect from a man of Gale’s tastes. 

After a few moments to wake up Astarion set about unpacking his things into the trunk, set of drawers, and wardrobe in the room. Gale had said he was free to stay as long as he liked after all, and it would be deeply inconvenient to live out of his bag while running around trying to figure out how to help his friend. That task finished he set to exploring the rest of the room. 

One wall was given over to a large round window with a sill deep enough to sit in comfortably. The window also had thick curtains that when drawn covered the whole thing without allowing any light in from outside at all. A nice touch. 

There was a desk, stocked with paper, quills, and ink of course. Next to that was a mostly empty bookcase which Astarion would put his meager collection on later. A perusal of the books already there revealed tomes on various subjects but no specific theme. 

There were two doors in the room, one of which led to the hall. The other door led to a very nicely appointed bathroom. There was a large etched copper tub with spigots on the wall for running water and a shelf with a stack of fluffy purple towels. More interesting though was the vanity, which had a wide counter and in the place where a mirror would normally be was an empty space. A close inspection of the wall revealed minute and intricate runes carved into it, the pattern was complex and only half finished. It was illusion magic of some sort but further than that he had no clue and so put it out of his mind for the time being. 

Finished with his inspection Astarion took advantage of the large tub and hot running water to have a long soak, feeling much more like a sentient being afterwards. After getting dressed in clean clothes he slipped out into the hallway to go have a little snoop around.

"Of course it was far too early to go bothering your mother so I took the time to become better acquainted with your home. I started with your library of course. You really do need to see to getting some chairs soon."

Gale’s library was a total mess. All of the books were on shelves but there was little organization and even less furniture. In one corner there was a beautiful piano, but other than that nothing. The room smelled faintly of fresh paint though and the walls were a soft blue. Gale was a busy man and Astarion knew he was focusing on his study and bedroom first so the state of the room didn’t surprise him. 

"Your kitchen is exactly how I imagined it would be."

The kitchen was warm and cozy, almost disgustingly so, and Morena had mentioned on their little tour earlier that the large table and matching set of chairs were a new addition. While he was there Astarion had a poke around the pantry and cupboards, finding them to be stuffed to the gills with ingredients and even some leftovers. He thought the pantry might be enchanted with some sort of stasis spell, there was always a specific smell to the air with those, but he would have to confirm with Gale to be certain. 

"I only peeked at your study but your desk was just as nice as you said it is."

His look around the study was brief, the room was overfull, and none of the furniture matched. It seemed that Gale was still in the process of phasing out the old to bring in the new. Which made sense given some of the more delicate equipment the room contained. Haste would likely result in disaster,
One look at the desk told him that Gale hadn’t been bragging when he said that even Astarion would have trouble finding all the secrets. The whole thing frankly screamed intrigue, from the complex carving to all the little drawers revealed when he pushed open the roll top. He nearly started going through it all right then and there, but decided that it would probably be a good idea to at least ask first.

" I must be honest, your bedroom wasn’t what I was expecting."

Gale’s bedroom was mostly empty. It contained all the essentials, but little personality at the moment, though Astarion could see where Gale was preparing to fix that. One wall had patches of color painted on it, and one part of the floor was stained in at least three different ways.
There were books here too and an armchair that had clearly been dragged in from somewhere else sitting next to the bed. On the floor near it was a hamper full of knitting supplies and a box that, when opened, contained a set of wood carving tools and a half finished carving of something that might eventually be a tressym. 

Eventually there was no more avoiding the tarrasque in the room, and Astarion had to turn his attention to the bed, and the man it contained.

"I only stayed long enough to say hello and see how you fared. 

You had best wake up soon Gale or everyone will be very cross with you I’m sure.
Astarion" 

Chapter Text

For a man who had apparently been fast asleep for the last dozen or so days, Gale actually didn’t look all that bad. Shadowheart had said earlier in the year that he seemed to be faring much better now that he was home and Astarion had to agree now that he could finally see the man in person.
Gale looked much the same as he had when they’d last seen one another, better even. He’d filled out some and the bags under his eyes, once a defining feature of the man’s face, were all but gone. The mark from the orb was still present, but faded and almost silvery in the dimly lit room. If Astarion hadn't known better it could almost have been mistaken for a rather avant garde tattoo. 

Astarion was also aware of Gale’s heartbeat, it was almost loud in the quiet room. It was slow with sleep but unmistakably Gale’s. And now in the same room as the source, he realized that he’d been able to hear it from the moment he entered the tower; he even fancied that he might have heard it from outside, but that was likely his own tired mind playing tricks on him. 

Gale’s heartbeat had always been disturbingly easy for him to track, from the second he’d pulled the ridiculous man out of that rock by the nautiloid crash right up to the moment they’d parted for the last time at the Elfsong, any time Gale was nearby Astarion heard it. Once he’d been able to alert the others to trouble from across the goblin camp simply because the rhythm of Gale’s heart had changed. Shadowheart, a part of the trouble Gale had gotten himself into, had never been able to wheedle out of him just how exactly he had known they needed help. No matter how often or how cleverly she asked. 

None of this was to say that he wasn’t also aware of other heartbeats, even now he could faintly hear Morena’s; just one floor down in the other guest room. Another made itself known as Astarion moved closer to the bed, much smaller and faster, under the covers of the bed. It was simply that he was more aware of Gale’s heartbeat than most others and the acoustics of this tower were well suited to hearing them. The familiar sound of it certainly hadn’t been haunting his trance for the last two months, and most definitely had not been a factor in his decision to finally start traveling in the new year. 

The armchair creaked as Astarion sat down in it. He ignored the sound; it wasn’t as if it was likely to wake Gale after all. It did however wake the owner of the other heartbeat in the room. 

Shortly after he sat down a small lump detached itself from Gale’s side and made its way out from under the covers, revealing a decidedly rumpled looking Tara. She stretched luxuriantly, her wings flapping softly before tucking back up against her body. Her bright eyes soon found Astarion and she made a delighted little sound before bounding across the bed to sit in front of him.

“Mr. Ancunin! What a surprise to see you here so soon. We weren’t expecting anyone for at least another tenday you know.” Tara’s voice was soft, as if in deference to Gale’s sleeping form. 

“Well I could hardly leave you all waiting so long, and there were still one or two ships heading north for the winter. It was no trouble at all to secure a place on one of them.”

“Is that so? And how was your trip? Did you find travel by sea to be to your liking?”

Astarion groaned and slumped in the armchair, throwing an arm across his forehead theatrically as he did

“Tara darling, it was perhaps the worst tenday I have ever had the displeasure to experience. Not even getting kidnapped by Illithids and then thrown headlong onto the path to saving the world could compare.” A blatant lie, but one she didn’t bother to call him on, the dear thing. He went on to bemoan the horrors of travel by sea, with only moderately more sincerity, and enjoyed the way it made her laugh at him. 

Once Astarion’s tale came to an end Tara grew more serious, her wings rustled and shifted with her nerves as she spoke.

“As I am sure you know, Mr. Dekarios has fallen into some sort of enchanted slumber. We, that is to say Morena, his other friends in Waterdeep, and I, have been unable to ascertain why. Despite numerous attempts to diagnose the cause, it has eluded us. None of us were able to dispel it or determine anything other than the fact that whatever it is it’s very powerful." Her normally certain little voice carried a note of despair as she continued. “I was the one to find him. At first I thought he was merely sleeping in. He hadn’t been feeling well the past few days and he needed the rest. I only grew truly concerned around dinner time, I’ve never known him to miss it even on his worst days. It was at that point I made a more concerted effort to wake him, and when that failed I summoned Mrs. Dekarios.” 

By the time Tara had finished speaking her whole body was trembling gently, and to Astarion’s mild surprise she made no protest when he reached out to pull her into his lap. She told him the rest while he scratched behind her ears and let her knead his leg with her razor sharp claws. It went like this.

So far they had ruled out anything that had happened during Gale’s time back in Waterdeep. As far as all of them were aware he had done nothing to earn any particular ire, keeping mostly to himself and his circle of friends. He was also not known to be the sort to keep his quarrels with others to himself according to Tara.

“Why, when he had that little tiff with you in Kythorn I didn’t hear the end of it for a tenday.”

Physically Gale seemed fine, aside from the fact that he wouldn’t wake. A cleric they brought in had also added that his pulse was rather difficult to find, though not impossible. 

Morena had sent the letters the day after Gale’s predicament was discovered. They had all gotten together that first day and gone through what they knew. It was eventually understood that whatever had happened it had to be after Gale’s year of self imposed isolation, something which Tara could account for the entirety of; but before his return to Waterdeep, a time that Gale had told all of them little about outside of the barest details. Thus the summons to Waterdeep. The letter boxes were useful but only went so far, it would be easier to figure this out in person, whatever it was.

Eventually Tara fell silent, pressing her body closer against Astarion and curling up into a tight little ball. They sat together in silence like that, watching over Gale until morning.

Annette was somehow unsurprised to walk into Gale’s room and find the armchair occupied by a vampire. She’d only briefly stopped into the kitchen to say hello to Morena before coming upstairs and the woman hadn't bothered to mention Astarion’s presence. Assuming, correctly, that Annette would take it in stride. 

Normally she would take a moment to open the curtains and air the room out before heading over to the bed to check on Gale, but letting in sunlight would be a very bad idea given the nature of one of the room’s occupants. Instead Annette took a moment to observe him.

Astarion was slumped in the armchair, deep in his trance, with Tara sprawled across his lap. He had his legs kicked up onto the bed and still had one hand draped across Tara’s back as if he had been petting her when he finally drifted off. All in all it made for a tableau that she knew would send Gale into paroxysms of flustered delight if only he could see it.
Alas he could not, and so it fell to her to wake them both. She knew a little about Astarion from things that Gale had told her and so decided that touching him would be a poor decision. Instead she walked back over to the room’s door to open and close it loudly as if she had only just entered.

Astarion woke with a start that toppled him out of the chair. His long limbs were all akimbo and Annette could hear Tara complaining loudly underneath him about the rude awakening. She gave them a moment to sort themselves out while she went around the room turning up the lamps. 

By the time she was done and turned back around to greet him Astarion had smartened himself up admirably, nothing he could do about the fabric imprint across the left half of his face, but she wasn’t one to judge. He looked much as Gale had described him, a pale elf with white hair and red eyes. He was shorter than her, many beings were, and skinnier than he ought to be. Gale hadn’t told her that he held himself like he was ready at any moment to cut and run. She wondered if that was because that was never what Gale saw. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you in person, Astarion. Gale has told me much about you over the last year.” Annette kept her voice deliberately light. Even if their first meeting was under less than ideal circumstances, she would make the best of it.

“Only good things I hope.” His voice was a little hoarse. “Though you seem to have me at somewhat of a disadvantage my dear. You clearly know who I am and yet I have only an inkling of who you might be.”

“I am Annette Olarys.” She walked over to shake his hand while she said it, his grip was ginger and he was careful of her claws, but not afraid of them. 

“Oh yes, you sent me a letter once. I thought I might have recognized your perfume.”

An interesting detail to note, but then vampires did have a sharper sense of smell than most. She would have to ask him about it later if he would let her. In the meantime though.

“Morena will likely want you in the kitchen for breakfast soon and I would like to air the room out a bit. It always gets musty overnight and the sunlight will be good for Gale.”

Astarion nodded at her and made himself scarce as she walked over to the window to draw the curtains and open it. When she deemed the air in the room to be sufficiently fresh, if a bit cold now, she closed it and walked over to the bed. She set the armchair to rights and then sat down in it picking up her knitting out of the basket nearby.

“Gale, you are my friend, but you are also a fool, and that man only stayed away this long because he is a fool too.”

One rather flustered trip down the stairs later, Astarion made his way into the kitchen, and was met with the smell of a full fry up. It would appear that Gale had learned his opinions on a proper breakfast from his mother. Every day in camp he had always emphasized the importance of fueling oneself properly for the day and made sure everyone ate their fill of whatever he had whipped up. He had even taken to making sure that Astarion was properly fed when they made their way to Baldur’s Gate where he had access to rather more butchers than he had out in the wild, and as Morena placed a cup in front of him, Astarion discovered that she had done the same. 

“Here you are! I popped on down to the butcher this morning to pick up some supplies for you. Should you find yourself hungry I’ve placed a chilled jar on the third shelf down on the right in the pantry. You’re welcome to use the stove to warm up your meals if you wish. Just make sure to wash the pot after.”

Astarion sputtered out a thank you and then drained the cup. He hadn’t gone entirely hungry during his trip but the rations from the settlement were limited and he’d had to make them stretch. The idea of having a meal whenever he liked felt like a luxurious one. 

In fact rations at the settlement had been limited in general, setting up a steady supply was an ongoing problem even now. They were probably glad to be rid of one more hungry mouth now that he was gone. Which reminded him, he would have to write Dalyria soon to let her know he had made it safely. If only so that she wouldn’t waste uses of the letter box to ask about after him.

When she noticed that he had finished his cup Morena refilled it over his protests. Then she set a plate of food down for herself, and another for Tara.

“Now then, I assume Tara has filled you in. So why don’t we go over what we can with just you here. Then the others can fill in the gaps as they show up.”