Fortunately, they encountered Lae'zel not too far away from the grove's supposed location.
Mereana beamed up when she recognized the warrior. At least she had the advantage of having already worked with her. Surely that would make Lae'zel a more trustworthy companion to keep around than the present company she kept.
For reasons unknown, Shadowheart immediately disliked Lae'zel. She barely explained to Mereana that she was defiant of the githianky in general, and was not particularly in favor of finding this "creche" Lae'zel kept mentioning. Truth be told, she did feel a bit of agreement towards the priestess's opinion. Gith were after all a very unknown race to mortals of the Material Plane ; and she disliked the term "purification" just as much as any sane person. But there was no way she was going to tell the cleric that she agreed with her reasoning, especially not when Lae'zel was around. Mereana tried to compel the half-elf to open up a bit more about her opinions and ideas, but to no avail. And though she had saved her life, Lae'zel did not seem inclined to share anything more about her past either.
Considering the fights they had gone through today, and how tired they felt, they commonly decided to settle for the night and make camp.
Mereana had never truly slept in the wilderness before. She tried very hard not to mention this to anyone, but it soon became obvious. It was the most disorganized camp possible. For once, no one seemed to care for anyone but themselves. Shadowheart was trying to build herself a shelter made out of branches and leaves, trying to keep away from Lae'zel, but her efforts seemed vain as her construction kept collapsing onto itself.
Lae'zel herself had had no trouble organizing a bedroll made out of bushes and vegetation, but had not seemed inclined to share her experience with the others in the group. The fact that she could not see in the dark, contrary to the half-elves and Astarion, seemed to bother her a little. Astarion was busy...doing nothing useful, he was fidgeting around the place watching everyone else discreetly and trying to look as if he knew what he was doing. Gale had promised to take care of dinner, which was great because Mereana was certain that she would not know how to handle cooking, and Astarion had seemed horrified and denied the offered meal, though he had participated in hunting the deer alongside Gale.
Mereana herself was trying to construct a bedroll of her own, gazing at Shadowheart's and Lae'zel"s to guess what she should do, and she had found that fire cantrips were really good to help with keeping the fire. She was battling with strands of bushes, trying to assemble them into something resembling a pillow with a sense of desperation, when Astarion's shadow loomed over her.
" - Do not think about stabbing me again or I swear I'll throw you into the fire ", she growled menacingly.
" - Yes, yes, I have no doubt of that. And I only come here to satisfy my curiosity. " He glared at her construction in a mixture of awe and incredulity. " - What are you doing exactly ?"
" - A bed. To sleep in. You don't use one ?"
" - Ah, yes, "sleep". I forgot how you…" he waved dismissively around, and seemed to bite back whatever he was going to say "...commoners like to sleep".
Mereana glared at him coldly. What a weird way to phrase it. Her ego was piqued once again by the blatant uninterest she was getting from her companions. Here she was, the unique spawn of one of the most powerful family in Baldur's Gate, the heir to multiple riches across the continent, and not only did no one recognize her, no one noticed her at all. That was unusual. People would notice her origin, and she would reply by playing the role of the rebel child. That was how it worked.
Maybe her haircut had worked after all. She did look like one of those hobo adventurer kids she was trying so hard to impersonate before. So she had somehow managed to blend in for once, but the feeling was quite not pleasant. Was she really as snobbish as Astarion in her natural habitat ?
She decided not to mention her backstory to the elf just yet, although she had to fight back the urge to remind him that he was a bit too condescending for a mere magistrate of no illustrious lineage. She punched the branches of her horrible homemade bedroll with spite, trying to get the frustration of the day out of her system.
" - I suppose that you being an elf and all, you don't sleep at all. You just... go into reverie or something just as snobbish as that. ", she said acidly, trying to push away the elf elsewhere. His mannerism reminded her of how far away from home she was, and also she didn't like him very much for now and wished he would go lurk around someone else.
He looked at her with a slight sense of surprise, as if he was realising something, and his expression slightly lightened up.
" - Indeed, I do not truly need to lay down and sleep. I am not much of a night-sleeper anyway. Unlike you and the others, who all need to have some time to shut your eyes. Such is the benefit of the reverie."
She stopped what she was doing to consider him, slightly taken aback by the odd way he seemed to just have discovered that they indeed did sleep at night. Noticing her perplexity, Astarion quickly got up and changed the subject :
" - I'll take care of some of the most tedious guard duties", he said with confidence, and then trotted off to Shadowheart, probably to watch her try to build a shelter as well.
He's so weird. Putting this exchange past her mind, Mereana glanced at her bedroll. It looked uncomfortable and twisted. She crossed her arms around her with desperation. It was nighttime, she was cold and she had nothing to wear but her muddy robe. She wished she had at least a blanket. Maybe a servant to tend to her manucure as well and light her fireplace. But here she was, incanting fire cantrips at the campfire to try to survive the night away.
How am I going to make it ? she asked herself. Her chance of survival seemed very low. The tadpole could turn her any moment now, from what she gathered. Or any one around her right now. And she had never lived any experience in her life that could prepare her for something like that. She decided not to talk about her past at all to anyone there, just in case they decided to try to ransom her to her mother, which she didn't put above them. And to act af is she was going fine and knowing perfectly what was going on and what she was supposed to do. This she could do. Nobles never lose their cool, even in dire times. Chin up, girl. Try to look...leaderish. And if you fake it long enough, they might end up believing you.
Looking around the camp, she noticed Lae'zel checking out her bedroll with a frown and enveloping herself within her own blanket. Shadowheart had rage quit her tentative for a shelter and was eating up Gale's meal. She had probably chased Astarion too, for he was busy hanging around the place once more, now staring at the cleric's collar with fascination. That leaves up the wizard. Where is Gale ?
She found him examining his own reflection a little farther away. She recognized the spell easily ; she would also use it at times to check her outfit out in the city. She dared not look at whatever she was looking like right now. With luck, they'll find a place to bathe in tomorrow.
" - Why are you studying your own mirror image ?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest to try to warm herself up.
Gale waved at his image. " - Indulging in a spot of vanity. Handsome devil, aren't I ?"
She looked at him seriously as she compared the wizard to all the previous men she had met and known. He was well built, she supposed, for a scholar. Nothing too fancy about him, but he had good hair.
" - I like your hair", she replied. " - I suppose you'd be a six."
Gale turned back to her, a bit surprised by her bluntness, but unabashed. " - That was a rhetorical question. But thanks, I suppose. I do have nice hair. Though I'm hardly a six at all." He flexed his wrists and stretched his neck with a sigh. " - More of an eight. You haven't seen me without my tadpole yet. Which leads me to my next question. Ceremorphosis. What does it make you think of ? "
" - Oh gods. Don't tell me we're in for another lecture", she sighed. " - I got the picture the first time."
The wizard frowned on her reaction. " - And you are not the slightest bit curious as to understand your condition further ? Has your studies as a mage not taught you to thirst for knowledge ?"
" - I am curious as to how to get rid of it, and right now, I thirst for some wine."
" - If you already know so much about ceremorphosis, maybe you've noticed something unusual going on... ?" he asked in the tone of a professor knowing he had the upper hand over his undisciplined student.
She thought quickly about it, salvaging her memories in search of anything useful to say. Ceremorphosis...ceremorphosis...could turn into a mindflayer any moment now...painful process, the whole body should undergo changes...symptoms start with a fever and grey skin...well, nothing else came to mind, so she shrugged the question off. Gale waved his arm at her, raising his eyebrows, encouraging her to try to answer the question, but upon meeting her resolved and silent expression, sighed, not even trying to hide his disappointment.
" - We have not turned yet. We have no symptoms."
It dawned on her suddenly. Gale was right. From everything she had heard about the mindflayer's reproduction process, it was supposed to be quick. And none of them had shown any symptoms.
" - My gods, you're right", she blurted out. Gale smiled back with a hint of arrogance : " - Of course I am, but it's good to be appreciated. Any expert would agree this is...abnormal."
" - Long live the abnormal", she replied in a whisper. She didn't really wish to think about the tadpole, but Gale's comment had pointed out to something. Hope, maybe ?
" - I'll drink to that. But this is merely the silence before the storm. "
" - Let's go tell the others then. They'd want to know."
They gathered around the fire to share this piece of information with the rest of the group.
" - It does not change our purpose", commented Lae'zel once Gale was over with his lecture. " - We still need to find the creche and purify ourselves. Make no mistake : however unpredictable is acting the parasite, it still needs to fulfill its mission. And it will turn us."
The certainty with which the gith asserted her opinion killed all of Mereana's timid hopes of getting out of her situation alive. She found nothing else to add, and from the look of it, it had chilled down the atmosphere all around.
Shadowheart frowned and only commented : " - We should seek out as many options as possible. I don't trust this "purification" process."
" - And do you think that one of your kind could heal you from this parasite ? This is folly", replied Lae'zel coldly.
" - Fine. Then please explain to us what is the purification. What are they going to do to us, exactly ?"
" - I...cannot. This is a process known only by those who serve the creche."
Shadowheart rolled her eyes and gestured to the rest of the group. " - I think I made my point. You can do as you please, but don't expect me to just lay down and let a gith mess with my brain. "
" - When you see how your kinship treats you, then you'll turn to my solution."
" - Putting the matter of the creche aside", quickly cut in Astarion, " - this tadpole is still going to turn us into monsters ? The outcome doesn't really change ? "
" - Yes," confirmed Gale. " - It is just...strangely delayed for now."
" - But we don't know when it will turn us ?"
" - There is no way to tell for sure."
" - Great ! Somehow, it's even worse" whined the elf, laying back on the ground. " - Of course this sort of thing will happen to me." He wallowed back into silence.
" - Well...there's nothing to do for tonight, at least," said Mereana, pinching her nose as she felt a coming migraine throbbing in her head. " - Let's just get some rest. And hopefully, in the morning, we'll still look like our usual selves, and not wake up with squishy tentacles in our faces."
She retreated back to her bedroll, near the campfire, and rolled herself up in it as much as she could. She thought she was never going to be able to sleep in something so uncomfortable and cold. She heard a sigh as Shadowheart crashed next to her unexpectedly. She turned to look at the half-elf as she tried to curl up as well. She very pointedly didn't look at Mereana as she whispered in her usual harsh tone :
" - The stupid tent doesn't hold. Please don't say a word, I just want to sleep. I'll keep an eye on you during the night and you keep an eye on me. I don't trust the gith, nor the rogue. "
Mereana nodded without a word, relieved in some way to know that she could rely on the cleric for that. Gale remained evasive and mentioned how he needed to study some more, isolating himself from them. Lae'zel stayed a bit far away as well, purposefully marking her territory. Astarion was the only one not sleeping yet, as he had promised to take on the first few duty guards for himself. He seemed oddly happy to be alone and impatient to begin his watch ; Mereana tried to pretend to sleep to keep an eye on him, as she promised Shadowheart she would. Unfortunately, she was really too tired to fight back the sleepiness and she closed her eyes into a blissful, dreamless night of rest.