Nettie was dead and had not been able to provide them with any substantial information, but the library she led them in concealed quite a lot of interesting notes and documents either directly written by Halsin or studied by him. They read a few extracts, to try to understand what happened to the drow corpse laying on the stone table ; but none of Mereana's companions seemed really at ease with the thought of spending a few hours reading some old books. The mage decided to drop the most interesting documents in her bag and to hand them over to Gale tonight, at camp. Most of the notes were written in codes or unusual languages that none of the other adventurers knew how to speak anyway. The few things of interest Mereana had the time to decipher were that Halsin had decided to go out to an old temple of Selûne where he believed that he would find answers about the tadpoles.

Fortunately, Wyll had heard of the temple and could locate it approximately on his map. To reach it, their team would need to cross a few villages who were bound to be invaded by gnolls or goblins by now. Apparently, the region had been overrun with them - and strange as it seems, they were led by drows, if they were to believe Halsin's journal. It was surprising, mostly because drows were not usually found outside of the Underdark, but also because they would not form alliances with races they consider inferior. And though they tried to make sense of it, they could not picture any sort of way where goblins would seem like good partners choices to drows. From what she had learnt about drow society during her studies at the Academy, Mereana vaguely knew that they were known to enslave the most primitive races and use them as meat shields on the battlefields. Why would they have an interest in a druid's grove on the Sword Coast was beyond her understanding. She needed to consult with Gale and have him take a deeper look at Halsin's notes. Maybe he'd come up with something to explain this mess.

They managed to find a way out of the hidden library, by making their way through underground tunnels. The rest of the day wasn't exactly relaxing ; they fought off some harpies, wandered into the wilds, and nearly got killed by an owlbear. To Mereana's great pleasure, nearly everyone in the group had some moment of fumbling failure ; Wyll nearly got drowned while they were fighting the harpies, Shadowheart was knocked down during their fight with the owlbear, and Astarion had badly burnt himself trying to open an unusual golden chest they had found in the owlbear cave.

So when the sun finally set, no one really protested when Mereana suggested to get back to the camp location they had agreed on with Gale and Lae'zel earlier this day. Battered, wounded, tired, and looking awful, they retreated to the nearest waypoint to make the trip back to a safer location.

The camping site that been commonly decided upon was a place down the river, located near a magical waypoint. Wyll had been able to suggest it to them, because he had used the site before in his adventures ; it was hidden in the vegetation and only accessible through a narrow path in the forest, and concealed an old tower in ruins that had long crumbled down on itself. It was secluded, off-the-paths, and the clearing was large enough for them all to have some space and privacy.

When they reached the place, Gale and Lae'zel were already here, setting up their newly acquired tents. The scent of homemade stew tickled Mereana's nostrils. Gale cooked another dinner ? Gods, this man is just so good.

The group spent the evening putting up their tents and bedrolls, and quickly briefed each other in as they ate Gale's stew with approval. Lae'zel and Gale had found out a little bit more about the location of the githyanki patrol ; they were heading far north from the grove, into a place the locals called "Waukeen's rest." However, they had learnt that it would prove a challenge to find them ; the roads were overrun by gnolls and no traveller had come through these last few days. Gale and Lae'zel felt that they would need the full team to make it through.

No one really chatted much more after that, mostly because everyone was too wounded and tired to think straight. Mereana gladfully stumbled back into her new tent, and let herself fall over her bedroll, wishing for a good night's rest before entering their first village tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this was not going to be a good night at all.

And that was due to Astarion's decision to prowl around in the night into her tent. Mereana was so tired that she had no idea how exactly she heard him, sneaky as he was, but she somehow felt his presence through her sleep. She woke up in a blink, flinching, only to find herself inches across Astarion's face, who was looming over her awkwardly with his mouth open.

His face froze as his expression turned into a "oh shit" moment, but the truth was that Mereana was definitely the most freaked out of the two. Without thinking, she elbowed him in the jaw, and he backed off her with a painful wince.

" - The hell are you doing - "

The elf panicked, and waved his hands around, trying to calm her down :

" - No, no - please, this is not what it looks like. I swear ! " His eyes kept drifting towards the exit of the tent and back to her, and he looked oddly intense and despaired.

Well, she didn't care about his feelings, and was definitely ready to call out her nearby friends. Surely someone was on duty guard. Someone like...well...it was Astarion's turn. So actually they would all be sleeping. Still, they would come to her if she needed help, right ?

As she opened her mouth to call out for Wyll, the elf launched himself forward and put his hands over her mouth.

" - Please hear me out ! I wasn't going to hurt you."

He deftly took his hands off her mouth just before she tried to bite his fingers.

" - Why should I listen to you ? You creeped over my bedroll in the middle of the night ! If you have something good to say to explain yourself, do it now " snarled Mereana angrily, fuzzling around in her blanket to throw it away with her legs, before getting up on her feet, facing him.

" - Well, I - " Astarion looked at her as if overwhelmed by the situation " - I...uh...needed... blood."

She stared in silence at him, waiting for further explanations, because right now it didn't truly make sense for her.

He stared back at her, his head slightly lowered with embarrassment.

She kept staring.

He stared back more incredulously this time, frowning over as she didn't seem to understand what he was implying.

" - Mereana, I'm a -" he began.

" - Oh, gods. You're a - oh. Ooooooh. Oh. Oh, fuck me. You ? Really ? " This was worth a facepalm at least, maybe two, as she started to pace around the tent nervously. " - But how come - oh gods, I can't believe it. And that dead board we found ? That was you too ? "

How come they had not realized it sooner ? Come to think of it, Astarion had not been especially discreet about it. For Mystra's sake, he had fangs. And here she had thought it was just some fancy cosmetic transformation. But no, it was real fangs, and he'd been all over her, - bloody hell he'd been trying to bite her in her sleep. Consternation, anger, fear and disgust washed over her and she felt the need to bash something or maybe vomit, but certainly not stay face-to-face with Astarion any longer.

" - It's not what you think", he pleaded pathetically. " I'm not a monster !"

The only thing that was preventing her from completely panicking and trying to kill him was how lost and vulnerable he acted and sounded. They were both freaking out at each other and she supposed that an exterior spectator could find it funny, but it wasn"t funny at all actually, because Astarion had obviously thought that she was a good midnight snack, and of course she considered herself to be a snack in a metaphorical, sexual way, but certainly not in a litteral, blood-drinking way.

" - You have to believe me. I never drank off sentient creatures before. Animals - that's what I feed on. Just like the boar." He winced uneasily, a mixture of shame and fear on his face. " - But I'm...well there's this dream I made and...I supposed I wanted to see if - " he paused awkwardly, checking to see if she understood what he was saying, but in truth she had no idea what he was talking about.

Noticing her perplexity, he added more firmly : " - I'm just too slow right now to catch anything. Too weak. I haven't fed for too long. And the day we had ? All the blood we spilled ? I'm starving to death. I just - I need it. Just a little. I could think better. I could fight better. My mind would be clearer. Please. "

Mereana noticed that she was sweating, and dried off her palms onto her thighs, still trying to make up her mind about the situation. She felt her tongue become dry in her mouth and her pulse rate increased. She didn't know how to react or what to do. She had never expected to find herself face to face with a vampire pleading for her blood. Like, it would be easier if he just...poofed out in a cloud of smoke or something, or was more threatening and not just begging for a drop of blood. It didn't seem like something real vampires do. She actually waited a few seconds longer to see if Astarion would change his attitude, revealing that all of this was an act and a lie, and jumped at her throat to end her. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to make a run for her life but she would gladly try.

But the elf didn't move and didn't seem aggressive at all. He looked so sincerely despaired and swallowed up in his own mental conflict that he didn't even notice how frightened and vulnerable she felt right now, which was good, because she didn't want to look like the frightened unexperienced little noble girl she knew she really was on the inside.

" - Why didn't you tell me ?" she asked, trying to gain herself some time. She knew he was waiting for her to offer some blood, he had made that very clear, but she was trying to delay her response. Well, she probably would not have reacted gracefully to such an introduction.

" - At best, I was sure you'd say no. At worst, that you'd stake through my ribs."

"- We still have time for this", she mumbled uneasily.

" - I needed you to trust me. And you can trust me", he said deeply, trying to sound as convincing as possible, which made it even worse. Mereana cringed and backed off, crossing her arms nervously around her chest.

" - How can I ? You just tried to bite me in my sleep !"

" - Well, yes, but - it's not like we have a choice ! " Astarion's eyes flickered with irritation. " - We need each other to get rid of those tadpoles. Trust me, if there was any other way...But I need my strength. You need me strong. And I need you alive. If I truly wanted you any harm, I wouldn't not have helped you earlier. Remember the druid's poison ? Wasn't I the one to recover the antidote for you ?" Mimicking her attitude, he crossed his arms as well, in a stubborn-looking way, though the desperation that fueled his behavior was clear as day right now.

Astarion didn't add anything, but he didn't need to ; Mereana knew full well that he was implying that she owed him a favor. She glared angrily at the vampire's face, but he refused to turn into a bat and disappeared, much to her dismay. Plus, she had a feeling she wasn't being told the whole story, but could not quite place why she felt that way.

" - I suppose you did !" she blurted out finally, shouting her arms in the air with exasperation.

" - It will only be a taste, I swear. Just enough to get me better. Then I will be off, and we'll never need to do this again, and you'll be fine, and everything will be normal again. "

" - Fine ! I'll do it. This is crazy - but I'll do it." She inhaled sharply, trying to focus. Astarion hesitated and made a step towards her, which she interrupted with a finger raised in the air. " - It's just a drop. Take what you need and go. And let's never talk about this ever again."

" Of course. Not one drop more", he said. His sincere surprise at her decision slightly reassured her, but she had to fight the urge to run away when he came closer to her. There was an awkward moment where they looked at each other without nothing happening at all, and Mereana suddenly realized that Astarion seemed really nervous.

" - You...never did this before ? I mean, drinking from - yuck - you know, a person, not a pig ? " she asked anxiously.

Astarion didn't reply, but he didn't have to, it was written all over his face. His eyes went up and down, from her face to her neck, which made Mereana feel a bit sick, and he was obviously trying to hide away whatever was going on inside his mind again.

" - What am I supposed to do ?" she knew she was going to blatter around hopelessly to hide away how creepy the situation actually was, but could not fight it. " - Should I be fighting back ? Like, do you want me to pretend I'm running away from you or something…? I won't judge. I'm a very open-minded person."

A mixture of emotions crossed through Astarion's face. " - No, no, please. Mereana, please shut up. I'm having a moment here. "

She closed her mouth a few seconds, but kept on staring at him staring at her neck and not moving. The nervousness was unbearable though, and she could not refrain herself :

" - So how long is it going to take exactly ? You're sure you don't need a hand to get started ? "

Annoyance flashed into the vampire's eyes as he flinched and broke out of his transe. " - All right ! I can't do it if you look at me like that. Why would you stare at me like that ? It's disrupting. And why do you talk so bloody much ? I should have gone with the other half-elf. " Astarion pinched his nose and sighed, trying to regain some focus. She noticed that he did the gesture with this little finger pointing to the air, which was ridiculous, and kind of reassuring. "- It was better when you were snoozing. Can't you - can you just turn around and pretend I'm not here, please ?"

" - For heaven's sake, how can I just pretend - okay, okay, I'm going to do this. Then I won't owe you anything anymore."

The pointless bickering at least had the virtue of soothing Mereana, as she was more accustomed to this sort of communication. She very slowly turned her back to the vampire, and closed her eyes, trying to think of something nice, like her cat in Baldur's Gate. But then she realized that she missed her cat. And her bed. And gods, she even missed her mom a little. Did anyone out there miss her ? She felt Astarion's hands around her shoulders, holding her delicately, and a sudden pain in her neck. She expected herself to scream, because in her mind it was what vampire's victims do, but strangely enough she didn't find the force to do so. After the sudden pain came a strange feeling of calm and numbness, as the fear she had felt slowly faded out. Her mind's attention turned back to her cat once more, as she wondered if her servants would think about feeding it. The feral beast left most of her domestic staff terrorized and traumatized, and her mother hated it, but she had always liked the wild, ugly feline.

She felt herself slump back into Astarion's embrace as her mind became foggy. Was it how it was supposed to be ? Didn't we agree that it was just a drop ? Well, he did say she could trust him, right ? So, there was no need to worry anymore, she supposed. She mumbled something, trying to ask him to stop, but he didn't hear her. She closed her eyes and forgot everything about tadpoles, feeling happily numb for once.