Aradin & his little troupe had spotted them in the middle of the night as they'd arrived at the other end of the bridge. They'd called by to warn them away from the goblin camp, chatting away to Gus on a more amicable level than that displayed back at the grove with Zevlor.
Belle listened with half an ear. After emerging from her tent, Astarion taking her mug away from her after she'd finished it, she beelined for Gale, who cowered at her approach. She wasn't that scary, was she? Plus, Astarion was the one copping morning Belle now, not the rest of them.
"Can we have a quick chat?"
He hesitated, didn't receive an outburst from her, & acquiesced. She led him off to the other side of the camp away from the others.
"You heard about last night?" she asked him, voice low.
"Some. It must have been a frightful sight – "
"He's dangerous, Gale. More than you know. He needs to be restrained each & every single night, from dusk till dawn. I told dad, but he didn't take me seriously."
Gale was watching the others while listening to her, his eyes darting back to the dragon-born again & again as she spoke.
"Not that I don't believe you, Belle, but what evidence do you have to support your claims? So far, apart from sleepwalking, there's been nothing to indicate that."
"Oh? He hasn't randomly told you he's having urges to kill people? Hurt them? Uncontrollable urges?"
Gale looked more uncomfortable as she hammered each point home. Shifted his feet.
"He … uh, he may have …."
"Then just trust me. Please." She gave him her most sincerest look she could muster.
He studied her face for a moment. Sighed heavily.
"Fine. But it means moving him away from Gus. You two with your magical black hole ability is quite fascinating, & absolutely frustrating at times."
She gave a tiny happy squeal at someone else taking her seriously.
"Thanks Gale. You're the best wizard I know!"
"Aren't I the only wizard you know?"
"That's beside the point."
They got to cooking & organising brekkie for everyone. Aradin concluded his chat with Gus & took off. Hopefully they wouldn't run into him in Baldur's Gate. She didn't hate him like she did the little trader Aaron (obnoxious little shit he was), but his opportunism would make a very short life for him if they did. Then evil chipmunk brain spoke up.
After everyone packed up camp, she drifted through the ranks to fall in beside Astarion.
"Oh, hello, what can I do for you?"
Looked like her rating was on the up & up.
"I've been thinking."
"Don't burst a vessel." He told her seriously, only to smile, very slightly at her, taking the sting of the barb away. Huh.
"Shoosh. That diet of yours; have you fed on any delicacies apart from the one last night?"
His eyes lit up in the evilest gleam she'd seen yet.
"No, but there's been little opportunity."
"What if I pointed out particular delicacies for your perusal?"
"Oh, I wouldn't decline that."
Her smile widened. So did his. Sorry npc's who'd pissed her off, but they were now on the menu.
"I was soooo hoping you'd say that" she parroted one of his lines.
"You know, I like this side of you." his looked at her appraisingly. She preened a bit. Placed a hand on her chest.
"I have a need to be fulfilled; you can fulfill it. Two birds one stone." Her mind whispered at her to sic him on durge. She soothed it by telling herself if Brian murderised anyone, she would.
"Sooo, how are we to go about this, then?"
"When we're near the items in stock, I'll tell you."
"Excellent."
"Otherwise, the sooner you share your little dietary requirements with the others, the sooner you can also choose your own vintages. For example, in the goblin camp. Large selection there."
"You seem very confident that they'll all be as magnanimous as you were…"
She sighed. Pitched her voice even lower.
"Astarion, dad knows. Wyll knows. Gale suspects. Lae'zel knows. The other two have no idea."
"What?" he shrieked, & she had to grab his arm to keep him from fleeing on the spot.
"If they were gonna kill you or run you out of camp, they would have done so already. Now shut it!"
He clamped his mouth shut, shooting furtive glances at the travellers in front.
"The fact they haven't speaks volumes! They need you, & they know it!"
He looked to her; eyes all feral & wide.
"I won't let them." She meant it, too. Astarion was way too versatile for them to get rid of. In a way, she'd found him better to have in her party when playing the game than Shadowheart or Gale.
He slowly nodded.
"You're certainly scary enough, but, if they kill me, I'm coming back to haunt you." he threatened.
"Then we'll just get to annoy each other even more" she gave him a reassuring smile & a little rub on his (oh so fucking tight!), bicep before letting him go, trusting he wouldn't just exit left.
"Tonight, I'll do it tonight. Just … you'd better be right." He muttered before they both dismissed the subject.
Letting him be for now, she jogged up to Gus for a reckoning before they hit Moonhaven.
"I see you're making friends … " he opened with.
"You didn't listen to me" she accused flatly.
"Belle, he seems harmless…"
"I know what he seems. He's not. We've had this chat. He was looking at Shadowheart like lamb chops last night. You didn't see it."
Gus, she remembered, could have slept through an earthquake once his head hit the pillow.
"Gales' promised to hold him at night magically. I'm dealing with Astarion; you deal with durge. And, speaking of, Astarion's going to confess tonight, so you'd better accept him for it!"
Gus looked sheepish at her telling him off. There were only a couple of occasions she could recall where she'd had the right side of an argument with him, & they'd occurred just before he'd disappeared. Realising one's parents were fallible was such a blow to one's world view it could forever change it. It had with hers; younger Belle had worshipped the ground Gus walked on, until she'd discovered he was just as flawed as her. Welcome adulthood.
"Alright, Belle, alright. I don't like it, but I promise to make sure he's restrained. You wouldn't happen to have a way I might approach it with him?"
"Uh, yeah, tell him he went to attack one of us & frighted the shit out of us. White lies go a long way."
He nodded his head sorrowfully. Then pointed up the trail.
"Anything we need to know about the village?"
She quickly filled him on the position of the goblins & the ogres, telling him to just kill them all. She didn't find any benefit to gaining the ogre horn, had never used it nor missed the using of. And having a larger party at her disposal meant greater fighting power. Hehehe, fuck you spell slots & turn based play!
Letting Gus figure out the mechanics of who should go in first etc. etc., she suddenly spied the dead boar by the side of the road. So did Gus.
"Move on dad, nothing to see here." She told him as he veered toward it.
"Just want to see how it died."
"It was exsanguinated." She hissed, trying to steer him back.
"Plain English Belle, I'm not that smart."
"Drained dry of blood" she whispered fiercely, the others catching up.
He glanced at the boar, then back at Astarion.
"Oh. Oooohh, right." He quickly moved away from the dead animal.
"What's that?" Lae'zel wanted to investigate.
"Dead boar. Looks like natural causes" Gus cut in smoothly before breaking up the team into scouts, melee & ranged attackers. Belle, once again useless, got to hang back twiddling her thumbs. Ignoring the looks from both Lae'zel & Shadowheart, she broke out her sword & started practicing the stances Wyll had been showing her. Fuck them, she'd get to a level where she could contribute!
"Thine dedication is becoming of thee."
She jumped a mile as Withers spoke up. Why did she keep forgetting he was always there? Was it a trick? Or was he just really boring?
As casually as she could, she propped the sword over her shoulder like she'd seen the others do. Her shoulder joint protested loudly at the awkward weight, so she made it seem like it was her choice to lower it.
"A compliment. My my, how unexpected."
"Do not let it go to thine head. Thou still hast a way to go yet."
"Why are you so insufferable? Is it just you? Do you get a thrill out of it?"
"It is both mine nature & my station. Thou wilst learn."
"Well, I'll take that to mean it's not in my immediate future to die."
Wither's eyes gleamed. Was that … approval?
"See? Thou canst' use thine brain … when thoust triest."
"I got enough of this shit in high school, man. I try, I always try, I just get … side-tracked."
"Those with many lines of thought often do. It is a rare trait; one I will see honed."
Oooo, that was a bit too Pai Mai for her liking.
"You done? I'd like to get back to practicing."