Chapter 6 - Scars

Del awoke the next morning to a dead campfire. Wyll must have wandered off at some point to wherever he was supposed to sleep, because he was returning to their little hideaway pack in hand as she was sitting up from her bedroll. He sat his things down and nodded at her in greeting.

"How did you sleep," he asked her.

"Surprisingly well," she replied, voice still rough. "After everything that happened the last couple days, I guess my body needed it."

He smiled at her. "You must be used to sleeping outside on the hard ground, as well."

"Oh, yeah. I'm a veteran when it comes to sleeping on dirt. A bedroll or a tent were luxuries back in the day." She struggled to a stand, her muscles stiff. She stretched out her body, hands reaching towards the roof of the cave. Light streamed in from the cave entrance, hurting her eyes as she turned towards it. Looked like it was going to be another warm, sunny day. She turned back to Wyll and asked him, "So, how long did the wizard keep you up last night, anyway?"

Wyll chuckled. "At least another hour after you fell unconscious. Actually, it was your snoring that allowed me to beg off for the night and head to bed myself."

"I'm glad my snoring could be of some use to somebody," she told him, bending over to roll her bed back up for the day.

"I'm eager to be back on the road," Wyll said, watching her. "When were you expecting to leave? Today?"

Del paused and crouched down so that she could look back up to the warlock. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I was hoping to talk to the Druid's healer, see if she could help us. Though, I'm not holding out any hope she can. Barring her help, I suspect we can leave today."

She knew they would be dragged into various issues around the grove, whether she wanted to be or not. When she visited the Grove in game, it hadn't taken much time to talk to everyone, but time ran true to life here in the real Faerun - as far as she could tell - and she knew not to expect it to work the same way. So maybe they needed to stay here a bit longer. She couldn't know.

"I will warn you," Wyll was telling her, "It is a bit tense around here between the tieflings and the Druids. Obviously, the tieflings were welcome here at one point, but they aren't so much right now. It sounds like the leader, Kagha, thinks they might be threatening the safety of their grove by being here. She's been saying she is going to throw them all out and block the grove off from any more outsiders."

"Where do they expect the tieflings to go," Shadowheart had just stepped out of her tent and was approaching them. "I spoke to the one named Zevlor and he said the reason they were here was because gnolls were attacking any caravan that tried to get through the road to Baldur's Gate. And now there are goblins. They'll be killed if they are forced to leave."

"We will take care of it," Del said, suddenly feeling very tired again. She finished tying up her bedroll and set it to the side.

The look Shadowheart gave her was skeptical. "How?"

"Let's just ask around first," Del cautioned. "We don't have the full picture yet. Maybe it's not as dire as it seems." She was trying to convince herself and was failing.

Once everyone else had awoken, she fitted her leathers back on and set out with her party into the grove. The slog she was expecting wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. They stopped at a few vendors, including Auntie Ethel, and sold some of the items they had scavenged from the beach that they didn't need. Del grabbed as many health potions as she could and slotted them into the vial holders she had built into her hip belt. She had a feeling they were going to need them. She talked to Dammon for a short bit, but wasn't in need of any weapons.

After dealing with various side missions in the Grove, Del managed to stop a crazy Druid lady from committing infanticide. She, however, failed to get the crazy Druid lady to change her mind on kicking the tieflings out. She was only able to negotiate for more time so she could take care of the problem that was keeping the tieflings there - the goblins. Del was sorely tempted to call out Kagha on working with the shadow Druids, but knew she couldn't without proof and killing Kagha would not stop the Grove from closing, anyway.

Nettie was in another part of the grove close to the chambers Kagha had been hanging out in, so they didn't have to go far. It took some convincing from her and her companions that they were not about to turn into mind flayers any time soon. But of course she didn't have a cure, and it was unfortunately Halsin, the actual Arch Druid of the grove, who had been working on one. The Arch Druid who was captured by the goblins.

"Of course," Astarion muttered from behind Del, "It can never be a simple answer, can it? We might as well pay a visit to that Auntie Ethel character and let her help us. I'm sure it will work out so much better."

As they exited the healer's chamber, Del stopped Shadowheart and Wyll. "Can you two go find Zevlor and let him know we've managed to buy them some more time? And that we're going to see what we can do about those goblins. We need to find Halsin, too, and we know they have him. We might as well kill two birds with one stone. We'll start packing up our camp, so meet us there when you're done."

Once they nodded their agreement and left, Del motioned the rest of the crew to follow her. Lae'zel walked beside her and said, "We are wasting time, istik. I have told you my people have the means to remove the parasite. We just need to find the crèche. We know it has to be close by."

"We still don't know where the crèche is, Lae'zel." Del stopped to look her githyanki companion in the eyes. "We would still need to pass the goblin camp to get to the mountain pass where Zorru said he saw them. And who knows how much farther away we would have to travel to find it after that. We need to take this one step at a time. Trust me, please."

There was no way she was going to traipse all the way over to where that crèche was right now. It was most likely days away. And she knew something that the rest of them didn't: they had time. The tadpoles weren't going to turn them into mind flayers if their protector in the astral prism had anything to say about it.

Lae'zel chk'd at her and walked away, clearly not pleased. With a sigh, Del followed her.

"Honestly, if it wasn't for this Halsin fellow," Astarion stated, "I would be all for leaving the tieflings to deal with the goblins on their own. They're lucky we're desperate enough to follow any lead that could help us."

"I'll be sure to let them know that, Astarion," Del said, sarcastically. "I bet they would appreciate your candor."

He sniffed. "Not everyone does."

When they reached their camp site, everyone got to work taking everything down and packing it up. Del had to, of course, show Astarion the proper way to repack his tent, but he did a better job taking down his tent than he had putting it up, so she assumed he had been paying attention to her instructions. Del had started to take her tent down next when Shadowheart and Wyll returned.

"Zevlor sends his thanks," Wyll told Del, "And that he will reward us if we can manage to destroy the goblins, but not to expect much."

Astarion tsked. "As if refugees have anything to give."

Del ignored him and said to Wyll, "I don't expect he offered much in aid, considering it's a problem we all share."

Wyll shook his head in the negative. "He needs to stay here in case the goblins come back. Not everyone here is good in a fight, either. I helped train some of the children so they could protect themselves long enough to get away, if needed, but that's it."

Del sighed. "It was a long shot, anyway. Guess it's all on us then."

With the help of Wyll, Del finished taking down her tent and soon they were all ready to go. It was noon, so she knew they wouldn't get far today, but it was better to get started since they had plenty of daylight left.

As her group approached the gate once more, Del realized there was one last thing that she needed to do before they could leave. She made the group wait for her outside the gate and set her pack on the ground. She quickly climbed up the ladder that led to the top of the gate and ran to her left and up a steep hill. She had almost reached the top when she saw a bugbear creeping up behind a tiefling woman, who was staring into a telescope. She quickly grabbed her crossbow and shot the bugbear before it could get a hit in. The tiefling turned to see the bugbear lying dead at her feet and then turned in shock to look at Del.

Del merely waved and called out, "Your welcome," before running back down the hill and to the base of the gate where her pack lay. She grabbed it and ran through the gate to join her party.

"Dare I ask, what you were doing," Astarion said, snidely. He had probably heard her killing the bugbear with his supernatural hearing.

"She does this a lot," Shadowheart was telling Wyll, "Suddenly, she will just jog off in a random direction for no reason. Next thing you know we're either helping someone or we're fighting someone."

"Well, one of those times she did find our githyanki friend," Gale added.

"Oh, that's right," Shadowheart responded. "The same happened when we found you, Gale."

They all looked behind Del, expectantly.

She raised her arms in frustration. "I didn't find any more lost lambs to join our herd, people. Don't worry."

"Does that mean you found somebody to fight," Wyll asked, his eyebrow raised.

Astarion burst out in laughter. "Oh, she most definitely did."

Del scowled at him. "Snitches get stitches," she hissed.

He held his hands up and looked down at his body. "I'm not sure what I'm getting stitched together. I'm quite healthy, thank you."

Del drew one of her daggers and pointed it at him. "The point is that you won't be when I'm done with you."

"Now, now, children," Gale scolded. "I think that's quite enough. We have enough on our plate already. We really don't need to be fighting amongst ourselves."

"Oh, come on," Del teased. "I promise I was only planning on making him bleed a little."

"She's more bark than bite, anyway," Astarion huffed.

"Come spar with me sometime, elf," Del taunted. "You won't be saying that once I have you under my knife."

"Promises, promises," he sniped back at her.

"It's a date."

Astarion chuckled while Gale merely folded his arms, trying his best to look disapproving. Shadowheart was trying not to smile, Wyll looked somewhere between confused and concerned, while Lae'zel looked bored.

"I tire of your games," the githyanki said. "If we plan on moving more than a few feet from the Druid grove, I suggest we get going - now."

Del put her dagger away. "Sorry, you're right. Let's get out of here."

She hefted her backpack once more and struck out from the gate, letting her instincts direct her. No one stopped her, so she assumed it must be the right way. They traveled in companionable silence for the most part, only speaking here and there. The weather was nice, the sun was out, and the area they were in was full of trees and wild animals. She could almost pretend they were out hiking and not on an epic journey. But it wasn't meant to last. Del knew that. So she just enjoyed the moment while it did. Moments of peace would be few and far between as their adventure continued.

About an hour or two into their journey, they came upon a bridge that crossed a small stream and at the very end they could see bodies lying on the ground. Del immediately slowed her pace and took a look around. Once she was sure that there was no threat she rushed over to the bodies to make sure they were truly dead. As she got closer she could see there were three dead goblins and three dead mercenaries. They were all cold to the touch.

"This must have been the rest of Aradin's party," Shadowheart said, softly.

"Who is that again," Del asked her. She really couldn't remember. They met so many people it was hard to keep track of everyone.

"He was the one the Druid Halsin had taken to the goblin camp."

"Oh, right." He and his party had been searching for a way into the Underdark to look for the Nightsong. Little did he know he had been nowhere near the Nightsong, nor would he have been able to get to it from there, and it had cost him at least three of his own. Such a waste.

One of them had a good pair of leather shoulder guards, with minimal blood, so she helped herself to it.

"Really, Del," Gale looked at her with a frown. "Is that really appropriate for this occasion?"

"What," she asked, offended. "It's not like he still needs it. I know stealing from the dead is frowned upon, but think about it! They're dead!" She stood and removed her backpack so she could put the shoulder guards on. Once they were securely buckled on, she grabbed her bag and headed to the gated village she could see was just up ahead.

A goblin was standing at the entrance to the gate and she jogged up to it, much to the shock of the rest of her party. Several voices hissed at her to stop, but she ignored them.

"I thought goblins were the bad guys," Gale was saying to everyone else. "Why is she casually approaching the goblin? Is she mad?"

"Maybe we should just leave her," Astarion responded. "Why allow ourselves to be dragged into it? She's obviously unhinged."

"I think we should wait," Shadowheart hushed. "This wouldn't be the first time she's done something strange and it worked out."

"This is true," Lae'zel agreed. "Hold your tongues."

The goblin for its part looked shocked to see Del come up to it so casually. "What's this," it asked her. "You ready to die today, human? I'd be happy to oblige."

Just then a symbol began to glow on its face, and she could feel a strong surge of power roll through her mind. Her tadpole communicated in its strange way and let her know that she was the true power here. One word from her and the goblin would stand aside. That is what she had been counting on.

"Get out of my way. Now," she said, pushing the authority she felt from her mind towards the goblin.

"You're a True Soul," it said, shocked. "My most humblest apologies, madame. Please, enter freely." He shuffled to the side and bowed his head to her.

She turned towards her party who still stood further down the road and gestured with her head for them to follow her. She bit back her smile at the surprise on their faces and walked through the gate. She heard hurried footsteps as they caught up to her. "What was that-"

"Did you see the glowing symbol on that goblin's face-"

"Wait - does this mean we all can do that?"

"It called you a True Soul. Do you know what it meant-"

"Maybe we should all talk one at a-"

"Was it mind control?"

Del turned and held her hands up, trying to get everyone to quiet down. The town was still crawling with other goblins and she eyed them warily, but they seemed to have received the message from the first one and were busy keeping an eye out for more intruders.

Once she was sure they weren't going to walk into another possible fight she said, lowering her voice, "It has something to do with the tadpole. I could feel it. It connected with the mark the goblin had, somehow. But the goblin isn't infected like us. Whatever it is, it's something different. I think the tadpole somehow grants us status with them."

"But why," Lae'zel asked. "What is this True Soul?"

Gale put a finger up, "If they respond to the tadpole, then that is what must make us special. Anyone with a tadpole must be a True Soul."

"That doesn't explain why, wizard."

"Why, what?"

"Why are they following anyone with a parasite in their head? This thing is meant to turn us into mind flayers. Mind flayers do not have parasites in their heads once they are mind flayers. Does this mean there are others like us? Infected, but unchanged?"

"Hmm, now that is a good question. Maybe once we reach the goblin camp, we will find out. The goblin leaders would have to be there."

"This isn't the goblin camp," Astarion asked, confused.

"No," Wyll told him. "This is an abandoned village by the looks of it. These goblins are likely scouts. Which means the actual camp isn't too far away."

"Ugh, then why are we here?" He looked exasperated. "We could have skipped all this nonsense and kept walking. We are on a time schedule, you know, thanks to the worm in our heads?"

"We are looking for information," Del explained. "And looting. We are awfully unprepared to take out an entire goblin camp. Though, maybe we won't have to now that we know we can control some of them."

"More pilfering off the dead," Gale asked.

"Yes, but at least we know these people have been dead for much longer. They definitely won't mind."

Gale looked resigned.

"You will thank me later!"

Del had the group split in two. Gale, Astarion, and Lae'zel would search around in the southern quadrant, while Del, Shadowheart and Wyll would search the northern quadrant. They would meet at the northern gate once they were done.

Del and her half of the team made quick work of the first house. Most of the items they would just sell later, but having money to buy more items was better than nothing. There was also a cellar they took a look at, but it held mostly blacksmith supplies, and none of them were interested in the mechanics of making their own weapons.

They exited the house and headed towards a windmill that stood inside the town. As they made their way closer they could hear the raucous laughter of another group of goblins. Seemed they had tied someone to one of the windmill blades and were enjoying the screams they made as it spun. Del shook her head and sighed. This deep gnome was going to be getting into even more trouble later, but he needed to survive this encounter first.

Shadowheart stepped forward to test the same power Del had used, making the goblins depart so they could free the male gnome. He was a bit grumpy, but offered his belongings in thanks before walking away from the village.

As they exited the windmill after grabbing the meager supplies, Del saw Shadowheart pause. She seemed to be looking at a statue. Del looked at the statue, but wasn't sure who it belonged to, so she called out to Shadowheart. Shadowheart looked startled, but merely smiled at Del when given a questioning look and headed back towards the northern gate.

Gale, Astarion, and Lae'zel were already waiting for them there.

"Any luck," Del called out to them.

"Did you know this idiot has to eat magical items," Astarion asked, miffed. "I unfortunately had to cough up a rather nice ring I had picked up earlier."

Del raised an eyebrow at Gale and he only gave her a sheepish look. "I promise I will explain in more detail at a later date, but I need to consume magical items to deal with a magical affliction I have. The pain is unbearable if I ignore it for too long."

Del sighed, deciding not to push it. She already knew what his deal was, but she wasn't going to push him to talk if he didn't want to. She was dealing with all her companions in the same manner. The only one of her party who had no secrets to hide was the githyanki. And she herself had her own secrets she was keeping close to her chest. She wasn't about to judge anyone for it.

"Did we find anything, besides a weird character flaw," she asked them.

"We did," the vampire spawn grinned. "There was this charming secret magical lair and we found this book." He pulled out a leather bound monstrosity that had what appeared to be a screaming face on it.

Gale held up a finger and said, "It's called the Necromancy of Thay and it's a most powerful tome. Which is why I think I should really be the one to be holding on to it. I am the wizard of the group."

Astarion pulled the book tight to his chest and scowled at said wizard. "As if I'm letting you have it. You'll mistake it for a tasty snack."

Gale looked horrified. "As a connoisseur of the literary variety, I find that very offensive. I would never imbibe a book, even if it was the only thing available to me."

"I'm still not giving it to you."

"We don't even know how to open it," Gale exclaimed.

"That's fine. I will figure it out myself… one of these days."

"Just let him have it, Gale," Del stepped in. "If you can't open it, what harm could it do?"

"What if he does open it," Gale whispered. "I can't predict what kind of dark magic will be unleashed."

"Then we will worry about it then," Del told him. She knew exactly what they needed to open the book, but she was damned if she was going to volunteer to descend into a cluster of giant spiders to get it. They didn't need what that book offered anyway. She could handle it in a video game, but no way was she going to attempt to deal with real life giant spiders. She had to draw a line somewhere.

"What about you, Lae'zel," Del asked, changing the subject.

"There were a trio of ogres that wanted to eat me. I said no."

Del waited a moment to see if Lae'zel would continue and when she didn't she confirmed, "That was it? You said no and walked away?"

Lae'zel thought about it for a moment. "The one in the middle was smarter than the other two. He was the one who let me pass, unmolested."

Del just stared.

"There was nothing worth taking in the house they occupied," Lae'zel added.

"Alright," Del said, "Well, we had to save a deep gnome from being tortured by goblins and we found a few items that we could sell, but that's it."

"I think our half of the village was much tamer than theirs," Wyll conceded.

"I agree," Shadowheart piped up. "Not that I'm complaining.

"It's not about to get more exciting if we wait, so we should get going," Del said.

Their day was not quite over yet, though. As they exited the village they heard loud and, maybe, inappropriate sounds coming from a barn. Of course, Astarion had to check it out. Del allowed him to open the doors to the barn where they were greeted with the amazing image of a bugbear having sex with an orc. The orc had to be at least three times bigger than the bugbear and Del had to wonder if the former could actually feel anything the latter was doing. She didn't really want to look down and see the bugbear's bits to confirm. Astarion was laughing and Del herself had to hold in a chuckle. Wyll looked embarrassed.

The bugbear and orc were understandably mad, but when Del tried to talk the situation down, she somehow made it worse and they ended up having to fight them. With the size of their group it wasn't much of a fight, but Del had taken a swing from the bugbear right on her chest and she was winded after that. Luckily, Shadowheart was there to heal her. She felt right as rain, afterwards, though maybe a bit more bloodied than before.

As they walked around in search of a campsite, they came upon Auntie Ethel and two young men. They were accusing her of stealing their sister. Del confronted the old lady about it and Auntie Ethel decided she had had enough and disappeared. The two men wandered off shortly after, once Del had convinced them to not go after the hag themselves. They continued on after that until they found a nice open space next to a stream that everyone was happy with and they started to set up camp.

Once everyone's tents were up, Gale volunteered to cook for the crew. They had a handful of vegetables and fruit in their food stores, but not much else, so Wyll offered to try and catch some fish, while Shadowheart went out to gather herbs. Del helped Gale get firewood and started up a fire. Lae'zel later joined Wyll and after about an hour of fishing they had managed to spear enough fish for everybody. Shadowheart had returned with a small collection of herbs for Gale to use and the wizard was happily prepping the fish before cooking. Everyone was hanging about the fire as Gale worked, talking amongst themselves. Except Astarion, who was hanging by his tent, reading a book.

Del decided now was a good time to get a little cleaned up before eating. She had a little blood splatter left on her from her own injuries, as well as the orc and bugbear. She had already casted her leathers off for the day, so she just grabbed a small cloth towel and soap from her pack and wandered over to the stream.

The stream was partially blocked by bushes and trees from the rest of the camp, but she wasn't too worried about privacy as she wasn't planning on undressing all the way. Also, night had completely fallen and only pale lines of the firelight made it through the foliage to where she stood. She shucked off her boots, wool socks, and then removed her blouse. She checked the blouse for blood and saw it had managed to escape being splattered on, thanks to her armor, but the cuts in her sleeves from previous battles were still there.

She grimaced. This had been her favorite shirt.

She crouched at the edge of the stream and went to work washing her shirt and her socks before she washed her face, neck, arms, pits, and feet. The cold water was brisk and biting, but she felt better afterwards. Goosebumps covered her body as she dried off with her small towel.

She stood and gathered her clothing and soap and walked back to her tent. She still wore what she thought of as a longline bra, covered enough to be seen as decent, so as she entered back into the camp proper and started to hang her wet items on her tent, she couldn't really understand the sudden silence that followed.

She turned her head in confusion and caught a few different facial expressions from different companions. Shock, concern, confusion. As she turned her head to look at Astarion his face was carefully blank, but he was staring, as well, his fingers paused above his book as if he had been about to turn the page. She turned back to the rest of the group. "What?"

They all seemed to be too scared to answer her, but then she realized none of them were looking at her face, but at her body. She followed their line of sight and held out her arms to try and figure out what they were looking at. She stared down at her arms, wondering if it was her tattoo, but then she caught sight of her many scars and it clicked. "Oh."

She turned away again, continuing to lay out her towel next to her wet clothes. "They're just scars," she said, feeling self-conscious. "I'm not the only one here who has them." She turned back to them. "Don't worry, I didn't get them all at the same time. This took years to accumulate."

"It's less the scars and more the amount of them," Shadowheart noted. Her healer eyes are critical, probably taking note of older scars underneath the newer ones, and how they all seemed to come from different sources.

"You've seen your fair share of battles," Wyll said, sounding mildly impressed. He motioned to his face and his stone eye. "I'm no stranger to that. Every scar tells a story and yours say you've been fighting for a long time. Were you a soldier?"

Del hadn't really expected to have to answer any more questions about herself. She was trying to keep a certain amount of distance between herself and the companions, partially from self-preservation and partly because she wasn't sure if she could keep quiet about what was in their future if she started to get too attached to them. She couldn't risk them finding out she didn't really belong there. And she couldn't risk saying something that would change the timeline. Good or bad.

Maybe bringing up who she was would keep them from asking questions she was less likely to answer, though. She sighed and rubbed her hands across her face. "You aren't technically wrong," she started. "I used to be a Flaming Fist." Everyone looked shocked at that revelation. "I saw a lot of shit that I didn't agree with and I saw a lot of people who needed protection that were not getting it. It was especially bad in the Lower City. So, I struck out on my own. Unfortunately, helping people for free doesn't put food on the table."

Seeing where this was going, Wyll folded his arms and nodded to one of her tattoos. "You became a mercenary."

Del glanced at the tattoo, but shook her head. "I'm not affiliated with a guild. I work alone."

"How do you find work, then," Shadowheart asked, her brow raised.

"Word of mouth, usually." Del settled down by the fire next to Shadowheart. "Also, turns out I'm really good at killing monsters." She winced. "Well, not just monsters. But the guilds don't like sending out their people to be sacrificed. So their brokers get in contact with me if there's a job no one else will take."

"You mean you take the most dangerous jobs," Shadowheart confirmed.

Del nodded. "Sometimes. Sometimes it's the easy ones, too, because they don't pay enough."

"Huh. We have a lot in common, then." Wyll moved to sit on her other side, perched on a small stone. "We both pursue the things that hunt others. It's a virtuous endeavor."

"It would be more virtuous if I didn't require the coin that gets sent my way after I'm done," Del said, rubbing her neck.

Eyes on her neck, Gale said, "Now knowing what I know, I hesitate to ask what gave you that one. It's quite brutal."

She reached over to touch the aforementioned scar. It started from the point where her shoulder met her neck and ran downwards towards her chest in two jagged lines. It was one of her more ugly scars. Especially since she had applied fire to it. "Ah, that would be a vampire bite," she told him, trying very hard not to glance at Astarion. "Not one of my brightest moments. I went after a vampire master early on in my… career."

"You were bit by a true vampire," Wyll asked, incredulous. "And you didn't turn?"

"Whoa, hold on there," she held her hands up, as if warding him off from attacking her. "One, he didn't kill me, and, two, I killed him. Almost immediately after he gave me this memento."

"You can clearly see she isn't a vampire, Wyll," Shadowheart admonished him. "She walks in the daylight with us. Use your head."

Del felt an ounce of guilt, realizing the reasons they had for her not being a vampire were completely false for a tadpoled one. Like Astarion. She even glanced over at him to gauge his reaction, but his eyes were pointedly on his book. She didn't blame him.

Wyll shook his head in disbelief. "You took out a vampire master by yourself? And survived?"

Del wasn't sure how to answer that. "Yes? I did say it wasn't very smart of me. But what's the point of youth if you don't get to be cocky?"

"So, yesterday," Shadowheart interrupted. "When you said your leg was wounded by a boar… were you telling the truth?"

She winced. "It wasn't a boar. I wish it was a boar. It was a werewolf." She turned back to Wyll. "The werewolf did not bite me," she clarified. "It used its claws to dismember me. The clan he was in had this thing about purity and didn't like to risk turning folks that weren't good enough. I said clan, but really it was a cult." She was rambling.

Wyll stopped her with a raised hand. "I apologize. I didn't mean to sound distrustful. I just don't think I've met someone like you before."

"I would hope not," she told him with a frown. "I don't think you could stand someone like me more than once."

Wyll chucked dryly.

"Chk. Your scars tell me one thing alone," Lae'zel sniffed. "You are a warrior. If we needed proof, there it sits for all to see. I chose rightly in allying with you."

"We all did," Gale agreed, smiling at her. He checked the fish he was cooking in a pan over the fire, before glancing at the group, "Now, how about some dinner? The fish cooked to perfection!"

Happy to let the subject change, Del grabbed a plate of herbed fish and vegetables and chowed down. Everyone continued to sit around the fire together, but it was quieter. Shadowheart moved closer to her and said quietly, "I hope we didn't make you uncomfortable. We all have scars. We weren't trying to judge you for yours."

Del looked Shadowheart in the face. "I'm not ashamed of my scars. I earned them. Every single one of them." She paused and looked around. "I guess I was more concerned with how everyone would feel after they learned I'm a mercenary. I'm not usually a person other people would put their trust in."

"Faerun is not the easiest place to survive," Shadowheart told her. "There are worse occupations you could have found yourself in. And you've proven we could trust you more than once."

They finished their meal in companionable silence. Once everyone was done, Del collected their plates and washed them in the stream. Several of her party had decided to turn in for the night. Gale sat by the fire with a book and Del was surprised to watch as Astarion sauntered over to settle by the fire, his own book in hand. Not that he needed the light, unlike her and Gale. But she guessed he could be wanting to bask in the warmth of the fire seeing as he ran cooler than most. Del had her blouse in hand and was attempting to sew up the cuts on her sleeves. Her patching skills were abysmal, but it was better than nothing.

As the fire died down, Gale bid them goodnight and went back to his tent. Astarion barely twitched, continuing to read. Del decided she had done the best that she could on her blouse and set it aside. Her bedroll was already rolled out beneath her, so she stretched out on top of it, crossing her arms behind her head as she stared up at the night sky. Eventually her eyes became heavy and she closed them.

"Why do you bother putting up a tent if you plan on sleeping outside?"

She opened her eyes, craning her head to look at Astarion, his head still bent down to his book. She watched as he turned a page. "I might need the tent if it rains."

"I thought your knee could predict the rain."

She returned her head to a more comfortable position, her eyes wandering along constellations that were more familiar to her now than the ones back from where she came from. She didn't even think of it as home anymore. Faerun was her home now.

"It's not an alarm clock. If I'm asleep and the sky decides to rain, my knee won't wake me up." Astarion doesn't respond and after a while her eyelids start to droop again.

"I was there the night it happened." His voice was quiet. If she had been asleep she doubt she would have heard him.

She rolled to her side, propping herself up on her elbow as she looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you fighting off the werewolf," she watched as he turned a page, his fingers sliding smoothly along the edges of the paper. His eyes moved like he was still reading, but she doubted he was. It was almost as if the pantomime of reading comforted him. "You were by the docks. It must have been almost a year since we had met. I was shocked to have run into you again, more shocked to see you… wrestling with that foul beast." A slight snarl marred his face as he remembered that moment. "I might have done something to assist you, but I remembered your threat, and decided it wasn't worth the risk. Monster hunters tend to be very single minded when it comes to taking down their prey. Even if one of the monsters offered them a helping hand. Though, thinking back, I wasn't fit to be of any help at that time."

"I'm… sorry you had to see that," she said. She was being honest, too. Images and emotions ran through her head from that night. It had not been her finest hour. Astarion had said she had been wrestling with the werewolf, but he was being oh so careful to make it seem less than it was. As if he was scared to remind her. She knew what moment he spoke of, though. She had been on the ground, covered in so much blood. Hers and others. She had been furious when she caught up with the werewolf, having come across its victims. Victims who had been her clients. She had been hired to protect them from the beast. She was so furious that she miscalculated the speed and strength of the damn thing. It had been quick to incapacitate her, by slashing at her with its claws, cleaving the muscle between her knee and thigh. Her leg had become useless. She couldn't stand on her own.

"And you're right. Helping me would have been a bad idea. I would have killed you, too. I had already promised you that."

Astarion paused, his fingers holding onto the next page of the book. He slowly glanced up at her. She realized she had shocked him with her response. He had expected her to be mad at him for not helping. But she wasn't. She had meant what she said that night at the Blushing Mermaid. If she had seen him again, she would have killed him. He was preying on innocent people, and even if it wasn't his fault, he was still part of the problem. And she couldn't allow herself to feel sentimental about him just because she remembered him differently. He hadn't been that person, not yet. Even now, he wasn't quite there, but he was truly on the path to becoming the man she knew he could be. But until the nautiloid showed up, his path could have ended differently. There was no way for her to know until it happened.

His eyes turned back to his book and he turned the page. "You could have killed me that night we met, but you didn't. You gave me a chance. Why, I still don't understand, but because of it, I found I could not leave. I thought to myself, if the werewolf does manage to kill you, I will be there so you wouldn't die completely alone. I could give you that, at least. But you didn't die. I watched you kill it. All odds were against you and you killed it. It was… magnificent." His eyes had finally moved away from the book and now looked off into the distance as if he could still see it. His face was soft and she couldn't really read the emotion there.

"I think you might be over selling it just a bit there," she cautioned, her eyebrows raised. It had been a mess. She was embarrassed he had seen her at that point. She thought she was alone. She had thought she was going to die that night. And she could still have if she hadn't had the foresight to have a healing potion on her. She remembered that she had broken down and was crying, her hand still on the silver dagger that she had shoved into its mouth and into the brain cavity. The body had fallen to the side of hers and she had lain there on the cobblestones and wept into its fur. That night had been her biggest failure. She hadn't been able to sleep for weeks after that.

Astarion looked at her. Really looked at her. "You… were magnificent." Then he smiled at her, fangs peeking from behind his lips. "I should know. I, too, am magnificent. It's probably why we make such a good team."

Del pushed herself up back into a seated position and frowned at him. "Team? You took out one goblin yesterday, and you barely help out around camp." She quickly added. "Putting up and taking down your own tent doesn't count."

"Is it really my fault the rest of you are so good at what you do," he sighed and rolled his eyes, snapping his book closed. "Fine, then hand me that blouse you've mauled."

"Excuse me?" She was no seamstress, but her shirt was fixed, as far as she could tell.

"For a thief you have the sloppiest hand when it comes to holding a needle. Let me have it and I will mend it - properly." He held out his hand.

She eyed him a moment before relinquishing her blouse. "Fine, but this is my favorite shirt. And it's my only shirt as of right now."

"Don't worry," he said, as he stood. "I will have it fixed by morning." He grabbed her tiny sewing kit from beside her and went off towards his tent. Once the flap was closed behind him, she sighed and shook her head. He was so damn unpredictable. Rubbing her face, she laid back down on her bedroll and pulled the blanket up. Her eyes once more roved the stars, finding comfort in their constant state. After a few moments, her eyes closed and they stayed closed for the rest of the night.