The Shadows | Astarion

~ 6 ~

Aelia stayed sitting in the sunlight coming through the window in the hall, and heard nothing but silence come from Astarion's room.

She heard someone coming up the stairs and made to get up, until she saw Shadowheart come down the hall.

"I assume Astarion is sleeping, you can come into my room whilst we wait for sundown." She offered, and Aelia knew it was better than sitting on the floor, so she nodded and followed her.

"How do you know each other?" She asked, whilst Shadowheart and placed things on the table, then she turned.

"We met in an unfortunate situation, we had parasites put inside us that would turn us into mindflayers, but together, we stopped it." She answered, and Aelia nodded.

She then realised something.

"I left my bag in Astarion's room, do you think he'd be alright with me going in there for a few seconds?" She asked, wondering if she'd get on the bad side of the vampire if she did so.

"He should be fine with it, just knock on the door." She answered, picking up some scrolls and moving them.

Aelia nodded and left, quietly walking to the door further down the hall, she stopped outside of it.

Tentatively, she knocked on the door.

"What?" His voice snapped from inside the room, Aelia flinched.

She leaned closer to the door, "It's Aelia, I wanted to get my bag, but I can come back later if that's not alright."

"Come in." His voice was now softer, and had lost the angry tone. She then realised he was moving around the room.

Aelia opened the door and stepped inside, and realised there was candlelight in the room.

He was holding a candle in his hand.

She stared at him.

"I thought you'd like some light in here." He answered, putting down the candle quickly.

"Thank you." She uttered, and picked up her bag, seeing that Astarion was watching her. Her breath caught, and she walked back to the door.

"I... apologise." He then suddenly said, and Aelia turned in confusion.

"For what?"

"If I... scared you. I may be a creature of the shadows, but I find the darkness unnerving too." He revealed, and Aelia looked at his unwavering eyes.

"Thank you, I'll leave you to rest now." She said softly, giving him a smile smile before leaving the room.

She walked back to Shadowheart's room feeling lighter, like she had been seen. They stayed in there until Gale finally came back, looking much happier than before.

The three talked until sundown, and Astarion had left his room and joined them, looking a tiny bit happier.

"If nothing is keeping us here, I'd like to leave tonight, we've planned all our stops to avoid the sun." Astarion spoke, and everyone else nodded.

They went to their rooms and packed their belongings, Aelia helped Shadowheart with her scrolls, and soon they were ready to leave the tavern.

Shadowheart led them downstairs, and it was just as rowdy as it had been yesterday.

For some reason, Aelia looked towards Astarion for comfort, the people were overwhelming.

He guided her through the crowd of people quickly, and they had made it out of the tavern. Astarion let go of Aelia as quickly as he had grabbed her.

They made quick work of weaving through the city streets, until they reached the outskirts of the city. Aelia looked back at the city full of light, and then looked at the forest that was swarmed in shadows.

They wouldn't be able to carry a lantern or light source in the open, only until they had the refuge of a cave. The group wanted to avoid getting into fights as much as possible.

She looked at Astarion, who nodded his head towards the forest, a look in his eye.

Aelia breathed in deeply and set forward into the forest with the group, knowing she couldn't let her past hold her back from this.