Recovery (Astarion BG3 Fan Fiction)

15: Brand New City

"We can stay at Abbadon Manor, once we make it through the gates," Aysla offers sardonically to her companions as they walk through Rivington. Karlach, Wyll, and Astarion - as always - join her. "It may be preferable to continuing to camp in the dirt, though it's far from fancy."

"Oh, la la," Karlach says, not catching the sarcasm in Aysla's voice. "Abbadon, as in Aysla Abbadon?" Aysla realizes then that her little joke didn't land because he had never shared her last name with her companions - it hadn't come up.

"The very same," she replies. "Hopefully my little shack in Brampton is still standing."

Astarion's ears perk up. He had started to feel like their little tent under the stars was his home. It would be interesting to see where she stayed, before they had met.

How strange, he thinks, that they lived no more than a hop, skip and a jump away from each other, for years, probably, in their own separate hells - held apart by nothing but circumstance.

Suddenly, Karlach is running ahead of them, shouting, "The circus is in town!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The sun is bright, and Astarion takes Aysla's arm as they walk past the various vendors and bards.

Aysla can't help but be in a good mood. No one is attacking them for once, they're not sneaking or breaking into anywhere, and there are no shadows, dark, or danger. It feels almost normal. She wonders if life could stay like this, once their adventure is done.

They happen upon a large tree as the center of the area. A Dryad woman with glowing eyes beckons them towards her.

"Your eyes, stira -" she says, addressing Aysla. "There is pain, endless and deep. But there is also devotion - blazing like the sun. You're in love, are you not?"

"That obvious?" she laughs uncomfortably.

"Bring the one you love to me," the dryad replies, "and I will look into your hearts and tell you if your love is eternal, or doomed to fail."

"Hmm," Aysla ponders, worrying her lip. She knows Astarion probably wouldn't care for some silly fortune-telling, and she's not quite eager to share what's between them with a stranger, either. "Why don't you two go ahead?"

She gestures to Wyll and Karlach. Karlach instantly beams, and Wyll looks bashful. If Aysla had to venture a guess, they probably hadn't expressed any romantic interest to one another yet, but she felt there was a potential - a sentiment that Karlach seemed to share, judging on her reaction.

"Ah, come on soldier! It'll be fun!" she says to Wyll.

"Certainly - I'd be honored," Wyll replies, still looking sheepish.

The dryad whisks the pair away, leaving Astarion and Aysla alone by the large tree. They pull up a seat at the wooden picnic table that sits at its base, sitting across from one another. Aysla pulls his hand into hers, rubbing little circles with her thumb.

"Thank you for weaseling us out of that," Astarion says with a smirk. "Though I'm wondering now, were you worried? That our love would be deemed 'doomed'?"

Aysla breaks eye contact, opting to stare at their hands intertwined. "I was more worried that she would reveal just how eternal and undying my love is, for you," she says, half-jokingly. "Hate to make you puke on such a beautiful day."

"Is that so?" He tilts his head, trying to read her. "Well it works in my favor, I suppose. My love for you is nowhere near as pathetic - more of a let's-take-it-day-by-day sort of thing than undying and eternal - yuck," he teases.