Fairy Tulip

Summary: Morena finally travels to the secretive elven island of Evermeet, and discovers everything she knew about it was completely wrong.

Writer's Note: Summer read for a hot summer day! Also, this there is NSFW scene and I haven't laughed so hard writing a chapter. VP note: BG3 Photomode and Picmonkey.

Andromeda was awake bright and early despite the fact that it had taken her ages to fall asleep. When her date with Astarion had been fun, although a bit chaotic, but ended so horribly, she had spent most of the night crying her eyes out and talking to Karlach.

She didn’t understand what she had done wrong to anger him so quickly. Her intent had never been to sleep with him that night. All she had been hoping for was to hang out for a bit longer, perhaps share some cuddles and kisses, and then go home. She hadn’t wanted the night to end.

She spent hours wracking her brain, trying to think of what she had done that made him think she was trying to sleep with him, other than the fact that they had been sharing a kiss and she had asked to come upstairs.

She supposed the request to come up had been enough to implicate sex on its own, but she wished he had given her the opportunity to explain before flying off the handle. It mortified her and made her feel cheap. It also made her feel worried for him and why he reacted that way.

Chewing at the corner of her thumb, Andromeda tapped the fingers of her other hand on the arm of the couch as she waited for Astarion to arrive. She was fully expecting him to be late, but at 8:00AM, there was a buzz on the intercom.

“Hi, it’s me. Sorry. I’m early.”

Even over the crackling speaker, his voice sounded smoother than silk. Without responding, she simply pressed the button to buzz him in before pacing back and forth until there was a knock on the door. Not wanting to seem too eager, she counted to ten in her head before opening it.

“Hi,” Astarion said softly. She tried not to notice how handsome he looked in his thick, cozy green sweater and jeans.

“Hi,” she said, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“These are for you,” he said, holding up a bouquet of red roses. He grimaced. “I’m not fond of flowers so maybe this was a stupid idea.”

Silently cursing herself as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, she took the flowers from him. “No, I love flowers. Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

She waved for him to come in before turning to get a vase from the kitchen. Arranging the roses, she tried her best not to glance over at him leaning against the doorframe while he watched her. Even though she was upset with him, a small part of her ached to kiss him the moment she had opened the door, or to at least wrap herself in his embrace.

But it wouldn’t have done her any good to simply give him a pass for the way he acted without a discussion and a proper apology.

Once arranged nicely in a vase, she slipped past him and set the flowers on the coffee table before settling herself down on the couch. Astarion followed her, shifting nervously and wringing his hands instead of taking a seat. “May I?” he asked, motioning to the spot next to her.

She had barely nodded before he was plopping down next to her. The silence between them felt thick and awkward. She hated it.

“I’m sorry about last night,” he said finally.

Leaning over the kitchen island, he plunged his hand into a canvas grocery bag and scooped up three large potatoes. Aaron launched the potatoes into the air and began to juggle them. “Work all night on a drink of rum!” He noticed Gale’s eyes intently followed the potatoes, letting out a high-pitched laugh, while slapping his tray and babbling out nonsense syllables. “Daylight come and me wan' go home,” Aaron panted, keeping the potatoes in the air a little longer. Then he caught them in quick succession. One, two, and three. He brought them down with a heavy thud onto the heavy wooden cutting board on the island. 

In my Dekarios Family series, I based Gale's sweet father, Aaron Rolana (OC), on the hilarious Stephen Colbert.

“So, we flag every story that’s even remotely curious,” he grunted, hoisting a crate and thumping it onto the low table between them. “I’ll have some recruits search these for stories about nautiloid crashes, survivors, landings, anything unusual. We’ll narrow them down from there.” Morena grabbed one of the broadsheets and flipped the pages, before setting it back on the stack. “Okay, why do you think they crashed?” “Because knowing how the other Chosen operate, Gale would have fought his way off the ship,” he explained.  Morena nodded her head, thinking about her son’s tenacity and knew he was right. “That’s if they both survived the crash and ceremorphosis in this scenario.” Kyle raised his hands. “Morena, let’s put that aside for a moment, they are still within the window.” “Okay,” she swallowed, but happy that Kyle was taking this more seriously than she’d expected. “Now, obviously Faerun is enormous and shit happens all the time. Cities fall into Avernus, five-headed dragons threaten populations, flying castles, what have you. So, we need to narrow that scope,” Kyle expertly explained. “My son is a wizard, that’s pretty rare,” Morena offered.  “Exactly!” Kyle clapped his hands. “I’ll have my group focus on witnesses mentioning a wizard or even better, a sun elf.” Morena gave him a curious look. “If Gale isn’t casting a spell, he is just going to look like some bloke tripping over his own feet. But your grandmother is a sun elf,” he explained. “With a few exceptions, they rarely leave Evermeet. A rural town is going to remember seeing a sun elf, especially your grandmother.” Morena smiled, thinking of how radiant her grandmother looked, even battle worn and exhausted, as she walked toward her and her eldest brother outside Marissa’s wedding venue. “I can see that.”