#internutter

The Tiefling who would become known as Kosh was only twelve when he started to lose his belief in miracles. He had just begun training in the martial arts and was losing his faith in his fellow students, the people around him, and those who were supposed to care for his continued wellbeing. He would not lose any faith in his Master until he turned twenty, but that was a long time from now.

His master had given him a basket, some written instructions to follow, and a specific fungus to find and fetch back. He had no idea that he was being sent into the Feywild, betrayed by the Master he trusted. He was told it was a day trip, so he packed provisions for a day. He was not warned and never would be about the Feywild.

Some hours into his fruitless search, Kosh began to mutter to himself. He. had found plenty of red-capped fungi, but none with yellow spots, blue stems, and pink frills all together. He didn’t want to fail his master and therefore kept to the task until he couldn’t think for hunger and thirst.

Just as he sat, there was someone watching him. A wizened old crone who seemed made out of knots. “Do you know what they say about people who talk to themselves, boy?”

“I know,” he said. “But nobody wants to talk to a Tiefling, so I might as well talk to a fool.”

“You’re a Tiefling?”

He was hungry and tired. and grumpy about both, therefore, he was more disrespectful than he should have been. “The horns and the tail are usually a dead give-away. But in case you missed it, there’s also the blue skin, pointy teeth, and yellow glowing eyes. Lots of people have pointy ears, so they don’t count.” He carefully unwrapped his rations. They had spoiled. “...typical.”

“Do those glowing eyes work, boy?”

He looked, and saw that she was blind. “Oh. Sorry. If it’s worth anything, I’ve had a set of bad days. I shouldn’t have been so rude.”

“What have you to eat there?”

“Mulch, apparently. Compost.” He sighed. “If you know a good tree to bury it under, I’d thank you for the knowledge. I’d rather something gets some use out of this than waste it.”

“I’ll have it for my garden,” said the crone. “You help me get to my house and perhaps I can help you.”

At first, he loaned her his arm, and helped her traverse the path riddled with hazards. Next, he carried her heavy pack. Finally, he carried her. The further he went, the heavier it all was, until he was forced to crawl. Despite it all he never gave up.

“Why are you all the way out here on your own?” she asked.

“My master sent me to find a fungus,” he told her. “Red cap with yellow spots, a blue stem and pink frills. I can’t return without it.”

“Silly boy,” she announced. “Your basket’s already full of them.”

The next thing he knew, he was standing before his Master with the basket in both hands and only the cloudiest memory of what had just happened.

“You’ve only been gone a handful of minutes,” growled the Elven Master. “Did you forget something?”

Kosh checked, the basket was full of exactly the fungus he was sent to acquire. “I got them, Master.” There was also a slip of paper addressed to his teacher. “And... there’s a note?” He got to read it before the Master snatched it out of his hand.

Do not send a good boy to a bad end, or it shall come for you.

It was the only time Kosh had ever seen the Master fear anything.

“...okay that is pretty funny, but Taako is freezing his cute little ass off out here so...” Taako turned and was about to head back inside when a snowball collided with the back of his head. 

Taako whipped around, his ears twitching and his eyes folding into a furious glare. Kravitz and Angus immediately pointed at each other. 

“Okay, you’ve done it now,” Taako smirked, pulling a spare wand from his pocket and casting cone of cold on the pair.

“Sorry, sir, but Kravitz and I are expert snowball fighters!” Angus pulled out his own wand and cast a dispell, giving Kravitz time to launch another snowball at his husband. 

The next several hours were spent in all out war: Kravitz and Angus against Taako. It might have seemed like an unfair match, but Angus and Kravitz mainly stuck to snowballs while Taako was casting spells left and right. At one point Garyl showed up and kicked a snowbank over onto the pair. Kravitz and Angus popped out of the pile like fresh flowers and laughed so hard tears came to their eyes.

“Give up?” Taako smirked from his perch on a nearby tree branch.

“Alright, we surrender!” Kravitz put his hands in the air. “Please oh merciful wizard, all we ask for peace is your famous hot chocolate and cookies!”

“Hmmm...well I suppose you losers do need something to cheer up after I totally destroyed you,” Taako said.

“You cheated!” Kravitz laughed.

“There’s no rules in war, bone baby.” Taako jumped down from his branch and lifted Kravitz’s chin with his wand. Then he helped Angus out of the snow pile. As the three walked home Taako was surprised to find he was smiling. 

Winter had been nothing but a risk of freezing to death for as long as him and Lup had lived on the road. Then it had become an uncomfortable reminder of freezing fingers and aching bones, it wasn’t like Taako had gotten any better at regulating his temperature. Still, hanging out with his man and his boy in the snow had been fun. 

So fun that he didn’t realize he was shivering harder, and sneezing.

The next morning Taako woke up at three in the afternoon, groaning and moping around the house with a blanket wrapped around his body.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Kravitz teased, kissing where he assumed Taako’s forehead was under the blanket. 

“Mmph.” Taako grunted, laying down on the couch.

“Are you alright?” Kravitz asked.

“I’m dying,” Taako croaked hoarsely. “You and the twerp killed me. I’m dying.”

“Did you catch a cold?” Kravitz asked. He reached a hand into the blanket and felt Taako’s forehead. It was warm, but not too concerning yet. “I’ll get you some tea, you’ll feel right as rain in no time.”

“No I won’t, I’ll be dead. You’ll have to take me to the astral plane.”

Kravitz decided to fix Taako a very late breakfast to go with his tea, and by the time he was finished with that it appeared the elf had fallen back to sleep. Kravitz chuckled softly and sat down on the couch in front of the elf. He brushed some hair out of Taako’s eyes and as he did his hand brushed against his forehead. 

Kravitz swore, Taako was burning up. He may not have much experience with mortals, but he knew a fever that high was bad. 

He wished Angus hadn’t been at school, he could have asked him what to do. 

“Taako,”Kraivtz hissed, shaking the elf lightly hoping to wake him up. Taako just flailed loosely and groaned quietly. “Oh my god Taako are you really going to die?” Kravitz shook the elf harder.

“Krav...quit it...” Taako murmured, still not opening his eyes. Then he shivered and drew the blanket closer around himself.

Kravitz felt his stomach swirl in fear and he went into full over-protective husband mode. Seeing Taako shiver, he pulled the elf onto his chest and manifested his reaper wings. He folded Taako into his feathers and tried to keep him as warm as possible. Whenever Taako coughed weakly or murmured in his sleep Kravitz almost whimpered with panic. 

By the time Angus got home to inform Kravitz that Taako, while most likely miserable and very sick, was not in danger of dying, Kravitz had fluffed out his wings like a mama bird and had made his arms sore from clutching at his husband. 

“He just needs some rest, Magnus says that Taako gets like this when he’s sick. He probably has a very low immune system,” Angus explained. 

When Taako finally woke up from a fever induced nap, Kravitz kissed his forehead a dozen times and swore: “I will never make you stay out in the cold again.”