She is tall, but the gate towers over her, making her feel small--a feeling she doesn’t particularly enjoy. It’s been a long time since she came here, but hearing Zamira talk about the suffering of her siblings down below drew her back here.

If only she was stronger, then maybe she could rip the gate right off its hinges and open the Upper Planes up. She can feel the intense need to protect, much like many of her Aasimar companions do.

“Are you trying to stare holes into the gate?”, a voice from behind her says and she turns around to face Varasdun. He’s not as tall as she is. His long, black hair flows in the soft, warm breeze and his bronze skin shimmers slightly in the light.

“I wish that worked”, she says with a sigh. “The Tieflings are in trouble.”

Varasdun steps beside her, his hands on his back, looking at the gate. His long, straight nose, his high cheekbones and his almost black eyes stand in stark contrast to Thajili’s softer features.

“How’d you know?”, he asks.

“Well, I have a...friend? Down there. From time to time I get to visit her in dreams and she tells me about what’s going on down there.”

His face turns to regard her, his brows furrowed.

“It’s bad?”

Thajili nods.

Varasdun’s eyes narrow and Thajili can see his muscles tense, as if her friend has to keep himself from trying to rip the gate open with his bare hands. It would never work, of course. She knows.

Because she tried and failed before.

“We’ve been up here for almost a thousand years. I’m tired of letting them suffer down there alone, I’m tired of all this soft light and the flowers and the--”

Varasdun punches the gate. It vibrates with a soft, musical tone and doesn’t move an inch.

“You know there’s no way out of here”, she says quietly. Varasdun turns to look at her.

“We can always fall”, he says.

Thajili blinks.

“But--”

“Don’t mind me. Just thinking out loud”, he says with something that is not quite a smile before he turns around.

“Are you okay?”, she asks.

“No. Are you?”

“We only have one room with two beds left”, he says.

Thajili smiles down at him.

“That won’t be a problem. We’ll take it!”

She pays for the room and helps Tarak carry Balasar up the stairs. Minoe sometimes wonders how she ended up with the four tallest people on this entire continent. She is not particularly weak, but she could never in her life carry any of her companions up a flight of stairs. Sometimes she wonders if she looks completely ridiculous in their middle, the tiny tiefling cleric surrounded by giant Dragonborn, Aasimar, Firbolgs and Orcs.

“Help me push the beds together”, Lulu says as soon as they have entered the small room. There is nothing much inside it, but at least it’s clean. Minoe helps Lulu with the beds and Tarak gently puts Balasar down on the mattress.

“I’m sorry, but I’m completely tapped”, she says and watches as Thajili carefully touches his forehead to feel his temperature.

“It’ll be fine, I can take care of it”, Lulu says and without further comment they climb up onto the beds and get close to their unconscious companion. Balasar’s black scales are gleaming with sweat and his breathing is heavy.

Thajili gets undressed and Minoe watches her, forgetting for a moment that she’s supposed to get her healer’s kit to help patch Tarak up.

“Love”, Thajili says with an amused smile. “The bandages?”

“Hm? Oh. Sorry”, she says and starts rummaging through her backpack. Lulu has put their hands on Balasar’s chest and Minoe knows that they’re about to overexert themselves. While she takes out her healer’s kit she keeps glancing at Thajili cleaning herself as thorough as possible with a bowl of water and a sponge.

“The next week we are just going to lay low and do nothing”, Minoe says.

“Tell that to all those criminals out there”, Tarak says with a lopsided smirk as she sits down, so Minoe can actually reach the deep cuts on her shoulder.

“Lulu is over-exerting themself, you look like shit and Balasar was just poisoned, I think we should take some time off”, Minoe insists. Before Tarak can start arguing there is a gasp over by the beds and Balasar wakes up with a shudder.

“Firbolgs are heavy”, he immediately complains. Lulu snorts and gives him a kiss on the forehead.

“Shut up. You’re a giant lizard, I will not hear complaints about my weight.”

“I’m your patient. Be nice to me.”

“Then stop whining, you useless gecko.”

Balasar and Lulu start bickering on the bed and Minoe sighs. Thajili grins at her.

“We’ll take time off”, she says gently.

“Thank you.”

They take care of Tarak’s wounds together and only a few minutes after the bickering on the bed has stopped does Minoe realize that Balasar and Lulu have simply fallen asleep. Balasar is on his back, one arm around Lulu who is snuggled close to his side with one of their long legs thrown over his lap.

“Wouldn’t it be lovely if they were always this peaceful”, Tarak says with a deadpan look at them and Thajili chuckles.

“Get on there, you oaf”, she says and pushes Tarak over to the bed. She gets on the bed and without another word she gets as close to Lulu as possible to make room for Thajili and Minoe.

Thajili doesn’t bother to put on any clothes. She lifts Minoe up as if she weighs nothing and carries her over to the bed with a bright smile.

“Tiny clerics sleep in the middle”, she says and Minoe splutters but doesn’t struggle as she is thrown down on the bed to cuddle close to Tarak’s wide shoulders and muscular back.

Thajili looks at all of them with a look so fond that it makes Minoe’s heart flutter in her chest. Two blankets are carefully draped over them before Thajili climbs into bed with them.

“This is the worst relationship I’ve ever been in”, Tarak mumbles.

“Liar”, Thajili whispers and Minoe can hear the grin in her voice.

“It’s sleep time”, Minoe says as strictly as she’s able to. She knows that a stern tone never really works for her, but both Tarak and Thajili indulge her and stop bickering.

The world around her stands unchanging.

Light, peace, quiet.

The same people that she has seen every day for the last millennium. She knows all their faces, their voices, their stories. She knows all the stories there are to know in this place. She knows all the songs.

If this is eternity, she thinks, I might just sleep forever so I don’t have to see more of the same every single day of my eternal life.

Only from time to time she manages to listen in to the orphanage where her last faithful live. She tries to comfort them. She sings to them all the hundreds of songs she has learned and thought of herself.

She wishes she could actually go to see them.

She wishes the gates would open and the world would be whole again.

And then, amidst it all, amidst the sameness and everything she knows by heart in a way that hurts her soul, a hand touches the barrier. Her barrier. Her music. Her song.

Thajili is thrust into a void made of light and when she opens her eyes she sees an unfamiliar face for the first time in almost a thousand years.

Someone heard her song. There is new music. There is a new person.

After a millennium of black and white, there is color again.

Tell our story to your children so we will live on in their memories and not be forgotten.