Work Text:
When Jezabeth had told Avarice that she didn’t need to come in for work at the Hellfire’s Embrace tomorrow, she didn’t know what to think. She was excited she wouldn’t have to spend the day giving massages and cleaning, but nervous about having free time. It was never good when she was left alone with her thoughts, or enough money to get half the city drunk, which was inevitably how she would spend her evening. It was how she spent every evening. Avarice always liked to keep busy, but on this day especially she needed something to do. A day marred with such painful memories never ended well.
Her morning would begin exactly like every other morning, she decided: checking in with Kel and Millicent. She had made a habit of it, just to see if the two needed any ingredients for the potions Kel was slaving over or food that Millicent forced Kel to eat. Avarice was worried about Kel, but knew with Millicent they were in good hands. More than that, Avarice was lonely, and her morning chats with Millicent, as much as they were just her talking and Millicent listening, were refreshing.
Avaice let herself into Millicent’s house as usual, and saw a familiar scene: Kel was hard at work bent over some beaker with a mysterious liquid and Millicent was barely clothed, sitting on a couch nearby watching them work, reading from a book when instructions were needed. The pair had a beautiful flow in the way they worked, perfectly anticipating when the other one needed something and responding before they had time to ask. Seeing them together only increased the pit of loneliness in Avarice’s stomach.
“Good Morning, Millicent,” Avarice said, hiding her feelings with a smile.
“Good Morning,” Millicent replied in her usual monotone. Avarice knew better by now than to expect Kel to respond.
“How have things been going?”
“Fine. I have a shopping list for you,” Millicent got up and grabbed a sheet of paper with a list of food and potion ingredients scribbled on one side. She handed it over to Avarice. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Me? Yeah I’m fine. I finally have a day when I don’t have to set foot in that hell hole of a business.” Avarice lied.
Millicent looked her over with a shrewd eye. She was excellent at seeing what people wanted to hide.
“A day off is good for you. I think we could all use a day off.” Millicent looked over her shoulder. “Kel?”
Kel didn’t look up from their work. Millicent walked over to the elf and gently grabbed their arm.
“Kel. Kel stop for a moment.” Slowly Kel’s eyes turned from their work. “Kel, you’re getting out of my house today.”
“What?” Kel didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“You’re getting out of my house today,” she repeated.
“I have so much work to do. I can’t just leave right now. This potion needs to be finished so I can -”
“Kel. You are going to be out of my house for the next twelve hours or dumping them all out.” The smaller girl gently reached up to touch the elf’s face. “You’re going to work yourself to death. It would suck if you died before you finished all of this shit.” A small smile was on her lips as she spoke.
“What do you expect me to do for twelve hours?” Kel asked.
“I don’t know. Go get the groceries with Avarice and then figure something out,” Millicent said, already helping Kel into their coat and handing them their goggles.
“Where is Avarice?”
“Um, I’m right here,” Avarice said, waving her hand. This is not how she had seen her day going.
“Oh. When did you get here?” Kel asked, seeing her for the first time.
“She’s been here for several minutes. Now go help her and I don’t want to see you for twelve hours,” Millicent said, ushering them both out the door. As the tiefling and the elf stepped outside, Millicent shut the door and slid the lock and deadbolt into place. Neither one was getting back in until Millicent decided.
The two sat in stunned silence for several moments. Avarice looked to Kel, now disguised as a wood elf thanks to that ugly hat. They obviously hadn’t seen this coming either.
“Well,” Avarice said, “how would you like to go shopping?”
…
As it turned out, Kel did not enjoy shopping. They were restless and agitated for the several hours the trip took. Avarice attempted to make small talk, asking them about their potion making, but it was quickly clear that Kel really had no interest in telling this to Avarice, and Avarice had no clue what Kel was talking about. After that the only talking came from Avarice who stopped to bargain for every item on the list. Some of the vendors that knew her offered a lower price that she didn’t need to negotiate, but she spent a great deal of time working down others. By the time they had finished, they had procured every item on Millicent’s list and managed to only spend half of the money she had provided.
“So…” Avarice said, “What do you want to do now?”
Kel didn’t respond, they simply looked upward, as if by looking at the sun they could make it move across the sky faster. It was approaching mid-day, and there were still at least nine hours until they could go back to Millicent’s.
Avarice sighed. “Look, I know you don’t want to be out here with me, but you’re stuck. Why don’t we try and make the best of it?”
“Make the best of it? I’m wasting my time out here. I need to be finishing those potions. They aren’t just for me, they’re for -”
“All of us. Yeah I know. Millicent told me. Healing potions for the group.”
“Yes. So you understand why I need to go back and finish them then.” Kel was clearly very frustrated by this entire scenario.
“I also understand that you haven’t let yourself take a break. That you’re overworking yourself and that’s not going to help you make potions any faster. You’re more likely to make mistakes like this.” Avarice could feel the lecture she had been holding back for so long all come out at once, “And that’s not good because you exhaust yourself and then you’re more likely to get hurt. How do you think that would make Millicent feel if you hurt yourself making potions because you couldn’t take a break for one fucking day? One day, Kel, that’s all that’s being asked of you.”
Kel looked at the girl in silence, reluctant to admit the possibility that she might have a point.
“I never thought of it that way. But I have to get these potions done, Avarice,” Kel said.
“Not today. Today we’re gonna have some fun,” A thought struck her. “You still want to try and score some more suude?”
For the first time that day, let alone in weeks, their eyes lit up at the suggestion of the one thing other than Millicent that caught their full attention. “I’m listening...” Kel cautiously replied.
Avarice grinned. “I think I have an idea of what we can do today.”
…
It had taken an hour for Avarice to track down a contact that would have the information she needed, and it was another hour before the pair found the location of the drug dealer they were seeking, only to discover that they were out.
“What do you mean out?” Avarice asked, incredulous.
“Well Alvie can’t exactly hang out in the same spot all day selling illegal goods, now can he. Wouldn’t want to get caught.” The homeless man living in the alleyway between the businesses where this Alvie was supposed to be had asked for a gold piece before divulging any information.
“Fine. I guess we’ll just wait then,” Avarice was positively bristling. She hated to think that her time, and gold, had been wasted.
“Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. Just wait here suspiciously to buy drugs. Great plan, really doll.”
Avarice opened her mouth with a retort, but Kel interjected.
“Well, when will Alvie be back?”
“He should be back around sundown. Now would you two stop bothering me, that is unless you’re willing to pay for some more neighborhood information. There’s a guy living down the street who-”
“No. We don’t need anymore overpriced information.” Avarice turned to her companion. “Let’s go Kel.” Avarice stalked off in a direction, not quite sure where she was headed and Kel followed.
Avarice only took a few steps before she jumped at the abrupt thud near her feet. She readied a defensive position, expecting the beggar to have lurched for her purse in an attempt to take matters into his own hands, but instead found Kel, collapsed in an unceremonious heap on the dusty ground.
“Uh…” She knelt beside the fallen elf’s head. Their tied-back hair draped over them, mimicking the nigh spitting image of a sodden mop. Doubtfully, she quickly scanned over the narrow streets to spot any viable assailants, but the two had distanced themselves far enough away from the only other alleyway patron. “Kel?” She poked their limp shoulder with her well manicured nail. She asked more hesitantly, “Sybille?”
Kel groaned in a delayed reaction. “No.” They murmured to the floor, letting her know they were at least still conscious. They heaved their weak body off the ground, shoving off of their knee to propel themselves back up to their six odd feet, but not without a worrisome stumble that Avarice felt compelled to catch lest they fall again. They rubbed their face, both from the pain and to shield the darkening hue around their copper cheeks.
Avarice had to suppress an incredulous laugh, marveling at the ridiculous lengths of their integrity. “You haven’t slept at all, have you?”
“There’s…” They sighed, aware of how desperate they sounded and how equally foolish they looked emerging from their faint spell, “Not enough time.”
Avarice’s expression dropped to a serious stare. “I can’t wait to share the farce of the elf who worked so hard to heal their friends they died.”
Kel balled their hands into fists but quickly felt the energy from the force alone drain from their body. They slumped like a rag doll onto the adjacent wall and yawned. “If only I could be so lucky.”
The words were hard to make out through their yawn, but Avarice knew a reproachful, pupilless glare was the appropriate response. They looked so hollow. Shadows etched deeply into their gaunt face. Avarice wondered how they would fare if Millicent didn’t force them to eat something daily. She might have spent today hanging out with their corpse instead.
They lifted themself tiredly from the wall and limped in the direction they came from. “I’m going back.”
Avarice was quick on their slow moving trail, “She won’t let you back in.”
“I don’t care,” The stubborn elf shrugged her off, “I’ll waste less time getting there. I’ll trance outside if I have to.”
“You’ll rest?” Avarice balked in disbelief.
“I don’t know how any of you can rest when we only have so much time before the next deadly encounter, but if the faster this is over the faster I can get back to work then I’ll fucking try.” They lazily threw their hands up in frantic gestures. “The second these twelve tedious hours are up I want to be in her door and at my desk.”
“You were finally interested in getting away at the mention of suude,” Avarice fluttered her eyes hopefully. “You can’t wait until sundown?” Her patience for this repetitive back and forth was wearing thin, but damn if her charms haven’t helped in the past.
Whatever effect it may or may not have had on Kel was quickly negated once they tripped over their own boots and nearly fell again. They growled in frustration. “I’ve been out burning under your blinding, hellish ball all day. I’m tired of watching it.”
Avarice thought hard about her contacts, the intricate web of dealers throughout the city and the whispers of their hidden stashes. “There’s another way.”
“Okay.” Kel stopped their determined yet sloppy gait and entertained her proposal with crossed arms under what Avarice presumed was a small window of time for her to convince them.
She eyed them intently. “But there’s more risk involved.”
They smirked and nodded condescendingly. “And guess how many potions we have to minimize that risk?” They turned on their heel, their back answering for them.
Kel was driving her so mad she could scream. She rubbed her temples in despair. That same feeling of worthlessness crept up from deep in her mind where she barred off the memories. She didn’t know why she always tried so hard to please just to have everyone either turn their back on her or be taken away. She couldn’t stop herself from asking the question she’s always wanted the answer to. “Do you even care about me?”
Kel’s shoulders visibly tensed up as they hard stopped and turned to face her with clear rage in their dark eyes. They approached her menacingly, towering over her. She felt small, the same way Vasily made her feel the day everything changed. In an instant, their slender fingers wrapped tightly around her shoulders and they shook her forcefully. Their voice sounded distant, and yet it was the loudest sound permeating in her head.
“I’m trying to help you!” They yelled in her face.
“Help me?” She could feel the sting of tears at her eyes. “You didn’t even notice me!”
They released her arms, thin white imprints left in their wake on her soft pink skin.
She held back tears, trying desperately not to make a scene in the public square they ended up in. “You don’t have any idea what I’m going through despite the fact that I’ve visited you every day. Dragomir left me and for all I know he could be dead somewhere in a ditch right now, Immeral only shows himself to mock me, and you can’t look up from your project for one fucking minute to remember who you’re making it for!” She carefully brushed her fingertips under her eyes to prevent the wetness from ruining her makeup. She took a deep breath to regain her composure before she said in a quiet voice,“Millicent is the only one who noticed something is wrong.”
Kel’s hands hovered by her. They stared at their trembling fingers, horrified at how their mind brought them to assault her. “I’m sorry.” They whispered grievously. They wrapped their arms around themself to keep them away from her. They couldn’t look her in the eyes. “Why don’t you ask Millicent to help you?” They asked ashamedly.
Avarice wanted to slap them. “Because she knows that something is wrong with you too! You think I want to take her attention from you? You need her more than I do right now.”
Kel wanted to object, she could read it in the way their sharp nose crinkled and their bony fingers squeezed their sinewy biceps. But a heavy silence fell over the two as acceptance reared its ugly head.
“We need to step away from it all.” Avarice continued breathlessly. “Just for one day.”
Kel exhaled a deep breath they didn’t realize they were holding. “I’m sorry.” They said again, the words almost caught in their throat.
Avarice gently patted their back, not accepting or denying the apology, simply letting it be. Off in the horizon, orange and pink hues danced upon the silhouette of the mountains.
“It’s almost sundown, now.” She remarked.
Kel softly snorted.
“I know somewhere we can go,” Kel said, and started walking away, Avarice trailing behind.
…
It didn’t take long to reach the edge of town where the buildings stopped and the trees took over. They walked a small distance before Kel stopped under a large tree and sat down.
“Where are we?” Avarice asked. This space was a completely new sight to her.
“You said we needed to step away. This is as ‘away’ as I’m comfortable with getting.” As they spoke, Kel leaned back into the tree and shut their eyes. Maybe they could trance for a bit out here.
Avarice sat down too, looking around for signs of danger, but finding nothing. They were safe here or at least safe enough for now. She had to admit, the surrounding area was beautiful. The trees were tall and stout, clearly centuries old. As the sun set, the entire area was bathed in gold, making the landscape priceless. Avarice looked at her companion and saw their closed eyes. As quietly as she could, she took out her flask and took a drink. It didn’t take much for the alcohol to give her its pleasant and familiar buzz. She took another sip, just to be sure, before placing the flask back into her bag.
After a few moments in the silence, Avarice began to hum to herself, and Kel recognized the tune heard throughout Tal’Dorei’s surface lands.
“Who’s birthday is it?” They asked, eyes still closed.
When Avarice didn’t respond, Kel opened their eyes to see tears in the tiefling’s.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I just thought you wanted to-”
“No. It’s fine. I’m fine,” Avarice said and they watched her try to pull herself together. “It’s my father’s birthday.”
Kel grumbled awkwardly. They only knew a modicum of facts about her father, the most prevalent one being that he was murdered. If their own personal experience with their father taught them anything, it was that relationships, familial or otherwise, were not always so black and white. Before offering condolences, they made sure to ask, “Was your father a good man?”
Avarice halfheartedly chuckled, as if it was the stupidest question she ever heard. “He was the best man.”
They raised their eyebrows at the claim. “That’s a phrase I’ve heard so rarely I’m inclined to believe you.”
“It’s true.” Her eyes drifted elsewhere, lost in thought.
Kel shifted against the bark uncomfortably and contemplated their next approach to this touchy subject. They wanted to raise her spirits, not crush them. They began grimly, “Birthdays strike me as unpleasant reminders of mortality and the collection of faults that grow with it.” Avarice rolled her eyes, something she could get away with easily considering they were blank. She was almost impressed that Kel somehow found a way to make the simplest of things dark and gloomy. “It irks me when people pretend like the deceased are suddenly exempt from wrongdoings on days like these.” They continued, and Avarice was about to take offense until they finished their train of thought. “But if your father is as you say he is, then perhaps it is a day worth celebrating.”
She nodded. They placed their ordinary contempt aside to emphasize their understanding of how important this day was to her.
“If the memories are not too painful to revisit,” Kel delicately suggested, “Tell me about him: the best man.”
Avarice stared deep into the foliage for a long, pensive moment. The silence stretched so greatly that the animals in the dense brush seemed to follow suit and halt in their tracks. The wind obediently stilled. The trees listened. Kel wondered if she may have forgotten, her watery, unblinking gaze transfixed on the setting horizon. She smiled.
“His name was Dryden Brigand.” She said, and the second the name escaped her lips, Kel could picture him.
Her words trickled from a stream of muted grief into a magnificent deluge of cherished memories. She spoke rapturously of his passion for life and the dreams that held him aloft the raging currents of prejudice that he valiantly shielded his daughter from. She spoke of how he reminded her every day that she was special and destined for love as grand as the moon’s love for the sun and as innate as his love for her mother. She spoke in what Kel could only imagine was the same manner in which he spoke, eloquent and captivating. She carried on his legacy of storytelling with the grace of a goddess. His spirit shone through her. Laughs tumbled from her as tears glittered across her cheeks.
The warmth of her love for him spread into Kel’s chest, and they knew that her tongue, so accustomed to lies, tasted only the truth in this moment. She guided them through his powerfully gentle care and loyalty and whimsy. They knew it was true. They knew he earned the title of the best man to have touched her life.
The words dispersed as delicately as they had poured, like rose petals withering to the earth, once she retraced her steps back to the present where he no longer spoke those beautiful words he had come to weave so dearly. He left her with his stories and his love, but she could never forget the devastation of his rare pages plucked so ruthlessly from her grasp. The imprint of his hand met hers, his calming voice warmed her ears.
“Arabella,” He would so often say, “You are loved, and will be loved, always.”
She remembered his fading voice. She remembered how he would excitedly muse about all she could expect from the adoration in her future and how one day he would have the honor of giving his daughter away to the luckiest person in all the planes.
But his story ended before he got the chance to tell hers.
“No,” Avarice shook her head wistfully, “His story was stolen.”
Kel had lost themself in her tale. They sat in stunned silence. They couldn’t understand how such beauty could deform into this wicked injustice, how a smooth river could break apart into a jagged end.
Their hoarse voice stripped away the fantasy to reality. “The town he thought would be safe to raise you in was the one that killed him.” Kel reiterated, confirming their information was correct from what shreds she shared on the subject earlier.
“I was framed.” She said morosely. “It’s my fault.”
Kel physically recoiled. “What?” The force they used to heave out the question nearly knocked the wind out of them.
“None of this would have happened if I wasn’t…” She gestured to herself. Her tall horns, her white eyes, her pink skin. All of it the markings of infernal heritage. “Like this.”
They stood to their feet, her insane denial like a shot of adrenaline. They yelled furiously, their lisp becoming more evident. “None of it would have happened if the hierarchy wasn’t corrupt, your ex not a vile asshole, and the town not full of racist xenophobes!” They clawed into their hair. “Are you serious?”
She dismissed their outburst. “It’s fine, Kel. I’ve already come to terms with the burden I put on him long ago.”
“You’re serious!” They threw their hands to the sky. “Vasily forced you to poison his father, but somehow that and the consequences he allowed are your fault.”
“The burden I placed on him started before Vasily even acknowledged me,” she said in an all too calm voice. “My father didn’t ask for a child, let alone a devil child. He was kind and handsome and could have had a long and normal life if it wasn’t for me. I brought him nothing but strife and pain. The only bad decision my father ever made was taking me in. If he had just left me his life would have been all the better for it. He would still be alive if it wasn’t for me, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was in his life.” Her gaze was distant, like she wasn’t really there when she spoke. Like all of this was a repetition of something she had been told.
Kel wanted to scream. “How the fuck is your existence a burden? It’s their fault, not yours! You didn’t do anything!” They were beyond livid at this point.
“Kel, it’s really not a big deal -”
“Of course it’s a big deal! Any sane person would see it was a big deal that your view of yourself is completely warped!” They wanted to shake her again. How could she seriously be thinking this way? But yelling at her would get them nowhere. They took a steadying breath and changed tactics. “What did Dragomir say about this?” They knew their friend would tell her it wasn’t her fault.
“I haven’t told him,” she said. “I’ve never told anyone.”
That gave them pause. “Why not?”
“There hasn’t exactly been anyone in the past year to tell,” her voice was quiet as she spoke. Her head tilted towards the ground and the unbound sections of her hair covered her face. “I only escaped Drynna a little over a year ago, and since then there’s been no one I’ve really trusted, or that has cared enough to ask. I thought,” her words began to be interrupted by small sobs, “I thought I finally had found someone to tell everything to. I thought I would have time to explain myself to someone I trust, but he left and I have no idea if he’s ever coming back. He said he would, but every day there’s more doubt and a part of me doesn’t want to tell him. A part of me knows that it would just give him a reason to take back what he said and hate me too, just like everyone else does.”
Kel had gone completely still as she spoke. “I don’t hate you.”
She didn’t respond.
They knew, no matter how many times it was repeated, the sentiment wouldn’t break through the core beliefs she’s ingrained for years that her father tried so hard to stray her away from. She was loved, not hated. Kel despised the source that made her flip the mantra. Although, they had a feeling their defense didn’t sound very reassuring coming from a person that constantly argued with her.
“You get on my nerves sometimes, but I could never…” They knew their consolations fell on deaf ears. There was a long pause as they carefully considered what to say next. “Why tell me then?”
“Because I trust you, Kel, and I think it’s time I finally told someone the truth.”
They paled. “You trust me?” They wracked their brain trying to remember the last time anyone told them that. Drow were not made to be trusted. “I can’t imagine why.”
“Everyone wants something from me.” She sighed despondently. “Money, thievery, manipulation... My talents are as detested as they are desired.” She shrugged as she looked to them. “Not you. The only thing you want from me is my safety. So, of course I trust you.”
Kel knelt beside her. They kept a comfortable distance away, fearing what they would reveal next might repulse her. “I’m glad. I want you to be able to trust people,” They took a deep breath, preparing for the worst, and explained, “But you should know that while your father was teaching you how craft fairy tales, mine taught me the most effective method of killing someone without getting caught.” The memories pained them. “Everything I do is to repent for the tragedy I spread, but I can never erase the fact that I committed horrible crimes on purpose. I poisoned swaths of people intentionally.”
“So has Millicent.” Avarice pointed out rationally.
“Those were bad people.” They said with guilt building inside. “Our victims were not always so deserving.” They hung their head, shadows veiling over their eyes. “The sharp blades of the surface raider’s were coated with mixtures of my design. The noxious gasses that filled the lungs of the neutral svirfnebli were sealed by my hands.”
The patois was lost on her, but the hitch in their shaky breaths let her know how much they feared this part of themself. “You were not responsible.”
“I was.” It hurt to admit. “We took pride in our work. We executed some of the poisonings ourselves. I was already on such bad terms with the Spider Queen, I thought this would redeem me in not only her eyes but my father’s as well.” They took harsh breaths between segments as if they were running out of air. “I thought it would be the only way for him change his view of me from a complete disappointment to something useful.”
So they both shared the feelings of burdening their fathers. She knew better than to touch them while they trembled. She hoped her next question wouldn’t send them into a spiral, but she felt it was only fair to ask. “Was your father a good man?”
They stopped. Their breaths evened out. That was good, she thought. Their eyes were impossible to read besides the tiredness that hung on them. They breathed normally again and finally responded, “He tried.” They looked up to the sky, now a deep purple dotted with faint glints of stars.
“Would you like to tell me about him?” She prompted.
They shook their head. “No.” She understood. It took her a long time to be able to trust someone enough to share her precious memories of her father. Kel was allowed to keep theirs sacred. Still, it comforted her curiosity to hear them say, “Maybe another time. Today is your father’s birthday.”
Kel stood once more and let the rising moon bathe their copper skin. They turned to her and, in a manner that was uncannily bashful, confessed, “Millicent and I usually come here to scream.”
“I didn’t need to know that.” Avarice frowned.
Kel huffed and rolled their eyes. “Not like that.” They paused. “Well, sometimes like that.”
Avarice joined them in standing, the ground suddenly feeling wholly contaminated.
They chuckled, another rare phenomenon for her to witness. They turned back to the night sky and sighed in what Avarice could detect was somewhat romantically. “I think that was the first time I knew I needed her.”
They spoke to her, but their mind was elsewhere. She pictured Millicent further down the path near a creek, her back to them, faintly screaming into the dense thicket.
“I didn’t know how, or in what way, but I just knew something pulled me to her. It was so different. Nobody just howls into the woods. I was freaked out but intrigued.” It was sweet, watching their face light up as they dreamed about the one they loved. “Now when she does it I find it so hauntingly beautiful, like a sexy banshee.”
Avarice suppressed a flustered laugh. Millicent and Kel were by far the weirdest couple.
They put their adoring thoughts of her aside for now and explained, “Just scream everything out. It’s strange at first, but it feels so good afterwards.”
Avarice squinted, unconvinced. “I’m okay.”
“I’ll go first.” They took a deep breath in through their nose.
“And last” She assured.
Kel closed their eyes tightly and did as they said they would. They screamed a war cry to the moon. Any animals that had been hiding scurried out of range from the disruption of their peaceful habitat. Their first scream sounded rehearsed, as if they had done this several times before, but the unexpected echos that followed were hauntingly pained. The raw emotions sailed on the wind like a broken song. They screamed until they were contentedly out of breath. The mountains whispered sorrowfully back.
Their shoulders dropped as they relaxed. They casually lobbed their head until their neck produced a satisfying pop. Their gleaming golden eyes fell on Avarice. Despite the bizarre show she suffered as an unwilling audience, she couldn’t deny that they looked better somehow. The slightest hint of a lazy smile parted their lips and shone in their eyes. Kel was never known for their looks, scarred and dilapidated as they were, but their elven features were unmistakably elegant. Still, at the hint of their suggestive eyebrows Avarice held her hands up in polite refusal.
“I’m fine.”
Kel crossed their arms and turned. “I’ll look away.”
“No, really,” Avarice laughed. “I’m fine.”
Kel groaned and scowled at her. “You always say that.”
This struck Avarice off her guard. She held her ground. “I know.”
“Are you fine, Avarice?” They advanced on her, causing her to backpedal out of their reach.
“Of course.” She grew nervous of their intensity.
“Aren’t you angry?” They asked rhetorically. “Aren’t you tired?”
“No.” She insisted.
“Don’t you hate them? Don’t you wish your life could have been normal and happy like in the stories?” She opened her mouth to retort but Kel wouldn’t let her speak. “Don’t you wish you could go back and tell yourself to change before your life was ruined forever? Don’t you wish you could bring him back?” They backed her into a tree and yelled. “You’re not fine, Avarice!”
She covered her ears to block them out and screamed a blood curdling cry, “I’m fine!”
Her voice boomed, emphasized by her infernal powers. Birds shot out from the surrounding trees in a flurry. The sound echoed for miles, probably testing the glass of the distant city. She blinked, not realizing what exactly she had just done. She caught Kel covertly checking their ears for blood and felt a wave of embarrassment. “I’m fine.” She whispered.
She expected Kel to turn and run, finally fed up with her, but instead they smiled a wide, slightly unsettling, half-toothless grin. “Well, damn, if you say so.”
She couldn’t help but shove them, which only earned her one of their off puttingly high pitched laughs. “That’s not funny!”
“But don’t you feel better?” They teased.
“No!” She cried. “I feel awful!”
“Then you’re not screaming hard enough.” They lightly, playfully pushed her back. “Scream, Avarice.”
“That wasn’t hard enough?” She gawked.
“Well, if that’s as loud as you can go…” they grimaced, “Pretty weak, but whatever.”
She sucked in as much air as she could gather and roared at them.
“That’s it!” They encouraged. “Let it out!”
She couldn’t believe the sounds that came from her throat. It felt so unnatural to scream for no reason, and yet… powerful and admittedly fun. She expelled the dark energies within her in one instant. Kel joined her in a raucous harmony, the two mixing expletives in languages no one for spans could understand. The two screamed until their throats hurt, and laughed until they cried. Before Avarice could register what was happening, her arms were around Kel’s thin torso in a tight embrace. They cautiously placed their chin in between her horns atop her head and returned the gesture. Neither of them had felt the security of a hug from a trusted friend in what seemed like forever.
The tender moment was quickly diminished when a rustling came from the bushes accompanied by frenzied shouting. “There they are, sir! Those two drug addicts what stole my purse!” Kel reluctantly released their hold on Avarice to lay hostile eyes on what appeared to be the homeless man from earlier in the alleyway escorted by a brawny, lightly armored guard. “Look at them, screaming like madwomen!”
The guard nodded as if he had seen something like this before. “I’ll take it from here.” He addressed Avarice immediately. “Miss, would you mind if I took you in for some questioning?”
Kel clenched their fists and grit their teeth. Was it so inconceivable to have one measly minute of recourse? Avarice smiled her winning smile and approached the guard with poise, acting as innocent as she actually was this time.
“What seems to be the problem, officer?” She asked sweetly and assumed an entirely different posture that displayed her breasts more prominently.
The guard’s cheeks reddened and he floundered. “Well, you see, this man says you robbed him.”
“Oh,” Her voice cooed in mock astonishment, “That’s strange. I recall giving this nice man a gold piece in his time of need. To be quite honest with you, sir, I don’t think he has much that I could take.” The homeless man glowered at her. “I thought it was only right to help the needy.”
The homeless man snapped. “She’s lying! You know how the hellspawn are always lying with their forked, silver tongues!” He spat at her feet. “She stole my gold. Look at her purse, it’s all there!” He pleaded with the guard. “You’re going to compensate me, right?”
The two connected the dots. It was a ruse to gain more money and frame the tiefling yet again for nothing but the sake of racism. Avarice was disappointed but not at all surprised or unaccustomed to this.
“I will have to take you into custody, ma’am.” The guard held no sympathy for her kind, no matter how alluring. “We can sort it out there.”
Kel couldn’t contain their snarl. “You racist scum!”
The guard placated their fuming emotions, “It’s just protocol, ma’am.”
That only angered Kel more. “You wouldn’t take me into custody if some random homeless guy told you I stole from him, would you?” He stuttered and Kel continued, raising their voice over his. “But because it was a tiefling, you rose to the occasion.”
“How dare you question my position. I want both of you to come with me now, and if I hear another word out of you I won’t bother to wake the captain until morning. You both can spend the night in a cell.” The guard approached with manacles in his hand, preparing to put them on Avarice.
“Kel, please. It’s fi-”
“No it’s not fine,” Kel said, taking a defensive position in front of the smaller tiefling. “He’s not taking you anywhere.” Kel casted a globe of darkness over the two perpetrators. “Run.” They commanded Avarice and sprinted towards town before the guard and drifter could find their bearings and escape.
They didn’t have to tell Avarice twice.
At first she started in a flat out sprint, but soon realized she was ahead of her companion. She slowed down to match their longer yet slower stride as they both heard shouts from behind them that they didn’t dare slow to check on. It was very possible they were being pursued, but they both hoped that Kel’s darkness had at least bought them some time.
The wind whipped in their similarly dark ponytails and rung in their ears as they raced off the path to deceive the pursuers should they gain on the two. They panted, dodging trees and branches, hopping over thickets, and barreling towards the city where they might find some reprieve in the maze of familiar streets.
Kel was used to running from all the trouble Sybille would get them into throughout their torturous time in the Underdark. Even before the insufferable ghost gripped their life force, they vividly recalled absconding in much more restrictive attire, worse circumstances, and more complicated terrain. It brought a taste of the panic back to their fast pumping blood. This, for once, worked to their benefit to keep them focused even though their legs functioned as well as noodles and their head throbbed with the yearning for rest.
Avarice was no stranger to running herself, though last time she had the luck of her knight in shining armor making a timely appearance. She begged for him to come back. If there was any time for him to show his face again, it would be now. She may lay down all the spite she contained to see a blade of fire cutting through the dark night. Hoped as she might, she knew deep in her heart that he would not come to her rescue this time, if ever again.
The distant shouts of the guard broke her out of her tumult. “Assaulting a guard is a punishable offense!” He threatened, “You’re under arrest, devil bitch!”
Kel seethed through gasps of air. “Gods! I fucking knew it, that disgusting piece of shit only wants you even though it was my magic! Drow magic, at that!”
“It doesn’t matter,” She dismissed Kel’s outrage, “We just have to make it to the city.”
The homeless man whooped and hollered profanities. The noise carried to a distance seemingly opposite their destination, but they didn’t dare stop now.
“It does matter!” Kel yelled in a harsh whisper. “Nobody should be allowed to talk to you like that!”
Avarice smiled, touched by their anger for her. She didn’t take kindly to being framed yet again, but this time was different. This time she had a friend by her side the whole way through.
Avarice attempted to warn them, but in their ostensibly literal blind rage, Kel lost their footing and nearly crashed into a tree. A branch ripped apart their sleeve as they scraped into it. They grunted, but pushed off the rough surface to regain momentum.
“Are you okay?” She caught up to them once more.
“It doesn’t matter.” They said defensively.
“It does matter.” She repeated their own words.
Kel shot her a knowing glare. The two could go on like this until they drew their last breath.
It wasn’t until they reached the outskirts of the city that they knew they were safe. As the pair ducked behind a building and caught their breath, Avarice let out a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Kel asked between labored breaths.
“It’s ironic don’t you think? Our relaxing day off is the closest we’ve come to being arrested, at least the closest in a long while. I don’t know if this is what Millicent had in mind.”
Kel thought for a moment. “I think this is exactly what she thought would happen.”
A few moments passed in the comfortable silence as their breathing steadied to a normal pace. It hadn’t been the day that either one was expecting; it had been better.
As the adrenaline washed away, a burning sensation crept up Kel’s arm and side all the way down to their thigh. They noted the scuff marks on their coat that would have to be mended and they could only assume that the skin underneath would not be pretty. Their heart jumped as a drop of blood splattered on the ground.
“Shit.” The sight snapped a second heartbeat to attention, pounding in their weak head. It excited the evil little girl that waited there and watched from their eyes. They pulled their strained eyes away, sweat brimming down their forehead, sickened far more by her infatuation with the smears of red on the ground than from the force exerted from running.
Avarice was similarly queasy, but wasn’t going to let her friend bleed out. She grabbed a roll of bandages from her bag and quickly wrapped the wound on their elbow. She successfully managed not to get even a smudge on herself, much to her delight.
“Thank you.” They sighed, relief coming in waves of dull pain that Sybille didn’t like.
“Thank you.” She told them earnestly.
Avarice looked up to the sky, hoping to talk about her favorite constellation stories when she realized exactly where the moon was. The smile on her pink face fell and she sighed.
“It’s been twelve hours. You can go back to Millicent’s now. She’ll let you in.”
Kel looked at her and saw the dread in her white eyes. She had needed this day, that much was clear, but they were unsure how she would handle the next one. Suddenly her face brightened as a thought struck her.
“But we have to make a pit stop first,” Avarice said and gently grabbed Kel’s wrist to pull them along. Kel protested, truly on their last leg of exhaustion, but let her. They could wait a few more minutes before they saw Millicent. And it did only take a few minutes for Avarice to find the familiar alleyway where a cloaked figure stood. “If we’re going to get chased for drugs we may as well make ourselves guilty.”
Kel snickered, dumbfounded by the events that lead up to this fateful moment.
“I’m glad we caught you in Alvie,” the tiefling said, flashing a brilliant smile.
“What can I do you two for this evening?” the figure said. Avarice looked to Kel to take over from here.
“Suude. I hear you have it?” Kel asked more than said.
“I do,” the figure responded, taking a small bag from their satchel, “but it will cost you.” Alvie named their price and Kel nodded, taking their money out of their pouch. Before they had a chance to pay, Avarice handed over her own money and Alvie handed Kel the bag.
“Pleasure doing business,” the figure said as they rounded the alley corner and disappeared into the night.
“You didn’t have to do that you know,” Kel said, inspecting their new illicit substance.
“Technically it was your money anyway; it was the rest of what Millicent gave me this morning,” she said, but Kel knew this was a lie, Millicent wouldn’t have given her that much, but they let her keep up her appearance by not questioning her further.
“Now you can go back,” Avarice said, face less troubled than it had been before.
But before either of them could act on that thought a voice interjected.
“You two aren’t going anywhere.” It was the guard from the city limits, except this time he wasn’t alone. There were two other guards with him, one of whom wore a badge on his chest that said ‘captain.’ “Captain Mashil, these are the two criminals. They used magic against myself and a civilian and evaded arrest.”
The captain was a human man with no defining features, save for a scar across his nose. He approached the two and looked them over, stopping for just a moment too long to look Avarice up and down. That’s when it clicked. She changed her posture again and gave him a wink.
“I’m sure there has been some kind of misunderstanding, sir. You see, my friend and I have never seen this man before. I would remember. I’m quite good with faces,” her voice contained carefully practiced innocence as she spoke.
“They’re lying! That one,” the younger guard said, pointing to Kel, “covered me in darkness so that devil could run.”
“I see,” the captain said, not looking back at his man. “I believe both of you need to come with-”
“Before you finish that thought,” Avarice interjected, “I just wanted to let you know I’ve heard lovely things about your wife, Nili was it? She sounds like a wonderful woman, Vim Mashil. By the way, your appointment with Vanity for later in the week is all set up.” The captain’s mouth was hanging open in astonishment. “Oh, and one last thing,” Avarice said, grin widening into something wicked, “Jezabeth sends her regards.”
The captain was silent for a moment. As he looked at the tiefling grinning up at him. She had him right where she wanted him.
“Captain, you can’t seriously take these threats -” The guard started.
“You will speak to your commanding officer with respect,” the captain said, turning from Avarice and Kel. “There was clearly a misunderstanding here. These two do not need to be bothered any further. Now be on your way.”
The younger man’s face was incredulous. “But Captain -”
“I said you will speak to me with respect. Get back to the station and you will think of a good reason I shouldn’t demote you when I get there. Do you understand?” Captain Mashil said, leaving no room for argument.
“Yes sir,” the guard said, giving a hate filled glare to Avarice and Kel before he walked off with the other lower ranking guard.
The captain only stayed a moment longer.
“You will tell no one else this information,” the captain said.
“Of course sir. At Hellfire’s Embrace we are nothing if not discreet,” Avarice said, and with her reassurance the captain was gone.
Kel couldn’t help but clap. “Incredible.” They complimented. “Possibly record timing.”
“That’s what I’m good at.” She shrugged and headed towards Millicent’s house. She wasn’t sure if she meant talking or lying. Whichever.
“You’re good at more than that.” Kel contended. They walked at a slow pace, partly because any faster and they might collapse, but also because they had come to enjoy Avarice’s company.
“Like what?” She asked sweetly, jokingly eager for more compliments.
“Like, I don’t know…” They looked at their wrapped elbow, her delicate, unprompted handiwork. “You have a really big heart, Avarice.”
She wasn’t expecting a genuine reply. So much so that it was difficult to accept. “I just get you into trouble.”
They arrived at Millicent’s door, strung with vines and purl with potted plants of all dark hues. Before knocking, Kel murmured what sounded like gibberish to the tiefling.
“Ol neitar uri’shoelt.”
Avarice thought she mistook them. “Pardon?”
They repeated it, more clearly. They had hoped they might have forgotten, but it had not been long since the last time they spoke in their mother tongue. “It’s a common phrase in the Underdark.” They explained, “It means, ‘it never happened.’”
If it never happened then she never got them into trouble. That guided her next question. “Are we going to tell Millicent?”
“I’m sure I’ll tell her eventually. She has a way of getting everything out of me.” They smiled for a second, then let it drop. “But not now. And as for the others,” They stretched,
“The boys will be on two different extremes. Immeral won’t care and Dragomir might kill those guards. Tal will bombard us with questions.” They shared a bittersweet expression. “Perhaps it was for the best that you got stuck with me.”
She agreed. “Kel, again, thank you.”
They waved her off with a grin. “Ol neitar uri’shoelt.” They took some pride in throwing around the phrase used mostly in the event of murder cover-ups so trivially, an offense that might be considered criminal to some radical drow. With that, they felt ready to knock on their girlfriend’s door and wait.
Avarice wasn’t sure if she recognized it as the same utterance as before considering it’s the first time she’s heard the foreign language, but she took her best guess.
‘It never happened.’
That depressed her. She wanted this day to have happened, as it was the best one she’s had in a long while, regardless of the ups and downs. If it never happened, then that meant she still hadn’t told anyone about father, her favorite person in the whole world. She never expressed the pain she had been enduring. She never let it go, if only for a moment, in the form of a howl and a coveted hug. They would all be moments from a fairy tale, the kind she had always dreamed would be real.
On the other hand, in a reality where this never happened, Kel’s arm would still be intact. Her pockets, still full. She wouldn’t have dealt with yet another band of racist bastards working towards her detriment. There would be no burden between her and Kel, no debt to be paid, nor any depressing news to report back to Millicent. She understood that this was Kel’s way of absolving her of these tribulations.
The familiar clangs of metal that Avarice memorized struck as Millicent unlatched the lock from inside. She cracked open the door, eyeing them as suspiciously as her half lidded gaze would allow, and then turned her eyes up to measure the moon. Satisfied, she let the two inside.
She locked the door behind them and asked without a hint of curiosity, “How was your day off?”
“Eh.” Kel shrugged, but peered down at Avarice with a covert lift to their lips.
She caught it and played along. “Kel’s just complaining because they had to watch me shop for twelve hours. You should have seen the deals I was getting today.”
“It was boring, really.” Kel said, unable to hide their smirk or resist the pull of their long awaited desk any longer.
“Okay.” She accepted both of their weird shenanigans without pause. She knew she was obviously in for an interesting story, but she was patient enough to wait for when Kel was ready to share it. As long as they weren’t dead they had nothing to worry about.
Kel’s greedy fingers hovered over their project. They craved so badly to return to it, agonizing over every second of lost time. The ingredients blurred in front of them. Regrettably, they knew they had to take Avarice’s advice or risk failure.
The two girls watched in shock as the drow defeatedly hung their hat on the rack by Millicent’s bedroom, ripped the sweat soaked goggles from their eyes, and pawed at the door knob. Millicent caught up with them and hugged her tall partner from behind.
“Bedtime?” She confirmed.
They mumbled an affirmation, drowsily soothing their hands over her small arms. She took note of the dressed wound on their elbow, another detail that would be explained later.
She whispered, “I’ll join you soon,” and unraveled herself from them. They bent down to kiss her forehead, making Avarice’s heart sink a little, and retreated into the comforting darkness of the room, shutting the door behind them.
Millicent walked toward Avarice and mouthed, “Finally.” Avarice’s spirits rose again at that, a soft chuckle escaping her. Millicent took both of the tiefling’s rosy hands and, without a second thought, placed a black kiss onto her fingers. “Thank you, Avarice.”
She shook her head. “No, I should be thanking you, Millicent. I really needed this today.”
Millicent agreed with a glance to her bedroom where her partner was hopefully already unconscious, and to the makeshift potions room that had been notably tidied up. “We all needed this.” She gave Avarice back her hands. Something was off. As usual, she could read the disappointment in her friend’s face. “You’re always welcome here.”
“Things are going to go back to the way that they were.” Avarice didn’t have to ask, she knew. She knew Kel would become obsessed with the tinctures again, that Millicent would have another list tomorrow, that Jezebeth would be waiting, and that Dragomir wouldn’t return.
“Are you prepared for that?” Millicent asked. She did not ask if she was okay with that. She did not ask if she would change that. She asked if this day gave Avarice the strength to return to the usual patterns of her daily life.
“Of course,” Avarice replied, a practiced smile on her face. That wall that had been down when she entered the home was back up, Millicent noted. She could tell her friend was still hurting.
“Well, it will happen regardless.” She said as she lead her back outside. Millicent looked at her seriously with her thickly rimmed, pale blue eyes. “We’ll be here for you, as always. Stagnation can, at the very least, be dependable.”
Avarice supposed that inevitable and dependable could be synonymous for now. Millicent suffered through this brand of stagnation. She spent hundreds of days that all started and ended the same. None of the events that took place on those days were favorable, all of them routine. Avarice would acclimate to the ebb and flow as she once did. Then change would break through the clouds as it always did, whether it be as gentle as sunlight or violent as lightning.
Avarice bid her friend goodnight and watched hopelessly as the frail, dark girl slipped back into her house to join her love. Avarice dreaded walking back to her empty room, alone again. She waited by the door a few moments longer, clinging onto the intangible residue of companionship. She looked at the stars, all of them reliably twinkling in the same place she knew she could trace.
So lost in the sky, she almost missed the sounds of the latch as the door opened once more and Millicent reemerged.
“Oh.” She didn’t expect Avarice to be far, but not quite this close. Avarice tucked her hair behind her ear, maintaining a casual presence. Millicent had no judgments to give as this was far more convenient for her not to have to go chasing after her. “Kel wanted you to have these.” She placed an assortment of sky blue flowers with petite petals in her hand. “Myosotis, but also known as ‘forget-me-nots.’ For your father.”
With a smile on her lips and tears in her heart, she accepted the gift. She held the stems at her side the entire walk back, as if he was holding her hand.
Once she arrived at the Bloody Champion, she requested a cup of water from the bar, an unusual occurrence for her, and brought it up to her room. She dipped the flowers in the glass and set them on the nightstand by her bed. "Happy birthday, Dad," she said to the air before she fell asleep. As she drifted off, she could swear she heard someone say, "I love you, Arabella." It was the first night in a long time that she was able to sleep soundly, as if her father was there, keeping her safe. For as long as there were stories to be told, she would never forget him.