Chapter Text
It was hot in Nicodranas, blistering, even. But instead of finding it oppressive, Beau relishes the heat, welcomes it after those long weeks in frozen Eiselcross. Though, she thinks after running a hand across the back of her sweaty neck, she will have to hit up a bathhouse before returning to the Chateau. That is, if they ever make it back to the Chateau, which, at this point, is seeming less and less likely.
Beau and Fjord had embarked on their mission first thing on their first full day back after arriving late the previous night from the frigid north. They had spent the whole morning walking through and perusing the shops in the Opal Archways but came up empty before deciding to break for lunch. Then they’d headed back bellies full and morale boosted, turning down new streets, peering in different shop windows, hoping to find their mark.
“I feel like this shouldn’t be this hard. I think we might be overthinking it”, Fjord says as they turn away from another store display and continue down the street.
“Dude, you are definitely overthinking it. This should be easy for you. Jester loves everything,” Beau replies before taking the final bite of her last fish taco.
“That’s exactly the problem! Too many choices.”
Beau crumples up the taco wrapper and motions to toss it into a nearby trash receptacle. Fjord attempts to swat it away, but she changes course at the last moment and throws it straight in with a smirk and a subsequent eye-roll from the half-orc. “I would take that problem right about now. Yasha is ... Well, she doesn’t even really know what she likes, you know? How am I supposed to find her something nice? Ugh. I’m not good at this shit. Why did we even decide to do this?”
“Because we both have dates tonight with amazing women we care deeply for and we want to do something nice for them after a really tough few weeks. Now come on, first mate, let’s keep going”, Fjord answers with a clasp of a hand on her shoulder, leading them further down the street, Beau following along with a grumble.
They come to a stop at the next store window and look at the display. Beau looks up at the scantily clad mannequin behind the glass and quickly realizes this is a lingerie shop. Before she can stop herself she imagines Yasha wearing that black lacy, strappy, tiny thing and immediately feels half the blood in her body rush to set her cheeks on fire with a blush and the other half rushing to, well, other places. She snaps herself out of it and looks over at Fjord, who, by the looks of the darker green hue on his face, made a similar imaginative mistake.
Fjord clears his throat before saying, “I think, uh, this kind of thing is perhaps a bit too soon for Jester and I.”
“Yeah. Same.”, Beau agrees and hurriedly starts down towards the next shop.
“Wait”, Fjord says, breaking into a slight jog to catch up, “You and Yasha haven’t ...”, he makes a whistling sort of noise accompanied by an indecipherable hand motion, “I’d have guessed you two would’ve jumped each other’s bones by now. Multiple times.”
“No, we haven’t ...”, she whistles and tries to replicate his hand motion but gives up halfway through and flips him off instead, “We’ve had one date! And I’m trying to do this the right way!” Fjord just looks at her, eyebrows raised and a small, smug smile playing on his lips. “Is that so hard to believe? I can be chivalrous and shit.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Fjord says, holding his hands up in mock surrender, “I think it’s nice. Very healthy of you.”
“Thank you. Now come on, we’ve only got a few more hours til we have to be back”, Beau states and leads them to the next store down the way.
They try for a little over an hour without much success on the gift front. They do however, find success for themselves at a tailor’s shop; both Beau and Fjord each finding a sharp new suit for the night’s events. Beau takes particular pleasure in imagining her father’s enraged face if he were to see her in her new sleek navy three-piece. They eventually decide, in their desperation, to split up and try their luck on their own, then agree to meet back up at the bathhouse.
Beau finds herself wandering into a strange little hole in the wall shop a bit out of the way from the main drag of street, its purpose not immediately apparent from the outside. She opens the small wooden door and is greeted with the sight of hundreds of rocks and gems lining shelves from floor to ceiling and filling glass cases to the brim. Some stones are rough and raw, others pristinely cut and set into unique pieces of jewelry. She steps a bit deeper into the store and notices a finely dressed gnomish man behind the counter busy with a stack of paperwork, and next to him a medium sized automaton. The bronze construct is working furiously on a small piece in front of it; on one of its arms a rounded polishing stone is connected where a hand would be, and on the other a very small kind of engraving tool.
“Ah!”, says the gnome when he looks up from his papers and sees Beau, “Forgive me! And welcome! Is there something in particular I can help you find?
“Um”, Beau can barely respond before the shopkeep continues.
“Are you looking for yourself? Or for someone else? Someone special, perhaps?”
“Yes”, Beau responds, “For someone ... someone special.”
“Oh, how wonderful! Now, what types of wares would your someone special be interested in? I stock all kinds, as you can probably tell”, he boasts and holds his arms out, gesturing to the glittering stock around him.
“She, um ... I don’t know. I thought I’d know it when I see it”, Beau says as she walks by a few jewelers cases, considering the vast array of rings and necklaces and bracelets before her, “Your jewelry is very nice, but ...”, she trails off, and once again her eyes fall on the automaton, who has finished three new pieces since they began the conversation. “What does it do?”, Beau asks, nodding towards the machine.
“Oh! Rosie here helps me with the polishing and engraving for custom pieces. She can get through them easily ten times faster than a living artist could. And with incredible precision!”, the gnome tells her and pats the construct on its shoulder.
Beau is then suddenly struck with an idea. She slams her pack onto the counter and begins breathlessly rooting around.
“Um, miss ...?”, the shopkeeper starts to question right as Beau wraps her fingers around her target.
“Ah-ha!”, she exclaims and procures a small stone from her bag. The stone is black and smooth, just a bit smaller than a gold piece and almost as perfectly round, with silvery white veins webbing all across it. “How much would it cost to polish this, engrave it, set it in a necklace, and wrap it in a nice box or something?”
“Well,”, he begins as he takes the stone from Beau’s hands to examine it, “I’d say ... 25 gold total.”
“Great”, she agrees and takes out her coin purse, already counting out the payment, “And how much to jump it to the head of the line? Get it done right now?”
“Oh well, that would be another ... 50 gold pieces”
“Deal. Let’s do it”, she says and places the coins on the countertop.
“Okay, then”, says the gnome, seemingly a bit startled that she agreed to the price so easily, “What would you like the engraving to be? Then we can discuss hardware for the necklace.”
“Could you do just like, a single feather on one side? Nothing fancy, just a simple drawing.”
“Absolutely. Rosie will get to work right away”, and he slides the stone over to the automaton, who immediately sets to work on polishing. Beau and the shopkeep then decide on a silver chain and set for the stone. It takes not even twenty minutes before the necklace is finished and wrapped in a small pouch and Beau is stepping back out onto the street with a spring in her step, feeling great about her purchase.
With gift firmly in hand and anxieties soothed for the time being, Beau makes her way towards the Opal Archways bathhouse to meet back up with Fjord. She walks through the busy Nicodranian streets before coming up on the grandiose building that housed the baths. The opulent structure was the kind of establishment the Nein couldn’t even think about affording when they first started out on their journey together.
She sees Fjord already waiting for her on the steps, sitting and absentmindedly picking at his now well grown in tusks, and a small bag resting next to him in addition to his new suit’s bag. She only hopes he got as lucky as she did on his gift hunt.
“Hey man,”, Beau greets while jogging up to him, “Did you find something good?”. She gestures at the blue bag.
“I did, actually. I came across this tiefling woman with a cart stand off one of the main roads. She had a bunch of horn jewelry and trinkets for sale, so I picked one out for Jester. You know, since they kind of grew all of a sudden.”, Fjord answers proudly and pulls the box holding the chain out of its bag to show her.
Beau takes it in her hands and examines the piece. It features fancy golden horn caps with two tiny gems dangling from a matching golden chain — a single ruby and sapphire. “Nice, dude. She’ll love it.” Beau hands it back and Fjord carefully slides it back into its box.
“I hope so. What about you? I see you found something as well”, he asks, looking at the pouch in Beau’s hand.
“Oh, yeah. I did.”
“And? What is it?”
“Um. It’s a necklace.”
“Just like a general necklace?”, he prods skeptically.
“No. It’s ... it’s special. I got it engraved and stuff.” Beau feels a blush rising on her cheeks and isn’t able to exactly pinpoint the reason for her embarrassment.
“Special, eh? You gonna tell me about it or is it a secret? ‘For Yasha’s eyes only’ type of thing?”, Fjord teases in that obnoxious big brother kind of way he’s prone to do.
“It’s not ... ugh. It’s not a secret. I’ll tell you after I give it to her. I just don’t want to jinx it or anything,” Beau explains and hopes it’s enough for him to drop the issue.
“Okay.” Fjord seems satisfied enough. “Well then. Let’s go in. We should have just enough time to bathe and get changed and make it back to the Chateau before dark”, he says as he stands up and gathers his things.
“Yeah”, Beau agrees and falls into step with Fjord. “Hey, do you think they have someone who can cut hair here? It’s been so long I’m not sure my undercut qualifies as an undercut anymore.”
Fjord reaches over and scruffs up the hair on the back of her head, testing her theory. Beau whacks his arm away in response. “Yeah, they probably do. It’s like an all-inclusive spa or some shit like that. I could use a shave myself,” he says as he scratches his beard.
“Yeah, it’s looking a little scraggily there captain, no offense”, she says as they reach large double doors of the building. “It’s hard to believe we’d be going to places like this from where we started out together”, Beau muses as she opens the gold plated door handle and walks inside.
“You’re telling me. That poor little orphan boy back in Port Damali couldn’t even imagine ...”, Fjord says as they approach the service counter situated in the middle of the large foyer. The room is circular, with two hallways breaking off from either side and some kind of lounge area can be seen behind the counter. A halfling man sits behind the counter and watches their approach with a perfunctory, yet amiable smile.
“Greetings,” the man says as they come closer, “How may I be of service this afternoon?”
“Hello”, Fjord says, stepping forward to place his hand on the counter as he speaks, “We’d like to book a bath — private rooms?”, he looks questioningly towards Beau, who nods in agreement, before continuing, “Yes, private rooms. We shouldn’t need more than an hour.”
“Very well, sir”, the halfling replies and shifts through the appointment book in front of him. “We do have private rooms especially for couples available”, the concierge begins the pitch before being interrupted loudly by Beau.
“Absolutely fucking no—
“Ah, what my friend means to say is that that won’t be necessary, thank you. Two separate private rooms will do just fine.”, Fjord steps in and assuages charmingly and the concierge nods.
“Excellent. Two private rooms, one hour ... that will be five gold apiece”, Fjord and Beau slide their coins across the counter, “And the staff will show you to your rooms. Enjoy your stay.” And just like that two staff members appear, a human male and half-elf female, towels and robes in hand. The woman guides Beau down one hallway, presumably towards the women’s baths, and the man guides Fjord down the other.
“Meet you in the front after”, Beau calls over her shoulder and Fjord raises a thumbs up in acknowledgement. She inquires about a barber with the staff woman, subconsciously rubbing her hand through her very scruffy undercut and learns there’s a hairdresser in the salon at the end of the hall.
Beau decides on the haircut first and leaves her things in her room before heading to the salon. She gets a close shave, one that’ll last a good while if necessary. Though, she thinks as she sits in the hairdresser’s chair, maybe it won’t be necessary, maybe this is something Yasha will do for her. She’s thought about asking before — Yasha’s always been happy to give a shave to any of the Nein who’ve asked — but there would be a certain closeness, an intimacy, that Beau wasn’t sure she could handle.
After she’s finished at the salon, Beau heads back to her room, feeling cleaner already just from the fresh shave. She steps in and locks the door behind her. She strips naked and kicks her clothes over near her bags in the dressing area, and submerges into the sunken pool of steaming hot water. The water feels and incredible and smells even better; it’s been infused with a floral scent that Beau can’t quite place. She thinks that Yasha would like it and hopes her skin absorbs enough for her to be able to smell it later.
Beau soaks for about ten minutes — far less than she normally would, but there’s no way she’s going to be late tonight — before giving her body a routine wash, then climbing out of the bath to begin drying and dressing. She stands in front of the ornate floor length mirror as she pulls on her new suit. Beau knows that she’s a fairly good looking woman, but damn if she doesn’t look hot as fuck in this suit. It’s slim fitting and navy, with gold buttons on the jacket and waistcoat. She leaves the top three buttons of her white shirt undone. She preens for a bit, models different poses and flexes, and maybe tries a few pick up lines on her reflection (though she would absolutely never admit to that, if anyone were to ask).
When she’s satisfied, Beau leaves the room after placing a gold piece on the stool as a tip for the cleaning staff, and practically struts down the hallway back towards the lobby, necklace tucked away safely in the inner pocket of her jacket. As she enters the foyer, she sees Fjord walking down the opposite hallway, a similar spring in his step. He’s in a simple black suit, a little more casual and a lot less nautical than his other formal wear, with a black shirt underneath. His beard’s been trimmed and it looks like he’s styled his hair just slightly.
Any other day, Beau would give her normally looks apathetic pal some friendly ribbing over his so obviously cared for appearance, but she knows probably better than anyone that right now he could use all the confidence he can get. “Damn, captain! Cleaned up pretty well!”, she exclaims as the converge by the doors.
“Not so bad yourself, first mate. Blue really is your color”, he returns and wraps his arm around her shoulder, she winds her arm around his in kind, “Now let’s go sweep those ladies off their feet, shall we?” Beau and Fjord walk out into the Nicodranian streets, sun just starting to set above them, and make their way towards The Lavish Chateau.
It’s nearly dark outside as the step into the grand lobby of the Chateau. Both couples had arranged to meet downstairs, but neither Jester nor Yasha is in sight when Fjord and Beau arrive.
“I guess we should just sit down?”, Fjord suggests. The two take a seat at a vacant table. Most of the tables are empty, as it’s still early evening, but there is a steady stream of patrons filing through the doors as the minutes tick on. It isn’t very long before Nadine, one of Marion’s personal servants, arrives to inform them that their dates are still upstairs getting ready and will be a few more minutes.
“I guess beauty takes its time”, Fjord says before asking, “What are you and Yasha doing tonight, anyway? I don’t think I ever asked.”
“Oh, I found this restaurant down by the water. You know the kind that has those tiny little tables with candles? Real romantic shit. I’m not really sure what they serve there, but Yasha has never seemed all that discerning about what she eats. After that I thought maybe we could take a walk on the beach.”
“Oh-ho! A candlelit dinner followed by a moonlit walk on the shore? Someone is trying to get lucky tonight”, Fjord playfully responds. Beau flicks him behind his ear. He groans and dramatically rubs the side of his head. At least, Beau hopes he’s just being dramatic, but she’s never quite sure with Fjord. He is honestly still kind of a giant wimp about physical stuff, despite her best efforts.
“Shut up. What about you and Jester? What are you guys doing?”, Beau asks, deflecting the attention back onto her friend.
“I noticed a flyer advertising this crazy traveling bard troupe performing at a theatre across the district. It’s a concert. Or a puppet show. I’m not really sure. Half the flyer was in gnomish? Maybe halfling. But it seems totally batshit. She’ll love it.”
Beau laughs. “Yeah, that checks out. I think ...”, she starts before she catches sight of two figures descending down the staircase over Fjord’s shoulder. Evidently, their dates had spent the afternoon shopping for new outfits as well. Jester looks lovely in her bouncy deep purple dress and matching shoes, but Beau can’t tear her eyes away from Yasha. She’s wearing a flowing shimmery silver dress that stops around her knees, with a deep V that plunges down her chest, the fabric hugging every curve and slope of her body beautifully.
Beau doesn’t even realize Fjord has gotten up from their table until she sees him greeting Jester at the bottom of the stairs, the little tiefling rising on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. She then sees Yasha making her way towards the table and she stands up quickly.
“Uh. Hi”, Beau says when Yasha reaches her. “You look ... wow. Beautiful. So beautiful.” Beau really hopes she isn’t actually drooling and she subtly brings a hand up to the corner of her mouth, just to make sure.
“Thank you, Beau”, Yasha replies shyly, “You do as well. I, uh, I really like you in a suit. I was hoping you’d wear one actually— Not because I wanted to ogle you or anything! Well, not just that. I mean that I was hoping you’d wear one because I got you this”, Yasha holds up a single cornflower that Beau failed to notice she was even holding, a rich vibrant blue and freshly picked, “I thought you could wear it on your lapel.” She takes a step closer, holding the flower out, but waiting for Beau’s permission to continue.
“Yeah, yeah. That’d be great. Go ahead.” Yasha tucks the flower into Beau’s suit jacket, so close now, and Beau looks up at her as she works, watches the way her eyelids flutter, they way her lips purse every so slightly. Gods, Beau wants to kiss her, but they’ve only done it once before and they’re standing in a rapidly crowding room and Beau is unsure of how Yasha would take the PDA.
“There. All done”, Yasha says as she finishes. Beau opens her mouth to thank her but is interrupting by Fjord and Jester passing by.
“We’re heading out now. You kids have fun”, Fjord says, Jester beaming on his arm.
“You too”, Beau calls back, still a little breathless. She notices Jester makes eye contact with Yasha, waggling her brows and flashing her an impish grin. Yasha flushes a bit and Beau makes a mental note to ask her about that exchange later.
Beau waits until she sees the doors close behind the exiting pair before pulling out the pouch in her suit pocket. She weighs it back and forth in her hands before beginning to explain, “I, uh, actually got you something too”, she pulls the necklace from the bag, holding it flat in her palm, “It’s a necklace. Obviously. But the pendant, it’s a rock from ... Okay. Remember the time on Rumblecusp when you and me went flying? Of course you do, you were the one that sprouted literal wings and flew. Fuck.” Beau takes a breath, calming herself. “I didn’t notice until later that night, but this little rock had somehow found its way into my pocket after we crashed into the pools on top of the waterfall. I’d just been keeping it in my pack, but I realized it would be better with you. So I got it cleaned up and had this little feather engraved on it”, she holds out the pendant so Yasha can see. “Anyway. I hope you don’t think it’s stupid or anything. And I know it’s just a dumb rock but ...”
“Beau”, Yasha interrupts her, her eyes a just a little watery. “It’s ... I love it. It’s incredible. You’re incredible.” She takes the necklace from Beau’s hands, runs her thumb over the engraving. “Will you .. will you put it on me?”
“Of course.” If Beau wasn’t breathless before, she is now as she takes the necklace back from Yasha and watches her turn around, pulling all her hair over one shoulder. Beau steps closer and wraps the necklace around Yasha, fastening the clasp closed with slightly shaky hands. Without thinking and without resistance, Beau presses a light kiss to the base of Yasha’s neck, right above her shoulder blades. When the realization of her action hits her, she jumps back like she’s been electrocuted. “Sorry! That was ... Shit. I’m sorry.”
Yasha spins back around and grasps both of Beau’s hands in hers. “Beau, it’s okay. I liked it.”
Beau exhales. “Okay. I just wasn’t sure with ... we’re in public and ...”
“I know. We’ve got all night to talk about that stuff”, Yasha reassures her and drops one of her hands, keep the other firmly tangled with hers. “Speaking of which, shouldn’t we be ...”, she gestures towards the door.
“Yeah! Yeah, let’s go”, Beau says and leads them hand and hand out into the streets of Nicodranas.