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“What are you doing?” her stomach felt like it was twisting in knots as she glanced at them with wild eyes. Grello bent slowly down to one knee and touched the ground by her feet. They looked up and gave her a confused once-over, which with their apathetic expression, amounted to a slight raise of the eyebrow.
“Checking the path…” They mumbled in their usual way, pinching a bit of dirt and lifting it to inspect closer. “I was taught this. Long time ago.”
Argos took a half step back and let out a shaky sound, somewhere between a laugh and a groan. She felt like she was going insane. Everything was too hot, her heart was pounding and she was sweating like a beast. “Oh, right.”
Grello stayed at eye level with her as they flicked the dirt away and looked her in the face. “What’s wrong?” they reached out and tried to put a hand on hers just as she wrenched her arm away in alarm.
“What are you doing???” she hissed, hopping back another foot and holding her hand as if she had been burnt, though they hadn’t even touched her. Grello’s eyebrows shot up at her reaction and they scanned her posture.
“Well… I don’t know.” They replied honestly, but this seemed to be the wrong answer as she started to panic even further. Argos turned her head on a quick swivel to look around them. They were in a clearing in the woods by the inn the group was staying at. At this point the pair had to be more than a mile into the tree line, with none of the others in sight.
“--A-Argos-”
The sound of her name made her whip her head back in their direction. In the second she was weighing her environment, they had stood back up and were dusting their hand on their pants. She took another half step back and nearly fell over.
They frowned “I don’t think you’re well. We should go back.” Grello also looked around them, and then back to their companion. She was looking more nervous by the second. How had this happened? It seemed like it only took half a minute for the tiefling to go from apprehensive to on the verge of a panic attack. It really had them worried. They should have brought one of the others along with them. Sor’ali could put anyone at ease, but maybe with just the three of them and with her acting as the buffer, tensions would have been high regardless.
“D-don’t…” She began, but stopped. Grello looked back down at her to see if she would continue, but she didn’t. She was looking at the ground. Or maybe their knees? Either way, she couldn’t seem to make eye contact.
“Okay…” they began, as if trying not to startle a wild animal. “I’m gonna start walking. You follow.” They stated simply, taking a step to the left to avoid her as she stood in the path back home. Her eyes flicked briefly up to their shoulder as they passed her by.
Argos stood still for nearly a minute before timidly following the goliath back the way they came. She didn’t know what was suddenly coming over her. Grello didn’t seem like the type to try and hurt anyone from the outside, but her fear of large creatures made her anxious around them on a good day. Now? With them being completely isolated and alone in a normally dangerous place, she felt like she could melt into a muddle with how tense her body was. She forced her feet to follow them as she imagined them getting back to their friends in safety. All she wanted to do was crawl into someone’s lap like she used to do with her mother, and take a nap in their arms.
Meanwhile Grello was trying their best. They weren’t personable like Trent or Wyrna was, or even really knew how to read people. It was clear from how they first met that Argos felt unnerved by their presence, but she wasn’t like that with anyone else in their little troup. Was it because of their body? Grello didn’t have much credit towards that theory, since she seemed relatively fine around Trent, who was male. And it wasn’t their gender, Argos would regularly curl up with Ash when the group had to sleep in close quarters. So the reason was truly lost on them. They tried not to look back at Argos, feeling like it would make the situation worse, and just kept an eye on their surroundings, looking for clues and any sign of danger. It was obvious enough by the dull sounds of hooves on the packed dirt that she was following.
After only a few minutes, the cabin that was used as an inn came back into sight. Some of the tension between them seemed to bleed out, and Grello smiled when they could see someone in the yard, sitting on a bench. Was that one of their compatriots? Honestly, it didn’t matter as long as it felt like there was a barrier between the two of them.
Grello was only slightly startled when Argos went running off ahead of them towards the inn. As they got closer, it seemed like the person in back of the inn was a maid, washing and hanging linens to dry. She sat on a stone bench in front of a water basin, wringing out the fabric as she bent over the large tub. Argos hesitated for a brief moment upon realizing it wasn’t someone she knew, before changing course and heading around to the front of the inn anyway.
Grello raised a hand in a wave to the maid, who smiled slightly and waved at them in return. “Did’ja find what yew were lookin fer?” She spoke loudly over the rushing breeze and distance between them.
They shook their head. “No. Gonna try again. Was hoping it would be an easy hunt.” She nodded in a resolved way and went back to her work as Grello turned the corner. Argos was already out of sight.
Assuming she was already inside with the others, they went in after. The giant expected to see most of the group at a table eating breakfast, but it was either too late for food, or most everyone had slept in. The only one at a table was Ignis, who was in a back corner of the main tavern simply reading a book. Grello went over, and she looked up with a small smile on her face.
“Did Argos come through here?” they asked, sitting down heavily in a well-worn old chair. Ignis nodded and pointed at the stairs to the rooms above them.
“Mm. Did everyone already eat?” They ask, waving a hand at a maid across the room for food to be brought for them. As they looked back, Ignis shook her head and her tail waved thoughtfully behind her chair. “Alright.” They murmured, settling back into the comfortably silent corner.
Argos nearly leapt into the bed she shared with Briia, and crawled under the covers to sap her warmth. “Ahhh!” The woman cried, lurching to the side to avoid the sudden movement of a dew- covered tiefling. Argos went silent and tried to stop shaking as Bri recovered from the shock.
“Argos, Pelor you scared me.” She said, rubbing her hands over the other woman’s arms to warm her. “Did you find him? Did something happen?” The reality around her was starting to finally set in as she became more awake. The other bed in the room also began to stir, and Ash sat up slowly with a big, toothy yawn.
“Argos?” They asked, sliding a leg over the side of the bed and crossing the room in a few strides. “What’s wrong, hun?” the dragonborn asked. Argos was still shaking all over as Briia sat up to hold her in her lap and Ash knelt by the side of the bed. They shared a concerned look over the state of their friend.
It took a moment of calming her breathing and listening to the slow heartbeat of her friend to relax enough to release the tension in her neck and shoulders. Briia felt the change and shifted them to lean back against the headboard, beginning to rub at her back and shoulders as Ash climbed into the bed with the two of them to put a hand on her lower back.
“Argos.” Briia spoke softly in a melodic voice. “What’s wrong? Is there something that needs to be done here?” the young woman shook her head. Briia shared a look with Ash again, one of slight confusion and worry.
“Did something happen?” Ash prodded with a much more gravelly, but not altogether unpleasant timbre to their speech.
Argos’ tail twitched and she hesitated to answer. She wanted to chalk all of this up to being ridiculous and overdramatic. But everything that she had been feeling about Grello had just come to a head, and she was feeling worse because of it. That was certainly something, wasn’t it? Her response was a nod, and to retreat into the comfort of Briia’s thick fur on her neck.
A sigh slipped out of Briia and she brushed the tiefling’s fluffy locks back and away from her horns. “Take your time, darling. If we don’t need to come at anyone with swords, we can sit here and let you come down from this. Alright?” she seemed to resolve herself to that statement as she relaxed a little more into the pillows she rested against. Argos also deflated at the words.
Ash looked up and around, still confused. “I thought you were going after your sheep. Did you find him?” Briia gave them an admonishing expression and gently shook her head.
“No,” came a croaky voice from inside a blanket and the wooly coat of a firbolg yet to lose her winter coat. Briia then felt the shivers start up again and a few sobs come from the smaller girl in her arms.
“O-oh, I didn’t mean to.. Oh, Argos. I’m sorry.” Ash leaned forward and wrapped their arms around her. “It’s gonna be okay, we’ll find him.”
“N-noo..” came a sniffle from the mound of fur and blankets. “It’s not that. Well, it is but…” more sniffles and sobs. Briia tisked and rubbed the tiefling’s horns in the way that always calmed her down.
“Breathe, Little one. Just breathe.” Briia took a few deep breaths and let them out slowly until Argos started to follow her lead. After a moment, she began singing a tune that she learned long ago in her travels. The song was elven, a lullaby that told the tale of men lost in war, and the wives who always waited for them to come back. The melody swelled and lulled like the waves on a breeze-filled night, cresting onto the shore with every other line. Argos stopped crying and wiped her tears on the old cotton blanket of the inn bed, eventually having to stop herself from falling asleep from Briia’s hypnotic song.
As the last line ended, the little red tiefling popped her head out from the blanket slowly to take a deep breath of cold air. She closed her eyes and rested her head on Bri’s shoulder, trying to gain some energy back from almost being entranced by song. She looked at both her companion’s faces. Briia was looking at the wall, lost in thought and looking a bit dazed. Her doe-like eyes drooped slightly from just waking up, and her big fluffy ears were relaxed, twitching ever so often when Argos’ breath made them. Ash had their eyes closed, big dragon maw resting on top of the blanket where her hip was, and it was unclear whether they were awake or asleep.
Argos took a deep breath and wiggled slightly until the others moved enough to let her resituate. Ash, it turns out, had fallen back asleep. She felt bad for waking them for a moment, until they went back to sleep mere seconds after rolling over. Argos brought her knees up and curled her fluffy tail around them for comfort. Briia was now behind her, with her legs on either side of Argos’ hips.
“Argos?” she prodded gently. “Are you ready to talk about it? I won’t push you if you aren’t ready. I know your sheep meant a lot to you, and it seems like there might be some unresolved feelings bubbling up too.” The horns in front of her nodded and she reached out to start combing through Argos’ hair with her fingers.
She took a few more seconds to gather her thoughts. “I don’t know if I’m ready to let go of Binny. He’s all I have left of.. My family. Or at least how I remember them. If he’s gone then I don’t… I don’t know how to live with myself.” She took a shaky breath and crossed her arms over her knees. “It’s messing with my head.” She finally squeaks
Briia hummed and let her speak her thoughts, still gently untangling the strands of light hair before her.
Argos shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. So much’s changed since I left home. I mean, nothing has changed, but at the same time everything has changed. I found out that I’m not who I think I am, my dad isn’t my real dad, That I have a father out there somewhere, that my family was strained because of my existence. It felt like the only pure reminder of my childhood was those sheep. And now they’re,” she paused and choked back a sob “They’re gone and I just have to move on knowing the fact that my family is gone and torn apart. Or worse, they’re better off without me. Which is..” She trailed off from her speech to get lost in thought.
Her brother was the catalyst for it all, of course. His death put so much strain on the family, being the main worker for the fields and their father’s successor. But with their father being crippled and unable to do most of the daily chores, the responsibilities were redistributed oddly throughout Argos, her mother, and her younger brother. All this paired with the depression throughout the family at the loss of their beloved oldest son, they struggled to make ends meet. Argos was hit hardest of all, being older than her younger brother and more able bodied than her mother and father, she took the brunt of the chores. She was also plagued with the memory of watching her brother be brutally murdered by an ettan in front of her eyes, and nearly being killed herself until her father stepped in with a bow and arrow.
Somehow in the grief of losing their son, it came to light that Argos’ mother, Generous, had an affair during her marriage with a man who was part of a travelling troupe of giant-kin called firbolg. This should have been more obvious in hindsight to Argos, who was the only one with light hair out of her two siblings, as well as the only one in her entire family with a furry tail and ears such as firbolg have. While her father had always suspected, it wasn’t until Generous had admitted it to him that tension raised from it. This would eventually culminate in making Argos leave to “find herself” out in the world.
She had felt a lot of things then. Afraid, alone, heartbroken and lost. She wouldn’t find out about her father until weeks later when she discovered a letter tucked into her bag by her mother recounting the truth. After that she tried to get as far from her family as possible. She now felt new emotions, mainly betrayal, hurt, confusion, and alienation. But at least she had had three of the sheep from her family’s herd to look after and keep her company.
Harriet, Mendel, and Binny were three sheep that Agros had raised and bottle fed from the time they were only weeks old. It had been out of rebelliousness, and maybe also misplaced care that she had taken them, reasoning that less sheep would lessen the burden of work her family had to deal with.
Harriet died from a wolf attack a week after leaving home, still travelling out of the hills her family home was in. Mendel wandered off one night, months later, and was never seen again, presumed dead. And in the past day, the same thing had happened to Binny, the last sheep. Argos had never felt more lost, not even the first day out on her own in hills infested with man-eating giants that could smell her within a mile.
“Argos?” Briia whispered, bringing her out of her brief trance. “I lost you for a second there.”
She shook her head and sighed. “I’m tired of being so alone.”
“You aren’t alone. You’re never alone with us.” Bri stated as she continued braiding some of her own ribbon into Argos’ hair. The tiefling shook her head briefly and wiped at her eyes.
“I feel alone. And it's not your fault. Not any of you. But I do feel it.”
“You’re allowed to feel any way, Argos. That isn’t up to us to decide, only you.” She said, smiling softly to herself. “But it is our job as your friends to try and help you through that. Is there any way you can think of for us to do that?” she asked, tying off the braid and placing it down to rest with finality, turning to peek over the tiefling’s shoulder.
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know. O-or.. or I do and I just don’t know how to ask for it. It's nice being able to go to anyone in the group and ask for a hug or to cuddle, but..” She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Grello..”
Briia nodded and patted her shoulder. “Grello. I know you’re uncomfortable around them. Was that what happened this morning? You went with Grello to look for Binny… and what happened?”
“Nothing.. I had a.. A panic attack, I think. I felt trapped with them. Like anything could have happened and no one would have been there to stop it.” She whispered.
Ash was back awake by now and looking up at her from the sheets. Briia locked eyes with them and gave a sad look.
“Do you feel like Grello would hurt you?”
“I don’t know. I want to say no. I know that Grello, and Sor’ali, and maybe Trent would be upset if I said yes.”
“Argos, they can’t control how you feel. Maybe they would be sad, but they wouldn’t be mad at you for feeling afraid. What happened with your brother has made you nervous around Grello. That isn’t their fault, and if Grello knew about your past, I’m sure they would understand that. Maybe they would even try to help.”
“I don’t want them to help! I don’t even want them to know, I can’t stand the thought of them pitying me, or even trying to be nice to me.” She threw her hands up to cover her face, sliding her hands down and dragging her features downward with them. “I don’t want to see them ever again. It makes me sick to even look at them!” she groaned.
Bri and Ash locked eyes again and Ash got into a sitting position. “Argos, Sor’ali would never let us kick Grello out of the group. Or if she did, she would go with them. And then Trent would go. And then Briia would go. And then Wyrna, and then me, and then the whole group would be split. We all stay together and support each other.”
Argos interrupted their last sentence with a whine that turned into a long sob. Ash quickly leaned in to wrap their scaly, muscular arms around her and hold on tight. “I know you’re feeling overwhelmed with emotion right now, but the answer isn’t to get rid of Grello. I’m sorry.”
“I feel like I’m gonna throw up my heart” She sobbed.
Briia frowned and curled around them both. “I should call the others in here.” She sighed. Argos jerked and started to protest.
“Briia no, I don’t want them to-”
Ash jumped to interrupt before Briia could, “Argos, they need to know so they can at least know how to help you. You can’t keep just hiding your feelings from everyone until they explode out of you. It isn’t healthy.”
Briia followed, “And if Grello knew how you felt, they could figure out how to get around this fear. Even if that means avoiding you. I know they don’t want to cause you any pain.”
After a bit of back and forth, they agree to call the others into the room. Briia held onto Argos for comfort, and Ash sat at the end of the bed as Briia sent a sending spell to Wyrna to rouse and gather the others.
It took about ten minutes for everyone to get into the room and arrange themselves comfortably on the two beds, or simply on the floor. Grello and Ignis, led by Wyrna, were the last to join them. The halfling siblings were on the second bed, Wyrna sitting down to join them. Ignis clung to Grello’s side as they sat on the floor between the two beds, facing Briia and Ash and.. Oh, Argos was there, just nearly buried in blankets and fur. Her fluffy white tail waved by Briia’s hooves at the end of the bed.
“What’s happening? Have plans changed for travel?” Sor’ali was the first to speak.
“Not quite. This is more of an interpersonal group meeting.” Briia answered, bumping Argos slightly.
Grello looked down at Ignis, who was trying to get comfortable in their lap. She finally settled in a cross-legged pose, and smiled up at them. They smiled back and looked back at the bed in front of them, where Argos was staring intently at them. They awkwardly looked away to Briia, expecting her to keep speaking.
“Argos?” Ash prompted. The group’s attention was turned to her immediately. She retracted into the blankets and made a small sound. Grello thought it sounded something like a wounded cat.
“Argos, come out with it already, love.” Wyrna sighed. She meant well, but the druid was impatient at the best of times. And tension in the room was rising.
“I..” she came out of the blankets a bit more and clutched at her skirt with white knuckles. “I want to leave the group.”
Not a second of silence went by before the room erupted into protest. Even Briia and Ash looked shocked, which told Grello that this wasn’t the topic planned for this discussion. Grello looked right at Argos, who caught their eye through the scrambling around the room. She looked pale and possibly on the verge of tears. It was a similar look to the one she had this morning in the woods.
“Stop, stop! Everyone, be quiet. Argos. Be serious.” Briia scolded as everyone seemed to settle into various states of distress. Argos sat up straight and threw the blanket off.
“No, I am! I’m not gonna be the one to tear this group apart, like you said. So it's better if I just leave.” She shouted, getting off the bed and making some kind of motion with her hands.
“Argos-” A spell suddenly erupted from her hands and filled the room with fog in seconds. Everyone jumped into action and scrambled around the room as chaos erupted. Grello held onto Ignis and curled around her to protect her from getting hurt. She let out a small sound of distress and curled up with them. As the fog cleared, Wyrna was seen to be channelling a wind spell, taking the mist along with it out the room. The space was clear, the window was open and Argos was missing.
After the surprise passed, everyone began to search. Grello let go of Ignis to stand up and help. Wyrna wild shaped into a crow and flew out the window immediately, with Briia going to the window to look out after her. Most understood that she must have slipped out the window and went running off to the woods.
Grello stood up and looked for Sor’ali. She was just getting off the bed and they helped her down. “Let’s go search from the ground.” They rumbled, intensely focused. Sor looked the same, if also a little pissed off. She grabbed her war hammer from their room before they left the inn to search. Grello knew (mostly) that it was only in case trouble found them.
As they rounded the back of the inn, the maid was still in the back, dumping out her barrel of grey water into the garden. “Hey,” they said, waving to catch her attention.
She looked over and smiled, standing straight and wiping her hands on her apron. “Oi, good to see you again, lad! How can I help?”
“You see that red tiefling come through here?”
“Oh yes, jumped out the window up there, gave me quite the fright, she did. Went off towards the woods, same way you came back from this mornin.”
Sor’ali took off running, and Grello wasn’t far after. “Thanks” they said, jogging to catch up.
“She didn’t get far. But she’s quiet and stealthy in the woods. Look closely.” Sor’ali growled. Grello said nothing as they started scanning the treeline. The sound of their companions continuing the search in other parts of the woods, with Wyrna crowing above filled their ears.
Ten minutes passed with no sign of Argos. Grello and Sor’ali ran into Briia, who looked distressed and dishevelled.
“This is my fault.” She lamented to them. She couldn’t even look them in the eyes.
“Briia.” Sor said sternly, “It isn’t your fault. You never meant for this.”
“But I caused it nonetheless! You all count on me to understand and listen, and messed up this time.” She looked up at Grello with teary eyes. “I should have kept my big mouth shut.”
Grello shook their head. “You didn’t know what would happen. We’ll find her.” They said consolingly. Briia sighed as they put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed in a gesture that was meant to comfort. “We should split up. Cover more ground that way.”
Sor’ali looked up. “What if one of us gets lost?”
Briia laughed wearily “Then we better hope we can find our tracker. So she can find us.”
Grello shrugged, “Pretty much. Hopefully she isn’t far now. No way she outran Wyrna.” they hoped, anyway.
As the three split, Grello couldn’t help the sinking feeling growing in their stomach. What if Argos was really gone? They knew that she could hold her own in the wild, she had before from what they know. She was young, and fairly smart, but Grello knew strong emotion tended to cloud judgement. And clouded judgement could be deadly out in the wild. They bent down and inspected the ground closely.
Argos always seemed on edge the few occasions they interacted face to face. The first time they met, Grello thought she would have fainted had they not shown they meant no harm by getting on their knees and petting one of her little sheep. Even so, she held a sword to their throat to feel some sort of control. They still remember how they looked up from the fluffy sheep to look at the tiefling in front of them, whose legs were trembling so badly it looked like her hooves might fall off.
Hooves that.. Seemed to be imprinted very faintly into the dirt beneath them. Grello tilted their head and felt the ground. Still fresh, so she was close. They stood and broke into a jog. She couldn’t be far off.
Not a minute more of jogging led them to a small cave, tucked neatly into the space between two trees and a small boulder. The end of a fluffy tail poked slightly out from between two roots. Grello bent down and crawled forward.
“Argos-”
She screamed and rolled over, cramming herself further into the space and twisting in an uncomfortable way. They clamped their hands over their ears to block out the sound.
“Stop! Stop, I’m not gonna do anything.” They grumbled. A second passed and they slowly opened their eyes, which had been squeezed shut. Their hands came down and they held them out in surrender.
“I just wanna bring you back.” They sat down in front of the cave
“No.”
Grello sighed. “Really? Everyone will be sad.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m a chILD! YOU ALL ACT LIKE I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!” She shouted, trying to sit up but mostly unable to move.
“I-I don’t do that.”
“Yes, you do! I know everyone will be SAD. I don’t care. I don’t want to be here if you’re here.”
Grell rocked back a bit as if the insult really hit them. “....Why?” they whispered. Her eyes went wide and she went completely silent. Grello leaned in again slightly and waited for a response.
“Because I… I.. You…”
Grello kept waiting until she had an answer.
“...I don’t like you!”
“Why?”
“Because!” Her voice broke and she twisted uncomfortably in the small space.
“Because?”
“Yes!”
“I see..”
“No, you don’t!” She cried.
“I don’t?”
“No!!”
“Oh. Why not?”
“ARRRGGGGHHHHGGG!!” She roared, spouting Infernal and kicking her legs desperately.
“...Do you want help getting out of there?”
“Don’t touch me!”
“Okay. So why don’t you like me?”
“Because you killed him!” She started to sob and her body went limp, succumbing to exhaustion and emotional burnout.
Grello frowned sadly and scooted back, giving her space to let it out. She took a few minutes to cry until she couldn’t seem to do anything more than hiccup and snivel in her self-made trap. They watched her go from angry to just desperately gloomy. Her tail laid still on the dirt floor, her ears flat against the sides of her head, and her dress torn and dirty.
They stayed silent as she gave another futile attempt to get out of the hole. They wordlessly offered a hand to help, and as she looked up, eyes full of tears and nose running down her chin, she nodded. They reached in slowly and carefully to extricate her from the roots and dirt. She held onto them tightly when they picked her up, cradling her close to their chest. She was warm and fluffy like a kitten, curling up in their arms as small as she could get.
As the two of them stood, Grello heard a soft bleat off to the right. Argos’ head whipped up to follow the sound. Grello didn’t hesitate for more than a second before hurrying to follow.
A few yards away in a clearing, the source of the sound was found. Binny looked up with a careless look in his eyes as he chewed some clover. Argos tore away from their arms to throw herself onto her sheep and collapse into more tears.
Grello watched from a few feet away and made sure they were safe.