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The light from the two moons was almost unnaturally bright against the darkness of the ocean around them, the gentle rocking of the ship helpful in calming her raging thoughts.
She should be asleep right now. They would be arriving at one of the temples Fjord had been looking for tomorrow, and if the past visits had been anything to judge by she would need to be at her best. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t tried to fall asleep, but her mind refused to quiet down. After over an hour of tossing and turning, she had eventually given up and made her way up to the deck of the ship, hoping that the cool night air might help with her insomnia.
So far no dice, and she was only getting more and more frustrated.
“Can’t sleep?” Yasha's low, accented voice breaks the quiet night air, her pale skin standing out against the darkness with a subtle otherworldly glow that Beau’s not entirely sure she’s not imagining.
“Obviously.” Yasha leans against the railing beside her and joins her in staring out over the almost black waters, appearing unassumingly calm though Beau had come to know better “What about you? I gotta say that I’ll be impressed if you can pull off your usual disappearing act. Don’t you need rain to disappear in thin air?”
She was pretty sure that it was tiredness that was making her particularly bitchy, so in an attempt to apologize without actually apologizing she sighs, “Figured I’d try and see if some air would help me feel tired, it didn’t by the way.”
“I’m pretty sure that it was all of you guys who disappeared into thin air last time and left me alone for a week.” She’d think Yasha was being petty if not for her small, amused smile, “And I just wanted to watch the moons for a bit, they remind me of being a kid, and of sneaking away when I got a bit older.”
She sounded a little wistful, almost happy in a way that Beau was not sure that she’s ever heard before. “You used to sneak away? I didn’t take you as the type Yasha, sneaking out for romantic trysts under the moons?” She’s trying to be sly, but she’s pretty sure that her attempt to pry into Yasha’s backstory doesn’t go unnoted. For once, Yasha doesn’t seem to mind.
Yasha shrugs, but her small smile tells an entire story all on its own. “We were taught how to navigate via the moons and stars fairly early back in my tribe, and I don’t know, there’s just always been something very comforting to me about them. No matter where you are on Exandria they’re always there. Even if the stars change, the moons don’t; and even if the constellations are different at times, you know you’re going to see your favorites again sometime.”
Yasha talks about the moons as if they were old loves, something ethereal that can’t be put properly into words as she stares up at the sky above them; a few wispy clouds are obstructing the view of the night sky but it doesn’t appear to bother Yasha.
It makes the barbarian seem younger and gentler than Beau thinks she’s ever seen before, a part of the mystery of Yasha has been revealed in her love of the moon and stars.
She should just be quiet and appreciate the easy comradery there is between them right now but without her brain's permission her mouth blurts out, “Can you show me some of them? The constellations I mean, I’ve read a bit about them but I’ve never actually seen them with someone who really knows about them.”
“It’s a bit cloudy and I am a little rusty, but I think we should be able to spot a few if you really want to.” She does want to, but even if she hadn’t, she would have still done it for no other reason than how open Yasha suddenly is.
She’s surprised by how genuinely she enjoys and finds herself interested in Yasha’s words and explanations as she carefully points out a constellation, even occasionally gently guiding Beau’s head when she can’t quite find what she’s looking for.
Beau is enjoying herself so much that the large yawn she lets out after at least 30 minutes takes her by surprise, her cheeks are suspiciously warm and she hopes that the complexion and the darkness around them hide her blush as she looks at Yasha “Damn, didn’t even realize how much time had passed, this was actually really cool. Do you think you could show me some more another time? Maybe when it’s a clearer night, and you said the constellations change depending on where you are, right? How about every time we’re somewhere with a different constellation you show it to me?”
“I think I would like that very much Beau.”
“Dope.” They start to make their way back down below deck when she suddenly needs to know something “What’s your favorite constellation?” For reasons she doesn’t want to think about too hard, it’s vitally important information to her.
Yasha cocks her head to the side and makes a thoughtful noise, “I think it’s Sirius, it’s in the shape of a dog and it’s the brightest star in the sky; in my language, we call it ‘Store Hund’, which literally just translates to ‘big dog’ in Common.”
“So one that would be useful when you’re trying to navigate in the middle of the night? Keeping you safe and on the right path?” That sounds corny as fuck, but it feels worth it when Yasha smiles at her again, “I suppose you could see it that way, but also, I just really like dogs.”
“That’s fair enough too.” She chuckles as they make their way back to where the rest are sleeping, “And Yasha? Thank you, it means a lot that you shared this with me.”
The next day the Nein is at yet another ancient temple, they sleep underground but the first night afterward she offers to take the middle watch with Yasha, hanging on to her every word.
---
That lying piece of shit, she only pretended to care about the rest of them and then switched sides and tried to kill them.
It had been just over a week since the events of the King’s Cage, 10 days to be precise, and the hurt of Yasha’s betrayal of them still aches like a gaping wound, the emotional pain so much more intense and lasting than any of her physical injuries.
She’d told Fjord to go to bed and that she would finish the last part of their watch on her own. The half-orc had looked at her as if he didn’t quite believe her but he had still gone to bed, leaving her mercifully alone with her thoughts.
She wanted to be alone, and if it wasn’t possible to be alone physically then she at least wanted to be alone mentally.
Or at least she thought she did, now that Fjord was asleep she had no one to help her distract from her own thoughts.
And from the moons above them, shining brightly in a way that felt taunting to her; a feeling that’s only intensified when her attention is grabbed by a particularly bright star; against her will her eyes trace over the stars close to it that creates the image of a large dog.
Rudius is full tonight, bathing everything in an ominous red light that even Catha can’t break through but Sirius still stands out against the red sky.
“Just fuck off.” She snarks at the sky above as if it would convince the moons and stars above her to disappear. They don’t of course, in fact, Sirius seems to sparkle brighter for a second before going dimmer as a feeling of dread comes over her.
Rudius seems to pulse with energy before it flares out, washing out everything else in the night sky with reddish waves of energy. She stares up at it completely transfixed as a heavy feeling of dread spreads through her, the same feeling someone would usually get before some horrible accident.
Something had changed, she wasn’t sure how she knew but she did, somewhere in Wildemount something had changed. Permanently.
The feeling is still there when she wakes up the next day, in fact, the entirety of the Nein seemed more subdued as if all of them share the same feeling of otherness as she did, the same feeling of wrongness.
She tries to put the feeling aside and is even somewhat successful until she and Jester are taking watch later that night. Whereas Beau was content to do her best to suppress any feelings that weren’t anger, the tiefling had no trouble showing her emotions.
Jester had spent the first couple of days after they lost Yasha in mourning, occasionally crying when she thought Beau was asleep. The monk had felt bad for seeing something she wasn’t meant to see, and for not having the strength to comfort her friend.
Beau is looking at the forest that surrounds them when Jester breaks the silence, “Something bad has happened to Yasha.”
“What do you mean?” Jester looks guilty and pained for a second “Did you scry on Yasha again? Jess, we know how much that weighs on you; one of us would have sat with you.” She can see Jester blinking back tears, “What’s wrong? What happened?”
She doesn’t want to know, not really, she doesn’t want to know whatever it is that Yasha is doing, but it’s obviously eating away at Jester.
“She was in chains Beau! It looked as if she’d been attacked by some sort of animal. There was blood everywhere and she was writhing in pain!” Jester snaps “She was crying!”
“Wait, wait, back up a second, what do you mean she was chained up? That makes absolutely no sense, why would Obann –.”
Jester cuts her off, “And the moon! It was so weird, like the brighter it got the more Yasha was hurting.” Both of them look up into the sky, and while Rudius is no longer flaring, it still hangs in the sky and Beau’s bad feeling comes back in full force.
Almost on instinct her eyes search for the bright star of Sirius and it might just be the knock she took to the head earlier but she could swear that the constellation looked almost sorrowful, the shine of Rudius almost giving it a tearful effect.
“Are you okay Beau?” Jester’s voice is soft but she might as well have shouted in her ear with how badly Beau startles, “You’re crying.” Beau raises a shaking hand to her face and is still surprised when it touches wetness despite Jester’s words,
“I’m fine.” She responds brusquely as she wiped away the traitorous tears, “Just had something in my eye.” A distant, mournful howl pierces the otherwise quiet night, probably just some lone wolf who had gotten separated from its pack.
“You and Yasha used to go star-watching, right?”
“Yeah, she always seemed kinda in love with the night sky.” She thinks back on what Yasha had said that night on the Balleater, about how no matter where you were on Exandria, the moons were still the same.
She can’t help but wonder whether Yasha is looking up at the exact same moons as her and if she’s wondering about her too. If Yasha is regretting her decisions.
Jester tries to continue the conversation but Beau shuts it down gently, instead focusing on Catha and its light.
---
Yasha was back, or, her body was at least; the woman that Beau had gotten to know seemed to have been replaced by an anxious and agitated stranger that constantly seemed worried about something.
Beau had asked her to go star-watching as a sort of peace offering and to give her an excuse to get Yasha alone and maybe, kinda, apologize for taking so long to believe that she was being mind controlled and that it had taken two months for the Nein to get her back.
Yasha had seemed bitter and sad as she had refused, mumbling something about the moons before leaving.
It was becoming obvious that there was more going on than just Yasha holding a little grudge, and she was determined to figure it out. The first step to that was to listen in on Yasha’s meeting with Caduceus and Caleb. Scaling Caduceus’s tree is easy enough for her and now all that’s left to do is wait for the three of them to meet up and make sure that she was hidden by the leaves and branches.
It doesn’t take long, thankfully, for Yasha, Cad, and Caleb to come out onto the roof. Yasha looked over at Caleb and started off, “So, is there anything that can be done?” Her voice is agitated as if she’s been waiting a long time to ask.
Caleb and Cad share a heavy look between them before looking back at Yasha, “Preliminary attempts and studies have been negative, I honestly do not know what more we can try; remove curse didn’t work, nor did lesser or greater restoration. We will, of course, keep trying to find a way but in the meantime, we might have to focus on alleviating the symptoms, and then try to find a cure as we go.”
Caleb looks remorseful as he explains, Caduceus just looks thoughtful as Yasha sags down onto the ground.
“There might be ways to make it less…traumatizing. I know that it doesn’t have to be as painful as you’ve described and I’ve even heard of people who learned to control it completely.”
“How I’m I supposed to do that? There’s less than two weeks till the next full moon, there’s no way I’ll be able to figure it out in that time.”
“While I agree with Mr. Clay that it is likely something you can gain control of eventually, I also think you’re right about our timeline. So, and I am saying this from a place of love; I think it is time that you share this with the rest. We all want to help you and hopefully help lighten your burdens.”
“Give me until tomorrow, I just, I need some time alone to think.”
Both Caleb and Caduceus say something so quietly that she can’t pick up on it, and with how they’re standing closely by Yasha she can’t read their lips either.
Caleb places a hand on Yasha’s arm and Caduceus hugs her before the two men make their way back down off the rooftop garden. Yasha watches until they’re completely gone before she drops to her knees and presses her face against the grass and lets out a muffled scream.
She can see Yasha’s entire body tremble as she punches the ground, and yeah, this is definitely more than she expected.
Also, Yasha had obviously waited until she was alone to have her breakdown, it was a shitty thing to keep hidden while Yasha was being so emotionally raw. She drops down from where she’s hiding in the tree and silently approaches Yasha.
Or at least she thought she was being quiet, she’s barely taken two steps before Yasha lifts her head and looks at her, her eyes reflecting the light from the dimly lit lanterns around them in a way she hadn’t seen before.
For a brief moment, she feels a primal fear of a prey being stared down by a predator before Yasha blinks and the feeling goes away, “How much did you hear?”
“All of it.” She swallows hard “But, in my defense, I didn’t imagine hearing that you’d been cursed and there wasn’t a cure.”
“Guess that’s what you get for snooping.”
“When else was I gonna learn that you’ve been bit by a werewolf?” Yasha flinches at her words “You know this isn’t your fault, right? We’ll help you figure it out, there’s no reason for you to feel bad about it.” Yasha gives her a dark glare before she flops over onto her back and stares up at the perpetual twilight of Rosohna, the light from the lanterns casting shadows along Yasha’s cheekbones.
“Fault or not, it doesn’t change that I turn into a rabid beast on the full moon and that I have no idea how I’m supposed to even begin to control it.”
“I’m sorry that he took the moons from you.” Yasha had loved the moons so much, and now the thing that had bought Yasha so much comfort was also the thing that burdened and hurt her. A constant reminder of what she had lost, a part of herself.
But the Nein had lost Yasha and still managed to get her back in the end, so maybe she would be able to return Yasha’s love for the night somehow.
There’s silence between them for a couple of minutes where they just stare out over Rosohna before Yasha breaks it, “It scares me. A lot. I’ve only had two full moons before this one but they… they were horrible Beau. It hurt so bad.”
She grasps Yasha’s hand without thinking about it and squeezes it, trying to convey to Yasha that she’s here for her “You’re not going to be alone this time, I know that probably doesn’t make it any better or easier for you but I just...” Her words are beginning to make no sense, even to herself and she takes a breath and shakes her head to clear it.
She’s mentally scrambling for something at least semi-coherent but then Yasha reaches a hand out to her and gestures for her to lay down beside her and a weird sense of calm takes over her as they both stare up at the moons.
“I really want to try and help you; I know that Caleb and Caduceus are the ones who can do magic and heal and shit but maybe there’s something at the Soul that might help you.”
---
The Nein return to Rexxentrum a few days later and she and Caleb descends upon the library like hungry vultures, reading anything that they think might have even the slightest chance of being useful and plenty of things that don’t, all in the hope that somewhere there might be a way to help Yasha.
Jester, Cad, and even Fjord had tried their whole god thing with no luck and the next full moon was only 9 days away, a fact that was making Yasha more and more jumpy as the Nein were no closer to figuring out what they were supposed to do it make it not suck as much.
So far the only plan was for one of the clerics to use ‘calm emotions’ on Yasha. Caleb had pointed out it likely wouldn’t remove the pain of the transformation, but if they were lucky, it would help Yasha not feel so freaked out during the rest of the night.
Which was just completely unhelpful as far as Beau was concerned, but she wasn’t exactly being of much use herself so she didn’t really have anything to say about it.
Beau enters the rented room after another long day of useless research getting them nowhere to find Yasha pacing inside it. “Shit Yasha! You scared the crap out of me.”
The Aasimar looks at her guiltily, “I’m sorry, Beau. I just, I didn’t want to be alone but Jester is a little too optimistic and Caleb is a little too pessimistic, Caduceus acts as if this is all going to be fine and Fjord and Nott –.”
“Woah, Yasha! Calm down! It’s fine that you’re here, just… take a breath okay?” Yasha doesn’t seem to calm down much but she does throw herself down in the armchair hard enough to make it scoot along the floor with an awful noise. She doesn’t look up at Beau but instead glares down at the floor.
“So, are you going to explain?” There’s no place in the room for her to sit and still be able to look at Yasha so she stays standing where she is. Beau watches as Yasha breathes out with an audible sigh and can almost watch in real-time as the Aasimar deflates in front of her.
“I… I am afraid, Beau.” That was not what she had been expecting Yasha to say. Since the original conversation between them, Yasha has seemed more agitated than anything else. Fear certainly hadn’t been what Beau would have thought that Yasha was feeling.
“What are you afraid of?” It could be so many things, she couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for Yasha to nervously have no choice but to count down the days until the next full moon.
The silence in the room is deafening as Yasha states down at the floor, Beau thinks she sees her mouth moving but no words come out and neither can she read her lips well enough to determine if she mouthed something.
Yasha clears her throat a couple of times “I’m scared of how much it’s going to hurt, I’m scared of being all alone.”
It was a heartbreaking and all too understandable fear, this wasn’t something that any of the Nein could do for Yasha, all they could really do was try and offer comfort but none of them could truly sympathize with Yasha and her fear of losing herself.
But there was one thing she could do, one fear she could help alleviate.
“You don’t need to be alone, I’ll be with you if you want.” Was it the smartest offer? To voluntarily be close to a werewolf who was very new at being a werewolf and, by her own admission, had little to nothing in the way of control?
Probably not, but that has never stopped her before and it certainly wouldn’t stop her this time, if there was a way, any way, to make it less horrible for Yasha didn’t Beau owe her that?
She had unknowingly helped deliver Yasha straight to Obann, had then spent a lot of time trying to convince herself that Yasha was actually bad, with varying degrees of success, but now Yasha was asking for help.
And it was something that Beau could easily do, nothing would keep her from Yasha’s side now that Yasha had expressed a need for someone to be there.
Yasha’s head shoots up to stare at her with a horrified expression, “What? Beau, No! That’s way-.”
“Don’t try to tell me it’s too dangerous, Yasha! That’s my risk to take. One that I want to take, and you don’t have a choice in that!” Yasha stares at her with a dumbfounded look “Do you understand me?!”
“Um, can we at least agree on me being chained up and the room being big enough for you to be on the other side?” Yasha stammered out, looking as if Beau had just grown a second head.
“I’m sure it won’t be needed, but if it keeps you from being an idiot? Then sure.”
Yasha didn’t say anything more after that, but while she still looked conflicted she also sagged forward the tiniest bit as the atmosphere in the room lightened from the heavy, oppressive feeling that had been present when Beau first entered.
—
The next nine days passed way too quickly for Beau’s taste. It feels as if she blinked once, and then she was following Yasha down into the large cellar that had been provided by the Gentleman.
Only she would join Yasha inside of the room, the rest of the Nein would instead be on standby just outside in case they were needed.
Which they shouldn’t be, because this was gonna go fine. Beau would be there to help Yasha not have such a frightening transformation by not leaving her alone to deal with it. There were going to be some strong ass chains made of silver, which Beau thought was way over the top but had been one of Yasha’s conditions.
It was a large, mostly empty storage room, large enough that with the chains Yasha would only be able to cross half of it, which leaves the other side for Beau as a safe space of sorts.
The Nein had spent most of the day trying to distract Yasha from the imminent full moon that would be making its appearance later that night. The barbarian had played along, but Beau had caught her looking apprehensive whenever she thought no one was paying attention to her.
Beau was just always paying attention, which was a perfectly normal thing to do when your friend was going through a hard time, you paid them a little extra attention to make sure they were okay.
It had nothing to do with her crush on Yasha coming back with a vengeance, thank you very much!
And even if it did have something to do with that… that wasn’t really her fault.
Beau is ripped from her thoughts as she hears a door close behind her, she blinks, startled, as she takes in the room that will be her and Yasha’s for the next three nights.
It was pretty barebones, on one side of the room is a small ‘living area’, a couch, table, some chairs, as well as a bed small enough to fit Beau.
On the other side of the room is practically nothing, some blankets thrown hastily on the floor.
Other than that, the only other things are some large, heavy-looking chains bolted securely into the side of the far wall.
Yasha makes a beeline over to the chains and picks them up, and as Beau follows her she can see just how thick the chains are. She isn’t even sure she would be able to lift them herself, definitely not as easily as Yasha did.
“Well, does that make you feel better?” She nods at the chains, “Seems a bit much to me.”
Yasha doesn’t answer her, instead, she grips the chain in her hands and pulls; Beau watches as all of Yasha’s muscles bunch up as she pulls with her entire weight, the chains barely move despite Yasha obviously pulling with all of her strength.
“It’s better than nothing.” Yasha pulls one more time before letting go and turning to look at Beau, “Are you sure that you want to stay? I would understand you know, and it’s not like it would be the first time I was alone for it.”
The glare she sends Yasha seems to be enough for the barbarian to let the subject drop, “I’m not even gonna bother responding to that, I’ll stay on the other side of the room but you’re insane if you think I’ll let you go through this alone.”
She was going to say something more, but whatever it was is lost as Yasha starts taking her clothes off.
Beau should probably look away, but she’s so confused as to why this is happening that she doesn’t really know what else to do besides dumbly mumble “Um, Yasha?” She had imagined Yasha without clothes more times than she cared to admit but those fantasies had been under very different circumstances, “What are you doing?”
It’s Yasha’s turn to look at her as if she’s the one who’s stupid “Whatever clothes I’m wearing kinda get destroyed when I change, so it’s easier to just be wearing my small clothes.”
That made sense, but right now her brain was preoccupied with watching as Yasha continued to strip down to only her breastband and small clothes.
She clears her throat twice before she gets her mental faculties under enough control to respond, “Right! Of course, yeah.” She decides that the best way to avoid making more of a fool out of herself is to just not say anything and take a quick walk around the room while Yasha finishes getting ready.
Five minutes later Yasha calls for her “Would you mind double-checking that the chains are secured correctly?”
“Sure.” Beau does so mostly in silence, she doesn’t even need to look at the clock to know that the time is getting close. The way Yasha acted made that clear, and as cliche as it sounded, the air in the room was getting heavier.
She and Yasha sit in silence beside each other with their backs against the wall until out of the corner of her eye, she notices the slightest tremor in Yasha’s hands seconds before Yasha speaks. “I think it’s time you moved to the opposite side of the room.”
“You sure?” The tremors that had been almost unperceivable barely a minute ago are now entirely visible to the naked eye; she could see the veins in Yasha’s hands stand out starkly as she clenched them into fists.
“Yeah, it won’t be long now.” Yasha’s eyes glow in the dark, her mind helpfully reminding her that’s usually a trait that predators who hunt at night have.
It should make her feel afraid, probably, but she had never been very good at doing the things she was supposed to do and this wasn’t going to be any different. She reluctantly makes her way over to the bed and curls up with a notebook; one of Caleb’s ideas for her to write down anything that could potentially be the reason for Yasha’s unusually painful transformations.
Everything picks up the pace then, the small tremors quickly spread to the rest of Yasha’s body, and even from the opposite side of the room Beau can see beads of sweat start to trickle down Yasha’s face.
It was uncomfortable to watch but she could handle it, if this was the worst of it then she was sure they would both be fine.
But as was seemingly a theme for the Nein, it, of course, got worse. Much worse.
At first, the sounds are faint, Yasha obviously trying to keep them in but after only a minute or two the first pained groan tears itself from her. The sound is a shock to Beau’s system as she all but throws her notebook to the side, watching with wide eyes as the tremors wracking Yasha finally force her to her knees.
The noise Yasha makes is somewhere in between a scream and a growl. She punches the ground again and again as more tremors rock her body, and each time she pulls her fists back for another punch Beau can see more blood.
“Yasha, no! Don’t hurt yourself!” She automatically rises from the bed but is stopped by Yasha’s pained snarls, “You promised to stay there Beau!”
Everything in her screams in protest as she stands and thinks it over. She should be beside Yasha, not standing on the opposite side of the room being completely useless.
In the end, her respect for Yasha and her boundaries wins out, and Beau reluctantly steps backward. She doesn’t sit down though, instead, she hovers beside the bed and watches, barely keeping herself from pacing while her anxiety and anger battle it out.
Yasha watches her through eyes shiny with tears. Beau stares back at a complete loss for what to do, but her own internal conflict is stopped abruptly when a loud crack sounds throughout the room followed by an agonized scream.
Yasha’s body contorts at an unnatural angle, and Beau has to fight down bile as her stomach tries to expunge her last meal at the sight of Yasha’s right arm contorting on itself. She can see and hear as the joints pop out of the sockets and the bones crack before the tremors subside and Yasha falls to the ground, a sweaty, gasping, whimpering mess that seems incapable of even lifting her own head.
Worse yet is that she can see Yasha’s bones in her arm trying to repair themselves, but because of how she’s lying, it seems as if it just sets wrong, the sight of it enough that Beau almost loses her dinner again.
‘fuck respecting Yasha’s space’ she thinks as she races across the room without making a conscious choice to, all but throwing herself down onto her knees beside Yasha “What can I do!?!”
Yasha doesn’t even lift her head to look at her, just turns it slightly to the side to glare up at her, though it lacks anything other than pain. “Didn’t… didn’t we agree on you staying away?”
As carefully as Beau can, she lifts Yasha’s head so it’s resting in her lap, brushing the tangles of hair away from where they’re stuck to her face with a mix of sweat and tears Yasha is still trying to suppress.
“Do you really want me to stay away?” The tremors are starting to pick up again, and she can’t help but fear that Yasha is only minutes away from the next round.
“I want you to be safe.” Yasha’s voice is almost unrecognizable, it almost sounds like someone who hasn’t spoken in years and has forgotten how vocal cords work.
“That wasn’t what I asked.” She hopes Yasha can hear what she’s really saying, ‘If you say you want me to leave I’ll do it.’ She thinks, ‘But please, don’t ask me to leave.’
Yasha stares up at her with an almost delirious look in her eyes, “No.” Yasha whispers, as if in defeat, “Please don’t leave me yet.”
“I won’t.” She promises against Yasha’s hair, the sounds of bones breaking once more fill the room and Beau clenches her teeth as Yasha starts screaming again, this time both her legs and arms have been affected.
Yasha’s limbs don't look completely human anymore, but neither are they particularly wolflike and Beau can only imagine the sort of pain that has to be involved with that.
Beau had broken plenty of bones, but never while the bones had been trying to heal and instead ended up healing in the wrong position before the entire process started all over again.
She’s not sure how long they stay like that, but the small, pained whimpers suddenly turn into another anguished scream as she starts spasming in Beau’s arms. The entire cycle repeats so many times that Beau can’t even keep count, she catches multiple errant arms to the head due to Yasha’s flailing in pain.
After half an hour Yasha looks more wolf than Aasimar, with her jaw elongated into something that resembles a snout.
All of Yasha’s limbs have been broken and healed multiple times already before they finally settled into a more wolf-like form, Beau is pretty sure she’s going to be hearing the snaps and cracks when it’s quiet around her for years to come.
Yasha lurches away from her as if pulled by some invisible chains, the sounds Yasha makes completely losing whatever human quality they had possessed before fur started sprouting from Yasha’s skin.
There’s probably only ten seconds from Yasha lurching away from her to the end of the transformation but it felt like an eternity. The large dark gray mass of fur in front of her is still whimpering and panting when Beau breathes too loudly and the great head shoots up to look at her, teeth bared and snarling as it sizes her up.
The wolf in front of her gets to its feet unsteadily, hackles raised and a deep menacing growl fills the room as it watches her.
It should be terrifying, and there was certainly fear, but the wolf seemed less intent on mauling her face and more on just keeping her away. And not to be a wimp or anything, but Beau definitely needs a second, considering that the head of wolf Yasha was level with her own.
The chains go taut as wolf Yasha tries to move away from her on unsteady paws, but when she’s stopped, she snaps her teeth towards Beau and that’s when her brain catches up.
Very, very slowly she puts her hands in front of her in full view of Yasha as she backs away slowly. “It’s all good Yasha, see? I’ll give you some space.” Yasha wolf watches her suspiciously as she steps back, though she doesn’t lunge at her so Beau considers that a win.
Once Beau has put about 6 feet between them the wolf starts limping toward the few blankets, whimpering with every step before it collapses onto the blankets, closing its eyes and burrowing its snout under its paws.
‘There’s no way that can be comfortable’ Beau thinks to herself, Yasha had just had almost every single bone in her body broken and healed back together. Beau throws a look back at the bed and the pillows and blankets covering it.
She carefully picks up one of the pillows and throws it toward Yasha but not so close that it could seem like she was throwing it at her. The pillow falls down beside Yasha who snarls a little at it before cautiously inspecting it, once it’s passed whatever inspection Yasha is doing she picks it up and brings it over to her blankets.
Yasha looks at her and cocks her head which makes her seem more like an oversized puppy than anything else, not helped by the slightest tail wag.
“How are you doing there, Yash?” The wolf doesn’t growl or snarl at her again but it definitely looks wearily at Beau, “It’s okay, I’m staying right here, I won’t get too close.”
Over the next hour, Beau repeats the process of throwing pillows and blankets, each time she moves a little closer so Yasha can hopefully see she’s not a threat. Beau stops when she’s just outside of where Yasha’s chains are keeping her from Beau. Yasha no longer looks afraid, just looks curious.
“Can I come closer?” She whispers, not expecting an answer but Yasha just watches her calmly as she inches her way across the invisible line, stopping just on the other side of it and giving Yasha plenty of time to let her know if her advances are unwelcome.
She gets no such indication, so with her heart pounding in her chest, she continues to inch her way toward Yasha until she’s just outside of arm's reach of her.
Beau’s hand is shaking as she reaches it out for Yasha to inspect, the very annoying voice in the back of her head reminding her that if Yasha decided to bite into it, she would most likely lose her arm.
If not her life.
But Yasha doesn’t bite, instead, she sniffs it.
Yasha bumps her great, furry head against her hand and nuzzles against it.
They stay like that for the next 10 minutes before Beau dares to move closer again, Yasha shuffling around in the mess of blankets and pillows as both of them get comfortable.
Yasha curls around her and Beau can’t help but run her hands through Yasha’s dark gray fur, it’s much softer than she would have expected, and so very warm as she leans against Yasha, yawning as she feels the adrenaline leaves her body and she starts to come crashing down.
Things aren’t fixed the next morning but they are better, especially when Yasha tugs her aside for a private moment. No words are exchanged between them, just Yasha drawing her in for a hug loaded with unspoken feelings that Beau fully reciprocates.
—
The moons above them are almost full, bathing the wilderness of the Xhorhas wastes in light as Beau and Yasha set up their camp for the night.
“How many more days do you think?” She asks as she snuggles into Yasha’s embrace, getting up on the tips of her toes to press a kiss against her lips.
“Maybe 2 or 3? 4 at the very most.”
“That sucks, you’re very warm as a wolf you know.” Yasha rolls her eyes at her jokingly, the Aasimar checking on their dinner roasting on spits above the open fire.
“Well, I’m sorry you’re gonna have to wait for that for a couple more days, though I’m getting better at transforming when I want to, I really think I’m finally getting the hang of it.”
“I know you will babe, just like we figured out how to deal with the full moon.” Beau knows that there’s probably a ridiculously sappy and lovestruck look on her face as she looks at her girlfriend, Yasha had worked so hard and it had finally paid off in the end.
Though she doesn’t feel too bad, not with the way Yasha looks down at her with a soft smile, “Yeah, I’m so happy you didn’t listen to me back then, I don’t know if I would have gotten here without you.”
“Not really much reason to wonder about it, I got your back babe, whether that’s helping you face your past or your future.”