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Shadowheart quickly regains consciousness soon after collapsing in the cloud of darkness, her ankle clearly twisted. Karlach is hovering over her, holding up two fingers near her eyes. She peers past her and sees Jaheira bent over, frantically attempting to heal the frame of an unconscious, bleeding body. Sabrina. The half-elf gasps, eyes glistening with fear as she instinctively tries to stand and rush to her. She feels Karlach catch her and hold her back when she ultimately falls, her ankle too wounded to stand along with a sudden spell of dizziness.
“Bree,” tears run down her cheeks as she reaches out towards her deeply wounded paramour. “Karlach- I-I need to heal her. Help Jaheira.”
“Calm down, Shady,” Karlach says. “She’s going to be alright. The bone-chill has worn off, apparently. She’s healing fast! See?”
Shadowheart is struck with flashes from the battle that has just taken place as she notices dead Sharrans all around them. Herself and Sabrina had been separated from Karlach and Jaheira, who were fighting on the opposite side of the open floor area of the cloister. On her end, herself and Sabrina both had been bone-chilled, unable to heal themselves. Shadowheart had been luckier than the blonde, not acquiring any open wounds from weapons, instead twisting her ankle and hitting her head on the stone steps.
Blood stops pouring from Sabrina’s torso, convincing Shadowheart Karlach had been right in her assessment.
“I have to go to her,” Shadowheart insists. “Karlach, help me up.”
Karlach nods, supporting Shadowheart by having her lean against her side. The tiefling wraps her arm around Shadowheart’s shoulder, guiding her over to Sabrina’s prone form. The human sorcerer gasps, eyes fluttering open in an instant.
“Brina!” Shadowheart limps over to the blonde.
She carefully sits on one of the stone steps, cradling Sabrina’s head in her lap.
“You’re okay,” Shadowheart says, more to herself than Sabrina. “You’re okay.”
Sabrina slowly lifts her head up. “Is it over?”
“I still have to rescue my parents,” Shadowheart says. “But yes, everyone is…dead.”
Some memories are still hazy for her, but Shadowheart vaguely can recall the faces of the dead around them. She eyes Jaheira, whose gaze is fixated on the seemingly dead Viconia DeVir.
“Not quite,” Jaheira says.
Further into the room, the drow cleric coughs, spitting up specks of blood.
Both Sabrina and Shadowheart quickly recover from their injured daze, Karlach helping the half elf stand and Jaheira doing the same with Sabrina. Her lover reaches the not quite still form of Viconia before Shadowheart, the white haired half elf limping from her swollen ankle.
“Do what you want with her, I don’t care either way,” Shadowheart tells the sorcerer.
All Shadowheart’s life was spent vying for Viconia’s approval, for Shar’s approval. To find out her reasoning for her deep devotion was all a lie had been world shattering for Shadowheart at first. Now, anyone or anything remotely related to Shar leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. Where she once harbored fear after defying Lady Shar has now been replaced with anger.
Beyond the circular door on the other side of the room is where they find her parents, held prisoner by a magical force. One minute, she is with them and the next Shar is in front of her, saying she has to choose. Choose between her parents’ lives and the mark that Shar has branded her with.
She looks to Sabrina for guidance, despite knowing her ultimate choice deep down. All her life she’s dealt with this pain from Shar, so much so she’s become numb to it. Aside from the torturous punishment inflicted onto her after defying her prior goddess, the flaring pain on her arm only lasts a few seconds. It’s nothing compared to the pain she would feel if she sacrificed her parents’ lives.
“No,” Shadowheart finally speaks. “I won’t sacrifice you. I didn’t come all this way, get this far, to have my parents die.”
Sabrina gives her an approving nod before helping her free Shadowheart’s parents from the magical barrier. Once they are free, Shadowheart notices the extent of her mother’s aging compared to her father. A younger version of her mother Emmeline appears in Shadowheart’s mind, but the picture is a blur.
She doesn’t mean to be distant with her parents the entire trek back to their camp, but she cannot help but feel uneasy every time they call her ‘Jenevelle’.
Shar chooses to leave her alone that night, after her tears were long dried up, and even after her parents chose to accept her for who she has become. She supposes it’s her own cruel way of making sure Shadowheart never notices a pattern, so she could strike at the wound tethered to her arm when the cleric least expects it.
She’s exhausted, but she cannot sleep. With her natural hair color, Shadowheart seldom had to worry about blood stains visibly coating her braid. But these weren’t Absolute cultists’ blood staining her white hair, they were Sharrans. Viconia’s, maybe. She doesn’t quite remember which Sharrans’ blood actually splattered onto her, but it is a horrid reminder nonetheless. A reminder of her not-so-Sharran identity. A reminder that everything she knew had been a lie. Memories, precious memories she had lost due to her devotion being based on a false premise.
Sabrina sleeps in her bedroll next to her in their tent. Shadowheart feels awful for waking her after the day they’ve had, but she doesn’t know what else to do. Even if she weren’t so exhausted, her fingers wouldn’t stop trembling. Undoing her braid herself would prove to be next to impossible.
“Brina?” she whispers, gently shaking the blonde awake. “Bree.”
The sorcerer mumbles something inaudible as her eyes slowly flutter open. “Hmm?”
“Could you, um,” Shadowheart begins to say. “I need your help.”
Sabrina sits up in her bedroll, covering her mouth as she yawns. “With?”
“The blood,” she points to her hair. “I never had the chance to wash it out. It’s a reminder of, well, everything. I’m tired and my hands won’t stop shaking, I-”
Sabrina tucks a loose strand of hair behind Shadowheart’s ear. “Shh,” she says. “It’s alright. Let’s head down to the beach and I’ll do it for you.”
“Are you sure?” Shadowheart asks. “I feel horrible for waking you.”
“Nonsense,” Sabrina says, kissing Shadowheart’s cheek before standing. “If something’s bothering you to the point you can’t sleep, I’d prefer that you’d wake me.”
They tiptoe through the camp, most being asleep except for those who are keeping watch. With them they bring soaps for hair washing along with a blanket, a hair brush and fine tooth comb.
It’s the same beach where Shadowheart and Sabrina had spent many of their intimate moments together. To prevent their night-clothes from becoming wet, both women strip into their undergarments, having reached a certain level of intimacy where such actions felt like second nature.
Shadowheart kneels in shallow water while the blonde sits behind her, carefully undoing the metal wiring that holds her braid together. Sabrina rises from her spot in the water, quickly dashing to the shore to store the metal wire away from the crashing waves, grabbing a liquid bottle of soap instead.
Sabrina returns to Shadowheart, the cleric pondering on what she’s going to say for several moments, opening and closing her mouth a few times before finding her voice.
“I don’t suppose you have an idea of what we’re going to do if we actually beat this Netherbrain,” she says. “I’m aware we discussed this before, but it was only an idea back then. A pretty picture. Now, I actually have my parents back. The truth is, deep down I didn’t believe we would be successful in getting them back. Viconia always had the upper hand, you see.”
“Hmm, day one after defeating the Netherbrain?” Sabrina wonders out loud, unraveling Shadowheart’s braid with her fingers. “Realistically we’d have a party that night, then most likely stay at an Inn until we find something more permanent. I’d also imagine there’s going to be quite a hefty reward for saving the city from ruin, so being able to afford a place or two won’t be that difficult.”
“Two?” Shadowheart asks. “Oh, that’s right. My parents.”
Sabrina dips Shadowheart’s hair into the water for a few seconds before lifting her head back up as she lathers her hands with soap.
“There’s several two-family homes in the city,” she says. “Or we could get adventurous and build something on the outskirts.”
“I like that second idea,” Shadowheart says. “But not too far on the outskirts. The city should still remain accessible to us.”
“Lean back for me, please,” Sabrina instructs, Shadowheart dipping her hair into the water, leaving her ears and face to chill in the cool night air.
Despite not being able to see the thick pools of blood circulating in the water, Shadowheart could feel her hair being cleansed, the thick red substance which had stuck to her hair being washed away. Viconia being washed away, whether it was the drow’s blood caked into her hair or not.
“I’m sure we’ll find a perfect place to build,” Sabrina says, lifting her lover’s long white locks out of the water. Shadowheart sits up, white hair glowing in the moonlight.
Her lover wrings out her hair, the blonde beginning to stand when a wave crashes into them, causing Sabrina to fall back, her own hair becoming wet in the process. Shadowheart helps her stand with a laugh and kisses her, her lips tasting like salt water. Before the next wave crashes into them, they rush towards the sand and wrap themselves both into the thick singular blanket they had brought to warm up.
Shadowheart pressed her cheek against Sabrina’s, saying, “Do you think you can redo my braid while we’re wrapped together in this blanket?”
“I can certainly try,” Sabrina says, tucking the blanket around them, but the moment the blonde grabs the comb their source of warmth comes undone, causing Shadowheart to burst out into laughter at the ridiculousness of trying to attempt such an impossible feat.
“Just do it quickly, then,” Shadowheart says, rubbing her hands together and blowing into them. “Afterwards we can get inside our bedrolls and cozy up with two or three blankets.”
Sabrina manages to perfect Shadowheart’s braid, having only a few other instances of braiding her love’s hair for experience.
“There,” she says. “All finished.”
Shadowheart removes her wet undergarments, Sabrina doing the same before redressing in their nightclothes. Each taking a hand to grab their items, they rush back towards camp, Shadowheart being careful of her twisted ankle as she does so.
Quietly, they return to their tent. They push their bedrolls even closer to one another, grabbing several blankets before climbing into them. With three thick blankets covering them both, Shadowheart nuzzles into Sabrina’s side, breathing in her scent.
“I almost lost you today,” Shadowheart whispers into her ear. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I don’t think my heart can handle it.”
Sabrina leans in, kissing the center of Shadowheart’s forehead. “I can’t lose you either.”
Resting her head against Shadowheart’s chest, the blonde closes her eyes. Eventually, the cleric feels the rise and fall of Sabrina’s chest against her own, finally lulling Shadowheart into a fulfilling, restful sleep.