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If Liana would have slept better the night before she might have realized where they were heading sooner. The dirt footpath they settled on following was one she could remember running on as a little girl. She would run after her friends, laughing and screaming at the top of her lungs, turn left, and-
Liana grabbed Karlach’s hand and stopped. Her girlfriend’s hand was warm in hers, but it didn’t burn her like it would have just weeks ago. Thank the gods for that.
“Where exactly are we going? Aren’t we trying to get to the Gate in a reasonable timeframe?” Liana asked as Karlach turned her head to face her. Wyll, Gale, and Astarion had been walking in front of them for the last however long they had been walking, but stopped and turned to face her when she spoke. The rest of their party was a bit further behind.
“Of course! This seemed to be the most reasonable route. Less forestry to route through and all that.” Gale explained, looking around as if he would find the reason Liana stopped them in the sky, “Why? What is the matter?”
“Oh, it’s just if we turn around and actually go the other way, you know, right instead of left? We would be making better time. We should do that!” Liana lied and tugged on Karlach’s hand to no avail of making the other tiefling turn around.
“That would be leading us away from the city, darling. I would know.” Astarion ruined her perfect plan of avoiding a pity parade.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Karlach asked and Liana looked up to meet her fiery yellow eyes.
“Nothing, we should just– nothing. Forget about it. I’m exhausted.” Liana faltered, waving her free hand in front of her, “Nothing. Go on.”
She would simply stare straight ahead and ignore everything around her until they were out of the neighborhood. Simple, really.
“Alright.” Wyll said, giving the pink tiefling a peculiar look before turning around to walk into the neighborhood.
She felt Karlach squeeze her hand before they started walking again. Liana dragged her feet a bit as she followed and kept her eyes on the back of their companion’s heads up ahead. Maybe the townsfolk didn’t notice that she had gone missing. Maybe they wouldn’t stop her to question the company that she was keeping. Maybe she wouldn’t run into her, maybe she could avoid everyone! Maybe they wouldn’t-
Maybe they wouldn’t do anything.
The town that they walked into was quiet. There were some shabby houses in their sightline that appeared to be abandoned with weeds and vines trailing up the sides. There was no one on the path that they were following. Morel wasn’t tending his stall, the blacksmith’s doors were closed, and there were no children screaming up a storm.
A sick feeling made itself at home in Liana’s stomach and a chill rolled through her body. It started at her neck before it made its way down her arms to her fingers. She stopped again and moved her free hand to join the other in holding Karlach’s. She closed her eyes before Karlach could look at her again.
“Oh my gods, are you alright?” Karlach’s voice was quiet as she cupped Liana’s cheek with her free hand, “You look like you’re about to be ill.”
“Not this again.” Liana could hardly hear Astarion over the sound of her own breathing, of her own heart, “You’re the one who wants to get to the Gate in a reasonable timeframe, remember?”
“Cool it, Astarion.” Wyll’s voice followed next, “Liana. What is it?”
“This town is abandoned.” Liana managed, tilting her head a little to lean into Karlach’s hand. She opened her eyes to find her girlfriend’s face pinched with concern.
“Yes…” Karlach agreed, nodding once.
Liana counted back from ten in her head to try to get herself together. She breathed carefully, letting go of Karlach’s hand before turning left and bolting down the dirt road. They would be there to be disappointed in her! They would find a way to blame her for getting infected with a mind flayer parasite! He would play the piano and she would say a prayer-
“Liana!” A chorus of voices shouted behind her.
They would disapprove of her company. They would question Karlach’s intentions. They wouldn’t invite Astarion into their house. They would compliment Wyll’s horns.
Liana gripped onto the fence around her house and recoiled when the prickly weeds that had wrapped themselves around the wood dug into her hands. She looked down at them and shook them before daring to examine the state of the house in front of her.
It was in a similar state to the houses they had already seen. Green vines trailed up the side of the cottage and shrubs nearly blocked off the front door. Grass grew tall all around, but there was no sign of unnatural damage. The windows were not broken. The roof was intact and not burnt or falling in. But, there was no light illuminating from inside. No one was in the overgrown grass. Her mom wasn’t on the porch reading a book with her head on her dad’s shoulder.
“Gods, you are fast!” Karlach’s voice came from behind her along with the thumping of other running footsteps, “What in holy hell is going on, girl?”
“Liana, please,” Gale was huffing and puffing behind them a moment later, “Please warn a wizard before you take off running. You’re going to stop my heart!”
The rest of their party stopped behind them in various stages of windedness from their short sprint. Vines of embarrassment wrapped around her chest and squeezed. She placed a hand on her chest and pretended to be out of breath like the rest of them. She forced a fractured smile onto her face and motioned to the cottage behind her with her other arm,
“This is my house. Well, my parents’, technically.” She prattled on and avoided eye contact with any of her companions, “I live with them. Well, I lived, I suppose… They’re not here. No one’s here! Why is nobody here?”
A long span of uncomfortable silence stretched between herself and the humans, the gith, the elf, the half elf, and the tiefling that stood before her. She knew she was wearing a slightly insane expression: her smile faltering, her eyebrows pinched towards one another. She hoped they thought she was simply performing.
“Liana, I am so sorry.” Karlach apologized first, her hand landing on her shoulder.
Liana couldn’t bear to face Karlach’s expression, let alone the rest of them, so she turned around, carefully avoided the sharp weeds, and hopped over the fence. “I am going to investigate, if you all don’t mind. I’m sorry to delay us.”
“Do you want us to accompany you?” Wyll asked, stepping forward with a hand on the sheath of his sword.
Liana held her hand up. “There won’t be any monsters in here, Wyll. I just… need something.” she said before braving to look at Karlach’s face. She held out her hand. Karlach took it and stepped easily over the fence.
“You all explore the rest of the neighborhood. We will meet you near the entrance when we’re done.” Karlach spoke for Liana and a wave of relief washed over her.
“Alright, we will be close by. Call for us if you need anything.” Gale said, leaning slightly forward to give them an earnest look.
“Thank you, Gale.” Liana managed before turning away from her friends. She kept a hold on Karlach’s hand and stepped through the tall grass that had eaten her front yard. She pushed aside the shrubs that blocked the porch and stepped up to the door. It opened without force.
“Shit.” She whispered, dropping Karlach’s hand as she rushed in just to be greeted by an empty, dark room.
The front door led into the main area with a small kitchen shoved into a smaller room on the right. Wood steps led up alongside the wall separating the rooms. The piano was pushed against the far wall of the living area with a few chairs in front of their fireplace. Her mother was not in front of the fire with a book. Her father was not tuning the piano that he rarely played.
Liana sat on the floor, near the fire with her stuffed toy bear her mother had got for her from the city. She was just a child, making the stuffed animal dance to the music her father performed on the piano in the corner of the room. She giggled as she made the bear spin, raising its stumpy arms above its head.
“That piano needs to be tuned, my dear.” Her mother had interjected during their songs. She was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.
“Ah, so it does.” Her father replied and continued to play, out of tune.
Liana blinked the scene away. The chairs were slightly askew, but, otherwise, the room seemed undisturbed. How long had it been since her parents last were home? What happened to everyone in town?
Karlach was unusually silent beside her, examining the room Liana had spent many years calling her home.
“They’re not here.” Liana stated the obvious and crossed her arms across her chest, “They haven’t been here in a long time.”
“Yeah, I… Liana. I’m so sorry.” Karlach apologized again, “But– but, maybe they’re out there, you know?”
“Maybe.” Liana breathed and took one more look around the room before turning around.
“We should go.”
“What? Are you sure?” Karlach asked, appearing startled.
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be sure?” Liana raised an eyebrow at Karlach.
Karlach’s engine lit up brightly from inside her chest in the dark room. She took a step closer to Liana, looking around her, “Well… this is your home. Who knows when you’ll be able to come back here. Are you sure you don’t want to…” Karlach trailed off for a moment, “Look around?”
“Look around?” Liana challenged, performatively looking around the room, “Look around for what? My parents aren’t hiding in the closet, Karlach. They’re long gone.”
Liana didn’t mean to be snappy and sarcastic, but how the hell was her entire life before the tadpole destroyed? Already? The entire neighborhood was gone. What if they were all infected and that’s why they weren’t there? They didn’t have the artifact. They didn’t have anything to protect themselves with.
“I know that. That’s not what I mean, love.” Karlach’s voice was careful, “I just don’t want you to regret leaving by the time we’re in the city. We won’t be able to come back.”
Liana sighed and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm down. Karlach was right, of course. They wouldn’t be able to come back. At least for a while. She possibly wouldn’t even be able to bring herself to come back afterward. This was her last chance to be in a place where she was parasite-less. The last chance to feel close to her parents.
They could be out there somewhere. But…
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Liana said, wiping her face with her hands before looking at Karlach again, “I don’t mean to be like this. I guess being here is just… I wasn’t expecting–”
Karlach closed the distance between them and rested a hand on both of her arms. Karlach was a good few inches taller than her, so she had to look up to make eye contact. Her girlfriend’s face was gentle. No look of irritation or ire dared grace her face.
“You do not need to explain anything to me... This is a lot. I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”
Liana managed a smile, raising a hand to cradle Karlach’s cheek. She ran a thumb over her red skin and stood up on her tiptoes to peck her lips. A physical fire didn’t spark between them and Liana thanked the gods daily for Dammon.
“I love you. Thank you.” Liana smiled, feeling a bit more like herself and less like Volo on the makeshift stage at the goblin camp.
“I love you too.” Karlach smiled the way she always did when they exchanged those words. The light from her chest momentarily brightened before calming down into a dull, pulsing glow. Liana would never tire of it. She would never tire of her.
“On the bright side…” Liana said, lowering her hand and turning towards the kitchen, “I can show you where I grew up.”
“I would love that.” Karlach hummed, following her into the kitchen.
The room was smaller than the main area. Most of it was taken up by a round wooden table with three chairs around it. There were wilted flowers in a vase in the middle of the table. Liana walked around the table, touching each chair as she went,
“My mother would sit here, my dad would sit here, and I–” Liana plopped down into a chair, “Would sit here! And I would act like a brat.”
Liana antagonized her parents, but they were good to her. They did their best to keep her safe. She repaid them by sneaking out when she was young to party with the other tieflings and half orcs. The look on her mother’s face when she returned one night with a purple tattoo of flowers on the side of her neck was priceless.
Liana idly swung her feet underneath the kitchen table as her parents stared at her with what she was sure they thought was a good imitation of looking intimidating. She twirled a pink strand of hair around her finger and waited for them to get started.
“Liana,” Her dad started, squinting at the newly inked side of her neck, “What the hells were you thinking?”
Her father’s skin was darker than hers and leaned more towards red than the pink shade of her own skin. He looked at her tattoo from over his glasses which caused wrinkles to form on his forehead almost all the way up to his gray horns. She wondered if he knew that he just looked constipated instead of threatening.
“When?” Liana asked, willingly ignorant.
“That tattoo!” Her mother snapped, arms folded across her chest, “Who did that to you? They’ll have hell to pay.”
“Oh, that?” Liana responded, aloof, “They did a really good job, so why would they have to pay? I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to pay them, but they said I was so beautiful that just having me model their art would be payment enough.”
Liana’s father took off his glasses and rubbed his face. She momentarily pitied him, but he and his mother chose to have a child. That child became an adult who was able to make her own choices, so…
“Please tell me they at least used clean needles.”
Liana couldn’t help but laugh at that, “Yes, of course. It was reputable. I just wanted something pretty. I don’t have a death wish.”
“You could have fooled me.” Her mother huffed and waved her hand to dismiss her disappointment of a daughter.
When Liana left the room, she could hear her parents bicker behind her.
“It’s like she doesn’t even care what people will think about us when they see that damn thing on her neck!” Her mother complained.
“Maybe they’ll just think we have a lot of money. The lines seemed to be solid, my dear.” Her dad replied followed by an, “Oof!” when her mother smacked him.
“You were a little rebellious like me.” Karlach chuckled, “I like that.”
It was only then that Liana felt the tadpole behind her eye wiggling. She placed a hand to her head in an attempt to quell it and shook her head.
“Our little friends don’t seem to understand privacy.” She said, blinking a few times, “You saw what I was remembering, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I wasn’t trying to look!” Karlach explained quickly, “I would never invade your privacy like that.”
“It’s okay, my love. I know you wouldn’t.” Liana reached out for Karlach’s hand, “I guess it’s nice for you to be able to meet my parents. In a way.”
Liana hadn’t actively opened her mind to Karlach, but their tadpole friends seemed to get more powerful the longer they traveled without a cure. It was hard to keep any secrets anymore. She had even accidentally linked tadpoles with Wyll one time and saw him learn how to ballroom dance. That led to her asking him to teach her how to dance and then Karlach showed up and the ballroom dancing turned into something that more resembled three drunk kids at a tavern. Gale and Astarion had heckled them from a distance.
Accidentally sharing memories wasn’t all bad, she supposed.
Liana stood up and kept her fingers intertwined with Karlach’s. She pulled her towards the door at the back of the kitchen. They were greeted by the overgrown garden at the back of her house once she pushed the door open and stepped outside.
The garden was mostly weeds. Bushes and branches reached over the fence and dandelions were scattered amongst the tall grass. Liana could picture her father knelt into the foliage with gardening gloves, pulling all the undesirable weeds out of the ground. He would cut down the grass and bring the garden back to its former glory.
He would be unimpressed by the dandelions and clover patches, but maybe he would smile at the fact that there were a few hydrangeas pushing through the rough conditions.
“My dad would take care of the garden back here. He would be shaking violently if he saw it in this state.” Liana chuckled.
“I can tell that it was beautiful when it was cared for properly.” Karlach said, looking up at the tree near one of the corners of the fence, “It’s still beautiful now. In its own way.”
“I used to come out here all the time when I was younger.” Liana led her over to the tree, “I would sit under the shade with my journal and just write, or I would bring my flute out here and play.”
“What I would do to be part of that audience…”
Liana chuckled, bumping her arm with hers before turning to face her. She reached out for Karlach’s free hand and tilted her head up at her once both their hands were intertwined. Karlach squeezed her hands and smiled, shadows from the leaves blowing in the breeze above them shifting back and forth on her face.
“Mm, well, I had to practice out here when I just started. I was so bad that it drove my mother mad.” Liana said, running her thumbs over Karlach’s knuckles. The engine inside Karlach’s chest still kept her warm even now that it wasn’t threatening to burn Liana alive if she dared touch her girlfriend.
She knew it was burning Karlach alive, on the other hand, from the inside out. She did her best to not think about it. They were going to figure something out. They had to.
“I would listen to you for hours, regardless.”
“I was terrible!”
Karlach leaned down and kissed her sweetly. She let go of one of her hands to instead cup Liana’s cheek, her fingertips sliding into the front of her hair. She nipped at her bottom lip playfully.
“Doesn’t matter.” Karlach said when they pulled apart, leaning her forehead against hers, “I’d listen to you sing scales out of key all day if that meant I could be with you.”
“You’re cute and I love you.” Liana mused and kissed her on the nose before pulling away.
“I love you too.”
Liana led her back into the house, back through the kitchen and up the steps. She muttered a spell under her breath and tossed her free hand in the air to illuminate the dark, windowless hallway at the top of the steps with a faint, glowing light.
“The amount of times I had been trying to sneak in and absolutely destroyed myself on this top step is too many.”
“One of these days we’ll have the time to get absolutely wasted, so I can see you in your true party girl glory.”
Liana laughed, turning right at the top of the steps. She quickly became face to face with the door to her old room. She momentarily hovered her hand over the door before pushing her way in to find it exactly how she left it.
Her bed was unmade in the corner of the room with a light purple blanket wrinkled on top of it. Sheet music of songs she only managed to half complete were hung on the wall and covered part of the design her parents had meticulously painted upon the white walls when she was young. There were artistic swirls of pink and purple and blue intertwining behind the paper that reached up to the ceiling.
Liana made her way over to her bed and shook out the blanket before smoothing it back over the mattress. She grabbed the stuffed toy bear off the floor and put it back in its place on the bed. She let out a small, contemplative hum before turning back around to see Karlach watching her near the door.
“You can come in, you know. I know it’s a mess, but I think I have the excuse of not being here in months.” Liana smiled.
“This is your room.” Karlach stated, matter of fact.
“Well, it was my room.” Liana said and walked over to the shelving built into the wall, “When it was actually my room I kept it nicer.”
She ran her fingers over the spines of her old books and journals. It had been so long since she had just sat and read, or sat and wrote, or sat and played. Gale and Astarion both seemed to be able to settle their minds at the end of the day to read at camp, but Liana’s brain was always so scattered after the events of each day. She always found herself laying face first in her bedroll for hours before she fell asleep.
Karlach ended up taking her advice and entered her room, standing slightly behind her as she looked at her old possessions.
“Your family seemed to be well off. I’m a little jealous.” Karlach joked beside her, “I swear I didn’t have enough money to buy one book until I was sixteen.”
“My parents did their best. Sometimes my dad would get lucky with a job in the city and that would set us up for a while. Turns out there’s always a need for a paladin somewhere.” Liana nodded, remembering the times her father would be gone for weeks at a time.
“I bought most of my stuff with my own money, though. I would sing, or play, or just make a general ass out of myself at the tavern until people got drunk enough to throw gold at me.” Liana hummed, glancing at her out of tune lute on the floor near the shelves, “Or I would go off to heal some noble. They tended to ask for my mother and then got stuck with me instead, so they weren’t always friendly, but they were always rich.”
“Seems like you had quite the life before everything.” Karlach wrapped her arms around Liana’s waist from behind. Liana’s hands found their ways over Karlach’s naturally.
They rarely kept their hands off of each other ever since Dammon upgraded her engine. There was hardly time and privacy for them to get truly intimate in the way they wanted to anymore, but they held hands on the road and cuddled at camp. Liana started to feel cold anytime Karlach’s fingers weren’t intertwined with her own, anytime her strong arms weren’t wrapped around her waist, anytime she wasn’t cradling her cheek with her hand.
Liana loved her so much it ached sometimes. They fell into each other so fast that it was frightening, but she found herself almost feeling grateful that she was kidnapped on the roads just outside her house because that meant they had found each other. She had her share of ex girlfriends along with an even longer list of flings, but Karlach was something else entirely. She didn’t have to act more noble in front of her, but she didn’t have to act with more debauchery around her either.
She could just be and Karlach would love her regardless. Karlach would call her out on the more dubious decisions she’s made (like absorbing more illithid tadpoles under her guardian’s advice) and they could bicker and argue, but their relationship never felt like it was hanging precariously in the balance. They found home in each other and it wouldn’t be broken over an argument or misunderstanding. It was nothing like her other relationships.
“I felt extremely trapped, actually.” Liana admitted, running her thumb over the back of Karlach’s hand, “My parents were so well respected and they wanted me to be so respectable and I just did not want to be. I just wanted to party. I just wanted to live. I almost prefer the life I have now. No, I actually do prefer it because it has you.”
Karlach’s chin found its way to Liana’s shoulder and she kissed over the tattoo on her neck once. “Our life is anything but boring. I’m so happy to be here with you like this. When it’s all finally over we will party and we will have our way with each other everyday.”
Liana chuckled. “Everyday, you say? I’ll have to do some reading so we can keep it interesting…”
Karlach made that trademark high pitched hum she made anytime Liana said anything she particularly agreed with, grinning into her neck before straightening up behind her. She kept her arms around her waist, but Liana’s shoulder missed the warmth of her chin.
Liana raised a hand to run her fingers over the shelf in front of them and grimaced slightly at the dust that stuck onto her fingers. She slid her fingers under the silver chain of a necklace on the shelf and immediately wished she hadn’t.
The chain of the necklace was dainty and held a small and circular aquamarine stone. The rock had seen better days and harbored cracks under the surface. Some happened naturally over time, but others were definitely from Liana’s own manhandling of the stone. The memories of the day she received it flooded her head unbidden and the damned pesky tadpole squirmed behind Liana’s eye.
Liana was sitting cross legged on her bed. Different unfinished sheet music was hung on the wall behind her and Liana’s face was softer, rounder, younger. Sitting across from her was a human girl with strawberry blonde hair that was pulled up high on her head and cascaded down into waves. Her brown eyes shone as she grinned at Liana, her smile creating creases on her face that warped around shiny, pale scales that spread from her forehead down to her jaws.
“I got you something!” The girl exclaimed, her voice sweet, “Well, my mom got something, but she didn’t like it, so I grabbed it and thought of you!”
Liana smiled, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, “You committed theft and thought of me? I have to say that’s a first.”
“Oh, come on! She won’t miss it. And it’ll look nicer on you anyway.” The girl pushed the box into Liana’s hands.
“Alright, alright…” Liana said, flipping it open.
Inside rested a necklace with its silver chain circled around an aquamarine stone in the middle. Liana smiled and held it up, the chain looped around her finger.
“Willow, it’s beautiful. I love it. Even if you stole it.” Liana chuckled, watching the stone reflect light as it swung from her finger.
“I didn’t steal it, really! More rescued it. My mom throws away so much stuff.” Willow said, grabbing the necklace before shuffling on her knees on the bed to get behind Liana. She brought the necklace in front of her face before settling it down around her neck and clasped the hook.
Liana leaned her head back, careful to avoid knocking into Willow with her horns, to look up at Willow when she was done.
“Well? How do I look?”
“Hot.” Willow responded with a grin before leaning down to kiss her.
Liana shook her head and cursed the tadpole in her head, breaking out of her embrace with Karlach. She wiped her dusty hand on her clothes. She knew without asking that the tadpole had allowed Karlach to watch her memory. She didn’t care that it was wrapped in Netherese magic, or the fact that multiple people had told her it was impossible to extract. She had half a mind to grab a knife and carve it out herself.
“Ugh, I’m sorry.” Liana said, not looking back at Karlach, “I didn’t mean to think–”
Karlach cut her off, reaching a hand out for her. Liana reluctantly slid her hand into hers once more and looked up at her.
“Honey, it’s okay. It’s not like I didn’t know you had a life before me. I would be so delusional if I thought you didn’t have lovers before me. It is okay.” Karlach reassured her and leaned down to kiss her forehead
“You are so smart, and funny, charming, beautiful…” Karlach trailed off, smiling, “I wouldn’t be surprised to know you had girls and boys lining up at your door.”
“Ugh, yeah, the boys did not get the hint.” Liana rolled her eyes before her expression softened, “That was Willow. She was… I don’t know. She gave me the necklace on the shelf.”
Liana wondered where she ended up now. She was one of the few human families in the village and was noble and highly respected. Did she get infected? Did she get herself killed? Liana wouldn’t be surprised. She ran into danger without thinking all the time, but always came back with her metaphorical tail between her legs.
“She was important to you.” Karlach said easily, squeezing her hand.
“Was.” Liana agreed, putting emphasis on the past tense, “We were over long before the nautiloid came for me.”
“She was a sorcerer and obviously either had a dragonborn ancestor, or her family made a deal with a dragon, I suppose because they all had scales on their face like her. I always thought they were beautiful, but they were the bane of her existence. She hated being weird and yet she went for the weird tiefling girl.”
Liana found herself explaining Willow without reason and winced. “Gods, you do not want to hear about her. I’m sorry.”
Karlach shook her head. “She is part of your history. If you need to vent I’m all for it. I will never think less of you for your past and, hey, now we can be weird tiefling girls together.” She beamed at her and the sight of her smile took some of the weight off of Liana’s shoulders.
Liana smiled and led Karlach back to her bed. They sat down beside each other, legs over the edge, and Liana leaned her head on her shoulder. Karlach brushed her hair back out of her face, careful of her horns.
“Willow’s family lived just on the border of this town. Her parents were rarely seen, but Willow used to hang out with all us tieflings all the time when she was younger. We became best friends as kids and she kissed me when I was nineteen. It’s been that long…” Liana sighed. It was more or less a decade ago.
“She ran away immediately after that.” Liana continued, avoiding picturing her memories for her own sake as much as Karlach’s, “Like she was terrified of me after literally making out with me. She was gone for a while, came back, apologized and said she had never done something like that, and we started dating. It was good for a while, but she never kissed me in public. She never wanted to be seen with me in public after we got romantic either.”
“That’s terrible.” Karlach said, wrapping her arm around her shoulders, “And seems incredibly stupid of this Willow girl. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be seen around you? I love when people see us together. Even if they give us that look, you know? Like, look at those weird tiefling girls. I love being a weird tiefling girl with you.”
Liana laughed. She knew the looks she spoke of well, but she was usually too busy kissing her girlfriend, giggling with her girlfriend, just living life with her girlfriend to be bothered.
“I love being a weird tiefling girl with you too. Willow, on the other hand… She didn’t like it as much.”
Liana was a couple years older now, laid in bed on her stomach while reading a book. Her parents were off making gold which gave Liana some much needed alone time. At least it would have if a certain human girl hadn’t stormed up her steps and broke into her room.
Liana rolled over onto her side, hand pressed to her chest. She was wearing the aquamarine necklace. “Gods, Willow, I didn’t know you were coming over!”
“Yeah.” Willow said, folding her arms across her chest.
She was wearing a dress which was unlike her usual style, so Liana assumed she just got back from doing something with her family. That would explain the scowl as well.
“Is everything alright?” Liana asked, closing her book in front of her before sitting up on her bed.
Silence stretched between them for too long. Liana stood up and reached out for her.
“Willow?”
Willow stepped to the side and ignored her outstretched hand. Liana folded it into a fist and let it fall to her side.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Willow said, avoiding eye contact.
Liana frowned and took a step back.
“Why? What happened?”
“Nothing happened!” Willow’s voice exploded out of nowhere and Liana flinched back.
“It doesn’t sound like nothing happened…” Liana said, careful. “Why don’t we just take a minute–”
Willow cut her off, leaning her head back to stare at the ceiling instead of her lover, “There’s nothing a minute will change. I can not do this anymore. I’m tired of the rumors. I’m tired of my parents’ friends' kids glaring at me. People think I’m strange enough, Liana! I honestly can’t believe you ever let us do this.”
Liana pursed her lips and shook her head. “What do you mean what I let us do? You kissed me first. You asked me out first! What are these humans saying about you? You don’t need to worry so much about what other people think of you.”
Liana couldn’t say that she didn’t see it coming. Willow always got weird when people saw them together. She would fling herself away from her like she’d been burnt if she thought anyone was going to see them kiss or hold hands.
“That’s easy for you to say! You have no reputation to uphold. Everyone already thinks you're–”
“I’m what, Willow? Weird? Evil? A devil? Out with it!” Liana found herself yelling, tears threatening to escape and roll down her face.
There was a moment of silence before Willow responded.
“Let’s just go with weird.”
“I am weird.” Liana’s voice wavered and she hated herself for it, “I have pink skin. I have horns. I have a tail. My mother and I are both clerics. My father is a paladin. I am not ashamed of any of it.”
“Maybe you should be.”
Karlach had wrapped her other arm around her at some point and pulled her towards her chest. Liana scolded herself for letting it all still bother her. She had bigger problems now. Life or death. And it had been so long ago…
“She’s a bitch.” Karlach said, chin on top of her head between her horns, “She didn’t deserve you. Never.”
“I can’t believe this still bothers me.” Liana sighed, “I’m not ashamed of who I am, but I’m ashamed of what she made me become.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.”
Liana forced herself to sit up straight. Karlach’s grip loosened on her, but she still held her arms.
“That girl didn’t know what she had. Obviously. If I ever treated you like that I would walk into the ocean and never come back.” Karlach moved a hand to cup Liana’s cheek, “You’re allowed to still be hurt by her. If we ever run into her I would cuss her out and tell her to shove it where the sun don’t shine, but us just being happy should be payback enough… She’s really missing out.”
Liana smiled softly and leaned her forehead against Karlach’s. They found themselves in this position so often. It was a cradle of comfort, a reminder of how they were so lucky to be able to be so close. She wrapped her fingers around Karlach’s wrist.
“I am so in love with you.” Liana confessed, “I say it all the time and I hope it won’t lose its meaning.”
“I love you. I will say it over and over and over again and mean it just as much as the first time.” Karlach promised, “You deserve to be loved, my love. Openly. I will never hide any of my feelings for you and no one would ever be able to convince me to leave you. Other than yourself, I mean, if you were through with me…”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be through with you.” Liana leaned forward and kissed her.
The day was pure awful. Terrible. Terrible. Her parents were missing. Her entire town was gone. She had to think about Willow. But, through it all, Karlach made Liana smile and laugh and dream of a future. She never told her to be quiet, or that it wasn’t that serious, or that they had more important things to worry about.
“I think I’m done sulking in the past.” Liana said when they pulled apart, “I’d much rather face something wanting to kill us than my own feelings at the moment.”
Karlach chuckled and nodded, “I understand, but–” she let go of Liana and turned over to grab the toy bear that was behind them on the bed, “I think you should take this little guy with you. Remember home when you want to, you know? Plus, Clive needs a friend.”
Liana smiled and wrapped her hands around the toy bear. “You know, I never named mine… What should I name him? Clove?”
Karlach laughed, “Clive and Clove! That’s so cute!”
Liana found herself grinning, agony over past love long forgotten. She stood up with her old teddy bear friend and reached out for her love’s hand.
“So it’s decided then!”
Karlach took her hand and stood up.
“Are you positive you are ready to leave?”
“Absolutely. The bard in me is calling out for the open road…”
They closed the door to Liana’s room behind them and traveled downstairs. Liana extinguished the light spell at the top of the steps when they were well out of the range of tripping and falling down the stairs. Liana adjusted a painting on the wall on the way out and they both hopped the weed entangled fence. She took one last look at the cottage before heading back towards the entrance of the neighborhood.
Some of their companions were already there and Liana got the feeling they had been waiting for them for a long time. Astarion was on the ground, basking in the sun like a cat. Gale was reading a book that would probably bore Liana to tears, and Wyll was looking off into the distance like a spirit would come to haunt them if he looked away from the ghost town.
“We’re back.” Liana said, one arm wrapped around Clove while her other hand was entwined with Karlach’s.
“Oh, perfect!” Astarion exclaimed from the ground, looking up at the sky, “Did you find what you were looking for, darling?”
“Yes, I did. Thank you for being so concerned.” Liana looked down at the vampire from above, “Did you plan on playing in the dirt all day? We do have people to kill.”
Astarion laughed, hollow and performative, before he got off the ground. “I was simply waiting for you.”
“Are you ready to go, Liana? The rest of the crew is on the other side of town.” Wyll said, motioning at the abandoned village.
“I am. Let’s get to the Gate, shall we?”
They all mumbled in agreement and headed through the town together. Liana didn’t look towards any of the abandoned buildings and simply kept her gaze straight ahead.
She hoped her parents were alive. She hoped her neighbors were okay. She even hoped Willow and her family managed to avoid whatever in the hells had happened, but she couldn’t look back to the past.
Not when her future was burning bright beside her.