Chapter Text
Though it was effective, something in Jhaelbryn whined as she blasted the goblins from afar. Before she could even see them fry, she had to duck back behind cover. The Urge within painted a picture: Hold Person as she bound her victim, just until they dangled. It was more interesting to see people squirm as blood dripped toward their eyes.
No. She wasn’t like this. She was no thrall. Why did these images keep flashing before her? She shook off the thoughts. Her long platinum braid smacked against Astarion’s head.
“Watch it,” he hissed, his voice echoing off the stone walls of the desecrated temple of Selune.
Jhaelbryn blinked. “Sorry. My mind is…never quiet.”
“Yes, we know. Just watch that hair of yours. It sounds like this Minthara would hang you by it.”
The drow stirred something in her memories. Yes. Her own mother had been this cut-throat, this single-minded. The only reason Minthara wasn’t treating her as a half-breed was the tadpole swimming in her brain. The association further irritated the grumbling Urge.
The things Minthara suggested, the death, the slaughter, tempted like a hot bath and a platter of fresh fruit. They vied with more recent memories, the horror of awakening with Alfira’s blood on her hands, Lae’zel’s disgust at her loss of control, the identity she’d been building for herself ever since she awoke on the ship crumbling before her.
All it took was a head-shake and a glance and the group sprang into action. Lae’zel’s sword rang out against Minthara’s, their cries the song of battle, their chests rising and falling with disciplined breath. Now that was a fight. When Minthara fell unconscious, Jhaelbryn could no longer contain her excitement. “Behold, the Dance of Death!” she gasped, the ecstasy dripping from her voice.
Astarion scoffed and turned to face her. “Becoming a bard now, are you?”
That…felt right. She had studied music before, that much had been clear when she first held Lihala’s lute. It was her fault that Alfira was gone, but perhaps she could begin to atone by scrounging up what little beauty her mind might possess and harnessing its power to protect those she cared about. And it would be her power, not the power of whoever she was before, not the power of some entity she couldn't remember that hadn't even bothered to save her from this. “Yes. I think I will.”