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After the adventure of a lifetime was punctuated with a proposal and a trek to her new home in Waterdeep, Gale and Jolán celebrated in the only way that made sense. They slept. Gale made the attempt to show her around the tower but when they made it to the second story and she laid eyes on the familiar canopy bed– the same one he'd conjured at Moonrise, she leapt into it.
Or tried to anyway.
Exhausted as she was, as they both were, she collapsed into the down mattress. Uncaring that she was still fully dressed, she nuzzled into the soft blankets and was barely conscious long enough to hear Gale's amused snort as he wrestled her boots off her feet.
When she woke the first time it was in the middle of the night due to a snore so loud, from a sleep so deep, that she laughed and her lover didn't stir. Jolán was splayed over her shirtless fiance, their chests flush, her tail wound tightly around his knee and calf between her legs. She had pinned him in her sleep and, knowing him, he'd started the night out with his shirt only to struggle to strip in her grasp when her body heat became too much. She'd fallen asleep with a small smile on her lips and didn't wake again until Gale stirred in the early afternoon the next day, his fingers carding through her hair as he sweetly begged to be freed for a hygiene break and food.
Those first few ten days felt like a dream. Gale reintroduced her to Tara as his fiancee and the tressym had been so elated at the news she'd congratulated them, instructed them to go see his mother Morena posthaste, and then left, much to Jolán's disappointment.
"Don't take it personally, my love." Gale moved behind her, coiling one arm around her middle and the other hand resting on her hip while smirking against her neck. The bristles of his beard making her skin tingle. "Tara's merely trying to give us time alone to celebrate. Knowing her, she's about as subtle as a cannon but you're not used to her antics yet."
Jolán's flush was a flattering mauve against her orchid skin that stretched from her cheeks to the tips of her ears and crept down her chest. Gale murmured as much against the soft skin below her ear. His lips dragged over her pulse while his forearm pulled her hips back against the cradle of his own. Gale's large hand followed the curve of her hip, his thumb following the waistband of her trousers until the soft pad of the digit was tracing the ridges on the base of her tail. And. Well.
With what finally felt like all the time in the world, they did not leave the tower for anything but bare necessities that first tenday.
When every surface of what was once his home was christened as theirs, Gale offered to show her the city. Jolán had been the center of all his attention at home, and was a bit surprised to find she continued to be, as they walked their way through the winding streets of Waterdeep. Gale's awareness of her was a smoldering warmth she was glad extended from the battlefield into domestic life. She felt free to be almost childlike in her curiosity and know that no one could take advantage of her naivete him at her side.
Gale had something to say about nearly every landmark that caught her interest. Whether it was historical or anecdotal she absorbed it all. Eager to know these places and stories so that she could one day add on to them.
Some, she realized, she would remember as places where Gale had been recognized and– in turn, so had she. The Heroes of Baldur's Gate one woman had called them. Another had been a colleague of Gale's who'd jumped at the sight of him. The man had been shocked to see Gale "alive and doing very well, by the looks of it," nodding at Jolán with a blush on his cheeks. And when he'd asked about the more exaggerated (but not by much) details of their adventure his eye's lit up. By the end of the conversation Gale had been offered a teaching position at his alma mater, Blackstaff Academy, for whatever wizarding class he'd like. Gale feigned a calm and appreciative response only to cut that day's tour short so that he and Jolán could celebrate at home with a bottle of his favorite whiskey.
Jolán had been easy to entice into a game. Gale said it was played in the dorms of his early adulthood that involved dice and stripping and whatever booze could get smuggled in. What he hadn't been prepared for how lucky of a roller his fiancee was – but the benefit of losing was that it put him at her mercy. Being tipsy and bare in the library on a nest of blankets with his mostly clothed wife– future wife, he mentally corrected– while her tail flicked from side to side like a cat about to pounce… well, it was hard to convince himself he was a "loser" in any sense of the word.
They did eventually make it to Morena's townhouse which was, to Jolán's delight and Gale's dismay, his childhood home. She'd poked and snooped and put her nose in every book and portrait she could find that had a trace of the younger version of the man she loved. Tara had already shared the news of their engagement but that didn't stop Gale from introducing Jolán as his "soon to be bride" which had the older woman valiantly fighting off a bout of tears. When Morena asked about his absence leading up to the abduction, the year he'd spent alone with Tara in the tower, there wasn't a dry eye between either Dekarios. Jolán made a mental note that day to spend more time with her future mother in law.
Jolán and Gale couldn't explore the entirety of Waterdeep together before Gale had to start planning for his upcoming class. It was for the best since they'd spent almost the entirety of Flamerule eating, walking, and making love. It felt like a proper homecoming but at some point they'd have to get a rhythm for what life together would look like outside of celebrating that they were no longer just trying to survive.
That being said, the whole of Waterdeep did not agree with their timing. Midsummer marked the end of the month and the energy throughout the city was palpable. Jolán had accompanied Gale to the tailor's to pick up his teaching robes and there were lovers everywhere. She knew of the various gods and goddesses that encouraged prayer and offerings on the day but as she caught sight of another couple furiously kissing one another she struggled to mask her shock at the lewdness of it all.
"It's common practice to stay at home with the curtains pulled shut during Midsummer, if you're not participating," Gale leans in, his voice quiet and amused.
"What is wrong with burnt offerings?"
Gale snorted. "From my understanding, Sune is more interested in offerings in the form of a show. Lovers offer themselves, if you catch my drift. This is considered appropriate behavior for the day of worship so… if this bothers you we should most definitely get home before nightfall." Gale paused and considered his next words with a rakish grin. "Or, we could drop my robes off at home, go buy a pair of masks and see if anyone is hosting a maiden hunting party outside the city walls?"
Jolán's eyes widened and Gale couldn't contain the guffaw that rumbled out of him at the sight. He took her hand in his and squeezed affectionately, reassuring her that he'd been joking.
Mostly, he thought to himself. The fantasy of chasing a scantily clad, probably giggling, and masked Jolán through the woods to claim her in the most primitive way possible was a bit tempting.
"Come on, it isn't like this everywhere. The Market is a strictly family friendly locale for the day."
Jolán raised a brow at that. "Why of all places would The Market be family friendly? One would think they could make a profit off of this behavior… somehow."
Gale's lips turned down but his brow wrinkled as he fought off a grin. "It's family friendly because the highborns pay for it to be that way. So they can… displace the farming families for the night. They keep them up in nice inns with dinner and family friendly activities while the nobles are out… ploughing the field– ow!"
"Who knew my future husband could be so crass," Jolán scolded him, smacking the back of his head lightly like a naughty schoolboy. Gale's smile didn't wane though as they made their way to the middle of Waterdeep and the alleys emptied and music filtered in. When they turned the corner to the main square there was a stage set up and musicians at work as parents danced and children chased one another across the makeshift dance floor.
"Is this more to your liking, lover?" Gale teased and his fiancee rolled here eyes at him.
"You know it is."
Gale had his robes folded over one arm, taking Jolán's hand in the other and finding some semblance of a rhythm as they moved through the crowd and made their way closer to the stage. Jolán watched as Gale made a beeline and his brown eyes locked onto the musician currently on stage. She could feel her lyre bouncing against her back as they shimmied around people and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the back of her fiance's head right before the lutenist hollered.
"Dekarios! Is it that time already?" The half elf on stage had straw blond hair unmarred by sun or age and his smile was boyish as he kept strumming his lute, hopping off the stage with a flourish before ending the song right in front of the couple and set his Lute flat on the stage.
"Gale? What are we-" Jolán attempted to whisper but squeaked when the lutenist stole her hand and bent into a deep bow as he kissed the back of her palm in greeting.
Gale squeezed her other hand and jutted his scruffy jaw at the man. "Jolán, I'd like you to meet Randall Deepwood, the best bard to ever come out of Blackstaff Academy and one of my oldest friends."
Randall didn't release Jolán's hand when he stood upright to sneer at Gale. "Oh, you've got jokes! Very funny, dick. And I go by Randy," his features softened into something more playful as he winked at Jolán, "Randy Deepwood, it's my pleasure to make your acquaintance Ms. Jolán."
Jolán slips her fingers out from his hand if only to cover her mouth in an attempt to stifle the cackle at, what she dearly hoped, was only his stage name. He didn't appear to be offended, only amused, green eyes mirthful.
"What was it Gale said that was a joke?"
Randy's expression fell to one that looked more put out toward her fiance, who in turn huffed a laugh at her question.
"Blackstaff is only for aspiring wizards, love. Not a bard college."
"He's calling me a dropout."
"A successful dropout!"
"Does the same logic apply if I call you pretty ugly?"
"Since you're using 'pretty' as an adverb rather than an adjective, that would be a resounding 'no'."
Randy proceeded to puff out his chest ready for a rebuttal when Jolán jumped between the two men, placing her hand on both of the chests. "Gentlemen, you're making a scene!" Which wasn't entirely true, children were still playing around the square and parents who had been dancing either continued without music , gleefully laughing, or fell into idle chatter. But the sentiment served her purpose in redirecting them. "What the hell are we doing here Gale?"
Gale blinked as if suddenly remembering he wasn't here solely to harass his friend. "Oh! Yes, I got you a performance time slot!"
Jolán's jaw slackened a little, her gaze softened at the appearance of her favorite lopsided grin on Gale's face.
"You told me you missed performing and I pulled a favor with-"
"You're truly," Randy covered Jolán's hand on his chest with his own, lifted it and twirled her in a way that had him tucking her to his side while he sidled up next to Gale, sneaking his other hand around Gale's hip.
At a glance Gale didn't look anything more than mildly annoyed at Randy's overly friendly behavior, but Jolán sees the twitch of his fingers and the whisper of an F on his lips. She ducks out under the half-elf's arm just as Gale's hand grips his shoulder. The electrical current wasn't strong but it was enough to elicit a squeak from the blond man as his body jolted to get away and stiffened before relaxing when he realized he wasn't injured.
Randy burst into a laugh and he and Gale fell into another squabble over where it's most appropriate to touch people one has just met while Randy jabbed about other applications Gale's gentler variation of Shocking Grasp had probably been used.
It was safe to assume that was just how the two men got on since they'd known one another for so long and Jolán was more amused at how Gale had gotten in touch with the man who put him at risk of an ulcer, for her sake.
With the other musicians milling about near the stage waiting for their turn on stage she decided not to waste anymore time.
Jolán took the stage, her lyre in hand as she let out a single belted note followed by the conspiratorial tone her melodic voice took on as she squatted and sang toward the younger children.
"Once a fair and handsome seal-lord lay his foot upon the sand."
Jolán plucked at her harp as the flat of her tail gently beat against the stage keeping the beat. Small hands started to follow her lead and gently beat against the wooden stage. The older crowd danced as their children were engaged listening to the story of the maiden and the selkie.
She'd looked past the children to see Gale's calm and adoring expression as she wove the tale of the two lovers who beat what seemed to be insurmountable odds as they hunt down a selkie coat for the maiden. On a down-stroke, Jolán envisioned the harmony that came with making a home with one's lover and a translucent image appeared. She'd cast Minor Illusion and a chorus of "Ooh" and "Ahh" echoed as a burly whiskered man and a beautiful woman followed along with her song.
Their images rippled with the pluck of every string like a heartbeat. It wasn't a normal illusion she'd used on her adventures but… stylized. Similar to how Gale had recreated Mystra in his palm so long ago. Jolán wasn't telling a true story where things were to be seen as they existed but rather painted the image with the music and magic.
When her eyes met Gale's again they looked almost childlike in their excitement at seeing her cast and sing simultaneously. The selkie image placed a coat over the maiden and they both returned to his home in the sea, diving into the swarm of children and disappearing like twin pebbles and rippling outward.
Jolán performed three more songs before being lightheartedly shooed off the stage by a flutist and eagerly bounding to Gale's side feeling a renewed sense of joy over performing.
Two women were talking animatedly with Gale when she appeared and he'd quickly explained how they'd approached him, recognizing his teaching robes still folded over his arms, and asked if Jolán also taught at Blackstaff.
"Our son wants to be a bard and we can't afford to send him to New Olamn, Mrs. Dekarios."
If the pleading owl-bearish eyes on the tanned woman wouldn't have won her over, being called Mrs. Dekarios certainly would have done it.
Jolán Dekarios
Jolán Dekarios
Jolán Dekario–
"Ms. Jolán?"
The delicate script she'd been practicing in the back of the leather-bound journal is ruined with a splattering of ink from her quill as Jolán is jarred back into reality. She had been so impressed with Kemper's progress that she'd drifted off in thought as her student settled into practice. Between her pride and the viola's comforting low hum she'd been distracted looking at his red hair that reminded her of the early summer, when she'd first met the large boy.
It's unbelievable five months passed like a blink.
Jolán casts Prestidigitation to clean the spots of ink that stained her fingers when she jumped at her student's bid for attention.
"I didn't mean to frighten you, my apologies, Ms. Jolán."
"No, I apologize, Kemper. I should've been paying attention but it sounds to me like you've done a wonderful job with this piece."
Kemper was only sixteen and yet slightly larger than Gale. Having worked on a farm for his entire life made him brawny but his cheeks still held a layer of baby fat that made his smile all boyish when he blushed and said, "Wonderful enough to leave a bit early today?"
Jolán's expression twisted. Her brow furrowed and her lips set in a pout. Kemper never asked to leave early. If anything, she and Gale had to convince him to go home most days. They were only a good half hour into today's practice.
"You've only just started for today," she crossed her arms across her chest and looked him up and down before jutting her chin at him accusingly. "What's got you wanting to ditch me after only one piece?"
He wasn't put off by her suspicious posturing but the tips of his ears stuck out from under his mop of hair and they were nearly the same shade of red.
"I- ah. I have a date. For the first snow, it's supposed to start coming down pretty heavy this afternoon and… actually never-mind," he chuckled trying to brush his request off.
Jolán gave an exaggerated roll of the eyes before untucking one of her arms and examining her nails with a bored look. "Not sure why you think I'm some ice queen who would tell my favorite student 'no' all of a sudden."
She smiles and when she looked up at him his eyes brighten and he starts to fidget with that awkward energy that comes in droves at that age.
Kemper leaves his viola with her for the night in exchange for details on how his date goes when he comes to pick it up the next day. He's hesitant to agree and Jolán's working theory is proved right when she sits on her balcony facing the docks and watches three teenage boys come out from behind snow covered barrels to pelt her student with snowballs only for him to give chase. Their laughter and hollering echoing up the brick walls.
The snowflakes are heavy enough that when they drift under the covered balcony they stick to her warm purple skin and dark lashes before inevitably melting.
"Every time I think you can't get more ethereal in your beauty, I'm quickly proven wrong." Gale moved behind her, wrapping his heavily cloaked body around her own. He kissed her on her heated cheek and then nuzzled under her ear.
"You're home early," she purred.
"Finished grading finals. I would've been home before lunch but I made a few stops on the way. I thought you'd be occupied with–"
Gale suddenly trailed off as he followed her line of sight to the boys launching snowballs at one another along the street.
"Said he had a date but I do believe I was lied to so he could make it to a last minute boys' night." Jolán's tail flicks from side to side before curling around Gale's calf affectionately. "I don't know why he thought I'd be less understanding. That looks like a lot of fun."
The longing in her voice didn't go unnoticed. Gale hauled her into his arms only moments after he conjured knitted gloves and a headband that covered her ears.
"Oh! Gale!"
"Sometimes I forget you haven't always been here with me. While I was preparing for your first Simril celebration, what hadn't occurred to me was that this could be your first time experiencing snow."
She narrowed her eyes at him, her tail curling around his waist while she bounced softly in his arms as he trekked to the front door.
"Is Simril anything like a Waterdhavian Midsummer?"
Gale shook his head at the lighthearted accusation in her question. "Not at all. I do believe a good number of people would suffer from frostbite if they partook in those same activities this time of year."
She didn't say anything because she knew better.
"Although…"
Ah, there it is.
"I'm open to starting new traditions with you. Maybe we could explore the efficacy of staying warm with only body heat, if you're interested in giving the warming charms and fireplace a few nights off."
Jolán snorted. "If you threaten Tara with that she'll lob a fireball at you. Or graft herself to my skin before you could. It would be a coin toss, really."
Tara didn't even wait for it to get cold before she made Jolán's lap her favorite spot in the tower. She had thought Gale would be jealous of his best friend abandoning him so easily but he'd only shrugged, "I can hardly blame her. She's told me before that you're a much more comfortable pillow and I'm inclined to agree."
The conversation had ended with him waxing poetic about her thighs and Jolán pouncing on him in the kitchen. Tara hissed her disapproval as she vaulted out the nearest window.
Brought back to the moment when he set her down, her boots crunched in the snow. "Eh, she could do with a few nights at mother's," Gale concluded when thinking of his furry and feathered friend.
Jolán had gone out earlier that morning when the snow had been a fine sheet along the cobblestones. Her bare feet had warmed the stone and her footprints had been evident all around the property. But it had been steadily going all day and, Kemper had been right, fatter snowflakes were falling and disappearing into the sparkling snow that now blanketed the street.
With the knitted headband over her ears and her thoughts swirling about how easily the snow hid the evidence of her excited lap that morning– she hadn't heard Gale's crunchy sidesteps.
A snowball nearly knicked her nose.
Her head whipped to the side and Gale's arm was outstretched still. He was only about twenty feet away.
"Was that… supposed to hit me?"
The blush that colored his cheeks at her teasing was decidedly not from injured pride. His next snowball hit her square in the chest and poofed into a cold powder that chilled her from her breasts to her nose.
It was on.
The two of them lobbed snowballs at one another just as they'd seen the rowdy teenagers earlier. Gale's accuracy was far more impressive than Jolán's but she was dexterous and practically danced out of the way. They laughed and chased one another until they were out of breath from the freezing temperature and couldn't tell if they were slightly damp from sweat or from pelting one another so thoroughly with snow.
Their battle ended when Gale took a particularly large snowball to the face while chasing her, only to clear his eyes and see her running full speed in his direction. He only had a moment to panic, to feel that spike of fear when predator suddenly became prey, before she tackled him to the ground. Instead of fighting her off his arms forearms spanned her back and plastered her to him.
"G-G-Gods. I didn't even r-realize I was freezing."
Jolán nipped at his neck where his scarf had fallen loose during their snowball fight. Gale groaned beneath her. Her legs were on either side of his hips, her knees digging into the snow as more fell atop them. She pushed up off his chest so she was sitting astride him, her view unmatched as crystalline flakes caught in her lover's long lashes. His eyes were half lidded as he gazed up at her.
Gale's fingers traced the scars on her collarbone and up her neck. The white swirls on her orchid skin usually reminded him of the weave, but with her against the backdrop of a pure white sky it reminded him of snowflakes on a squall.
Jolán felt like everything right. Like all the magic that was rooted in the earth. She was leaves spinning and dancing as they fell in Autumn. She was the crackling song of a fire burning in the deepest winter. She was every wildflower that painted the spring fields and she was the sticky sweet heat of summer that clung to you and insisted you bare yourself before leaping off the docks.
Gale didn't say a word as his fingers traced along her skin. She dragged her fingernail over his bottom lip. "We should probably get you inside, Gale. You've stopped shivering."
His expression was tired and somewhere in the back of his mind he was preparing to move but the feel of Jolán sitting across his hips was a delicious sort of comfort he had to fight himself to part with.
"One would think you'd prefer me with steady hands."
"Mm, yes but I do prefer you with all your fingers and toes. Let's get you inside, lover. Early stages of hypothermia are starting to settle in."
Jolán realized just how soaked from the snow Gale had been and, despite his earlier joking, thought it was necessary to strip them both and warm him up in the (now permanent) nest of blankets and pillows in the library.
Gale's head was nestled against her breast, laying on their sides as the sharp edges of her nails trailed up and down his back with his ear pressed against the ridges on her sternum. He shivered and melted with a content sigh as he nosed at her cleavage. "I'm no healer, but I can confidently say this should be the default remedy to all that ails me."
"Ah, yes," she chuckled, "creaky knees? Easily fixed with nude snuggling. Specifically on the floor of a library."
Gale pinched her on the curve of her ass and she squeaked, bucking against him involuntarily. He groaned and Jolán returned the favor by swatting him on his ass with the spade of her tail.
Suffice it to say, the two of them spent the rest of their evening in the library.
Come morning, with Blackstaff on break and Kemper not set to return for his viola until later, both of them were free to sleep in. It's only after their morning tea that Gale remembered he wanted to start working on his gift to her for Simril.
Jolán was eager to help cut up, dry, and string garlands of fruit to hang around the home when Gale pulled all of the supplies out of his satchel. They spent the better half of the early afternoon discussing the best placements so that the spicy sweet scent would fill the entire first floor.
Gale showed her the sheet music next. He'd purchased an old book of Simrillian hymns dedicated to Lady Luck herself. The Tymorean holiday was new to her and Gale took great pleasure in watching her mismatched eyes light up at the sight of new material for both herself and her students. In fact, Jolán took the time to copy a few of the songs and Kemper, spared was he from sharing details regarding his fictitious date, went home with material she wanted him to be able to perform in a tenday when she would see him next.
When Gale said he'd been excited to share in Waterdhavian customs with her, she hadn't expected it to be so extensive. She didn't complain! Not at all. It was merely surprising to her that the holiday, dedicated to a goddess she'd only heard murmured under performers' breaths when she was a child, was technically only one day and Gale and his mother and Tara appeared to celebrate the entire month.
They had missed the first few days because he'd been busy with work, Gale explained, but he'd easily made up for it with all of his time off. The two of them went on walks through the city and people watched as children played in the snow that didn't seem to stop. Some children were even commercially focused and would shovel sidewalks clear or had ways of heating up cider that they sold in makeshift stalls outside their homes. Jolán remembered being that age and trying to make a living. While her memories were tainted with necessity, the children she and Gale came across looked more like young entrepreneurs. They made her think of Mol and with that line of thinking Gale was eager to make the children a few copper richer.
Gale and Jolán spent a good few days finalizing the plans for their wedding. According to Morena, Nightal was the ideal time to plan a wedding since it was full of luck and hope for the coming spring. Jolán loved the enthusiasm from her future mother-in-law and was happy it pleased her, but she would've been just as happy to marry Gale months ago. And she would have if they weren't so dead set on having all of their old friends there. Not to mention the clan of Dekarioses she kept hearing about.
It was the 15th day of Nightal when Gale brought out the glass eye. There were red veins that looked molten against the crushed pearl and centered brown gemstone meant to be a pupil. By the size alone it looked like it could've been plucked out of a gnoll. It looked as grotesque as it did expensive.
"It's an arcane focus," he explained. "Specifically for Clairvoyance."
He begged her not to ask too many questions or else it would ruin his surprise. So she did what she'd been doing all month and followed his lead.
Between the somatic, verbal, and arcane focus components, Gale had created a spell that was an amalgamation of Locate Object, Clairvoyance, and Augury. With enough practice she'd been able to find answers, to divine, locations where things happened that she had and had not been present for. She found the exact spot on the road where a woman months ago had called them Heroes. When visiting Morena she found the exact room a young Gale had been standing in when he'd summoned Tara. Gale even hid one of her favorite books, whose home was on an eye level shelf in the library, in an innocuous stack of tomes in his office.
She had no idea why he was insisting she get comfortable with the spell but it played into Gale's bigger plans for her so she didn't question it aloud.
On Nightal 19 Gale introduced her to a thick, spicy, chocolate beverage and a book titled Tymora and the Lucky Star. She'd held Tara on her lap while she was sat across Gale's own as she sipped her drink as he read to them. When she'd drained her mug she curled around him and fell asleep in Gale's arms as his rhythmic cadence lulled her late into the evening.
Nightal 20 was not like Midsummer. While it had been made clear to her that what Gale and his family did for the holiday extended over the month, she thought the actual holiday was limited to a day but it was actually only an evening. She'd peeked outside to see the usually busy streets were nearly empty and Gale encouraged her to sleep in with him since he'd planned for them to be up most of the night. When she found herself getting antsy and wanting to leave the bed, Gale was there with mulled wine and warm treats to fill her belly and exhaustive activities until she entertained sleep once more.
When the sun dipped behind the skyline people left their homes humming some of the now familiar hymns. Gale had a hold of her hand, both of them bundled up in winter furs knitted accessories with her lyre across her back. The sound of Gale's pack bouncing against his hip had her itching to join in.
"Would it be out of place for me to play on the walk…"
"Absolutely not. Though I'll miss your hand in mine," he smiled.
Jolán scoffed, releasing his hand and tugging her lyre into position as her tail wrapped around his hand and forearm. "You forget I can multitask, lover."
It was only mildly distracting as he stroked the end of her tail with his thumb while she played. The crowd walking toward The Market clapped in time with the Tymorean hymns and it wasn't long before more musicians joined in until they had a small band on arrival. Whenever she looked over her shoulder, she could easily mistake the stars in Gale's eyes as a reflection of the ones above.
The crowd dissolved as they all went their separate ways to find stalls selling candles or sweets and even-
"Star maps! Find your star on this blessed night! Our Smiling Lady has gifted us a most lucky cloudy sky! Star maps!"
Gale gently steered her toward the stall with scrolls lining the cart behind him. "That's our man. You ready, Jolán?"
She quirked a brow at him as he excitedly traded some coin for the parchment and then tucked it into his coat.
"I don't get to see?"
His smile was blinding. "Not yet."
Gale pulled the glass eye out of his satchel and offered it to her. "I know I've offered you very few answers when it comes to this, but I promise it'll be worth it."
"Here I thought we were going to stay for the party," she huffed in mock annoyance, "what am I finding this time?"
"I want you to find your lucky star."
"But-" she cut herself off to think about it. Every other thing she'd found had been a physical thing, whether it was a place or an item. She couldn't very well obtain a star. "I… guess a star is a thing… what if-"
Gale shook his head, smile confident. "If it doesn't work out that's fine, but I have confidence you can do this, Jolán."
Her lip dimpled into a small smile. The worst that could happen is the compass disappears into the sky.
She cleared her mind and cast the modified spell, glass eye in hand as it hummed with energy. A ball of light visible only to her rose from the arcane focus and seemed to drift in a spiral up into the air, higher than before, just above Gale's head.
Find my star.
And then it was off. Jolán grabbed Gale's hand, running through the crowd, chasing the spell through Waterdeep's streets without a care. The pair laughed and cried hasty apologies as they nearly ran into other Simril celebrants in their attempt to keep up with the sprite-like orb pulsing on its path to find her star.
"Where do you think it's taking us?" Jolán could hear the excitement in her voice, breathy with childlike-wonder as she raced through the streets with the love of her life on another adventure.
"Likely someplace with- huff - higher v-visibility, I assume?"
"Getting tired on me already, Gale?" She laughed. Tugging him along until the orb started leading them down the winding street going home.
Their steps slowed when they reached the front steps of their home. The fist-sized ball of light phases through the front door and Jolán enters without question. Gale faltered behind her, questioning exactly what was happening, only for her to holler at him to hurry.
Gale found her on the balcony, leaning on the stone railing with a dreamy look on her striking features. Her eyes focused on him with ardent affection, then jut her chin in the direction of the sky above.
"How's that? I didn't think it would work on a star but look," she curled her arm around him to better angle him to look where she pointed. "A perfect view of my star, on a cloudy Simril, right on our own balcony."
His brow twitched and he hoped against hope that what he thought had happened, had actually not.
"Give me just a moment, my darling," Gale pulled the star map out of his inner coat pocket and sat on the bench to assess the situation.
Jolán watched as Gale's fingertip traced over the parchment and noted the way his brow pinched and- the sigh that came from him sounded defeated.
"What's wrong?"
"I- well. I'm not quite sure. But the star you found is mine."
Jolán blinked at him expectantly. "I mean. We are going to be wed soon, sharing everything. Can we not share a star?"
A derisive snort left him and he quickly took her hand, kissing it. "Jolán, my love, my bride, all I am and all I have is already yours. Something as intangible as a star would never worry me to share with you."
He squeezed her hand. "Sharing isn't the problem. The star wasn't supposed to be my gift to you but what I could've done with the knowledge."
Gale traced his finger down the list of dates and locations along the edges of the star map.
"Were you… trying to figure out-"
"Your birthday. We know you were born in Baldur's Gate and had we found your star I could have found an exact date. I wanted to give you back some piece of you that was lost when…"
He didn't want to bring up her grandparents. What they'd done. All they'd taken from her.
Jolán was on an entirely different wavelength though. She felt as if she was floating. While she'd found all the other places and things without issue she refused to believe that this one not making sense, didn't make sense.
She pulled her gloomy fiance into her arms with a watery laugh.
"J-Jolán?"
"Finding your birth star on a cloudy night is supposed to mean what, professor?" she sniffled the teasing title.
Gale wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his lap and dropping the star map to the ground.
"It's a blessing from Tymora."
"Exactly. Maybe I didn't find my star or maybe I did-"
"It can't be your star, the dates wouldn't line up since you're somewhere in your mid-twenties and I'm nearly thirty-"
"Shh!" She cut his explanation off and he hushed up.
"Maybe I did get my blessing. Because everything, every horrible, painful moment in my life led me to you in the end. I've never known love the way that you love me and... Maybe this is just Tymora letting me know that you're my lucky star."
Gale searched her eyes and felt the pinpricks of tears start to needle their way in. He tangled his fingers in her long hair, cradling the curve of her skull as he kissed her. Gale's lips were soft yet bruising in their slowness and what would've been a sob rumbled up from his chest until it sounded almost like a pained groan.
He pulled away to rest his forehead against hers when he felt his chin wobble.
"I would've been Netherese vapor without you back then. Even after, I didn't deserve your patience when I considered godhood- That sky could've been clear of any clouds and I still would be the luckiest bastard on the material plane because I get to love you, Jolán."
Gale and Jolán stay perched on their bench, tearfully laughing and kissing in the starlight until they're shivering under a fine layer of snow. Eager to celebrate the rest of their first Simril together, curled around one another, and murmuring wishes for their future in each other's skin.