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"Welcome back to Icewind Dale."
Prudence looked up at Avrora, her lips pursed into a little twist of displeasure. Avrora grinned and regretted it instantly as the cold air hit her teeth.
"If you say that one more time," Prudence said, and then hesitated.
"You won't do much," said Avrora—not smug, just straightforward. "You don't want to break the tenets of your oath."
Prudence's lips twisted to the other side of her face, and then she looked straight ahead and jammed her hands into her armpits to try to keep them warmer as they trudged through snow that was shin-high on Avrora, which meant it nearly came up to Prudence's knees. It wasn't that Prudence was short—it was that Avrora was unusually tall for a human woman. Of course, she wasn't human at all; she was under the impression that if her opalescent eyes didn't give away that something Wasn't Quite Normal about her, then certain other aspects of her would—like the way her skin glowed faintly under the light of the moon and stars, or the way that her rose gold hair shone just like, well, rose gold.
"There's nothing in my oath that says I can't pinch your earlobe every hour on the hour," Prudence muttered, just loud enough to be heard over he sound of their boots crunching through the snow.
"Mm, but you have claws, and it would hurt," Avrora countered.
"I'll just make you mad first, so you'll shrug it off."
"I can't spend all day in a rage," Avrora said. "That'd be exhausting. What if the town was attacked and I was too exhausted to help defend it?"
"Hmph."
"That's what I thought."
"Oh, Avrora, dear, is that you?"
"It's me, Myrtle," Avrora said. "Prudence, too."
A grey-haired older human woman came out around from behind the bar and immediately approached Prudence and Avrora as they stood in the inn's doorway trying not to get too much snow everywhere. She took their cloaks. "I'll hang these by the hearth," said Myrtle, happily. "Just come and sit."
"But... the floor," Prudence protested.
"Don't worry about it," said Myrtle, airily. "The floors can't possibly get any worse. Come sit, come sit!"
Prudence glanced at Avrora, who just shrugged, and together they followed the innkeeper. Myrtle hung their cloaks so they'd dry faster in the ambient warmth, as Avrora chose a table and sat down rather heavily with a little groan. Prudence sat down, keeping her chin held high, ignoring the handful of eyes on her. At least no one was up in arms for having a tiefling in their midst, but the residents of Bryn Shander liked, or at least tolerated, her because of their large hometown girl. That same large hometown girl was likely keeping the travellers in Geldenstag's Rest from kicking up a fuss if they were so inclined.
Myrtle sat down across from Prudence, but turned to Avrora. "This is certainly a... time of year to come home," she said.
Avrora laughed softly, leaning her elbow on the table and her chin on her fist. "I'm afraid I'm not really coming 'home' yet," she said. "The Oak Father told Prudence here that she has to be in Kuldahar sometime in the spring."
"Now however did that come to be?" Myrtle asked, turning to Prudence.
"I've now sworn to aid the Church of Silvanus," Prudence said, "and apparently that means that his clerics get to boss me around. That's all."
Myrtle leaned closer to Prudence, her eyes lighting up in excitement. "Now, you really must tell me more about this, dear. That must be far more exciting than you're making it out to be."
Prudence glanced at Avrora. She'd forgotten about how nosy Myrtle was. It wasn't as though she had anything to hide—she was a proper paladin, after all—but they'd spent all day trudging through the snow, and it was nearly suppertime.
She was hungry.
But Avrora just grinned. "Yeah, Pru," she said. "Hey, why don't you tell Myrtle about our adventure in the Moonshaes and meeting a unicorn?"
Myrtle gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. "A unicorn?" she echoed.
Prudence pursed her lips. "You know, I'd be so happy to do that," she said. "But I'm so hungry I can barely concentrate."
"Oh, you poor thing!" Myrtle said. "You just stay right here, I'll make sure there's something filling for you to eat, and then you can tell me all about the unicorn."
"Thanks, Myrtle," said Avrora. "You're a real one."
"Oh," said Prudence in a small voice as they entered their room. "Oh, um. It's still... still..."
"It's still filthy, you can say it," Avrora said with a heavy sigh.
"I don't understand," said Prudence. "How?"
"It's just Myrtle and Cook."
"Oh." Prudence pursed her lips. "Well, we have bedrolls."
That was true enough. Avrora scratched the back of her neck. "I have an idea," she declared, a moment later. Grinning at her own cleverness, she picked up one of the narrow beds in the room, and set it against the wall under the window. The other one was next, stacked on top of the first, then she dug through her Bag of Holding and pulled out a broom.
"You're not going to—"
"It'll be fine." Avrora set about aggressively sweeping the floor.
"But it's our broom of flying," Prudence said. "What if it gets upset?"
"Are you worried about me hurting the feelings of an inanimate object?"
"Um. Yes?"
Avrora chuckled. "I'm so glad I met you."
She heard Prudence let out a little huff, but she did push the small table in the room into the corner, and set the chairs on top, by their seats. When Avrora had finished sweeping the floor and put the broom back in her bag, Prudence said, "Now what?"
"Now," said Avrora, finally setting her bag down, "we set up camp. Well—a tent."
"Singular?"
"Singular. Sorry. I think we'll manage. Here..." Avrora pulled out her tent—hers was the better option, with a rounded roof, whereas Prudence's was significantly larger and fancier with a spire roof. It would just be too much of a tight fit in the cramped room. Together, they set up the tent, rolling out the carpet through the opening, setting up their bedrolls and pillows, and putting their bags of holding inside on Prudence's insistence. She was a little worried about bugs, despite the weather, and Avrora wasn't going to argue. Pru didn't like bugs; Avrora didn't like slime and jelly monsters; they didn't bother each other about these fears.
Avrora helped Prudence out of her armour. They washed up, chatting about nothing in particular, and then Avrora cast light on a copper coin as Prudence doused the candles in the room. Avrora left the coin on the floor by the door, and together they climbed into Avrora's tent, letting the flap fall closed behind them. Avrora's tent was from the Dale; it was insulated against cold weather. For their journey, they were going to have to get used to sharing, rather than setting their tents up like they usually did: a mere metre apart, facing each other, always within reach.
This was even more within reach. Avrora liked it.
"I was thinking," said Prudence, with a little hesitance in her voice.
Avrora rolled onto her side and grinned. "Uh oh," she teased. "That can be dangerous."
Prudence rolled her bright, gold eyes. "Hush. I was thinking... maybe... maybe we sell my tent, go through some other things... see if we can a tent that's better for the two of us." She rolled over to face Avrora. "Something that'll give us a dedicated space to sleep," she continued, "and a dedicated place to... live. Where we can eat, unwind, all that first thing in the morning and end of day stuff, but covered, enclosed. I think they make 'two-room' tents." She even lifted her hands and wiggled her fingers to make quotation marks.
"It'll be awfully cosy," Avrora said, grinning.
"I'm okay with that," said Prudence, softly, not quite meeting Avrora's gaze anymore. Avrora's heart gave a little leap. "If you are."
"I like this idea," Avrora reassured her.
"Good. I think... I think we'll be okay. As far as money is concerned. I've really been saving. We can get ourselves some things to be comfortable. Maybe even an additional canopy. You know—for snow."
"This is what you were thinking about while we were trudging, isn't it?"
"What else was I supposed to do? The wind was too awful to even talk."
"You're on to a few things, though. Packing the tent with stuff and reducing empty space will actually help keep it warmer. We'll want to keep all our gear inside it anyway. We'll also need plenty of food for fuel—for us, I mean."
Prudence laughed softly. "I absolutely understood that part. I knew you of all people wouldn't want to use food for kindling." She reached over and gave Avrora's arm a little squeeze. Her fingers were cold. "I'm glad you came with me, 'Rora. I don't think I could deal with any of this alone." She drew her hand back under the covers, which she pulled more securely to her chin. "Sleep well."
"G'night, Pru."
When Avrora woke in the morning, Prudence was already gone. But she'd left a note, in her beautiful flowing calligraphy, that stated she had a "special quest" to undertake, and she would be back before lunch. Avrora felt a curious little twist in her guts that Prudence hadn't needed her help. After all, she was the one from Bryn Shander. The last time they were here, it was spring, and even then Prudence had hidden away inside the entire time.
And with Avrora's entire family now living in Neverwinter...
It wasn't as though Avrora didn't like the other residents of Bryn Shander. It's just that she'd been away for so long, and she'd done things like meet a pretty tiefling paladin; kill a dragon, personally (well, maybe with an assist from their other at-the-time travelling companions); befriended a pretty tiefling paladin; entered a prize fighting competition and won; visited a goblin market in Undermountain; defended the goblin market in Undermountain from drow slavers; fallen in love with a pretty tiefling paladin; travelled across the Sea of Swords and met a King and a unicorn (not at the same time); learned how to use a tiny bit of druid magic; met some fancy drow fella—Jarlabel? Jar... something; Pru would remember—who was not Drizzt do'Urden but apparently knew him and Drizzt knew Bruenor Battlehammer, one of the most awesome people to ever live.
Avrora moped into her clothes, moped down the stairs, moped over to sit mopily at a table, and moped her way through some potato porridge.
Prudence Cloudmore walked through Bryn Shander like a paladin with a purpose. She made sure her shiny breastplate was on display under her scarf and cloak, and smiled and nodded and spoke very sweetly. She'd learned, relatively early on, that there was a vague difference between going through life with purpose and walking everywhere as if you owned the place; she attracted slightly less attention with the former than she did with the latter. Sometimes, you didn't actually want to draw all the attention in a room or a settlement, and especially not to command that attention.
People called her "devil" a lot less often when she was known but not seen to be... too much.
Sometimes, paladins were extremely prone to being too much.
Today, being less than too much and instead just respectable and friendly helped her with the haggling. She never wanted to intimidate a shopkeeper into giving her an unreasonable discount. Fairness for everyone was key.
She knew they could be here for a while—if she had cut too much into their funds, they could probably pick up a few jobs to replenish their coin. They could work it all out.
Together, they always did.
Prudence smiled to herself as she drew her hood up over her head, hefted her purchases, let another patron hold the door for her while she blessed them, and trudged through the snowy town back to the inn.
A kindly woman hurried forward off her own path to open the door for Prudence, who thanked and blessed her, too, and Prudence kicked the snow off her boots at the door before turning around to see Avrora stand up from a table. Myrtle was nowhere to be seen.
"What—where have—"
"We have work to do," said Prudence, setting her jaw stubbornly as she lifted her chin.
"Uh...?"
"I just need to change," Prudence added, turning and heading for the stairs. "And then we'll get to work."
She heard Avrora hurrying after her. "What's the work? What is all that?" she asked.
"Cleaning supplies," Prudence replied.
Myrtle didn't have an apron that was big enough to fit over Avrora's chest.
"Stop smirking," Prudence had scolded—possibly while blushing? Avrora couldn't quite be sure since Prudence didn't look directly at her while Myrtle was fussing about sizes. But Myrtle found yarn, tied it to the apron strings, and so Avrora had an apron around her waist, if only to have extra pockets, while Prudence was running around wearing a proper apron.
It was frilly. And adorable.
But Prudence was not frilly. She was adorable, but she was doing this thing that Avrora had watched her do more than once: she was being both helper-paladin and commander-paladin. Nobody else seemed to be up to taking charge—mostly because the other people were either the tiny handful of other patrons, who for probably good reasons didn't think they needed to clean the inn; Myrtle, who wasn't good at keeping the place clean in the first place; Cook, who refused to take more than two steps out of the kitchen; and Avrora, who was generally better at making things as messy as possible with a very large axe.
But she was more than happy to let Prudence take charge of her.
So she did what Prudence told her to. They spent hours scrubbing the main room, top to bottom—literally. There was a ladder, and Avrora went up it to dust the rafters. She was in charge, actually, of all the things in high places, and, sure, it only made sense, but it also gave her a sense of pride—she had a Very Special Job from Prudence.
They took a break for lunch. Prudence asked Myrtle when the last time she washed the walls was. "Ah," said Myrtle. "Well."
"We'll have to wash the walls, 'Rora," said Prudence.
Avrora did not want to wash the walls.
She did it anyway.
When they were done, Avrora sat heavily on a chair, and couldn't even bring herself to put her feet on anything. The furniture was too clean, so she just sat there with her legs a bit akimbo. She was a little worried that she wasn't clean enough anymore, but she was exhausted. Prudence was leaning heavily on a mop.
"I need a bath," Prudence said.
"I need a nap," said Avrora. "But I don't want to get in my bedroll like this."
"Get up," said Prudence, firmly. "Take me to a bathhouse."
"Sweet-talker."
"Pru?"
"Mm?"
"My ear has never been so clean. I think you can stop now."
Prudence felt her face grow warm and she drew back a little. "Oh. Sorry."
Avrora moved away, leaning back in the big, wooden tub and spreading her arms out over the edge.
Gods, she was magnificent. Prudence blinked a few times, and smiled when Avrora smiled at her. "Don't be sorry, Pru," she said. "It's gonna be nice to be so squeaky-clean."
"Until tomorrow, at least," Prudence said, trying not to stare.
"What?"
"Until tomorrow," said Prudence. "We have to tackle the kitchen somehow. And then there's the upstairs."
"Oh," said Avrora. Then, after a noticeable pause, she added, "Right. Of course."
"We can't leave the rooms as terrible as they are," said Prudence. "It'll just track the dirt downstairs." She pursed her lips. "Huh..."
"Huh?"
"I suddenly understand the maid's insistence on the need to clean top to bottom."
Avrora giggled. "Bottom."
Prudence gave her an exasperated look. She just smiled brightly back.
"It'll work out," Avrora said, breezily, waving a hand and flinging a few droplets of water. "It always does. We'll manage. Even if it means having to clean the common room a second time the day after tomorrow."
"Father always said failing to plan was planning to fail," said Prudence, looking at her own hands.
"Prudence."
"Mm?"
"Your dad's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud who takes everything far too seriously, up to and including his trite little adages."
Prudence chuckled. "Just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it out loud."
"I'll be honest—I wasn't expecting this," Prudence said, looking around the kitchen.
Cook grunted.
"Did you do this yesterday?"
Cook's eyes narrowed.
"Oh. Do you keep it this clean all the time?"
Cook nodded.
"Why didn't you say?"
Cook grunted.
"Right. Well. Good chat."
Avrora draped the borrowed apron over the upstairs railing, and braced her forearms on it to lean forward, giving her low back a bit of a stretch. Prudence, sweaty and tired, joined her in leaning on the railing.
The upstairs had taken two days. They'd discussed splitting up to tackle the last two rooms individually, but Prudence had felt deeply, deeply troubled by that by the very idea of splitting up, a bone-deep feeling that splitting up was a bad idea.
"It's done," said Avrora.
"It is," said Prudence. "Do you think Myrtle can keep it up?"
"Honestly? I have no idea. But... doing a good deed is its own reward or something. Right? That's what you paladins believe?"
Prudence smiled. "Something like that." She paused. "You smell really bad."
"You're not exactly smelling like a fresh bouquet yourself." Avrora stood straight, stretched, and said. "Bathhouse?"
"Bathhouse."
Later, hours later, once again squeaky clean and well-fed, Avrora and Prudence settled into their bedrolls.
The tent was still up. The room's furniture was still pushed to the edges of the room, even with the beds and the floors and walls all being clean now.
They liked their indoors camping. It was cosy. Also, Avrora had spent a good long while beating the dirt out of the carpet with a great deal of satisfaction, even if she'd been extremely cold by the time she was done. Their stuff was just as clean as everything else now.
Prudence rolled onto her side. "Thanks for being such a good sport," she said. "Helping with all of this."
Avrora rolled onto her side, too. Prudence's gold eyes twinkled, crinkled up at the corners, and she grinned, flashing some very sharp teeth at Avrora.
It just made her cuter.
Her hand rested in the space between them. Avrora covered it with her own. "It was my pleasure," she said, softly, rubbing her thumb gently over the side of Prudence's hand.
Prudence's eyes widened. Her gaze darted to their hands, then back to Avrora's face. "Yeah?"
"Helping you is always my pleasure," said Avrora. "Following you around and doing hero shit is always my pleasure, too, and not just because I get to hit things with my axe or make money. Because... it's you."
"Oh," said Prudence, softly.
"Yeah."
"That's really nice," said Prudence.
"Yeah."
"So are you."
"Sometimes." Avrora shrugged one shoulder
"All the time."
"Most of the time."
"Silvanus preserve me."
Chuckling softly, Avrora closed the distance between them and kissed Prudence gently. Prudence gasped, and her free hand went to her lips.
"Will he let me keep following you?" Avrora asked. "Silvanus, I mean."
"Of course he will," said Prudence, smiling, shifting closer. "You've been accepted by a Druid circle."
"And you'll let me keep following you?"
"I'm very tempted to say something very sappy about how you can stay with me, but I don't want you to follow me—I want you beside me."
"That's as good as saying it." Avrora slipped an arm around Prudence, drawing her closer as her heart started to beat faster. "But that's okay. It's paladin stuff—that makes it you stuff, and you stuff is important to me."
Prudence smiled more, and stroked Avrora's cheek, her callused fingers soft and gentle. "'Rora?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm in love with you."
Warmth spread all through Avrora's very being. She was certain that if she went outside and threw herself into a snowbank, she could melt it—maybe she could thaw the entire town. "Pru? I'm in love with you," she said.
Prudence leaned in closer, and Avrora's eyes fluttered shut, but then Prudence drew back and slapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes squinched shut and she let out a squeaky little yawn. "I'm sorry!" she said, as Avrora yawned, too—big and broad and not bothering to hide it.
And now that she'd yawned once, she couldn't stop—they kept trading it back and forth.
"Listen," Prudence said, "there's things I want, but I think I need sleep even more. But..." She leaned down, and whispered in Avrora's ear.
Avrora stopped breathing as she listened. "Promise?" she whispered back.
"Promise."
Avrora moved quickly, so quickly that Prudence squeaked again before she was left lying on her side with her back to Avrora's front. Avrora kissed the back of her head. "G'night, Pru," she said, firmly.
"Sleep well," Prudence said.
Tightening her arm around Prudence—she was strong, so strong; she could handle anything Avrora could dish out—Avrora closed her eyes and relaxed. The room was quiet, and she could hear Prudence's soft breathing as it evened out. Despite their physical contact and the bedrolls and furs, it wasn't too warm under the tent. Prudence smelled like soap.
Everything was perfect. The Oak Father could send them straight to another dragon, and Avrora would go happily if she was following—no, beside—Prudence Cloudmore.