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Tressyms and Teasing
It was taking all he had not to scoop Tara into a hug. The Tressym was funny about him stroking her at the best of times, never mind an unseasoned outburst of affection that had only ever surfaced in those darkest of times: on those cold, lonely nights in his tower. He couldn’t recall ever hugging her in happiness. It was a strange sensation, but one he wasn’t keen to shirk. He still couldn’t believe she was here, in Baldur’s Gate. Of all the wonderful coincidences in the world, this had to be Gale’s second favourite. The first-place holder stood next to him on the rooftop, her head tipped slightly as she took in his first true friend.
“Gale, what’s your Tressym doing here?”
The wizard stifled a chuckle as Rhea jumped behind him at Tara’s sharp hiss. The Tressym bared her teeth at the tiefling, who looked at Gale perplexed at what she’d done wrong. As ever, his heart burst with affection for her at the concerned expression that painted her beautiful face. The lines of her forehead and nose were creased and her dark lips were pouted in confusion. He wanted to kiss the doubt from her , reassure her that her social stumble was nothing to worry over, but it wouldn’t be proper for him to do that without assuaging Tara’s ire first. He squeezed Rhea’s hand, warm under his fingers, and said, “She’s not my Tressym. She’s my friend-”
Rhea raised an eyebrow, looking past Tara to where the faint feathery remains of a few unfortunate pigeons lay in the Tressym’s refined nest. Gale tried to keep his face neutral, but from the twitch at the corner of Rhea’s mouth as she fought her own smile, he knew he had failed.
“And from the looks of things, it appears she is eating pigeons.”
The sorcerer glanced at Tara, who glared at her coolly, tail twitching. She seemed to sense something in the feline’s gaze and lifted her hands from Gale’s shoulders, tucking them behind her back. He heard her nails begin to click as her fingers fiddled with her robes, and again it was hard not to smile at the whole ordeal. Here they were, the two of them, in the middle of their attempts to foil a mind flayer cultist plot, now standing on a roof talking to his – well, not his – Tressym...and Rhea was anxious about making a good first impression. The absurdity of it all was decidedly wonderful.
“Can you ask her to stop eating pigeons?” Rhea murmured, careful not to look Tara directly in the eye. Her question caused Gale to rediscover an ounce of his composure as he looked between the two most important women in his life. He caught Tara watching him with a curious expression but elected to ignore it on Rhea’s behalf.
“Right. Did you hear that, Tara? Erm. Stop it?”
A quiet infernal curse was uttered behind him as Rhea scraped a hand over her face, shaking her head. Tara chuckled and straightened herself on her paws. If Gale had been a more perceptive man, he would have noticed the glint of amusement in her eye as she noted the unsubtle stolen glances between the obvious couple. She had been there during the time Mystra had deigned to take a fancy upon the young wizard and had stood by Gale during his heartbreak and self-induced confinement. Watching him now with this strange tiefling woman, whose hands were calloused from hard work and whose eyes held a similar pain to her most beloved friend’s...there was an easiness and contentment in Gale that Tara had never seen before. His smile was wide and genuine, and he truly seemed happy. To simply be in the woman’s presence, rather than his usual mannerisms of verbosity. Tara liked this woman.
It was all rather curious to Tara, but why not make this new woman squirm just for a moment longer? Earn her place after all.
“Well, these must be important birds indeed, Mr Dekarios. Forgive me for feasting on their bodies and bones so very voraciously.”
The tiefling’s mouth flickered into a small grin as she shook her head again. Meanwhile, their wizard braced his hands on his hips, pleased with himself. “She’s agreed. Just about.”
Rhea ignored him, looking to the Tressym. “Thank you, Tara. I will say, I did notice some mice in the rafters of that abandoned warehouse, if you were still looking for some good hunting?”
Oh yes, Tara liked this woman indeed.
...
Gale watched as Tara glided away towards the distant rooftop, glad to have found another bright spot in the troubled city. He turned back to the sorcerer, who was also gazing after the Tressym. “Tara’s wilful as ever,” he said, catching her attention, “But I’m glad you’ve finally made her acquaintance. Given the length of my time away, I feared she might have given up on me. I should have known better-”
He smiled over his shoulder at the rooftops.
“She’d never do such a thing.”
Rhea smiled at him, edging a little closer but still allowing him room to breathe – a task he found most difficult in her company. She straightened the lapels of his robe, smartening him up with a grin. “That’s something Tara and I have in common.”
The orb pulsed in his chest, irked by the surety of her words as the Weave tugged at his fingertips. Mystra trying to pull his focus away. He ignored it all, taking in rose-coloured eyes that were filled with nought but love and certainty. He felt so full that his throat was tight with emotion. Professing his love again, even kissing her, it all felt too little to show her how he felt for her.
“I wouldn’t have her any other way.” The sorcerer huffed happily at the clear hidden meaning behind his words, her teeth finding her lip in that way Gale enjoyed oh so much when she was flustered. “I’d actually been thinking about introducing the two of you.”
He said this as he tucked a strand of hair behind pointed ears, tracing her cheek with his thumb. Rhea raised an eyebrow, leaning into his touch. “Oh, is Mr Dekarios planning a big event?”
They both chuckled as they started walking back towards the temple’s bell tower. Gale took Rhea’s hand in his, entwining their fingers and happily ignoring the rest of the world. “He might be.”
“You never told me about your surname before.” The sorcerer pointed out. There was no accusation in her tone, just a matter of fact. Gale nodded, helping her find her footing as she descended the twisted mess of vines that drooped down the wall of the building.
It had been so long since he had used his surname. It barely felt like it belonged to him anymore. Gale Dekarios was a boy wizard who scrounged for any scrap of approval he could find. Who dove and lost himself in the world of books and scrolls for hours – even days – at a time. Who chased the coattails of some of the finest casters of the last few centuries, forever feeling inadequate in their presence.
“Courtesy of my mother, the inimitable, dare I say it sometimes unavoidable, Morena Dekarios.” The wizard brushed himself down as he landed next to her on solid ground, both of them once again immersed in the hustle and bustle of the city. “It’s been so long since I used it, Gale Dekarios cuts a poor figure next to the wizarding prowess of Gale of Waterdeep.”
He supposed...thinking upon it...Gale of Waterdeep was no better. But at least he was confident. He had charm...and bravado...and the echoes of a relationship with a goddess on his side.
Gale stopped and turned to look at Rhea, who was watching him with that look that searched the deepest recesses of his soul. He both adored and feared what she could unearth with it, the parts of him he had hidden away bursting from the earth like daisies under her sunlight.
“Gale Dekarios...” She tested his name, rolling it over her tongue and listening to the way it sounded coming from her lips. Rhea saw the way the name peeled back those final layers of the facade he wore, the armour he used to face the world. Behind them, she saw the vulnerability in it. In simply being Gale. The man, not the wizard. The tiefling tried his name again, finding her smile widening the more she thought about it and how it belonged to him perfectly. “...I think I like him more.”
The wind was knocked from his lungs, which he poorly covered with a laugh. Her unbridled honesty was yet another thing he loved about her. Her acceptance of him even more so.
“You like so many things about me I’d have sooner discarded. Your generosity is quite wonderful.” His throat was tight again as he looked at his feet. He felt bare under her gaze, but it only served to stoke his happiness. “Gale Dekarios likes you too. Very, very much.”
Gale didn’t hear her move but felt her hand slide up his chin to cup his face. Her forehead touched his, and he let out a long, deep breath as her touch soothed the racing of his heart. He would forever be amazed at how quickly she could stir and calm it.
“I’m glad he does,” she whispered, her hair falling around her eyes as he lifted his gaze to meet hers.
“Can we keep his existence between us?” He found himself whispering back.
“Of course.”
After a moment of reassuring quiet, Rhea’s hand moved and found his again. She pulled him from the shade of the temple into the sunlight, the rays warming his skin as the tiefling tugged him into the belly of the crowds. The sorcerer swung their knotted fingers between them as they walked, changing the subject back to his planned official introduction to Tara, so Gale felt less raw. He squeezed her hand, hoping it would show even a fraction of how he appreciated her.
“Well, my plan was to do it over a sumptuous homecooked meal. If that sounds at all to your taste. My tower in Waterdeep boasts an excellent kitchen and a wine cellar that would rival Ondal himself.” Rhea dropped her head onto his shoulder as they fell into step, the scene playing out in her mind as Gale continued his word picture. “Not to mention, a larder stocked with my homemade hundur sauce.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever tried hundur sauce.”
Though he was enjoying the weight of her against him, Gale momentarily shrugged her off to look at her. “Oh, you must try it! It’s a Waterdhavian delicacy, spiced to leave exactly the right amount of spice on the tongue, and served with that most sharp-tooted of aquarian residents, the quipper fish.”
Rhea’s nose crinkled as she quietly laughed at his boyish eagerness, leaving Gale room to continue.
“I make it to my mother’s recipe. It packs quite a wallop. As does she. She would also want to meet you, of course.”
The tiefling moved so she stood before the wizard, stalling the flow of traffic so people had to circle around them. She rocked on the balls of her feet, giddy and girlish in a way that made her feel like a teenager again. Gale’s way of openly expressing his desires for the future, his openness to her being a part of it, was something she found breathtaking. It was a seduction entirely thoughtless, but one hundred percent effective.
“Inviting me over to your house for the first time? To meet your mother and ‘not your” Tressym, no less? You must really like me?” She teased, hoping her playful tone would hide how her voice wavered with her heartbeat. It didn’t help that he looked so serious, and her face was definitely flushed.
She gasped as she stumbled forward, Gale catching her waist and pulling her against his chest. From the corner of her eye, Rhea saw the flicker of blue of a mage hand puffing out of existence. “I do. I really, truly do, Rhea.”
Her fingers splayed over where his heart lay, feeling the magic of the orb coursing under the tips as it teased her own. The tempest within her called to it, finding perfect harmony as the twin chaoses danced together. Gods she wanted to kiss him. Whisk him away to some secluded street corner and let him ravish her like his eyes were promising. Perhaps Raphael would be up for forgoing his room at Sharess’ Caress? It would only cost her her soul...which had been lost entirely to the wizard before her. The one who was leaning forward but hovering a breath away from her lips as he teased and tested her resolve.
“Now that we have something to look forward to,” his eyes were dark, voice husky as it stirred the embers of her desire. Rhea felt herself toeing closer to begging him to kiss her or throwing caution to the wind and kissing him right there in the street. “I think it’s time we went and saved the world, don’t you?”
The wizard stepped back grinning. Rhea glared at him playfully, shoving his chest as she turned and started away from him in the direction of the postmaster’s office. He laughed loudly when he heard her grumble, “Tease,” not so quietly under her breath. He chased after her, apologising profusely whilst she tried to feign upset.
Behind them, Astarion looked at Karlach with an air of disgust. “I had truly forgotten how nauseating couples in love can be,” the vampire said as he mimicked throwing up. The other tiefling elbowed him in the gut, causing him to yelp and double over wheezing...she’d only lightly nudged him.
“Shove off, they’re cute and they’re happy. Leave them be.”
Clutching his middle, Astarion slumped against a wall dramatically. Karlach rolled her eyes.
“Come on, you diva. I don’t think they’ve realised they’ve left us behind yet.” She grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and started dragging him through the streets to catch up with their friends.