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Ardak placed his convenience store loot on a tray and stepped outside into the golden heat on the patio. He kicked off his flip-flops, one of them landing in the pool and bobbing up to float, and flipped open the cooler to dump in the fresh bag of ice. The rough white tile comfortably singed the bottoms of his feet.
At the grill, Lae’zel was dutifully tending to the burgers and dogs. She was creating and distributing burgers at maximum efficiency, perfectly cooked to order every time, and working up a sweat in the summer humidity. Her t-shirt clung to her hips, soaked with sweat and pool water, over a scant swimsuit. If they hadn’t invited guests, they would have enjoyed this weather nude and saved on laundry.
He was planning on just grilling the food to whatever color and piling them on some foil, but as the only one who could drive, he had to make an ice run to the Copper General. Lae’zel, on the other hand, was incapable of half-assing anything, even when terribly day-drunk.
The date that symbolically marked Mother Gith’s rebellion against the illithid empire was celebrated by githyanki wherever they landed with fireworks and a traditional meal, and on Faerûn, this fell on the fourth of Flamerule. The hot season felt natural for the important holiday and meant that Ardak could freely go to the store in swim shorts and unveil his new in-ground swimming pool, which overlooked the Chionthar in a display of debauched wealth.
“Your hot pickle and Red Rothé.” He offered Lae’zel the tray and a kiss and began fashioning himself a hot dog and a plate of traditional fixings: baked beans, slaw, buttery corn, and neogi neck--hard to get in Baldur’s Gate, but not impossible.
She peeled the pickle wrapper and indicated a twitching eye stalk, forgotten near the cooler. So that was where he’d left his eye-phone. It blinked at him rapidly, indignant at having so many ignored notifications. “You got a call. Several calls.”
Picking it up and clearing out its writhing notifications, he noticed about forty missed calls from “DO NOT ANSWER,” and considered if he should call it back. He remembered that he had programmed the phone to bite him if he tried to call that particular number and tossed the eye into a chair.
This was no time to pine over notifications. Pool guests needed tending to--guests that included Orpheus’s entire rebellion force, such as it was. It seemed like Karlach and Wyll had challenged the raiders to a game of pool chicken, and they were busy destroying his patio. That’s why he had paid extra for the dragon-sized pool and fireproof furniture. Gale was passed out in a reclining outdoor chair, with a wide-brimmed wizard hat over his face and Tara helping herself to his plate of food.
Next, he brought his tray of convenience store snacks and a piece of burger rolled into a bite-size ball to the shady canopy, where Shadowheart and Astarion were enjoying the new speaker system and baby pool. A big electric fan hummed and ruffled the napkins and empty plates on the fold-out table. Cooling off on their sides, Scratch and Buttons eyed the food, but with a warning huff from elder brother Scratch, the little adolescent wolf thought better of begging for scraps.
Baby Xan, equipped with water wings, was happily splashing and accepting snacks as Shadowheart held him up in the water. Ardak knelt down and put a raw hamburger ball in the hatchling’s mouth and gave Shadowheart the other energy drink and hot pickle.
“He’s getting good at that,” Ardak noted. He lifted Xan up under the arms. “I think he’s ready for the big pool.”
Shadowheart stood up in the plastic pool and shook off. “Are you sure? He’s so little.”
“Of course. He wants to go swimming with his brothers. I’ll show you how I learned to swim.” He carried Xan over to the edge of the pool and released the baby into the water, where he bobbed around on his water wings, struggling a little bit to stay right-side up. Ardak slid into the sparkling blue water next to him and turned him so he was properly balanced. Shadowheart arranged herself on the steps and kicked her legs in the water.
The raiders noticed the hatchling bobbing around in the water and beckoned him over with claps and splashes. Ardak hoped that wherever the future took little Xan, he would remember that his people loved him. Had Mother Gith felt the same?
