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It happens quickly.
One moment, Gale is tailing the party - a bit further behind than he should be, perhaps, but still keeping up - as they move along the road. The darkness seethes around them; the others' heads dart from side to side, bird-like, but Gale barely notices. Elminster's words echo in his mind. He has only to find the heart of this "Absolute" somewhere in these cursed lands, and then he will have purpose once more. A use. Perhaps everything - the burnt roses, Mystra, the Netherese book, the arrival of the nautiloids - has been leading to this precise outcome. A puzzle solved at last.
Then: a whisper, a sensation like a caress. Familiar, almost welcome, as it twines around his body. Perhaps this is why Gale doesn't cry out as he is snatched off the road.
Gale lands hard on his back, the air knocked from his lungs. An inky mass looms over him, haloed by the unearthly green glow that permeates these lands, its tendrils reaching for him.
Will this be the way he fails, in the end?
Will it hurt when the shadows take him?
Suddenly, the tendrils freeze, hovering over his chest. The creature growls in open frustration.
And Gale understands. What harm can the shadows do to him when a blight lives beneath his very skin? The moment of hesitation is all he needs. "Tormentum!" Gale gasps, hands raised.
But the creature melts into the darkness and Gale's magic missiles lose their target, flying aimlessly into the night. Another growl comes with teeth; claws that are all too solid materialize and rake across his chest. Gale finds the breath to scream.
A roar rings out as a blaze of flames abruptly appears behind the creature. Karlach, radiant in her fury, leaps towards them. "I see him! Hang on, Gale!" Her axe arcs through the air at an impossible speed. The creature shrieks and dissipates, leaving behind a tiny, glowing orb that hits the earth with a soft thud. Gale has a moment to wonder what his own body will leave behind before Karlach effortlessly scoops him up in her arms. "I've got you," she says with a grin.
"Ah," Gale manages, just before he loses consciousness.
***
Gale's recovery from the necrotic wound is swift, largely due to the skills of their cleric, but the wounds to his pride and to his psyche are a little harder to shake. When he offers to take the first watch that very evening, the rest of the party mortifyingly decides that it would be safer to have at least two people on watch for as long as they remain in these surroundings. Thus, Gale finds himself paired with Karlach.
Gale has spent little time with Karlach one-on-one. He’s had many conversations with Astarion, with Wyll, with Shadowheart - even with Lae’zel, when Gale was unable to resist the temptation to ask about githyanki customs. But the tiefling woman? He is surprised by how awkward he feels in her presence.
And judging from the way her tail curls and uncurls itself as she settles onto the other end of the large log that had been placed near the campfire, she isn’t much more comfortable. But she breaks the silence first. “So…. You feelin' better, Magic Man?”
Gale chuckles. “Ah. So you have a soubriquet for me, as well.”
“A soober what?”
“Erm, a nickname?”
“Right, sorry.” Karlach rubs the back of her neck, her tail twitching. “I’ve never been much for big fancy words.”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m simply an overeducated fool.”
Karlach blinks at him. “Are you…apologizing for being smart?”
“I….” Gale shrugs. “I’ve been told that I can come across as off-putting.”
“Nah." Karlach slides down the makeshift bench towards him. "Just a different way of talking, that's all. Sounds right when you or Fangs say words like that. Nice, even.”
"Just the same, there's nothing wrong with a more colloquial form of speech."
"Is that your way of saying I talk like some street kid from the Gate?"
"Erm-"
Karlach winks. "Just teasing. 'Sides, that's kinda what I am and I'm proud of it." They both go still at the shrill, unnatural call of some creature out in the darkness. When nothing further happens, Karlach leans over to pick up a small branch and tosses it into the fire. "This place gives me the creeps."
"The endless manifestation of darkness and decay?" Gale rubs his chest idly. "I hadn't noticed it."
"You're funny." Karlach kicks a rock in his direction. "That was scary back there, you know. Watching you get sucked into the shadows. Thought you were lost for good."
"For a moment, I thought so as well. But it seems even the shadows recognize that I-" Gale shakes his head and turns to look at her. "I never properly thanked you for" - he coughs -"coming to my rescue. A bit embarrassing, really, being swept away like that. Not to mention having to be carried back to camp."
"Any time. That's what I'm good at. Pick-me-ups, you know?" Karlach breaks into a grin at Gale's soft huff of amusement. "Especially now that I can touch people again."
"I'm sure you're good at a great number of things, Karlach, though your strength was certainly appreciated today." Gale gestures vaguely in her direction. "So Dammon's fix is working well, then?"
"Haven't tested it out nearly enough yet. Didn't burn you, though!" Karlach adds brightly. "'Course, it's not a permanent fix, so I don't know how long I have, but..."
Gods. He'd nearly forgotten about the blacksmith's warning. "Karlach-"
"...in this moment, I'm fine. Here I am. There you are. Breathing. Talking. Even laughing." Her voice is steady and cheerful.
"So we are." Gale nods. "But fear not. You may yet have time to find a more permanent solution."
Karlach stretches. "Enough about that. You must have some good stories, yeah? What was it like growing up in stuffy old Waterdeep, anyway?”
“It was….” Gale gazes into the fire. “Lonely,” he says after a moment. “Lovely, but lonely. Magic was my - well, my everything.”
“Weren't your folks around?”
"My father left not long after my magical abilities, erm, manifested themselves. But my mother was, yes. And then she sent me to Blackstaff. Fortunately, I also had Tara, and Elminster.”
“And Mystra?”
Gale sighs. “And Mystra.”
“That’s fucked up. Your mum should've-”
“My mother loves me!" Gale protests. "I was simply…a lot to handle. I know she did the best she could. But what about you? What was your childhood like?”
Karlach relents, her mouth twitching into a smile. “Mum did laundry. Our place smelled like clean clothes all the time. And Dad was a porter. They worked hard, but they always found time for me. We were close, you know? We didn’t have much, but we had each other. And I had plenty of other outer city kids to play with.”
“That sounds wonderful. Perhaps that’s why you’re so much better with people than I am.”
Karlach shrugs. "Then we lost Mum. She got sick. And Dad died in a cart accident a couple of years later.”
“I'm sorry. How old were you?”
“I was a teenager by then. Already working for the fucker that sold me to Zariel, even." Karlach's tail lashes against the log, her hands balling up into fists. She takes a deep breath. "If they'd been alive, they never would've let that happen. I probably should have known better myself, but....”
Gale shakes his head. “You were betrayed, Karlach. It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah. I know that.” Karlach abruptly cocks her head, staring at him. “Do you know that?”
"Know what?"
"That all this stuff with the orb wasn’t your fault?"
"But it was," Gale scoffs. "I’m the one who chose to go after that book and-”
“But a goddess had been messing with your life for years, Gale! Those immortal types just don't know what it’s like to be us little piggies. Sure, you made the choice - I could say that, too - but you were manipulated into it, same as me.”
“Even if I were to agree with the premise of your argument, I disagree with the conclusion. I knew the dangers and I made the choice anyway." Gale looks out into the darkness. "But now I'm here, exactly where I'm meant to be."
Karlach blows out a breath. "What did you mean, earlier? About the shadows 'recognizing' you?"
"The shadow...hesitated. I think it could sense that I'm already part-shadow myself."
Karlach's face falls. "You don't really believe that, do you?"
Gale spreads his hands. "It's the most plausible explanation. Perhaps I'll even leave behind a little orb myself, when I go."
Looking away, Karlach takes a deep breath before turning her head back towards him. Her eyes shimmer. “Could I…you know…kiss you?”
"What?" Gale looks around wildly, half expecting someone else to have walked up behind him, but they are still alone. “Me?”
“Who else?”
“Why?”
“Well, I haven’t given anyone a kiss in ten years, and I’d kind of like to, and I think you need one.”
“No one needs a kiss, strictly speaking….”
Karlach groans. "C'mon!"
"I'm not entirely unwilling, but it’s been…quite a long time for me, as well.”
“Really." Karlach looks mildly offended. "You said you locked yourself up in your tower for a year, but weren’t you making love to your goddess right before that?”
Gale blushes. “Well, in a sense. Our joinings weren’t of a” - he presses the palms of his hands together - “corporeal nature, as it were, and-”
“-Corp- Wait, are you saying you and Mystra never, like, touched? Like it wasn’t real?”
“It was real. Transcendent. Just…not tactile. Exhilarating in a more spiritual sense.”
“But we’re flesh and blood, Gale! We’re meant to touch, to feel, to experience all the beauty around us. Live a little! Scream! Hit things! Kiss the girl!”
“I don’t think those are all exactly equivalent experi-”
Abruptly, Karlach reaches out with one hand, fingers curling into his robes to yank him forward. Their mouths collide roughly; Gale doesn’t even close his eyes initially, his hands flailing. He doesn't know what to do with them. At last, he yields, letting his eyes flutter closed as he rests his trembling hands on her arm and melts into the sensation. Not a cold whisper; not an intangible image. She is fire and feeling and hope and life.
She releases him then, leaning away slightly. Her golden eyes are wide, suddenly shy. “How was that?”
Gale gasps softly, touching his fingertips to his lips. “Warm. Wet.” He lifts his eyes to hers. “Real.”
Karlach smiles. “I like real things.” She is glowing - literally glowing, her skin aflame from within. She knocks on her chest and chuckles. “Look at that. Honest to goodness sparks.” Karlach nods at him. “For you, too.”
Gale looks down at his chest, pulling at the neckline of his wrap shirt for a better look; while it doesn’t pain him, the mark of the orb is also glowing brightly. "Sparks indeed,” he laughs.
"So are you still thinking about...using that thing?"
Gale swallows. "I still think it's the right choice. If I follow the logical progression of events, it would seem as though I were born for this. Not to mention Mystra's charge."
"I know what that big brain of yours has to say, but” - Karlach leans forward again with an open palm, placing it gently against his chest - “what do you feel in here?”
“Until recently, pain.”
“Gale!”
“All right, all right.” Gale stares down at her hand curiously. “I don’t know. I feel like this is the correct choice for all involved. A fitting conclusion to my tale. Everything wrapped up neatly.”
“But how do you feel about it?”
“I don’t wish to die!” Gale blurts out. He takes a deep breath, startled by his own admission. Karlach's hand still rests against his chest, warm and grounding.
"Then don't." Karlach smiles gently. "Whatever you decide, I've got your back. But I think we can defeat the Absolute without losing you, Gale. Don’t throw your life away before you’ve tried living it." A single tear makes its way down her face. "It's a gift. You have to savour it.”
Unthinkingly, Gale reaches out with his thumb to wipe the tear away, half-remembered words coming to his lips. "Kisses are a better fate than wisdom, lady. I swear by all flowers. Don’t cry."
"That's beautiful." Karlach sniffles. "What is it?"
"Part of a poem I read in a book many years ago."
"Will you read me the rest of it someday?"
Gale nods solemnly, letting his hand rest on the side of her face. "I would be honored to do so."
Karlach holds up her other hand, pinky extended. "Promise?"
Gale reaches across to link his pinky with hers. "Promise."