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Tav stomped through the dead brush, tendrils of shadow matching her energy and curling around her feet as the ever-present fairy dust sprinkled onto it, sending it retreating just slightly into the edges of her vision. As they reached the bright dome of safety over Last Light, a heavy hand on her shoulder halted her forward momentum. She whipped around to find Karlach, concern blatant on her face.
“Perhaps we should take a moment to catch our breath before we go in, soldier.”
Only then did Tav notice Gale and Astarion far behind, wheezing where they had been attempting to keep up with the pace she’d set back to the inn. Gale managed to cough out a weak, “You can go on without us,” that Astarion immediately protested.
“They absolutely can not go on without us.” He leaned his head back against a tree, hands on his knees. “I am not about to miss the most entertaining fight this side of the Gate just because you can’t keep up.”
“Oh, just because I can’t keep up?” Gale squatted down, gulping down air. “Because you look like you’re doing so much better, old man.”
“Old man? You look older than I do you little -”
Karlach had picked them both up by the back of their clothes and deposited them on the safe side of the Last Light Inn barrier. “If we’re going to do this again, could we at least do it from in here?”
Tav rolled her eyes and took off to the inn itself, missing the scramble of Astarion and Gale getting to their feet to follow. She knew exactly where to find the object of her rage, though she was surprised to see him half a bottle deep knowing that his siblings had already arrived safe and unharmed ahead of her.
Cal and Lia were in the space next to him, and though they waved a greeting, she could see the concern plainly written on their faces at the current state of their brother. Tav suppressed the rage long enough to shoot a smile in their direction, though she didn't change her course or acknowledge any of the other recently-rescued denizens of Last Light.
She calmly stepped up next to the stool Rolan always seemed to be occupying and addressed Mol's underlings that had been left to man the bar. “Kids, leave. And no more alcohol for Rolan. I’ll pay you to not serve him, actually.”
She snatched the half-empty bottle from his hand before he had even registered her presence and threw it on the ground. He finally looked up at her then, eyes narrowed and mouth turned in a scowl. “That was perfectly good wine you’ve wasted.”
“You’ve been wasting perfectly good wine for weeks.”
“It’s not wasting, it’s medicating.”
"It stopped being medicating a long time ago."
“Oh, come off it, Tav! You don’t have to act like you give a damn. You saved my ass out there, you get to look the hero, congratulations, now give me my wine and leave me alone.”
"Look like the hero? You think that's what this is about?"
"Then what is it about? You saved my ass, you saved my siblings, you want what, compensation? Fine! Thank you, and here's your coin." The bag of gold shoved into her hands was the final crack in Tav's calm demeanor.
"I don't want your bloody coin, Rolan! What in the Nine Hells is wrong with you? Do you have empty space where your brain ought to be?"
She slammed the coinpurse into Cal's chest, causing him to puff out a breath in surprise. Tav's companions stepped back and busied themselves with anything else that looked mildly interesting, while keeping one eye on the escalating situation. Even Astarion had elected to watch Karlach destroy Halsin in a drinking contest rather than be subjected to the wrath Tav was about to unleash on the wizard. Tav gripped Rolan by the front of his robes, effectively yanking him off his stool, and shoved him into the empty room behind them. She kicked the door shut, pushing Rolan until his back was flattened against the far wall. She didn't give him a moment to process his new situation before she was ripping into him.
"What the hells were you thinking? Going off into the shadows like that, by yourself, drunk off your ass - like you always seem to be lately - with nothing but what, one torch and your special thunderwave?" She wiggled her fingers in the air dramatically before shoving an accusatory finger into his chest and continuing. "That was absolutely moronic, and you know it. If you had just waited, I was heading there to get them back! I was taking care of it for you! There was no reason for you to put yourself in that situation, and the only thing you accomplished was getting yourself hurt and making it take longer for us to get to them. It was ridiculous! It's like you didn't even think it through! You could've gotten seriously hurt, and then what would your siblings have come back to, huh? What good would that have done, you going out there and - you could have died, Rolan, do you understand that? You could have died."
Her anger gave out at the end, her accusation falling as flat as the palm now resting on his chest. She looked up into his face to search for her answers there, but it seemed she'd find only more questions as Rolan just stared blankly down at her.
Tav gripped his face, forcing him to acknowledge her. "Listen to me." She watched as his eyes traced the shape of the words on her lips and pretended she felt nothing about it. "Don't you ever do something so stupid again. You let me handle it, and you stay safe and alive. Do you understand?"
Rolan nodded slowly, eyes never leaving her mouth. She felt him lean into her, but before her brain caught up, his lips were brushing hers, warm and tentative. She pushed up into him softly, eyes fluttering closed and hand traveling from his chest to his neck, holding him closer. As she tangled her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, she tugged lightly, causing Rolan to groan. Tav caught the scent of alcohol on his breath, and she was pulled back into the reality of the moment, shaken by how quickly things had spiraled.
She pulled away and pushed against Rolan's chest to hold him in place. He looked at her with an expression she could only allow herself to describe as lust. He ran a hand down her neck, nails catching and peeling some dried blood from where she had killed to get his family back. "You're beautiful, Tav."
"You're drunk."
"And you're still beautiful. Infuriatingly so."
"We can't do this."
"Because I'm drunk."
"Amongst other reasons."
"Ah. The elf?"
Tav hummed, gave him a sad smile, and backed toward the door, cracking it open. "Astarion, yes. I can't - And also, you hate me. You'll remember later, when I haven't just saved your family."
As she closed the door behind her, she thought she heard him say something. Maybe, "If only that were true," but she couldn't be sure.
She shot a parting wave to Cal and Lia, said quick goodnights to the rest of the guests of Last Light who were still celebrating their recent liberation, and wandered outside to where she had set up her bedroll for the night, just out of sight of most of the Last Light patrols. Staying indoors even here still made her uneasy, claustrophobic. She leaned against the stone wall beside her camp pack.
Astarion's voice startled her, though she should've been used to him sneaking up on her by now. "That was quite the dramatic argument, my dear. I must say, I didn't know you had that level of theatrics in you."
She groaned as he settled in beside her, both of them staring off into the shadows. "I just don't understand why he insists on being such an insufferable ass. Clearly that's just the way he is, but at some point you've got to just accept that you need help."
"Well, you do have a tendency to adore insufferable asses. Not that I'm complaining."
Tav scoffed. "I do not adore Rolan."
Astarion threw his head back in a real laugh, causing Tav to glare sideways at him. "Ah yes, deny it some more. I know kiss-swollen lips when I see them, and your hair is not doing you any favors, my dear."
She felt her heart drop and turned her attention back to the shadows. "It was nothing. He was drunk, and he kissed me."
Astarion rolled his head to look at her, eyebrows pinched in disbelief.
"Star, I swear, nothing happened. That's really it. He's drunk, he kissed me, I kissed him back because it surprised me but as soon as I realized what was happening, I stopped it, and I would never do anything to - " she started to get up, panic and nausea rising in equal parts, and immediately felt cold fingers wrap around her wrist.
Astarion pulled her down where he sat on the ground, her legs on either side of his, and his hands settled on her hips. Tav looked down at his soft smile, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. He reached one hand to swipe a thumb under her eyes, still just watching her, his other hand rubbing soothing circles on the skin of her hip.
He waited until her breathing evened out to speak, his thoughts coming out in his typical non-chalance, though their significance was not wasted on her. "It's not a problem for me, you know."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Not a problem?"
"Not a problem. I don't mind you having those feelings for someone else." He paused, thinking. "Well, no, that's not quite right. But I don't mind you having those feelings for… certain others. I think the Tiefling wizard falls in that category. And I certainly don't mind you going elsewhere - ah, physically - if you want to. As long as this - " he gestured between them before holding her hand, " - is a sure thing."
Tav stopped moving completely, studying Astarion's face, looking for any sign that he wasn't being honest with her or was putting on a mask of the man he thought she needed. When she couldn't find one, she cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him hard. "Astarion?"
"Yes, my love?"
"You know that you are more than enough for me, right? Always, all of you. In every aspect. I don't need to go anywhere else to get anything."
"I know. That's why it's okay, my dear. As long as you don't go falling in love with every insufferable, sad, angry, beautiful man we meet."
"Humble."
"It's what you love most about me. Now, enough of that. Tell me, was he better than I am?"
Tav startled. "What?"
"Kissing, darling. Is Rolan better at kissing than I am?"
Tav laughed and pulled him into her. "Mm, could be. You might need to get more experience."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, more experience, you say? I think that can be arranged."
Tav giggled as Astarion pounced, his lips tracing her body all night, never quite landing on her mouth.