Archive of Our Own

Veth was settling in for a comfortable afternoon to herself — Yeza was supervising Luc's playdate with one of his classmates — with a glass of rosé, a smutty book, and vague thoughts of tinkering with a new composition for an explosive.

Which was, naturally, when someone knocked on the door.

Veth put her head back and groaned at the ceiling. It was probably Adelaide Higgleswort, their next door neighbor who'd been so friendly and welcoming when they first moved in and now did nothing but complain about Luc's crossbow bolts ending up in her garden. Not exactly her favorite shit to deal with. Usually Yeza handled her, after…well. It hadn't quite escalated to physical violence.

Another knock. Veth heard Yeza in her head say, slightly pleadingly, she's our neighbor, we don't have to like her but we should at least try to be polite, I don't want to start a feud. Veth, for her part, thought a feud would be kind of fun, but…for Yeza's sake.

"Fine, fine," she said, set aside her book, got up, and went to the door, bracing herself for whatever stupid complaint the bitch was bringing around this time.

It wasn't Adelaide. There were two people on her porch, one of them clearly only upright because he was being held that way. There was a fair quantity of blood puddled on the ground, and a battered, familiar drow staring at her with obvious desperation.

It was the middle of the day. Sun shining, perfect weather, nice and peaceful street, and Veth knew for a fact that Morris Vesper across the street was nosy as fuck.

"Get in," she said, clearing the doorway. Grabbed a towel from the kitchen and threw it down over the blood, hoping it'd pass for a welcome mat or something, and closed the door before turning around, attention zeroing in on Caleb's limp, unconscious form.

"What did you do," she hissed at Essek. He blinked at her, looking dazed. Veth went to take Caleb from him, realized she'd have a bit of a challenge, and pointed at the couch. "Put him there."

Essek half-carried Caleb over and very nearly dropped him on the couch. "Be gentle," Veth said sharply, and hurried over to investigate.

Her first impression was that he wasn't in good shape but Veth had seen him worse. Looked a little chewed on rather than cut up, which was sort of a relief, in some ways, though there was one long nasty gash down his arm that needed bandaging even if it wasn't bleeding freely anymore. Honestly Veth had seen him worse and still conscious, so that was weird, and worrying, and she turned around to ask Essek what the fuck was up.

He'd helped himself to one of the chairs at the kitchen table, and looked, Veth realized, like eight of the nine hells.

"What the hell happened," Veth demanded. Essek took an unsteady breath.

"Long story," he said. "My apologies for — intruding. You were closer than anyone else."

"Start telling it now," Veth said. "What's wrong with Caleb?"

"I don't know," Essek said.

"You don't know?" Veth glared at him, worry clutching at her chest.

Essek blinked a few times and swayed. "I don't. He seems stable but I can't…" He trailed off, swallowed, and folded like a house of cards, fully out of the chair and onto her floor.

"Oh, shit," Veth said.

On inspection of Essek's thoroughly unconscious body, Veth revised her estimate upward from eight of nine hells to all of them. Honestly the ragged hole under his ribs probably counted for a whole three on its own.

She glanced over at Caleb, still out cold but at least as far as she could tell not actively bleeding to death, back at Essek (actively bleeding to death) and swore.

Getting up, she scrambled for the chest she kept in the hall closet and fished through it for her pack, but she hadn't exactly been keeping a supply of healing potions on hand, that shit was expensive. Muttering "fuck, fuck, fuck" she grabbed the nearest blanket, automatically going to tear it with her teeth and then remembering they weren't sharp enough to do that so easily anymore. Which meant she had to get scissors, and by the time she got back to Essek he looked sort of grey-purple in a way that didn't seem good.

"Why couldn't you go to Caduceus," Veth asked him. "You know, someone with actual healing—" She started cutting through Essek's clothes, taking some slightly petty pleasure in ruining them. "Okay," she said to herself, staring at the — hole that seemed like it should be dealt with first. "Okay, okay." She didn't know shit about medicine except that you wanted the blood on the inside, where it seemed like most of it currently wasn't.

Well. Probably should try to keep the rest where it belonged. Veth crumpled up a strip of blanket and stuffed it into the wound.

The fact that Essek just sort of twitched seemed like kind of a bad thing. She left the wad of fabric where it was and moved on. "It's not like I can get in touch with anybody," she said. "I can't teleport across a continent, did you think about that before showing up, dropping Caleb, and bleeding all over my house? He needs actual help, you know."

It looked like something had slashed up one of his legs, too, which meant cutting Essek's pants off, too, and that she felt kind of bad about considering she kind of got the impression that Essek preferred to avoid flashing as much as an ankle. To anybody.

She sure hoped Caleb was getting the sex life he deserved. Maybe she should check in about it.

Some of this shit was going to need stitches, probably, but getting her kit and then doing them would take too long right now so she settled for just wrapping everything to at least slow down the exit of the rest of Essek's blood from his body, and he was still breathing when she finished.

Also her living room smelled like copper and now there was a mostly naked drow on her floor. The fabric she'd stuffed into him was already dark red and sodden.

"Oh, come on," Veth said anxiously. "Get it together, you fucker. My husband — you know, the one you imprisoned and starved and probably tortured or whatever — is going to be home pretty soon, and my son, I don't want them to walk in on your corpse on the floor, you're already leaving a hell of a mess to clean."

Maybe she should go find a cleric. She didn't know where to find a cleric, and also how the fuck was she going to explain the random drow in her house, there weren't exactly a lot of them running around the Menagerie Coast.

"If you die in my house, I swear," Veth said. Essek's breathing seemed shallower. She glanced hopefully over at Caleb again, just in case, but he hadn't gotten any more conscious than previously.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. Let's…" She got up and went to grab one of the towels, since she'd run out of blanket. It took a fair bit of manhandling but she managed to wrap it around Essek's middle, more or less, which would hopefully put more pressure on the hole (seriously, what the fuck did that, it looked nasty) and maybe that would help.

He looked more grey than purple now. Maybe it was the lighting.

The door opened. "Oh," Veth heard Yeza say faintly, and then, "Luc, don't look—"

"Who's — Uncle Caleb?"

"We have a problem," Veth said.

"I see that," Yeza said. "Luc—"

"Uncle Caleb — what's wrong with him? Is he okay? Who's that and what happened to him, is that all blood—"

"Maybe the two of you should go to Old Edith's," Veth said, standing up and putting her hands behind her back, hoping she was mostly blocking the gory mess that Essek currently was. "Hey, Luc! Everything's fine, Uncle Caleb will be okay soon, and it's fake blood."

Yeza was eyeing Essek's body a little nervously. "Do you," he said, and then took a breath and said, "you need help."

"I'll be fine," Veth said. She pointed at the door. "I'll get this — I'll handle it."

Yeza hesitated, but then nodded and put his arm around Luc's shoulders, drawing him away from where he was hovering near Caleb and trying to sneak glances behind Veth. "Come on, Luc," he said. "We're going to go see Auntie Edith."

"I'll see you soon, sweetheart," Veth said, trying to smile. Luc looked uncertain, a little worried, and just before the door closed Veth heard him ask, "is it really fake blood?"

Stupid thing to say. He was a smart kid. Obviously he wasn't going to buy that.

Veth turned back toward Essek. "Okay. Thanks for making me kick my own family out of our house. You still alive?" she asked, crouching down and checking the pulse in his neck. Didn't feel great but it was still there. And she honestly wasn't sure what else she could do.

She went over to Caleb, just in case, started to pat his cheek, realized her hands were covered in blood, and wiped them off on her already ruined dress before finishing the motion. "Hey, Lebby," she said. "It'd be really good if you could wake up now."

Nothing. He was breathing slow but evenly. There was a cut over one of his eyebrows but it'd already scabbed over. Most of the places he'd been chewed on looked scabbed over, if some only barely. No extra holes, as far as she could tell. She glanced from him to Essek and then back and said, "son of a bitch."

She checked her pack again, just in case she'd missed a healing potion in there. Then, grabbing Essek under the arms, she hauled him away from the table and over closer to the couch — "you're going to owe me every Prestidigitate you can fucking do," Veth told him, eyeing the blood on her nice floor — and tried to lay him out in a reasonably comfortable position. His skin felt cold and clammy so she tracked down an extra blanket — "you're going to owe me two new blankets, too," she said — and put it over him, and then sat down on the floor and stared at the two unconscious wizards now decorating her house.

"Okay," she said. "Either of you want to stop napping and tell me what the fuck I'm supposed to do now?"

Neither of them, naturally, answered.

"Well, fuck you too," Veth said to Essek. "Not you, Caleb, happy to have you."

After she said it, she did feel a little bad. Not that Essek could hear her.

Yeza came back while Veth was trying to clean up some of the blood. Both Caleb and Essek were still unconscious, but both of them were also still alive so far, so…counting that as a win.

Essek still sort of looked like he might not stay that way. Which…Veth honestly had no idea what she was supposed to do in that situation.

The door opened and she half reached for a crossbow that she wasn't currently carrying before realizing it was Yeza. He came in and stood uncertainly on the threshold, expression uneasy but determined.

"How can I help," he said.

"I thought you were going to stay with Luc," Veth said.

"I was," Yeza said. "But I didn't like the idea of leaving you alone with — this."

Veth grimaced. She wanted to tell him to leave. She didn't like — she liked keeping her life compartmentalized. There was the Mighty Nein part of it and there was the Yeza and Luc part of it and it never meant anything good when the two crossed over. And having Yeza and Essek specifically in the same place made her want to bite something, especially with the way Yeza was conspicuously avoiding looking at him.

But also.

"I don't suppose you know where to find healing potions," Veth said. "I don't think we have the kit and…maybe an antidote if you can find one that's broad spectrum?" Maybe Caleb had been poisoned and that was why he wouldn't wake up. It was a thought, anyway. "Stuff for pain, too. Or if you know any healers who work under the table."

"I can try," Yeza said, sounding a little dubious.

"Don't worry about the last one, let's start with the potions," Veth said. "Once one of them is awake we should have more options."

A slightly shaky nod. Veth looked away.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's fine," Yeza said, unconvincingly.

"It's really not." Veth grimaced again and gestured at Essek. "If you want me to put him outside or something—"

"No, no," Yeza said quickly. "Don't do that, it's — it's really fine." Yeah, Veth thought. Sure. And now she was pissed at Essek again, because he was scaring her husband.

"If you change your mind."

Yeza ran a hand through his hair. "He's your friend," he said.

"Sort of," Veth said, but with a guilty little twinge. Essek, actively bleeding to death, apologizing for intruding. She glanced over at Caleb. "Okay. But if you change your mind. It's our house."

"Thank you, Veth," he said. Edged over, kissed her cheek, and headed out.

She went over to Caleb to check on him again, just in case anything had changed. (It hadn't.) Then back over to stare down at Essek. "Don't think I don't mean it," she said. "If he says so I will put you outside."

Nothing. Did he look greyer? When she crouched down to check his pulse it was still there but he also seemed really fucking cold.

She got another blanket and put that on top of the first one. An hour, she told herself. She'd give it an hour and if Yeza didn't find a healing potion and Essek didn't come around on his own she'd say fuck it and track down a cleric somewhere, awkward explanations be damned. She'd come up with something.

She'd noticed the way Essek treated her — polite, courteous, distant — and it'd always pissed her off. Seemed like he thought he was too good for her, or (she'd seriously considered) jealous, or just fucking — whatever. It was annoying. It honestly hadn't occurred to her that maybe he thought he was doing her a favor.

Which was stupid, but what else did she expect.

Except how she honestly didn't want Essek in the same place as Yeza and Luc and maybe that sort of came off as not wanting him in the same place as her, either, even though it wasn't exactly the same thing. But she could see how it maybe came off that way. And how maybe most people would see it that way.

And now she felt guilty again.

"Okay, hot boy," she said. "Wake up already. Preferably with a Teleport in your pocket so we can get your asses to the Blooming Grove. Sound good?"

No response. Veth sighed. "Yeah," she said. "That's what I thought you'd say."

It was maybe another fifteen minutes and Yeza hadn't yet returned when Essek moved. Barely — a twitch of one ear, a slight flutter of eyelids — but given the deathly stillness otherwise it was a change and Veth immediately hurried over. "Hey," she said. "Don't move too much, you're not in the best shape and I'm not exactly a healer."

Essek's eyes opened and blinked groggily at her. His pupils looked huge. "Veth?" he said scratchily.

"Shit, right," she said. "Water." She picked up her rosé, hesitated, downed it, and then refilled it with normal water and went back. One of Essek's hands was sort of hovering over his stomach where his new hole was, not quite touching the thick swath of bandages over it.

"Don't touch that," Veth said firmly. "Unless you got healing hands when I wasn't looking." Essek turned his head to look at her and moved like he was going to sit up. He promptly went an even sicklier purple-grey than he already was and collapsed back down with a strangled choking noise.

"I told you not to move," Veth said. "I have no idea what got the two of you but it got you good. Here." She started to hold out the water, realized Essek was going to have a hard time drinking it flat on his back, and knelt down to slide an arm under his shoulders and lift. "Don't try to help," she told him, and at least he didn't try to argue with her. She only gave him a couple swallows before taking the water away. "Just to make sure you don't puke it right back up," she said in answer to Essek's slight frown, and set it aside.

"Ah," he said, a little faintly. "That does sound. Unpleasant." His eyes widened. "Caleb—"

"Still breathing, no changes," Veth said, like she was fine and not freaked out about that at all. "Stay focused. I did what I could to stick you back together, which wasn't a lot. Like I said, I'm not exactly a healer. Your best bet is going to be one of those, so, what do you need to get you and me and Caleb to the Blooming Grove?"

Essek's expression fell. He looked positively miserable. "I don't know," he said. "The — one of the things we ran into. Did something to me. I wasn't sure I could get us here but I'm — quite certain it would be unwise to try casting anything else requiring that level of power." He'd lost color again just talking. "I was hoping Caleb would rouse and…but he hasn't?"

Well, Veth thought. Shit. She'd really, really, really been banking on being able to get this problem to someone who could actually fix it. "What do you mean, unwise?" she asked.

Essek swallowed with what looked like some difficulty. "Straightforward failure would be the better option," he said. "The concern would be. Ah. A backlash that would cause significant damage to me and anyone in the vicinity." Veth stared at him.

"Was that true when you came here?"

"It was taking the risk or certain death," Essek said wearily. "Shorter range seemed safer. And if…if something had gone wrong it would have been on the other end. Not here."

"Oh," Veth said, a little high pitched. "That makes it better." Essek blinked at her like he wasn't quite following and she decided not to elaborate. "Okay. Fine. I get the point. You don't think Caleb would have the same problem?"

"I don't think so. Obviously I can't be…sure. But I think this was a result of being…stung. If that's the right word." He made a vague gesture in the direction of his stomach. Whatever expression was on Veth's face, he added, "it was a very substantial stinger."

"Where the fuck were you," Veth demanded. Essek's eyes dragged closed and she said, "hey, wait, hang on, don't pass out again."

"May I have more water, please?" Essek said.

He didn't seem like he was going to throw up. And he'd lost a lot of blood. "Since you asked so nicely," Veth said, easing him up again just enough that he wouldn't choke.

"Thank you," he said politely when the water was gone. Veth felt herself grimace.

"You know," she said. "Might've been a good idea to say something about how fucked up you were before passing out on my floor."

Essek seemed ever so slightly embarrassed. "I…misjudged."

"Misjudged what," Veth said. "The amount of blood in your body? Because I'm pretty sure you left about half of it somewhere other than in you."

"There was rather a lot of adrenaline involved," Essek said, not quite defensively. "And you were busy. I wanted your attention where it was."

Veth stared at him for a couple seconds before she said, "that why you dumped what I'm guessing was every healing potion you had on him rather than being smart about it?"

It was a guess, based on the…obvious asymmetry. The slight wince made it a good one. "There were only two. I had some idea that — it doesn't matter." His breathing had gotten shallower and Veth immediately felt very stupid.

"I've got some shit for cramps and stomachaches and stuff but I don't think it's going to help you much," she said. "Yeza should be back pretty soon with something better. And hopefully also some healing potions."

"Yeza?" Essek said, and for a moment Veth was going to be seriously annoyed, you forgot his name, you prick, but then he said, "I — ha. And your son. Of course. That is. I really should have gone somewhere else, it was just that you were the closest person I could think of. I am—" He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment. "I can — a healing potion should give me enough to find somewhere else. I know you will look after Caleb until…one of us figures out what to do next. He has a Sending Stone somewhere, paired with one Beauregard holds—"

"Wait, hang on," Veth said. "Are you seriously proposing just limping off and hiding in a cave somewhere?" Essek said nothing, and Veth said, "that's the stupidest thing I've heard in a while and I've heard a lot of stupid things, I have a six year old, what are you talking about."

"I am aware that you prefer to keep me away from your family," Essek said, somehow both delicate and very obviously strained with pain.

Yeah, he'd noticed, all right. Figured. He was a smart boy when he wasn't being an idiot, and Veth supposed she wasn't exactly subtle on this. And she thought it was fair, too, she thought she had every right, except right now she just felt kind of shitty, this wet cat of a half-dead drow, a wizard currently lacking his magic, flat on her floor proposing going…where, exactly? Veth doubted Essek even knew.

Fine. It was sad. It made her sad.

"I'm not kicking you out like this," Veth said, gesturing at him. "For one thing, I ruined your clothes, so you don't have anything to wear, for another thing Caleb'll want you here when he wakes up, and for a third thing I already checked with Yeza and he's fine," for a given value of, but, "and the only thing I'm worried about with Luc is you bleeding on him. So."

Essek blinked at her again with that expression like she wasn't quite making sense to him.

"Now that we've sorted that out," Veth said. She'd expected him to freak out about the clothes but maybe he hadn't quite processed that yet. Or just had bigger things to worry about. It did look like he was starting to waver on the consciousness front again, and as much as she wanted answers probably rest was more important right now. "Stop fighting it," she told him. "Go ahead and pass out again, I don't think it's going to make you any worse. I'll wake you up when the painkillers get here."

"That sounds nice," Essek said faintly, and went out like — well, less like a blown candle than a guttering one, which was probably bad. But, again. Not a whole lot she knew how to do. Maybe if she had a handy book where she could look up monster with a huge fucking stinger that fucks up spellcasters and get some answers, but probably she'd have to go to the Cobalt Soul for that, which would mean leaving her patients unsupervised, which she didn't want to do.

Wait. Essek had mentioned a Sending Stone linked to one Beau had. She went over to Caleb and started — carefully! — fishing through his pockets, and managed to find it in his pants. It took her a moment to remember how to activate the thing. Twenty-five words or less, right.

"Hey, Beau, it's Veth," she said. "I've got Caleb and Essek unconscious in my house. It's pretty bad, no idea what happened. Ideas or help appreciated."

"What? Oh, shit," came Beau's familiar voice. "Did they — that might be sort of on me, I asked for help with something and — fuck. I can't get there right—"

Cut off. Great. Very helpful. Veth put the Sending Stone back where she'd found it and stood up, pacing. At least it didn't seem like the kind of thing where trouble was likely to be following, so…that was good.

The door opened. This time she didn't jump. "No change?" Yeza said, audibly disappointed.

"Well, he woke up for a minute," she said, gesturing at Essek. "Nothing out of Caleb. I talked to Beau but she was useless and now we can't use the Sending Stone again until tomorrow, and I don't think she has a handy teleporter on retainer."

Yeza eyed Essek like he might jump to his feet any minute, but he came over to Veth and held out a bag. "I managed to find a couple healing potions, but no antidotes. The apothecary had some things she said would be good for pain, though?"

"Good job, hon," Veth said. "I mean, too bad about the antidote, but…the other stuff's good. Wish I knew how to make one of those, we should probably figure it out at some point." She blew out a breath. "So, uh. I'm going to try giving him one of those." She pointed at Essek. "Because I have no idea what Caleb's deal is but if we can stick Essek back together enough then he can — hopefully — get them both to Caduceus who might actually know what to do." She wasn't sure about that, given what Essek had said about casting anything powerful, but…at least bloody wounds she had some ideas how to fix. Whatever was going on with Caleb…

He still looked okay. Good color, breathing clearly, just…unconscious and not waking up.

"Are you warning me?" Yeza asked, somehow managing to sound both pained and amused.

"Maybe a little," Veth said. "I mean, not that he can do anything to you right now, or ever, because if he looks at you funny I will kill him and he knows it, but." She looked at the two healing potions, one larger and one smaller, and decided to start with the smaller one, just…in case.

Yeza looked toward the couch, occupied by Caleb, the closest kitchen chair, occupied by a fair quantity of Essek's blood, and took one of the other chairs. Veth studied the instructions on the herbs Yeza had brought back and went over to put a kettle on to boil and grab a mortar and pestle. She put the latter, and a couple of the plants, on the table in front of Yeza. Away from the blood.

"Grind those up," she told him, "thank you, sweetheart," and returned to crouch down next to Essek again. She gave his shoulder a little shake.

"Hey, hot boy," she said. "Wake up, Yeza got you a potion." Essek moved sort of limply, his head falling to one side, and Veth hissed. "Aw, fuck," she said, and leaned forward to take his face in her hands. It felt hot and dry and when she pulled up one of his eyelids his pupils were pinpricks and barely reacted to light. "Aw, fuck," she said with more emphasis. "Okay, okay. Let's just—" She tried patting his cheek. "Come on. Enough to not choke on it."

Essek's eyelids fluttered and she made an encouraging noise. "There, yeah, you can go right back to sleep, just drink this—" She pulled out the stopper with her teeth with long practice, kept the potion in one hand and heaved Essek's shoulders off the floor again. His head lolled unnervingly so she had to use her chin to steady it before putting the bottle to his mouth.

He choked on the first bit and she said sternly, "no, don't spit it out," and either he listened or just woke up enough for the swallow reflex to kick in. He took it, anyway, and the fluttering turned to a blink and he was sort of looking at her, at least for a moment. His pupils were still barely responding and he still felt feverish, and it seemed like the potion should've done more even if it was a weak one.

Of course, she thought bitterly. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Okay," she said out loud. "Great." She put the potion down, keeping Essek where he was, and pushed off the blanket to look at the bandage over the hole — it didn't feel right calling it a sting, not something that big. Yeza made a sort of noise and Veth realized oh, right, drow stripped to underwear.

At least he was nice to look at. Usually, when he was a little less wrecked.

"Right, yeah," Veth said. "I had to take off his clothes so I could see the damage. Probably should've asked you to pick up a bathrobe or something, he can be modest as a cat, this one." The bandaging hadn't quite soaked through but it was definitely redder than she'd like. She didn't like taking it off and risking disturbing the clotting, but… "Here," she said, gesturing at the bandages wrapped around Essek's stomach. "Can you help me take these off? It'll be easier with two people."

"Sure," Yeza said, faint but game. Veth held him up while Yeza did the unwrapping, breathing, Veth noticed, through his mouth. She'd stopped registering the smell and again there was that little twist, that sense of her two worlds that shouldn't be in the same place getting too close together. She tried to ignore it.

The last layer peeled away and Yeza made another little noise, this one like he was trying not to gag. Veth supposed it did look pretty nasty, if you weren't used to people with extra holes in their bodies, which of course Yeza wasn't, because he shouldn't be. It'd closed up a little, and wasn't actively bleeding anymore, but something was making her think infected. Which, if it'd fucked up Essek's wizard shit obviously it wasn't just a normal hole punched in the stomach but something else, some kind of poison or…something.

She needed to work on figuring out antidotes. Hadn't been a priority, maybe it should be. Luc was mostly past the age where he'd put anything and everything in his mouth but you never knew, and also sometimes your friends turned up at your house dying of weird something or other.

Not dying, Veth thought sternly. Nobody was dying, things were shitty but not that bad. Probably. Yet.

"What is that," Yeza asked, wide-eyed.

"He said something stung him," Veth said. "'Substantial stinger', he said."

"Must've been," Yeza said faintly. Veth touched the skin next to the wound, which seemed a little warm. Essek twitched away and seemed to rouse a little more.

"Hurts," he said blurrily.

"Yeah, I bet," Veth said. "You got yourself fucked up and healing potions only seem to be half-working."

Essek's eyebrows furrowed. He seemed to be trying very hard to focus. "Probably some kind of…poison?" he said. "I don't know." His gaze strayed to Yeza, who was still holding a handful of bloody bandages, and he blinked. "Oh. Hello."

"Hi," Yeza said.

"You need a cleric," Veth said. "If you can't get us to one we know we're going to have to find another one."

"No," Essek said, strained. "Too dangerous." He trailed off, head sort of turning in Caleb's direction. "Caleb?"

"Still out," Veth said. Essek's throat worked with what looked like an effort and he nodded. "Look, I get the fugitive thing but I'm out of my depth here, and I think you got worse since you showed up."

"Worse before it gets better?" Essek said weakly. His breathing was shallow, nearly panting, but maybe that was just pain.

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to work with this shit."

Essek shivered, his eyes — pupils still barely visible — drifting closed again. "Hey," Veth said sharply. "I'm talking to you." He didn't answer her. Out again. At least she'd gotten a potion down him, for all the good it seemed to've done. She cursed, eased him back down to the floor, and moved to get a better look at the hole, for all it was going to tell her. For all she could do about it. She couldn't recreate the blood he'd lost, or filter whatever weird poison he'd gotten in his system out of it, or…much of anything. Something to help with the pain a little but what was that worth, really.

"Staying hidden isn't going to do a lot for you if you're dead," Veth told him. "What're the odds anyone's going to talk to some random cleric on the Menagerie Coast and go hey, seen any drow lately? I wouldn't bet on it." Only, where did you find a cleric for hire? Was that even a thing? She'd never tried to look for one. The ones at temples probably wouldn't go for it. Maybe if she could haul Essek there, but that was out for a lot of reasons.

"Is he going to die?" Yeza asked.

"No," Veth said, then, "maybe," then, "no." Fuck, fuck, fuck. "Know any clerics who'd do a house call?"

"No?" Yeza said. "I could…try to find one."

Probably better than some painkillers that would barely take the edge off. "Yeah," Veth said. "Okay, that's…probably not a bad idea. I'm sorry. This is — shitty. Not how I saw the day going."

"It's okay," Yeza said.

"Not really," Veth said. "But thanks, sweetie."

He left again. Veth glanced at Essek, lying there on her floor looking half a corpse. He looked younger, unconscious. And he was pretty young, wasn't he? For an elf, anyway. Veth didn't really know how that worked. Young, and possibly dying on her floor.

Hells. Veth grabbed fresh bandages and gauze, repacked the wound, and wrapped it up again. He stirred a little and made a quiet, hurting sort of noise, but didn't seem to make it all the way back to consciousness. She should've made him drink some more water while he was up.

Fuck, what was she going to do if he did die? Caleb would be wrecked. Caleb would probably think it was his fault, somehow. It wouldn't be, obviously. More Veth's fault if they had to blame someone, for not getting a cleric straight away, not that she was going to blame herself. But she'd have the argument ready, in case—

"No," she told Essek. "Fuck that. Not happening." She should've told Yeza to go to Yussa, he'd probably've known somebody, maybe, or…something. Stupid not to think of it until now. "Let's try the other healing potion, huh? Wasn't that effective but it did something, which…better than nothing, which is about what I'm doing right now."

Of course, that meant maneuvering him up off the floor again, which generated a faint, pathetic whine. She managed to get the second potion down him a little easier than the first, and maybe she was imagining it but his breathing did seem to ease a little bit, steady out from the shallow gasping. Improvement, she'd take it, though when she put a hand on his forehead he still felt hot. His eyes opened and focused on her.

"Ilhar?" he rasped. And then…something. Not Common, but she couldn't tell if it was actual words or nonsense. He sounded upset, though.

"I don't speak Undercommon," she said. "If it's important you're going to have to translate for me."

His eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion.

"Who's Ilhar?" Veth asked. Essek's eyes closed again and she gave him a careful little shake. "Hey, hang on a minute, stay awake, let me get you some water, okay?"

She eased him carefully back down, hurried to fill up a glass, and came back. His eyes were closed but the tension in his body suggested he was still awake, and as she came closer he stirred and said something, but the only thing she caught in it was another Ilhar. "That'd better not be your secret boyfriend. Girlfriend. Whatever," she said. "Drink some water."

He drank some water. For all the good it was probably going to do when some horrible something or other had punched a hole in his stomach and left him feverish and a little delirious. And all she could do right now was fucking wait. Treat the symptoms she could. Try to keep him warm. Not let him die.

It'd been a while since Veth had felt quite so useless. She hadn't missed it.

Time dragged by, excruciatingly slowly. Essek roused periodically and otherwise lay in fitful unconsciousness. He referenced Ilhar twice; Veth was pretty sure he was saying something in Undercommon but she didn't know what it was. She did know he wasn't doing great. Getting worse by inches, and Yeza hadn't come back yet.

She was pacing back and forth trying to figure out if there was something else she could do when Essek came awake with a strangled gasp and sat up, though he immediately curled forward with a moan, arms wrapped around his middle. "Shit," Veth yelped, jumping over to him. "Stop that, what're you doing?"

Essek's head swiveled to stare at her wide-eyed and he said — yep, something, sounded like gibberish to her. "Essek," Veth said. "Common, please, I can't understand you and I can't do a Caleb."

Essek sucked in a breath and then curled forward again like that'd hurt. "Augh," he said, and then, "it's. It's." He made a noise, sort of a ghh, and, "burns."

"Yeah, you've got a fever or something," Veth said. Essek's head jerked from side to side.

"Nnno," he said with what sounded like an effort. "Inside."

"Oh, fuck," Veth said, her heart sinking. "I mean, we already knew there was some kind of poison—"

Another one of those jerky shakes of his head and Veth realized that Essek was shaking. His whole body just — vibrating. "Something else," he said, teeth chattering. "Something's wrong."

"No shit," Veth said, her voice a little too high. "Can you give me a little more than that, something I can do to help, maybe—"

Essek bent forward, sucking in breaths through his nose. "I don't — I don't know, I don't," he sounded scared, panicky, hurting, and Veth's heart twisted.

"Hey," she said, moving closer and putting a hand on his back, rubbing between his shoulder blades in what was probably a completely pointless gesture. "It's okay, I mean, it isn't, but it will be, you're going to be okay." This was surreal.

Essek made a thin noise through his teeth. "Fff," he said, and then, urgently, "basin."

Veth knew how to move fast for that cue. She stuck one under Essek's nose, watched him fight it, and said, "go ahead, better out than in." She hoped.

He puked something black, viscous, and smelling of rot strongly enough that Veth gagged. "Tell me that's normal for you," she said faintly, but Essek just heaved again. Bad, Veth thought, a little hysterically. Very bad.

Thankfully twice appeared to be enough for now. Still panting, and clutching the basin, but though he gagged a couple times nothing else came up.

"Better?" Veth asked hopefully.

"Not worse," Essek said hoarsely. He took a couple heaving, uneven breaths. "Veth," he said. "If — you'll look after Caleb. Right?"

"I've been doing that longer than you have," Veth said, and then grimaced and said, "don't if anything. Yeza's tracking down a healer so you just have to hang in there until he gets back."

"Right," Essek said. He didn't sound convinced. The shaking had slowed down but seemed to be picking up again. "No," he said, but Veth was pretty sure it was to himself. "I can't, can't, please," something something Ilhar breaking off into a horrible sort of keening sound.

"Essek," Veth said. "Essek, hey, can you hear me, listen to me and breathe, okay, try to breathe—"

He gagged, choked, and threw up more of the black shit. Veth really, really hoped it wasn't, oh, his dissolving internal organs. Afterwards she couldn't tell if he was gasping or sobbing. "Make it stop," he said raggedly. "I, make it stop, hurts."

"Oh, honey," she said, without really meaning to. "I'm so fucking sorry."

"Veth?"

She didn't know if she'd ever been quite so happy to hear that voice, and she'd been happy to hear it a lot. "Caleb," she said, twisting around to see him blinking blearily. "Please tell me you've got a Teleport in you because we really need one right now."

Caleb's foggy gaze went from her to Essek and his eyes widened. "Essek?" he said. And then was half rolling off the couch, scrambling across the floor with one hand groping for his components pouch. Caleb grabbed Essek's arm and Veth grabbed his shoulder, only realizing in the half second before the spell took hold that Yeza was going to come back, possibly with a cleric, and find an empty house and a basin of black vomit.

At that point it was too late to take it back.

They landed in a sprawling heap in grass. Caleb was crouched over Essek, his face pale as milk; Essek, meanwhile, looked like the color had been mostly washed out of him and had apparently passed out somewhere mid-Teleport. Caleb was swearing in a low, continuous stream.

Veth scanned their surroundings, saw a couple gravestones, and shouted "help!" at the top of her lungs. And then a few more times for good measure, louder.

"Is that Veth?" a female voice called, followed shortly by, "oh no."

"Yeah," Veth said breathlessly. "Pretty much, could we get some healing, please?"

Nobody died. Permanently.

It took some heavy magic, as far as Veth could tell — heavy, expensive magic, between the healing and the revivification and the Greater Restoration — and Essek still looked like shit at the end of it, but he wasn't (still) dead, so that was a win. Turned out she hadn't been so far off with the 'dissolving internal organs' bit. So that was. Well, it was fine now.

Unfortunately, the one person who'd be able to tell Yeza where she was and what was going on was unconscious at the moment, so…she'd just have to hope he'd figure it out from context. And wouldn't be too mad at her when she got back.

He wouldn't be. Sometimes Veth wished he would get a little mad. It might make things easier.

Some things.

"Do you want to go home?" Caleb asked her once things settled a little bit. He looked wiped, and not exactly thriving, but he hadn't moved from staring at Essek's unconscious body for the last hour anyway.

"I mean, eventually," Veth said. "But I don't have to go now."

"If you're sure," Caleb said.

Veth shifted. "Have you ever heard the name 'Ilhar'?" she asked. Caleb went still for a moment and she said, "Essek kept saying it after he started getting…really bad. Didn't know if maybe you'd know who it was."

"It's Undercommon," Caleb said in a strange voice. "Not a name. 'Mother.' That's what it means."

Shit, that hurt. Shadowhand Essek Thelyss (okay, former Shadowhand, still), asking for his mom. Presumably back in Xhorhas, and he'd never see her again unless it was prior to an execution. Veth grimaced. "Oh," she said. "Right. Okay."

Caleb was frowning at Essek, his eyebrows furrowed. He reached out, what looked like half-unconsciously, and touched Essek's hand, withdrew.

"I'm sorry," he said. "About…all this. I can't imagine it's how you saw your day going."

"Not really, no," Veth said. "But apparently I was where he could get you guys." Caleb's mouth tugged unhappily and she said, "you're friends, Lebby. We take care of our friends. I take care of my friends."

"I know," Caleb said. "But…"

"But nothing," Veth said. She followed Caleb's gaze to Essek. A young man who'd fucked up and was paying for it, smart and driven and, at least until recently, very lonely. "I don't dislike him, you know."

"It would be fine if you did."

"It'd be really rough, actually," Veth said. "But I don't. It's — hard. With Yeza and Luc, mostly, and it's always seemed like he doesn't like me."

"That's not it," Caleb said. "I think it's just — awkward. And he deals with it by…not dealing with it. Avoiding it, and therefore you."

Veth's mouth twisted. "Yeah," she said. "He offered to slink off to a cave somewhere if I didn't want him in my house. After passing out on the floor."

Caleb winced. "Ah," he said.

She fidgeted. "I told him that was stupid and fucked up."

Caleb smiled, though it looked a little pained. "I hope he listened to you."

"Well, at least he didn't do it," Veth said. Hopefully that hadn't had more to do with lack of ability than anything else.

What was she going to do? Invite him over for dinner? Essek'd made Yeza nervous enough passed out bleeding on the floor. Maybe she could pitch it as being for Luc. Cultural experience, or something. Or exposure therapy. That felt shitty, though, like she was being a bad wife and a bad mom and Veth felt that way enough already.

She sighed. "You look beat," Veth told Caleb. "Maybe you should take a nap, too."

"I slept earlier," Caleb said.

"You were comatose," Veth said. "Pretty sure that's not the same thing." Caleb cast an anxious glance in Essek's direction and Veth said, "I'll keep an eye on your boyfriend. And you can fit on the bed anyway, it's firbolg sized."

"Veth," Caleb said, then broke off, leaned over, and kissed her on the head. "Thank you."

Her face warmed, a little pang twinging in her chest. "You're welcome."

There was plenty of room in the firbolg sized bed for Caleb to crawl in on Essek's other side. He didn't snuggle and Veth wondered if that was normal or about her being there, like she didn't know they shared a house and a bed and were definitely fucking on the regular. Like she and Caleb hadn't cuddled up together plenty of nights when it was cold or space was tight or they were just fucking scared and alone in the world.

She looked away, but only for a moment before turning back to watch, like she'd said she would. Caleb conked out fast, leaving her alone watching two wizards sleep. This was going to get boring fast. But she had said she'd do it. She wished she had some cards, or something.

She was exhausted. For all she'd done, which hadn't been much. She stared at Essek, who was now a slightly healthier shade of purple, the knowledge heavy in her stomach that if Caleb hadn't woken up when he had odds were Essek would be dead and who knew if they'd be able to get him back afterward. And maybe it wouldn't be her fault exactly but that wouldn't make it feel any better.

One of Essek's ears twitched and his breathing caught. Veth tensed, leaning forward, but he seemed to settle again.

Maybe the Clays had some smutty books.

Caduceus poked his head through the open door. "Hey," he said quietly. "Mind if I join you?"

"Please," Veth said. "I'm going to get bored watching these two sleep."

"Thought you might," he said. "I brought a game, if that's interesting."

"Sounds great," Veth said. "I'm supposed to be watching—" she gestured at the bed, "but I don't think they're going to be doing much."

"Hopefully not," Caduceus said. "Probably wouldn't mean anything good if they were." He eyed her. "They'll be all right."

"I know, I know," Veth said. "Just…freaked me out, I guess. You'd think I'd be over it."

"It's different when it comes to your house," Caduceus said. Veth thought of this cottage, burning, and grimaced.

"Yeah. I guess it is." She glanced at Essek. "How do you convince someone that you don't not like them?"

"Treat them like you do," Caduceus said. Veth made a face at him and he shrugged.

"What about when he scares your husband and makes you feel weird," Veth said.

"Very specific scenario you've got there," Caduceus said. "Sounds hard."

"So you don't know," Veth said.

"All I can give is general advice," Caduceus said. "I'm not going to tell you how you should handle it. That's between you and your husband and your mysterious third person you're trying to convince. But I guess I would say trying to partition your life out into sections that don't touch doesn't usually work. Life's too messy for that. It always ends up bleeding through."

That sounded like it was probably true. She didn't like it. "What's the game you brought," she said, and thankfully Caduceus let her change the subject.

Essek came around before Caleb, which figured. She and Caduceus were still playing the game (an inexplicably addictive one involving a wooden board and very satisfying marbles) and he blinked groggily at them. Caduceus raised a hand in a wave.

"Hey," he said. "Feel better?"

"Much," Essek said, voice a little raspy. "Thank you."

"Happy to help a friend," Caduceus said, "though if you have a chance I could use a couple fresh diamonds. You cleaned me out and I like keeping one or two just in case."

"I'll see what I can do," Essek said. He sat up with what looked like an effort and glanced at Caleb, asleep with his mouth open. His eyebrows furrowed. "Is he…"

"Woke up just in time to get us all here," Veth said. Essek's eyes moved to her and then skated off and that, there, that was one of those things that annoyed her, the way he wouldn't quite look at her directly. Avoiding it, and therefore you. She could try to take that head-on but she had a feeling that wasn't going to be very effective in this case. "He's taking a nap now, so keep your voice down." Not that he'd shown any sign of stirring even with the clicking of the marbles.

Essek jerked his head in a little nod, and then stiffened, eyes widening. "What are you doing here?" he asked her. Veth gave him a withering look.

"Making sure you didn't die, dipshit," she said. Also sort of impulse that when there was a Teleport happening you held on for it, but. "What, should I have just stayed home and wrung my hands waiting?"

Essek shied back. Veth sighed. "It would be good if you could let my husband know where I am," she said. "If you're up for it."

"Of course," Essek said. "What do you want me to say?"

"I'm not going to ventriloquize," she said, waving a hand. "You'll cover the important stuff. You're not going to explode if you try to cast something?"

"No," Essek said. "Everything seems…normal, now." He sounded relieved, but only for a moment before he drew himself up, visibly reassembling his usual self as best he could given he was badly in need of a bath. He moved his fingers fluidly through the air and then said, "Yeza, this is Essek." He glanced at her and then away again. "Veth is at the Blooming Grove, safe. She will be home soon. My apologies for the inconvenience."

"You've got four more words," Veth said, but Essek didn't use them. He cocked his head slightly to one side, listening to a void she couldn't hear. His eyes darted in her direction again and then he blinked, letting out a breath.

"Your apologies for the inconvenience," Veth said, before he could say anything. "Hells. You make it sound like you were late for a party or something and not, you know, dying."

"I imagine that would be an inconvenience," Essek said. Before she could figure out what to do with that, he added, "Yeza says that he appreciates the heads up and that he'll work on doing some cleaning so he can pick up Luc from Edith's."

Veth grimaced. "Oh, boy," she said. "Maybe I should wait to go home until he finishes the cleaning."

"I could," Essek said, and then stopped, visibly thinking better of offering, probably because he didn't want to be an inconvenience. (Probably actually because he figured she wouldn't want him there even if it was for handy Prestidigitation of his own bodily fluids, and she did think maybe that'd be a lot for Yeza today.)

"Eh, don't worry about it," Veth said. "Yeza likes cleaning, it'll soothe him."

Essek winced. "I suppose that's good," he said weakly.

"Good for me, too," Veth said. "I don't like cleaning."

Silence fell and Essek just sort of sat there looking uncomfortable. Caduceus cleared his throat and stood up.

"Anyone else want a bite to eat?" he said. "I'm feeling a bit peckish."

"Something light?" Essek said, expression turning a little queasy. Caduceus nodded and looked at Veth, who shrugged.

"Whatever you've got," she said. "I'm not picky."

"Sounds good," Caduceus said, gave her a significant look, and stepped out. Veth glanced at Caleb and then at Essek, who was back to not meeting her eyes.

"So is that the first time you've died, or," she said, by way of breaking the silence.

"Yes," Essek said after a moment, voice a little funny. "I suppose it was." He inhaled. "I should…thank you. For your help."

Veth scoffed. "For all the good it did," she said. "Deucy did the real work. And Caleb's Teleport."

That got Essek's full attention — and gaze — on her. "Don't sell yourself short," he said.

She shifted. "I'm not. I know what I'm good at and healing's not it."

"You did what you could. I would've bled to death shortly after passing out in your kitchen if you'd truly been as useless as that."

He sounded serious. And Veth knew it was true, technically, it was just…she didn't feel any better about it. "Yeah, well. I guess it worked out okay eventually. More or less." He studied her, more direct than usual, and finally seemed to decide he was going to accept that as good enough.

"So thank you," he repeated. "I recognize that this all must have been—"

"So help me," Veth said, "if you say inconvenience again I'm going to dump a bucket of water on your head. I'll go get a bucket of water to do it, too."

Essek gave her a strange look and said, "I was going to say a great deal of trouble."

"Same thing," Veth said. "Different words. But fine, I'll forgo the bucket this time. Look, like I told Caleb, I look out for my friends. You needed help, you came to me, so…that's how it works. I know you're new to the friends thing so I'll let it go this time but if you keep being weird about it I'm going to start wondering."

"Wondering?" Essek said, looking a little taken aback.

"Yeah," Veth said. "This is basic stuff, hot boy. You're smart, figure it out." She leaned over and poked him in the leg. "You do owe me a new blanket, though."

"What kind of blanket?" Essek said, seeming relieved to have something he apparently found comprehensible.

"You pick," Veth said. "I want to see what you come up with. It's not like it has to go with anything, we're not that kind of house."

"I'll find you something soon," Essek said. His expression was still a little bewildered, like he hadn't expected the conversation to go this way. Veth was going to consider that a victory.

"So what the hell happened, anyway," she asked after a moment. "Beau said something about it being maybe her fault?"

Essek's expression went from bewildered to rueful. "It isn't," he said, "but I can sort of see why she'd think so. It's a bit of a long story."

"Go ahead," Veth said. "I think we'll be here for a little while."

By the time Caleb woke up it was well into the night, so she ended up staying over. Caleb took her home in the morning, after breakfast. Essek stayed at the Blooming Grove, though his awkward farewell seemed…well, not less awkward but a little less like he was holding her at arm's length. Or at least trying not to do that.

Caleb landed them almost right in front of her house ("nice," she said, and he smiled) and then hesitated.

"Want to come in?" she asked. "I bet Luc would like to see you."

That got another little smile out of him. "All right," he said. "If you think so. I hope we didn't scare him too badly."

"He'll be glad to see you in one piece." Veth checked the door — locked, good, Yeza left it unlocked sometimes when he was home and she didn't like it — and let herself in. "I'm home!" she said. "Caleb's dropping in to say hello."

The house looked better than she'd expected, honestly. Not completely back to normal but better than it'd been when she'd left. Yeza must have gone hard.

She felt a little bad.

"Uncle Caleb!" Luc said, running past Veth to hug him. Yeza was standing in the kitchen drying his hands on a towel. He didn't look mad. She made her way over to him and gave him a kiss.

"Sorry," she said. "I really didn't mean to disappear like that. It all happened pretty fast."

"It's okay," Yeza said. Veth was tempted to tell him that it sort of wasn't and he would be well within his rights to be upset with her but she didn't actually want him upset with her. "Is…everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Veth said. "Essek was a little dead for a bit but he got better." Yeza's eyes widened a little and she gave his shoulders a squeeze. "Thank you. For, you know, putting up with the whole thing."

"They needed help," Yeza said.

"Yes, I'm all right," Veth heard Caleb say, apparently in response to an inquiry. "Perfectly fine, thanks to your mother. Me and my friend ran into a bit of trouble and she helped us get out of it. But you should say hello to your mother, too."

"I see her all the time," Luc said dismissively. "Your friend? The guy who was on the floor?"

"That's the one," Caleb said with a slight wince.

"His name's Essek," Veth said. "He lives with Uncle Caleb in Rexxentrum."

Luc's head swiveled toward her and then back to Caleb. "How come I've never met him?"

The following silence was plainly conspicuous. Caleb cleared his throat. "Well," he said. "Ah. Just hasn't worked out yet, I guess."

"Maybe it should," Yeza said abruptly. Veth turned to look at him, surprised, and found him looking a little stiff but determined, wringing the towel in his hands. "I mean, maybe we should figure out a time, go…to the beach, or something."

"That could be nice," Caleb said cautiously. By the slightly suspicious look on Luc's face, he could sense the undercurrents (of course, smart kid) but wasn't sure what they were.

"Bring sunscreen," Veth said. "Essek sunburns if the sun looks at him."

"If the beach is a bad idea—"

"No, no," Veth said. "It's a great idea. Right, Caleb?"

"Sure," Caleb said, though he seemed a little uncertain. "That is — yes. That would be nice. We can find a time."

"Next week?" Yeza said, voice determined. Caleb looked at Veth, who looked at Yeza.

"That works," he said. "Pick a day, as long as it's not Grissen, Conthsen, or Folsen. We'll make it work."

Caleb stayed for a bit longer before making his farewells (to Luc, with some difficulty). He and Yeza always seemed a little weird around each other, which Veth sort of understood but had decided to ignore. After he'd gone and Luc was distracted Veth turned to Yeza and just looked at him.

"I know you care a lot about Caleb," he said, sounding almost defensive. "And it just seems…unfair. To pretend like he doesn't exist. Essek, I mean. He does, and it doesn't seem like he's going anywhere. Unless," he said suddenly, "you don't want — I just figured—"

"No," Veth interrupted. "No, you're right. As long as you're sure. I don't want to force you into anything that's going to upset you."

"You aren't," Yeza said. "I mean, it's not — I'm — well." He laughed a little nervously. "But he's part of your life and that means he's going to be at least a little bit part of mine, and I would really like for that to not bother me. But it's not going to get better unless I try."

She thought of Caduceus saying life's too messy for that. "You," Veth said after a moment, "are very brave." He blushed, and mumbled something under his breath, and she felt a little pang; the periodic I don't know if I deserve you. She brushed it off.

Veth wondered what Essek was like with kids. He'd better figure it out with Luc, at least.

She thought he'd probably do fine.