Homecoming

"I'm a little nervous," Valseis stated as he wrung his hands in his anxiety. "What if they really did think that I abandoned them?" 

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine, Val." Astarion reassured the tiefling with a smile. "They know you, they know that you wouldn't have abandoned them without good reason. And when we get there, you can explain it all to them." 

"I know, but still..." Valseis fretted. The forest was bathed in the soft glow of the moonlight. But both Valseis and Astarion were used to traveling via nighttime. After the tadpoles had been taken care of, Astarion returned to being unable to walk in the daylight. Which he had been quite upset about at first, but it seemed that he had grown used to it again. At least Valseis believed he had, he would have to ask him about that later. 

The two traveled the winding dirt trails, and forged their own paths through the forest and to where Valseis' home was. A Druidic circle called the Sapphire Grove. He had lived there his entire life up until the illithid ship had kidnapped him while he was running for aid. Even though his heart swelled with anxiety at seeing the familiar faces who had raised him, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. 

"Ah, we're nearly there," Valseis said, his pace quickening. As the two rounded a corner, rather than seeing the familiar wooden doors, covered in ivy and vines that Valseis was used to, he and Astarion were met with shattered wooden doors and the sickeningly sweet stench of rot. 

The two froze at the front of the doors, staring at them with wide eyes. Without another moments notice, Valseis sprinted into the grove. 

"Valseis, wait!" Astarion hollered after him, reaching forward to grab Valseis' hand, but tiefling had already sprinted out of reach. 

Valseis sprinted through the ruined grove; his legs burned. As he ran he saw the scattered and decaying corpses of gnolls and the druids he had grown up with. Though many were quite decomposed, he recognized them for who they had been by what they were wearing. His tail whipped behind him as he ran, half from the momentum and half from his own anxiety and fear. 

The sense of urgency to get to where he was heading gnawed at his stomach. The stench in the air made his eyes water. After a few mor moments of running, he arrived at a torn and felled tent. A tent that he could still remember in all of its glory, now laid at his feet in torn shreds. This tent had been his home for as long as he could remember. Him and his adoptive father's Carric's home. Hells, he hoped Carric had somehow survived the gnoll attack and escaped. But upon closer inspection he saw a ruined hand sticking out slightly from under the tent, and on it a bracelet that Valseis has made Carric when he was a teenager. Valseis fell heavily to his knees. 

"-seis, Valseis!" Astarion called finally having caught up to him. "Valseis, are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked concerned, kneeling next to Valseis and looking at his face, seeing nothing but a blank expression of shock. Astarion imagined that seeing his home destroyed must have been quite the shock and a lot to take in. Suddenly and without warning, a sob tore through Vasleis's throat and he turned to hug onto Astarion tightly. Astarion jumped a bit, startled, but quickly hugged Valseis back and rubbed his back comfortingly. He whispered sweet words to help ease Valseis' pain. Valseis held tightly to Astarion and sobbed into his chest for what felt like hours, until eventually his sobs became hiccuped cries and then eventually sniffles. Valseis pulled back and wiped at his eyes. 

"Sorry," he sniffled.

"No, no, darling, it's alright. You don't need to apologize." Astarion reassured, brushing hair out of his face. "I'm so sorry about your circle." 

"Thank you, and I am too. I probably could have saved them if I hadn't-" Valseis said frowning, his head turned back towards the tent. 

"No, none of that." Astarion said gently grabbing Valseis' face and turning it towards him so the two were looking into each other's eyes. "This is not your fault. You can not help that the illithid ship got you, and you can not help what happened here. None of this is your fault." 

"...I know. It's just..." Valseis sighed. His tail wrapped around his legs, an effort at self soothing, and he swallowed. He turned away from Astarion, and moved towards the corpse's hand. He undid the bracelet and held it close to his chest. It was clumsily woven, with a small sapphire and pearl set in the middle of it. 

"What's that?" Astarion questioned, leaning in closer. 

"I made it, back when I was a teenager. This tents where I used to live with the Druid who raised me, Carric. I made it for him." 

Astarion's eyes widened slightly when he realized what Valseis was saying. So the body in the tent was his adoptive father. No wonder Valseis had broken down. 

Valseis stood up, his stance a bit wobbly, and wiped at his eyes once more. 

"We...we should get going. It will be morning soon. I know a cave nearby where we can stay until nightfall." 

Astarion stood up and looked at his partner concerned. "Val, it's ok if you want to stay a bit longer, I can only imagine how hard this must be."

"No!" Valseis said quickly, but cleared his throat and said in a softer tone, "No...I think...I think I want to leave." Astarion nodded. He interlocked his fingers with Astarion's and the vampire led him out of the ruined grove. 

In the cave the two had set up a nice little camp. It wasn't much, but it was dark and away from the sun, and that was all that mattered. After dinner, the two crawled into their tent and went to sleep. 

"I love you." Astarion said kissing Valseis' forehead. 

Valseis returned the gesture. "And I love you." 

Astarion awoke that evening to Valseis being absent from their tent. He sat up quickly and looked around. Seeing that it was dark out, Astarion hurried out of the tent and to the mouth of the cave. Where was Valseis? Was he hurt? In trouble? Astarion ran outside and practically face first into Valseis.

"Ah, I was hoping to be back before you got up." Valseis mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Astarion looked at him and saw that he was covered from head to toe is sweat and dirt. And he smelled of rot. 

It took a moment for Astarion to connect the dots. "You buried them all, didn't you?" Astarion asked.

"Yes, I couldn't just leave them out like that." He replied. He sounded exhausted. Astarion imagined he had been at it since dawn. 

"Oh Val, if you waited until the evening I would have helped you, made the burden a bit easier." Astarion said furrowing his eyebrows. 

"I know." He relied simply. "But I felt like it was something that I had to do. I owed them that much." His voice soft and a bit sad. 

Astarion pulled Valseis into a hug and then pulled back and kissed the tiefling's forehead. "How about we head to that lake we passed and get you cleaned up?" 

"Yeah," Valseis nodded leaning forward until his and Astarion's foreheads touched. He closed his eyes. "I'd like that a lot."