Chapter Text
Then
The water ran in rivulets through her scalp, down to the ends of her hair before dripping off. Unfortunately she had not dressed for the rain and those drips slipped down between her cleavage and soaked through what little fabric she was wearing. Turning around wasn’t an option right now so she kept walking. How she had managed to put her boots on before leaving was beyond her and she had no memory of it. The rage and her anger broiled inside her fuelled by grief and confusion. The fear gnawed at her insides, a real physical pain that pushed her through the streets of Baldur’s Gate. Moments ago she had tried to slow down, take a breath but that clawed hand rose from the rot buried so deep inside her and had tried to reach up and out of her throat so she walked faster and faster. She turned her face to the downpour to keep her feet moving anywhere but from the harbour, So preoccupied with moving away from the harbour, she didn’t follow the direction her feet were taking her until a member of the fist pulled her back by the thin nightgown. The guards face searched hers, looking for familiarity but finally shook his head.
“Lass, it may be bad….but it ain't that bad. Ever.” He stepped away but kept a close eye on her. Peach stepped back and took a breath. Too close. Still too close to the city. She needed to move past Rivington. She walked up through the mud that had started bog down the streets. The bottom of her nightgown ruined. Seeing the lights on in the dragonborn armourer's cosy little store. She headed up the stairs, desperate for a bit of familiarity that would come from stepping inside. The dragonborn turned and smiled in recognition but as she took in Peach’s face and appearance, it turned from excitement to concern.
“Oh….Gods…..Are you? Hold on.” Peach stood there watching the attendant as she bustled around before wrapping a blanket around Peach’s shoulders and pulling out a stool. She shut the door, had a peak outside before closing the curtains. “I’m not going to intrude. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for saving the city and everything else but maybe i can help now?”
Peach huffed a laugh at how deep the guilt hit as the Dragon born offered so much without a hesitation. Peach remembered feeling like that. But after devil deals, mind flayer deals……it would take a while to be wary of any random kindness. It may be something she would be sceptical of forever.
“I’m so sorry, I obviously know you and remember what happened and what you did for us but so much happened since, i can’t remember your name. I’m so sorry” Peach twisted the knuckle on her left hand to help herself stay steady. She wasn’t malnourished, maybe a little dehydrated and intoxicated but more than anything, completely and utterly shaken. It was almost like something else was at the helm. Nothing supernatural. Just part of her mind taking over for now.
“Exxvikyap. And it’s fine, i understand completely and there is absolutely no offence taken!” She said softly and Peach smiled despite the agony in her chest. Later. She’d deal with this pain later.
“Exxvikyap. I do need help and despite my insides screaming at me-”
“I’m so sorry” Exxvikyap spoke gently and just help her hand up, interrupting Peach mid sentence. "You were so kind after that...after Glydro died. I don’t need to know anything and there are no deals. Have you heard what people say you all did?
“Gods no” Peach properly laughed “From what Jaheira tells me its all sordid tales with devils and illithid from here on out”
“Oh those are out there for sure. Devils, illthids, gods and monsters” Exxvikyap laughed along with her.
“The thing is, it’s not entirely incorrect but that doesn’t necessarily make it correct either.”
Exxvikap smiled and let the laughter die down. “They’re saying you climbed the high hall into the sky. That you stood on top of that brain. You didn’t just save the city. You didn;t just stop an illithid invasion. You also took time out after to come and tell me about Glydro. Hundreds, maybe thousands died and you took the time to share that with the person who cared about him. You didn’t have to do that. So, what do you need?”
Her tone was disarmingly calm and Peach almost flinched, readying for her weapon before even thinking of using her magic despite there being no actual threat. Taking a deep breath, she thought about the basics.
“I need armour, leathers are fine, a mace or a dagger, both actually. Short bow, arrows and rations”
The words fell out her mouth, pulled almost and each one made that gnawing in her stomach fade ever so slightly.
The dragonborn stood and went out the back, coming back with a steaming hot cup of cider. She shoved that into Peach’s hands to warm them and steady her nerves and placed a sandwich and sweet bun next to her on the hearth step.
“You sit there and eat, I'll get everything together”
Peach looked down and felt nauseous but took a sip of the cider and her shoulders dropped and she audibly moaned as the amber liquid settled through her.
“Exxvikyap, what in the hells do you put in that?”
Laughter came from around a corner as the dragonborn stepped back into the front room. Peach sat the empty cup down and began to eat the sandwich, surprisingly finding herself hungry now.
“I used to play with potions as a kid and my parents were lovely and encouraged that i follow my dreams. Dreams changed but the knowledge is helpful. Elder flower, rose, chamomile. The apples are fermented too, gives it that fizz kick.”
When they had first met Exxvikyap, she was full, bursting even of energy both anxious and excited. A being who truly loved her existence and then they had spoken to Gyldro who turned out to be Orin in disguise. In the face of world domination, the forgot to tell her about finding his body in the Temple of Bhaal. Peach had come back to her eventually when she had finally slept away most of the exhaustion to tell her what had happened and now barely two months later, here she was again.
Exxvikyap set a backpack, cloak and weapons on the table, a impressively decent pair of boots on the floor and handed the leathers to Peach in exchange for empty plates. The leathers smooth and well made, they even looked comfortable. She thanked her and disappeared into the next room to change. Exxvikyap had left some fresh undergarments in there for her too. As she returned to the front, Exxvikyap looked her over making sure it fit where it should and nodded her approval.
“I’ve popped some food aswell as rations in there that should get you by before you need anything. There’s a water flask in there too and some healing bits and pieces.”
Peach nodded and smiled at her sadly, unable to hide her feelings. “If anyone comes looking, i don’t know if they will, i doubt it but just please don’t lie for me. That’s not necessary. And it’s not worth it. I don’t have any gold on me but if-when i come back, i’ll be sure to compensate you for anything”
Exxvikyap smiled and handed Peach the bag. “There’s a small pouch with some gold in there to get you going. Understood and thankyou. I’m glad actually, I’m a terrible liar and you were all lovely but some of your companions were a little….scary?”
The laughter barked out of her before Peach could think as she grabbed the bag. Slinging it over her shoulder along with her bow and the quiver. Sheathing the dagger and small mace in her belt,
“I will tell them that when i get back and they will love it”
Peach finally attached the cloak, flipped the hood over her head and headed for the door as Exxvikyap called out to her.
“Look after yourself. Again, I'm not prying but i know the people around you care about you. I could see it. Especially that one who looked annoyed all the time, white hair? Just remember that. Surely you can always go home”
Again, the laughter came up without a way for Peach to hold it back. “I know, I can. It’s true. You’re right. But right now? It’s either this or throwing myself off a bridge. Wait, don’t tell him i said that. Might not go down well. He doesn’t like it when i get too silly with those jokes. Surprisingly.”
Exxvikyapp’s eyes crinkled as she smiled “I could see in that one, the way he looked at you when you weren’t watching-”
“Stop. Please.” Peach’s soft plea stretched through the quiet of the store, the muffled sounds of the rain almost drumming her out. Too much. Too much for right now. This wasn’t the space for those thoughts. Not now. Exxvikyap didn’t look stunned or scared, just nodded sadly. Clearing her throat, Peach looked up. “Thankyou for this, really. I’ll see you soon. I’ll come back.
Peach finally left the store and walked back into the rain, up the hill and eventually, away from Rivington.
The further she had walked from the city, the calmer she had felt. Which added to the guilt obviously. Everything she loved and wanted was in that city and her body and mind seemed to be outright rejecting it all. Clearly the mental and emotional crash after the adventure had come to an end had been hard. The resurfacing of the grief and trauma in the tiny box of a home where Astarion had been unable to leave whilst the sun was up wasn’t a great situation. And now that it was all over, the realisation and memories of her life before the nautiloid had picked her came back too. The reality of what had happened to her family was something she now had to sit with. There was no threat of tadpoles, illithids or looming death anymore to distract. It was just her and what had happened. And it was ugly and it made her feel rancid.
Peach tried to swallow as the memories began to lick through her mind like shadows, as if they were an unmovable, unstoppable force. Memories of them sick. Memories of them twisted in agony. Memories of her desperately trying to heal them, help them and when that hadn’t worked, making potions to make it quick. Quicker than whatever had started to kill them anyway.
The memories were far too much. She realised she’d forgotten the order in which they had died, Some fast, some slow. Some in the evenings and some by breakfast until she was the last one standing without a hint of sickness.
The weight of helplessness at the memories came out of her physically as she threw up her meagre dinner on the side of the road. Peach stood up and wiped her lips, rinsed her mouth and walked on.
She couldn’t fix that but she had saved the world and surely there were more ways to help people. More ways to quell the pit of decay inside her.
After a few weeks, Peach had managed to push the darkness back down, performing small miracles here and there to help people. Accidentally performing what turned out to be a rather large and rather dangerous miracle at another village which had scared the shit out of everyone (herself included) leading her to make a very fast exit. The knot and decay was ever present and always led her to water which now felt dangerous, like something calling out to her that she had to endlessly fight to ignore.
After searching for some old fella’s dog one night, she felt another call. Not towards water but towards the forest. Where the call of the water stole her breath and one small part of her was always fighting the pull, the call that came from the forest almost soothed her entire being. Peach had felt it before. On their adventure. Around the wetlands. The call hadn’t disappeared when their surroundings had changed from a fairy tale to a nightmare, it had only grown stronger.
She knew the difference between the calls. One was ruin and one was familiar, neither in a magical sense. Peach wanted to follow the forest and days later, finding herself at the same place as a week ago, she did that and stepped inside.
Nothing happened. She walked further and nothing happened again. More walking, more silence. The call had disappeared leaving her feeling genuinely insane.
“Good work Peach. Literal insanity. It was always going to happen, i guess.” She said to herself aloud and turned back in the direction she had come from. The ground rushed up to meet her before she realised she had been swept down by a giant wave of pressure along with a deep drowning, vibrating echo bellowing her name. Peach’s limbs were no longer under her control and she screamed as her body wrenched with pain on the forest floor until the world turned black.
Peach sat bolt upright and gasped for air, her eyes darting around her to see where she was. On the edge of the forest, just a few steps away from where she had approximately collapsed. She felt fine, better than before remembering the agonising pain before she blacked out and was surprised to find no lingering traces of it. On the ground, between her thighs was a parcel wrapped up in animal skins and as she reached out to touch it, the memories of what had happened between her passing out and now faded through her mind.
Something about a bond, being chosen, choosing back, cursed magic and sickness as a cost for a deal done centuries before she was born and something seeing an unfair situation and balancing the score. Picking up the parcel extremely carefully, Peach stowed it into her pack as she pulled out her water pouch and found she didn’t need to reach for food, she was already well fed. The realisation hit her over the head.
She apparently done it again. She really had to stop making deals with the Fae.
Peach stood up, knowing that more information would come back to her as she made her way home. Back to Baldur’s Gate and back to who she now knew was her soulmate.