Chapter Text
We were leaving the Elfsong tavern when the Nautiloid appeared. My siblings and I ran as buildings crashed down and people ran around us. We ducked into an alley as Cal shouted the incantation to open a portal that would take us home. One of the Nautiloid’s tentacles slithered towards us as first Cal, Dez, then Eli disappeared through the portal. Before I could jump through I felt a shock against my back and the world went dark. The world swam before me several times as I gained and lost consciousness in the pod. I vaguely remember feeling something inserted behind my eye, later screaming, later noise, and darkness again.
I awoke in a goblin trap. It was a pit that was dug deep into the ground and lined bottom and sides with spikes. The opening at the top gave a view of a dark, starry sky and was ringed by fluffy tree branches. I had been in this hole for a day already. I lay skewered by several spikes, the deepest of which went through my abdomen and one through my neck.
Softly at first, then louder, I could hear a voice coming closer to the pit, but I couldn’t see a light source. It sounded like a person stumbling through the darkness. The shadow grew larger as they dropped from the sky facedown onto the spikes next to me.
The shadow, a person, I could see her now, was a young half elven woman with lightly tanned skin, hazel eyes, and honey-brown hair. She had met with a pair of spikes that impaled her stomach and chest. More voices drew near as she breathed her last. On instinct I reached out, abdomen and throat burning from the movement. I ran my hands over the woman’s face, quickly taking in fine details. My eyes swept over her form, noting her height and apparent weight. Then I changed.
My face felt numb as my jaw assumed a charming almond shape, eyes burned for a moment as my natural blue-white was replaced by hazel green. My hair became long and brown with a gentle wave. Taking a deep breath, I willed my Shiftweave tunic and pants to some semblance of the once-white tunic and green pants the half-elf was wearing.
The voices were above us now. I could see a mote of light float down into the pit. Before the light reached us, I released the half-elf’s head. Without my holding her, the woman’s body slumped away from the light. Perfect. I turned my face toward the light as shadowed people peeked over the ledge.
“Tav? Gods, hold on! We’ll get you out!” A male voice shouted down. Moments later I felt the tingle of magic covering my body as I was slowly lifted off the spikes and levitated out of the trap. Three people waited for me on the surface. Another young half-elven woman wearing a cleric’s armor, a pale elf in an expensive-looking doublet and a human man with shoulder length brown hair. The human was the one responsible for the magic that lifted me from the pit. Possibly a wizard. I would need to be careful around him.
The wizard’s spell softly guided me to lay in the grass and the cleric knelt and examined me with her mote of light, now out of the pit. “This is bad”, the cleric muttered to herself before saying loudly, “I don’t have enough magic to heal her tonight. The trip through that ruin earlier wiped me out. The most I can do is stabilize her and take care of it tomorrow. Gale, Astarion. Can you carry her back to camp?”
I closed my eyes as the soft warm feeling of healing magic drifted across my body. I could feel the blood flow stop. The pain remained, and it was exhausting.
I felt a pair of strong, cool arms grasp under my shoulders and my legs, lifting me off the ground again. The wound on my abdomen felt stretched and I groaned in pain.
“I’m sorry, Tav,” the wizard… Gale said softly, “We’re not far from camp. You’ll be okay. Shadowheart will take care of you.”
Finally, a name for the cleric.
“She’ll be fine”, the elf, Astarion, was carrying me, “But what about my doublet? How will I ever get the blood out?” He squeezed my arm lightly, “You’re washing this as soon as you’re well, you hear me?” Having my eyes closed didn’t stop me from rolling them at the elf’s obvious attempt at humor.
An uncomfortable trip later, we arrived at their camp and I was again deposited on the ground, this time with something soft under me. I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. I was in a sparsely decorated tent with a bedroll underneath me. The cleric from earlier was bending over me with a roll of bandages in her hand. Slowly, painfully she covered all my wounds, helping me sit up to wrap the gauze around my torso and helping me lay on my back again after. She gave me an apologetic smile and promised to come back as soon as she woke up tomorrow and left, closing the flap of the tent behind her.
Finally, I was alone. Finally, I could risk drifting off to sleep. Tomorrow was soon enough to plan.
Morning came much earlier than I wanted. Thankfully I awoke alone. Gently I raised my arms to my face, taking note that I still had tanned skin. I felt my face and was satisfied that I had kept Tav’s form throughout the night. I let my hands rest by my sides again as I lay and listened to the sound of a camp waking up for the day.
A voice I recognized as Gale called out that breakfast would be ready soon. The chorus that replied were anywhere from overly enthusiastic to sarcastic. I smiled a little listening to them. They seemed like an interesting group.
Someone approached my tent and tapped softly on the canvas before pulling it aside and tying it out of the way. Shadowheart entered looking less than thrilled about being awake. Like last night I felt gentle warmth engulf my body, knitting together the holes left by the spikes the night before. I opened my mouth to thank her, but my voice came out in a barely-there rasp. I locked eyes with Shadowheart as panic began to rise in my chest.
My voice was gone.