Chapter Text
It had been a little over three months since the defeat of the Netherbrain and, whilst there was still a lot of rebuilding to do, day to day life in Baldur's Gate was finally getting back to some semblance of normality. And though Tav was in many ways thankful for it, it did leave her at a bit of a loss as to what to do with herself. Even more so now that her companions were no longer around.
Lae’zel, Wyll and Karlach had all left immediately after the fight with the Netherbrain, the former to help lead the rebellion against Vlaakith and the latter two returning to Avernus in the hopes of finding a way to stabilise Karlach’s engine permanently.
Gale had stuck around for the initial cleanup and to fish the crown out of the Chionthar in order to hand it back to Mystra and finally be free of the orb. But ultimately he’d decided he’d been away from Waterdeep for too long and so had left, taking Astarion with him with the promise to try and find some magical way for him to walk in the sun once more. Tav often found herself smiling at the thought of the two of them living together. Either they’d end up killing each other or, more likely, the tension they had shared throughout their travels would finally boil over into something more.
Halsin had stuck around the city a lot longer than Tav had expected but it had taken him a while to organise a caravan of refugees and the supplies needed for his return to the Shadowlands, where he hoped to create a new community now that the curse had been lifted. Shadowheart had decided to join him, at least for now. Tav suspected that part of her reasoning was wanting to stick the proverbial middle finger to Shar by helping to build something full of life in a place once dominated by The Lady of Loss. But perhaps an equally large reason was the fact that Halsin was taking Scratch and the Owlbear with him and Shadowheart’s animal loving self wanted to make sure their animal companions were settled and looked after properly. Maybe she would end up making a permanent home there, maybe not, Tav just hoped that wherever Shadowheart ended up she would find peace and happiness.
This wasn’t to say that Tav was entirely alone. There were still friends in the city who she saw fairly regularly. She spent the occasional day helping Dammon out at his forge or assisting Alfira in setting up her new music school and had spent one very enjoyable afternoon with Bex being taught how to bake her signature cookies . Tonight she was having a quiet drink in the Elfsong with Lakrissa after her shift had ended. Well, it had begun as a quiet drink but midway through Tav’s second glass of wine, which she had intended to be her last of the evening, Lia had walked into the tavern, spotted Tav and Lakrissa and asked to join them. The second glass of wine had quickly turned into a third and then a fourth and fifth and now their little corner of Elfsong was filled with slightly drunken giggles as the women caught each other up on what had been happening in their lives since they last saw each other. Lia was currently entertaining them with tales of the things her and her brothers had discovered whilst exploring their new home of Ramazith’s Tower.
“As much of an absolute bastard as Lorroakan was, I have to give the man credit for his extensive collection of pornographic scrolls and books. Gods, you should have seen Rolan’s face when he discovered those!” Lia howled with laughter.
Tav could easily imagine Rolan blushing an even deeper red than his usual complexion whilst looking over the risqué material. She took another sip of her drink and maybe it was the fault of the wine already coursing through her but her mind wandered to the thought of what other physical effects it might cause Rolan, perhaps if he chose to peruse it alone in the privacy of his room. Or possibly not alone. Maybe if she was there the two of them could take inspiration, even act out a scene or two, her straddling him, hands gripping his horns and tipping his head back so she could trail open mouthed kisses down his neck whilst his hands explored her naked body and dipped between her legs-
Tav choked on her drink as she realised she’d just been fantasising about Rolan in front of his sister of all people. A blush spread up her neck and across her face and she quickly looked down hoping like hell that Lia and Lakrissa hadn’t noticed. Yet in doing so she missed the conspiratorial look shared between her friends.
“Talking of Rolan, have you seen much of him lately Tav?” inquired Lakrissa, a sly smile on her face.
“What? No! I mean, no.” Spluttered Tav “I’ve errrr been so busy with helping out around the city I haven’t found the time. I’m sure he’s too busy running Sorcerous Sundries and cataloguing Ramazith’s Tower to spare time for me anyway.”
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Lia. “You’re the Hero of Baldur's Gate, and he wouldn’t have either Sundries or the Tower if it wasn’t for you! He would absolutely make time for you. Plus it would be good for him to talk to someone who wasn’t a potential customer or an inanimate magical item for a change. In fact you should come by tomorrow evening for dinner!”.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to impose. I’m sure I can find some time soon to pop by and say hello.” Tav protested.
“It wouldn’t be an imposition at all. And I’m not taking no for an answer!” Lia quickly said before Tav could utter any more excuses. “Come by around eight”.
Tav sighed in defeat. There was no use arguing with Lia once she got an idea in her head. And unbeknownst to Tav Lia was now forming a rather devious plan for tomorrow night. “Alright you win, I’ll come for dinner.”
“Brilliant! Now, shall we order another bottle girls? The night is still young!”
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Tav stood in front of the mirror in her room at the Elfsong and frowned at her reflection. She’d lost count of how many outfits she’d tried on and the piles of clothes scattered across the floor and piled on her bed attested to that fact. If she didn’t leave in the next few minutes she was going to be late but she couldn’t seem to make a decision. It’s not like it really even mattered what she wore. After all, Rolan and his siblings had seen her covered in dirt, blood, guts and gods only knew what else. But then she thought about how Rolan always looked so devastatingly handsome in his wizard robes and suddenly she wanted to make his breath catch at the sight of her the way hers did when she saw him.
She sighed. There’d been a reason why she’d been avoiding visiting Rolan. The fact she’d been preoccupied with helping rebuild after the Illithid attack had just been a handy excuse. The truth was that now that there was no tadpole in her head, or Chosen of the Dead Three, or any of the myriad of other threats that she’d had to face to deal with anymore, there was no longer anything distracting her from how she felt about the tiefling wizard. And gods did she have feelings for him.
When she’d first met him at the Grove she’d thought he was an arrogant selfish prick. Albeit a very handsome arrogant selfish prick. And the fact that she’d convinced Cal and Lia to stay and fight had done little to ingratiate herself with him. But then her and her merry band of adventures had saved Arabella, convinced Kagha to abandon the Rite that would seal the Grove and to top it all off, had dealt with the goblin threat, returning from the goblin camp bloody but triumphant and with an Archdruid in tow. Rolan had grudgingly offered his thanks and Tav, not one to hold a grudge, decided to wipe the slate clean and give him a second chance. After all, he had just been looking out for his siblings' welfare and she could hardly fault a guy for that.
At the party that night she had clapped at his magical display of little twinkly lights and when Cal had mock whispered “he can also do them in blue” she had replied “like this?” sending up her own display of lights at the same time Rolan had repeated his trick, this time in blue. Their individual lights had intertwined and spun around each other and the way Rolan had smiled at her as they did, nervous and sweet and a little bit tipsy, had sent sparks shooting through her veins. Tav had later regretted not making a move on him that evening but with everything going on it hadn’t seemed like the best idea at the time.
When she’d spotted him at the Last Light Inn Tav had been determined to rectify that mistake, especially now that she knew she wasn’t going to turn into an Illithid at the drop of a hat. But before she’d had the chance Alfira had informed her about what had happened on the road. How they’d been attacked by Absolute cultists. How her and Rolan had managed to get the children away safely thanks to Rolan’s magic and his courage. How despite everything he had done the other tieflings, including Cal and Lia, had been captured and taken to Moonrise Towers. Tav had immediately gone to the bar to try and comfort Rolan and had been taken aback by his alcohol-fuelled anger towards her, even after she’d promised to rescue his family.
When she’d found his message to Cal and Lia, when she’d realised he’d gone out into the shadows alone in order to try and rescue them himself her stomach had dropped. It didn’t matter that she’d literally just returned from a scouting mission where they’d run into a bunch of shadow infected tree blights. It definitely didn’t matter that she was tired and low on magic and had a nasty wound on her side that Shadowheart hadn’t had a chance to heal yet. Tav had turned right around and ran full pelt out of Last Light throwing up prayers to any gods that would listen that she wasn’t too late. Thankfully they hadn’t been and they’d managed to defeat the shadows bearing down on Rolan without too much difficulty and had escorted him back to the inn safely.
His despondency afterwards, the way he was so hard on himself had broken Tav’s heart and she had reiterated her promise to get his siblings back safely. Which she did the very next day. Watching him happily reunite with them had brought a smile to her face. And when he showed genuine humility when apologising to her…well, it became glaringly obvious to Tav that there was more to Rolan than met the eye. Sure he was a bit full of himself, but he was also brave and selfless and loving. Yes he was headstrong, frustratingly so at times, but it was clear that he only wanted to make a better life for his siblings and would do anything in his power to make sure they were safe and happy. And with that realisation it also became clear to Tav that what she wanted from Rolan wasn’t just a quick fling or a single night tangled up with him in his bedsheets. She wanted something more. Something she wasn’t able to offer him considering the situation she currently found herself in. So she’d walked away and buried her developing feelings for him, hoping if she ignored them long enough they’d go away.
That hope had been shattered the minute she’d laid eyes on him again after finally reaching Baldur's Gate. When Tav had seen Rolan standing behind the counter of Sorcerous Sundries covered in bruises and cuts she had become apoplectic with rage. Karlach had had to physically restrain her and drag her out of the building to stop Tav from directly confronting Lorroakan and attempting to shove her fist straight through his face and out the other side.
Once she’d calmed down a little Tav had been consumed with a single minded focus to kill the wanker. How dare he hurt her tiefling! How dare he touch a single hair on her sweet Rolan’s head! She was going fucking kill Lorroakan. Slowly. Painfully. Preferably with a lot of screaming on his end.
It had been easy to get Dame Aylin on side after Tav had informed her of Lorroakan’s intentions for her. Lae’zel and Astarion were always up for a spot of revenge killing. Gale had taken a little more convincing but the promise of being able to raid the vaults afterwards had swayed him. The confrontation and subsequent battle with Lorroakan had been dicey but they’d ultimately ended up victorious, with the crack of Lorroakan’s spine against Aylin’s knee putting a definitive end to his lust for power at the expense of others.
But the fight had done nothing to calm Tav’s burgeoning feelings for Rolan. In fact it had done the complete opposite. Seeing him stand up to his tormentor had made Tav’s heart swell with pride and watching him fight Lorroakan with everything he had, even saving her from a potentially nasty fire bolt to the face with a quick thinking counter spell, had made her desire for him burn even hotter. By the time they’d left the tower, with Rolan’s profuse thanks and promise of help in the final battle trailing them, Tav could no longer deny the fact that she was definitely, unavoidably, undeniably falling for the handsome wizard.
And now she was supposed to have dinner with him. Have a nice meal and pretend like she wasn’t imagining what it would be like to have dinner with him every night and wake up next to him every morning. Pretend like she wasn’t picturing what a life with him would be like. Sit across the table from him and pretend like she didn’t just want him to bend her over said table and fuck her until she saw stars. Tav brought her hands up to her face and quietly screamed into them. Then she looked in the mirror once more.
“Pull yourself together” she said to her reflection. “He probably doesn’t even think of you that way. He probably doesn’t think about you at all. Just pick an outfit, go to dinner and try to act like a normal fucking person instead of the love sick idiot you actually are. You can do this.” And with that Tav turned around and started rummaging through her discarded clothes.
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Rolan was panicking. And it was all thanks to Lia. He’d had a long day, all he’d wanted was a quiet dinner with his siblings and then to relax in bed with a good book. But then he’d spotted Lia setting an extra place at the table.
“Lia, why are there four plates?”
“Oh did I forget to mention? I invited Tav for dinner. She should be here any minute actually.” A smirk playing lightly over Lia’s face.
“You did WHAT?!”
“Gods calm down Rolan. It’s not that big a deal, stop being so dramatic. Now why don’t you pop down the cellar and grab a nice bottle of wine for us to have?”
And now Rolan was standing in the cellar staring at the wine racks and trying his best not to hyperventilate. Tav was coming to dinner. Tav was coming to have dinner. Here. With him. In his home. The Hero of Baldur's Gate. The woman who had saved him and his family over and over again. The woman who he was desperately, irrevocably enamoured with. He would have to spend the evening with her all the while pretending like he didn’t just want to drag her to his bedroom and have his way with her. Strip her naked and whisper how he loved her into every inch of her bare skin. Make her scream his name in ecstasy and then ask her to never leave. To stay and make a life with him.
“Fuck. Pull yourself together.” Rolan uttered to himself out loud. “You’re a powerful wizard, not a love sick boy. Plus she’s the bloody Hero of Baldur's Gate. She’s probably got a whole crowd of suitors banging at her door. The chances of her looking your way are slim to none. Just share a meal with her, act normal and try to not make a fool of yourself. You can do this.” And with that Rolan grabbed a suitable bottle of wine and headed back upstairs.