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text @shadowheart

[nightsung]

I know Stephen made a grave error. I won’t ask you not to tell him when he’s erred.

But I’m afraid for him. I know what Saber’s capable of, with time before the cage. I know Stephen’s been vocal enough to make a target of himself in general. And I

I care about Stephen. Him and Tony, both, not just from the cult’s magic.

Please, as my friend, help me look after them.

[corporeity]

[ the message makes him ache far more than he can let on. he does not understand where shadowheart stands, in truth. she lavishes attention on saber and yet she fears he’ll harm those she loves best. she works for silco, who has proven himself untrustworthy. she now comes to him to plead for two who endangered all with their actions.

he’ll not insult her by questioning her feelings for these men, though he wonders if the cult’s influence lingers. she’s capable, to be sure.

and she’d made her choices. ]

Shadowheart, the only way to protect them is to play the game to win.

What are you asking of me now?

[nightsung]

[ It takes her too long to respond. They’ve been through fire together, her and Gale and Astarion—things worse than this, in so many ways. World-ending things, fields of gore and viscera that make the Werewolf murders look like child’s play.

But they’d had their powers. Any mind-altering magic affecting them happened in battle only, not for such stretches of time without any way to counteract it. If Shadowheart is trying to find an anchor, she’s instead still adrift in treacherous seas. ]

I don’t know. My hope was to keep our heads down, and that’s failed utterly.

I just need you to understand that I don’t care what happens to Saber. I do care what happens to them.

[corporeity]

I understand.

[ that makes two more whose deaths would pain his nearest and dearest. he can do nothing for them now, not until the next vote, and the uselessness, the guilt, is punishment enough, for his failure to gather evidence or votes. ]

I’m sorry.
I would protect you and Astarion, Caroline and August, Alia and Paul and Alina, as well as all you hold dear, if I were able to.

[nightsung]

I know.

[ Shadowheart’s circle here is smaller than Gale’s, from both his being here longer and her reticence to truly connect. The manor had been a different creature entirely—one where alliances mattered, but not like this. Where her vices hurt no one but herself.

She wonders if she would have been more strategic in the past months, had she been able to see where they would all land. She finds herself wishing she didn’t have to be. ]

I love you. Without you and Astarion, I

I would be so much more lost.

If either of you need me, know that I’ll do what I can for you.

[corporeity]

[ and in that instant, everything clarifies. this is the shadowheart he knew — knows. who has walked beside him through the depths of the underdark and the eternal night of the shadow-cursed lands. whose goddess would not only forsake her, as mystra would him, but would claw her back, at the first opportunity. ]

I love you too, Shadowheart. Please do come find us, not only if you need it but because I

Well, I’d like to see you. Before it begins again.

[ just in case. ]