Fourth Wall

Seventeen: Reunion

Chloe and the party - now complete with Astarion's arrival - had circled back toward the river to make camp. After their encounter with the beast of the moat, everyone thought it best to rest, bathe, and strategize in order to live another day. The others had managed to remain mostly clean after fighting the tentacles on land, only Chloe drenched in inky black sludge.

The moon was full, and approaching the middle of the sky when Chloe's head emerged from the surface of the river to take a breath. She thought back to the blackness of the icy water of the moat. She remembered her fear, and how she'd leapt in anyways. She smiled up at the stars. When was the last time she really conquered her fear back home? Managing to go out to a restaurant to eat? It felt pitiful now.

Chloe's thoughts turned again to Astarion, to the vision of him standing there next to the moat so casually.

He'd come back.

She smiled at that too.

As if summoned, she heard the slightest disturbance in the current of the water behind her and she turned to find Astarion, naked in the waist-deep water of the river. He was watching her warily. She didn't move to cover her own nudity. They were past that, and in truth she probably wouldn't have shied away from him that night regardless. He was silent as he approached, slowly wading through the water to stand beside her and stare up at the sky. She noticed a few scratches on the side of his face.

Strange, she thought. Normally something so small would have healed by now.

She let the silence stretch on as the two of them looked up at the moon together. Finally, Astarion spoke, his voice gentle over the murmuring sounds of the river.

"I thought you would be angry." He said, his eyes flicking to her face in his periphery, though he refused to look directly at her.

"For saving my life." Chloe posited.

"For endangering theirs," Astarion countered, turning to face her with a look that said, 'You know what I mean.' Chloe sighed, looking up at his red eyes, his white curls gleaming slightly in the moonlight.

"I couldn't really be angry about it. I guess I would have done the same for you." Astarion turned toward her more fully, taking in her moonlit image. He looked at her as though he was trying to memorize her face.

"Yes," he murmured. "That is why I came back."

"Did they make it to the Grove safely?" Chloe questioned softly.

"They did," Astarion responded, tone almost bragging. "I even fought off a few beasts for them, see these here?" He gestured to the scratches on his face and neck. "Battle scars." He boasted.

"Did you not keep yourself fed enough to heal properly? None of the refugees to your taste?" Chloe teased, and Astarion looked momentarily uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid I wouldn't know. I couldn't bring myself to..." He trailed off. Chloe looked at him in surprise.

"You've just been without this whole time? Fighting off animals on empty? Are you crazy? Why?" She demanded.

"I couldn't!" He put his hands up in a defensive gesture. "I found that I...truly didn't want to. I had a few animals here or there. Enough to keep me going." He once again avoided Chloe's gaze.

"No blood of 'thinking things,' then?" She asked, quoting him. Her voice came out a bit more sultry than she'd intended.

"No, precious. Not since I last saw you," He murmured, his gaze shifting down to her lips.

Chloe was overwhelmed by the way he was looking at her, the soft way he was speaking. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. He froze, making a slight noise of astonishment. He didn't return the embrace for a moment, and Chloe wondered when the last time was that he was offered an embrace with no strings attached. She squeezed his middle slightly.