Silver & Wine

Chapter Three: The Reason

—chapter three: the reason

Gale grabbed Aemry and yelled at someone named Lae'zel to get Astarion away from them. Aemry bruised Astarion's ego by slapping him the way she did, and he wanted to strangle her for it. So Gale swept Aemry away and told his party to keep an eye on Astarion, who would probably be fine after some wine.

     Aemry distanced herself from Gale. As she saw it, he was an accessory to a kidnapping and a robbery, so she already disliked him. While he did prevent Astarion from attacking her just now, she wasn't going to be thanking him anytime soon.

"I hope you can forgive us," said Gale, sincerely.

"For which part? Breaking into my house? Robbing my family's vault? Kidnapping me?" Aemry sneered.

"Technically, we only broke into your gates—" Gale debated, but quickly stopped when Aemry glared at him. "Sorry. All of it. I hope you can forgive us for all of it."

Aemry pretended to think, mocking him. "As a matter of fact, no. I can't forgive you. Sorry."

Gale nodded. "I thought as much, and understandably so. You have every right."

She scoffed. "Why am I here? Are you going to hold me hostage and demand money from my parents?"

"No," he said, sitting down. "You deserve an explanation. Sit with me if you'd like, or don't. But you might get sick of standing."

Gale had managed to whisk Aemry away to a nearby stream and was sitting on rock that hung over the water. Aemry decided to sit down, not because of Gale but because her legs hurt from falling through a portal. She kept a good three feet of space between them and watched little fish swim in the water.

"Astarion is a vampire," Gale confessed.

Aemry pulled a face. "Well-spotted," she said, sarcastically.

"You already knew?"

"He has red eyes and fangs. What else was there to know?"

Gale chuckled. "I suppose one could make that connection. Truthfully, when I first met Astarion I did have my suspicions, as did everyone else. But we chose not to address it until Astarion was ready to be open about it."

     Aemry looked at him, thoughtfully. "What do you mean by that?"

     He sighed. "Well, Astarion feared we would kick him out if he revealed his true self to us. So for a while, he went out of his way to hunt animals as we slept. But he was never fully satisfied, and one night he tried to bite Tav in her sleep. She wasn't happy with him, but she eventually let him take a small amount of her blood, just enough to get his energy back."

     "Who is Tav?"

     Gale glanced over his shoulder and pointed towards their camp, which was a fair distance away but close enough that Aemry could see everyone clearly. He explained that the woman wearing her Bormul earrings was Tav, and that she and Astarion had history. Currently, Tav was engaged in an argument with Astarion, who was rolling his eyes at her.

     "What happened between them?" Aemry asked, curiously.

     "I happened," Gale smirked, victoriously. "It was never my intention to separate them, but Astarion kept trying to mould her into something she wasn't. Tav has always gone out of her way to help anyone in need, and Astarion dislikes acts of kindness with no reward. Being chivalrous or heroic bores him, and Tav is very selfless. She wasn't willing to bend her morals for him, and neither was he for her. Tav left him."