Into the Feywild (@carebarian)

[tiveragh]

Tieve's persuasion skills have come through in the clutch more than once on their wild journey, but she will never be more grateful for their success than the moment Karlach agrees to follow her. Not to Avernus--while Tieve herself might think the price of living in the Hells is worth it for the chance to explore and find a way out later, she can't blame Karlach for refusing. She can see the marks of loneliness in her more clearly than anyone. They've both done decade-long sentences in uncertain solitude. Tieve was just luckier in that hers was not in a war zone.

As soon as the yes leaves Karlach's lips, as soon as they've called out a last frantic farewell-for-now to their friends, Tieve pulls open the door. They're on the docks, and that's close enough to a crossroads. They leave the world without taking a step.

And instead of the rising pink dawn, they're surrounded by curtains of velvet purple twilight. It's usually twilight here. Sometimes the sun rises, or the moon, but the fey prefer not to have the eyes of other gods upon them. Now, the sky above is a pristine, unbroken shade of violet, soft on the eyes but almost unsettling in its perfection. The ground is sand under their feet, white as milk, and there's clear water to the west. To the east, trees rise up, impossibly tall, every imaginable shade of green in the gloaming.

Tieve's hands come up to grip Karlach's forearms almost at once, heedless of the risk. She thinks, she hopes, the fires are already dying down. "How do you feel? Breathe slow, breathe deep. I'm here."

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[carebarian]

Karlach has to admit that this is a creative solution to her problem — but then she also has to admit to herself that she's not certain at all that it will work. That moment on the docks felt like such a sure thing; she could feel her infernal iron casings shredding themselves as she overheated, knew there was no turning back from damage that profound. Her flames tended to cannibalize, a blaze devouring anything in reach and roaring ever hotter, and she'd lost complete control, gone far beyond the capabilities of some deep breaths and icy scrolls. She'd been desperate when she took Tieve's offer, and hopeless when that door opened.

But here, it's different. Her flames don't even burn in the normal sense; they're still raging, still whipping high up towards that eerie violet sky, but it's not the same heat, not even the same pain where the engine sits inside of her. It occurs to her that the folk of this realm probably don't want wayward souls crashing in here with all sorts of destructive powers, so maybe that's it. She's just been magically neutered, essentially, and good.

She still flinches when Tieve reaches for her, worried that they'll burn her. Turns out there's no real reason to fear; her flames might as well be ghostlights for all the trouble they cause when her fingers press into Karlach's arm. She closes her eyes, and at Tieve's behest, she takes in a slow, deep breath.

"How do they look?" It's maybe not the slowest breath, and Karlach's already cracking open one eye mid-exhale, but she's sort of excited. Okay, VERY excited. "It feels different. Good-different."

[tiveragh]

Fey don't do well with iron. The solidity of it tugs at their vulnerabilities, drags their ambiguity uncomfortably into predictability. It is something within which they cannot exist. You can bind any feylord with cold-forged iron chains.

The reverse, Tieve reasoned, may also hold true. Infernal iron is not of this plane. It cannot be destroyed by the feywild, but by the same token, faerie abhors it. The will of this world encases Karlach's engine, binds it in magic, not for her sake, but to protect itself. It's not a fix, but it'll buy her time like nothing else would. The feywild has all the time in the world.

Tieve strokes across Karlach's wrists with her thumbs, confident after the first flush of experimentation. This is as safe as anything in faerie can be. They're free, for now. "They're paler," she says. "Violet and green, like the world is trying to make them blend into it. I'm afraid the infernal iron won't be exactly welcome here, but...that's part of the trick. We'll just have to be careful to dodge anyone powerful enough to take issue with it."

She lets go of her hands and reaches up to cradle her chin in both hands instead, grinning at her with a mix of smugness and warmth. Tieve did something clever and she's just going to back in the pleasure of that for a moment, and the added relief of knowing Karlach won't be dying today.

"It suits you, Karlach."

[carebarian]

Karlach watches like a curious cat, her slitted eyes wavering between her own wrist and Tieve's face. She's never seen flames that burn this color before, and it's as mesmerizing as it is exciting. Sort of pretty, too, if she's honest with herself; lovely in its own exotic way.

She can't let the rest hit her, not yet. She hasn't the strength to start down the road of hope, real, true hope that this will all pan out for the best. Instead, she hones in on Tieve's comment about powerful people in this realm, nodding in affirmation, and smiles when she draws nearer.

Whatever will become of them, of herself, it's still time she wouldn't have had before. And just like before, she's going to make the most of it, reaching for Tieve in kind, folding her hands around her waist to pull her still closer. It feels almost like Karlach owes her an apology for daring to let the cold claws of death catch up to her, for not coming up with this plan on her own somehow. To have the audacity to nearly die and leave all of this behind.

She tilts her head so that she can rub her lips against Tieve's fingers.

"Don't even know how to begin thanking you for this," she murmurs, though her gaze keeps leaving Tieve, darting wildly across their surroundings. Much as she's happy to be here, she knows better than to trust this realm. "Hopefully I've got a long, long time to figure that out."

[tiveragh]

The temptation to just stay there and touch her, cuddle and comfort her like she deserves, is strong. They just came so close to being parted forever, it hurts. Lengthy acquaintance with Withers has taught Tieve that souls and the afterlife are very real, maybe realer than this world, and some vibrant spirit within Karlach will go on, unextinguishable no matter what. But still.

She leans in and kisses the bridge of her nose, affection that must be given, even if they don't have time for a real kiss. "Thank me by staying with me as long as you can," she says. "That's all I wanted, anyway."

"We should move away from the water before something starts singing at us." She stands and offers Karlach a hand up, which is probably not necessary but maybe she just wants to hold hands. "This lake has no name, but I used to come here to fetch water once. I still have some protection from my mistress' mark, but I don't know how strong it will be. We'll be better off in the woods."

"There are some rules you have to know about faerie," she leads the way toward the treeline, fingers threaded through Karlach's. "Never take anything from the trees without asking first. If there's wood that's fallen on the ground, you can pick it up, but if we need to set a fire, we have to be careful about where the fuel comes from. Don't pick fruit or nuts without asking, either."

"If we meet fae, don't take gifts from them, don't catch anything they throw to you, and don't thank them for anything. They'll take that as a tacit agreement that you owe them something. And don't eat or drink faerie food unless I tell you it's safe, or we've paid for it ahead of time."

"I don't think we're likely to run into animals here that are any more fearsome than what we've faced down before, but the people are subtle and tricky, and everything runs on dream logic."

[carebarian]

It's a hand that Karlach will happily take. Feels almost like a faerie tale, dashing off into the enchanted woods with her beloved princess to discover a world wholly unknown to her. If Wyll were here, he'd certainly draw a few parallels.

Ugh, she'll miss them all so much, but...

"I'm here. For as long as you'll have me," she says, smiling in a way she hasn't found the occasion to in so long. It's been such a blur, so much blood and tears shed, so many enormously exhausting battles bookending one another. The prospect of rest, of time, of picking back up where they'd left off is almost more exciting than this brand new adventure.

And unlike in Avernus, she actually has someone she trusts to guide her. It does ache in her heart, the thought of Tieve laboring here alone, of her having to make her own way the same as Karlach did in the Hells, but what a boon that expertise makes for now. Karlach is careful where she steps, cognizant of each rule as they pass beyond the threshold of the forest, her slitted eyes narrowing as she casts a look all around.

"So... standard Baldurian pub rules, then." It's a joke — but also not, gods, she still remembers her first ill-fated run-in with the Mermaid's everlasting stew. "Avernus, too, operated much the same way. I'll be careful, love."

And hopefully Tieve would be by her side most of the time. This far into their journey, she truly could not imagine any degree of separation from her. The thought alone had her squeezing Tieve's fingers as they walked.

[tiveragh]

There's always a chance the others will find their way here, too, if they try hard enough. They'll have their own quests to attend to first, maybe, but Tieve wouldn't put it past Wyll, in particular, to make time to search for his friends. Time gives them hope. Anything can happen if you wait long enough.

"Well, I haven't had you yet, but we can work on that." Tieve gives her the least convincing innocent look possible. "Once we find a safe shelter. You know I've had a crush on you since we met, right?"

She laughs at the joke, because it is sort of apt, at least where the drinks are concerned. And being wary of gifts. "They all want bargains, don't they? Fey, devils, gods...we always have something they want that's not easily taken from us. Souls must be very powerful."

She's quiet for a moment, ducking under some branches to find a deer trail to walk on. At least, it could be a deer trail. There are plenty of other odd creatures in faerie.