Private Tales Captured or Running Away

[Nasir]

Pain didn't mean much to someone like him, but he'd long since understood that he was not something ordinary. Even among his people. "Alright."

The Drow said calmly.

Without much of an effort Nasir set to work treating the bruised flesh. His fingers were surprisingly deft, quick, and gentle. He worked without a moment of hesitation, doing what he could to best ensure that everything would be properly set in place.

"There." He said softly. "It will help, though I'm afraid it'll still remain for a few weeks yet."

Nasir was no healer.

 

[Keyleth]

She took a quick breath as the pain flared through her leg, but it was not nearly as agonizing as she'd anticipated. Nasir was surprisingly gentle with her, tending the to injury without aggravating it.

Before she even realized what she was doing, Keyleth leaned forward and placed a delicate kiss to Nasir's lips. It was only a brief connection, but she had felt compelled to do so nevertheless.

A slight smile flitted over her features and she nodded once more.

"It's better than nothing. Thank you."

 

[Nasir]

His smile was brief, though why he wore it was anyone's guess. "Perhaps we'll find a village with a doctor along the way."

That would probably be a bit too fortuitous. Plus, the idea of visiting any village was...troubling, after what had happened at the last one. Sure they had overcome the danger there, but that was when they'd still been backed by a whole bandit crew.

Now they were on their own.

His magics were powerful, strong enough to wipe out a hundred peasants, but doing so would leave him at deaths door. Nasir did not think that being in such a state would be wise...at least not yet.

"For now." The Drow offered. "How about some food?"

 

[Keyleth]

"Food sounds... good." She murmured, realizing that she hadn't eaten in nearly a day. Her stomach tightened in indignation at having been forgotten for so long. She would need the nutrients to heal.

How could she have remembered to feed the animals, but not herself? It was foolishness.

Shaking her head, she reached over to take the offered meal, quietly nibbling on the meat that Nasir had caught for them. "Why did you fall in with those bandits, Nasir?" She asked while they ate, curiosity getting the better of her.

"They seemed... beneath you."

 

[Nasir]

Nasir considered the question for a brief few moments, frowning as he thought about how to best answer her question.

"I was...am in exile." Something that he had already told her, but perhaps not explained all that well. The Drow frowned for a brief moment, shifting his weight slightly as he adjusted how he sat. "I've wandered the surface for nearly two hundred years now."

Though it was not even half his lifetime. "Most of that time I spent searching for a way back."

A hand ran over his jaw.

"Eventually I grew tired of this search, the constant struggle for survival." His shoulders rolled into a shrug. "They were beneath me, but they were convenient."


A gathering of lost souls.

 

[Keyleth]

"Misery loves company, as they say." She murmured, taking a other bite of the roasted meat.

She considered her next words for a few moments, watching the fire crackle before them.

"Is that why you kept me alive? Companionship?"

 

[Nasir]

He considered for a moment. "I suppose so."

A question such as that was not easy to answer, at least not really. His own motivations were at time...sporadic. Especially during the last century or so when he had lost sight of what he should have been doing.

Sometimes he had chosen to be cruel just to cruel, to feel a flittering of something. His people were known for such acts, but perhaps he had unleashed that a bit too much.

"I have been surrounded by Humanity for two decades." He said with a frown. "It grew...tiresome."

To say the least. "Their mindset is not one I can understand."

 

[Keyleth]

Keyleth nodded slightly while he spoke, listening intently to what he had to say. It seemed she was genuinely curious about the drow and wasn't just rushing to talk about herself as most would have done.

"Humans are ... Fickle, impulsive, and so very shortsighted. But... They are not all so bad. The ones that make the most of their time on this earth and live each moment to the fullest are inspiring really. Admirable in a way." She mused quietly after a few moments, setting aside the bones once she was finished eating.

"Perhaps you were simply exposed to the dredges and scum that humanity has to offer."

 

[Nasir]

Nasir did not say anything to her for a few moments, as if considering her words. "Perhaps outrexperiences just differ."

He thought there was little point in arguing.

Over the years he had seen the worst of humanity, what they were capable of. Even the best of their species would commit atrocities at the drop of a pebble if they thought it would save them. He knew this for a fact, he had witnessed it.

Perhaps Keyleth had not yet seen that truth.

She would in time.

"They all share the same base impulses." He said plainly. "Even if some can resist them longer."

 

[Keyleth]

Without even thinking about what she was doing, Keyleth leaned over and placed her head on Nasir's shoulder. She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth of the fire that the drow had put together.

"Perhaps. But enough of the humans. If all goes well, you won't have to see them again."

 

[Nasir]

He nodded his head. "I suppose that is true."

Optimism was not something he really had in regards to this, at least not anymore. There had been many tries, many attempts, many glimmers of hope. All of it had gone wrong in one way or another. The curse set upon him was no trivial thing.

"We shall see." He mused. "The path will be an interesting one this time at least."

Something he was looking forward to. "I have always enjoyed the dwarves."

As she already knew.

 

[Keyleth]

"I've never encountered any dwarves. What are they like?" She asked, genuinely curious.

Dwarves did not swell on Minaris, and she'd never ventured close enough to the Spine to meet them before. This was a new opportunity for her, she realized. With Nasir, she would come to see more of the world.

She didn't lift her head from his shoulder, since he's not shown and displeasure in having her there. Physical contact was something she needed to keep her sanity, without it, the Queen felt entirely isolated.

 

[Nasir]

"They are a stout folk." Nasir had always respected the Dwarves as well as their cousins within the Underdark.

They were fierce warriors, principled, and never quick to act when a better solution could still be found. Relations with their people were not always...positive, between themselves and others, but that hardly mattered to him.

"They think for the future." He explained. "Building great cities and holds that will last generations."

Which for them was several hundred years. "Theirs is a life of forethought."

 

[Keyleth]

"I can see why you like them, then." The woman murmured with a slight smile, enjoying the simple moment of listening to him speak.

Eventually, however, she lifted her head from Nasir's shoulder and gave the man his space. While she wanted to maintain the physical connection, she doubted that he was comfortable with such things.

"It's practically unheard of for an entire civilization to be solely focused on the betterment of their society as a whole. They must be fascinating."

 

[Nasir]

"I would not say it is all of them, but a majority." He mused for a moment. "Not to say that they always get the...results they would like."

His hand gently brushed over her knee in quiet assurance, showing her touch was not an unwelcome one.

"There is a reason you have never met a Dwarf. Their numbers are few, fewer even than of my own people." Though the exact reason for that he was not sure.

"At the very least however." He chuckled. "They will not try to kill us."

That much he was sure of.

Every dwarf he had every met stuck to a stringent code of justice and honor. One that Nasir knew better than any other outsider.

 

[Keyleth]

"That's something, at least." She murmured with a quiet chuckle.

The gentle touch to her knee, however, was the only indication she needed to allow herself to get more comfortable. Turning around, she laid down on the ground next to Nasir and then placed her head in his lap. Her face was nestled against his stomach, back turned to the fire.

She tucked her arms against her chest and closed her eyes, content to listen to Nasir talk about Dwarves for as long as he wanted.

"Maybe they'll even have a proper bed to sleep in." She mused, smiling a little without opening her eyes.

 

[Nasir]

His fingers absently played with her hair. "If you enjoy sleeping on slabs of rock."

The Drow said in a manner that made it difficult to tell whether or not he was joking.

There was an odd seriousness about him at all times, though that didn't mean he wasn't capable of humor. Back when he had still been a General in the Undercities armies things had been...easier for him. It had been a more jovial time, easier.

Briefly he wondered if it would ever be like that again.

"Get some rest." He told her softly. "Tomorrow will be a long day."

Of that there was little doubt.