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Ashton is first to figure it out. Imogen imagines it clicks for them while fighting Lord Eshteross. Orym is knocked to the ground and Dorian falls down, looking on the brink of death. But it is seeing Laudna getting smashed into the wall, dark blood spattering across the wood, that fuels the rage inside her heart.
On some level Imogen knows it’s just a test; that Lord Eshteross would never kill any of her companions. But any bruise, any show of hurt in those big, gorgeous, black eyes of hers is too much. She doesn’t need to open up her mind to know when Laudna’s in pain, their connection transcends the need for it.
Her gaze shoots to Eshteross, her eyes flashing white with rage as her hands begin to tremble with effort. The purple veins on her arms start to glow and the electric energy, far stronger than the spell has ever felt before, shoots from her fingers and strikes right into his heart.
Eshteross bears the electric shock with grace and despite it all, even manages a smile back at her in understanding. Imogen stares back, not returning the smile, but giving a slight nod as if to say: cross her and you cross me.
At least there wouldn’t be any confusion where her loyalties lie.
The fight is called to an end before Imogen has the chance to strike him again. The group gathers around Lord Eshteross’ desk while she and Laudna hang back against the wall. Throughout the conversation, Imogen notices Ashton’s fixed eyes on them. She’s tempted to peer into their mind, but that last spell really drained her energy. Not that Ashton is the type to mince their words.
“You guys seem like you have a really good deal going on,” Ashton says to them. “Should keep that up. It seems nice.”
Imogen feels herself blushing and glances over at Laudna. They’ve traveled across the land and not once has anyone noted they’re a couple. Not that they could ever stay in a town long enough for people to notice. Oh gods, her mind fills with worry. What if this would be another reason for them to be chased out of town? That couldn’t happen in Jrusar. At least not until they’ve gotten access to the Starpoint Conservatory and find some damn answers.
On the way to the Weary Way Tavern she falls into pace with Ashton, who has his big glass hammer swung around his shoulders, his arms dangling over it.
“I hope I don’t speak out of line, but I do hope we can count on your discretion?” She stumbles out hesitantly.
“What?” Their eyebrows knit in confusion. “Oh! Yeah, don’t even fucking worry about that. That’s not my story to tell. Besides. Far more fun to watch these people put the pieces together themselves.”
--
Inside a tavern room a battle arises. The shade creepers are very different from the ones she fought off together with Laudna at Zhudanna’s place. But with eight people strong, they manage to clear out the room. Unfortunately, the main target escapes. Just as Imogen starts to wonder how loud their fight must’ve been, heavy footfalls are heard from the hall and there’s a knock on the door.
“We’re indecent!” Laudna yells.
Not the first time she’s used that lie to curious inn keepers knocking on their door. Though Imogen has a feeling this time the knocker needs a little more convincing. Quickly, she scans the room and grabs Dorian by the arm while popping a button or two of her blouse, before opening the door ajar.
The employee, accompanied by two peacekeepers, lets them know they’ve received a few noise complaints. Imogen lets out a giggle, playing the part convincingly.
“Oh my goodness! We’re so sorry!” She gasps, putting emphasis on her charming drawl. “We can tone it down?”
There is a little back and forth, but Imogen knows they’re golden when Dorian cleverly offers a third spot to their supposed wild sex shenanigans. The suggestion is met with flushing cheeks and is enough to ward off any suspicions.
Imogen closes the door and leans her head against it. She lets out a sigh of relief as her quick thinking got them out of a whole lot of additional trouble. In the corner of her eye she sees Laudna ushering everyone off the balcony.
Their gaze meet. The look on Laudna is so unlike those soft expressions Imogen is used to seeing that it sends a sting down her spine. She swallows the feeling down and rushes to the balcony and follows her party outside.
The day is long and exhausting and Imogen is glad when they get back to the Windowed Wall. They curl up together in the small bed and she waits for sleep to take her. But as tired as she is, Imogen cannot ignore the sting she felt earlier.
“Laudna, what happened today?”
One eye pops open in the dark. “Hm?”
Imogen sighs. “I don’t know, I thought I picked up a weird vibe when we were escaping the tavern.”
Her long nail taps against her own chin. “Well, I suppose it was a bit disheartening to see you pull in Dorian as quickly as you did.”
She furrows her brow. “What do you mean?”
“For your little pretend date. You chose him over me.”
“Oh.” Her quick thinking may have been a little too quick. “Oh, Laudna. Don’t you ever go thinking that.”
“I know, darling.” Laudna softly presses her forehead against hers. “I get it. If those guards saw me they would’ve kicked in the door immediately. You made the right call. You’re brilliant like that.”
She smiles at the remark. Not a day goes by when Laudna doesn’t call her brilliant.
“Felt a bit weird though, when you pretended to have a sex escapade.”
Imogen lets out a chuckle. Neither of them are very keen on the more physical elements of a relationship. Something they figured out through trial and error. Another reason why they work so well together.
“Oh gosh, I don’t even know where that came from.” She covers her face in embarrassment. “But you were yelling about being indecent. I had to come up with something!”
Laudna brushes some hair behind Imogen’s ear. “You did good, darling. But… We’ve been hermits together for so long, I guess it’s odd I have to share you now.”
“Yeah, I feel that. Fearne’s been complimenting you so much, I can hardly compete.”
“Oh? Do I detect a little jealously?” Laudna teases her.
“Maybe.” Imogen nestles in closer and plants a kiss on her shoulder. “Or maybe I just like what we have.”
Laudna wraps her in a tight embrace. “As do I. This. You. Is what I care about. I adore our new little group, but it cannot compare. Nothing ever will.”
The last words are spoken in a whisper, like a rhythm meant as her personal lullaby. Laudna strokes her long nails gently down her scalp, and the soothing gesture helps lessen the headache that’s forming. Her eyes begin to drape, and in her partner’s arms, Imogen falls asleep.
--
The familiar nightmare that has haunted her for so long takes an unexpected turn as Sir Betrand Bell gets wrapped up in the red storm. Imogen wakes with a start as she feels her heart beating in her throat. Her hand searches for Laudna under the blankets as she stammers out her name. Being a light sleeper herself, Laudna is instantly by her side.
Her whole body crawls as she recounts the story. Her hands start fidgeting and she blinks harshly to fight the tears filling her eyes. Never again. She never ever wants to experience this nightmare again. But she will. Now that the dream is evolving into something worse.
Before her fears fling her into a spiral of anxiety, Laudna calms her down. She takes her hands to stop them from cracking. Her dark eyes find hers, seek connection, and the steady gaze grounds Imogen. Her breathing becomes less shallow and Laudna smiles a little when she sees it’s working. She places a comforting kiss on her temple and whispers: “Whatever it is, there’s an element of truth to it.”
Imogen nods. They have to check on Bertie. If only so they can confirm the nightmare is nothing more than that: an awful dream.
--
It’s worse. They find Bertrand dead in an alley and Imogen shivers at the thought that she most likely saw him die in her vision. Another element that will no doubt haunt her at night.
The day that follows is another intense one. Between finding the Hubbatt Corsairs, fighting Dugger, and giving eulogies to Bertrand’s dead body it feels like she’s experiencing three days at once.
When the group returns to the Spire by Fire, Ashton suggests a rousing drinking game. Imogen knows she probably shouldn’t be drinking; it only makes it more difficult to keep the voices outside her head at bay. But fuck it. Today was intense and she’s starting to like this group more and more.
Slightly drunk they retire for the night. The room they rent has two separate beds, but Imogen and Laudna are far too tired to fix the beds together and they nod off quickly after that.
In her sleep Imogen tosses and turns, but it isn’t because of another nightmare. She feels like she’s boiling. Like it’s a hot summer night and she’s wrapped in a blanket made of thick wool meant for cold winters. Imogen grumbles and tosses the blanket off, but that’s too much cold at once. Still drowsy, she stumbles out of bed and feels around for the other bedpost. Her shins hit a wooden plank and Imogen catches herself before toppling over. She reaches for the blanket in the dark and crams herself onto the tiny mattress.
Laudna’s sleeping body instinctively reacts and curls around her. One wrong move and they’d both be on the floor, but it doesn’t matter. She can’t sleep without Laudna’s body pressed against hers. Hot and cold temperatures mix together under a single blanket keeping a perfect balance.
“Much better,” Laudna mumbles softly, and Imogen sighs in happy agreement.
--
“Oh. Oh my.”
Imogen’s eyes flutter open at the voice disrupting her peaceful sleep. A harsh light comes from the door opening and a tall figure holds on to the doorknob.
“Fearne?” Imogen asks groggily.
“I-I’m so sorry! I thought I’d wake everyone up for breakfast, but—” Her hands cusp around her cheeks. “This is so precious.”
In her hazy state it takes a moment for Imogen to realize what the hell she’s referring to. Slowly, she remembers her late night trek from her bed to Laudna’s, and how they’re still wrapped up together.
Laudna stirs awake underneath her arm and another question forms in Imogen’s morning brain. “Wait. Do you have a key to our room?”
“No, I lockpicked it,” Fearne says, perfectly unaware of her mischief. “You do know you can move the beds closer, right? Orym, Dorian and I made a whole blanket fort in our room.”
“Really?” Laudna sits up and rubs the sleep out of her eyes. “That sounds lovely. Why haven’t we thought of that?”
Imogen can’t help the smile that forms on her lips. She’s entirely too cute. “We can do that some time, if you’d like.”
Her big doll-like eyes lose their tiredness and sparkle with excitement.
“I should leave. I feel like I’m interrupting a moment,” Fearne says, but stops herself before she closes the door. “Unless… I could join the cuddle pile?”
Imogen looks at Laudna and connects to her telepathically. Would you mind?
Of course not!
“Who could say no to a cuddle pile?” Laudna speaks for the both of them.
Fearne claps her hands excitedly and jumps onto the bed. It’s actually impossible to have all three of them fit onto it at the same time. Whoever is closest to the edge falls off immediately and their boisterous laughter wakes up about half the inn.
Imogen is willing to deal with every grumpy thought from the other patrons when they go down to eat breakfast. After those intense few days, this kind of carefree laughter is what she’s in desperate need of.
--
With Fearne in the known it’s only a matter of time before Dorian and Orym know as well. On one of their trips on the cable gondolas (any trip is one too many in Imogen’s book), she digs her nails into Laudna’s arm and holds on tight. She opens her mind to connect to Laudna’s, who tells a narrative to calm her anxieties. It’s a mystery to her why her party members freak out so much whenever Laudna creeps into their minds. Even if what she's telling is entirely creepy, to Imogen it always feels like a soothing bedtime story. Except, the bed is a rocking death trap and the story is told to an adult.
When the gondola shakingly comes to a stand-still, Imogen is brave enough to open her eyes again. On the opposite side of the gondola, she sees Orym giving her a wink. Without saying anything at all it is clear that he knows about them too. Maybe he knew before Fearne even told him, Imogen realizes, but was too polite to breach the subject without Laudna or Imogen bringing it up first.
Dorian, on the other hand, is less shy about it and reveals he knows after they leave the Dreamscape Theater.
“Now that we hold memberships to the theater, don’t you think it’d be great to get some alone time?” He asks.
Imogen flushes bright red. “Uh… e-excuse me?”
“No! No, no, no, no,” Dorian rapidly waves his hands as his cheeks grow darker. “That came out wrong. I meant with Laudna. Laudna. You know, we’ve been hanging out as a group so much I thought it could be nice if you take your girl out on a date.”
“Oh.” Imogen looks over at Laudna, who is currently scaring the new guy, Chetney. It brings a smile to her face. “I-I hadn’t even thought about that. We’ve never gone on a date before.”
He frowns. “But, I thought you two were together?”
“We are. It’s just… when you travel alone together, there’s no real need to go on a date, y’know? We were together all the time anyway. I guess it never occurred to us.”
“I see. How did you start dating then?”
Imogen thinks back to the two years she’s spend with Laudna and realizes there isn’t a single defining point. “It grew naturally, I suppose. Familiar. It’s like… you enter your first inn where there’s only a double bed and you kinda shrug and go with it. Before you know it every night you’re cuddled up together, double bed or not. The words explaining it were just an afterthought.”
His gaze softens. “That’s wonderful, Imogen.”
“Yeah,” Imogen agrees, as her eyes linger on Laudna. “I wouldn’t know what I’d do without her.”
“Maybe all the more reason to treat her to a special night, wouldn’t you agree?”
Dorian's suggestion stays on Imogen’s mind. Maybe that’s why—when they need to stall the cook from returning to the kitchen—Imogen blurts out: “Pretty! Do you want to go on a date?”
The sweet ogre turns around with a confused look on his face. And Imogen wants to kick herself, because this isn’t the person she wants to ask. But Fearne sees the panic on her face and butts in and makes it a group date so that, technically, Imogen does go out on a date with Laudna.
On the date, Pretty proves himself to be a far better date companion than any of the three ladies. He even gifts them all a self-made present. Laudna wastes no time to clip the cauliflower into Imogen’s hair, and in return Imogen wraps the artichoke broche around Laudna’s wrist.
It’s nice to spend a relaxing night at the theater, but Imogen has to do her level best to keep the many voices around her outside her mind. After the show, Pretty turns them all down easy and takes his leave. Imogen feels bad for him, because she's the one who put him in this uncomfortable position. Fearne seems to have a rough time with the rejection and she can tell Laudna’s insecurities are getting the better of her when she asks if she’s too clingy.
“You’re not clingy. You’re wonderful,” Imogen reassures her as she laces their hands together. “I adore every part of you.”
“Thank you, Imogen,” she smiles. “And you know what? It was a fun practice date.”
“Yeah? Would you like to go on a date with me again sometime?”
“I’d love that.” Her eyes look around the square, where the theater audience is slowly heading homewards. “Some place quieter, probably.”
Imogen laughs. “Like a graveyard?”
“Precisely!”
Being a silent observer the whole night, Fresh Cut Grass finally pipes up: “Oh, so when you said you deeply love Imogen, y’all meant romantic love?”
They share a look. “It’s a little more complex than that.”
“It’s aligned, I’d say.”
Laudna nods. “Yes, that’s an excellent way of putting it. Aligned.”
F.C.G. looks between the two of them. “That makes no sense to me, but I’m happy if y’all are happy.”
“We are, Letters,” Imogen replies. She reaches out to Fearne and links arms with her as well, feeling that she needs a bit of support right now. “You know what? You three were the best part of this night.”
As they stroll back to the Spire by Fire, Imogen feels a calm wash over her. Happy that none of her new friends raised any objections, or reacted with disgust once they found out. It feels good, to be proven wrong.
--
And far, far in the future, nearing the end of their adventuring journey. When they fight far bigger evils than they could currently even imagine, Laudna takes the final blow before the beast falls limp to the ground. Her pale body crashes onto the ground and Imogen cries out her name.
She rushes towards her and her knees scrape against the harsh earth. Imogen picks her up and cradles her body. “Laudna. Laudna, don’t you dare leave me now,” she whispers as tears stream down her face.
Her eyes flutter open and through the pain Laudna smiles, she smiles for her.
“I’m fine, Imogen,” she says, and strokes her cheek to calm her worries. “Can’t die twice, right?”
And Imogen laughs and cries and buries kisses all over her face and squeezes her so tight she fears she might break Laudna’s brittle bones, but she can’t help it because her girl is safe.
The lycan form of Chetney transforms back into a gnome and his jaw drops. He gestures at the affectionate display and cries out in confusion: “What the shit. You two are together?!”