Chapter Text
The dawn sun colors the dark blue sky into pretty pinks and oranges. As the morning sun rose over a growing farming village, the sunlight touched a marble statue of Selûne that sat before a tiny stone church. The early risers of the village left their homes. Wood cutters carried their axes over their shoulders to march to the forest. Hunters stringed their bows and began their stalk in the woods. Harvesters got up with their large straw hats and head for the fields for the tending of their crops. The bailiff walked about with his club to his belt as he patrolled the village. The tiny tavern and inn open for the day as husband-and-wife tavern keepers got to work starting fires for the cooking to be done.
In one of the homes in the village had a small shed and a small barn where two cows, three goats, and two sheep woke from their sleep. A Half-Drow man with an old burn scar across his face stepped out of the small cottage dressed in an old hide-leather shirt, ratty pants, and old leather boots that had seen better days. He fixed the quiver full of arrows to his back and placed a flopped hat upon his head hiding his head of ashy dark hair from the sun. His unnatural brown eye (unnatural for a Drow, of course) and prosthetic blue eye looked around and watch the lingering fog clouds roll on the ground, giving the land around him an unsettling feel.
For some reason, this morning was off. He hummed in thought looking around. Why did it feel off, he wondered. He stepped down from the porch to grab his bow and begin to string it for his hunt.
"You're going already, Ash?" a soft voice asked behind him.
Ash turned to see his wife, Shadowheart standing at the doorway with a shawl over her shoulders to keep warm from the morning chill, she had tied her hair back in a loose ponytail. She just got out of bed. He thought he was silent enough not to disturb her. Shadowheart has been a light sleeper as of late, so it should not surprise him, but it still did.
"I have to go now. I have to check the traps for more fur for the trader." Ash replied with a soft smile. He approached her and stroked her scarred cheek with his fingers. "Go back to sleep." He whispered kissing her on her forehead. "You need your rest."
Shadowheart leaned into his hand, but she had that rebellious furrow in her brow, the same one he grew fond of since the day they met.
"I will rest when my entire family is home safe and sound." she replied curtly.
He smiled again hearing that. "Once Logan returns tomorrow, we can all be home."
Shadowheart nodded once leaning into him for a hug and he wrapped his arms around her setting his chin on top her head. He frowned, feeling hopeless. Shadowheart has been anxious for the past couple of months. Shar suddenly attacked her through the mark in her hand, and even worse Shadowheart was plagued with nightmares, something that had not happened in years. Shadowheart said the dreams were not of her past but of a horrible future.
Whatever that future was, Shadowheart said it had something to do with Shar and Selûne. Perhaps a future war? However, the two religious factions had fought one another since the beginning of their time, this though seemed to frighten Shadowheart. More so than usual.
It could be because they have two older daughters who are now following Selûne as a cleric and as a paladin knight. Ever since Shadowheart revealed to them her Sharran past, their daughters did not want anything to do with her anymore. Ash tried to reason with them, but at this point in their training, they do not want to deal with the fact their mother was a Sharran. Shadowheart has been depressed when alone, but she would brighten seeing their other children which was a blessing, but even Ash cannot hide his worry from her.
Ash kissed her on her head, holding her tight. "I will be back by supper." He whispered. "By then I'll get some hares for stew."
He pulled away but Shadowheart grabbed the strap of his quiver to stop him. He noticed the fear in her eyes which made him worry. "Did you have another dream?" He wondered. If only they still had the altered tadpoles so he could just see what his wife had seen. "What is it?"
"I swear Shar is taunting me." Shadowheart growled gripping tightly to the leather strap. He looked down to see the scar, a small dark dot, on her hand. He gently took her fist into his hands, he pried her fingers from the strap, and held her hand between both of his. "She shown me a dream of Elijah being hanged from a rafter in a church as it burned." She whispered leaning into him. Ash wrapped his arms around her and holding her tight. "She shown me Abbi being forced on her knees and being beaten with clubs."
Ash shushed her holding her tight as she started to cry. "They're all taunts." He whisepred. "She is trying to make you suffer. We know her tricks, you more than anyone." he reminded her.
"I know, but... it doesn't hurt me any more than anything else. But I worry. We have not heard from them in a year. What if they are in trouble? What if they are in a place where they cannot escape?"
He shushed her softly. "Elijah is quick like you. If her sister is in trouble she will be there as her shield while Abigale is the sword. They have each other."
"What if they separated them? What if Elijah went one way and Abbi went another?"
"Paladins and Clerics stick together." Ash reminded her. "We made sure to teach them to care for one another. They are blood and they are part of our pack."
Shadowheart smiled softly hearing that. "Abbi would have loved to hear that." She frowned again with a sigh, stepping back. "Okay. Just be careful. Have Midnight with you. At least I'll feel comfortable with him by your side."
Ash chuckled hearing that. Midnight is the grandson of Shadowheart’s first wolf companion, Buttons. And speaking of the wolf, a large black wolf with a graying face walked over and stretched beside Shadowheart. The wolf whimpered nuzzling her side.
"Good morning." Shadowheart greeted scratching the wolf on his neck then down his spine. The wolf whimpered, wagging his tail at the greeting and the scratches. She watched as her husband performed a spell and he glowed in sparkles after casting the Speak with Animals Spell.
"Your mistress wishes you to join me." he said firmly.
Midnight snorted and nodded his head. "I shall follow." He replied only for Ash to hear. The couple watched the wolf head for the gate and sat down, waiting. Ash gave Shadowheart a gentle kiss and joined the wolf. He opened the gate letting Midnight out first. He turned to see Shadowheart watch them leave, leaning against the doorframe.
He placed his fingers to his lips then to his heart. A silent sign that only the two of them knew from their travels. Shadowheart smiled kissing her two fingers and placed them over her heart. Ash smiled closing the gate and made his way to the woods with Midnight faithfully following a few steps behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~
It was hard to believe that over twenty-five years ago, Shadowheart was once a blind follower of Shar. She never would have believed she would have such a peaceful life with a man she adored and have six beautiful children with him. However, the past will always haunt them both in negative ways. Shadowheart was once a Sharran who turned to Selûne and in turn was granted a whole new life of happiness. Happiness she never thought she deserved without Shar's approval. If it were not for Ash, forever love and friend, she would never be where she is now.
Just remembering the first time she met him, in a nautiloid of all places, he was pressured by their mutual friend Lae'zel to leave her behind to survive. He later told her that he regretted leaving her behind, but Shadowheart would remind him that their beginning would not be the same as before. She would prefer how they met later at the ravaged beach after the crash.
It was not until after saving Baldur's Gate that she and Ash tried their new life together as husband and wife. It took a while and they found their place, a beautiful clearing surrounded by thick woods where they built their first home. The cottage of their dreams, with a lot of animals and a beautiful garden.
Sadly, it was not their forever home like they wished. Their forest was ravaged by a fire and they were forced to make new roots. By then Shadowheart was pregnant with their third child and their oldest daughters, Elijah and Abigale, were six and four. Ash was told by a fellow hunter that they were welcome in his community, it was a tiny hunting village at the time with four other families. It turned into a nice fit for them. With help from the other hunters, Ash built a new cottage for his family. It was not as lavish as their first one, but it was perfect for their needs and for their growing family. Shadowheart remembered watching her husband work while she cared for their daughters and their newborn son.
They were welcomed to this community that was later called Hunter's Moon, the children had new friends to play with, Buttons and his pups were accepted in the village, and Shadowheart being a healer was always called upon for helping those in pain and even helped as a midwife for a couple of births in the village. A few years later, Selûne's warriors were spreading their message to forest villages and they came to theirs. With a positive vote from the village, with Shadowheart promoting Selûne’s light, they built a small church and a statue of Selûne. It was after that, that their daughters Elijah and Abigale wanted to follow the path of Selûne, which Shadowheart agreed while Ash was unsure.
Ash felt that after how all the Gods treated them, he did not want his daughters on the zealotry path that Shadowheart once had with Shar. Shadowheart argued that it would be best for their daughters to join Selûne's church, after all it was a family tradition. Ash could not argue with Shadowheart over her lost childhood, he understood but he also was against it. Especially after the events of their adventures in the Shadow Cursed Lands where his thoughts on the Gods shifted to the negative instead of his usual feelings of being neutral.
After seeing what the Gods did to his companions, he started to feel hatred for them. Their friend Gale was forced make the choice to kill himself for forgiveness to his Goddess. Lae'zel was taught to think that Vlaakith was a goddess, but she was just a power hungry Gith lusting for power over her feeble-minded followers. Then there was Shar who inflicted horrible pain on his love and used her as a petty toy against Selûne.
Did Ash want any of his children to be one with the Gods? No, not after all he had witnessed in his life as a half-Drow and later with his friends and wife. He does not want his daughters to suffer in the idealistic war and politics of the churches of Shar and Selûne. In the end, he lost the fight when his daughters took their initiation rites to be in the darkest woods and return home with Selûne’s moonlight as their guide. The same initiation rite Shadowheart and her family had done.
First it was Elijah being the oldest. She returned home and Shadowheart was so happy to see her return before dawn and was so proud of her. Ash did feel pride, but it soured him when he saw the congregation of Selûnites that congratulated her and requested her to be trained as soon as possible. Elijah packed what she owned and left with them wanting to: "Bring the light in this dark world." It was not until two years later she returned to their village as a cleric of Selûne to be there to give her sister Abigale support for her ceremony. Ash remembered seeing her with a mace to her belt, a shield to her back, and her newly died silver hair tied back in a small tail. She resembled Shadowheart so much. Proud, regal, and confidant.
Abigale returned from her rite exhausted, but happy. It was that night when Shadowheart told the girls of her past with Shar. It did not end well. Elijah was angry and she warned her never to speak to her again. She and Abigale left that very morning, and the family had not seen them since. They would get letters every other month from Abigale, but in the past year, there was no correspondence from her, which made Shadowheart worry. Now their son, Logan will take the path with Selûne next, but Ash was not so sure about it this time. Logan wanted to do the rite to test his tracking abilities that he learned from Ash and from his teacher Markus.
As Ash hunts, he notices fewer critters than usual in the woods. There were no birds as well. Something had been off for some time, and Ash wondered if something was happening that even the forest creatures were hiding. Sometimes animals and nature would show the danger before mortals would notice.
He then thought back to his wife. Shadowheart could not sleep without waking up gasping or screaming. To Ash even he is tired. He is tired of waking up trying to calm her who was still stuck in her mind of dreams. Once she attacked him thinking he was Viconia DeVir coming for her and her children. It did not help that he is half-Drow but once she finally woke up from her dream, she was mortified at what she did.
He believes Shadowheart when she says something is wrong. He believes her when she tells him the visions and nightmares that Shar had sent to her. He believes her when she worries about their daughters.
He is fearful of what could be coming. There may be another religious war coming. They fought the Dead Three before and miraculously survived. However, Shar never steps on the material plane and neither does Selûne (as far as he knew). No doubt the two goddesses will have Chosen Ones that will do their bidding and no doubt push the war. And when war comes, Shadowheart will be forced to get involved. In the past, she was able to not join the fight on account of her being pregnant. But this time, he fears she will be joining the fight.
He continues to walk his forest, check his traps, and scout about, but he cannot get rid of the feeling of being watched. His magical eye didn't reveal any hidden enemies. All he could see were trees and bushes. Even Midnight, as old as he is now, can sense something was wrong.
"I can't smell them. I know they are here." He growled turning behind them, seeing nothing but bushes and trees.
"I know." Ash replied keeping his hand close to his Hunter's Dagger to his hip. "We checked the traps, let's get home." Midnight snorted with a nod as he followed Ash, unaware that dark shadows were watching them.