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snugasabugbear · 2 years

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D&D Pride Prompts 2022: "Cottage", Zandek / Galax

Zandek was on the far side of the lake when he heard the teleportation, a sharp crackle that managed to travel all the way from the cottage and across the waters to his large, flat ears. It stood out well against the sounds he had grown used to while alone within the forest valley. The stillness of late summer had quieted the usual rustling of the trees, leaving it to the insects and birds to fill the air with their own melodies.

It was nearing evening, and he had just reached the treeline when the stark sound of magic drew his attention from his own song he had been humming. He stopped, taking a moment to readjust the entire trunk of a tree he had been carrying on his massive shoulder, and beamed as he heard the magic end with a light flourish. There was only one person he knew who crafted his spells with such embellishments, and him being here only meant one thing.

He set off quickly along the bank, moving as fast as he could without losing his grip on the tree trunk, a feat his eagerness made quite difficult. Less than two minutes later, Zandek had reached the path leading through a patch of wild shrubs and up to the cottage’s front door. It opened, and the small figure who emerged was barely out the door before she used her wings to leap into the air directly towards him. The blue kobold covered the distance between them before he even had time to set the log down. When she collided his chest and threw her arms around his neck (barely making it over his collarbone on either side) he let the trunk roll off his shoulder and thunderously crash onto the ground behind him without a second thought. What else could he do, of course, but wrap his own colossal arms around the person he loved more than anything else in the world after two whole months apart?

“Galax,” he breathed through a tusked smile. No words other than her name came to him to say, but it was the only one he needed. She only stopped pressing herself into his mane when he repeated it again, and turned her yellow-green eyes up towards him. He would never tire of the blissful smile she wore on her draconic face when she looked at him this way. Her sharp teeth poking from her mouth drew a chuckle out of him; they were something she had used time and time again to scare the many people who pissed her off, but to him they had been adorable for a decade now.

She put a hand on either side of his head, and he let her pull his forehead down to meet hers. They both closed their eyes, taking in nothing but each other’s presence.

“Missed you, Zan,” she whispered. She sounded tired, he thought, likely from the endless deliberation between the Circle of Eight and the Council of Waterdeep that she had been looped into some months ago.

“I missed you too.” He hadn’t know exactly when she would be back, but he had sworn every day since she left that he would provide for her every relief he could when she returned. A throat being cleared from the open door of the cottage finally drew their attention from each other to a tall, blonde human in impeccably clean white and gold robes.

“Didn’t she cast a message to you every single day?” Merridoch teased lightly, his finger running over a small goatee beneath his chin. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s getting late and you won’t be getting rid of me until I get some of Zandek’s cooking.”

~~~

Merridoch stayed true to his word, but Zandek was more than happy to prepare a dinner only one of his oldest friends was deserving of. Once Galax’s traveling things had been put away, the three congregated in the kitchen so they could talk while Zandek prepared their meal. Normally, he was limited by the ingredients that he and Galax had managed to stock up on. What they grew themselves they had in abundance, but any finer spices, seasons, or oils were entirely dependent on what they were able to find from traders who passed through the nearest village. However, this was not a problem when they had one of the most powerful conjuration wizards on the Sword Coast at hand. Within no time, Zandek was preparing a perfect spit-roast pheasant meal for the three of them, Merridoch conjuring nearly every new component as he needed it.

“Every time I’m here,” Merridoch said as he sat back in a cushioned chair, waving his hand idly and drawing a Moonshaen batter from the aether, “I feel like I understand what the rest of the world looks like to you, Galax.” He motioned to the spacious room around them, its ceiling reaching fourteen feet above the floor and a few of its tables standing over five feet tall. While the home technically only had one floor, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for someone to think it had two from a distance based on its height. When Zandek and Galax had started building the cottage, it had been an early decision to make it large enough for Zandek to move around comfortably. He’d greatly appreciated the improvement, no longer feeling like his nearly eight foot tall form was being confined like it had been by the low, cramped ceilings of Waterdeep. The house’s furniture had similarly been built with both his and Galax’s sizes in mind, leaving it filled with things like enormous cabinets right next to tiny arm chairs, giving the cottage an almost whimsical fairytale-like look in most rooms.

Galax snorted, perched on one of the shelves near Zandek. She had changed out of the stately outfit she had arrived in, a white and gold collared robe with long, flowing sleeves, into her more typical beige and brown bodice and hood.

“Hmm,” she squinted, a slight smirk on her face. “I don’t think you’ll know the experience of being me unless you also have to deal with a cocky wizard who thinks he’s charming enough to get away with whatever he wants.”

“Galax, please. I’ve cast Clone on myself multiple times. I know exactly what it’s like to deal with a wizard who is absolutely charming enough to get away with whatever he wants.”

“What I’m hearing is that the only person who can stand you is yourself.”

“What I’m hearing is you’re jealous I can give myself the gift of my own company.”

“We’ve got entirely different definitions of ‘gift’ then, Merri.”

Zandek couldn’t hide a grin as he listened to the two. Their version of friendship was not something he fully understood, but despite the bickering, or perhaps even because of it, he knew it was friendship nonetheless. He couldn’t help being reminded of the year they had spent adventuring together in Waterdeep, all of them living out of the bar previously known as Trollskull Manor but they had renamed “Leaf’s Spirits”. In spite of everything that had happened during that year: the explosion in the alley, nearly being killed by the Xanathar on multiple occasions, even the Blood War and the battle against the renegade demi-god that had called himself “The Emperor”, he would go through all of it again to keep what it had given him.

When the two had finished their current squabble, they told him some of what had occurred during Galax’s time away in Waterdeep, though they only went into light detail on most subjects. It wasn’t that Zandek didn’t care about the current events of the city he had once called home, it was simply that most things involving higher levels of the Waterdeep government went over his head. They did spend a bit more time on their meeting with one Rhyze Ascaelia, the newly named First Paladin of Valaeros. As far as Zandek could tell, the talks had largely been about how the city would approach relying on the divine in times of need, and if such a thing should even be considered after the incident with The Emperor. From the sound of Galax and Merridoch’s testimony, not very much had been agreed upon.

Over dinner their conversation turned towards the rest of their previous adventuring party. They had magic to thank for their ability to stay in contact with everyone regularly, but a short message spell still paled in comparison to getting to see them in person. Merridoch was the one who got to visit each person most regularly, and they couldn’t have someone better to tell the others the stories of their time on their own. It was nearly midnight when he reluctantly admitted he couldn’t delay his return to Waterdeep any longer.

“A wizard’s work is never finished it seems, something I wish I could have warned my younger self of before ever trying to become one,” he joked as he finished the teleportation circle they usually kept partially finished in one of the back rooms.

“Would that have really stopped you from learning magic?” Zandek asked from the doorway, Galax on his shoulder.

“Not in the slightest,” Merridoch said without hesitation, disappearing the piece of chalk into his hand with a wink. “Don’t be strangers, you two. And if you are, I might just drop by when you least expect it.”

“That really may not be the best idea, Merridoch,” Galax wryly remarked. “Surprising a cleric sounds like a good way to get a firebolt to the face.”

Merridoch laughed, turning back to them as the teleportation circle lit up behind him and pointing at the two with both index fingers.

“Counterspell.”

With a final smirk, he fell backwards into the circle and disappeared in a shower of golden sparks. The air crackled again as the magic dispersed, returning the room to darkness and silence other than the insects chirping outside.

“He’s truly incapable of not having the final word,” Galax sighed, shaking her head.

“I think just when he’s talking to you. How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted, honestly. Would it be unreasonable to say I would prefer fighting The Emperor again over having to argue with the stubborn fucks on that council for another month?”

“You’re a lot braver than I am to go up against them in the first place.” He leaned his head into her as he walked them both through the main sitting room. Resting on the ground in the corner since it was too heavy to hang on the wall was his Starmaul. Zandek hadn’t looked at it closely for some time, and only now noticed the light layer of dust now forming on the large blue rock that made up its head. He smiled slightly, content in letting dust continue to gather on the weapon.

“How about I put out the rest of the lights? You can head to bed and I’ll be there soon.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, though she couldn’t finish the last word without yawning. Zandek chuckled, opening the door to their bedroom for her. Their ‘bed’ wasn’t on any sort of frame. Instead, there was a small horde of blankets, furs, and pillows covering the ground beneath the far wall, illuminated by the moonlight coming through the skylight that took up over half of this room’s ceiling. Zandek knelt down and offered his hand for Galax to use as a step from his shoulder to the floor. She put a hand on his cheek before he could stand and led him down again, his forehead pressing against the white line that ran from between her horns to the end of her nose. It was something they had done for so many years now, but it still made his heart beat faster every time. “Out of everything these last two months, falling asleep without you may have been the hardest part of all.” He sighed and leaned further into her. The exact same thing had been true for him.

“I’ll make sure not to be long, then,” he whispered, and kissed the scales between her eyes. “Welcome home, Galax.”

~~~

AO3

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#pridewrite2022 #pw alt1 #th2 #zandek #galax #bugbear #kobold #d&d #fantasy #asexual #demipansexual #agender #pride 2022 #fluffy fluffy fluff #hi everyone #*it's been a while*#pridewrite #i might come back to this on and add a bit eventually

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