#will be interesting to see how/if rakha and lae'zel's friendship survives this whole situation | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blackjackkent · 16 days

Text

As Rakha slowly comes back to herself in the wake of the zaith'isk explosion, she is dimly aware that the ghustil is screaming with rage.

"SHKA'KETH!"

And then Lae'zel's answering scream, shakier and weaker than usual and trembling with fury. "What madness is this? The zaith'isk nearly destroyed me! I AM GITHYANKI! I WILL NOT BE GHAIK!"

"My life's work. Gone..." the ghustil whispers hoarsely as Rakha clambers unsteadily to her feet. The doctor seems barely to notice Lae'zel's pain or her anger - her attention is all for the shattered piece of machinery at their feet.

She rounds suddenly on them, her eyes fixing on Lae'zel with sudden intensity. "And yet she lives - and so does her parasite."

Narrator: [INSIGHT] Her voice cuts with a fanatical edge - an obsession bordering on mania. If there's a chance the parasite lives, she wants it.

It's not hard to guess the doctor's thoughts. She knew the machine would kill. Her concern was never for Lae'zel or Rakha's survival - only for what she might learn. And now that disinterest is colored by rage.

She has betrayed them, and because her betrayal failed, she is dangerous.

Pathetic creature, says the beast in Rakha's head. We will do as we promised. We will tear out your throat.

"Your zaith'isk tried to kill Lae'zel," she says, her voice cold as ice. "And failed."

At her side, Wyll shifts uncomfortably. He knows that tone. So does Shadowheart, although she seems to be only half-listening; her eyes are fixed on Lae'zel, a bit of healing magic drifting from her fingertips but unspent, as she has nowhere to direct it. The damage done here lies within.

"The zaith'isk does not fail," the doctor hisses angrily. "The only variable in this experience was you - and your parasite! And I will uncover how this happened."

She is as hot as Rakha is cold - incandescent with fury at her neat little plan falling to pieces. Rakha almost reaches out and takes her by the throat then and there, but before she can do so, the doctor pushes past her and out into the hallway. "Wait here. I will gather my tools."

And then she's gone, and they are left alone with the smoking ruins of the zaith'isk and Lae'zel's cry of abject despair.

"No. It can't be. It can't! THIS WAS MY RIGHT!"

----

Rakha does not expect Lae'zel to want to speak to her. The tension between them has been harsh and cold for a week or more now, and all by Lae'zel's choice; Rakha has no reason to expect a conversation in the wake of such terrible disappointment would go well. So she says nothing, but moves over to examine the empty husk of the deadly machine.

To her surprise, though, Lae'zel stands beside her and speaks in a low mutter.

"I followed protocol," she says hoarsely. "I kept to my faith. Yet the zaith'isk might have killed me."

It is a plea for comfort, reassurance, understanding. Rakha says nothing. What can she say? This was the plan from the beginning, a plan based on Lae'zel's absolute, unshakable confidence - and the plan did not work. There is no cleansing to be had here. The worms still sit in their skulls.

Receiving no response, Lae'zel stares down balefully at the remains of the machine and then scowls tightly, fumbling for an explanation. "The ghustil tampered with it. Traitor - and there may be more still! This must be why the Inquisitor's come."

Rakha can hear shades of her own manner of speech in Lae'zel's words in this moment of strain - the accumulation of fact and fact and fact. It would be touching, perhaps, in some other scenario where the young gith's conclusion was not utterly wrong.

"The zaith'isk is supposed to kill you," she says flatly. "I saw it for myself."

"A deception," Lae'zel snaps. "Proof of the doctor's manipulations. The queen does not mislead Gith's children!" She turns away sharply. "Now hurry. We must go to the ch'r'ai and inform him of the doctor's sedition."

Rakha watches her go with an unreadable expression. She wants to believe, even now, that Lae'zel could be right, that this was a traitorous act by the doctor that could not have been anticipated. But deep down, she knows it is not true. Lae'zel was wrong. They have always been walking towards a death trap, because Lae'zel believed things that were not true.

What other wrong things has Rakha believed because of Lae'zel's confidence? Has she also been wrong to trust Wyll? To trust Karlach?

Rage simmers in her chest, undirected, formless - a rage born of humiliation and pain and deep fear mixing with the beast's everpresent hunger. The doctor dies first. And then we will speak to this Inquisitor. And if I am right, and this place was always a trap, then Y'llek's halls will run red with its own blood.

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #oh dear lol #will be interesting to see how/if rakha and lae'zel's friendship survives this whole situation #for now i must sleep #(poor lae'zel. she wasn't really close with hector at this point but at least he was a bit more stable and willing to listen)#(rakha is not exactly a good person to have in your corner in a moment of emotional upheaval)#(yet at least)

13 notes · View notes