#balduran vc yeah this is big sus ... but also hey dont hate on polytheism!!!

[astrallithid]

He loves too many others, says the angel. Balduran lets out a laugh, gentle. ❝ An all-encompassing love. That is a rare and precious thing, I think. ❞ To be loved even when someone knew all of the darkest parts- He had people like that now, and he wished- well, wasn't that proof of it, the fact Ansur waited so long for him? He was certain that back in Faerûn, his body was still curled up in the space between Ansur's ribs- where his heart was- is. Balduran had been just as much Ansur's heart as the dragon had been his. That was what it meant to be a soulmate.

If we do not stay dead, we grow stronger. Life is unfair for mortals and angels alike.

❝ That's how you see it ... I can't pretend to understand the mind of an angel, not as a mortal. Back where I come from, there are many gods- my soulmate inspired me to follow Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, when I took an oath as a paladin... although that does feel like a lifetime ago. I was close with a man who worshipped Selûne, the Moonmaiden. His faith was no lesser than my own. ❞

❝ Amille? Elvish for 'mother' ... how peculiar- that is a language from Faerûn. ❞ Balduran wasn't certain of the exact workings of the Stars, but perhaps they simply took random samplings of people from all different places. Of the adventurers from Faerûn, he had found Fiyero, he'd had a brief encounter with that wizard-bard Volo. Evidently, Gale and Astarion had also been dragged into the mess. He'd met a young dragonborn who called himself Istari. Balduran had vague memories of protecting the dragonborn, but they were fuzzy... And of course, Elminster ...

He wondered how the others were doing.

❝ Corellon is known as the patron deity of the elves. It would make sense for an elf to sing to the stars- You should not cast aside the beliefs of others. ❞ A pause, he makes sure to remember that Aurelius had, in fact, taken a life- because of a faith he chose to ignore? Somehow, that didn't seem very angelic.

❝ Even entities seen as aberrations have gods. Faith is a rather personal and intimate thing- perhaps that is something your soulmate also believes. ❞ Another sip of the strange tea- ❝ I suppose it's something to think about. After all, you say you want to know everything about the people around you. To do that, it's important to also understand what they value most. ❞

「✦」 In Balduran's words, a soulmate sounds like a promise born of fairy tales—whether or not the man lies mattered not, if it was what he believed. He even extends the concept to death, then questions why Klaus would choose to turn cruel.

"He loves too many others," Aurelius finds himself replying. It is the answer he's come to after thinking it over himself. "He always will."

And because Aurelius was strong and they were weak, Klaus would always feel obligated to defend them from his wrath. They were so tolerant of each other on a normal day. Perhaps Klaus thought he'd relent for him if no one else? His mind wandering, the angel skips to the last question next, finding it more practical to answer.

"There are ways to help them forget, but even so."

"Is it so terrible to remember?"

His nails scratch at his sleeves, jittery. "I have not forgotten my own trials."

He had hundreds of deaths, each lasting a second, only to revive and be killed again. An incredible concept for an angel to stomach, and his mind still reeled from the memories. And there was still Klaus—his partner, his soulmate, a seraph he could look at but not touch without bringing it all back again.

"If we do not stay dead, we grow stronger. If we cannot even overcome that—"

He leans forward, eyes intense. The golds of his irises catch the light of the setting sun and glimmer in mad, flickering shades. "—then it is a weakness that we will have to live with. Life is unfair for mortals and angels alike. Only in Heaven do we find eternity, and a place to heal all wounds."

"I offered them a path to salvation," he adds, unblinking. "It was my mercy while their life lay in my hands. But they had no faith. Instead they cried for their amille, and sang for their stars—what did I know of either, or cared for each? I couldn't save a soul that didn't even realize it was lost."