#the whole group is just much more of a mess tbh XD Rakha is not the unifying force that hector was

[blackjackkent]

All right, Jaheira. 'Fess up.

Rakha definitely just stands there staring at her expectantly, unblinkingly, while Geraldus trudges out of the basement.

Once they hear the door shut behind him, the Harper slumps, as if strings holding her up have been cut. Her face twists in a tight, angry scowl. "Orin knows the hunt," she snaps bitterly. "In one stroke, she places the Harpers beyond our reach - separates us from our pack."

She walks to one of the dead doppelgangers, kicks it to roll it over onto its back, and stares down into its blank, featureless face. "Until we know who the false-facers are, we cannot trust anyone beyond ourselves."

Rakha nods slowly. This comes easy to her - mistrust is her natural state, and it has taken her long and concerted effort to come to trust even the small group she travels with. The challenge here is for Jaheira, who has had a support that she expected to be strong suddenly stripped away from her.

Were Rakha a better, less broken person, perhaps she would know what to say to offer comfort here in a way that Jaheira would accept. As it is, she simply shifts uncomfortably and folds her arms across her chest. "So what next?" she asks, more curtly than she perhaps intends.

"A good question," Jaheira says ruefully. "I don't have an answer - yet - so let me offer an apology instead." She straightens and hooks her hands behind her back; Rakha notes a subtle similarity to the posture Geraldus held as he made his report earlier.

"I have not been over-generous with the truth," she says, fixing her eyes past Rakha's shoulder. "I came here to learn of the Chosen, true enough. But I set my Harpers searching for someone else, too." A slight pause; she draws a careful breath and releases it before going on. "Tell me - what do you know of a man named Minsc of Rashemen?"

(A/N: Sound of distant screaming from camp from Karlach who is watching all of this through Tadpole TV.)

Narrator: Your ruined brain lurches, and bilious intestines squirm. A hero. An enemy most foul.

The beast's reaction is immediate, intense, brutal. She has no recollection of a face to go with the name, and yet she can feel the burst of disgust and rage viscerally enough to stagger her.

She squeezes her eyes shut, riding it out, trying to pick out her own emotions from the wave of blank hatred.

"My mind is muddled, as you know," she says unsteadily. "But... that name sparks something..."

Jaheira tilts her head and then, unexpectedly, laughs softly. "Whatever blow to the head has addled your thoughts, take comfort," she says. "You and Minsc have that in common."

(A/N: Lolololololol.)

She leans wearily against the wall behind her. "Minsc is an old friend, perhaps my oldest. We fought at one another's backs times beyond counting."

The moment of humor passes; her smile fades, replaced by a deep, grief-stricken weariness.

"And the last time I saw him, I left him to die."

Rakha frowns. Curiosity pushes through the haze of the beast's anger. "What happened?"

Jaheira hesitates before going on. "Before we ever heard of this Absolute," she says slowly, "we received word of a gathering in the Undercity. What we found was the first dark seed of this plot - a circle of cultists, with mind flayers in their midst."

Her eyes flash with sudden frustration. "We might have ended it there, cut off at the root," she says bitterly. "But before I could send for help, Minsc charged in alone! It was chaos. He was overrun, dragged down beneath a mass of tentacles."

Her head jerks, as if struck by an invisible blow. "I had a choice. Stay, and let word of this cult die with us. Or... leave him, and live to fight another day."

Rakha considers this in silence. She tries to imagine being faced with this decision - and finds that she can only picture herself in the role of Minsc, the mad charge in while her friends watch behind her. Yes. That has been her, many times already, and no doubt it will be again before long.

And Jaheira says this Minsc is - was - like her as well, addled in mind from something done to his head.

Is Minsc the Bhaalspawn Jaheira has mentioned traveling with before? No - she mentioned him by name, Caden. Whoever this Minsc is, he is something different - but perhaps just as strange as Rakha herself.

"So you left him?" she asks.

Jaheira looks back at her steadily. "And would again," she says.

Rakha meets her eyes and nods slowly. Were she to charge into such a situation as Minsc did, she would hope that Lae'zel or Minthara or even Wyll would indeed choose to do as Jaheira did, turn, leave, do what needed to be done. She considers trying to explain this, but before she can begin to formulate the words, Jaheira has moved on, uninterested in - or perhaps unwilling to hear - any comfort.

"The world takes much from those who presume to defend it," she says, as much to herself as to Rakha. "But - sometimes you get to take it back." Her eyes flick up to meet Rakha's again. "Infection. Indoctrination. Eradication. That has been the fate of everyone the cult has captured so far. But it has not been yours. With your help, perhaps it need not be Minsc's either."

Rakha nods again slowly. She understands now - Jaheira wants her help in a rescue mission for this Minsc. Another of the cult's prisoners, one of Jaheira's friends, someone she trusts.

They rescued Minthara for less cause, certainly. And something in Rakha has fixated on what Jaheira said - that this man is addled like she is, that he charges in madly like she does, and yet Jaheira considers him her friend, one of her oldest.

There is something comforting in that. And if the beast hates the idea of Minsc... there must be something worthwhile in him, certainly.

"Then let's find him," she says matter-of-factly.

Jaheira blinks, and then her face splits in a sudden undisguised smile full of relief. "As simply as that?" she asks. "For no other reason than that I asked?" She laughs softly. "Perhaps you two will get along."

(A/N: Oh, my heart. Jaheira needs a hug and people doing nice things for her on a more regular basis. I volunteer.

Also, LOOK AT HER SMILE. I couldn't do it justice with just a screenshot. And look at how Rakha smiled when she said this. 😭Having a lot of feelings about my poor messed up girls.

)

The moment passes quickly - Jaheira forces herself back under control almost at once, back to the serious practicality that she wears like armor. "The point is moot without a means to find him. Without the Harpers, we shall have to find another path. I'll have a better idea of what that is once we're through the gates. It seems I need to reacquaint myself with this damned city."