#this was not beta'd or intensely edited so sorry for mistakes

[abysskeeper]

A Rogue, a Wizard, a Nightmare, and a Butterfly

A small scribble featuring @keldae's Devi, because sometimes you just have to steal your friend's Tav and make them friends with your Tav. Which means, when Nox decides you're friends now, you get a butterfly. No take backs.

Just something small I worked on amidst some other things. If nothing else, hope it makes the day better :)

**********

It was another restless night.

Devi started with a gasp, jackknifing in her bedroll and clutching at her chest to try to calm her racing heart. It was just another nightmare—yet another night spent dreaming of the mindflayers and their worms and their tentacles…Hells, too many tentacles and too many worms. She squeezed her eyes shut, and when that wasn’t enough to rid herself of the memory of walking outside her tent and seeing everyone else transformed into their squiddy fate, she pressed the heels of her palms into her eye-sockets. Maybe if she pressed hard enough, she could shoot the memory out the back of her head. Or maybe it would finally knock her unconscious deeply enough that she wouldn’t dream at all. Either option was fine with her.

Neither happened, obviously, but with the terror of the nightmare fading and her heart and breathing returning to a normal rhythm, Devi flopped back onto her bedroll with a groan. After a moment of staring up at the cloth ceiling of her tent, she sighed and turned over, haphazardly scattering her blankets off of her legs and on the ground. Maybe if she was cooler, it would be easier to fall back to sleep, though she doubted it. Quite frankly, she preferred to be as snug as possible before going to bed but…Hells, she was willing to try anything at this point.

She waited for a few minutes before accepting that wasn’t the problem either. Now, in addition to being exhausted and restless, she was cold. Devi sighed again and tossed her blankets back over her legs before curling up and closing her eyes. Maybe if she started counting sheep? That didn’t work either, she got to about twelve before images from her nightmare intruded her thoughts once more.

Well, there was one thing she could do to ease her mind at least, though she knew she really shouldn’t indulge it. It wouldn’t hurt to take one, small peek at camp and confirm everyone was alright. She knew everyone was alright—there would’ve been a lot more, real screaming otherwise—and she knew she shouldn’t indulge the bad parts of her imagination—it was just a nightmare—but the allure of even just an hour of peaceful sleep was calling and if checking on her campmates granted it to her, then by the gods she’d do it.

So, with that decided, Devi tossed the blankets off of herself once more and hauled herself to her feet. She crept to the edge of her tent and pushed the flap aside to peer outside at the rest of the camp. As expected, everything was peaceful. Shadowheart and Wyll slept peacefully on their bedrolls by the dwindling fire, and two tents over, Nox sat outside of the tent she shared with her sister while keeping vigil over the camp. Everyone else was safely tucked away in their tents, no mindflayers, no transformations, no certain death awaiting everyone…at least not for tonight.

She released a breath she didn’t know she was holding and quietly scolded herself. Everything was fine. There was nothing to be concerned about, at least not for the remainder of the evening, and maybe now her brain would finally believe that and let her go back to a peaceful slumber. With a shake of her head, she moved to let the flap of her tent fall shut and only then noticed something odd on the ground out of the corner of her eye.

“What…?”

Devi pushed the cloth aside again and stared down at the glimmer of color that caught her attention. Not believing her eyes, she knelt down only to confirm that, yes, a small butterfly sat just outside the entrance of her tent, as if waiting for her. It was a pretty thing, iridescent, dark green wings glittering in the moonlight. The green transitioned to a matching shade of blue the closer her eyes got to the outside of the wings, and the wings themselves were outlined in black like they were on a traditional insect. When the butterfly fluttered its wings and started flying, she caught sight of the thin, golden pattern twinkling in the firelight that was inlaid between the green and blue.

“Huh…” she muttered and stood up. She held out her hand and watched as the creature floated down to land in her palm. Honestly, if it weren’t moving, Devi would’ve thought it was a piece of jewelry—a brooch or hairpin, perhaps—that she would have all too happily snatched if she had the opportunity once upon a time. But it moved and she could feel its little legs crawling delicately along her skin as though it were real.

‘Real.’ It was very obviously magical. There was no butterfly she knew of that was this striking in color and pattern, but that made it realer than any piece of jewelry she could steal. Or…maybe it was less real? The semantics didn’t matter, what was real was that there was a magical butterfly awaiting her outside of her tent and she had no idea why. The who though, that was rather obvious, and her gaze slid two tents over to the elf sitting outside. But why had one of Nox’s spells landed outside her door, quite literally?

Whatever the reason, the magical creature was rather content to stay exactly where it was. It had easily settled into her palm and now sat there, giving a calm flap of its wings every so often and nothing more. Devi stared at it for a few moments before deciding to quietly creep her way over to where Nox was set up. The elf looked up upon her approach and nodded in greeting, but quickly went back to scribbling in her notebook without a word.

Devi waited several moments to see if Nox would address the obvious butterfly in the room. When nothing but silence passed between them, she glanced behind her to confirm she was a bit away from the campfire and their sleeping companions before holding out her hand with the butterfly cupped in her palm. “Is this yours?”

Nox looked up again and stared at the butterfly. A small smile worked its way onto her lips as she met Devi’s gaze. “In a manner of speaking, I suppose,” she confirmed softly. She went back to her notebook again, though this time motioned with her free hand for Devi to sit down.

Devi complied, and resigning herself to stay, returned her attention to the butterfly in question. She traced over the golden patterns in its wings with her eyes, waiting as patiently as possible for the wizard to finish her notes. If there was one thing she learned in the past few days of traveling with her new companions, it was not to interrupt Nox while she was in the middle of a thought. Another second passed, and her attention was pulled back to Nox with the quiet thunk of a quill being set down on paper.

Violet eyes laced with sympathy stared back at her. “Another rough night?” she asked.

Devi winced. She didn’t really want to know how Nox guessed, but it’d probably be fore the best to be prepared in case she did anything she didn’t remember to alert the rest of the camp to her nightmares. “How’d you guess?” she mumbled.

Nox gave a small smirk and tapped her ear, “Mine are bigger than yours.”

Despite herself, she chuckled. Devi’s hands flew to her mouth and she glanced back at Wyll and Shadowheart again to make sure she didn’t wake them. “Right, right…I almost forgot,” she joked as she turned back to Nox. Her smile fell after a moment of thought and her attention diverted back down to the butterfly. “Sorry if I’m distractin’ you or something during the night. I…I don’t mean to.”

“No, no of course not.” Nox shook her head. “Everybody’s getting bad dreams,” she said, “That’s what this is, right? Bad dreams?"

Devi heaved a breath before nodding. “Yeah.”

Nox nodded to herself, but instead of saying anything else, she turned to her side and produced two, small cups filled to the brim with steaming liquid. She held one close to her chest and silently offered the other one to Devi.

Shifting the butterfly to her other palm, Devi accepted and sniffed at the unidentified liquid. Tea, as she suspected. She quirked a brow at Nox with a smirk. “Does Gale know you’re making this?”

The wizard snorted and shook her head. “It’s not the kind he wants to stimulate him in the morning. I haven’t found the proper plants to brew that blend yet,” she answered. “This has a far more soothing quality to it.”

Wasn’t that a nice coincidence? “And you just so happened to have this prepared, huh?” Devi asked. She still took a sip, if for no other reason than to be polite.

“I…well…” Instead of answering, the elf took a long, sheepish sip of her own tea and set her cup back down. “It’s…become rather predictable, you know,” Nox finally answered. “Your bad nights, I mean. They’ve been recurrent since we all fell off of the Nautiloid.”

“Oh, I know,” Devi grumbled. She set down her cup as well when the butterfly fluttered up. She moved to catch it on instinct, but it flew just out of her reach and instead landed on her shoulder a moment later. “That shouldn’t be so surprising though, right?” she asked, looking back to Nox. “I mean, no one is too thrilled to be here.”

“Everyone else seems to have settled in after our initial kidnapping,” Nox pointed out. “Or, at the very least, they are unbothered by the dreams they have now. You’re…still struggling, though.”

The fact Nox noticed that shouldn’t have bothered her. The fact she was right shouldn’t have bothered her, either. “I know. I shouldn’t be but…”

“No, no. That…that isn’t what I meant either,” the wizard interjected quickly. “No one blames you for it and no one expects you to just get over it. Gods know this is the worst situation I’ve ever found myself in, and that’s saying something,” she muttered. “But…I’m worried. We’re all worried. And I know some others have offered you the opportunity to speak on what troubles you, if you so wished, but I haven’t yet.”

She shrugged sheepishly, and Devi noticed the butterfly flap its wings in time. “So, I wanted to grant you the chance to relieve your mind here, if you so desired,” Nox shrugged again. “Maybe airing your thoughts could help?”

“Oh, well…” Devi probably should’ve expected that was what this was really about. “I appreciate the offer but um…I think I’m alright.” They were just nightmares after all; bad dreams couldn’t actually harm her if she didn’t let them. “Besides, it’s just typical stuff with the mindflayers and all anyways. I’m sure everyone’s having them.”

To her surprise, Nox didn’t push. Her shoulders slumped a little, but she simply nodded. “If you’re sure. The offer remains open if you change your mind, though.”

Devi smiled a little and nodded. She appreciated the sentiment, she really did, but it just didn’t seem worth it. Talking about the parasites and the mindflayers wasn’t going to magically fix the problems they were all facing. And they were all facing the same problems, everyone had to be worrying about the same thing, though some were admittedly better at containing it than others. Her eyes slid over Nox as the wizard fussed with her journal, and she allowed a bit of her curiosity over the matter to come out.

“Do you still get them?”

Nox startled, looking up from picking at the corner of her journal cover. “Hm?”

“Bad dreams?” Devi asked.

She gave a small, tired smile and shook her head. “Elves don’t sleep, we trance. Thus, elves don’t dream.”

Right, she knew that. Nox had repeated it no less than seven times the day after they were all visited by the Dream Guardian; she had been quite adamant that meant whoever or whatever they were all visited by was not what they claimed to be.

“But,” she continued, “I have been finding my mind pulled to some incredibly unsavory scenarios in recent days, far more than I would like. It is a problem vexing us all in its own way, I assure you.”

Devi snorted softly. “That’s not exactly reassuring.”

“Eh,” Nox shrugged. “There can be comfort in camaraderie, even with such an…” Her eyes swept over the camp thoughtfully. “Eclectic group as this.”

“We’re definitely an interesting bunch, aren’t we?” Devi asked with another snort.

“Variety is the spice of life…or however it goes,” Nox agreed. “It’s certainly made things livelier around camp than they otherwise ought to be, that’s for sure.”

Devi hummed in agreement but said nothing else, knowing it was better to leave her thoughts to herself. She couldn’t help but wonder how much Nox considered herself and her sister in that equation though. Having the confrontation between a Selûnite, a Lathanderian, and a Sharran after Shadowheart revealed herself was quite an adventure. And that didn’t even begin to touch the whole thing with Astarion and the two of them being Elturian—that was a separate matter entirely—or with Gale, the Orb, and Nox’s increasing, scholarly curiosity.

That all failed to consider the butterfly too, and she looked down at the near gemlike creature still resting in her hand. Nox certainly had her quirks—they all did—though she was in no place to say anything. She was sure every campmate would have something to say about her, too.

The longer the silence stretched, the more aware Devi grew of her conversation partner’s eyes on her. When she finally couldn’t bear the silent scrutiny anymore, she looked back to Nox to the same, sympathetic, violet eyes she’d been aware of all evening.

“You really should get some rest,” Nox said when she had Devi’s attention again. “Not that I mind your company, I truly don’t, but we have a long day ahead tomorrow. Some sleep would be better than no sleep.”

Devi blew out a breath and glanced back down, watching the butterfly as it crawled up to sit on the tips of her fingers. “I know,” she agreed. And she did know, but she really didn’t want to, and there was one mystery left she could solve in order to stall for a little bit more time. “Can I ask one thing before I do?”

“Sure,” Nox nodded. “Can’t promise I’ll have an answer, though.”

Devi turned her hand as the butterfly started crawling down the back of her palm. “Why a butterfly?” she asked, gaze flicking back to Nox.

“Ah…well…” Nox sat back on her arms and let out a wistful sigh. “Honestly? It’s a spell our mother used to do for Lux and me when we were little, especially at nighttime before we settled in. A hundred butterflies in our room for us to count until we drifted off into our trance; it was a way to soothe any childhood fears of the dark and her own way to remind us she was always with us.”

“That’s incredibly sweet actually,” Devi said. She wasn’t sure what explanation she was expecting, but the truth still caught her by surprise a little bit.

“Mother had her moments,” Nox chuckled. “It was the first spell I learned, too. For similar purposes, really. As Lux and I grew older, the butterflies lessened but…they still always found their way around in times of need. They’ve always been meant as a comfort, at least,” she sighed and shrugged, “I can only hope they are always taken as such.”

“I don’t think there’s another way too take them,” Devi responded with a reassuring smile. “That’s how this one’s taken, at least. Thanks, Nox.”

The wizard nodded and sat up straighter. “Now, is there anything else? Again, not that I don’t enjoy your company, but for your sake…” she trailed off with a weak shrug.

She took the hint. “Alright, alright, I’ll give it another shot.” Devi carefully rose to her feet, careful not to jostle the butterfly sitting on the back of her hand. She studied it for a moment longer before stretching her hand towards Nox, offering it back to her.

Nox shook her head and pushed her hand away. In response, the butterfly fluttered into the air and flew in a circle a few times before it landed on Devi’s shoulder. “That one is yours, take it with you. The spell should last through the night,” she informed. She bit her lip, hesitation clear in her eyes before she added, “And I am not so arrogant to presume and assure you it will help with the nightmares because I don’t actually know. But…I hope it does.”

Devi turned to look at the butterfly on her shoulder, glowing softly from its magical nature, and she smiled. Nox had her quirks, they all did, but she’d give it that the elf was trying. And when offered with a kind word and as a token of friendship, maybe it did stand a chance to do just that.

“I think it might, I’ll let you know tomorrow,” she said and turned. “G’night, Nox,” Devi added over her shoulder as she started back towards her tent.

“Good night, Devi,” a soft reply came from behind her, followed by the unmistakable sound of her journal spine being cracked open once more.