Jacob/Astarion/Rosita

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

It takes him about two minutes to both scout the place and find a river to sit beside, just like he said he would. He doesn't get out the fishing pole or anything too quick, but he does put Mae on alert, just in case.

He's going to give them a few minutes. Just like he said. Just like they talked about. He's not going to worry until that time has passed because they said they would come and he trusts them more than he trusts any other person.

Right now, he's wants to sit in the wind, the actual wind, and listen to the water, the real fucking water, babble by. He wants to bask in the outdoors and let Mae take over just a little bit of the guarding.

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[handleyourshit]

Something in her squeezes and releases when she hears that answer, too. She hikes her pack further up on her back and starts towards where she thinks it came from, adjusting slightly when she hears something - two somethings - moving towards her quickly.

She's still ready to pull her knife if she's wrong, but sge sees the flash of red hair and it's only been a few days for her, but she laughs in relief.

"There you are," she calls when she finally spots him directly, and then the pack is on the ground and she's completely unashamed to be throwing herself into him like it's been years since they were together.

They made it. Two out of three of them made it, safe and sound and real.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He opens his arms to her, his own pack falling to the ground, and he wraps her in an embrace as if it hasn't been just a few minutes. As if he hasn't missed her every single second. As if he had been worrying, or trying not to worry, that she wouldn't be able to show. Her and Astarion after her.

"How long was it?" he wonders, hoping that she hadn't had to stay too long. Hoping she hadn't been pulled into nonsense. Hoping that she didn't have to make any more sacrifices.

[handleyourshit]

She jumps, letting him catch her, arms slung around his neck and legs half wrapped around his waist, face buried in his neck. She doesn't even try to answer for a moment. She's top busy feeling him under her hands, feeling his arms around her, breathing him in.

It's so hard for her to trust the things she can't control. She does not take it for granted when someone comes through for her.

"Two days," she finally breathes, lifting her head away just a bit. "Two days," she says again, "And I feel terrible, but Astarion says he'll be along as soon as he can. He promised."

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He keeps on arm around her and the other underneath her, keeping her up as he just remembers how this felt. It hasn't been long, but it's also been hours. Days. Weeks. Years. Each tick of the second hand was torture. But now she's here and now the wait begins again but, this time, he isn't alone.

"He will be," he assures her. "Five minutes." He repeats that mantra. "Five minutes."

[handleyourshit]

"Five minutes," she agrees, even though she's not sure it's going to be that number exactly. It doesn't matter. She kisses him, deep and a bit desperate, and then sets their foreheads together when they break apart.

"We promised him a soft place to land," she reminds him, takes another moment longer and another, slower kiss before she considers starting to climb down.

[weaponwithoutpurpose]

He lets her go carefully, gently bringing her into one last kiss.

"Seems there's a settlement down the river. We're on the outskirts now. No one has come by and no one is close enough for Mae to alert," he explains to her, still marveling at the fact that she is here, with him, close enough to touch.

[sixfeetofdirt]

The 'five minutes' - more like half an hour, the Admiral can't do any fucking thing right - is a briefer span from Astarion's perspective than he'd planned for. He'd committed himself to spending as long as it took for Gale to graduate or be snatched from the ship, be that weeks or months or (gods preserve him) even longer, and he's done neither. Instead he's run, like a coward, and no number of justifications are going to help.

He graduated, he reminds himself. He didn't become a good person, just less...actively harmful to those around him.

He isn't exactly encumbered. Most of what's precious to him is almost weightless - not least the magic jewellery he's picked up along the way, including the new ring that's allowing him to walk in the sunlight. The stuff of legend, and Florian had just pawned it off on him like some random trinket he'd found between the cushions. Incredible. Everything else is in a pack slung over his shoulders, or - like his bow, quiver and knives - strapped to him within easy reach.

The only thing loose is Aylin, who is thankfully not as keen on exploring the wilderness as she is on staying close. When she darts off along the riverbank, then, Astarion yelps in unpleasant surprise - he's got no way of knowing it's because she's caught a familiar scent.