Sune's Solution (D&D/MGE)

View: https://youtu.be/o890IiPLNxs?si=_ZCO_rkWbklj4xBn

[Sune]

Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!

—

You look towards the mirror, gone was the pleasant, practiced face. The one you had to wear to be the hero people needed you to be. Instead, there was a scowl, unbefitting a Paladin of the god of… Love, you suppose.

Perhaps that's why you were so angry. You just wanted to do right by people, you needed to help them. You needed to help everybody because you could. It was within your abilities, this was what you were capable of. You had to do it for all those you had watched die over the years. And there was precious little in the way of help you were getting, you kept getting turned around, kept getting surprised.

No more.

You were going to get that help.

You look away from the mirror, towards the window, then speak a name.

"... Lady Sune. I need your guidance."

At first, there was nothing, no sound, no change, no feeling. Then… a change begins, it's a subtle thing, the room becomes almost imperceptibly warmer, goosebumps forming along your skin as a presence washes by you. Then a pair of arms wrap around your shoulders and pull you back, you surrender to the embrace as they clutch around your chest, and you close your eyes as the scent of freshly plucked flowers fills your senses, subsuming you, comforting you.

This was no angel, sent to guide you guidance, no celestial to give you strength. This was… "Lady Firehair…" you whisper, then open your eyes.

A face was looking down at you with a sweet, flawless smile. To describe the face of Sune was to describe a sunrise. There were too many colors, too many details, an elven artist could spend ten mortal's lifetimes perfecting his craft, yet only come to a scant fraction of matching the majesty and beauty. Red curly hair ran down nearly to the floor, framing her, and you, and her green eyes twinkled with amusement. "Baeran the Bold. It has been a long time since you sought my aid."

"It has been a long time since I needed it, my goddess."

Sune smiles impishly, "That is because you are a stubborn little half-elf who wants to solve all the evils in the world on your own. I owe you many a favor and boon, but I am far from the only one." She looks away, to the room around her. "Mystra is quite fond of you~"

"She is one of many, and even then, the task that led to me getting this mansion as a reward, I wasn't alone, that silver drago-"

"Indeed, and that dragon is quickly losing her patience waiting for you," Sune replies, cutting you off. She then turns her attention to you again, her hands moving across your chest… you weren't sure when your shirt had been removed. Her finger traces across every scar, every burn. She pauses at a long jagged scar that ran across your stomach, your first death, a look of pity forms on the goddess's face.

You smile. "They were all worth it. For every scar there is a life saved, there is beauty preserved."

"Is that your worth then? Your scars?"

"They are proof of my service, is that not enough?"

A hand moves to your forehead, caressing it. "You are more than your service Baeran Allaghar. You are meant to live as well."

"I did, I made it until I was twenty-five before I died." You reply.

"And yet here you stand… or lay against my bosom as the case may be. You are not a dead man Baeran, you are allowed to live for your own sake as well, to appreciate the beauty in the world on your own terms, instead of merely serving it."

"I cannot do so," you reply quietly. "To do so would mean allowing the strength I have been granted to go unused, to do so… would be greed of the highest order. There are too many left behind who weren't strong enough and died for it. Am I to dishonor their memory?"

"I can quite easily remove your gifts to force the issue," Sune replies.

"And I would fight without them, for the beauty in this world is worth it. Even if I can no longer appreciate it as I once did."

You stare at each other, saying nothing.

Then, Sune lowers the hand on your forehead… and tweaks your nose. "That is not a healthy way to live, my sweet Baeran."

"I am, in many ways, no longer alive." You reply. "But I do not regret that, the faces I've left behind… the joys, the safety. It is worth whatever sacrifice is required of me."

"And of Fuyao?" Sune asks. "You seemed quite willing to reciprocate her affections."

You think on that a moment. "I was, and it brings her joy. And that is enough, I am quite fond of her, and will entertain whatever she seeks of me. But our lives… anyone's life, be they a dragon, or elf, or a man. I am not beyond them, but separate."

"You would break her heart?" Sune asks, her voice quiet, but dangerous.

You shake your head. "No, she loves me, genuinely, and I would reciprocate that in kind until the day she dies, be that in battle, or of age. But I am far beyond mortal my goddess, you know that as well as I."

"Do not deign to believe yourself knowledgeable in all affairs of mortality young Paladin, nor claim what I should and should not be aware of," Sune replies. "In any case, such a thing is something you deserve as well, you are not some automaton designed to protect this realm."

… If only she was right. If only you could believe that. But instead, you say nothing, simply enjoying her embrace until she speaks again.

"What is bothering you, my Paladin? Why have you called me?"

You sigh, then remove yourself from her embrace, instead walking over to the window to look out over the false sky. This wasn't your home, you missed it. "I have been lied to and am sheltering monsters as a consequence."

A hand places itself on your shoulder, and you turn your head to find yourself looking Sune in the eyes once more. She is smiling again, a small, simple, beautiful smile. "No, no you haven't. You have, however, been blind."

"... Excuse me, my goddess?"

"You wished to help them, just as you do everyone else. So you ignored their faults because you were immune to anything they might attempt. The signs were there, and the goddess you have replaced me with has deliberately tried to spoil the stew as it were."

Replaced her wit- "I cannot in good conscience protect unrepentant people. And I have replaced you with no one."

"It was merely a jest," Sune replies, the smile growing. "But in any case, they aren't as you believe. Their realm is… not our own, their beliefs are not our own, and their customs to us are alien. They are not from Abeir, Toril, or any of the other planes under the watch of Lord Ao." The smile fades. "Believe me, my Paladin, things have been quite loud in the Heavens as the gods try to discern the source of this."

"Lord Ao has become involved?" the Overgod rarely ever involved himself in the affairs of the world, content to let others do as they wished unless they stepped out of bounds.

"He has made his presence… felt," Sune replies. "But he has not acted. But in any case, where these people are from… it is somewhere beyond."

"Is my quest doomed, my Goddess?" You look back over the stars, wondering, briefly, if one of them was 'home' to these creatures. "They are incompatible."

"Are they? No, your quest is not doomed, but it has hit a roadblock. And, in any case-" She pulls you back against her once more. You don't fight as she continues to tug, pulling you back towards the bed, and then pushing you onto it. You halfway expect her to climb onto it, but instead, she stands just beside it, her hand placed against your chest now. "You need rest, proper rest. You are forgetting what it means to be alive, and it is making you a bitter thing. Seeing yourself as separated from other mortals."

"I am not so much a mortal anymore, I have little in common with people. One does not understand what it means to live, once one can no longer die, my goddess."

Sune arches a perfect brow. "Should I inform your mother of that opinion?"

You say nothing as the goddess moves her other hand to run it through your hair, and… to your surprise… you begin to feel tired. No, beyond tired, exhausted. "Sleep alone will do little to alleviate my troubles. They shall be here still in the morning, and I have not decided what I shall do with them."

"This is true, which is why I have asked Selune for a favor, she owed you one herself in any case."

You blink slowly, "Selune, what could the goddess of the moon and night do for me?"

Then she places her hand over your eyes… and you are out like a doused candle.

—

Into the world of dreams and memories. Thoughts of the past, in a realm far removed from Faerun.

[] [Ignis]

[] [Brynhild]

[] [Miki]

[] [Isabella]

—

Relationship Stats___

Fuyao : 9/10
Ignis : 3/10
Brynhild : 5/10
Ilias : 1/10
Miki : 2/10
Isabella : 3/10