Chapter Text
Alone time had been hard to come by lately, Imogen reflected as she trudged after the rest of the Hell’s back up the winding path through Zephrah. It’s not that she was upset that the rest of the Hells were here. She’d missed them all terribly, while they were split.
It’s just-
Well-
Laudna bumped into her again, humming as she walked, and Imogen caught her eye with a smile and the want she felt almost bowled her over.
“Alright, darling?” Laudna asked, sharp eyebrow cocked high on her head as she looked at Imogen, soft smile still on her face. Imogen didn’t need to see her own reflection to know she had an obvious look of adoration shining from her expression - it was a good job she’d always looked at Laudna like this, or they’d have been found out the second they kissed.
“I’m fine, Laud, just…” She gestured ahead to the rowdy group ahead, Fearne pinging a flame off the side of Ashton’s head as they dodged around, clearly having tried to steal something. Fondness filled her chest. She’d missed them, so much.
Laudna followed her gaze, but looked back with a frown. “I thought- the circlet?”
“Oh, no they’re not loud, I promise.” Imogen rushed to explain herself, feeling her cheeks heat slightly and hoping Laudna wouldn’t notice.
She did, at least Imogen assumed that’s why she brushed cold knuckles over her warm cheeks with a fond smile. She didn’t press, just waited for Imogen’s explanation.
Imogen rolled her eyes at herself, then avoided Laudna’s entirely. “It’s silly, but- well we haven’t really had time to ourselves, since we left Zhudanna’s…”
Laudna frowned. “Did you want to talk? Is something wrong?”
The blush heated up. Gods. “I just-“ Her voice broke, she tried again. “I really- I wanna kiss you, some more, and-“
“Oh!” Laudna said, shouted really, and the rest of the group stopped and turned to stare back at them. They must have been a sight; Imogen bright red, Laudna’s grey cheeks darkening under wide, wide eyes. Laudna stood for a second, mouth open in surprise until Pate helpfully swooped in and pressed it shut with a click. “Thank you, Pate.”
“Anyfink for you boss, looked like you needed it.” Pate fluttered by again, tilted his head at Imogen, and disappeared into his home on Laudna’s back.
The other Hells were clearly waiting on an explanation, but Imogen was hardly going to-
Laudna cleared her throat. “Imogen was just telling me about the time she fell down some stairs.”
The stair-victim in question closed her eyes slowly. That’s one way to get out of explaining themselves, she supposed, except suddenly Ashton was now clamouring to hear the story, and Imogen heard an amused ‘apologies, darling’ in her head before Ashton joined them, nudging her for the details.
So yeah, Imogen considered again as she started to mumble out the circumstances of her stair misfortune, alone time had been scarce.
Which is why when they left the flowers with Keyleth’s healers, said their temporary goodbyes to Keyleth with a promise to visit soon, and left Orym at her bedside, Imogen was eager to explore Zephrah.
Properly.
‘What do you mean by ‘properly’, sweet?’ Laudna replied in her mind, after Imogen had haltingly explained that she wanted to see more of Zephrah while the others bickered about how to spend their free day.
Imogen suspected her flush answered Laudna’s question just fine, but to remove any uncertainty. ‘Saw some cherry blossoms, outta the way back near the cliffside…’ She let the thought trail off, instead letting her gaze drop to Laudna’s mouth as obviously as she could.
Laudna responded with a firm grip to her wrist and an insistent tug. In the wrong direction, but she happily diverted when Imogen giggled and steered her by her hips.
The others called out after them, asking where they were going, and Imogen managed to keep her face as serious as possible as she replied, “Explorin’, we’ll be back in a few hours.”
Ashton raised an incredulous eyebrow, and Imogen steeled herself to explain further before he rolled his eyes and shooed them off. “Careful, don’t want to end up back in that place looking for more fucking flowers.”
They were so careful.
Kind of.
Well, Imogen reasoned, it would be difficult to get into a dangerous situation when sitting under the same cherry blossom for hours, getting kissed absolutely breathless by Laudna.
Unless that was how she died. A sudden heart attack, brought on by that thing Laudna was doing where she carefully nibbled Imogen’s lip with sharp canines.
What a way to go.
“You’re real good at that,” Imogen breathed out, detaching from Laudna’s lips for just long enough to kiss down to her jawline. They hadn’t done much kissing, admittedly, busy saving the world and all that business, but what kissing they had done?
Imogen thought they deserved a prize for it.
Laudna made a pleased humming noise, fingers scratching nicely through Imogen’s hair, against her scalp. It made Imogen’s skin fizz, made her neck tingle pleasantly. Made her want Laudna closer, closer-
And then she was. Or Imogen was.
One of them had moved, and Imogen honestly wasn’t sure who but Laudna was pushed against the warm, curled roots of the tree now and Imogen was against her, pressing as close as she could. Her hand cradled the back of Laudna’s head, careful to not let her bump it against the bark, and she felt Laudna shiver when she ran her pinky finger over the top of her neck.
She was half on-top of Laudna. Not totally, she was a fair bit heavier than Laudna, and was honestly worried she’d crush her, but Laudna was pulling her in so Imogen figured she was comfortable.
Still, she checked. “Y’good, Laud?” Imogen breathed out, only briefly opening her eyes to look at her.
It took a moment, but Laudna blinked heavily, staring at Imogen in amazement and some poorly veiled amusement. “Not quite as good as you are, I don’t think.” She punctuated the compliment with another sharp kiss to Imogen’s bottom lip, making her suppress an embarrassing whimper in the back of her throat.
Imogen kissed her again then, fully, sinking into it with a sigh of what felt like relief. Laudna was clutching her, more sharply than last time, and Imogen suspected it had something to do with the battle she’d barely walked away from. It wasn’t the time to dredge it up, though. Not when she could bring Laudna reassurance with the soft press of her lips against hers.
Time passed. Wind gently passed over the blossoms, sweet smelling and cool in the afternoon warmth of the sun. Imogen would have stayed there forever, if she’d been able.
But a twig snapped nearby, slow footsteps just around the other side of the tree and Imogen pulled back, scrambling to put some distance between them before whoever was there saw-
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise…” Keyleth stopped abruptly, mouth open in a little ‘o’ shape.
Imogen wanted to sink into the ground, actually. She wanted to disappear entirely, and was actually halfway through the brief incantation for invisibility when Laudna covered Imogen’s moving fingers with hers and shot her an amused glance. Keyleth’s tired eyes followed the motion with practised detachment, but Imogen thought she could see a glint of amusement there as well.
Laudna swallowed, ran her hand through her hair in a fruitless attempt to un-mess what Imogen had thoroughly messed. “Your Tempest-ness-” She started, then cringed when a small crease of confusion appeared between Keyleth’s eyes. “We were just… admiring the view.”
Imogen kept her face blank as she looked at Laudna, trying not to give away her telepathic message of “Admirin’ the view? Really, Laud?”
A barely perceptible shrug, then, “Well, you’re quite the view, darling.”
Keyleth cleared her throat, somehow managing to sound apologetic as she did it, and Imogen brought her now burning face back to look in Keyleth’s direction. Keyleth didn’t speak immediately, instead moving to settle against the trunk of a neighbouring blossom tree. She looked healthier – of course she did, they’d brought her the cure – but it seemed she was gaining strength even as Imogen watched. Looking closer, she noticed the way the tree trunk moulded a little under her weight, moving to accommodate her more comfortably as Keyleth seemed to pat the bark in thanks.
She was clearly immensely powerful. Imogen couldn’t believe this woman had almost seen her straddling Laudna.
Sometimes, she truly believed the indignities would never end.
“Imogen, sweetheart, are you spiralling again?”
Imogen blinked and found Laudna glancing in her direction, making a show of rearranging herself on the ground to buy them time to collect themselves.
Grateful for Laudna’s interruption, Imogen took a deep, steadying breath. She could still feel the tingling of Laudna’s lips on hers, and it was intensely distracting. “We can go, if you’d like, we didn’t know you’d…” Stumble upon us making out? No, she couldn’t say that. “Be here.” Imogen finished lamely instead, and she heard a poorly concealed chuckle from Laudna that she politely ignored.
Keyleth shook her head slowly, stiffly, but with a small smile on her lips. She closed her eyes and seemed to enjoy the sun on her face for a moment before responding. “Zephrah belongs to everyone, you have as much right to be here as I do.” She paused, then opened her eyes to look at them with a little fondness. “Especially given what you’ve done for me, and for Orym.” Imogen felt like she might cry, just for a second. “Besides, it’s hard to find time alone when you’re busy saving the world.”
Imogen swiftly went from wanting to cry to suddenly blushing wildly. She sputtered, could feel the heat radiating off her cheeks at the knowing look in Keyleth’s eyes, and even a quick glance showed Laudna’s face was that lovely, dusky purple she had when she was flushed.
“I don’t-” Imogen started, then realised she had no defence. “It’s just-”
“New?” Keyleth asked, then smiled a little wider and closed her eyes again, resting back against the tree. “It can be hard. You want something for yourself sometimes, especially when it’s new and delicate.”
Imogen thought about their discussion earlier, about the man who had saved her, and her embarrassment faded a little. An ache of sadness appeared instead. She’d lost Laudna for only a week and it had been… the worst thing she’d ever endured. Her emotions must have been clear to see, because Laudna’s fingers entwined with hers and squeezed, tugging her lips upwards again. “How do you know it’s new?”
Keyleth hummed in thought. “I’m older than I look, you know? I’ve seen a lot of people fall in love.” She hesitated, then looked at Imogen properly, with a smile full of regret. “I’ve seen people lose those they love as well. When you came to me for help, after…” She inclined her head in Laudna’s direction, who dipped her gaze to the ground at the topic. Imogen grit her teeth against the immediate rush of pain it caused, just at the memory. “It was obvious how you felt. Vex as well, she couldn’t bear seeing it happen if she could help, especially given our involvement… the first time.” Keyleth finished, speaking so softly Imogen could barely hear her voice.
Laudna cleared her throat, clearly eager to move on from the subject. “Do you frequent this spot? It’s beautiful.”
“I used to. Before… this whole mess, I suppose. Vex would sometimes join me.” She said the last sentence almost as an afterthought, then blushed in a way that would have had Imogen raising an eyebrow if she knew the woman better, and if she hadn’t just been caught with her tongue in Laudna’s mouth. Keyleth looked relaxed now, and Imogen was pleased to see colour returning to her cheeks as she lay there.
Imogen dusted herself off and stood, extending a hand for Laudna to take. “We’ll uhm, leave you to rest.”
“Make the most of it – your time together,” Keyleth said quietly, watching as they made to walk back. Imogen caught a flicker of regret, then, a ghost of pain before Keyleth turned her face to the sun and relaxed again.
Laudna gripped Imogen’s hand tighter, thumb rubbing over where Letters had healed a particularly nasty gash the day prior, and stepped closer to Imogen’s side. “We will.” It sounded like a promise, a vow, and Imogen took advantage of the way Keyleth was sitting to press a secret kiss to the back of Laudna’s shoulder.
Keyleth nodded, smiling a little wider now as she settled further into the tree. Imogen turned to walk away, and Keyleth spoke once more. “In case you hadn’t considered it, Invisibility can be a useful spell if you don’t wish to be found.” Imogen inhaled her own spit, coughing while Laudna rubbed her back soothingly. Gods, Gods this was embarrassing. Keyleth was grinning properly now, and given Imogen had seen her on death's door she couldn’t find it in herself to be upset about it. “Just be careful, don’t want to uh- lose concentration on it in an awkward moment.”
“We’ll be going! Lovely to see you feeling better!” Laudna announced, voice cheery and bright and almost frantic as she steered a bright red Imogen away from the trees.
Imogen barely noticed the walk back to where their friends were drinking. All she could think was that Orym could never know what Keyleth found them doing.
And also, maybe, to double check how long an invisibility spell lasted.