Fanfic Time: My Baby Now (17)

Of course a Rogue would go through everyone's packs. Astarion couldn't know that Aldiirn was a light sleeper. Not yet. Aldiirn sat up as Astarion sniffed something he'd unearthed in Aldiirn's pack,

"Find anything nice?" Aldiirn asked.

At least he was an honest thief. "Just looking for anything valuable. Or blackmail-worthy, if I'm being completely honest. What in the hells is this?"

It was a black prism, a solid substance that had once been pressed into a mould with fancy patterns on the broadest sides. Aldiirn smiled as he accepted it from Astarion's hands. Carved into one side, in Infernal, were the words, Remember to write home, treasured son. "Oh, Dad," he sighed. Inhaled the perfume he'd added to it. It smelled like home. "It's ink. So I write my family. Dad made it himself before I left for my adventures." The tears sprung up against his will. "And now I don't know where I am or how I can send it. Even if I had the paper to write on. Thanks for finding it. It's been driving me crazy trying to figure out what he hid in my pack and where."

Astarion was staring as if the whole scene was incomprehensible. Like a benevolent Beholder. "You... love... your family?"

"It's hard not to. After Dad stole me, they've been the best family anyone could want..." A couple of the sillier stories spilled out. Little things. Almost... dumb things. Yet he had Astarion's complete fascination. As if 'family' was another form of torture and torment for him.