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Sandcastles and Fireworks	By : DarklingWillow & BronxWench Category: +M through R > Neverwinter Nights Views: 1524 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: We do not own Neverwinter Nights, nor the characters from it. We do not make any money from the writing of this story. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Chapter List
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Vale tucked Kansas close to him, consulting his map to guide them to the Asian Art exhibits, and the beautiful mural of the Buddha of Medicine. Kansas needed to sketch that as well, and Vale sat next to him on the floor. Kansas worked quickly, and his deft strokes filled the page with a gorgeous depiction of the work. Sand stood near Satoshi, feeling the warmth of the man even through the clothing they both wore.

“I think perhaps we need food,” Sand said quietly, looking at Satoshi. “Finn recommended a cafe on the first floor, and it is near the museum shop, if you want to look for something to bring home. I would like to purchase something myself, I think.”

Vale turned his head and nodded at Yuji. “Food sounds good to me, and I’m pretty sure Kansas needs to eat.” He helped Kansas put away his art supplies, and they clambered to their feet, ready to find sustenance.

The cafe offered a variety of food options, and everyone was able to find something to suit them. Dessert was even more fun, especially when Sand told the waiter to just bring everything, and they would share and taste among themselves.

Suitably refreshed, they went in search of the museum’s gift shop, losing Sand almost immediately to a display of replicas of some of the sculptures, and then to the exquisite stationery which was a hallmark of the museum. Vale purchased a paper knife which was a much smaller copy of a sword he had admired, and then found an ankh pendant in white gold which he bought while Sand was distracted.

The three Japanese men were wide eyed at the quality of the goods on sale at the store, but when Satoshi pulled up on his phone the list of people that he needed to buy memorabilia gifts for he froze for a moment, then switched over to Japanese. Yuji and Kansas both seemed to begin to protest, but then Satoshi mentioned the name Ryuu again, and the three of them moved away from the elves a bit to find gifts.

Satoshi bought paper knife replicas of a couple of swords, and a small statue of one of the Asian pieces. When they were done, they were laden with stationary, posters and a picture book or two, plus a couple of more little sculpture replicas. And each of them had a small piece of jewelry too, as well as a notebook each, in different styles. Then as they gathered at the register, Yuji whispered quietly to Vale, to tell him how to find the correct amount of money, while Satoshi turned to help Sand to pay for his purchases. Kansas giggled happily at the looks on the elves’ faces when they both received a small handful of coins as change, and as the five of them walked down the stairs again to the garage, the elves were studying the coins in detail. But when Sand went to bite one, as Kansas had done with the elf’s gold coin, Satoshi cried out and nearly gagged when he told the elf not to do that.

“Why not? Kansas did it to my gold coin,” Sand asked with a surprised look, and Satoshi shuddered as he answered.

“Mainly, because you have no idea where that coin’s been.”

Sand still looked somewhat dubious. “Kansas did not know where my coin had been, either.” He did not finish his thought, because Vale nudged him into silence when a museum employee offered to assist them with their packages. They agreed, and let the employee lead them to the garage, where Finn waited with the car, although Sand’s expression promised he was not done with questions just yet.

Finn and the museum employee stowed the shopping away in the car’s storage area at the rear, while the five happy shoppers opened the car doors to get in. As Yuji opened the front passenger door Kansas ducked under his arm and twisted out of Yuji’s grasp when Yuji tried to catch him, and then slid into the front seat next to Finn with an adorably impish grin. Vale gave Yuji a quick look, waiting to see if Yuji wanted to sit in the middle or in the rear. He was determined to sit next to Yuji, though, and he knew with certainty Sand wanted to sit with Satoshi.

Yuji frowned a little, but closed the front door and turned to the other four.

“You can sit in the trunk,” Kansas called from inside the car, putting on his seat belt with great theatrics, making Satoshi laugh.

“I’ll sit in the trunk,” Satoshi said, and moved the seat of the middle bench so he could climb in. “I suggest someone with legs of the shorter variety sit with me, since long legs do not do well in the trunk.”

Yuji smiled apologetically and looked down at his long, slender legs, then looked at the elves again before ending on Sand who was visibly shorter than Vale, although he was too polite to actually say what he wanted to say.

Sand chuckled. “You do not need to say it. I am the shortest of the three of us, so it would make the most sense to have me in the back with Satoshi.” He sounded entirely pleased by this, and he climbed into the back with Satoshi, feeling a glorious tingle when his hand brushed against Satoshi’s arm.

“You’re not short, my love, not really. You’re just a moon elf, and moon elves aren’t as tall as sun elves. Neither are wood elves, or drow, and the star elves are even taller than me, so it’s not anything to think about.” Vale slid into the middle bench, once Sand was settled in, and the seat moved back to an upright position.

Yuji admired the view as Vale slid into the middle bench, and then grinned shamelessly at Finn when he realized that the driver had seen what he was doing. Then Yuji slid into the seat next to Vale, and just because it felt so natural Yuji slid all the way into the middle seat, and buckled himself in, then allowed his knees to spread just enough for his thigh to press against Vale’s thigh.

“But that’s five,” Kansas said in the front seat as he undid his seatbelt and twisted around to sit up on his knees, looking at Vale, and pointing at Sand as he continued. “You said, shortest of the three races, but then you counted five. Sun, moon, wood, drow and star.”

“There’s actually five elven races, or septs,” Vale said. “Sun elves, like me. Moon elves, like Sand. Wood elves, who live in the woods, and are about the same build and height as Sand. The drow have skin ranging from charcoal to deep black, and white hair, and live in the Underdark, deep beneath the surface of the world. Star elves, who are actually taller than me, but you almost never meet any of them. They’re very reclusive, and their home lands are hidden by powerful magic.”

Vale found himself completely distracted as Yuji sat right beside him, one long thigh pressed against Vale’s leg. He could feel his cheeks heating, and he felt the beginnings of a wicked arousal making his pants feel much tighter.

“Do you have pictures? I want to see pictures,” Kansas said and leaned over the back of the front seats, ignoring it when Finn started the car and cleared his throat softly.

“Sit down, Sweets,” Yuji said, then turned a little in his seat to look into the back seat.

“I want to see pictures of star elves,” Kansas said again, and reached out to tug on Vale’s jacket.

“Mr. Kansas, we’re stuck here in the garage until you turn around, and sit with your seatbelt on. The laws here in New York are very strict, and I don’t want to lose my license,” Finn said, polite but firm.

“We don’t have pictures, actually. Not like what you mean, the photographs. But if you sit nicely, I can tell you about them.” Vale waited for Finn’s nod. “Alright, since Finn is obviously in on all the dark secrets, and knows about magic and elves, settle down and listen.”

“Do I have to turn around?” Kansas asked with a pout at the driver, then let out a whine of protest when Yuji reached out and pressed a hand on his forehead.

“Sit down, you silly thing, and put on your seat belt, or we’re not going to make it to the Natural History Museum,” Yuji ordered and chuckled a little when Kansas twisted around to make himself fall hard on his bottom into the seat and then put the seat belt on with great theatrics, all the while pouting at Finn.

The driver smiled cheerfully at Kansas and nodded his head as he said, “Thank you, Mr. Kansas, now we can get moving.” And then he did just that, heading towards the exit of the parking garage.

Vale leaned forward as far as the seat belt would let him. “So, like I said, I’m a sun elf. Most of us have blond hair, ranging from bright blond to dark blond, and sometimes a bit reddish. Our eyes tend to be shades of green, or hazel, or light blue. Moon elves are the elves most people on my world meet. They’re the most outgoing of elves, or the most curious, depending on who you talk to. Moon elves are very pale-skinned, and have hair colors ranging from dark brown to deep black. They usually have blue or grey eyes, although some moon elves have dark amber eyes, which is really very striking. Wood elves are the next group, and they have clans rather than formal family names like sun and moon elves. They have glorious red hair, shading to deep auburn, and their eyes are dark green or hazel, or deep brown.” He grinned at Kansas. “Those three septs are the most numerous, and if you talk about elves on my world, people will think of those three.”

Vale sat back a bit. “The other two, well. One sept is actually outcast, or mostly outcast. The other sept decided to wash their hands of the rest of us, and took off for a demi-Plane outside our reach. The outcasts we call the drow, which comes from our word for traitor, dhaerow. They are

Vale leaned forward as far as the belt would allow him, and then Kansas let out a shriek of delight as a tiny image of a sun elf appeared on the dashboard in front of him. The elf was slender and tall, with long golden blond hair and eyes a beautiful shade of green, although not nearly as dark green as Vale’s eyes. The tiny elf’s manner of dress was traditional as well, and as Vale moved his hands, the tiny elf began to move, running back and forth along the dashboard, pulling a sword from a scabbard that materialized by his side, waving it around as if fighting some foe. Then the sword was replaced by a bow, and Kansas giggled as the tiny elf shot arrows towards Kansas’ chest, but the arrows exploded into little bursts of flowers as they reached the top of their arch. After the short display the tiny blond elf sat down on the side of the dashboard, and a moon elf materialized.

Yuji burst into a gale of goofy laughter when the tiny moon elf looked noticeably much like Sand, his robes rich and his hair decorated with braids and glittering beads and stones, and the tiny figure strutted around with that same guarded confidence that Sand had displayed a few times since their first meeting.

Satoshi and Sand were both craning their necks to see as well, and Vale did not flinch in his projections when Sand reached out to prod his shoulder and growled softly. “Really, my love? I am not such a peacock,” he said, but then was distracted when Satoshi began to laugh brightly, along with Kansas.

The tiny moon elf had pulled out a beautiful sword and waved it around much like the sun elf figure had done, but now the moon elf was twirling liquids in little vials and bottles, shaking them and mixing them, and what had made Satoshi laugh was when one of the mixed liquids had exploded out of the bottle to leave the moon elf’s face blackened and his hair sticking straight up like some cartoon character.

“Not funny,” Sand said with a huff, and Vale glanced over his shoulder to smile at his lover.

“It made them laugh,” Vale answered sweetly, but then he turned back to his display and Kansas gasped loudly when another little elf appeared, this one dressed all in green and browns, with long, bright copper hair. He raced along the dashboard, jumping from tree to tree almost as if he had wings. On his back were two long knives, and he held a gorgeous bow in his hand.

“Wood elves. They all live in the forests, and they’re great hunters,” Vale explained, delighted to see the awe on Kansas’ face. The tiny wood elf went and sat down beside the images of the sun and moon elves.

The fourth elf to appear had deep charcoal skin, and red eyes. Her pure white hair hung down her back, decorated with a net of pearls and moonstones, and she wore armor of deep black leather. A small crossbow hung from her belt, and a wicked sword gleamed in her hand as she moved with exquisite grace, stalking around the other elves before settling off to the side, her beautiful face wary and grim.

“The drow are matriarchal, and the females rule the Underdark. Males are warriors, and bed mates, and sometimes sacrifices. Their name comes from our word for traitor—dhaerhow.”

Finally Vale waved his hand again, and said, “Now, this is what a star elf looks like, but we hardly ever see them.” And on the dashboard there appeared an elf noticeably taller than all of the other elves, his hair so white that it seemed to shine like moonlight on fresh snow. The star elf’s skin was lightly tanned and his eyes the purest silver, and his features so beautiful that he almost made the other elves look plain. This new elf put on a display much like the other four, but Kansas leaned forwards until his nose nearly touched the dashboard, and only Finn noticed the tears that welled in Kansas’ eyes.

Then suddenly Kansas reached out and grabbed the image of the star elf with both hands and sat up straight again, clutching his hands to his chest as he struggled to smother a sob. “I want to keep him,” he muttered, his voice shaking, and his fists tightened when he felt Yuji’s hand on his shoulder, as if he was trying to tighten his grip on the tiny image of a star elf, but much like the other four images the star elf had vanished the moment Kansas had grabbed him.

Satoshi shuddered as he leaned forwards in the backmost seat and placed his hand on Yuji’s shoulder, both of them struggling to hold back their tears. And then Kansas let out the softest of sobs, and in an instant the very air inside the car seemed to grow thicker, and dimmer, and the humans were all overwhelmed with the most profound sense of sorrow and loss, so much so that Yuji’s eyes welled with tears, and Satoshi sobbed as he let his head fall forwards, his forehead resting on the back of the seat in front of him.

“Tatsuya, onegai,” Satoshi said, sobbing again, only to be answered by a shuddering sob from the front seat as Kansas whispered.

“He’s gone, again.”

Finn’s hands tightened on the wheel in response to Kansas’ evident anguish, and Vale’s eyes filled with grief as the blond elf leaned forward. “Kansas, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you so sad. Please, I’m sorry.”

Sand looked at Satoshi. “Who is gone again?” he murmured, soft enough not to carry to the front seat. “How could he recognize an elf uncommon on our world?” His breath hitched with the force of Kansas’ grief, his own heart aching as it drew out all his own sorrows he had thought buried deep for this week.

“I don’t know,” Satoshi gasped, his eyes dark pits of despair when he turned his head to look at the moon elf. “Please, make it stop. I don’t know who he means.”

Yuji tried to wrap his arm around Kansas’ shoulders, gently soothing the youngster. “Please, Sweets, what’s wrong?”

Kansas opened his hands and stared at the empty palms, silver tears falling from his lashes when he blinked his eyes. “He’s gone,” he whispered again, but then he blinked his eyes a couple of times and looked up at Finn, and the sorrow that had overwhelmed them all eased. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked, looking confused for a moment as he looked down at his empty hands.

Yuji sank down on the seat, letting go of Kansas, and he looked up at Vale with eyes glistening with tears and for a moment he looked utterly exhausted.

In the back Satoshi’s arm slid back over the back of the seat to hang limply in front of him, his forehead still resting on the back of the seat in front of him, and he drew a shaky breath. “Please, make it stop,” he whispered so quietly only Sand could hear him.

Finn looked over at Kansas, seeing the youngster’s confusion. “It was nothing, Mr. Kansas. We’ll be going through the park to the other side, to the Natural History Museum. It’s very quick. You must look for the Titanosaur, and the blue whale. The blue whale is the best.”

Vale reached out to put his arm around Yuji, wanting to offer the man comfort. The grief that had welled up from Kansas was still present, although it was not as overwhelming. Vale did not know what caused it, but he just wanted it to stop, as much as Satoshi.

Sand reacted without thought, pulling Satoshi into his arms and holding him with tender concern. “It is alright, my sweet one. It is over now. I have you, and you will be safe.” He tightened his hold a little, wanting to offer Satoshi a sanctuary. It felt so familiar to hold the slender pierced man like this, and Sand was entirely unaware of the way he rested his cheek on Satoshi’s silky hair, with the ease of a lover, or at least a close companion.

Satoshi drew a shaky breath and allowed himself to sink into Sand’s embrace, limp and exhausted. “I’m sorry,” Satoshi whispered, and moved his head just a little, to make it more comfortable, and one hand rested against the elf’s chest, palm over the middle of his breastbone.

Yuji leaned into Vale’s embrace and smiled a little, one hand resting on the elf’s thigh and rubbing lightly as Yuji nodded at him. “It’s finished, I think. He’s back with us,” he whispered and nodded towards Kansas.

The young man rubbed his face and looked around through the front windshield, looking like a man waking up from an unpleasant dream. “We’re going that way?” he asked, and pointed at the street ahead, but then he rubbed his eyes again and turned to look at Yuji. “Do you have my headache pills? I can smell oranges.”

“Satoshi, he’s smelling oranges,” Yuji said and turned to look into the back.

Satoshi sat up with a start and grabbed his bag off the seat next to him, rooting around in it for a moment before he pulled out a medicine box and handed it to Yuji. “Two if he needs them, and do you have water? Mine’s finished,” he said, and leaned back against Sand’s side.

Yuji opened the box and popped one tablet out of the aluminum foil, holding it out for Kansas to take. “Do you have water? Is one enough, or do you need a second one?”

Kansas lifted his empty water bottle up and shook it, then looked to Vale as he took the pill from Yuji’s hand. “I think I should take two, just to be safe. It’s pretty strong. Does anyone have water?”

“Open the glove compartment, Mr. Kansas. It’s a cooler, and it has water and some bottled tea.” Finn pulled out of the park and across a wide avenue before turning onto a cobblestone driveway. “We’ll be in the garage in a moment, and it’ll be darker there. That might help, too.”

Sand put his arms around Satoshi again, enjoying the comfort of having Satoshi so close to him. “What is wrong with Kansas?” he asked very quietly.

Vale could feel Sand’s own sorrow, tangled with the backlash from Kansas’ grief, and he watched as Yuji unwrapped a second pill for Kansas. Along with the grief, Vale had sensed immense power, an ancient soul that was also curiously young, wracked with fury and pain in equal measures. There was a strong feeling that a great wrong had been done, long ago, and never set to rights, but Vale had no idea what it could have been, to have lingered all these empty millennia.

Kansas found the water in the glove compartment, and swallowed his pills quickly, then passed a bottle into the back, which Yuji handed over to Satoshi without a word. Satoshi opened it before he asked Sand to hold it, while Satoshi found a different medicine box in his bag and popped a pill into his own mouth, which he washed down with the water before he turned to Sand and whispered back. “It’s migraines.”

He paused then it occurred to him that perhaps the elves did not get migraines, so he pointed to his head. “It’s a type of headaches. Really intense ones. The first signs are that he gets kind of dizzy, and then he starts to smell oranges, like kind of rancid, on the verge of going mouldy oranges. Then the pain hits and he starts to get vision disturbances. The worst he’s ever gotten he lost his sight, to the point of only being able to see the difference between light and shadow, and then he threw up and passed out. He was unconscious for over a day. The pills can stop it in its tracks though. So, he should be fine in maybe ten, fifteen minutes.”

Yuji sat back in his seat and with a small smile he wrapped an arm around Vale’s shoulders and sighed. “You two are just getting to see us all at our most fabulous today, it seems. All we need now is for me to get sick and fall down, or something.”

Sand nodded, his confusion clearing. “We do get pain in our heads. Headaches, that is a good word, very precise and clear. We can get them from a variety of causes. I get them from reading for too long, or forgetting to eat for a couple of days, or from being tense. I take our equivalent of medicine also.” He looked at Satoshi. “You have one as well? Perhaps we should remain here, in the garage, just until you and Kansas are feeling stronger.”

Finn pulled into a parking spot, and cut the engine. “Would anyone else like water or tea?” He heard Sand and nodded. “We can wait here for as long as you’d like, Mr. Mori, Mr. Iradil.” He opened a leather case and took out more maps and tickets. “Miss Bronwen’s gotten you full access passes, so you can see any exhibit you wish. She also arranged for a guide to be available if you want that service. If you prefer, you could wait in the Members’ Lounge until you feel stronger, if the garage is unpleasant for you.”

Vale looked at Yuji, wide-eyed for a moment. “Do you get sick and fall down a lot?” He shook his head the moment the words left his lips. “I’m sorry. That was sort of an ass moment for me, wasn’t it? But I would rather know ahead of time what to watch for. A good spymaster is always prepared, or so they tell me.”

Yuji waffled for a second, his cheeks flushing a little bit, but then he shook his head and put on a big smile. “No, no, don’t worry about it. I was just making a lame joke,” he said, then turned to Finn. “I would love some tea, please. If you have any cold green tea, that would be wonderful. Vale, Sand-san, do you want anything to drink? And I think we should accept that guided tour. That way we can maybe explore all of the museum before they close, and avoid accidentally going up and down the same stairs three times, like happened at the Met.”

“Hey, that was one flight of stairs,” Kansas said and turned around in his seat to frown at Yuji. “Not my fault. Sand-san got turned around too, even though he claimed to know exactly where we were.” Kansas sighed a little bit and rubbed his temple with the heel of his hand. “Maybe we should go inside and wait for a bit in the lounge? Just until the pills kick in? Just to make sure I don’t get worse?”

Satoshi smiled at the joke that Kansas made about Sand, then looked up at the raven elf. “No, it’s just a headache, for me. No migraine. It’s more of a tension headache. My shoulders get stiff, and that leads up into my head, when I get emotional like that. I can’t help it,” he whispered back, and smiled. “The pill will make it better in ten, fifteen minutes or so. Maybe we should go inside and see if we can relax a bit in that lounge?”

Finn handed Yuji a cold green tea, and when the elves requested plain black tea, he handed those over as well. “The Members’ Lounge is right before the ticketing desks. Your guide will meet you there when you’re ready. I’ll call ahead and have someone meet you at the garage entrance, to show you the way to the Lounge.”

Vale sipped his tea, and then recapped the bottle. “A guide is a good idea. These places are so big and it’s easy to get turned around. Just looking at the map, this place is definitely more confusing.” He looked at Yuji, taken aback by how perfect Yuji’s eyes were. He completely forgot what he had been about to say, content to just look into those eyes.

Sand held Satoshi for a moment longer, reluctant to let go. “We have done a lot already today. Perhaps we have been rushing about too much. We will have the guide take his time, so we do not have to be so stressed. If we do not see everything, perhaps we can come back later in the week.”

Kansas opened the door to step out of the car, but then turned to smile at Finn. “Why don’t you come with us? You were cooped up in the car the whole time we were at the Met, and that took us half the day,” he said, glancing at his watch, and grinned when he looked up again. “Or, well, a little more than four hours. That’s still a long time. So, why don’t you come with us now? We can look at the dinosaurs together?”

Yuji opened the back door and got out, holding a hand out to Vale to help the elf out of the car.

Satoshi shook his head a little, but he did not try to leave Sand’s embrace. “No, no, we can take all the time we need here, that’s not what was stressful. It was… Kansas…” Satoshi waved his hand a little to try and find the words. “Whatever happened to Kansas when he saw that little elf figure thing. I’m a bit high strung by nature, so that was just extra stress I didn’t know what to do with. But like I said, the pills make us better, so we just need a little moment to catch our breaths and let them work, and then we’ll be alright. Please, don’t worry about me?”

Finn’s smile widened. “To be honest, I like this museum a lot more, so I’d like to come in with you. Miss Bronwen won’t mind at all. She’s very kind to me.”

Vale let Yuji help him out of the car, resisting the urge to step into the man’s arms and nuzzle him. He thought perhaps Yuji might be interested, too, but he was not good at this flirting thing, certainly not like Sand. As he got out, he folded the seat down for his elven lover and the pierced man who had captured Sand’s attention so well.

“Are you sure you would rather stay here, Satoshi?” Sand’s voice held gentle concern. “The lounge might be more relaxing than listening to cars making noise and smelling the fumes of them.” He did not want to move, if he were totally honest with himself, but Satoshi’s wellbeing took precedence as far as he was concerned. Still, when Yuji held out a hand to Satoshi, the pierced man took it, and Sand followed, getting out of the car and tucking Satoshi’s arm through his as they followed Finn into the museum.

“I did mean the lounge, but only if you were coming with me,” Satoshi said with a shy blush as he leaned on Sand’s arm as they walked to the entrance.

Yuji grinned a little and moved just a fraction closer to Vale, walking close enough for their shoulders to almost touch as they followed Finn to the member’s lounge.
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Sandcastles and Fireworks