Chamomile Lavender Tea - Critical Role (Campaign I) , Percy de Rolo III and Keyleth of the Air Ashar

[thecrazyalaskan]

Title: Chamomile Lavender Tea
Author: fireweed15
Fandom / Setting: Critical Role Campaign I: Vox Machina
Characters / Pairings: Percy de Rolo III and Keyleth of the Air Ashari
Rating: T
Word Count: 965
Warnings / Notes: Written for Hurt / Comfort Bingo 2023: Asking for Help
Summary: Sometimes, not even the rhythmic click of The List could lull him to sleep.

This friendship is so important to me for reasons I can't quite describe, and I would walk across burning hot Legos for them. I know at one point Percy told Grog it was nice to have an older brother again, and I absolutely think he would feel the same way about Keyleth, especially since he, y’know, saw his youngest sister die even if she did get better.

This is likely more TLOVM compliant than original stream / podcast compliant, but that's what I know best. Overall this is just a Vibe™ I wanted to play with.
 

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Sometimes, not even the rhythmic click of The List could lull him to sleep.

Percy stared up at the sky, at the vague shapes of clouds passing overhead. His fellow party members were all deep in differing stages of sleep, save for Vax and Keyleth, who were keeping watch just outside the orange glow of the low burning campfire. He envied them their peaceful slumber, but he didn’t resent them for it. He’d stressed to them the gravity of the situation ahead of them, and jokes (their collective love language) aside, they seemed to grasp that—but the gravity of the future events, whatever they may be, kept him awake… more than the usual mess.

Click—Lord Briarwood. Click—Lady Briarwood. Click—Doctor Ripley. Click—Sir Kerrion Stonefell. Click—Professor Anders. Click—Click—Clickclickclickclick—Fuck it.

Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, Percy abandoned his bedroll and cautiously picked his way through the camp, toward the Vax and Keyleth shaped shadows. As he approached, the pair turned toward him, and he could see their hands withdraw from each other’s touch. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting—“

Vax and Keyleth both murmured deflections. The trio sat in silence for a beat before Percy snatched his thoughts from the awkward air. “I’ll take over, Vax.”

”Thanks—” Vax rose and considered Percy for a moment, seemingly on the verge of saying something else before changing his mind and disappearing, soundlessly, into the darkness.

Percy sat down in the space Vax had previously occupied, next to Keyleth. This far from the others, it was easier to carry on a conversation. “Hi Keyleth.”

”Hi Percy,” she greeted warmly.

They sat in silence. Percy stared off into the middle distance, thoughts tumbling over one another in a chaotic mess; Keyleth idly druidcrafted clusters of wildflowers in the earth in front of her. After several moments, Percy leaned over slightly. “I admit, my motives aren’t entirely altruistic.”

She paused, fingertips brushing over the petals of the newest blooms as she considered him. "What do you mean?"

"I…" This was always the hardest part, wasn't it? He rubbed the back of his neck, mumbling his confession. "I need help."

"Of course," she replied, laying a hand on his arm, her attention fully on him. "What is it?"

"I can't sleep," he admitted.

Keyleth smiled warmly, seemingly relieved that it wasn't something earth shattering. "I can fix that."

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

"So what’s the damage?" Percy asked, looking at the single cup burning over the tiny fire Keyleth had set from the bigger one around which their companions slept. The liquid was soft amber in the firelight, a single white and yellow blossom floating lazily on the surface.

"Chamomile—ooh." She reached into a small pouch she'd produced from within her battered pack, carefully unwrapped a piece of waxed parchment and sprinkled dried blue gray flowers into the mix as well. "And lavender."

They sat in silence as the tea steeped before she nodded approvingly and lightly touched the sides of the metal cup, testing its temperature before passing it to Percy. Their fingers brushed as he accepted it, and he took a long, appreciative sip. "It’s good," he pronounced, his assessment sincere. It was damn fine tea. "Thank you, Keyleth."

She beamed in gratitude for a moment before they lapsed into silence again. It was several minutes later when she extinguished the flames and scooted a little closer, to afford them another measure of privacy. "Do you want to talk about why you can’t sleep?"

Percy felt his gaze shift in the direction in which they'd been traveling—the direction of Whitestone. "I’m not looking forward to going home."

"It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?" she murmured.

"Five years…" he confirmed, swirling the tea in the cup.

Keyleth nodded in understanding. "That is a long time."

Percy chuckled wryly. "You’re going to live forever, Keyleth. Five years is nothing to you."

Now it was her turn to chuckle, her hand lifting to rub the back of her neck as if embarrassed.

"I have nightmares—" Shit, where did that come from? Percy wanted to take the words back, act like he never said them aloud—but he couldn't find it in his heart to be anything but honest with her. "Nightmares about… what happened to me."

Sadness creeped into her eyes, the firelight almost giving them flecks of gold. "I didn’t know."

"I prefer it that way." He drained the last of the tea, if only to avoid admitting that he'd trained himself to be quiet when he woke in the night in a puddle of cold sweat, his heart hammering at his breastbone and scream in his throat—he'd been a bother to everyone around him before he mastered that skill.

"I understand—well, not really, I've never been through what you've been through, but…" Color rushed to Keyleth's cheeks and her fingers twisted together in anxious knots. "Ugh, I'm sorry—"

"It's okay," Percy said softly. She was right in that, but unlike when most people offered the same or similar sentiments, it didn't feel trite or like an insult. The effort was enough.

"So… You had siblings?" she asked in an obvious effort to shift the tone to something more pleasant.

He nodded in confirmation. "Three older, three younger—I was right in the middle."

"That explains a lot," she replied, nodding solemnly as if some unknown hypothesis was confirmed.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She smiled warmly. "You’ve had practice—being patient, with your siblings."

He felt his face curl into a soft smile as he wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders and pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead, feeling, for the first time in five years, proper sleep teasing the edges of his consciousness. "Something like that."