[So this is an AU in which a) they have been in a poly V relationship since the Chroma Conclave days and b) Grog's little adventure in getting his soul sent to Pandemonium either doesn't happen or happens a bit later (I mean, I thought that was a ridiculously perfect plot twist but it is highly inconvenient to my purpose here).]

Keyleth spends the first night back in Whitestone, and most of the next two days, curled up in the roots of the Sun Tree. The first morning, she wakes to find a basket set down next to her with food, blankets, and a note from Percy and Vex telling her where they'll be if she needs them, and that's the last non-tree contact she has until late on the second night, when she drapes herself in a blanket cloak and carries the now-empty basket up to the castle.

She's not expecting the first person she sees to be Gilmore, but it feels right somehow. He's on a bench in the castle courtyard with a sheet of paper in his hand. Keyleth guesses it's the letter Vax gave him back in Entropis, remembers him fumbling for it and shoving it against Gilmore's chest with one hand while the other still held his face, words tumbling out of him here, take this, I'm sorry we don't have more time but you need to get out of here, Shaun, I love you, I'm sorry, go. Gilmore's not reading the letter, just turning it over in his hands, unfolding and refolding it, running a thumb along the creases of the paper.

"Shaun, hi," Keyleth says when he looks up, her voice a little rusty. "I didn't realize you were still here."

"Cassandra prevailed on me to stay a bit longer," he says, tucking the letter into a pocket of his robes and standing. "She can be very persuasive. And I admit, being alone with my thoughts back in Emon isn't the most appealing idea."

Keyleth gives him a wan smile. "I'd recommend being alone with a tree as a good alternative, but I think that probably only works for druids."

"Alas," he says, reaching up to pluck a leaf out of her hair. Looking at her more closely, he asks, "How are you holding up, darling?"

Keyleth wants to play it off jokingly--oh, y'know, not too bad considering I lost the love of my life two days ago--but the words die in her throat and she can feel her expression crumple.

Gilmore says her name softly and opens his arms, and Keyleth goes with it, burying her face in his shoulder. He steers them toward the bench he was sitting on a moment ago, and she unwraps her blanket cloak enough to drape it over his shoulders as well.

"It feels so wrong that he's not here," Keyleth says through threatening tears--she thought she'd cried herself out back at the Sun Tree, at least for a little while, but apparently not. "We won. We did everything we were supposed to. And we still lost him."

"It isn't fair," Gilmore agrees, rubbing her back with one hand. "And that shouldn't be a surprise, but somehow it is." He leans his cheek against the top of her head, then whispers, "He loved you so much, Keyleth. Don't ever forget that."

Keyleth nods, hugging him around the waist. "He loved you, too," she replies. "I know sometimes it seemed like he was picking me over you, but...he wanted you to be safe. Always. And so much of the time, the safest place you could be was away from us."

"I know," he says, and gives a wry chuckle. "I thought I knew better than to go down that road again, but some lessons have to be learned more than once, apparently."

Keyleth lifts her head with a quizzical look, and Gilmore gives her a faint smile. "Ancient history, dear heart. I had my heart broken by an adventurer, told myself I'd been a fool to fall for someone I knew I couldn't ask to stay with me, and swore I'd never do it again. And then one day Vax walked into my shop and made a liar of me." He shakes his head with another smile. "I don't regret it."

Keyleth stretches up to kiss his cheek, then leans her head on his shoulder again. "You know," she says softly, "Vex wanted to make sure I knew she and I are still sisters. I don't know if there's a word for what you and I are to each other, but...whatever it is, we still are, right?"

"Of course." Gilmore puts a hand on the top of her head, pressing her closer. He falls silent for a few moments, then says, "I don't think I'll be staying here much longer. There's not a stone or a tree in this city that doesn't remind me of him, and that's...not what I need right now. But I'll never be so far you can't call if you need me."

"Neither will I," she promises. "Back to Emon, then?"

"Oh, Emon might be even worse," he says with an artificial lightness in his tone. "I've been thinking about Marquet, actually. I haven't made a proper visit back there in...well. Too long, I think. Maybe it's time for that."

"I know what you mean," Keyleth murmurs, thinking about Zephrah. Not exactly a place to go to get away from memories of Vax, but maybe she doesn't need to do that in the same way Gilmore does. And in any case, it'll be good to go home for a while.

She's abruptly very tired, every emotion she's been dealing with giving way to pure exhaustion. She nestles closer and pulls the blanket up around them again, closing her eyes. "But not yet, right?"

Gilmore settles his arms around her shoulders and drops a soft kiss on the crown of her head. "Not just yet."