depressed charlie, thandi returns to faerun, tbo offshoot
Charlie could feel the gentle caress of Thandi’s love reaching for him. She was so gentle when it came to him. She would take his face in her hands and tell him that he mattered. That he made a difference.
He treasured her above all else. He kept quiet about the extent of his affection for her. His love. His intense attachment. And quietly, very quietly, he thought of her as his.
The journey took months. Years. And he couldn’t help doting on her. His feelings were secure in her hands, knowing that she distanced herself from most others just enough that they didn’t make advances. He was the only one who she cried into, the only one she vented her troubles to, the only one who could hold her.
It took him time to realize that she started putting that distance between the two of them. Less nights sitting with her at the fire. Less time trading quiet confessions. Less time… period.
He’d been such an idiot. He had believed the smiles and the laughs. She didn’t tell him she was leaving. He found out from everyone else. The day of.
She hugged Pike as he wished her luck. She gripped Merre’s hands and they exchanged encouragement. Senet gave her food to leave with and a promise to cook if she ever returned. Tirel simply asked her to write.
Charlie was baffled.
“What’s going on? Where are you going?”
Everyone’s faces. The pity as they realized that Thandi hadn’t told him, so he didn’t try to hold on. He wasn’t even supposed to be here.
“Darling,” Thandi said quietly. “I have to go home.”
“But I’m your home!”
Her smile is sad. Her hand is on the handle of the door to the inn. Charlie’s face pales and he opens his mouth to protest.
“Goodbye, Charlie.”
The door opens and shuts. He runs to the door, knowing what he’ll find, throwing it open anyway. She’s gone. He drops to his knees, in shock. It’s like his entire body is curling in on itself.
Charlie shatters. No one knows what to do, unused to him expressing something so… real. And him. He knows the only thing that can possibly help him comes in the form of two warm hands on his cheeks and her voice reminding him that everything is okay. He’s such a fool.