Coronabeth still can't believe that Ianthe left her. Gideon tries her best.
That's right, it's an Eberron AU for The Locked Tomb! This was written for Morike91 for the 2023 Battleship Exchange.
CW: references to canon-typical death and Coronabeth being suicidal
AO3
SquidgeWorld
“She left me,” Coronabeth said for the tenth time in the last hour. Gideon looked up from her rations to keep an eye on Corona. If Ianthe was here, then she could just have used her mark to cast Calm Emotions on her sister. If Ianthe was here, then maybe Corona wouldn’t be in yet another depressive spiral, a real one instead of one merely meant to manipulate. She hadn’t threatened to kill herself, just had several sobbing fits.
If Ianthe was here, then Coronabeth could have pretended to use the Mark of Handling on her right bicep to cast Calm Emotions on herself. But Ianthe wasn’t here. So many members of their party weren’t here. Ianthe had left with the two Radiant Cultists and had taken Harrow’s unconscious body with them. Palamedes and Naberius were both dead. Pal had been killed by the fiend that had been masquerading as Lady ir’Septimus. It sucked, really, since his life’s work had been to do what the halflings of House Jorasco had never been able to. Dulcinea had been long dead before they could have even tried. Camilhareth wanted to see if they could go to Dolurrh, to try and find Pal’s soul and maybe even the real Dulcinea’s too. When Corona had asked what they would do after they found Pal’s soul, Cam hadn’t been able to answer. It wasn’t like the party would be able to put Pal’s soul back into his real body, not after what Cytherea did to it.
Babs still had a body to resurrect. They just wouldn’t be able to find his soul, not unless they wanted to wait until it was potentially too late, and Pal’s soul had faded away. According to Ianthe, Naberius still lived on in the dragonmark she had stolen from him, or at least he would continue to until Ianthe had been able to absorb his soul and knowledge entirely. She now had two dragonmarks while her sister held none.
“How did you and Ianthe fake your mark?” Gideon asked before kissing Coronabeth on the forehead.
“We took the Test of Siberys together. Father wanted a matched set, and Ianthe gave him one. When she manifested her mark, she then used Prestidigitation to give me mine. Then she calmed the hippogriff while I used my strength to hold it down. Sure, she specializes in transmutation, but she’s always been good at illusions. She made my mark glow while making hers not. I later got it tattooed on.” Coronabeth sniffled. “And now, the next time we’re around an animal, everyone’s going to find out I’m a fraud. She left me.”
“I’m still here,” Gideon said as she placed her hand on top of her girlfriend’s.
“I know,” Corona said as her watery violet eyes met Gideon’s own. “But you’re not my sister.”
Author's Note: To dump some random setting notes:
Given that the Tridentarii are supposedly flesh magicians, I thought that either House Vadalis or House Jorasco would fit them, but I ultimately decided on Vadalis because I wanted them to be humans. Plus, I like the idea of Vadalis doing freaky experiments with dragonmarks more than I do Jorasco. They're both from Aundair, and so was Dulcinea.
Gideon and Harrow are both from Karrnath. Gideon is secretly an aasimar connected to the radiant idol known as Jod.
Naberius was, despite being from House Deneith AKA the fighter-iest house to fighter, a worse fighter than Gideon (who has probably multiclassed into paladin at some point) and Coronabeth (who is sticking to fighter).
Cam is a kalashtar from the line of Hareth. Given how kalashtar names are styled, I decided that changing her name to Camilhareth was a fitting choice.
