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Keyleth hadn’t known a lot about scenting etiquette when she’d left for her Aramente.

In Zephrah, dynamics didn’t matter much. Keyleth was an Air Ashari, and that mattered way more than her being an Omega. She grew up with uncovered scents, very loose definitions of pack, and no expectations and stereotypes based on dynamics. She’d known that in most of the world it wasn’t so, but she hadn’t quite been capable of imagining how that would look like.

In her lone travels, she encountered various peoples and their customs. She saw elves who universally wore high collars and shawls and gloves that went past their wrists, covering any scent; humans who only did so if they were Omegas, which puzzled Keyleth to no end; halflings which didn’t cover ever but among which it wasn’t polite to talk about scents unless you were pack; gnomes who didn’t care either way and freely displayed scents and mating bites; dwarfs that allowed scents but the gods forbid you said anything about bites; and many, many more.

It was all a whirlwind of different cultures and customs, and frankly? Keyleth loved it. She didn’t always get it right – stumbled and made mistakes and ruffled feathers – but she tried, and she was eager to learn. The world offered a rich variety of traditions, all beautiful in their own way. Even if she found some stifling.

Vox Machina was winds-sent, in many ways. They were a tight group, friends for life. And none of them insisted on covering their scents – that freedom lessened the claustrophobia that Keyleth felt sometimes when among cultures that smothered anything related to dynamics.

At least, for a long time it was like that. Then, along came Percival – smart, cold, jaded Percival, whom they found in a jail cell and who had a weapon the likes of which Keyleth had never seen.

Percival, who travelled with them. Percival, who mellowed with time and allowed them closer and closer, until he laughed and joked alongside them, who got them out of many troubles and complained the entire time, who got them into troubles occasionally and never admitted it. Percival, who became their Percy – their witty, slightly snobbish, dedicated tinkerer.

He covered his scent. That confused Keyleth at first. Even after all the things she’d seen and the different people she’d met, she still couldn’t understand why somebody would want to do that. To inhibit their way of displaying emotions and strengthening bonds. Especially when nobody else in their group did, so there was no cultural pressure to do it.

But she soon learned that Percy was Percy, and he had his quirks that she couldn’t quite understand, but he was still their Percy. A part of their group. She accepted him as he was.

And she did notice – she felt, sometimes, that people gave her too little credit on how perceptive she was – that he started to come out of his shell after he got the means, after several odd jobs, to cover his scent. One of his first purchases – the first one barring strict necessities – was a beautiful collar made of studded black leather. Affixed to it was a fine shawl of blue silk that covered the torso. Soon, along came a pair of silk gloves that went up to the forearms.

All of that covered his scent perfectly. Usually, even with such accessories, Keyleth could catch a whiff of a person’s scent. But the studded leather didn’t allow for anything. It was the clunkiest way she’d seen somebody cover their scent glands, but Percy relaxed when he got it. It seemed to make him feel comfortable.

Throughout their travels together, he acquired many more of them, until he had some half a dozen collars and gloves, all made of fine materials and beautiful colours – blue and white and one pure black. He got some different ones to sleep in – more of a wrap than a collar. Soon, he was so bundled up that Keyleth barely remembered what he smelled like, her brief memories from those early days before the collars fading.

She didn’t ask. She understood – Percy needed space, much more than all the rest of them, it seemed. Mostly, she was happy that their new companion finally let his guard down around them once he had those accessories. Percy, like the rest of Vox Machina, quickly became one of her dearest friends.

She was curious, however. She’d never seen such scent accessories – a rigid collar made of the same materials people made armour out of. Even in cultures where people covered their scent glands, it was usually things like scarves or other clothes that they used.

Sadly, she didn’t have a lot of time to give in to her curiosity. But it sparkled a bit every time she saw Percy, always with a collar around his neck.

~*~

The first time she made any real progress on that curiosity was after they defeated the dragon Brimscythe. In the ensuing aftermath – Emon remaining without a large part of its army and without a Master of Law – Lady Allura invited them to the banquet of the dignitaries of Tal’Dorei.

It was, in general, a bitter memory, in between what happened to Pike and to Vax and the marked descent of Percy’s sanity as that horrible demon corroded his soul.

But before that, there was a fluttery afternoon of choosing proper clothing, making good-natured fun of Percy as he tried to teach them proper protocol and etiquette, and Scanlan’s cheerful songs.

In the few minutes before they had to go, Keyleth was walking around their new keep, still familiarizing herself with the space. Making a spare flower appear here and there where the old grey stonework got too depressing. Waiting for their carriage to arrive.

She passed by Percy’s room and found the door open. Percy was standing in front of his full-length mirror, fixing something or other of his new suit.

“Wow! Percy, you look dashing!” Keyleth gasped, walking in.

Percy glanced at her and smiled. “Thank you, Keyleth. You’re also looking beautiful tonight.” He inclined his head towards her new green dress.

“Thanks.” Keyleth smiled, absent-mindedly rubbing the fabric. “Vex helped me pick it. You should see what she got. It’s amazing.”

Was she imagining it, or was that a faint blush on Percy’s cheeks? “I’m sure that it is. Vex’ahlia is a woman of style.”

Hmm. She couldn’t gauge from there. She got closer, stopping next to Percy. The mirror gave her a view of his face and, yes, he’d gotten a little red. She couldn’t help smiling.

Another thing caught her attention. The thing that Percy was fiddling with – it was a scent accessory, but not like the ones he usually wore. It wasn’t a leather collar and light translucent silk but a ring of heavy fabric – probably pressed wool felt – at the front that unfolded into a cape at the back that fell to the small of Percy’s back.

“That’s different,” she noted, tilting her head.

“It’s the fashion in Emon,” Percy explained lightly as he adjusted the neck wrap to his liking with the cleverly hidden clasp. He smoothed the cape down his shoulders and started on his gloves – white silk that reached just past the scent glands on his wrists and ending with little silk ribbons that he tied around the underside of his shirt cuffs. He deftly did it with only one hand; Keyleth watched with mild amazement.

“Is it?” She tried to recall ever seeing it before. Vox Machina had been in Emon for a while and she’d gotten the feeling that the Omegas in the majorly human population hid their scent glands, but mainly with scarves and wraps. This must have been the fancier noble variant.

It certainly looked dashing – the black felt complemented Percy’s waistcoat and the cape added a regal sense to his silhouette, while the gloves matched his shirt.

She couldn’t help but think that Percy’s usual blue silk shawls would go better with the blue overcoat, however. Maybe that was why she spoke her next words:

“And where’s your fashion from?”

Percy threw her a puzzled look.

“You know.” Keyleth gestured to her neck. “The collars and stuff.”

Percy hesitated, the smile fading from his face. Keyleth suddenly felt bad. That was a bad question to ask! Percy was reserved about his past, and asking him where his fashion was from basically equalled asking where he was from. He’d never mentioned. His past seemed almost a taboo topic at this point, made worse by how reserved about their past everybody in Vox Machina was.

“I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to!” she blurted out in a rush. “I get it if you don’t want to tell me, if it’s personal, or maybe some hidden family tradition, or–”

Percy interrupted her rambling: “It’s quite alright, Keyleth.” His voice had grown warmer, the hesitation on his face replaced by a fond smile.

Hope flared in Keyleth’s heart. Excitement followed. Perhaps Percy would tell her. Perhaps they’d gotten close enough. Perhaps he trusted her enough.

“Whitestone,” Percy announced as he turned back to the mirror to check his outfit one more time. “It’s the fashion in Whitestone.”

For all her excitement, Keyleth’s brain ground to a halt at the words. She almost couldn’t believe that Percy had actually told her, shared even just a little bit of his mysterious past with her. Warmth bloomed in her at the thought.

“Whitestone…” she repeated, more to herself. She’d heard of the city famous for its magic-amplifying minerals, but she’d never been there, nor had she ever met anybody from there.

Well, that last one was not true, apparently. She knew Percy. Dare she say she knew him well.

Before she could say anything – and, really, thank the winds for that, because Keyleth really didn’t know how she was going to continue this conversation; thank Percy? Tell him about the customs in Zephrah? – Scanlan’s voice echoed from the bottom of the stairs:

“Hey, Keyleth, Percy? We gotta go, the carriage is here.”

“We’re coming!” Percy yelled back, then turned back to Keyleth.

He was smiling, that same soft, fond smile. Keyleth gladly returned it.

Then, Percy presented her his arm, bent at the elbow. He’d explained that particular bit of etiquette earlier today. Keyleth’s eyes went wide at the display, the familiar excitement at taking part in such unfamiliar but fascinating traditions flaring in her.

“Shall we?”

Keyleth eagerly placed her hand in the crook of Percy’s elbow, just like he’d taught her. Her smile grew bigger. “Thanks, Percy. Let’s go!”

That night was, ultimately, a bad memory. But Keyleth held onto that conversation like the silver lining that it was.

~*~

When they arrived in Whitestone, Keyleth didn’t get the chance to see many people. But from those she did see, she did notice that some wore collars. They weren’t the same studded leather as Percy’s – that was probably too expensive for them – but it was the same combination of a sturdy leather collar with a shawl attached to it, and long gloves. For once, Percy looked right at home with his fashion choices.

The Briarwoods, in contrast, didn’t wear that fashion, though Delilah had that choker thing. Cassandra wore it, and Keyleth thought that she saw something achingly fond in Percy’s eyes when he saw it. But he seemed terribly fond of Cassandra in general.

Whitestone was, on the whole, a hard time for everybody. Emotions ran high, they nearly died several times, Vax confessed to loving her… and he was so, so dear to her, and she cared so much about him and it was the first time anybody had ever said that to her… but she couldn’t. Not right now. She knew she couldn’t, but to reject him hurt regardless.

After Vax walked away, the most awkward she had ever seen him, Keyleth felt awful. She knew she’d made the right choice, but it didn’t feel like it. But now wasn’t the time, so she glanced around, looking for something to do.

Her gaze fell on Percy and Cassandra, who were talking a few feet to the side. Although, hold up – there was something different with Percy. Keyleth couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, but something was different.

She felt a presence next to her and glanced down to see Scanlan watching the two siblings with a frown.

“Hey, is that…” he started, his frown growing deeper, “is that Cassandra’s collar that Percy’s wearing?”

Keyleth’s head whipped around. She looked more intently. The collar that Percy was wearing was the same studded leather as the rest of his collars, but the silk was a deep red that clashed with his usual cool tones. Cassandra’s shawl, on the other hand, was a navy blue.

“You’re right, it is.”

“That’s kinda weird, right?” Scanlan frowned, then shook his head. “I mean, I guess not. Probably a cultural thing to them. But it looks weird. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Percy in red.”

“Me neither. Do you think it’s because they’ll miss each other?” She tried to guess, but frankly, she had no idea why the two would switch accessories like that.

“Maybe.” Scanlan shrugged.

Then, the topic of going back to Emon was brought up, and Keyleth had to let that strangeness go.

~*~

 With their name cleared, Vox Machina had a few free days to enjoy. Winds knew they needed them.

Keyleth spent the first day sleeping. She was dead to the world for sixteen hours, then half-dead for the other eight when they eventually gathered to celebrate the night away. They celebrated liberating Whitestone, clearing their names, being alive, being together still.

The entire time, their scents mixed and mingled together, creating a heady aromatic cocktail in the air. It was quickly becoming one of the most familiar and comforting things in Keyleth’s life.

And Percy kept wearing that red collar. Yes, it still looked weird, but breathing in that scent of Vox Machina, of family, of pack, Keyleth understood. Percy was away from one very important family member of his, after all.

The next day, somewhere in the late afternoon, she finally felt well enough for a trip to one of Emon’s many libraries. She had a curiosity to satisfy and – finally – enough time for it.

Now that she knew what she was looking for, it wasn’t hard to find a book on Whitestone etiquette. She spent that afternoon in the library, devouring it from cover to cover.

It talked about everything – from proper dining manners to funeral traditions. It had whole chapters on dynamics etiquette: how to approach and talk to others in your social circle and your political circle based on their dynamic, some complex pack structures that she couldn’t understand (a pack was a pack, right? Your family. Why did that need so many rules and rituals about it?).

And scenting etiquette.

Whitestone demanded that Omegas covered the scent glands on their necks and wrists, and their mating bites if they had them. There was a boring historical exposition on the origin of the collar-shawl-gloves combination that Keyleth didn’t remember much of.

What interested her was that it was customary for pack Omegas to exchange their scent accessories – collars especially.

So, that explained why Percy and Cassandra had switched collars. A parting gift as per their customs. The idea made something warm blossom in Keyleth’s heart. She thought about her own family – her father, scenting her before she went on her journey. Her mother, gifting her a little handkerchief that smelled like her.

It would be so long before she could see them again… she wasn’t doing her trials… she was just so scared… and she had a different family that she loved so dearly, that she wanted to be present for and be a part of… maybe be their light, on occasion, when Pike wasn’t there, or when she was but there was room for another one…

She realised that a few tears had slipped past her eyes. One landed on the book, smudging a few letters. Startled, Keyleth hurriedly wiped it away and flipped to the next page, grimacing to herself. Hopefully nobody had noticed that. It was just a letter or two, the word was still perfectly legible.

She focused on her reading and the good things in her life. That fear had been with her since she was a child. She’d gotten good at ignoring it. Mostly. Kind of. Sorta.

Night was falling when she exited the library, way more familiar with Whitestone’s culture than before. And with a strange, half-baked idea in her head.

~*~

Just a day after, the Chroma Conclave attacked.

They couldn’t do anything. The dwindled military, the Council of Tal’Dorei, Vox Machina – they were all powerless in the face of these ancient beasts. They could only save whom they could and flee to Whitestone.

From there, their days were a flurry of pain and chaos. Osysa was a distressing reminder of what Keyleth was supposed to be doing, what she wasn’t doing, and how it couldn’t end well. Kash and Zahra nearly killed them, Vex died and Keyleth wasn’t able to do anything about it, Vax had to… sell his soul? Profess eternal servitude? Whatever becoming the Champion of the Matron of Ravens meant.

Then they travelled to the Fey Realm, which wasn’t a fun trip for anybody, and Grog faced his herd and those who’d hurt him, and they had to scramble against time and danger to get their hands on three vestiges – all of that, just to kill one of the dragons.

And even then, it had been uncomfortably close. There had been too many chances for one of them to die. Too many times where they could have failed and doomed all of Tal’Dorei.

Even when they had been celebrating a rare moment of temporary victory so they wouldn’t go insane from the danger looming over them, Keyleth felt the tension, the fear. Even after she’d mastered fire and saved Pyrah, she couldn’t shake it off. The ever-present doubt in the back of her mind.

What if you fail? What if you let your pack down?

Rejecting Vax didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. But he was distant, distraught because of the Matron (and oh, didn’t that make Keyleth want to tear her apart… the fucking gods. None of them had ever done a good thing… don’t tell Pike that she thought that, though). Keyleth couldn’t reach him, felt like she was hitting a wall even when he was looking at her, talking with her.

Nothing seemed right. The Chroma Conclave had upended their world in too many ways.

In these times, the scent of pack helped. At least when they were together, celebrating a meagre victory, Keyleth could know that they were all alive, could take comfort in them and offer it in return. Perhaps they could get through this – fumbling, stumbling, by the skin of their teeth like they always did, but maybe they could.

But Percy was just as buttoned-up as he always was, his scent completely unfamiliar to Keyleth. She never thought that she’d mind it. It was his decision what he did with himself. But she longed, in her private thoughts, to be able to feel it. Just to soothe her instinctual nerves and assure herself that they were all still there.

But Percy remained closed-off, and Vex remained distant, and Keyleth couldn’t help but feel like they were all falling apart.

~*~

Raishan’s proposed alliance was a bad idea. Keyleth immediately knew that. Everybody else’s refusal to listen to her was a bitter slap to the face. Desperate times, the enemy of my enemy, what other choice do we have – those week excuses, because nobody could make the effort to find a different path. Keyleth had pushed, but she hadn’t been able to persuade the entire pack. She’d had to stand down.

She had many reasons to hate Raishan. She’d decimated Emon with the rest of the Conclave; she’d killed Sovereign Uriel; she’d freed Thordak and thus basically destroyed Pyrah herself. She’d nearly wiped out the Fire Ashari. Keyleth’s people. And it seemed that nobody cared about that.

But Keyleth hated her for one other thing. She despised the dragon for how she drove a wedge between the team. She had managed, with her words about inevitability and slim chances of success, to turn the pack against one another.

She’d managed to get Keyleth to resent the rest of Vox Machina, just a little bit, for not listening to her. And that Keyleth could never forgive.

And they were all so… distant. The reappearance of Anna Ripley bothered Percy to no end; Vax was still struggling with the Matron, up to the point where he rejected Keyleth again; Scanlan had a daughter, apparently, and it seemed like things weren’t going so well in that department; Vex was clearly going through some kind of mental torment that Keyleth guessed had something to do with Percy. Even Pike, unshakeable Pike, seemed to have something personal that put her off-kilter.

They were all scattered, frayed at the edges and exhausted, there were so many more dragons to fight, they had to go to Hell and defeat so many enemies. Keyleth wished more than anything that they could feel like a pack again – together, tightly-knit and cohesive.

Then Percy died, and any hope Keyleth had had about that died with him.

His funeral felt like a funeral for the very pack. Like they’d lost a load-bearing wall and now their entire house was collapsing. Logically, Keyleth knew that they wouldn’t all live the same time; she knew that Percy, being a human, would be one of the first to go. But the jarring way he’d been taken from them, all-too-soon and all-too-cruelly, left to die all alone without even them to hold his hand because they’d all failed, because Keyleth had failed…

That would ruin them. Keyleth felt it with a sense of dreadful clarity, much deeper and more painful than her usual anxious pessimism. This was the end for them. It had nearly been the end when Vex had died; only Vax’s deal with the Matron had prevented that. But there were no deals to be made for Percy, no way to bring him back. He was gone. And Vox Machina had gone with him.

Vex was already ruined. She’d truly loved him, that much was obvious. Keyleth didn’t know if she’d told him so, but she felt with that same grimness that she hadn’t.

The rest of them were on their way. Wrong-footed and grieving, they’d lost a limb with Percy’s death. Even Keyleth felt like a young fawn with a broken leg, defenceless and sure to die soon due to wretched circumstances.

There had been special scent accessories for Percy’s funeral. Keyleth vaguely recalled reading about them when she’d read all about Whitestone’s culture in Emon. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Now, the sight of them – big and morosely dyed in black and navy blue, a leather collar and gloves and a heavier wrap than his usual translucent silk shawls – barely roused anything in her. She didn’t want to see them; not like this.

They were a painful reminder of another thing. She’d never gotten to remember what Percy’s scent had been like. Those distant memories from years ago before he’d been able to cover his scent properly were all gone now, lost to time. Keyleth didn’t even have that to remember him by.

There had been only one thing left to do; Vax had been right about that. They had to defeat Thordak. They had to avenge Percy.

The Fire Ashari had agreed to help her. Whitestone had lent their aid without hesitation, the memory of their fallen heir all too fresh. Grog had called upon the Stormlord’s followers and they had answered. Vex, wonderful, incredible Vex, had somehow managed to gain Syngorn’s alliance and now her father rode to war beside her.

It felt like it was a doomed effort, regardless. Their plan was flimsy and desperate. But they didn’t have anything else to do. This was about their continent, their home, and everybody they had lost. The Fire Ashari. Sovereign Uriel. Percy.

They’d given it their all. They’d fought and fell and rose up again to deliver another blow. Keyleth had barely scratched Thordak when she’d hit him with her best shot, even her Fire Elemental form not enough.

But finally, just when it all seemed the most helpless, the fire dragon had fallen.

And Raishan had shown her true colours.

~*~

Keyleth had told them! She’d told everybody, again and again! But nobody listened! Nobody would ever listen!

That old resentment, back again. Keyleth wanted to kill Raishan for it.

But she’d risen above it. She’d fought, both in front of the Ashari Council and against the very earth, just to have a chance to defeat her. She’d found her anchor. She’d walked out of the soil stronger for it.

And the rest of Vox Machina hadn’t dallied, either. The twins had avenged Percy – Ripley was now at the bottom of the sea like she deserved. Pike and Grog had fixed Scanlan. Keyleth knew where Raishan was.

One last dragon. One last push.

The Ashari had been right, after all. It would be Raishan’s disease that would kill her. And after watching her gloat and taunt and try to kill her friends, Keyleth thought that she rather deserved that ending.

But there was no time for rest; not yet. Vax had an idea. If nature was willing, maybe they would mend their pack.

The ritual was daunting and exhausting. Keyleth felt like she would pass out. Desperation and terror clawed at her, threatening to break her focus. What if, the evil voice inside her mind kept chanting. What if Vax remained trapped; what if Percy wasn’t the same; what if Vax wasn’t the same.

Then, Vax had opened his eyes. And Percy had soon followed.

~*~

Then, it was all over.

It felt almost like a dream. A haze of grief and uncertainty to replace the pain and fear. Yes, the dragons were gone, but they had wrought destruction and decimation on the entirety of Tal’Dorei. Life couldn’t just return to how it had been. That tragedy would mark them for generations. Perhaps it was to be remembered in history as the next Calamity.

And yet, somehow, life went on. It had to. Vox Machina laboured to fix their keep and tried to help the people find stability again. Mages helped clear the damaged, rotten fields. Volunteers helped repair buildings or raise orphaned children. Somehow, the wheel kept turning.

And Keyleth was… happy. As happy as she could be, given the devastation of the entire continent. But her pack was safe, they were all together, Scanlan and his daughter were happy – Kaylee was preparing to go on another tour with her troupe, and her and Scanlan were making preparations about how to keep in touch, maybe have him headline a show or two. Grog remained his cheery self. Pike had seemed to reach some conclusion to her dilemma. Percy had taken to being resurrected really well: it only took him a few weeks to regain his previous strength, and soon he was back to having shoot-offs with Vex and devising his various machines and devices.

He and Vex looked happy. Something had settled in them, with that love confession. They had grown comfortable with each other; close and secure in one another. Keyleth often saw them together, under a tree in the keep or sneaking away to a private spot in the Chateau Shorthalt.

And Keyleth was happy too. She felt that same sort of stable security with Vax, now that they weren’t both running from each other. She found herself talking to him about her Aramente and the Ashari. She had to focus on that, now. She felt that the pack wouldn’t mind. It was inevitable that they’d set off again soon – they were Protectors of the Realm, after all, and the realm never ran out of things to be protected from. But they would make time, in between it all, for Keyleth’s trials. She knew that now. She felt more secure in that knowledge – in her pack, in her mate – than ever before.

And that stability led to an old idea returning.

The thing was – despite the new comfort and stability among the pack, Percy could never be seen without his scent accessories. That was normal, had been the norm for years, true, but he also hadn’t been involved with any of the pack back then. Keyleth couldn’t help wondering if he continued to wear them while he and Vex…

Oh, she was not thinking about that. No way.

But it did remind her of something she’d thought about, before the Conclave. It had been a vague thing then, a shape of an idea that she probably wouldn’t have acted on.

But now? Now, they were all close. Now, they felt like a pack again. And the giddiness that Keyleth felt about that was enough to push her to at least give it a try.

And so, she found herself walking through a tailor’s door in Emon. She’d been here once before, when she, Vex and Pike had come to pick up dresses for Sovereign Uriel’s banquet with the Tal’Dorei dignitaries. Back then, Keyleth had gotten the impression that the head seamstress hadn’t liked her a lot. But Emon was still rebuilding and Keyleth didn’t have a lot of choices for clothes shopping. Plus, the lady had been competent. Surely, she could help Keyleth.

If not, she could aways message Cassandra, but Keyleth would rather not bother her. Whitestone needed its leader’s attention for its revival and reconstruction.

The crew of tailors and seamsters working in the shop – a smaller number than before, Keyleth noted with some grief – were busy putting their new models on display when Keyleth showed up. The head one immediately pursed her lips.

“Good afternoon,” she said with unwavering politeness. “What can we help you with?”

“Hi!” Keyleth replied, going for a wide smile and a wave to attempt to disperse the tense atmosphere that she sensed. The workers all wore scent accessories so she couldn’t judge by scent, but she still got the vibe.

Considering the woman’s raised brow, she hadn’t been quite successful. Clutching her staff, she shuffled over to the counter. “So, um, I’m looking for a collar. But, like, a leather one. Studded leather, if possible. But it needs to be a scent accessory, of course I’m not looking for a piece of armour in a tailor’s, and it needs to have a shawl attached to it, and–”

“Do you mean a set of scent accessories in Whitestone’s fashion, miss?” the tailor interrupted her.

“Yes! Exactly! Can you do that?”

The lady sighed and reached for a measuring tape.

And thus, thirty minutes and a hundred gold later – those silks and leather were expensive, winds! – Keyleth had an order placed.

When she returned to the keep, she was feeling in high spirits. The repairs of the exterior and just finished and the new stone seemed to shine. Keyleth had populated their vast yard with more trees, as well (to the chagrin of Vex, because where would Trinket lounge in the sun now?). She needed to grow some vines along the façade, too. That would make the place glow.

She was so caught up in her own satisfaction of having made progress on her idea that she didn’t notice somebody else walk down the road until a voice reached her:

“You’re looking cheerful.”

Her head shot up and she saw the familiar blue coat and white hair. Percy smiled at her. He was carrying a strange mechanism in one hand. Keyleth couldn’t even begin to imagine what it did.

And he still had his leather collar, and the shawl that flowed down his body, and the delicate gloves that reached up his forearms. Keyleth had known that they were beautiful – she saw them every day – but now that she’d sat through the measuring process (why did they need to measure the circumference of her thumb?) and listened to the lecture about materials and silhouettes and proper embroidery and etiquette, she saw them as even more beautiful.

She realised that she was staring at them when Percy’s smile faded a little. “Keyleth? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Yes!” she snapped her attention back to his face. “Sorry, just got lost in thought.”

Percy’s smile returned, fond and easy. Keyleth could practically imagine his scent sweetening, even if she couldn't know for sure. “What are you thinking about? You’re looking like the cat that got the canary.”

She pretty much was. But she kept that to herself. Wouldn’t do to ruin her own surprise, after all. “I was thinking that we need some colour in the stone,” she said instead. It wasn’t even a lie. “What are your thoughts on some vines?”

Percy chuckled. Keyleth treasured these. Not long ago, she thought that she would never hear his laughter again. “Well, I’m certainly in favour, although you might have to convince certain others.”

“Well, good thing I have you to back me up!”

“Of course. Always.”

That hadn’t always been true, as a bitter, hurt part of Keyleth reminded her. She’d felt Raishan’s disease as it’d passed through her. Only an echo, but it had been agony all the same. It felt much like it did when she remembered that nobody had listened – that, on the contrary, everybody had questioned and dismissed her.

But when Percy said it now, Keyleth believed him. They’d all gotten better; she felt that it also included better at trusting each other.

The thought added to her existing giddiness. In an impossibly good mood, she looped her arm around Percy’s elbow and looked at the contraption in his hands. “So, what are you doing, Percy?”

The man’s eyes lit up, and Keyleth knew that she was probably going to listen to an hours-long lecture about this and that about tinkering and inventing and science that she would understand little of and remember even less. She didn’t mind one bit.

~*~

Her purchase was ready a whole month later. But when Keyleth received it and tried it in the boutique, she felt that it was worth every second.

With the items carefully wrapped up and placed in a beautiful box, Keyleth headed for the keep. And found it a flurry of activity. Apparently, the Protectors of the Realm had some protecting to do.

In the hurry to get ready before they had to leave on painfully short notice, Keyleth threw the box in her bag without thinking. Soon, she was hurrying out after the others.

The arduous journey dragged them through marshlands and jagged peaks. Keyleth had never been to their destination before – a small cluster of farmers’ villagers to the east of Emon – nor did she have someone to explain a tree to her (though, remembering how well that had worked last time, it was probably for the best), so her travel method wasn’t available. And Tal’Dorei had remained without skyships, while Allura was busier than ever helping people recover from the devastation. So, on foot it was.

It might have been nice, if it wasn’t cold, muddy, and gloomy. That, on top of the unknown monsters that they had to track down and kill because they were killing livestock and farmers, made the journey downright terrible.

After three days of trekking, they found the cause – a gigantic nest of manticores, unusually clustered together, paired with a pack of gnolls and a whole bunch of opportunists that tagged along hoping to steal a bit of the meat, be it goblins or massive spiders.

It was a terrible day. At the end of it, they had managed to slay only about half of the culprits, were miles away from civilization, and everybody was drained. Scanlan included, and that meant no Chateau Shorthalt.

At least they had experience sleeping under the stars. The twins took first watch, Percy volunteered for second, while Grog took the final one, to allow the casters to recover their spells, as was usual.

The night had been fine. Keyleth had gotten to sleep close to the fire in front of Percy, listening to the crickets buzz and the night owls hoot and the winds blow. Scanlan snored lightly; Pike used Grog as a pillow, making their scents mingle; Percy was a distant warmth and an even, steady breath behind her. It was not a bad night.

Some time later, when the fire was gone, she barely roused as she felt Percy slip away and Vax move much closer to Keyleth, pulling her close and rubbing his cheek against hers in an affectionate scenting before yawning right in her ear and falling asleep.

It felt like only a minute later when Percy shouted at them to get up and fired his gun. Owlbears, it turned out – not the worst thing that they had faced, but they had sure picked an unfortunate moment.

It took only a few minutes to chase them away. The only casualties had been their sleep, their good mood, and Percy’s sleep scent accessories – they had gotten torn up when an owlbear had gotten close enough to Percy to tackle him. It hadn’t even managed to scratch his neck before Percy’s gun and Vex’s arrows had both befallen it. And Percy reassured them that he had a spare set – promptly demonstrated when he pulled it out and replaced the torn-up one with it – so, with the rest of the night ahead of them, they’d gone back to sleep again, with no more incidents.

Keyleth, as per usual, woke with the dawn. The sun had just peeked from under the horizon and bathed the sky in soft yellows and oranges, barely noticeable this early in the sunrise.

Soft winds blew, rocking the tree leaves from side to side, making the blades of grass dance. Insects buzzed, and Keyleth heard a call from a deer.

She felt rather cotton-mouthed, so she wriggled out of Vax’s grip – she had to scent him to placate him enough for him to relax his hold, still asleep – and dug into her pack for her waterskin.

As she found it, she brushed against something else. The beautiful box that contained her surprise.

Perhaps it was the beautiful morning, or the remnants of Vax’s scent on her, reminding her of home and of pack and of love, or just a general good mood, that pushed Keyleth to her decision. She wasn’t sure, but she had already made it, and she was trying to get better at standing by herself.

So, after a drink of water, she opened the box and put on the contents.

The collar felt strange around her neck at first, heavier than the neckline of the blouse she normally wore. But it wasn’t tight and didn’t bother her – it simply rested, a comfortable weight against the base of her neck. It was still in the leather’s natural brown colour, and so Keyleth felt that it matched her.

The shawl was a masterpiece – forest green, with the most subtle white embroidery of the Ashari symbol. Light and translucent, it flowed with every little movement of hers and every slight gust of wind. She swore that it glistened softly in the light like it was magical.

The gloves, too, were green, and delicate. The entire ensemble, save the studded leather collar, was delicate, actually, and Keyleth briefly remembered how Percy’s poor scent accessories got ripped up just a few hours before.

But, looking at them and twirling around and enjoying the way the light played with the shawl, she couldn’t bring herself to care. They were beautiful.

“Whoa!” a voice came from behind her, startling her. Keyleth jumped and turned around. Now, she stood face-to-face with Grog, who watched her with a wide-open mouth from the other side of the bonfire.

Right. He’d been on last watch. Keyleth had forgotten that somebody other than her was awake at this early hour.

“Keyleth, you look amazing! Are those new? They’re so cute!” Grog continued, abandoning any pretence of keeping watch and coming closer. “Are they Percy’s? He has a few of those, right?”

The others were starting to rouse, and Keyleth was starting to blush. Suddenly, she wasn’t sure what to say, how to explain. She’d never hidden her scent before.

“No, Grog, they’re, uh, mine,” she said, stumbling over her words a little bit. Unbidden, her hand came up to fiddle with the clasp of the collar. “I just got them. Uh, do you like them?”

“Holy shit!”

Keyleth turned again, this time seeing Vax looking at her. When their eyes locked, he suddenly looked away, and was a blush on his face?

“You, uh, you look great.”

“Wow!” two voices said in unison. Pike and Scanlan got up next, both looking at her with appreciation.

“They’re really pretty, Keyleth! Can I touch them?” Pike asked first.

“Yeah, you definitely look better in them than Percy does,” Scanlan snickered at the same time. 

“Now, now, Scanlan, mind your manners,” Vex’s voice came from behind. Keyleth nearly fell flat on her ass with how fast she tried to turn to catch the half-elf’s look. “But you do look quite lovely, Keyleth.”

And the up-and-down that she gave her, complete with a bite of the lips and a low hum, certainly drove that point home. Keyleth felt herself blush again, and couldn’t help turning away, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

But she did turn back when she felt another gaze on her. Percy was looking at her with eyes so wide that Keyleth struggled to see the green in them. His jaw had practically hit the ground. He looked up from where he kneeled next to his backpack, as if the sight had frozen him in place.

“Keyleth…” he whispered, surprise and disbelief colouring the word.

Keyleth did notice how everybody shuffled away as discreetly as they could (some more discrete than others), thank you very much. But most of her attention was on Percy. The human slowly stood and walked over, as if caught in a trance. A smile tugged on the edges of his lips.

“Keyleth, how… what?” he breathed out more than said, stumbling over his words. It made Keyleth strangely giddy, and sickeningly nervous.

“I, uh, bought them recently. It’s… do you like them? I thought that, you know, you might like it, to have somebody else from the pack wearing them, but maybe I shouldn’t have, I’m sorry, is it purely a Whitestone thing? Am I not supposed to do that? Is it upsetting you? Is–” she found herself rambling, anxiety shooting through her like a bullet.

Up until Percy broke into one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen.

“Keyleth, that is amazing!” he exclaimed, excitement making his voice wobble. “You… look at you! They look so…”

“Do you like them?” Keyleth asked, somewhat placated by his reaction, but she needed to know. They seemed close to what Percy wore, but what if they weren’t? What if there was some small detail that she hadn’t caught?

“They look wonderful!” Percy said almost before Keyleth finished the question. “And they suit you well, truly. You look… dashing.”

Winds, she was blushing so much today. “Thanks.”

Percy’s smile mellowed, turning into something soft and incredibly affectionate. “And you did this… for me?”

“Yeah, I… uh, was curious,” Keyleth admitted. “And, uh, you know, I miss home a lot, so I thought that you might be missing home, and maybe this can remind you of home, and, uh, yeah.”

Percy reached out and took her hand, so gentle that Keyleth barely felt it. “Thank you,” he said, the words heavy and his eyes never leaving Keyleth’s, as he brought his other hand over hers and squeezed gently. “Truly, I am grateful, Keyleth. That is… probably one of the best gifts anybody has ever given me.”

Keyleth felt that she could say the same, because that was about the best reaction to her surprise that she could hope for.

“Well, I’m glad. Now I only have to make sure that this very expensive purchase doesn’t get torn up by a bunch of gnolls by the time we’re done,” she chuckled to try to shake off her nerves, but felt more like she’d amplified them.

But Percy only laughed, easy and delighted, and shook his head. “We’re smart. I’m sure we’ll think of something.” Then, his eyes went soft again. To Keyleth’s amazement, he spread his arms wide. “May I?”

Fuck. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Keyleth would be a fool to squander it. She stepped right into Percy’s arms.

He hugged her tight, warm and happy and alive. This close, she could get the barest hint of his scent from his cheeks, where the only scent glands that he didn’t cover were. It smelled fresh and sweet, like a lovely cold dessert. It made her even giddier.

And her breath got caught in her throat when Percy shifted the slightest bit so their cheeks were touching. “May I?” he asked again, and Keyleth was nodding before he’d even finished the question.

With barely any pressure, he rubbed his cheek against hers only once before pulling away from the hug. It left tingles all along Keyleth’s skin all the same.

“Thank you, Keyleth. Truly.”

She grinned at him as soon as her sluggish brain processed the thought that Percy had just scented her for the first time. “Of course. Always.”

Percy laughed at that, the sound so delighted that Keyleth could imagine how that sweet-and-fresh scent would change to something sweeter and shifting in coldness, a stream of melted ice instead of fallen snow.

Then, Percy turned away to begin packing. Vax and Vex said something to him that Keyleth couldn’t hear, the latter running a hand through his hair in a subtle scenting, which he accepted with an affectionate smile and a without-a-doubt snarky retort to whatever Vax had said.

And to imagine – when they’d first met him, Percy would have rather bitten off his own hand than allow any of them to touch him, let alone scent him.

Keyleth couldn’t help smiling to herself as she ran careful, feather-light fingers over the skin where he’d scented her. Then, she went to pack as well.

~*~

The day ended better than expected, all things considered.

Keyleth caught the others looking at her more. At first, she hadn’t been able to understand why. She was still the same Keyleth; just with a few extra accessories. Surely, if nobody was worried by Percy’s, they wouldn’t be bothered by hers, right?

It dawned on her during the afternoon – they were looking at her because they couldn’t scent her. Those accessories were so effective that nothing got through. If the rest of the pack wanted to gauge her moods, then they had to look and listen for them.

Or, perhaps, much like her, they were looking in the scents of the air for confirmation that the others were alive. Even when they kept within several feet of each other, such paranoia was difficult to ignore. Keyleth knew from first-hand experience.

The first half of the day was spent tracking. Vex quickly caught the trail of the monsters that had run away; now, it was only a matter of chasing them.

The other half was spent burrowing themselves in the vast underground labyrinth of caves that the beasts called their home, and then fighting them. And Keyleth did find an excellent way to protect her accessories from getting torn up and dirtied – Wild Shape. It did wonders to battle the beasts, too, when she could be a Fire Elemental who easily burnt them to a crisp.

Afterwards, they were all exhausted and drained, but the beasts were dead. Grog and Vax had taken bad hits, but both had stayed conscious long enough for Pike to fix them. Afterwards, their cleric was spent, too.

Looked like it was time to walk again.

At least this time they were closer to a village. It was an hour after dawn when they stumbled their way on a main street surrounded by simple houses overlooking farmlands. The first to greet them was a puppy, next – a young starry-eyed boy who chased after it, next – a whole lot of townsfolk who cheered and cried their gratitude.

Unfortunately, Scanlan was once again out of spells for his Chateau (nobody blamed him – all their casters, the twins included, were out of spells). Doubly unfortunately, the only tavern in the small village only had three rooms available. It was a small, homely building, obviously more used as a place for drinking and fun than as a place to stay.

But Vox Machina had slept in far worse places. They gladly took the rooms. At least they’d sleep in a real bed.

A quick room division was made – Grog on his own because all the rooms were so tiny that he could barely fit in them, Vex, Keyleth and Pike in one room, Percy, Scanlan and Vax in the other – and they all went downstairs to celebrate their victory.

At first, Keyleth was enjoying herself. The pack was all together, surrounded by thankful folk. The food was good, the night was clear and, although cold, not stormy or vicious. And the entire pack, though exhausted, was in good cheer.

Scanlan was in his element, telling overexaggerated stories of their adventures underground and of the dragons, and even the Briarwoods. He was soon playing music for the whole tavern, the people excitedly joining where they could.

The twins played cards against the locals, not for money and not cheating for once. These people had been devastated enough by the Conclave and now the beasts – it was good that they had reason to celebrate now. No need to take that away from them.

Pike was teaching Grog how to dance along to Scanlan’s songs. Grog had two left feet but made up for it in enthusiasm. The people were politely clapping for him (and some even seemed genuine).

Keyleth felt the festive mood affect her, too. First, she tried dancing with Grog. The two managed a whole half a minute before they tripped over each other and landed in a graceless heap on the floor, to the cheer and stifled laughter of the townsfolk and the very-much-not-stifled laughter of their pack.

Next, she sat with the twins and tried to learn the game they were playing. At first, she was on a team with Vax while Vex was backed by a sharp local girl, before the latter excused herself to join the impromptu dance floor with a local boy who’d been throwing her loving looks all evening.

With that, the twins recruited Percy, and then it was Vax and Keyleth versus Vex and Percy. The two teams won about equally. Keyleth felt that she understood the rules well. And maybe the twins cheated a little to get her to win a few rounds, but Keyleth could never tell with them, and was having too good a time to mind.

After she yawned one too many times and the cards started blurring in front of her eyes, she decided that it was time to call it a night. “I’m going to sleep, guys. I can’t even tell the swords from the wands.”

“Aww, this early?” Vax fake-whined, his smile still radiant and energetic. He reached over and pulled her for a kiss. “Sleep well, love. And call if you need anything.”

That easy care always gave Keyleth pause. The good kind. She smiled widely and nodded. “I will.”

Just as she moved to get up, from the other side of the table, Percy stood up as well. “I’m afraid that I’m also feeling rather tired. I think I’ll retire as well.”

“You’re no fun,” Vex retorted as she rubbed her hand up and down his shoulder in an obvious scenting. “Go have your beauty sleep, then.”

She stood up as well and gave him a kiss, decidedly longer and less chaste than the one Vax had given Keyleth. The latter turned away to give them some privacy, seeing Vax roll his eyes.

“Good night, Vex,” were Percy’s parting words, the human looking a little flushed.

Keyleth fell into step beside him as they made their way to the stairs leading to the rooms. They bid the rest of their pack good night and climbed up.

At the top of the stairs, Keyleth decided to go for it. The night had gone as perfect as it could. Now was the ideal time for the second part of her surprise.

“Hey, Percy? I know you’re tired, but can we talk real quick? There’s something I need to speak to you about.”

Percy threw her a puzzled look – and, yeah, perhaps she’d phrased it a little too ominously, oops! – but nodded. “Of course.”

He led the way to the room he shared with Scanlan and Vax. He invited Keyleth in and closed the door behind her. Evidently, he expected that the conversation required privacy, which – it probably did, Keyleth wasn’t sure what all the etiquette around it was.

“What did you want to talk about?”

Right. Time to go for it. Keyleth let her excitement and the pleasant memory of their morning conversation and Percy’s elation from just seeing the accessories guide her.

“So, I read this book on Whitestone etiquette,” she explained as she undid the clasp of the collar. She didn’t miss the way Percy zeroed in on the movement.

“And it said that it was customary for pack Omegas to exchange their scent accessories.” She slipped the gloves off and outstretched the set towards Percy.

“So, uh, I was wondering if you’d like to borrow them? To exchange, maybe? I’ve been sweating in them all day, they should have my scent now, and from what I’m gathering it’s not all about the custom, it’s also the sharing of scent and a gesture of good will and affection and… yeah.”

She trailed off as she watched Percy stare at the accessories like he wanted to bore a hole in them. Never had she ever wanted the presence of his scent so strongly. Then, she would be better able to judge his reaction.

But, once he lifted his head and looked at her like she’d hung the moon, she realised that she didn’t need that.

“Keyleth, you… you read an entire book?” he asked, like that was the most pressing question on his mind. The way he frowned at himself told Keyleth that this wasn’t what he’d meant to ask at all.

It was a little funny. Or maybe Keyleth was just nervous. But she chuckled a little. “Yeah, after the Briarwoods. It was really interesting. You have… interesting traditions.”

Percy seemed to come back to himself just enough to throw her an affronted look. “Interesting?”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t understand anything about your pack structures,” Keyleth admitted. She lifted the bundle of accessories in her arms a little bit. “But this I understood.”

Percy’s gaze softened as he looked at the accessories once more. “I… I don’t know what to say.” His hands came to touch his own collar, not playing or fiddling with it like Keyleth did, just touching. “Keyleth, that is… so kind of you. Truly. I thank you.”

He took the accessories from her with utmost care. “I am honoured that you’ve allowed me the privilege to wear them. I’ll be happy to return the favour, if you’re willing.”

Keyleth could jump from excitement. “I’d love that!” She perhaps yelled that too loudly, if the way Percy jumped a little and then threw her an amused look was any indication. “I mean, yes, I’d love that, thank you.” She corrected herself at a normal volume.

Percy’s smile only grew. “Then, it’s settled. Only, there’s the slight problem that one can’t really sleep in these.” He tilted his head to the studded leather collar still in his arms.

Keyleth blinked. Oh. Right. Percy never slept in his day accessories. And, after wearing that collar all day, Keyleth herself could confirm that it was comfortable enough when you were standing, but would be hell to sleep in.

“But, come morning, I will be honoured to wear them. In the meantime, would you like me to hold onto them, or should you like them back?” Percy continued. To him, that was definitely a familiar song and dance. A time-honoured tradition.

Good, because it hadn’t even occurred to Keyleth that now might not be a good time. But swapping accessories tomorrow morning seemed like just as good an idea, so she smiled, endlessly glad.

“You hold onto them.”

Percy nodded and moved to put them in his backpack with care. He even wrapped them in a clean white cloth, just like Keyleth had seen him do with his own.

Then, to Keyleth’s surprise, he rummaged some more and pulled out another set of much softer-looking accessories. “Until then, I would be honoured if you would accept these.”

“Oh!” Keyleth looked at the sleep scent accessories. They were the same as the ones Percy had worn the previous night, after the owlbears had torn up his other ones. “Aren’t those the only ones you have?”

Percy shrugged easily. “Yes. But it would mean a lot to me if you were to wear them tonight. I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh, I’m sure nobody would mind, none of us cover their scent,” Keyleth reassured on instinct. Then, warmed by her packmate’s words, took the accessories from him. “I’d love to wear these, Percy. Thank you.”

Percy’s whole face lit up. “I should be the one to thank you, Keyleth. You’ve given me a great gift. I don’t know how I could repay you.”

“Well, that’s why it’s a gift, it’s not repaid,” Keyleth reminded, finishing with a chuckle when a sudden burst of nervousness hit her.

Percy tilted his head at her, obviously noticing it. And Keyleth tried to explain. To push past the nerves. “The truth is that it feels like a gift to me as well. I sometimes felt… please don’t get offended.”

“I won’t,” Percy promised without hesitation. “Whatever you’re about to tell me, I assure you Scanlan has told me worse.”

He was trying to lighten the mood. Keyleth gratefully took the offer and laughed along with him. “Yeah, I imagine. The things this man does.”

Percy nodded, then tilted his head in encouragement.

Keyleth took a deep breath, feeling, paradoxically, some of the nerves leave her, before continuing: “I felt… disconnected from you. Sometimes. Like you kept yourself at arm’s length.”

Percy’s face darkened, a familiar shadow of regret. “I did, for a long time. Even after I started trusting you all, even after you did so much for me, I just… I couldn’t not.”

“I know! I’m not blaming you!” Keyleth rushed to clarify. “All I’m saying is, seeing your culture, your traditions, participating in them – it makes me feel closer to you. And I’d like us to be closer.”

Percy’s smile was impossibly soft and fond. “I’d like us to be closer, too. You’re pack, after all.”

Despite this being her mindset for so long now, hearing Percy echo it with so much conviction like it was an unshakable truth, Keyleth felt light-headed with joy and affection. Before she could think it through, she was stepping forward to envelop Percy in a hug.

He hugged her just as tight, no reservations, no cold shoulders. Just warmth and acceptance and affection. Keyleth’s instincts were practically screaming pack, pack, pack.

“Thanks, Percy,” she mumbled, feeling very sleepy now. Like she could simply curl up in her packmate’s arms and fall asleep standing up, trusting him to support her.

When Percy replied, his voice was a little heavy, as well: “I thank you, Keyleth. May I?”

“Of course.”

This time, he brushed their cheeks together twice, then held there, pressed against her. And Keyleth immediately abandoned all thoughts of sleep when she heard the deep rumble that came from his chest and up his throat.

She nearly gasped. In all their time together, all those years, she had never – never, not even once – heard Percy purr.

Instinct had her purring a reply, beyond pleased. It earned her another purr, deep and rough, almost like an Alpha’s, before Percy pulled away.

“Thank you, Keyleth,” he said again. He’d said it too many times now, Keyleth thought, but she was too dazed by the unexpected purring to comment on it.

“Thanks as well, Percy.” She smiled at him.

And then yawned.

Percy chuckled. “Yes, I am rather tired as well. Would you like me to walk you to your room?”

“It’s right next to yours,” Keyleth couldn’t help pointing out, amused, as she headed for the door with Percy in tow.

“Well, then it’s going to be easy for me,” he replied. And that was all that it took for them to get to the other door three feet away. “Good night, Keyleth.”

“Good night, Percy. Sleep well!”

“You, too, Keyleth. Sweet dreams.”

With that, Percy walked back over to his own room. Keyleth, urged by some strange instinct, waited to see him close the door before opening her own and slipping inside.

The room was empty, Vex and Pike perhaps still celebrating downstairs. It had two small beds, a window, a table, and an empty wardrobe. Strangely, it was better than most inn rooms she’d been in. A table was certainly a luxury.

As she moved to go to bed, she realised that she still held the sleep scent accessories in her hands. Percy had given those to her. He’d said that he’d be happy if she wore them.

And Keyleth would be very happy to wear them, too. She was already curious about how soft the collar would feel like.

But before that, she couldn’t help indulging one curiosity. Call her a creep, and maybe it was creepy, but one aspect of this swapping of accessories was the exchange of scent, so…

She brought the fabrics to her nose.

The scent there was clear and strong, much stronger than the bare whiffs that Keyleth had caught from Percy’s hugs. It was the freshness of fallen snow and the sweetness of spun sugar and ripe fruits – grapes and apricots and strawberries. It all melted together to create a downright mouth-watering scent.

It was beautiful. And it was pack.

Keyleth, still feeling giddy, changed into her sleep clothes, then wrapped the fabric collar around her throat – it was so soft that she barely felt it except for a pleasant warmth to guard against the chill of the night – smoothed the shawl down, and tugged the gloves on.

They felt amazing – soft and silky and light and loose while still being warm somehow. Winds, but these had to be magic. There was no way they could be that comfortable otherwise.

With that thought, and the joy of a fantastic night, Keyleth plopped into her bed. Soon, sleep cradled her in its arms.

~*~

Vax decided to head to bed only half an hour after Keyleth did. For one, despite the fun night, the days beforehand had been tiring. His own eyelids were beginning to flutter closed, too.

For two… he wasn’t sure how exactly to say it. But ever since he’d wandered into Orthax’s domain and saved Percy, he felt strangely protective of the man. He’d rather cut off his own tongue than tell Percy that, of course, but that didn’t dull the feeling. He had the desire to watch out for him: keep close at all times, always know where he was, repel anything out to cause harm.

Good thing they were pack. Vax had no idea what he’d do with himself if Percy wasn’t constantly around so Vax could glance at him and reassure these strange new instincts.

Now, with exhaustion tugging at him and Percy outside of his line of sight for half an hour in an unfamiliar town, Vax was doubly feeling the urge to go upstairs. He excused himself – Vex called him a lightweight and Pike and Grog laughed at him good-naturedly – and went ahead.

Scanlan came with him. The bard had recently weaved his way away from the impromptu stage after tiredness had claimed him too. The tavern remained noisy with the drunken townsfolk clinging their chairs and cutlery together and singing some discordant rhythm, too clumsy and scattered to be called a real song. The innkeepers weren’t even complaining – rather, they’d joined along.

Everybody obviously needed the celebration. Hell, after the Chroma Conclave everybody needed way more than just one night of celebrating.

“I’m beat”, Scanlan announced as soon as the two fell into step on the stairs. “Could hit the sack for a week. Maybe a month.”

Vax chuckled. “And who’s going to wait on you while you stay in bed for a month?”

“You could,” replied Scanlan with seriousness that betrayed his amusement. “I tell you to hand-feed me grapes, and you hand-feed me grapes. A perfect arrangement.”

“Right. Up until I decide to choke you with the grapes.”

“Ah, the fate of all princes,” Scanlan bemoaned with a huge smile on his face.

It was only two steps further to their door, and Vax scented something… it was hard to describe. It wasn’t odd, nor was it a bad smell, but strangely unfamiliar. He tensed before he could think about it, pushing the door open before Scanlan could even though the gnome was in front of him.

The scent slammed into him like a brick to the face. An unbelievable aroma of spun sugar and sweet fruits and a cold freshness like fallen snow saturated the air. It was all Vax could smell, perceive for a moment. It was heavenly.

Vax stumbled at the doorstep, nearly crashing into Scanlan, who had also stopped abruptly. That brought him back to the present and to the small room in a small inn in a small town that he was to share with the bard and Percy.

Percy, who was currently sitting in one of the two beds – the one right under the window – dressed for sleep, with a book in his hands. He frowned at them. “Are you two alright?”

Puzzled and on high alert, Vax scanned the room. It seemed exactly like it had when they’d ducked in to leave their things – small, with two beds pushed against opposite walls, a small table in the middle, and a single wardrobe. His and Scanlan’s stuff were by the other bed where they’d left them.

Percy seemed normal. He’d lit up a few candles and rested them on the windowsill to give him light while he read, which was a terrible idea, Vax’s mind screamed at him, but that was typical of Percy. He’d rather risk a fire than go to bed like a normal person.

All in all, everything seemed fine. But that scent in the air… it was one of the most pleasant ones that Vax had ever met. It was downright delectable, and it was so odd that it was all over the air. Weirder still, Percy didn’t seem to notice at all.

Scanlan spoke first; he sounded a bit choked: “We were just going to bed.”

Percy glanced out the window, though how much he saw in the dark, Vax had no idea. The sun had long set, and Percy’s human eyes barely caught anything when there was no light.

“Yes, you’re right. It is high time to retire. I only meant to read a few pages, but I must have gotten lost in it.” He stood up to leave his book in his bag, yawning all the way.

As he did, Vax noticed something different about him. Percy’s neck and wrists were bare.

That was when it dawned on him. For all the time that they’d travelled together, he’d never – ever – gotten more than a whiff of Percy’s scent. Even when the man hadn’t had his fancy collars and gloves, he’d always got a scarf or strips of cloth to wrap around his wrists. He’d never left his scent uncovered. And whatever whiffs Vax had managed to get in those distant early days, the memories of that were long lost to time.

And now Percy had no scent accessories on. The only conclusion that Vax could reach was that this was his scent.

Fuck, but it suited him, the combination of melt-on-your-tongue sweetness and near-biting cold. And, fuck, didn’t Vax want to march right up to the human and bury his face in Percy’s neck and breathe the scent in from the source until he was drunk with it. To hold the human and scent him and tuck him away somewhere warm and pleasant so he could be comfortable and safe and his scent would stay sweet and fresh.

But that was a bad line of thought. Percy would never allow it. Would rather shoot Vax than allow it, surely. And it fed into Vax’s new unwanted overprotectiveness, so he needed to cut it off now.

A slight change of the scent – a little sourness to the fruit – flipped his attention back to Percy lightning-quick. The man was frowning at them. “Didn’t you say that you wanted to go to bed? Why are you still standing on the doorstep?”

That brought Vax out of his thoughts. He scrambled to get in, nearly tripping over Scanlan again in the process – which Percy clocked, if his frown was any indication. Damn it, but Vax had no idea what was wrong with him. He’d smelled plenty of pleasant Omega scents and nothing had ever affected him like this.

But then again, never had he felt strong misplaced protective instincts towards somebody before, either.

“Hey, Percy?” Scanlan spoke. He sounded a bit choked up. It made Vax cringe, knowing that he probably wouldn’t sound any better.

Percy gave a noncommittal hum as he blew the candles.

“Don’t you usually have those things that you sleep with? That scarf and the gloves?”

Vax snapped to attention at Scanlan. There was no way that this wasn’t an extremely rude thing to ask. Percy was already so buttoned-up when it came to scents, and their brief visits to Whitestone had given Vax the impression that the culture was on the conservative side of such matters.

He tried to nudge Scanlan, but couldn’t do it fast enough before Percy turned to them, so he aborted the motion.

He wasn’t sure if Percy saw in it in the vague darkness. If he did, the human didn’t indicate so. Instead, he simply said: “My sleep scent accessories?”

“Yeah, those ones.”

“I gave them to Keyleth.”

“What?” Vax blurted out before he could stop himself.

“Why?” added Scanlan, sounding equally as shocked and, okay, that had to be an even ruder question. This time, Vax kicked at Scanlan, and felt like he managed to make the motion quite discreet – even if the way the gnome scowled at him was anything but. “She’s never covered her scent before.”

“She asked me,” Percy replied simply.

“She asked you?” gasped Scanlan.

The scent in the air soured some more – a sharp tinge of irritation. “Yes, she asked to exchange accessories. You can ask her if you’d like. Is that so strange?”

“No!” Vax rushed to say before Scanlan could say anything else unnecessarily rude. “It’s not. We’re all just beat to death. Let’s go to sleep.”

He moved past Scanlan, probably a bit too quickly, and stopped by his bag to get ready for bed. He felt Percy’s eyes following him for a few seconds before the tingle at the back of his head disappeared.

He was just getting into bed – Scanlan was still fiddling with his sleep clothes – when the gnome spoke again:

“Don’t you have a spare pair that you can use or something?”

Vax wanted to rip Scanlan a new asshole, but he glanced at Percy first to see how he’d react. The man was already in bed, evidently ready to sleep – right now the only light came from the tiny space between the floor and the door to the doorway, where a few torches still lit up the area. It sufficed for Vax’s eyes, and no doubt for Scanlan’s, too, but Percy likely only saw vague silhouettes and nothing more.

“I did bring another pair, but it got torn up last night.”

Ah, yes. That unexpected owlbear attack. Vax now recalled that Percy’s accessories had, in fact, gotten torn up in the fray.

“Can’t you repair them?” Scanlan, infuriatingly, asked, even though Vax would be blind to miss all the signs that yelled to leave the matter alone.

“I would have already if I could.” Percy huffed like the conversation was annoying. Irritation hung heavy in the otherwise sweet scent in the air. “Normal fabrics stiffen too much to make proper sleep scent accessories – they need to be elastic enough to not choke you in your sleep.”

Yeah, that made sense. Vax couldn’t imagine going to sleep with something blocking his scent glands – running the risk of cutting off his airflow if he tossed and turned would be the shit cherry on the shit cake.

Percy kept quiet for a second. He was already in bed, covered with the single sheet that was on his bed. If Vax couldn’t see in the dark, he would have thought that the man was asleep.

But he saw that Percy’s eyes were open, looking at the sliver of light that slipped in from beneath the door. He expected it when the man spoke, softer than he normally did:

“Does it truly bother you so much? I figured that it wouldn’t be a problem since nobody else covers their scent.”

Did it bother them? Fuck, Percy, the entire room stank! But Percy himself probably couldn’t tell that, the way people normally didn’t feel their own scents. For him it was probably only a slight whiff.

Which was why, ultimately, Vax decided not to say anything about it. Percy was right – nobody in their group covered their scents but him, in sleep or not, so to demand him do that now was just unfair.

Even if he had no idea how he was going to sleep when every instinct in him was screaming at him to wrap himself around that scent and keep it safe and satisfied so it stayed sweet and fresh.

Scanlan seemed to have no such reservations: “Listen, Percy, not to be mean and all, but can’t you sleep in your normal accessories?”

Percy, who was still waiting for an answer to his question, threw him a disbelieving look. “My day scent accessories?” His scent soured in irritation again. “Scanlan, those are made of studded leather! Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it would be to sleep in them?”

Downright impossible, Vax imagined. He kicked at Scanlan – this time, in between the darkness and their close proximity on the bed, he was sure that Percy wouldn’t have seen it – and hurried to say: “Nah, he’s just taking the piss. Come on, I’m beat and I want to sleep.”

Scanlan threw him a dirty look, but it quickly mellowed. He must have finally reached the same conclusions as Vax.

The two got in bed – Vax by the wall, Scanlan in front of him. Even though it was small, the bed still held enough space for both of them. Vax easily curled in like he was used to when sharing sleeping space with Scanlan – close enough to feel his warmth and his scent (sea water and warm breeze and melted chocolate) without encroaching on his personal space. It made something in him ease, being this close to a member of his pack.

Which reminded his tiresome instincts that he had another pack member just outside of his reach, whom Vax felt even more obligated to protect. Percy’s scent seemed even more prominent in the lack of light. Vax knew he was just imagining it, but his instincts grated on him, regardless.

Which was stupid. Percy was Percy – headstrong, confident, too smart for his own good Percy, whom Vax knew like the back of his own hand. He was not something novel or new to ignite Vax’s baser parts like that; on the contrary, he was as familiar and comforting as every other member of this amazing family that Vax had built with his sister.

So, yeah, so what if he was now getting Percy’s unfamiliar scent by the gallons? He was also tired, they’d all had a shitty week, and he wanted to fucking sleep and he wasn’t going to let his annoying instincts get in the way of that.

And that was that on that. Vax focused on how exhausted he felt and soon sleep welcomed him into its embrace.

~*~

“Good night, buddies!” Grog practically shouted, crouching down.

“Good night, buddies!” Pike replied just as enthusiastically, hugging the small part of the goliath’s shoulder that she could reach.

Vex watched from the door to her, Keyleth, and Pike’s room, endlessly amused. The two acted like they’d be separated for a decade, not a single night. Like a couple of hours of sleep were a painful separation.

Vex watched, amused… and fond. Discreetly – and she knew that she was discreet – she inhaled, letting the scents of Pike and Grog’s affection for each other wash over her. It sweetened their scents – Grog’s normally clear stony smell like a mountain was now more like river stones, fresher and more vibrant somehow; Pike’s shifted from its wheat fields with a metallic note to a softer one, like freshly baked bread.

Pack scents.

After all this time, all the hardships, the Conclave and Ripley and Orthax – somehow, they were all still alive. Somehow, they were together. Against all odds, defeating even death.

Sometimes it still overwhelmed her. How good she and her brother had it now. The beautiful family that they had built.

Grog and Pike said their final good night’s wishes, and the former disappeared into his room. Pike came over, grinning widely.

“I’m beat,” she announced, though she sounded anything but – cheerful and happy. Her scent practically radiated content. “Let’s hit the sack.”

Vex pushed the door open and waited for Pike to enter before coming in as well.

The room was dark, which was to be expected and didn’t bother Vex one bit. She quickly scanned the space, the useful habit of moderate paranoia demanding its own, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Keyleth was sleeping in one bed, curled up tightly. Their bags were where they’d left them, the window was closed, the curtains – shut.

Yet, as Vex stepped into the room, she felt that something was wrong. Or, maybe not wrong, but not quite right, either. Something wasn’t how it normally was.

As she expected, the second they entered the room, Keyleth stirred, roused from her light slumber. She blinked bleary eyes up at them, then smiled. “Hi, guys,” she drawled out, then yawned.

Despite the feeling of wrongness, Vex chuckled. “Hello, Keyleth.”

“We’re just going to bed,” Pike added, hushed and careful. “Go back to sleep.”

“Hmnhm,” Keyleth let out a hum and let her head drop, snuggling more closely into her blanket.

Everything looked normal. Vex’s instincts purred at seeing one packmate be so comfortable. Yet, a part of her was on edge – insisting that something wasn’t right.

She glanced at Pike and found her frowning slightly. She had to be thinking the same thing, then.

“Hey, Keyleth?” Vex called. Her friend only lifted her head enough to show that she was listening, her face hidden by red locks of hair. “Everything fine?”

Keyleth shifted with surprising speed, practically jumping into a sitting position. Vex had only half a second to be alarmed before she saw the woman’s wide grin.

And the thing wrapped around her throat. The fine silk that Vex had stupidly mistaken for a blanket. She knew what this was; had unclipped it from a beloved neck many times.

“Look! Percy gave me his sleep scent accessories!” Keyleth tugged at the gloves. “They’re so soft! And warm, how are they so warm and so thin! It’s like magic. I mean, I know it’s not really magic, but it’s magic! Oh, I could just burrow into them and fall asleep forever!”

She was talking mostly to herself, rubbing the fabric of the accessories and pressing them against her face. Vex caught her not-so-subtly taking in deep breaths. Surely, Percy’s scent still lingered there. She smirked to herself, understanding perfectly. Percy’s scent was something else.

Keyleth flopped back into bed, letting the shawl wrap around her and tucking her hands by her face so she could bury her nose in the gloves. She purred, her high-pitched, smooth purr that always made Vex want to purr in return. Everything about her screamed happiness and satisfaction.

And yet, Vex couldn’t smell it. There was none of that in her scent. She couldn’t catch her scent at all.

It dawned on her. Of course she couldn’t smell anything; that was what scent accessories did. But Keyleth had never worn one before – not in front of Vox Machina, at least. Vex had grown used to always having that scent around. Had learnt to expect it in the air when they shared a room.

Yet, now there was nothing. Not even a slight whiff. The air was scentless.

Vex’s skin crawled. This past day with Keyleth’s new collar had been… challenging. With her packmate’s scent gone where usually it was easy to find, Vex’s instincts had insisted that something had been wrong. She’d unconsciously kept glancing around until she saw that Keyleth was still with them. It had put her on edge, uneasy and wrong-footed.

Not that she was about to share any of that. Keyleth had looked so happy, so excited. And Percy had lit up like a torch when he’d seen her this morning. He’d told Vex about the accessories and what they signified among packs; she knew that this meant a lot to them both.

Warmth bloomed in her at the thought that Percy had returned the gesture, had given Keyleth his sleep scent accessories – the only non-damaged set that he had, if she recalled correctly (and she knew that she did – come on, it was her). It spoke of pack cohesion. Something that they’d fought to build up again after the disaster that the Conclave had been.

As she watched Keyleth snuggle into the accessories like she was scent drunk, Vex glanced meaningfully at Pike. The cleric frowned at Keyleth for a moment, then met Vex’s eyes.

It’s okay, Vex tried to project in her expression. This is good. Let her have this.

As much as her instincts shouted that it was wrong that one of the permanent pack scents was missing. That paled in comparison to the happiness clear in Keyleth.

Pike’s expression softened into fond contentment. She nodded wordlessly, then scooted over to make space for Vex on the bed.

“Good night, Keyleth,” she called softly.

“Good night!” Keyleth replied, words a little slurred but laughably cheerful. Within a second, she was snoring softly.

Vex chuckled to herself. “Good night, Keyleth,” she echoed as she got into bed behind Pike.

At least her scent remained – soothing and evoking the feeling of warmth. Vex took a big gulp, exhaled slowly, and willed her clear line of sight of Keyleth to appease her instincts.

It worked well enough; within a few minutes, she was sound asleep.

~*~

There was something very enticing around Scanlan… it was calling to him with the sweetest of calls… without thinking, he moved closer to it…

And crashed into something cold and hard. And normally he would chuckle at that phrasing, but the landing had been painful so he wasn’t in the mood.

And immediately after, something else crashed right into him, and then he wasn’t in the mood for dirty jokes at all.

He flailed, confused for a second, before he realised that the cold and hard thing against him was a hardwood floor, and that he was lying face-first on it. Wait, what? When had that happened? He was pretty sure that he’d fallen asleep on a bed…

Then something jabbed him in the ribs and he kicked against it on instinct and heard a familiar low grunt in pain. His other foot hit something solid.

“Vax?” he hissed.

Right. So it was Vax on top of him. And he’d hit his foot against the leg of the bed. So, he’d fallen out of bed. And Vax had fallen right after him.

Shuffling from the other end of the room grabbed his attention. His eyes had no trouble adjusting to the darkness and he saw Percy, propped up on one arm, squinting in their general direction from his bed.

“What are you two doing?” he asked, voice gravelly with sleep.

And then Scanlan felt the scent again. It had almost turned into a background aroma of sweetness, but now it soured just the slightest bit. Mostly, however, it seemed a good, deep sleep did wonders for Percy’s mood, because he smelled even sweeter than before.

Scanlan felt sleepy just breathing it in. He wanted to curl up right next to it – to march over to Percy’s bed, climb in, and bury himself in the human’s frame and mix his scent with his fellow pack Omega’s.

Which was a poor way of thinking because Percy was liable to blowing his brains out if he ever tried that, so Scanlan shook his head as if he could shake the thought out of his brain.

He was not successful, so he had to settle for the next best thing.

“We’re fine, just having trouble sharing, sorry for disturbing your beauty sleep, Freddie–” Vax was just saying, and oh my fucking god, he was just so delicate about this whole thing. Fucking Alphas. They could be so dense sometimes.

“Percy, man, can we open the window?” Scanlan interrupted. “It smells like a candy store in here and I can’t sleep.”

I literally found your scent so pleasant that I chased after it in my sleep and rolled off the bed, but I’ll be nice and not tell you that.

Vax elbowed Scanlan, hissing some scandalized reproach, but Scanlan wasn’t listening – mostly because Percy blinking rapidly was a bit hilarious.

“Oh! Yes, of course,” Percy suddenly sprang into motion and busied himself with opening the window.

Scanlan smirked, knowing that Percy couldn’t see him with his shitty vision, and elbowed Vax right back. See, dick? Nothing to make a fuss about! Percy might be uptight, but he wasn’t some delicate flower about scents!

Vax rolled his eyes at him and climbed back into bed. Scanlan followed, settling comfortably. Cool air blew from the open window and began dissipating the miasma in the room.

Yeah, it was all good.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand me, Percy, it’s an absolutely delicious scent,” he threw over his shoulder, his improved mood returning his desire for dirty jokes. “That’s why I can’t sleep, if I’m being honest.”

Bless his darkvision – he saw Percy turning tomato red.

“Good night, Scanlan,” he replied, voice tight and scent doing funny stuff.

Despite himself, Scanlan took a deep breath and let it wash over him. Memorising it, he reasoned with himself - with how much of a prude Percy was about these things, Scanlan might not ever smell it again.

And that was… an upsetting thought. Percy was pack – not knowing his scent was shitty, preposterous, even. But it seemed that it was just the way Percy lived; seemed like a shitty way to live to Scanlan, but who was he to say anything?

So, he took what he could get, grateful that at least he knew it now. At the end of the day, they all chose how to live their lives, and that was awesome. That was a part of what made this pack so good.

Which was a better thought to focus on after a shitty day. Vax’s presence at his back – warm and close enough for Scanlan to catch his earthy, freshly-dug-soil and air-just-before-rain and pine-tree scent – helped with that.

And so did Percy’s. Even as it was airing out, it worked wonders for his sleepiness. He easily relaxed into the lumpy mattress and let his eyes slip closed.

The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was Percy carefully manoeuvring himself under the window which now hung right over his head.

Huh, he thought. This is a shitty bed placement.

Then, he was asleep.

~*~

Pike tried not to toss and turn. She knew how fragile the girls’ sleep was (damn half-elves and their light slumber!) and after the days they’d had, they all deserved a break.

She wished for a break, as well. But sleep would not come for some reason. Normally, she had no problem going out as soon as her head found a pillow, especially after days like these, but now she lay wide awake in bed while the other two slept.

For a while, she watched the crack in between the door and the floor. Light had streamed through there while the last sconces in the hallway burned, then it had mellowed out into darkness. The clear night allowed moonlight and starlight through, so Pike could still see. Not that there was much to see. Just some sparce furniture.

And two sleeping packmates.

Pike was growing restless. The more she was kept awake, the more her brain yearned for sleep, for rest, yet her body refused to cooperate. Something was gnawing at her, insisting that something wasn’t right, that she had to get up and fix something.

But she didn’t fucking know what, and it was getting so frustrating to lie there and stare at the curtains!

Her feet stomped on the wooden floor. That brought Pike out of her thoughts, and she realised that she had jumped out of bed with an angry grunt.

And now the two half-elves were rousing.

Keyleth twisted, still wrapped up in her pretty collar and shawl and gloves, and opened her eyes with obvious difficulty. Vex was up in an instant, tension in every muscle as she jumped beside Pike and scanned the room.

“Pike? What is it?” she asked, her words a hushed whisper as she looked for threats.

“Pike?” Keyleth asked, voice raising. Even without Keyleth’s familiar scent, Pike could sense the alarm there.

She sighed, feeling all the exhaustion that weighed on her, and patted Vex’s leg. “’s alright. Just can’t sleep, ‘s all.”

“Oh,” Vex mouthed. She dropped her aggressive posture, then sighed and plopped back into bed – somehow, she made that crude motion look graceful.

“Pike?” Keyleth rose, a frown on her face. “Is everything okay? Why can’t you sleep?”

Wasn’t that the question? Pike would love to know so that she could fix it and go to sleep. Currently, she could only sigh and run a hand through her hair. It was slightly tangled.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “Just feeling restless.”

“Late-night jitteriness?” Vex hummed.

“Oh!” Keyleth perked up. “I know just how to help! Hold on!”

She dug through her bag, murmuring to herself the entire time. Pike had no idea what she was trying to do.

She glanced at Vex; the woman propped herself up on her elbows to watch, bemused. When she felt Pike’s gaze, she shrugged.

“There!” Keyleth exclaimed in triumph, pulling out three cups from her bag. “Now, let’s just…”

She murmured something under her breath and gestured. The three cups filled with water. Then, Keyleth held each one while dim red glow radiated from her palms. The water quickly began to steam, at which point Keyleth dropped a multitude of colourful leaves and berries inside. The first cup she passed to Pike, the second – to Vex, and the third she kept to herself.

“Thanks, Keyleth,” Pike said, smiling despite the frustration. The tea smelled good – and tasted just as, when she tried it. A strong slightly sour flavour of herbs and berries. “It’s good.”

“It’s really good.” Nodded Vex, an approving hum in her voice.

Keyleth grinned. “Really? That’s great! I put a little chamomile in there, it should help with sleep."

"Thanks, Kiki," Pike repeated, taking another sip.

Whether it helped or not, she couldn’t really tell, but she felt better. They all drank in comfortable silence, Vex a warm presence just next to Pike, her scent of soil and pine trees and the charged air after a cold rain – nearly identical to her twin’s – a great comfort to Pike. Without thinking about it, she took a deep breath and filled her lungs with it, let it wash over her.

And found only pine trees and rain.

Her eyes snapped open involuntarily, scanning the room to look for her missing packmate.

Only, nobody was missing – Keyleth was finishing her tea with a content smile. As she finished, she left her cup on the table and toyed with the shawl that draped over her torso as she settled back into bed.

Right. The sleep scent accessories. They looked marvellous, soft and delicate just like Keyleth said. But they did the job just as well as the studded leather collars did. Pike couldn’t catch anything.

That restlessness gnawed on her again. A strong instinct urging her to find her packmate’s scent. It wasn’t right that one scent was missing; it was wrong.

Pike ground her teeth. So that was the problem. Keyleth’s missing scent. It had bothered her a little all day – the lack almost like a physical wound after years of always having it close. Apparently, her body wasn’t having the lack right now.

But that was such bullshit! Keyleth looked so happy, she was practically glowing in the dark! All snuggled up, rubbing and nuzzling at the fabric as she waited for the other two to finish their tea – which, it was a delicious tea, it would be a shame if it went to waste. Pike took another sip, willing the chamomile and whatever else was in there help her relax.

Because there was no way she was saying anything. No way she was ruining Keyleth’s happiness. They’d all learned, in painful lesson after painful lesson, how fleeting joy could be. They had to hold onto it with their tightest grip.

She gulped down the last sip, feeling the warmth slide down her throat and warm her from the inside. Maybe it would truly help. And the sight of Keyleth so happy and content countered the frustration as well.

Stupid Alpha instincts. They could go fuck themselves. Keyleth was happy, and that made Pike happy. She was going to sleep now, and enjoy her rest before they would go back home and have a bit of a break before the realm needed saving again.

“Looks like someone’s ready to go back to bed,” Vex mused, eyeing Keyleth. Pike startled; somehow, she’d forgotten that the other woman was there.

Vex glanced at her. Her eyes held deep understanding. Perhaps she was finding it hard to sleep, too? Pike couldn’t tell. Hopefully not. Best that only one of them was having a rough night.

Keyleth lazily blinked her eyes back open. She looked half-asleep already. “Yeah.” She yawned. “You alright, Pike? Did it help?”

“I think it did,” Pike replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie – the tea did make her feel better, and now that she knew what made her so irritable, it would be easy to just tell her instincts to shut up.

Keyleth lit up, all joy and shy satisfaction, as if she couldn’t congratulate herself on a job well done without feeling guilty, before closing her eyes once more, curled into the scent accessories.

“Here,” Vex’s voice was so quiet that Pike, who was right next to her, could barely hear it. She took the cup from Pike and got out of bed. “Go back to sleep,” she threw over her shoulder as she set the two cups on the table.

Pike knew that Vex could get around her, yet she waited until she got into bed before following. Her scent was still strong and close, and that soothed her a little bit.

Keyleth’s was still missing, and that made her instincts scream. She ignored them. This was good. It made Keyleth happy, so it was good. It was time to fall asleep.

Pike stubbornly shut her eyes and ignored every irritated instinct until exhaustion shoved her into unconsciousness.

~*~

Something’s wrong, thought Vax in his half-asleep state before he ate the floor for the second time that night.

A pained grunt and a muffled curse came from underneath him. Immediately on high alert, Vax felt Scanlan squirm underneath him. With his peripheral vision, he saw a sharp motion in the other end of the room.

What followed it was a pained groan and a colourful expletive. Percy rubbed his head – he’d shot out of bed too fast and crashed right into the windowpane.

“What the fuck are you two doing?” he spat at them, giving Vax a painful sense of déjà vu.

“That’s a good question. Vax, get off me!” Scanlan barked from underneath him.

Vax rolled off, confused. Why had he and Scanlan fallen out of bed a second time? Percy’s scent was no longer as strong – in fact, it was just like Scanlan’s to Vax’s nose, even lighter because he was farther away. The cold night wind had chased the scent-saturated air out of the room.

He registered it after another second. Percy’s scent was now faint, but Vax could still catch it. Only now it was barely sugar and snow – it was more rotten fruit and muddy rainfall. It reeked of displeasure and even pain.

Alarmed, Vax turned to Percy again and saw him trying to manoeuvre himself into his bed, grumbling the entire time and still rubbing his head. He was shivering.

Oh, fuck. Right. Percy was a human – they were very sensitive to cold. And they’d placed Percy right under the window that Scanlan insisted stay open. The one that blowed freezing winds from outside.

Yeah, they’d fucked up big time.

So thought Vax’s rational brain, but his instincts were furious. They screamed at him to close that damn window and bundle his packmate in warm blankets and pull him close and keep him safe from harm. The overprotective instinct stretched to the possibility of catching colds, apparently.

“Percy, you okay, man?” Came Scanlan’s voice. He must have noticed Percy’s shivering as well.

Percy gave a noncommittal grunt, but Vax saw the way he clutched the thin blanket that he had closer to himself.

He turned to Scanlan, wondering what to do. The idea of just letting Percy freeze in the room flared his instincts up into overdrive, so that was a no-go. But closing the window also seemed like a bad idea – Vax didn’t feel like falling out of bed a third time chasing Percy’s scent.

Scanlan caught his eye and shrugged, grimacing a little. Vax got the sense that he had an idea, but not one that Percy – or Vax, for that matter – would like.

“Percy, why don’t you come to this bed?”

Yep, Vax was right – he didn’t like that idea. That was a bad idea. He shot Scanlan a furious look, but the gnome ignored him.

Across the room, Percy rose until he was propped on one elbow. He squinted in their direction, though Vax wagered that he didn’t see anything in the dark. “What?”

At least he didn’t sound as prissy as Vax had expected him to. Then again, that could be a bad sign – could mean that Percy was feeling poorly enough to agree. His overprotective instincts flared only at the thought of Percy not feeling well. 

Those thoughts distracted him enough that he couldn’t stop Scanlan from barging on:

“You know, so you don’t freeze to death.”

Percy frowned. “If we switch, then you’ll be cold. That’s just pointless.”

“Let’s share, then.”

Percy jerked away like Scanlan had hit him. He nearly hit the wall. “What?”

Vax shot Scanlan a disbelieving look. Was he kidding? There was no way Vax could get anywhere near Percy when he smelled like that and his instincts were running wild. He would do something absolutely mortifying – like cling to the man like a leper, or start rapidly scenting him, or crowding him so much the poor man got squished.

All of which were scenarios that Percy would rather shoot him for than allow. So, yeah, Vax would rather switch and brave the cold.

Scanlan seemed to have no such worries: “There’s space enough, we’ll keep your virtue intact, window stays open so no stink, and we all keep warm. Perfect solution.”

Percy’s glare turned icy, irritation and indignation spiking so sharp in his scent that Vax felt it like the man was barely an inch away from him.

And then it mellowed out into something much more bitter and burned when Percy deflated just slightly. “Is it really that bothersome? Does it really stink so badly?”

Oh, great. Now they’d gone and offended Percy. Vax glared daggers at Scanlan while he wondered how to tell their packmate that no – in fact, the problem is that it is one of the most amazing scents I’ve ever smelled without bothering him further. In between disturbing his sleep so many times, it just seemed like pouring salt in the wound.

“Look, it’s not a bad scent, it’s just strong,” Scanlan explained. His voice remained steady and confident, but his tone was softer and his scent radiated sympathy. Vax felt a little better when he breathed it in. “And this is a solution that relatively satisfies everybody – you’re not cold, we’re not getting scent-drunk in our sleep. Bam!” He snapped his fingers. “Everybody wins.”

“I’m not cold,” muttered Percy, then sniffled.

Just like a stubborn child, Vax couldn’t help but think. But that was a good thing – if Percy was truly opposed to the idea, then his reaction would be much colder than that.

However, he could understand the man’s reservations. He was private, closed-off even after all that they’d been through. He liked his space, which Vax could understand. And there was probably some cultural boundary that he and Scanlan were crossing without knowing. Remembering how Whitestone had been, that was not a small probability.

But on the other hand… Vax wanted to help. He didn’t want to wake up repeatedly due to falling off the bed chasing scents, but he didn’t want Percy to be uncomfortable in the cold, either. He wanted to protect him, and ensure at least a modicum of comfort.

And it wasn’t even his stupid new instincts. It was much more substantial and important than that: Percy was pack. Vax didn’t like sitting idly while his pack suffered.

Even if “suffered” was just “poor sleep and a risk of a cold that a Lesser Restoration would fix right away in the morning”.

And Scanlan was right: in the end, this did seem like the solution that would make everybody equally happy.

With that, it was easy to make up his mind. And he liked to think that he could approach the matter much more tactfully than Scanlan, thanks a lot.

“We’re not going to bother you,” he reassured. “Truth be told, I’m beat and I’d just like to go to sleep with no more interruptions. I’m sure you’re much the same.”

Percy stifling a yawn only served to confirm that.

“Come on, Perce,” Scanlan dragged out. “Just get over here and let’s go to sleep already. This face doesn’t stay this beautiful without rest, you know!”

Percy scoffed. “Fine. If it’s such a must.”

Vax frowned at the evident displeasure in the man’s words. It soured the air in the room, too, though Percy didn’t seem to notice. He gathered his blanket and his pillow and made his way over, stopping by the bed and looking at Vax expectantly.

Right. He and Scanlan were still on the floor.

Vax settled against the wall like he had before, then gestured for Percy to make himself comfortable. With how small Scanlan was, it was the most logical to leave him at the outer end.

Despite it all, it wasn’t so bad. Vax had certainly slept in worse ways in worse places. Percy gave off way more body heat than Scanlan, and the extra blanket ensured that it remained trapped within their space. Soon, the cold air from outside didn’t matter.

And something in him settled by having both members of his pack that were in the room this close to him. He only had to reach out, a bare twitch of his arms, and he’d touch them. That thought soothed his bothersome new instincts. Percy was right here, and his scent was getting more and more familiar by the second. He was fine. They were all fine. There was no need to worry.

Except, that didn’t seem quite true. In front of him, barely an inch away, Percy was stiff as a board, radiating annoyance and strange anxiety in his scent.

Vax couldn’t understand why the human would be anxious, but his instincts flared up at the scent. They demanded that Vax had to fix it. He knew that he wouldn’t get any sleep if he didn’t.

At least that was an easy fix when they were all so exhausted – those were the times when instincts got the strongest. Vax leaned into his, just a little bit, and tried to project peace and calm with his scent.

Bit by bit, it worked – slowly, Percy relaxed in the bed, the tension leaving his muscles. His scent mellowed out into something content and tired. Scanlan, whose scent Vax was way more familiar with and therefore more sensitive to, had practically turned into a puddle of comfort. The gnome started to purr, the light, melodic sounds like he was singing filling the air.

Peaceful. Calm. Good.

Vax’s eyes were closing. His instincts were downright preening at seeing everybody be so calm. He let out an answering purr of his own and prepared to let sleep take him again.

Then Scanlan twitched in his sleep and elbowed Percy in the chest.

~*~

Vex woke up feeling shitty – wrong-footed and disoriented and grumpy.

Darkness still reigned outside. If she had to estimate, she’d say that she’d only gotten an hour of sleep at most.

She glanced around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No reason for her to wake up.

Her eyes landed on Keyleth. The woman was wrapped up in her blanket – and in her borrowed accessories. She’d twisted around until even her legs were covered in the shawl, a smile still on her face as she slept.

And the air remained barren of her scent.

Vex sighed to herself. She got the feeling that she wouldn’t get much sleep.

She slipped off the bed. After years of practice, she could do so without disrupting anybody. Except maybe her brother. But only maybe. And she would never say it if that were the case. And he could never sneak past her. Of course not.

An itchiness had settled in her bones. Vex found herself fussing without meaning to – she pulled the blankets tighter around Pike’s sleeping form, then tucked them in securely against the chill of the night.

Then, she moved over to Keyleth. The urge to ensure her comfort was even stronger. But, unwilling to risk waking up the lightest sleeper of them all, she only threw the blanket over her better.

Well, great. Short of pulling out her broom and using it as a normal broom for once to sweep up the dust on the floor, there was nothing more for her to fuss about.

She could check in on the rest of the pack, make sure that they were okay… but no. That would be indulging instincts that she didn’t want having too much of a hold on her. She could survive one night without a familiar scent.

But she didn’t want to go to bed, either. Not yet. She still felt too disgruntled.

Usually, that feeling would take her to the wilds. And the forest outside of town looked lovely – dense and quiet, separated from the hustle and complications of the people. But tonight, she didn’t wish to part with her pack so easily. Just the thought to going too far made her stomach churn.

But the more she stood like an indecisive idiot in the middle of the room, the more alluring the outside became…

She made up her mind. In a few strides and a quick grab, she was by the window with one of the two chairs in the room. She opened the curtains just wide enough to observe, then settled in front of the glass.

The night was cold, but clear. Starlight and moonlight mingled together to give a blueing hue to the outside world. Empty streets and dark windows greeted her first, but beyond that was the forest. The tall trees stood proud and unmoving. Occasionally, a night bird drifted, a shadow amongst shadows, and disappeared within the canopy again.

Slowly, as she watched the monotone night life, Vex relaxed. Her mind drifted away from the missing familiar scents, focusing instead on the owls that fluttered by, on the silhouette of large game that barely poked its head out of the treeline and then vanished within it again, on the leaves that swayed with the winds.

Once more, she longed to go out and lose herself in it, just a little bit.

But as soon as the thought arrived, it soured with a blind panic. It seemed unacceptable that she would leave when she had a pack to protect.

Vex sighed, glancing away from the window. Pike was still asleep, and so was Keyleth, peaceful and safe.

At least she was happy.

Vex felt tiredness weigh her down again. That was enough staring out into the night.

As she manoeuvred back into bed, her eyes on Keyleth the entire time, she thought absent-mindedly, at least with Percy’s accessories now being here, the boys must be sound asleep to his scent.

~*~

“Ouch!”

“Ouch!”

“Ouch!”

“Somebody’s sitting on my leg!”

“Who’s pulling my hair?”

“I swear, whatever’s poking me in the back had better not be a dick!”

“Ouch, the fuck, get off my arm!”

“Stop kicking me!”

“Fuck! Who hit my stomach?”

“Hey, whose elbow was that?”

“Both of you shut the fuck up and calm down or I’ll call Vex over here!”

“FUCK YOU, VAX’ILDAN!”

“FUCK OFF, VAX!”

~*~

Keyleth woke up feeling upset.

At first, she couldn’t tell why. She was feeling great! The scent accessories were amazing to the touch, all warm and soft. She could bury herself in them and just sleep for an entire day. And they still held a trace of Percy’s wonderful scent – fruits and snow. Freshness and sweetness.

But, as she looked around the room, she realised that she was the only one feeling this way. The room stank of misery. It had coiled up in the air until it seemed to seep into the furniture.

No wonder she’d woken up. Nobody could stay sleeping through such an assault to the senses.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out where the scent was coming from. Both Pike and Vex had grimaces on their faces, even in sleep. They lay on the other bed, curled into each other and clutching the other with what looked to be a painful grip. They twitched, tension in every inch of their frames, and every few seconds a low growl-like sound shook loose from their throats.

Alarmed, Keyleth jumped out of bed. “Guys? Guys? Is everything okay?”

Vex, of course, shot up like an arrow, all tension and aggression. Pike followed just a split-second later, already calculating and alert.

They both scanned the room for threats, then turned to Keyleth. “Kiki? What’s wrong?” Pike asked first.

Their behaviour confused Keyleth to no end. “Uh… I was going to ask you the same thing. You’re both smelling kind of miserable.”

“Huh?” Pike sniffed the air, then grimaced. “Ugh.”

“We should open a window,” Vex agreed, an identical frown on her face. Without waiting for an answer, she got up and pushed it open.

Cold winds blew in, chasing the oppressive stench away. It was now possible to breathe. But that still didn’t mean that everything was okay – Keyleth had no idea just why Vex and Pike had been miserable before.

“So, uh…” she started, hesitant. How was one supposed to approach this? “You guys feeling alright?”

“Of course,” Vex replied easily. “Go back to sleep, darling. There should still be a few hours until sunrise.”

Pike’s first answer was a yawn. Then: “I could sleep beyond that, to be honest.”

They both piled back into their bed like it was no big deal.

But it was. Keyleth felt that it was. Something had happened – something that she wasn’t even aware of – that had made her packmates miserable. And now they seemed keen to just brush it off, which was kind of suspicious, if Keyleth was being honest.

But, most importantly, it felt like distance. Like they were losing their closeness as a pack.

Just when they were starting to get it back…

Unconsciously, Keyleth’s hands shot up to the collar. Percy’s scent lingered the strongest there. It soothed her a little bit. Gave her some confidence.

“Guys,” she interrupted Pike and Vex’s getting into bed. The two threw her questioning looks. “What was wrong, just now? You smelled upset.”

Pike grimaced like she’d eaten a lemon. Vex hid her reaction better, but Keyleth was looking for it. She saw the slight furrow of her brows. Smelled the souring of her scent.

“It’s… nothing, Kiki, truly,” Pike spoke first, her tone placating but awkward. “Just... having trouble sleeping. That’s all.”

That was obviously bullshit. And Pike’s strange awkwardness only solidified that.

Perhaps before, that blatant dismissal would have deterred Keyleth. Right now, it still hurt; but now, she had the strength to push.

“That’s not it. I can tell,” she insisted, letting her voice harden. “What is it?”

Pike’s expression turned guilty, and even Vex ducked her head as if chastised. Which Keyleth couldn’t understand. What were they trying so hard to hide from her?

“Look, Keyleth,” Vex finally spoke, the words a weary sigh. “It’s just… we’re used to your scent being around, if I’m being honest. And now that it’s gone, it’s…”

“Weird,” Pike finished, her tone resolute like that one word encompassed everything that there was to be said. “Frankly, it’s keeping me awake.”

“Keeps you awake?” repeated Keyleth, startled. “Wait, is that why you couldn’t sleep before?”

Pike’s face turned red. Surprisingly, so did Vex’s. Keyleth wondered if she had been kept awake, as well.

“And it’s because my scent is gone?”

Pike and Vex both nodded. “It’s alright, darling,” Vex tried to reassure, her words a soothing rumble interlaced with a deep purr. “It’s our problem to handle.”

Keyleth frowned at that. “No, it isn’t. We’re pack, we solve our problems together.”

The two women’s faces brightened despite it all. Keyleth couldn’t help returning their hesitant smiles.

The smell was airing out of the room. The tension followed suit. The air got colder, but nobody in this room minded that.

With the peace returning, Keyleth knew that there was an easy way to fix this problem. “Well, if you’re just missing my scent, then–” She reached towards her borrowed collar.

And froze midway.

The thought of parting with that precious gift – it stung. Percy had given these to her to wear for the night – had said that he would consider it an honour if she wore them. And it made Keyleth feel so close to him, after they’d lost him such a short while ago. She was surrounded by his scent, the instinctual part of her reassured that he was still there, safe and sound.

She couldn’t. She couldn’t take the accessories off. That seemed like a betrayal.

The others noticed her hesitance, Keyleth could see it in their eyes. Vex gave her a sad smile and a reassuring purr. “It’s alright, Keyleth, dear,” she promised. “I know how much that means to you. Keep them.”

“Yeah, keep them on! You look so pretty in them, too,” Pike quickly added with a vigorous nod.

They were telling the truth – their faces and their scents said so. Yet, Keyleth still remembered the miserable scent, so strong that it had woken her up. No, this wouldn’t do. There had to be a different solution.

She sighed, half in exhaustion and half in frustration. The situation reminded her a little bit of her and Vax – separated by stupid circumstance, yet unable to pass that one hurdle. As if the things they needed were so opposed that they couldn’t be together.

But that wasn’t true. They could be together, were together. They’d overcome all the hurdles. This seemed to pale in comparison.

Keyleth tucked away a lock of hair that had slipped under the collar.

And got an idea.

“I got it!” she exclaimed, feeling giddiness surge up in her. Pike and Vex threw her uncomprehending looks as she pulled her blanket off the bed and took the pillow. “So, you guys need my scent, right? And I want these to stay on.” She gestured to the shawl draped over her body. “So, all we have to do is be close enough that both can stay!”

“…huh?” Pike intoned.

“Here!” Keyleth dropped her things on Vex and Pike’s bed and climbed on, causing a moment of rapid dislodging and shuffling. She ignored it and pressed closer to Pike instead, pushing her face in the gnome’s nose. “Breathe. Do you feel it from here?”

Pike inhaled. This close, Keyleth easily saw her eyes grow wide. “I do!”

She breathed in again, relaxing like a cat in the sun.

Keyleth grinned widely. It had worked! There was only one pair of scent glands that the Whitestone scent accessories set didn’t cover – those on the cheeks. Usually, they were faint enough that they didn’t leave any scent, but when close enough they gave off a faint scent. One that could be felt, at the very least.

She easily tilted her head in Vex’s direction when the latter drew closer as well. From that angle, she couldn’t see her expression, but the clearing of her scent spoke for itself.

“There we go!” she proclaimed, probably a bit too loudly in her giddiness. “We just have to stay close and we’ll all be happy!”

She turned around to see Pike and Vex’s expressions. They were both looking at her kind of weirdly – with wide eyes and smiles, and there was this heavy fondness in the air around them…

“Sounds absolutely perfect, Keyleth, darling,” Vex purred.

“Yeah! Come on, we gotta make space,” Pike urged, shuffling around.

Keyleth felt like the cat that got the cream.

Together, they rearranged the bed until they were all under the two blankets, sharing the two pillows. Keyleth was in the middle, lying on her side so there would be space for Vex behind her, pressed up against the wall, and Pike at the edge.

Warmth curled around them, accentuated by their scents. With every breath she took, Keyleth smelled contentment and happiness and comfort.

Pike slowly shuffled closer. “Hey, can I…” She lifted her arms to demonstrate.

“Oh! Oh! Of course! Come right in,” Keyleth rushed to say, wrapping her arms around her packmate and letting Pike settle against her, close enough to breathe in her scent.

That, too, felt lovely. Whenever she was cuddling with Vax, she was the one being held, so being the one holding was nice. A good kind of different. Keyleth could snuggle close and bury her nose in Pike’s hair and get a lungful of her warm, earthy smell with that familiar metallic afternote.

“Keyleth, darling, do you mind?” Vex shuffled closer as well, until Keyleth felt her warmth all the way down the back side of her body.

In answer, she scooted back, letting Vex wrap her arms around her and pull her close. The other immediately buried her face in Keyleth’s hair and inhaled deeply. The action made something warm and loose preen in Keyleth. Vex and Pike’s arms were tight but not painful around her – secure and comfortable. She relaxed against them, knowing without a doubt that they could take her weight, could keep her safe and happy.

She was happy now, more than. The silk of the collar brushed against her throat, reminding her of its presence with every breath. So soft it was. Keyleth was beyond happy that she was still wrapped up in it.

And then, she had two of the pack Alphas around her, holding her, covering her in their scents. She could relax and melt into a puddle between them, and she’d be the safest she’d ever been.

Happiness saturated the air around her. The warmth and the scents were luring her to sleep. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open; yet, she tried, for a few futile minutes. She wanted to prolong this – this feeling of contentment and absolute satisfaction, of closeness, of pack. She wanted to bask in it forever.

Eventually, however, exhaustion won. But Keyleth fell back asleep with the biggest smile on her face.

~*~

With a short-lived yelp, Scanlan tumbled off the bed.

Short-lived, because Percy immediately fell on top of him and crushed the air out of his lungs.

And immediately after, Vax landed on top of the human.

“Fuck!”

“Fuck!”

“Fuck!”

“Ouch! Fuck!”

“Shit!”

“Get off me, Vax’ildan!”

“Get your leg out of my hair and I will!”

“Ouch! Stop elbowing me in the ribs!”

“Both of you get off me!”

With a serious struggle, colourful cursing, and many bruises, the three disentangled their limbs and rolled off one another, landing in graceless heaps on the floor by the bed. Scanlan flopped onto his back, panting.

“Fuck’s sake,” he heard Vax murmur somewhere to his left. To his right, Percy was shuffling and rubbing his chest.

Okay, so that hadn’t gone well. Not one of his best ideas, apparently. He wasn’t even sure what had happened – one moment, he’d been settling down to sleep, finally able to because Percy had stopped stinking of irritation and instead had let contentment curl around them. And Scanlan had relaxed, pleased, and had instinctively moved to get closer to his fellow packmate.

And then a fist had collided right with his jaw, and here they were right now.

He was just contemplating sleeping on the floor – not because of any problem considerations, but because he was feeling too exhausted and too lazy to move – when the displeased muttering to his right turned heated and angry. Scanlan smelled the fury, smoky and choking like a fire was burning. A fire that smelled a lot like sugar and apricots.

He watched as Percy, hissing lowly the entire time, got up, shook himself off with all the indignation and anger of a spoiled noble whose sleep had gotten disturbed, and dragged his blanket and pillow away from the bed.

Before Scanlan could quite comprehend what was happening, the human stumbled his way back to his bed in the dark, deposited his items, then turned to shuffle into his pack.

That got Vax’s attention, who sat up and frowned. “Percy, what are you doing?”

“Going to sleep,” replied Percy, voice and scent heavy with mighty agitation.

He straightened up, apparently having found what he was looking for. Scanlan saw it – it was one of Percy’s collars, the large black one.

One of the day ones. The studded leather ones.

“Hold on,” Scanlan spoke, frowning. “What are you doing with that?”

“What does it look like, Scanlan? Going to sleep.”

“You can’t sleep in that!” Vax protested, grimacing in turn.

“I can and I will. All of us have slept in far less comfortable conditions, so I don’t see a reason why we should be having this discussion. Collar on, no scent. Problem solved. Back to bed.” He listed methodically as he clasped the collar around his neck, then started tugging on his gloves.

Scanlan instantly felt bad. It wasn’t fair towards Percy to have to sleep in that uncomfortable collar on top of that shitty week they’d all had.

“Look, you don’t have to wear that, it’s fine,” he tried to reassure, but Percy scoffed before he’d finished.

“It’s obviously not fine or we’d all be sleeping right now. Which is what I’m planning on doing. Good night to both of you.” Said with firm finality and barely concealed anger.

“Come on, you can’t just ruin your night because you’re sulky!”

“Scanlan’s right. That’s a shitty thing to do to yourself, Freddie.”

“Good thing that nobody has asked for your opinions and that I am perfectly capable of deciding what I do with myself. Now good night.”

“Percy–”

“Good. Night.”

The human closed the window and dropped back into his bed. Scanlan saw him shuffling and twitching, trying to get comfortable. But the air was still cold, and he wore that uncomfortable collar. Scanlan could see that he wasn’t going to find a comfortable position all night.

Yeah, that just wasn’t going to work. And Scanlan didn’t want to hear it from Vex when her mate (because, come on, it was obvious even if the two hadn’t shared anything other than a declaration of love in front of the rest of the pack; Vax and Keyleth, too, they weren’t subtle, either) showed up all exhausted and cranky and obviously having slept in a studded leather collar.

But his idea hadn’t worked all too well, so he found himself hesitating. On the other hand, Vax’s scent thing had worked a charm, so perhaps he had an idea.

He turned to the half-elf, using his darkvision to have a silent conversation. He gestured to Percy, then shrugged, letting a little bit of frustrated helplessness seep into his scent.

Vax grimaced, then tilted his head. Thinking, then.

“Percy,” he called after a few moments.

“I said good night, Vax’ildan.”

“You don’t have to full name me, we get it that you’re upset,” Vax huffed. His voice when he next spoke, however, was gentle and soft: “Look, I’m sorry about this whole uncomfortable thing. But you can’t sleep like this. You literally, physically can’t, and we can all see it. So, let’s just take that collar off and try again, okay?”

Scanlan watched as Percy huffed, annoyance clear even without a scent to aid with distinguishing emotions.

Just as clear was the exhaustion that had taken hold of the man. Scanlan saw it clear in the way he deflated, shoulders slumping and head rolling against his pillow. He buried his face in it, but Scanlan saw the grimace of painful frustration. “I’d rather not have a repeat of what just happened.”

“It won’t,” Vax reassured. “We all keep our limbs to ourselves. Scanlan included.”

“Hey!” Scanlan interjected, offended. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“You knocked the air out of my lungs first.”

“Okay, regardless of what happened–” Vax interfered before the argument could escalate (which Scanlan didn’t appreciate – he was right and he knew it and he was willing to argue it, damn it!) “–Scanlan was right before that it is the best possible arrangement for all of us. So, let’s try it again and just not shove each other off the bed this time.”

“Easier said than done, evidently,” Percy replied drily.

“I’m sure we can do something about that,” Vax replied and, wow, he had an extraordinary amount of patience. Scanlan was already feeling like Percy was being unduly prissy at them. Like, yeah, he was having a bad night, but so were they. Grow up, man!

“Like what?”

Scanlan saw Vax think, clearly considering something. To his credit, Percy waited even though he surely couldn’t see Vax’s expression in the dark. His face revealed little of his thought process, while Vax’s scent was simple contemplation.

Finally, Vax seemed to have come up with an idea. A semi-good one, if the only mild note of hesitation in his scent was any indication. “We could all relax together.”

Huh. That was not a bad idea, actually.

Percy stiffened like he didn’t like the idea. “What?”

“You know, relaxing,” Scanlan took it from there, feeling like he could approach the topic with much more finesse than Vax, thank you very much. “Just chill together, a little scent connection. Wonderful for the odd instincts.”

“I know what relaxing is,” Percy replied in a sharp tone. Scanlan was familiar with that particular tone.

He fought to suppress a snicker. “What? Are you trying to tell me that you’ve never relaxed with anybody before?”

“No way,” Vax added before Percy could respond. “There’s no way Vex hasn’t done this with you after–”

“Of course she has,” again, a little sharper than normal. Percy shuffled, as if uncomfortable. “It’s just…”

As much as he was feeling the urge to tease, Scanlan held back. He wasn’t much in the mood, now, anyway. He got it. That required trust. It wasn’t like settling – nobody would be going that deep under that they’d need somebody else to dig them back up. It was milder than that – was basically that pleasant space between wakefulness and sleep where everything was slower and more comfortable – but it was still a symbolic vulnerability. And Percy had a thing against that.

Fucking shit, they all did, didn’t they?

“Hey, it’s alright. It was just an offer,” he said, intentionally projecting ease and calmness into his scent. “But it would be nice, wouldn’t it? And let me tell you, Vax is really good at that stuff.”

Percy huffed, a small smile finally tugging at his lips and dispelling that metaphorical gloomy cloud that clung to him. “If he’s half as good as his sister, then he’s excellent at it.”

“Alright, I didn’t need to know that,” Vax interrupted, but he was smiling. The tension in the room was slowly melting again. “But I’ll be careful, I promise. Nobody wants to bother you, Freddie. We just want to help you and ourselves.”

“Yeah. Plus, it’s not a big deal. We’re a pack, we’re going to do a pack thing. Come on, pack member – join the pack activity!” Scanlan tried for some levity. He felt like he succeeded.

Percy turned a wide-eyed stare his way. His jaw looked like it had fallen off its joints. Scanlan stared back, stunned. He now truly itched for Percy’s collar to not have been there, so he could have discerned his emotions through his smell. He had no idea what had caused this, but it didn’t seem bad? Percy didn’t seem upset, more… surprised. And maybe – just maybe – not in the bad way.

Definitely not in the bad way was confirmed when Percy blinked owlishly and said, a little too loud and a little too stiffly, betraying underlying nervousness: “Okay.”

“Okay?” Vax perked up like he hadn’t expected it. It was a little funny, Scanlan had to admit.

“Okay,” Percy replied. His voice was smoother now; more confident. “I’m willing to try it. It sounds like a good idea.”

He unclasped his collar and left it on the bed. His scent entered the air again, thinner and subtle now like a normal scent. Scanlan found himself reaching for it in the air – still trying to remember the rarest pack scent that he ever got to sense.

Percy got up and gathered his pillow and blanket, and that was when Scanlan realised that he was still sitting on the floor. He got up, which seemed to get Vax’s attention – the half-elf had lingered, gaze fixed on Percy, like he hadn’t been able to believe that his idea had been accepted so quickly.

Scanlan might tease him for that later.

For now, the three settled in the same order as before – Vax by the wall, Percy in the middle, and Scanlan at the end. Only this time, Vax was leaning over him with one hand outstretched, wrist near his cheek.

Scanlan glanced over at Percy, just to check on the man, and found him not stiff but not quite relaxed, either. Gears were turning behind that green gaze, that was for sure, but it looked more like curiosity. Maybe even anticipation.

He smiled, even knowing that Percy couldn’t see it, and decided to give him the heads-up in advance: they’d all seen how surprising him with proximity had gone:

“Just to let you know, I get very cuddly when relaxing, so if you don’t want me to shove my way into our arms, you’ll have to hold me at arm’s length until I fall asleep.”

Percy blinked owlishly at him, then tilted his head, thinking. “I think… I would not be opposed if you were to get closer,” he said slowly, like he was testing the words out.

Scanlan stared, at a loss for words. Fuck, was Percy – uptight, buttoned-up Percy who maintained his personal presence like a priest maintained their holy place – offering Scanlan to cuddle?

“As long as you don’t jab me with your elbows again,” Percy added, and Scanlan scoffed, graciously deciding not to dig into that.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

And he turned back towards the room, getting as comfortable as possible in the small space, and glanced at Vax. “All good?”

Surprise lay open on the man’s face, but he blinked it away when Scanlan addressed him. Yeah, Scanlan could relate, he’d been surprised, too. “All good.”

With that, he closed his eyes, focusing. Scanlan settled more comfortably. He and Vax had done this many times, on their own or with various other people – it was an excellent stress relief when the instincts needed some settling. He knew how Vax liked to do it, liked the way Vax liked to do it.

After a second, Vax’s scent intensified as he intentionally projected contentment and serenity. Soil and pine trees and clear, fresh air – a soothing scent. A pack scent. It wrapped around Percy’s own sweeter one; sugar and soil, snow and rain. The two complemented each other wonderfully, until they blurred and seemed like one to Scanlan. One familiar and soothing and dear scent.

“May I?” he heard Vax ask, ever the gentleman, and easily hummed his agreement.

He felt the air shift before Vax’s wrist touched his cheek. A brief, soft caress that left the man’s scent over his. A firmer, pleasant pressure against his jaw, down to his neck and the scent glands there. Scanlan tilted his head to provide easier access. 

The room was dark and quiet. Percy and Vax’s scents saturated the air. The instinctual part of Scanlan was happy like the cat that got the cream – he had his pack nearby, was comfortable, was safe. Vax continued his gentle motions, and his scent covered Scanlan more and more.

What more could one ask for? Scanlan melted into the bed, letting out a steady purr. He was ready for a long, deep sleep.

Well, almost. One thing could be better. A part of him was vaguely disgruntled that a part of his pack was so close, yet he wasn’t right next to them. That there was a scent that he wasn’t covered in.

He scooted back until he met a body, then wriggled, message clear. He thought he heard voices, but he was far too content and tired to pay attention. The only things that got his focus were the arms that wrapped around him, firm and secure, and pulled him flush against a warm chest and a new, sweeter scent.

Yes. Now it was all good. Scanlan tilted his head until he could nudge one of the hands by his shoulder with the tip of his nose, his purr deepening when that earned him a drag of a wrist against his throat. There. Now he had all available scents on him.

Feeling as content as could be, Scanlan fell asleep.

~*~

Vax was on high alert the moment his wrist touched Scanlan’s skin.

He tried not to show it, didn’t allow it to seep into his scent and sour the peaceful mood he was weaving in the air, but he was careful. The last time they’d tried falling asleep – and the bruises from the tumble out of bed – were still fresh in his memory.

He paid special attention to Percy. The man had never done this with them before. Yet, even as he was stock still beneath Vax’s outstretched arm, his scent spoke of calm, of curiosity. Of anticipation, not apprehension.

Vax worried when Scanlan scooted closer, remembering that errant twitch of an elbow that had started the whole fiasco, but this time there were no sudden movements – Scanlan only pressed as close as he could.

And Percy hugged him close.

The relaxing was working, Vax thought as he watched the human accept Scanlan in his space without even a hint of protest. He obliged Scanlan’s silent request for a scenting, and his own scent was fresh snow and sweet fruits. Content. Comfortable.

“You okay?” Vax whispered, just to be sure.

Percy’s eyes flickered to him, even though he couldn’t see anything in the dark. Still, he nodded, then turned back forward to bury his nose in Scanlan’s hair and take a deep breath of the gnome’s scent, where it wasn’t buried beneath Vax’s. Vax nearly halted his caressing in surprise.

“I am,” came the reply, Percy’s cadence steady even as he looked on the verge of sleep. Relaxing wasn’t a deep enough connection to interfere with thinking. “This is good. I remember doing this with my siblings, back when we were kids.”

He curled tighter around Scanlan, his scent dampening a bit with a heavy hint of sorrow, but his voice was still even when he continued: “When we were tired after too many lessons, or one of us had a bad day. Sometimes our parents would join, the whole family together, reading or talking or playing instruments. Or just resting near each other. It was lovely.”

He yawned. Surprisingly to Vax, the sorrow began to clear from his scent. “This is lovely, too.”

“Percy–” he started, unsure how to approach this. Percy was offering him a vulnerability that he wasn’t sure he could handle correctly. It was Vex who understood the deep dark sea of Percy’s past and all the pain that came with it. Vax loved the man, but he wasn’t sure he could navigate this. Not yet.

He didn’t have to. Before he could say anything else, Percy interrupted him:

“Don’t.” The finality was firm, but not cutting. “This is a happy memory, Vax. Let it remain so.”

And Vax understood. Of course he did. He remembered his own mother – how loving she’d been, how amazing. Caring and kind and attentive and smart and strong. Even though her death brought pain beyond measure, he still remembered all the good things. Cherished them like the greatest treasure.

He nodded. A quick check on Scanlan confirmed that he was asleep, his purr holding steady. Satisfied, Vax removed his hand, leaning over Percy instead.

“May I?”

Percy tilted his head closer, eyes landing on his with uncanny accuracy given that he couldn’t see. Vax waited, content to be patient. That was trust. Sometimes it took a little time.

Whatever Percy had been looking for, he seemed to have found it. He rested his head back on the pillow and nodded. “You may.”

Vax kept his movements slow and telegraphed, his touch light. First the backs of his knuckles, high over Percy’s cheeks. Not leaving any scent, just initiating. Percy tilted his head, invitingly this time. There was only contentment in his scent.

Vax passed with the wrist this time, with just enough pressure to leave his scent. His and Percy’s scents went well together, he thought – both had that fresh air quality of cold weather.

He watched with no small amount of satisfaction as Percy went boneless, all tension leaving him and relaxation taking hold. He cuddled close to Scanlan, radiating contentment and comfort, only moving to tilt this way or that to allow Vax better access as he traced his face, his neck, his arms, his back with his wrists, leaving scent and gentle pressure.

It helped those haywire instincts within Vax, too: to be close to Percy and bring him comfort. To erase the irritation and exhaustion of the day and provide peace and calm. To protect him.

He was feeling himself getting under, too. His eyes were closing. The scent of two happy packmates was like a siren’s call. And the sheets looked particularly inviting, now that he had the shared body heat of two people to look forward to in the cold night.

He purred, showing his appreciation and love that he’d been allowed to do this, that they’d gifted him that vulnerability so that they could have this moment.

And received two sets of purrs in return.

Vax’s eyes flew open, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. No, he wasn’t imagining – alongside Scanlan’s melodic purr was a deeper, rougher one, almost a growl, but unmistakeably Omega.

Percy was purring.

Vax’s brain stopped for a moment. All rational thought left him as the only thing that remained was that overprotective instinct that was downright glowing. Percy was purring. Vax had never – not even once – heard him purr.

And now he’d felt relaxed enough to. Had let Vax take care of him. Allowed him to scent and soothe.

He moved without thinking, only stopping when he was looming over Percy’s form. The human noticed the proximity, eyes blinking open slowly, with difficulty.

“May I?” Vax whispered.

“You may.” This time, the answer came without hesitation. Percy tilted his head in invitation and closed his eyes again. The trust of it, offering his throat when Vax could tear it apart if he wanted…

But he didn’t want to. That was what this whole thing was about.

Vax leaned down, rubbing his cheek against Percy’s, then down, over his throat. Percy was already thoroughly covered in Vax’s scent, yet he couldn’t help it, wanted to show that affection.

Percy’s purr deepened, and Vax nearly melted.

It had been worth it. All the shittiness of the previous day and tonight was worth it for this. To feel Percy’s scent. To hear his purr. To relax with him.

With that, it seemed that even Vax’s overprotective instincts couldn’t fight the exhaustion anymore. The bed was like a spell forcing him down. He slotted himself in the sliver of space between the wall and Percy, then raised an arm. “May I?”

“Of course.” Came the sleepy reply.

Vax manoeuvred under the sheets, wrapping an arm loosely around Percy and Scanlan. Their scents were so thoroughly mixed that they were like one – Percy’s snow, Vax’s rain, Scanlan’s sea breeze. Home. Pack.

“Good night, Percy,” he muttered, just for the hell of it.

“Good night, Vax.”

“Good night, Scanlan,” Vax added, even though there was no point, Scanlan had long fallen asleep.

“Good night, Scanlan,” echoed Percy, the human obviously only half awake.

Vax only had the strength to chuckle weakly and inhale the shared scent one last time. After that, he fell asleep, too.

~*~

Vex woke up to warm sunlight peeking through the curtains, and a pleasant cocktail of smells in the air around her.

Wakefulness, for once, came slowly. She had to will her eyelids to flutter open, her eyes to focus. Instinct and habit had her scanning the room – nothing dangerous or unusual. Everything was fine, they were safe.

Keyleth was still in her arms, sleeping soundly and cuddling Pike like she was a plush toy. The latter didn’t seem to mind – she’d tucked herself as close to Keyleth as possible, head under the woman’s chin and one hand gripping Keyleth’s.

This close, their scents mingled, warm bread and oak trees. They seemed almost one to Vex, thoroughly mixed. Somewhere in there, she caught her own, too – pines and rain – but vaguely, the way people felt their own scents. Still, it made her instincts purr with satisfaction.

A glance out the window told her that it was late morning. Way past when Vex would normally get up, not to mention Keyleth, sweet rising-with-the-sun Keyleth, who now slept curled up in Vex’s arms, her scent all contentment and comfort.

That made her not want to get up. She could remain in here forever, cuddled up with her packmates and luxuriating in this cosy feeling.

But, alas, logic won out. They had to get up at some point, and then make the journey back home. As lovely as this was, it was still a nondescript room in a small inn in an unfamiliar town.

She contemplated for a second, then decided to leave the other two to their sleep. No need to interrupt their peace too.

But as she moved to leave, as discreet and light as she always did, the others stirred, as if somehow they had felt her move. Which wasn’t the case, Vex knew, because she could always sneak away from any member of Vox Machina (except her brother, but that was not the point).

She stilled, wondering. Keyleth moved first, untangling from Pike just enough to tilt her head away and yawn. Warm eyes met Vex’s, and Keyleth’s face split into a sleepy but big grin. With the accessories, Vex couldn’t feel her scent, she was now too far away, but she didn’t need to when Keyleth was practically radiating happiness.

“Morning, Vex.”

“Good morning, Kiki, dear,” Vex replied, now amused, as Keyleth tried to roll over and found herself held in place by tiny but strong arms.

Pike grumbled a wordless complaint, then pulled Keyleth back as if she weighed nothing at all, tucking herself against the woman’s side. Now she looked like she was the one cuddling an overly large plush toy.

Keyleth blinked in confusion, evidently not woken all the way up yet, and looked over at Pike. She relaxed when she saw the gnome, yawning again. “What time is it?”

“Late morning.”

Keyleth’s eyes snapped to the window like she’d just now noticed that it was light out. “Oh,” she said. Then blinked. “We slept in.”

“Way in,” Vex agreed. Now that she wasn’t so close to the other two women, she could concentrate on the other things – namely, the sounds of clinking cutlery downstairs. "Come on, it sounds like there’s still time for breakfast.”

“Oh, but I don’t want to move,” Keyleth whined, one arm circling around Pike. “Ever.”

The gnome responded by finally opening her eyes and looking around in bemusement. “Hey, Kiki.”

“Good morning, Pike!” Keyleth sounded strangely excited. “You wanna stay in bed some more?”

Pike turned slowly to look at her, blinked owlishly, then shook her head. “I gotta pee.”

“Oh.” Keyleth’s face fell as she let Pike go. The cleric smiled apologetically and patted her arm before rushing out of the room.

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Vex couldn’t help laughing and also reaching out to pat Keyleth’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, dear. We’ll have plenty of time for things like this back at home.”

“Oh? Are we, uh, I mean, are you, uh, do you–”

“It sounds like breakfast will do you good.” Vex chuckled at her rambling. “Come on, I’m starving.”

“I feel like I ate so much at dinner yesterday,” Keyleth mused, but finally rose.

And then habit won out, because she quickly stretched and regained her good mood as she looked out the window and spotted a few birds flying by.

When Pike came back, the three got ready for the day and left the room, heading for the inn’s main hall downstairs.

Only, Vex smelled something. Something sweet and fresh and very familiar.

“Vex?” she heard Pike call but ignored her in favour of turning back around and walking to the other door.

Sweet and fresh, but also something else. A deeper sweetness like chocolate, mixed with a headier smell like soil. All familiar on their own, but melted together into something near unrecognisable.

She cracked open the boys’ room’s door and nearly burst out laughing.

“You two gotta see this!” She called out over her shoulder, as quietly as she could.

Pike and Keyleth frowned but got closer. Vex opened the door a little more for them and saw them trying to hold in laughter as well.

The boys were piled in one bed, squeezed together like books on Percy’s overcrowded bookshelf, Vax by the wall and Percy in the middle, nose buried in Scanlan’s hair while Vax had his arms around both of them and practically lay atop of them, as if to cover them like a blanket.

And their scents mixed in the air, creating a heady aroma that Vex couldn’t help but take a long, deep lungful of.

“Aww, you guys!” Keyleth cooed, a little too loudly. Both Vex and Pike shushed her. “Sorry.”

Luckily, the boys didn’t wake. Vax seemed to be on the way, but ended up only rubbing his cheek against Percy’s and then settling again, snoring softly.

Gosh, but they were so scent-drunk. Vex had known that they had had a lovely night with Percy’s scent uncovered. She knew from experience just how delicious it was, after all. A lot of experience.

“We should let them sleep,” Pike suggested.

“Yeah, they’re too adorable,” Keyleth agreed.

“And they won’t stop bitching at us when there’s no breakfast left,” Vex replied, but she felt reluctant herself to wake them. They just looked so… peaceful. So content. They all deserved it after the shitty previous days.

Thunder seemed to boom as heavy footsteps ascended the stairs, followed by a deep voice yelling at full volume: “You guys going down yet? Cause they’re about to run out of bacon!” Grog proclaimed.

The boys on the bed startled as one, limbs getting tangled up, shoves leading to pushes leading to shoves. They tumbled out of the bed with a string of yelps and curses.

Now Vex laughed. She just couldn’t keep it in when her brother was flapping around like a fish out of water, trying to free his hair from the buttons of Percy’s sleep shirt.

“Wait, did something happen?” Grog peeked over her shoulder and frowned. “Why are you all on the floor?”

The three men stilled their useless untangling just enough to blink at him without a bit of comprehension in their wide eyes, then slowly disentangled their limbs.

“What time is it?” Vax slurred, rubbing his head.

“Time for breakfast, brother!” Vex replied, feeling an energetic cheer overcome her as she skipped over towards him. “You three are wasting the daylight!”

What answered her were three synchronised groans.

She left them to gather their wits, joining Grog and Pike in their search for breakfast downstairs. She was not at all surprised that Keyleth stayed behind.

Nor was she surprised when a short while later, Percy and Keyleth came down together. Keyleth had a beautiful black collar with a blue shawl and matching gloves; Percy’s were a natural brown and grass green.

Vex smiled to herself as she observed the pure happiness on their faces. The shared hesitance, even when they both looked at the other like they hung the sun and the moon and the stars. The joy.

She met Pike’s eyes from across the table and smiled. Pike responded in kind, then rose to greet Keyleth.

Vex got up as well – she couldn’t help a quick press of her wrist against Percy’s hair, ruining the carefully constructed way he styled it. Her mate threw her a dismayed look, but she easily saw beyond it – easily saw the way he tilted into her touch, the tiny motion with which he rubbed his cheek against her fingertips when she retracted her hand, returning the scenting best as he could with most of his scent glands covered.

She’d long grown used to that. That was just how Percy was. Uptight, reserved, brilliant Percy.

As they all sat down to see what remained of the inn’s food stock after last night’s impromptu celebration, Vex found herself grinning the entire time. She felt that it was going to be a good day.