"Silvanus has to fuck. He was the one who made rabbits like that, anyway. Loviatar fucks."

"I feel like you should choose Silvanus. At least that way you can guarantee all your skin stays attached." Why did he get drawn into this conversation?

"...and these are the gods of...?"

"Nature and pain, respectively. I recall the latter was a friend of Shar's," he says pointedly.

"Was."

"I would fuck the god of nature but fucking the god of pain seems ill-advised."

"I didn't realise  you only went for good ideas," Astarion jokes.

And so with one thing and another the party continues, until everyone has gone to bed except Lae'zel and Cayden who are doing something halfway between wrestling and cuddling.

You see, staying awake the longest has become a competition, and she fully intends to beat Cayden.

And if she can't find a creche soon enough, her life left will be measured in hours, and it would be a shame to waste it on sleeping.

It would be a shame to waste those hours syewing. ...it would also be a shame to waste Cayden's undivided attention, too.

She kisses him. 

...he pulls away. "Is this what you want?"

"Why would I do this if I didn't want to?"

"Complicated interpersonal reasons? You think I want you to?"

"You're here. I'm willing. I want to."

"Let's go to my room."

There's not a lot of room in the Grove, but there's enough to get some privacy.

That night Cayden, dreams. 

He stands on a floating garden, rocks spinning through the starry void surrounding him. The night sky is brighter than he's seen in his life, the light almost rainbow.

And she stands in front of him, resplendent in golden full plate.

"You're right to want to save the tadpoles."

He drops to his knees. "My lady."

(He realizes he prayed for this specifically but it's still weird to have it, like, happen.)

"Get off the floor, we do not have time for ceremony."

He gets up.

...That's oddly brusque for Desna. He always thought she'd be more rangerly.

"I am protecting you from the change, but there's a limit to how much I can let my attention stray from doing so. There is a battle raging, one you do not understand yet.

Mind flayers control their own. You are the tadpoles' best protection from that. Find other houseless tadpoles. Ally with them. You are each other's best chance in the battle where you are."

"Who are you?"

"Someone on your side."

"I don't know if Desna can hear you,  here. But I can."

"Ma'am, you understand why that's not particularly convincing."

"I have chosen to prioritise giving you the information you need over rhetoric, and over creating an elaborate deception of being a servant of Desna."

A new celestial body drifts above them, like a moon rise if the moon was... a giant skull covered by shimmery rainbow shields. Beings of light fly around it, clash, and disintegrate.

"We honestly do not have much time."