“So, you’re an elf,” Wyll said, as they walked toward the campfire together. It was more of a statement than a question, but Hermey nodded anyway.

Shadowheart and Karlach had split up to gather the members of their party, who had all set up their tents haphazardly around the clearing. Hermey had followed Shadowheart until she explained the situation to Wyll, but she had suggested that it would be quicker if the two of them just went together to the fire - that way, Hermey wouldn’t have to explain the situation quite so many times. Hermey was fine with that - out of everyone he’d met at the camp so far, Wyll seemed to be the most normal, except perhaps the dog.

Wyll hummed as though he understood - of everyone, he’d been the most accepting of Hermey’s story. He didn’t even stop to ask any follow-up questions when Shadowheart told him that he’d come from the North Pole. Perhaps he was just saving it for the group. “Well, you’re lucky that you ended up with us,” Wyll continued. “Some people around here are a bit peculiar, but we’re all good in a fight. You could have run into a far worse fate had you encountered a pack of gnolls on the road.”

“Is that why there were so many bodies lying on the road?” Hermey asked, a small shiver running down his spine as he remembered the gruesome sight. With the long lives of elves, he’d encountered all of one death before he’d come to this place. Since he crash-landed, though, it seemed like his life was full of the dead and the dying.

“In part,” Wyll answered with a slow nod. “Gnolls have been an annoyance for us while we’ve been on the road, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a few people fell to them. But there are also other reasons - goblins, traps, other monsters, each other. Faerûn can be a dangerous place.”

Hermey sat down on one of the logs surrounding the dead campfire, in part to keep from fainting again. What kind of world had he ended up in? Wyll sat down silently next to him, seeming to notice that he needed a minute to process. Hermey deeply breathed in, trying to steady his heart rate. Even the constant sounds of nature here were foreign to him, although not unpleasant. A nearby bird chirped in a tree, and some sort of grinding sound overlaid the background. Just as he noticed it, though, the sound stopped. He looked up, half expecting to see something that would be making the noise, but instead, he just saw a tall, bearded man in purple robes heading his way.

“Is this our new guest?” he asked. His voice was kind, similar to Wyll’s, and it immediately eased the tension in Hermey’s chest. Other than the dark tattoo that peaked out from under his robes, the man looked quite normal.

“It is!” Wyll said, when he sensed that Hermey wasn’t ready to speak. “Hermey, this is Gale. Gale, Hermey.”

Gale leaned down and extended his hand to Hermey. He took it, and Gale gave it a vigorous shake. “A pleasure to meet you, Hermey! Have I heard correctly that you’re going to be joining our group? Karlach seemed overly excited about it, and I, for one, always relish the chance to have someone new around camp.”

“I…I’m not sure yet,” Hermey finally managed to squeak out. Even though most of the people he’d met so far had been nice, he was still unused to being the center of attention. It wore on him in a way he wouldn’t have expected. “It depends on what the group thinks.”

“Ahh, no matter. I imagine that Astarion will be against it, of course,” he said, more to Wyll than to Hermey now. “He’s never wanted someone to join the group, after all, except for Karlach. Lae’zel might also be against it, but solely because the more people she had to drag to the creche, the longer the journey might take. But the rest of us will be more than happy to welcome any help that we can get!” Gale turned his attention back to Hermey, scanning his eyes over him quickly. “Karlach said you didn’t bring any weapons with you - are you a magic user as well, then?” Gale spun his hand in a slight circle, conjuring a pale blue light around it. “It’s far more useful than a sword in many situations, but it’s hard to convince the fighters of that. Nevertheless, I could use someone else with similar skills around here.”

Hermey watched as the blue light slowly faded around his hand as he talked. “I suppose?” he slowly answered. “We all had a bit of magic that we used when creating toys in the workshop, but I haven’t had a reason to try it out here.” Hermey thought about trying to conjure some of his magic - a bright, white light as opposed to the blue that Gale had created - but it would be useless unless he had a toy to center it on.

“A toy workshop?” Wyll asked, raising his eyes. “Were you living in Baldur’s Gate as well, then?”

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“No,” Hermey said, pushing the thoughts of his magic aside. “I was at the North Pole, in Santa’s workshop.”

“Well, if this Santa owns a warehouse full of magical beings, then he’s quite the powerful entity,” Gale said, musingly. “It’s fortunate, then, that we have one of this own on our side - we already have enough powerful enemies as is.”

Was Santa still on his side, Hermey wondered to himself. He had run away, after all. Plus, Santa hadn’t been too enthused about having a dentist on the team. But whether he particularly cared for Hermey at all, he thought, Santa still wouldn’t attack him.

Shadowheart and Karlach turned from around the corner, followed by what Hermey assumed was the last person from camp. As she appeared from behind them, Hermey abruptly stood up, his heart racing. The person behind them was a green woman with pinched features. Her eyes locked on his, and she stopped in her path, obviously recognizing him.

“Chk,” she said. “I saw him on the ship. He’s also infected.”

Shadowheart stopped at her words, her eyes tearing into Hermey. “You’ve got a parasite?”

“Is that what you’re calling the worm that slid into my eye, then yes,” Hermey said, taking a few steps toward the woman. She wasn’t exactly what he might call comforting, but she was the first familiar face he’d seen in days. The woman narrowed her eyes and reached behind her, touching something behind her back. As he stepped forward, he felt a hand grab onto his shoulder to hold him back, and he looked to find Wyll, not looking at him, but still holding him in place.

“So, we’ve got another person on the list of the infected - all the more reason to add him to the group,” Wyll said after a heartbeat too long of silence.

“We cannot add every istik who is infected to the camp,” spat the green woman. “If we take any more people, it will slow our journey to the creche.”

“Maybe your journey would have been faster alone, Lae’zel,” Gale said, and Hermey noted the green woman’s name, “but Karlach and Astarion have been out fighting away the gnolls. While I don’t think any of us doubts your prowess in battle, fighting a group of six gnolls by yourself is still likely to be a death sentence. Plus, there’s no way you could get through the goblin camp yourself.”

“Which is a side track we should not be taking,” answered Lae’zel.

“But Halsin -” started Shadowheart.

“Cannot do as much for us as the ghustil could,” answered Lae’zel.

“And this,” Wyll said stepping toward the middle of the circle they had formed as they debated, “is a discussion we can be having at a later time. Perhaps when we’re to leave in the morning. But for now, the question is whether we should allow Hermey to stay with us. I vote in favor.”

Lae’zel blew a small chunk of hair out from in front of her face, clearly irritated, but she said “I vote we don’t collect any more stragglers.”

“So that’s one yay and one nay,” Wyll said with a nod. “Gale.”

“Yes, of course! I could use another hand in the kitchen, and I greatly look forward to hearing more about this mysterious troupe of snow elves.”

Wyll continued on, gathering a vote from everyone in the group, while Hermey stood there, patiently waiting to hear his fate. He tried not to look at anyone in particular, but rather just started at the slowly darkening sky surrounding the camp. In the end, it was 4-2, with only Lae’zel and Astarion voting to not allow him to join (Astarion only voting no because he “didn’t want to carry a body back from the next fight,” which Hermey couldn’t help but agree with).

“So, it’s all settled,” Wyll said, turning back to Hermey. Hermey couldn’t help but think of how he’d said those same words to Rudolph right before he’d gotten into this mess. It seemed that deciding that things were settled did not make them so. “You’re welcome in our camp. We’ll look for something to craft a tent for you the next time we’re out. For now, feel free to get some sleep, and I’ll take the first watch.”

Slowly, the members of the party started to leave toward their respective tents. Eventually, Shadowheart returned to him with a small bit of gray fabric in her hands. “I apologize for this,” she started, “but right now, we don’t have much in terms of clothes that are your size. You’re about the size of a goblin, though, so when we get to the goblin camp tomorrow, maybe we can find something. Until then,” she said, shoving the gray fabric into Hermey’s hands, “you can at least wear this like a robe.”

Hermey unbunched the lump of fabric and held the large gray shirt up to the light of the campfire. Indeed, it was nearly as long as he was tall, and while it probably wouldn’t be the most comfortable thing he’d ever worn, it would be significantly cooler than the pants he currently had on. “Thank you,” he said, trying to convey every bit of gratefulness he could into those words. “I really appreciate the chance to join you. I don’t think I’m cut out for a life on the road.”

Shadowheart laughed lightly. “Oh, we can tell. We’ll find some way to make it worth our while, though.” She inclined her head slightly toward the patch of mostly flat ground that Hermey had decided would be his resting spot for the night. “You’d better get some sleep. Lae’zel had never been one to let us sleep in, and we’ve got a big day ahead of us, what with the goblin camp and all.”

Hermey still didn’t know what a goblin camp was, but it didn’t matter. He’d be there for it regardless because it still had to be better than trying to find his way through this world alone. And besides, he was too exhausted to argue.

As he lay down on the rough ground to sleep, he couldn’t help but think about how his life had changed in these few days. This was significantly better than sleeping in the woods, hoping he’d be fine until the next morning, but it was still miles away from the comfort of the beds in Santa’s workshop. But, he thought with a slight smile on his face, no matter what he had to go through to get it, he was at least finally free to be who he wanted to be. Despite it all, that was enough for him.