And he did go searching for him, going back to the area around to docks and finding and looking in all the obvious places he could've hidden from the sun. But he wasn't in any of them, and with the sun now setting, it would soon be possible for him to truly be anywhere. Eventually he gave up, knowing how hard it would be to find him if he didn't want to be found. Also, he knew by then there was someone else he badly wanted to talk to, especially since he was someone who might very much choose to leave Baldur's Gate at any time.
He had seen Zevlor during the battle, long enough to observe both that he seemed to have regained his paladin's powers, and also the recklessness with which he had fought, the complete indifference to his own survival. He had also heard that he had nonetheless survived, and had felt his heart lift itself in relief and joy. Now he went to look for those who might know his current location.
It was both surprising and not when it was Withers, whom he found in the company of Chancellor Florrick and also Isobel, who was able to tell him. On his direction, he headed back to the High Hall, and to its courtyard, where he found him sitting before the pyre of one of the two Hellriders who had followed him into battle that day. The pyre was nearly burned down, and while Withers had noted the other Hellrider had also gone there, it seemed she had since left.
It was reassurance to Halsin, just to see him still alive and well, and for a few minutes, it was enough to just sit down beside him and watch the flames continue to slowly die down. Then, because he knew he ought to know, he asked, "What was his name?"
"Polli," Zevlor answered softly. "I think I had met him and Lansike back in Elturel, briefly, but I didn't truly know either of them before we were cast out. I'm still surprised they agreed to follow me today. I felt the need to ask Lansike if she regrets that now. She insisted she didn't, but she's so devastated to lose him. Could only bear to stay here for so long."
"I know," Halsin said to him, "that you would rather have died in his stead. I know the feeling well. But I remain glad you still live."
"I suppose it's good that someone is," sighed Zevlor. "For what it's worth, I would have been glad to live as well, if they both had."
That was, Halsin supposed, better than him feeling otherwise. But it wasn't enough, nor for him, and now he needed to tell this man that. Tell him everything, whatever that might lead to, because if he went with his current plans, he'd have to do it before then, and that was if Zevlor didn't leave first.
"From the time I first met you," he said, "it seems to me you've found too little value in yourself, and I'm not talking about your being a warrior, or a leader, but about being a person."
"But I've always been willing to give me life for those I protect," Zevlor replied. "Surely you understand that. I know you would have always given your life for the Grove and its inhabitants without hesitation."
"I would have," Halsin acknowledged. "But I've felt like it is more than that for you. Like you cannot imagine any other fate for yourself, even like it's all you've ever been for, like it's all you're worth. And when I have also come to think you've never had any idea how extraordinary a creature you truly are."
"I am?" Zevlor actually chuckled. "Archdruid, I know I can do a few things most people can't, but, well, you saw how I let that get to my head, just because I lost a few things. You were down there in that pit to hear my confession. You know exactly what sort of fool, at best, I proved myself to be in the end."
"But that's just it," Halsin said, with enough fervor, now, for Zevlor to turn and look at him in confusion. "I knew you were something special when you first came to the Grove. You reminded me of who I used to be, perhaps, or maybe who I wanted to be, but failed to be against the shadow curse, and then even against the politics of the Grove. The truth is I was losing myself when I met you, and you were so brave and strong, and dedicated, and in spite of having been betrayed by that dedication."
"Do you know," Zevlor asked, "that I asked your leader to kill Kagha? And I didn't even know about any Shadow Druids at the time. I did so purely out of fear, and anger."
"I heard about it, yes." Halsin did have to pause there, to push past the pain and guilt he still felt over Kagha, would feel for years yet. But then he got himself to continue, "It was a harsh measure indeed. But I know what would have happened to your people, had she had her way about it. I cannot blame you for being willing to do anything to save them. The ones at fault for that were her, and the Shadow Druids, and also, truly, myself. Not you.
I know now I was drawn to you even then, but I had neither time nor space to even think about it, let alone speak. Until we came to the Last Light Inn, and learned what had happened. And the possible means of breaking the curse were there, of course, so I still couldn't think about it much, but even then, I still felt a desperate need to know why, and, even more, to know whether you were still alive, and still yourself.
And when I heard your words... I don't think we can ever know how much of your mind was your own, when you did what you did. I know how you feel about it, but allow me to insist on that as someone who knows something about forces that can have an effect on someone's mind like that. But what I knew for sure then was this: even if the Absolute did nothing at all to your mind, even if, in a moment of weakness, you succumbed to temptation of your own free will, knowing so would not change how I feel about you. Yes, I would forgive you, even for that. Which makes me certain of my heart."
"A moment of weakness?" Zevlor repeated, almost angry, Halsin feared. "A mere moment of weakness?!"
"That's what it was, at worst," Halsin insisted. "A terrible moment, a terrible act, and certainly we all understand those who will not forgive you. But I still will, and it was still only one moment, and one act, and one you have been making up for since. And don't think I didn't notice what you were able to do when we were on the battlefield together. The powers you told me you'd lost upon leaving Elturel, they're back, aren't they? You earned them back. Now what does that tell you, my still young man?" He had called him that once already, back in the Grove. At the time Zevlor had responded with a weary smile, the strongest one Halsin had gotten from him there.
Now, instead made him sigh, "Oh, you..." before lunging forward and kissing him hard.
Oh, gods, Halsin had waited so long for this. And so, perhaps, had Zevlor, if the hungry way he was kissing and clumsily pawing at him was any indication. His own hands found his back, his sides, his ass, reached up into his hair and barely stopped at his horns before forcing himself to draw back.
"Please touch them," Zevlor whispered, before he could even ask then moved to plant kisses on Halsin's neck, his throat, as his tail joined his hands and slid under his shirt. Halsin ran his fingers over his horns, kissed them, ran kisses down his forehead and around his eyes before returning down to his lips, savoring the tiny moans coming out of Zevlor, then the louder one as his tongue pushed past his and into his mouth.
He himself moaned as Zevlor's tail found his nipples, and one of his hands found his thigh where he was sensitive, before he outright climbed into his lap and ground down into him, their erections pressed up against each other through two layers of cloth, an almost unbearable heat.
Still, he was genuinely surprised when Zevlor reached down and started pulling at the ties on their breeches. He wouldn't have thought he'd be willing to do this here and now, with the pyre of his fallen man still not yet gone out. But when Halsin pulled away to ask the question, he hissed, "Now that I know I can have this, I don't want to wait any longer, unless you can tell me of a place we can go to, and quickly. I only have the room I'm still sharing with Lensike, and she said she was going back there."
Halsin gave a moment's thought to the Elfsong, but not only was it some ways away, but there was no certainty of privacy once they got there, and enough of the Tieflings were there he doubted Zevlor could move through the place without facing their hostility. "Here then," he said, his words turning into a groan as Zevlor's tail promptly pushed its way into his breeches and smallclothes and shamelessly wrapped itself around his cock. "I'm afraid this won't take long anyway."
"I know," Zevlor murmured, and he helped Halsin unlace his own leggings, until they could both get their hands in, and around each other. Zevlor was wonderfully hot and hard, and Halsin's fingers greedily mapped every last ridge on his cock, even as he moved his hand up and down, his pace quickening as he eagerly bucked harder and harder. Zevlor's hand and tail combined were enough to nearly engulf him completely, and his hand enough for him thrust into. And then he croaked out, "Oh, it's been long," and his hot breath fell on Halsin's ear a moment before his tongue followed, running up the lobe to suck hard on the sensitive tip. Halsin heard a ragged cry come from his own mouth, as sweet release shot through his body and into Zevlor's hand.
Zevlor himself lasted maybe half a minute longer. Halsin savored every moment of it, every thrust, every moan, every kiss each of them still pressed to the other's skin, and Zevlor's tightening around him as he got louder in his pleasure, before he too shuddered and spilled over Halsin's hand.
Vague thoughts about cleaning up crossed his mind, but he didn't want to stop holding his new lover. The two of them clung to each other in the night, alternating more kisses with just breathing together, Zevlor's breaths still ragged and raw.
Finally, Zevlor asked, "What now? I know you don't want to stay here, and I still have duties to Lensike, and to the city, at least for a little while longer."
"I won't leave tomorrow," Halsin said. "But no, I won't stay here either." And so it was to Zevlor that he spoke aloud for the first time his plans about the future, at least as far as his mind had been able to form them so far. "You oath," he said to him, "was to defend a community, and I think we know now that community doesn't have to be Elturel. Give me a few months, and I can have one for you."
He watched Zevlor take a moment to think about this, before he said, "I'm not sure it's not for a proper city. But whatever my divine oath thinks, the one I've made in my heart is one I would be honored to fulfill with you, and those you take in.
I know how you are, of course. I know what you are and are not willing to give to me, or take from me. But if you can have a place for me at your side, and in your bed, when the time comes, then I shall take joy in it for however many years the two of us can have together."
"As shall I, my heart," Halsin said to him, with another fierce kiss. "As shall I."