"You would have expected more intelligence when you are the one who will turn into ghaik and I am the one who knows how to stop the transformation."

"You'll also become one," he points out.

"And so you know that I have no reason to mislead you."

"...you know what, that's fair enough." He can find wherever the cage is attached to and cut the ropes. "Brace for the fall."

She does, and then she's on the ground. "I see the tadpole hasn't scrambled all your senses yet. Auspicious."

"What's your name? I'm Astarion and this is Shadowheart."

"Lae'zel. Now come, my people will possess a cure for this infection. I must find a crèche; you will join me. And you will not call me gith again if you want to keep your tongue."

He ignores the threat in favour of the more important bit. "A 'crèche'."

"A place my people maintain on the Prime Material. We will find a ghustil there, which will purify us of the ghaik tadpole."

"I suppose of all people githyanki would know best. And there's no way to stop the transformation without losing the powers...?"

Because, he has realised, the main thing that changed between when he was having his nice bath last night and now is the fact that he has a magic psychic tadpole in his head. So maybe...

"No. Your choices are purification or beheading."

It's a wide, wide world. He'll keep his options open. But this gith does not need to know that.

"I suppose we make our way to this crèche, then. Where, ah, is it."

"I do not know. But if we find this 'Zorru' those devilspawn mentioned, they may be able to tell us where they found my people."

"...I see." So she doesn't even have a proper lead. Figures.

"...I spotted a temple to the east. We should go there."

"East? The devilspawn spoke of the little druid's Grove to the northwest."

"And it will soon be sundown and we need to find somewhere to stay for the night before that happens."

"The parasite in your brain will not sleep. This is a waste of time."

"Maybe the parasite won't, but we must." Sort of. He's still a vampire (spawn) and an elf so he doesn't really have the same needs, but Shadowheart is a half-elf and does need to sleep. "How long do these transformations usually take?"

"Seven days is how long we have before the transformation is complete."

But...

"I caught that hesitation."

"We should be seeing signs of the transformation already. That we do not is... disturbing."

"But promising! Perhaps we do not need to worry so much."

"If you will not seek a cure I will kill you myself and rid the world of one more monstrosity," she says, reaching behind her back to wrap her hand around the hilt of her sword but not yet unsheathing it.

"We'll seek a cure. Tomorrow. When we are better rested and have not just miraculously survived a nautiloid crash and have better hold of our bearings."