Akon finally made her way to the den, Captain still in tow. "Damnation if I am not loosing my strength..." mumbled the woman, pressing the healer's den door open.
It wasn't long before the warlock rose thereon after to exit the den for a short while.
She returned then with a small creaking of the den door, fresh herbs of mint and lemon grass bunched in her grasp. She went about laying the aromaticly soothing and awakening plants around the Captain in his slumber, placing the last bunch in a vase of water by his head bedside table. "Hopefully this will at least bring you some solace." she said, expecting no response as she looked again to the captain and settled back down next to him, a leather bound book pulled from her robes as she began to study its contents.
Outside, "footsteps" could be heard. There was a crunch of one foot on the gravel and a sliding of the other. If one was to look outside they would see a large, male Angori trying his best to make it to the center of town with what appeared to be a broken leg, using a large staff as his crutch.
Spotting the nearby building, the Angori made his way, slowly, but with determination, towards it. arriving at the steps, he pounds on the door with a fist and shouts, "Anyone home in there?! Could use a little assistance if'n ya don't mind."
Not able to stand on his broken leg any longer, he sits down abruptly and roughly on the steps at his feet, cursing as he did so.
Chataya, returning to her home in the Healer's Den from gathering some herbs and water, sees the Angori on her steps and runs to his side, setting the water she was carrying on the ground.
"What in the world? What happened? Who are you?" She asks, looking the Angori over to assess his damage. "Is your leg broken?", she asks, eyeing the staff. Not waiting for an answer, she starts to step around him, struggling with the door since her arms are full. "Let me fix that. Stay here!"
She steps inside, suddenly aware of a strange smell. She stands still, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darker interior, as the door closes at her back. As she regains her sight, she sees Valez and Akon, then notices the Captain lying prone, and then the herbs and flowers strewn around him. Then sees the tome in Akon's lap. She gasps and drops her armful of herbs and plants to the ground at her feet and rushes to the Captain's side.
"WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!" She shouts, turning to Akon. "What are you doing?! This is a place of healing and rest! Why does it look like you are going to perform a ritual? Why is he in bed? What did you do to him?" Chataya's face is red with anger and surprise. "I have someone with a broken leg on my front steps and you in here with him. I was only gone a little while! Explain yourself!"
As the woman ran to his side and asked if his leg was broken, the Angori was about to reply, but then she ran inside and started speaking angrily to someone. He didn't hear all that was said, but he heard enough to know that there was someone else hurt inside. The first thing that came to his mind was, what am I? Chopped liver? But he didn't say anything. He just sat there.
"Hey, um, excuse me? I, ah, well, I hate to intrude, but my leg does kind of hurt a little. I did fall from the top of a tree a couple of hours ago, but take your time. I'll just be out here... in the hot sun... with no water or shade... Oh and it's nice to meet you too," he said as the woman finished shouting.
Akon glance up from her tome, to Chataya, then to the door, setting down the tome and folding it closed as she rose to the door. The brown leather book had golden lettering elegantly pressed into it reading "Primal Power and its Sources: A Guide to Finding and Channeling the Sources of the Prime."
She picked up the water the ixifar had abandoned at the door side, lifting it calmly to the Angori's grasp. "Its mint and lemongrass, Chataya. Thier aroma is known to be soothing and stimulating. The Captains mind was overcome by visions and hauntings at the edge of the void so I fetched him back here and brought him to the best place for him. Here." She nodded to the Angori, her voice flat. "You will be tended to. Though my methods of bone setting are primative and Chataya will tend to you momentarily." She said, knowing the ixifar would be over in a moment in a flurry that was all too characteristic of the ixifarian woman.
Taking the water from the woman, the Angori held it for a second and then took three long draughts emptying the entire container. He blinked with a mildly suprised look on his face and said with a slight laugh, "Well sir! I didn't know I was that thirsty. I'll be glad to get you some more out of thanks for ya helpin' me."
The Angori looked over his shoulder towards the inside of the building at the man lying down and then he looked back up at the woman who handed him the water.
"I thankee kindly for the water. I probably woulda' perished to death out here if I had gone another hour. Been walkin' on this leg for a few already. Oh and it's nice to meet you too! Im Garrok by the way. Garrok of... of Glesmyr," he said mildly defeated.
"Ahh, but no matter," said he with a slight improvement in attitude. "What's done is done."
Chataya watched all that happened, with her mouth hanging slightly open in surprise. The quiet response to her outburst made her little tirade seem especially loud, and the difference was startling. She glanced from the herbs around the captain, to the tome, to Akon giving the Angori some water, and back again. She shook herself and closed her mouth, recovering from the abrupt end of her anger.
"Well." She said, brushing some non-existant wrinkles from her skirt. "Well."
She turned and walked briskly to the shutters covering the nearest window and opened them. "We could at least have some light in here..." she muttered under her breath, opening each window in turn.
She turned around to face in Valez and Akon's direction, not quite looking them in the eyes. Clearing her throat, her cheeks slightly pink with embarassment, she says "Valez, Akon. Please, do help our guest inside so that I may tend to his leg." She turned away from them rather quickly and hurried to gather some extra pillows to help support the Angori.
Chataya turned to the newcomer with a glare. "You don't know what you're talking about, so if you want healing, I suggest you keep your "guesses" to yourself." She threw the extra pillows back into the closet she pulled them from, and then grabbed the warlock's book, sat in a chair, and opened it.
Akon watched and listened to the angori as he drank and spake, but her gaze would give the uncanny feeling that she was reading far more than just his words. The woman looked as plain and dull as death itself, but her senses drew in every minor detail about the man, down the small line of sweat dropplets rimming his upper lip. She not only seemed to observe him, but seemed to absorb everything about him. Her red eyes set upon him, reading deeper into what he said, what his tone gave away, and what his slight bodily manerisms portrayed, that he might even feel it, unsettling, like a slight lump in the throat. But the feeling would be broken monentarily as the dark woman reached for the now drained water flask and rose to aid him. "Can you stand," the same monotonous tone broke forth, her still uncomfortable gaze set dully upon him.
"Yes, Ma'am," said Garrok to the woman who just opened the shutters. He then looked up at the lady beside him with the same innocent look until he met her eyes. His slight smile faded and his brow furrowed at the sight. It was only a miniscule moment of time, but he didn't know what to think as she stared, red eyes and all, into his own.
He then looked quickly away and handed her the empty container of what once had water in it as she asked if he could stand. He cleared his throat and said with an unsettled tone, "I, uh.. yes. I can stand." With that, he grasped his staff in his hand and used it to slowly raise himself from the steps, turning to face the threshold of the building.
Akon moved to place her shoulder under his own on the side of the broken leg, attempting to move with him and support his injured side as he walked towards the bed. She set the emptied flask down as she walked in with him, glancing at the book Chataya had picked up, and aiding the large angori to his own cot. When they had knelt together she offered her own hip flask from her belt, it sloshing with what seemed to be water. She offered it to the angori. "Water. Though I won't be offened if you choose not to drink. I would never drink from an Uordeq's flask myself, but I assure you, it's just water."
She set the flask down beside him, letting him choose to take it or not, then walked to the edge of the room, leaning back against the wall, drawing her hood up against the newly lit room and the suns rays, eyes narrowing against the light as she folded her arms, dull gaze wandering back to look on the Captain's still unconcious form.
With the aid of the small dark woman and the other male, Garrok made his way slowly to the bed. Sitting down and laying back, he was offered a drink from the dark woman's hip flask. She set it down and he took it up and squeezed a mouthful from its contents seeming to completely forget the feeling he had before.
"An Urodeq, eh? I haven't seen one of you for almost ten years. We don't get many travelers from other shards back home. The only incident I've heard of recently that had strange folks about was something about a large group of people that came through a portal a couple mests back. Don't know much about it, but they sure did leave in a hurry. I guess the 'wildlife' was a little much."
Setting the flask back down with a slight laugh, he said, "And apparently people have trust issues with your kind, hmm? Well, I figure if they haven't done me wrong, there's no reason not to trust them." He looked over to the woman healer and squinted with a puzzled look on his face noticing the feathers about her and said, "Now pardon me, but I don't ever think ive seen one of your kind before."
"An Ixifar, huh? Ok, well there are all kinds I guess," Garrok said with another slight laugh. Then he said, "As for my trip here, ahh... well you see I was walking through snow storm towards an Scargrim camp that I knew and I saw this portal. When I got right next to it to inspect it, I was attacked by 4, no, 7 gigantic Ice Wolves!" He held his arms wide and high to represent the size.
"I killed two of them with my staff here and sent one flying through the portal. It started to close slightly as the other wolves charged me. I turned and ran through it and it took me here. But it opened 50, no 100 feet in the air! So I fell and landed on a tree, bouncing off of all the branches then I hit the ground, breaking my leg."
Garrok reached down and lightly touched his knee in order not to jar the leg. He continued by saying, "After a few minutes I got up and made my way here. It's about two hours walk north west from here if you want to see the clothes I left behind and the corpse of the wolf I tossed through the portal. Where am I anyway? What's this place called?"
"Jastrey." Akon answered simply. "Welcome...." She said, less than enthusiastically. "This place isn't for everyone, but if you like turmoil constantly trying to make you go insane, rip your soul from your chest, comsume your existance, force you into subserviance, plauge you, haunt you, or burn you alive to become another pawn for a dracolitch's army, then you've come to the right place." Her tone was entirely serrious, as she glanced to the book again that Chataya was reading before asking the Ixifar.
"Are you going to heal him? Or shall I tend to him....?" She asked matter of factly, as if she didn't care either way, her tone monotously plain and showing no emotion in the slightest.
Chataya sighs, and stands up, placing the book in her seat. "I will tend to his leg now, but if he's going to make it in this town, he'd do well to cease making assumptions and stop telling exaggerated tales."
She pulls another chair over to the Angori's bedside, and begins to cast a healing spell on his leg. [Renew Limb]
When the task is done, she stands, walks back to her chair, and resumes reading from the book.
As his leg is mended he feels a slight tingling sensation flow through it. "Wow! I didn't know it was going to itch that much," he said as he started scratching it vigorously. "But anyway, I wasn't exaggerating... ok maybe a little, but I still fell out of a flying portal!"
After finishing speaking he thought to himself, 'I wouldn't have to make assumptions if you didn't make it so painfully obvious...'
A wry smirk licked the very edge's of the warlocks lips as a flash of amusement darted over her gaze as she looked back at the ixifar reading her book. "What? Assumptions like every time I'm around herbs and reading from books that I am summoning some pit of hell to open up and consume the town?" The warlock's tone hinted a jab of humor.
Chataya snorts derisively. "Well, you do have a bad... record for such things, and in the very recent past. So, can you blame me? That IS what you do." She smiles at her friend.
"And anyway, it was pretty obvious that I was surprised by the whole situation." She turns a page, and then glances back up at the warlock. "It is nice to see you joke though; it's rather unusual."
She turns to the rude Angori. "This is the Healer's Den, for people who are hurt or sick. You seem to be well now," she said pointedly.
Akon kept the slight hint of bemusement about her smirk, eyeing the Angori with the same hint of amusement dancing about her usually dull gaze. "I joke all the time, it's just usually missed or overlooked. I guess it's hard to pick up on the subtly? Afterall, if I wasn't dragging something dead, or dead looking through town I wouldn't be doing my job properly. It -is- what I do, afterall, isn't it...?" She smirked back at the woman her tone still in jest. "What do you think of that text? It's not as enlightening as I would like, personally. The author seems a bit of an amature for the quality of material I was hoping for."
Accepting the Ixifar's comment with no reaction, the tall Angori stood on his now whole limb and said, "Miss, I believe we have reached a point to where an apology is needed, so I am sorry for the assumptions I have made and for how I have acted thus far. My name is Garrok and it is a pleasure to make your aquaintance. Perhaps I can return the favor in full one day, but for now I guess more water will have to do." He then dipped his horns in a slight bow.
Kollista had wandered through town for a good bit after leaving Silver Dragoran standing alone in the field as she searched for a healer. Finally, passing by an open window, she heard a female voice say something about it being the healer's den and for sick people, as if scolding someone. She tugged at her witch's hat excitedly, inspite of the sharp sting it brought to tender, burnt fingers. She had found the place for help at last!
When the gnomeling poked her head in they were saying something about a book, "Um. 'Scuse me? I'm very sorrys to intrude, yes yes, but I needses help from a healers please?"
Chataya looked up at the tall Angori. "Why, thank you, Garrock. I am please to meet you as well, and pleased to help you."
She looks over at the now empty container. "Some water would be lovely. I wasn't expecting it to go that quickly." She smiles. When the gnome poked her head in, she stood up. "Hello, I am Chataya, and I am a healer. What do you need? Come in and sit down on a bed if you like."
"I was hoping for something a bit more indepth about linking to the actual sources....one can call upon the power of the Prime, and I've been to the Primal plane..but how does one concentrate it...... That is what I hope to learn...it's complicated...more of the art of a magus, rather than a healer, as it's focusing on theory and structural allignments of the primal element rather than the use of it...." Akon squints, amusement fading as she ponders to herself. "It's a start but -" Akon cuts off as she sees the gnome....the witch hat.....if any hint of amusement was left in the warlock, it had just as quickly gone as her eyes fixed dully on the small form before her.
Before turning to address the Ixifar that introduced herself as Chataya, Kollista huffed and took off her hat before jumping up to swat at the Angori male's horns with it and swearing at the sharp sting of her burns, "I am a GNOME thank you very much! OW! Oh Bolts!!"
Settling down she turned to Chataya and smiled, settling her hat back in place, "I'm Kollista Nightbane. You can calls me Kolli if yah wants to. I seems to have burned myself. One of my 'speriments esploded.... again." She gestured to the black smudges on her face, hiding a burn on one rosy cheek and across her nose, then held out her hands that were raw, and slightly blistered. "I'd really appreciate it if you could fix me Miss Chataya."
Garrok pulled his head back from the attacking hat taking no more notice of it than a fly around his head then said with a broad smile, "Oh! You're what a Gnome is! Ive only ever seen dwarves up in Glesmyr and they've only ever talked about their kin the Gnomes. Im sorry I called you a human. I know you like being short and stuff."
Garrok then sat back down on the cot behind him so he was almost level with the new arrival.
"Alright then..." She replies reluctantly to the Angori, before half skipping over to the bed pointed out by Chataya. She eyes the Uordeq woman. Scary... Dark... Uordeq... Was this the lady Miss Glimmer warned her about? Sitting down she smiles at the Ixifar woman and then turns to the Uordeq, "Thank you very much. Hey. You. Scary Deki lady. Is you the Akons Miss Glimmers told me about? Or is you another creepy deki lady?"
The smile wasn't returned. Akon merely glanced at Chataya in acknowledgement. Not a hint could be read off the woman, as she went about watching the small gnome with her characteristic solumn ambience and dull, fixed stare. The only hint that something was sturing in Akon's chest was the slight heat that burned the very inner rings of the warlock's embered gaze. She didn't reply to the gnome's question, but merely stared at her over the arms folded at her chest.
Garrok looks over at Akon and says in agreement with the Gnome, "You know? You can be a little creepy sometimes. Like earlier." After saying that he thought about it and then returned to sitting quietly on the bed watching the unfolding events feeling like he shouldn't have said anything at all.
Chataya sensed the rising tensions and shook her head. "Garrok, can you go fetch that water please? Akon, can you get me some clean linen from the closet there? Kollista, would you please lay down, and rest quietly? It will be easier for your wounds to heal if you don't speak for now." She pulled a chair and sat in front of the gnome, effectively blocking her sight of the rest of the room, fully expecting her requests to be followed. "Please, rest," she said to the gnome quietly.
Kollista's wide eyed, innocent gaze on Akon was replaced for just the barest portion of a second by a darker glint that added a strange quality to her smile. Then it was gone, as if it had never been, when she obeyed the Ixifarian healer and lay down without another word.
Garrok stood and saluted to Chataya. "Aye, Marm. Will do, be back in a tick."
With that Garrok took his staff and exited the building heading back to the river he passed on the way to town. He was about 50 yards away when he stopped in his tracks and turned to come running back to the Healers Den, poking his head through the door.
"Forgot the bucket," he said with an embarrassed grin. Then he stepped off again.
Kollista blinked when the voice reached her and she turned her head to glimps at what she could see of Akon around Chataya. A creepily adorable giggle filled the room. The pitch of her voice lowered, though her volume did not, "Dead things. Squirrrels to be exact. I LOVE dead things."
Kollista's smile widened and her eyes narrowed, her childish demeanor seemed to have slipped away entirely. It was almost as if a switch had been flipped, "Who says it was for purposes I shouldn't use it for? I know what uses an undead animal has. Still... From what I hear, you know all about messing with powers for improper purposes 'blowing up' in your face in one way or another. Unless there's another Akon in town?"
"Alright then!" Chataya stands, speaking louder than usual. "I will let you two work this out. I'll just be over here when you're done." She goes and resumes her place in her chair, and opens the book again. She looks up at Akon and the gnome with no amusement in her eyes. "Keep this in mind: this is my home, as well as a place where people can find solace and rest. Treat it with care." She returns to her book.
"Actions have consequences. I'm willing to accept the consequences of my own." Akon eyed the small gnomes wounds, as she lifted herself off the wall and walked towards the door. "I'll be within voice's reach, madam Chataya." She opened the door, then let it close behind her quietly.
Kollista laughed her creepy little giggle at Akon's response, the sound showing sincere amusement. It would be rather clear that, perhaps, the little creature wasn't all there. "So, you mean to tell me you've never sought healing when you couldn't fix yourself? Owning an action and a consequence is one thing, sheer stupidity of overlong, martyrous suffering is another. No wonder miss Glimmer said there were no masters in this town... If all it's warlocks talk like you do. "
Before the other Warlock even reached the door to exit, the switch had flipped again and the childish bubbly Kollista resurfaced as though she had never left. "I'm sorry Miss Chatayas. I didn't mean for any disturbances. I'd love some help if you're still willings to gives it."
Delvin's form came dashing from the tree line, left hand clasped firmly about his right wrist as if he was tugging himself along by the limb. He reached his destination in a matter of seconds. He rapped franticly at the door to the healer's den door, enjoyed the beat and started tapping out a rythm for a few moments. His head bobbed to the beat in his noggin for a moment before he gave into his deep seated and sincere need have his wound seen too, barging into the door only to come face to face with Akon as she was attempting to take her exit.
"Akon!!" he'd shout as he forced his right pointer under her nose, "It's in me....it's in me and I don't know what to doooo" Large wattery eyes and a look of sheer terror crossed his face, though just a tiny barb seemed to pierce his finger, "i uhm..." his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed into the floor with a little twitch. This is what happens when an apothecary tries to make poisons.....<15 tox, self>
Akon stopped short looking down at the now collapsed elf. She merely blinked, her masked emotion still perfectly hidden as she bent over him. She lifted his hand to her eye level, seeing the splinter. She plucked it free, then looked at it carefully, seeing the coating on it. "Hrmn...." She pondered, looking down at the elf which was now not breathing.... "Eterjil's grace and divination upon you..." She mumered as her palm graced his chest, powers seeping into him and healing him slightly. (Heal 4).
Delvin's body convulsed under Akon's healing touch, his back arching against the magics that coursed through his veins and purged him of the toxins that had already began to dissolve the musculature of his hand. The surge of energy felt as cold as ice as it worked to reknit the damaged flesh, her touch left him with nary a scar to indicate his trouble.
Brilliant blues fluttered open and he gazed upwards towards Akon, and his features were that of a boy who had lain eyes upon the moon for the very first time. "you....saved me" he beamed at her. That mischevious grin of his would quickly creep upon his features, "So, I'm just making bandages from here on out, gonna leave all the poisons to the tiny one" he nodded.
He inhaled the air in the room, noticing the distinct scent of lemon grass and mint, "hey!" he saw the Captain on the bed, tilted his head and uttered a "....hey..." once the severity of the situation sunk in he glanced back to Akon with a tilt of his head and just offered her a slight nod as pieces fell together. "Thanks...is it bad?" he'd ask, nodding towards Belle.
Akon glanced back at Belle, ignoring the gnome's comments, and shutting the door behind her. "We will see how he is when he wakes." She remarked back to him. "Thank you for helping me gather the herbs." She looked down at the splinter between her finger and thumb, and ignited it with a flash of dark energy and a glint of fire in her eyes. Something dark worked over the woman as she walked away from the healer's den.
Chataya dropped the book off the floor and put her head in her hands wearily. "This is ridiculous." She walked over to the gnome, placed a hand on her head, and healed her. [Heal 9] She turned to Delvin, and placing a hand on his chest, healed him. [Heal 9] She turned, grabbed her staff and a bag, and turned and walked out of the Healer's Den. "Close the door when you leave. I'm sleeping somewhere else..." she said wearily, frustration and tiredness evident in her voice. She mumbled to herself as she walked away from the door, "...supposed to be restful... so much arguing... can't just get along... Mama Cha Cha indeed... I FEEL like a mother... grow up..."
Kollista relaxed slightly as the gentle tingling sensation of the healer's spell did it's work and the sting of the burns faded. She could only giggle a little at the woman's frustration as she left. It sounded so funny in her ears. Of course, she could have her own fair few mutterings over that Akon lady herself. Suffer burns indeed! Bah. Failure was a consequence. Making people mad was a consequence. Injury was an inadvertent reaction to the failure. She knew when to ask for help, alright. Silly Deki.
Without another word, she hopped up and skipped from the Healer's Den and toward the tavern. She needed some tea.
Garrok returned many hours later, having gotten lost on his way back due to the unfamiliar territory, with the bucket of water in hand. He walked up to the healers den and knocked three times, but no one came to the door. He opened it slightly to stick his head in and looked around. Seeing no one, he laid the bucket just inside the threshold and closed the door shut again.
"Jeez. The least you could have done was wait for me to get back...," he mumbled under his breathe as he walked towards the center of town. "Maybe i'll see miss Chataya later and tell her that her water is here."
Garrok kept on walking slow in order to take in all the new plants and scenery in around him.
Trudging through the doorway, the warlock peered in then went about dropping the Captain's limp form less than gracefully onto one of the cots. She drug him square and lifted his feet and hands to rest propery at his sides. She removed his boots and various weaponry, placing them within reach for when he woke. Tucking blanket and pillow about his form the warlock drew back and looked down at the man with an edge of sorrow hinting in her gaze upon him. Brushing a stray hair from his brow with a slender, delicate finger, she murmured sadly. " I warned you..." She sighed, then drew a deeper breath and sat back in a chair beside him. "But we all make mistakes. I only hope this one doesnt take your sanity with it. But should you wake and your mind be your own, I will help you rectify the damage should your heart be set to the right task." She sighed once more watching the captain slumber.