Shadows and Pebbles

Barrow's Dell

--- ''A sheltered hollow with a bowl-shaped dell at the bottom that rests within the western side of the hill known as Barrow's Range. Old wooden supports prevent the roof of the dell from collapsing, while a smooth tunnel connects the dell to the ruins above.''

Gaps in the wall of the dell permit a panoramic view of the western horizon from a vantage point of three hundred feet above the ground, granting those within a presentation of the rolling grasslands below the hill that gradually darken to become a vast desert of ashen soil far to the west.

''A ring of stones in the middle of the dell presents a well-used shelter for camp fires, while a branch of whatever natural spring keeps the clear pool of water up in the ruins filled trickles down into this area, providing a rocky pool of clean water. The occasional carrot or potato also seem to grow here, apparently having been planted by other travellers over the years.''

A refuge from the elements deep within the core of the hill, Barrow's Dell remains an safe haven for those looking for a night of safe sleep, or for those wishing to heal wounds after an unfortunate encounter.

---

The redhead is lying with Garis's tail curled around her, elements of her features suggest she has cried earlier. Fox has just awakened and lied to the mage about feeling all right. Kallyn's brow furrows and she pokes the 'uncoil' spot on Garis's tail so she can stand and approach the huntress, concerned, "You're lying. Try again, honestly this time. How are you feeling?"

Garis's tail uncoils automagically as the Syladris already seems to be heading to sleep, body relaxing.

Taran emerges from the gate-tunnel, into the firelight. "Celeste came," he says. "She says no other she knows of could have helped, either. So we are fortunate." He heads over to the fire, visibly drained. "But gate and ride...I need to rest."

Blackfox blinks again at Kallyn, "I just...I think Taran's words have gotten to me. I close my eyes and it seems that it is too dark..." Her green eyes look a bit glazed and her tanned features flushed as she looks over to the door at Taran's words.

Celeste follows a few steps behind the mage. No glowy armor, but there's a sheen about the woman, from her hair to her eyes. "We came as quickly as we could," she offers up in an apologetic tone.

The redhead crouches beside Blackfox and examines her, "No, I don't think it was Taran's words... You don't look so good." Kallyn looks up and nods to the bard, muttering a "Good night" to him before looking to Celeste, "Do you think you can help her, Celeste?" The mage touches Fox's cheek lightly, as if to check her temperature, and nibbles on her own lower lip.

The huntress is warm to the touch, far too warm considering the icy temperatures of the Wildlands night. She looks to Celeste, "I told them I did not wish to trouble you. It is a long way to have come so quickly."

Celeste waves off the huntress's words, smiling down to her fondly. She steps closer, lowering to join the two. "Don't worry over me, Blackfox. I would have scaled the Aegis itself to be at your side," she states with sincerity. "Tell me what happened, alright?"

"She has a fever," Kallyn adds at feeling Fox's warmth, "I'm going to see if I can't find some ice to help cool her down some. Call for me if you need me, my friends." With that, the redhead rises to seek ice. It's winter, how hard could that be?

"I had gone to check the traps near the cave," Blackfox's words are soft and a bit slurred as she struggles to focus. "A young bear was already dead in one trap, an older one just caught and so I finished it off when a third charged. Still, I backed away and sent two arrows into its throat and drove it back into the cave. It was clear then so I began to dress the two kills, and still I kept an eye on the cave. I never even heard the beast before it struck, and were it not for Tyder's armor I think it would have taken my arm off. I had already loaded much of the two bears into the wagon and Velvel dove in and snapped at the thing before it could come at me again. I dove into the wagon and called for Velvel to follow as Charmer panicked and took off, but I saw the creature well. It was not just a bear but one twisted by shadow, and as we fled it roared and then...then it was simply not there."

The Mikin is quiet throughout the re-telling. Though she does reach out to test Fox's fever and brush hair from her forehead. "You will have to show me this cave when you've recovered, Blackfox. Then I will send for the others to see about what we can do to help," she explains. There's a nervousness to her actions as she leans closer.

Kallyn is not gone long, returning with a decent-sized icicle. She a cloth from Larentia's saddlebag and breaks the ice in two, wrapping one half in the cloth and returning to Fox's side. "This is going to be cold," Kallyn warns, before gently putting the clothed ice to the base of the huntresses's neck, on the side opposite her wound so as to keep out of Celeste's way. She offers up the other piece of ice to Celeste, if she needs it.

Blackfox shivers as the ice is applied, nodding to Celeste, "If enough people can be gathered, it should be hunted and slain, but it...it is deadly dangerous and should not be treated lightly. So often it seems the threats of the Wildlands are dismissed..." She shivers again, turning her head so Celeste can see the deep gashes at the joint where neck and shoulder meet, above the line of the armor. The flesh around the wounds is a deep red and swollen, streaked with a darkness that fades and shifts like a living thing.

"I never dismiss you, dear," Celeste sighs heavily. She offers a grateful smile to Kallyn, but doesn't reach for the ice. Instead leaning up on her knees, she places hands, bare and worn, over the torn flesh. Soft murmurings of a whispered prayer fall from the Mikin's lips. Light, pure and golden, glows from beneath her hands and soothe into the torn flesh.

The wound reacts like nothing Celeste has ever seen before, the flesh rippling like a rancid wave upon an ocean of blood and shadow. Before the wounds knit, they burst open, emitting a noxious stench of death and decay, blood pouring down Blackfox's arm and chest. But more than just fluids seep from the wounds as a dark and oily cloud rises with a deep and eerie screech like the death cry of some vile and unspeakable thing. The young huntress cries out and bucks beneath the woman's touch as the light lances through her neck and shoulder, shredding the darkness in the blink of an eye and scattering it into oblivion. With a soft moan of relief, Fox goes limp, her eyes fluttering closed as the cleric's touch mends her wounds as if they never were.

A mix of mild envy and awe crosses Kallyn's features as the Light heeds Celeste's prayer. The mage keeps the clothed ice to Fox's neck, setting the other hunk on the ground and reaching with the back of her now-free hand to test the woman's fever. Add alarm and concern to Kallyn's features at Fox's reaction.

Celeste sighs with relief as the toxin draws from her friend. She gives a look to Kallyn and waves towards a far area. "She should probably rest for a bit. Thank you for the ice, Kallyn," she states and watches over the huntress once more.

The fever already fades and Fox's color returns as she rests, her breathing deep and steady.

Kallyn removes the ice at feeling Blackfox's temperature go down, unwrapping it and wringing out the cloth of the cold water that has melted into it. She nods in response to Celeste's thanks, smokey eyes not able to actually look into the Sunkissed woman's. The mage girl moves to help Fox into the position she was sleeping in earlier (where she's at, because that's where she was sleeping) and murmurs softly to Celeste, "You wouldn't happen to have seen Varal since the last time I saw you...?"

Celeste sighs, and shakes her head. "I fear my cousin is upset over an exchange we shared," she confesses and inches back to be out of the way of the ministrations. "Why do you ask, Kallyn?"

Velvel nudges Kallyn with her nose, half checking her out, half accepting her help as Blackfox is eased back against the great wolf who once again curls protectively around her charge.

"I was wondering how he's recovering...," Kallyn replies, a trace of guilt lining her tone as she steps back to let Fox sleep, "We got into a spar in front of Light's Watch that night and it got a bit ugly..." She does not go into more detail than that, and the half-flat way her words come out suggests that she has been upset about this already and doesn't have it in her to do so again.

"Why do you two butt heads so," Celeste replies. "He did not mention this spar to me. Wait, we saw one another once. He came to help me kick a man from my home... in a polite way."

"He was moving all right?" Kallyn asks, genuinely concerned, "He took three volleys of lightning to the chest, I've been worrying myself sick..." As for the question, "It had nothing to do with the fact that it was him. We had spoken before of the sparring, he wanted to learn how to counter Shadow powers. But I refused to throw fireballs at him or use lightning in a harmful way. He seemed offended that I thought I could actually hurt him. That night, while I was upset and I had just said some rather... hurtful things to Kael, I made a remark that I was no longer opposed to using hurtful spells, and so we went to Light's Watch and... he barely walked away from it; if it hadn't been for his archers, I could've..." This is a source of three emotions: pain, guilt, and fear. Primarily the latter.

"You frighten yourself," Celeste states and returns to wrap an arm about the other woman's shoulders. "Yes, the last I saw, he was walking. But I had not realized you two had fought so hard."

"I attacked him with the full intention of killing him, Celeste, of course I'm afraid of that," Kallyn replies flatly, "This was worse than any sort of burst, it wasn't even fueled by rage. I was... cold, and cruel... and... I tried to stop it at first, but it was like I wasn't in my body... And after I hurt him the first time, I... it..." A great amount of shame comes over the girl's features and she seems to shrink.

Celeste grimaces, nodding while she listens silently. "Now you see why the shadow is so truly dangerous, Kallyn. How easy it is to truly fall, if you're not careful. But may I ask why stopped, if your intent was to kill. What finally stayed your hand?"

"His archers drew their bows and that glowing wolf started advancing on me," Kallyn replies, "That didn't do it, though... IT was when he stopped them and asked me to leave that... that the feeling, the..." the redhead almost looks like she's going to be ill as she tries to spit out the next few words, "the... sick sadistic pleasure I was getting... it just vanished... and then I realized what I'd done and broke down. Apologized a few times and ran off..."

"Do you think that you'd wish to fall to such a temptation again, Kallyn," the Mikin prompts gently. "Or would you fight yourself from losing such control."

"I fought then and failed," Kallyn replies, "And after I failed and I hurt him, I stopped trying to stop it... It felt too good, I just... let it happen..." She shakes a bit, "I don't want it to happen again, Celeste, but... but I don't know what would happen if it was going to... If I would try to fight it again or let it happene again... I just don't know..."

"We find strength where we can, Kallyn. Some find it in another person, or in themselves. But you've the power to control it. You just need only figure out where your strength lies, and how to call on it," Celeste explains. "Then you can conquer this darker side, and not cave to its siren's song."

"I don't know my strength. I know my weakness, but not my strength," Kallyn replies, "And I happen to know that said weakness is permanent. Such emotional scars do not heal." She shakes her head, "My solution is the same as before. If I cut myself off, I cannot hurt people and there is no one to make me feel betrayed. It removes the weakness and the danger should another weakness cause problems."

"I once met a girl who knew only hate and pain. She locked away these emotions until they ate away at her. Then one day, she was offered the power to hurt those that could hurt her, and still stayed her hand. She found her strength lay in those that loved her. That with their support, and knowing of their love, she could conquer her own pain. Kallyn, death isn't the answer. It robs those that love you of your light," Celeste explains. "Think on it. This does not have to defeat you, dear. It's but a lesson you are meant to learn from."

"Not death. Hermitage," Kallyn clarifies, "And I thought I had learned before, Celeste. I was /better/, I had it under control. And then my /horse/... my stupid /horse/ is what knocked me down to a level worse than before." She is speaking quietly enough not to wake those who are sleeping, but is still using a tone that gets the point across, "What am I supposed to do, Celeste? Even if I do get it under control again, I'm not going to know it because of this. I'll just keep fretting and dreading the day that some small pebble of a thing is going to trigger parts of me to tear everything down again..."

"So you work to guard against the pebbles, dear," Celeste counters. "There's a time each person faces the same turmoil, only you've an ability to make what you wish to do and can do a reality. You do not need to sequester yourself away, Kallyn. Again, it does not solve the true issue. Speak with Kael, dear. I think he will be able to help you to learn control, but you will always be guarding against that pebble. It is just of what is a part of you, Kallyn."

"My 'pebble' is loss," Kallyn replies, "Betrayals, deaths, disappearances... There is no way to guard against it." She rises and returns to where she was before, between her wolf and Garis (whose tail manages to wrap itself around her again, what's with that?), "I have obligations to take care of in the Refuge, else I would have Blackfox take me to another defensible little spot like this one and just stay there. I intend to speak with Taran about this in tomorrow, if I can... I think he might be able to give me another perspective on it, as what I've seen of his temper seems to resemble what was like."

"Kallyn, I understand loss. Truly I do," Celeste sighs and rests her head in her hands. "When I wished nothing more than to be a knight, it was taken from me. My Church corrupted and used as a killer until I was forced to fight. We all have our battles and struggles. We can choose to allow them to make us stronger or defeat us. Your battle is more internal, for the shadow bears its price. Look to your friends, and those that love you, Kallyn. And you will see what strength awaits you. But I should let you sleep, and the same for me. The ride was draining in a great many ways."

"Everyone knows loss," Kallyn comments, "Doesn't mean we all react to it the same..." She curls up a bit into Larentia's fur and Garis's tail, "Pleasant dreams, Celeste. And before I forget: next time you see Varal, please tell him I apologized a few more times and offered to let him take a few shots at me as payback. And thank you to his men for not shooting."

"May you find your Light, Kallyn," Celeste sighs and pads out a bit of blankets for her own makeshift pallet. "And I will tell him. I'm sure that he will understand in time."