OOM: All Skate Skellig Dream Magic Weirdness? -Part Two

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu intended to dance in the sky with Skellig the very next day, but events have conspired to prevent that from occurring. A raid on the village by former soldiers meant many wounded to heal and much damage to fix. Akatan's sister, Neferet, has a definite crush, an infatuation, with Skellig. She hasn't done anything but look and exchange some friendly words, but it still makes her brother FURIOUS.

For all that Euripedes was from a different time and place, a line he had Medea speak in the play of the same name still rings true: "I would rather stand three times in the line of battle than once bear a child." Even with Kreyu's magic, with Taweret's skill, childbirth is incredibly dangerous. There are reasons why Taweret's goddess image of She Who Is Great has elements of the hippo, the lion, and the crocodile, a fearsome appearance to drive off the many threats facing a woman giving birth. The second birth in a week began this morning and was still going on when the sun began to set. Not a good sign.

Skellig, trying to burn off nervous energy while Kreyu was working, happened across a few of the village men drinking. They said things about Kreyu they should not have said. That he was FEEDING on Kreyu, drinking her blood. There...may have been a fight. At least they don't think he's a demon anymore, you can't give a demon a black eye in a brawl with your fists!

It is truly night now, and Skellig can hear Kreyu's tired footsteps on the road...

(OOC: Warning for explicit adult content starting around tag 194.)

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[brave_kreyu]

"Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" Taweret asks.

Kreyu starts to stir at the sound of Tawerets' voice, and his own awakening.

"Hello, Taweret," she says. The relief on the midwife's face is palpable.

"Good morning, dear. I am relieved to see you awake."

[27_53]

Skellig merely mutters something that sounds like 'morning', though it's hard to be exactly sure - an acknowledgement of being awake, paired with a pained groan. He rolls himself over, burying his head under the nearest pillow - possibly also into Kreyu's body. He's not exactly sure. He also doesn't care.

Everything hurts.

(Even with the faint traces of dragon blood still in his veins, the amount of energy he expended yesterday - mostly in his fight to beat back Death, to keep her from drowning - and the mental fortitude he had to call upon to stay sane...)

This morning is going to be a struggle. He weakly slings an arm around her, trying to hide his eyes.

[brave_kreyu]

"Skellig?" she asks, concerned, afraid, her heart speeding up.

Taweret makes a soothing noise. "The aftereffects of yesterday, nothing dreadful." She decides that Skellig needs beer, starts pouring him some more.

Kreyu's blood is still in the bucket, still un-clotted, as it was when he retched it up. Some lingering effect of what he did, perhaps, since it's certainly not natural!

Kreyu holds him close, blocks the sun from his eyes.

[27_53]

"Just...just need a minute."

(It feels as if the entire room is spinning in circles, the bed tilted at an awkward angle, perhaps even trying to walk out the door of its own volition with them held captive within it.)

His ears are ringing and he can't hear and even just the thought of movement makes him even more dizzy, so he presses his face into her body and holds tight to her, until the worst of the nausea and unsteadiness fades. The ringing in his ears eventually does as well, and he can feel her hand gently stroking over the back of his neck, refocusing on her heartbeat.

"Just...very dizzy."

Opening his eyes slowly, he looks for her (he knows she's right there, and she's looking at him, worried) and offers a weak smile.

"You've got me."

[brave_kreyu]

"I've got you," she echoes. His feathers are still woven into her hair, plastered to her body.

Tawaret coughs to get their attention as she finishes pouring the beer. "A drink might help," she offers.

[27_53]

"Drink...drink will definitely help."

It takes him a moment to right himself on the bed so he's at least sitting upright in it, and against the headboard for balance - the beer is taken as soon as he's sure he's not going to fall over.

He is still so very thirsty, but he forces himself not to down it all at once. He pauses to look over her form, feathers stuck to her skin. It takes serious willpower to force his mind to block out the images of blood pouring from her wounds, her bleeding out under his hands, but he manages.

Another drink.

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret has another drink ready for him when he finishes the first. It's almost like she's done this before.

"This many feathers," Kreyu says quietly. "You didn't damage yourself to give them to me, did you?"

[27_53]

Skellig carefully shakes his head, trading out mugs and sipping from the second with less urgency.

"No, my wings are fine." They might not be the prettiest, currently - he actually hasn't bothered to even check what they look like, since he got back. "I was still able to fly quite easily last night, after I left here."

[brave_kreyu]

"I'm glad," she replies. "Especially since you're likely to need them again soon."

She doesn't ask why he left, what happened to Akatan. Knowing what she knows of him, she can imagine only one reason and one response to what happened last night.

[27_53]

One downside of rapidly downing a mug and a half of beer, plus not getting out of bed for nearly a full day...he really has to pee, and he knows there is a place to do so outside. It is with great effort that he forces himself to his feet, balance wavering slightly - not unlike her attempt to stand after washing her legs...was that merely two nights before?

It feels like an eternity.

Sarcastically: "I should be fine...so long as I can walk first."

His kilt is covered in blood - most of it Kreyu's, but a bit of Akatan's as well - dried mud, grass stains, and probably some other things that he needs to ignore. He looks at himself, then to Taweret.

"Is there any chance you have another length of linen?"

[brave_kreyu]

Taweret nods. "I do, just a moment."

She fetches a length of linen. "This will do," she says. "Do you need help getting dressed?"

[27_53]

Skellig considers this offer briefly, before politely shaking his head.

"I do not tie the finest knots," he replies. "But Kreyu can vouch for me that I can manage well-enough on my own."

However, he does not bother to hide his body as he works the bloodied fabric off - though he does turn his back, more out of habit than anything else. (Kreyu will notice his hands struggling slightly with the folds, fingers stiff from overuse.)

[brave_kreyu]

She shifts in the bed, moves to reach him. "Let me help, please?" she asks.

[27_53]

He closes the distance between them wordlessly, allowing her to reach him without having to stretch or strain. While he knows that her body is well-healed and still improving, he will likely still be careful for some time yet.

[brave_kreyu]

She smiles when he closes the distance. Her hands are steady, graceful, as she ties the kilt on him.

"I will...explain to Taweret, while you are out. That I will need to leave for a bit."

[27_53]

"That would probably be easier for you to do so, than me," he murmurs softly, simply appreciating the closeness between them, the quiet. And if he takes the opportunity once she has finished to lean down and press his lips against her forehead? Then that is just using the advantage he has been given. "I will be quick."

As he takes his leave, he pauses at the table and glances down at the bucket beside it - her blood still looking just as it did when it somehow (how did he manage that, he isn't certain) moved from her lungs into his. He lingers just briefly, considering that thought, before he moves (cautiously) through the door.

[brave_kreyu]

The village is quieter than it should be, at this hour. The arrow is still in the wall of Taweret's house where it struck last night, but Akatan's bow is gone. Somewhere, there is weeping. (His sisters mourn him. He was not always what he made of himself at the end.)

Skellig hears snatches of whispers. That Akatan killed himself in remorse, that She Who is Great exacted vengeance through her children. None of them are blaming HIM for anything, yet.

[27_53]

Skellig goes about his business while listening to the whispers.

Some of them believe that Kreyu has perished and that Taweret and himself are simply holed up in her dwelling, mourning her loss. Others have heard rumor that Kreyu still lives, but is badly wounded, because how else could she be after an arrow? Nobody has seen her lover, the stranger Skellig, but if she has died then perhaps he is overcome with grief. And Akatan, there is so much circulating about him, about what has he done, where has he gone, how did he die?

But nobody is blaming HIM.

He finds it difficult to listen to the voices, and part of him considers (briefly) if perhaps they are not voices of whispers, but echoes of his own mind, of the words he heard last night?

Is he falling into madness? Is the Darkness taking greater hold of him?

[brave_kreyu]

Perhaps they are, perhaps they are not. But even if it IS taking greater hold of him, what would he do about it?

Would he LEAVE, break the heart he tried so hard to save? Abandon her as he said he would not?

Her heart is strong, and he can hear it even now.

[27_53]

"Stop listening," he mutters to himself, under his breath. "Just focus on her, she is what matters to you most. She is your heart in your chest, your breath in your lungs."

Skellig turns and heads back for the house once he is done and it is her heartbeat in his ears that brings him back to 'center', back to reality. He lingers at the doorway, glaring angrily at the arrow still-lodged in the frame before he reaches for it, yanking it out with a pull that is slightly stronger than a human would be able to manage.

(Nobody is looking or listening at this hour.)

Shaft in hand, he re-enters the space.

[brave_kreyu]

She's standing when he comes back in, dressed in a clean kilt. "Thank you, Taweret," she's saying. "We should be back within four days, if all goes well."

"You are most welcome," Taweret replies. "You have what you need for the trip at home?" Kreyu nods.

She walks to Skellig, her motions steady. His feathers are still in her hair, but she's removed the ones on her skin, the ones that were rather covered in blood. (Stowed them carefully away in a chest in Taweret's house.)

[27_53]

Initially, his reaction to the sight of her is of concern and worry - there is no need for her to be standing so soon! She needs to rest, to allow her body to heal...and then he remembers that she has already done that, has already been healed.

His eyes sweep quickly over her form, then back to her face. She is hungry, and as she mentioned - she needs to hunt. He will help her.

He glances to Taweret.

"I am in your debt," he says softly. He does not need to explain for what exactly that debt may be, but he figures that the midwife will understand what he is not saying. (The blessing to go forth, to act as Her hands, to exact justice.)

[brave_kreyu]

Kreyu can smell his concern, touches his arm gently.

"There is no debt, Skellig," Taweret replies. "Just keep yourself in one piece, if you can."

Kreyu is restless as they leave. "I feel a bit like I do when I've just incarnated, though nowhere near as strong. I may be a bit....feral, for a while." She flushes in embarrassment.

[27_53]

Skellig can sense the restlessness, the edge to her emotions and mood as they step out through the door - just hours ago, she fell to the ground here, where a stain of blood would have soaked into the earth had it not been for him to pull her off the dirt and drag her back inside to safety.

He also senses her embarrassment.

"Do not feel shame for what is your nature," he says simply, taking her hand - the one that does not hold that arrow, which he is taking with them on the walk back to Kreyu's home outside the wall. "It is who you are."

While they walk, Skellig does not hesitate to 'nudge' anyone who they come across (so few are out, as it is still quite early) to not See them. It is of little effort of him to do so, to cause them to become distracted by a sound in the other direction, or recall that they had something to do elsewhere, somewhere else to be or look.

"Your necklace shattered," he offers by way of explanation, in case she does not remember what happened, in that chaos. (He hopes she doesn't.) "When you had me Take from it, I think...I am not sure what happened, between our energy. But it was lost."

[brave_kreyu]

"Thank you. I know I am hungry, will want to eat and sleep a great deal. I will also crave items that have karma clinging to them. I don't know if it will have any effect on my human appetites." She squeezes his hand gently.

"I've never heard of a karmic item shattering before, but it would have lost its power after you used it in any case, used the last of its energy.

She sighs in relief as they enter her home. The karma here feels good. "We'll be gone several days. Can't carry enough beer for that, but I have spells to make water safe."

"I'll have to wear my dragon shape, to get to the sea fast enough. You should be able to hang on, where my neck meets my shoulders. It's far from ideal, but I don't think you'd let me go alone."