IC V Against the Current

[Admiral]

If the Minister notices Miriam's turmoil, he doesn't show it. He hands over the envelope. "I'll make the remaining arrangements. If while you are in Hulburg you need to get a message to me, go to the Hulburg embassy in the capital city of Providencia- the details are in the envelope. But know that you are neither spies nor soldiers of this government- if you run into trouble with the guilds, we cannot help you. Now, let me have your names for my records." It occurs to the party that he had never asked for an introduction.

Once each member of the party has shared their names, Asdyr calls out to the guard, who opens the door and begins to escort them out. As they leave, be suddenly holds up his hand. "Hold on a moment...

As he looks down at the desk, his lips curl into a slight smile, a mechanical expression devoid of friendliness. "An amusing coincidence," he says, glancing at the gnome and the wizard. "Shiny, and Mithril."

"I hear everything that happens in this city, the momentuous and the trivial. There was an injured wanderer found on the outskirts of the city late last night, now recovering in a hospital bed under the care of the clerics. She was so badly wounded that she was barely conscious, and what words she did say were babbling nonsense. The soldiers were joking that the young girl must be an armorer- the only words they could make sense of were "shiny mithril."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Frankly, she'd lost any sensation in her feet hours ago. She couldn't remember much from the first days, other than coming to slung over the shoulders of fleeing giants. Somehow, she'd managed to escape. She'd nearly broken a leg rushing down the cliff, but she'd escaped.

Then came the long road back to Hulburg, on her own. No horses, no friends, nobody coming to save her. They probably thought her dead. No, that wasn't going to happen.

It was...the third day, maybe. She couldn't escape all the spiders, not before one of them sank its fangs deep into her side. And without Miriam's magic, all Natalia could do was press the herbs into the wound, try to staunch the bleeding and curtail the infection.

It didn't work. By the time she'd made it back to Hulburg, the world swam in a shimmering haze around her, every step made her whimper with pain, and she'd spent almost a day unconscious before the pain of that infected wound forced her awake. Shaking and flush with fever, she'd made it almost to the gates before collapsing. There was simply nothing left in her.

She felt something, someone pick her up. She couldn't remember what she muttered in her delirium, but she remembered saying, "Shiny...Mithril..."

[achinca]

Miriam looks at Mithril but says nothing "Could it be Natalia?"

[Athedia]

Mithril's eyes widened and she stumbled forward stablizing herself on the desk."Where is she? Please take me too her, please...."

Natalia if it is you I am so sorry I drove you away. What happened to you?

[Admiral]

"She's at the city hospital- likely in the tent set up for long-term recovery of wounded soldiers, under the care of the priestesses of Pelor. The hospital is in the eastern district." With that, the Minister seems to lose interest in the party before him, and the guard ushers them out of City Hall.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt follows behind the others, baffled to think little Natalia might be alive, still. "It's almost more than I could hope..."

[Athedia]

As soon as they left the office Mithril started heading toward the eastern district asking all the people she passed where she could find the hospital. The closer she got the faster she went.

[Admiral]

The party rushes across the city, an increasingly anxious Mithril leading the way. They approach the hospital, a moderately sized building with a few large tents propped outside to handle the excess of injured soldiers returning from battle.

A quick word with a priest at the front directs them to the largest tent. Upon entering, they see over a hundred beds, on each of which lies a recuperating soldier. Scanning the long rows of beds seems hopeless, until the party finally spots a single bruised, unconscious young woman in the far corner- her clothes are covered in dirt, but there is no mistaking her.

[Athedia]

Mithril grabbed a passing priest. "Why is she still hurt? Why has no-one seen to her?" Releasing the priest she ran to Natalia's side. There wasn't much she could do to cure her, but she could make her look more presentable. Muttering a few words to herself she hovered her hands over Natalia's body, slowly moving them further up. The dirty, damaged clothes knit themselves back together and cleaned through the magic pouring through her hands.

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Mending and Prestidigitation

[CoffeeIncluded]

Her face is still flushed with fever and her breath is still harsher than it should be, but Natalia's no longer shaking uncontrollably or gasping. She's not quite resting, but she's no longer in the delirium that she had sunk into the previous day.

As Mithril runs her hand along Natalia's side, though she's unconscious, the rogue's face contorts and she lets out a short keening noise of pain, too high-pitched to be a moan.

[Athedia]

Mithril jumped back, startled. "No, no. I didn't mean to hurt her. Miriam what am I supposed to do? Please help me." this is all my fault.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia's breathing evens slightly, even though a bit of blood appears where Mithril withdrew her hand. Something in her mind stirs a bit at the voice.

Warm, know it...Miriam...Said...said by...

There's a tiny noise, almost like a question, nearly imperceptible, at the back of her throat.

[achinca]

Miriam is choking and fighting tears. She thought Natalia was dead but seeing her is such a bad shape freaks her out.

"Let me take a look at her" She examines Natalia and announces "I can see she has been poisoned but sadly I have not prepared that spell. I can however heal her for everything else but the poison."

She caresses Natalia's sweaty forehead "Why did you leave Little One?" adopting Valen moniker for the rogue. "Where you afraid? It is OK. Sometimes running away is the smartest decision."

She touches Natalia with the top of her quarterstaff where a crude symbol of St. Cuthbert was carved and heals Natalia with her most powerful healing spell.

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Let me know if you want rolls

[Admiral]

Natalia's wounds heal at the touch of the cleric's staff, and the girl sputters awake.

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Go ahead and roll for healing- Natalia was stable at -1

[Cavelcade]

Kurt's rugged face breaks out in a grin at the sight of her stirring, relief palpable from his expression as she stirs and stops crying out. "Natalia! You are alive!"

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia's eyes fly open with a sudden gasp. She feels it before she sees it, the slight itchiness of a healing wound. Healing. And before her, standing right in front of her, it's--it's--

"Real?" she asks, tentatively touching Miriam's hand. Warm and springy and the same color as always in her head. Natalia smiles, and tries to fight back tears. "Real...Home," she says, voice choking up, gingerly pulling herself upright, then throwing herself onto her friends' embracing them and supporting herself with their weight. "The way back home."

[Athedia]

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Even Mithril was not quite sure who she was thanking, Miriam for healing Natalia or Natalia for being alive. "I promise not to drive you away again, I swear." Feeling the wand strung from her belt poke her side she pulled it out. "I made this, remember that light spell that hurt the orcs? This is it again, just like my other one."

[CoffeeIncluded]

"Drive away?" Natalia holds them tighter, utterly confused. She pulls back a bit, looks at them and says, "No, fell. Giants, stones, fell. Then carried, then ran back. Or tried." She lifts up her shirt a bit to show the now-healing wound on her side. Thick and ugly, it would definitely scar.

She smiles as Mithril presents her newest wand, presses her fingers against the smooth wood. "More light, good light. Find our way. You want...more markings? Like before?"

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Is it okay if Natalia casts from it now? If not, that's fine too.

[Admiral]

Shiny joins in the hug once Natalia sits up- he'd been silent since the Ministry, but seems to be back to his normal self. "Glad to see you wake up, sleepybones! I hope you remember me- Shiny Stargazer, astrologist and marriage counselor."

Once he steps back, he takes a look around. "Do we need to stay here? It can't be good for her recovery, or for my lunch. Let's head back to the inn, hear her story on the way?"

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia smiles a bit. "Thought it...Shiny Giantfooler. They seemed...agitated."

She laughs, gives a tiny nod. "Think I can walk." The rogue gingerly gets up with a wince. She has to support herself on Mithril's shoulders, the only one taller than her, but she can walk.

[Cavelcade]

Kurt hugs her for a moment as she stands, patting her back before he walks beside her, keeping half an eye on her the whole time as they walk, in case she looks like falling.

"Lunch and catching up, that sounds good."

[CoffeeIncluded]

One thing Natalia's always been is graceful, light and quick on her feet. Here, she leans against Mithril as she walks, angling her body so her side avoids pressing into anything, and yet she still stumbles as she follows the others. "...Thought I was done," she says, quietly. "Didn't run, but...Taken. Remember stones?" She rolls up her sleeve; her arm's a mass of fading bruises. "Hit, then fell."

Natalia sighs and continues her story. "Woke on giants' back, too weak to run, too far to run. Camp like bowl, heard panic echo around the walls. Saw scuffed stone. Shiny, was...that you?" She smiles. "Found what? Gemstone?"

She then pauses. Her eyes go wide. "...Valen?" Everything goes cold inside when she notices his absence. Please don't be dead please don't be dead.

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So she's at 19/40 HP right now? I might need some more healing before tomorrow morning.

Also, if Natalia seems kind of out of it, that's because she is. She'll be better tomorrow.

[Athedia]

Mithril saw the fear in the younger girl's eyes. "No worries, he was moved by the fight and felt he would do more good alongside the soldiers. So he enlisted, I would not fear for him as of yet."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia sighs. "So...Everyone okay? Despite my foolishness?" Her relief is easily visible. If she'd let someone die because she was dumb enough to get knocked off the ramparts and kidnapped, she'd never forgive herself. If that had happened, dying in the woods wouldn't be punishment enough.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Natalia bites her tongue as she looks down at her hands. They're clean...Mithril must have cleaned her. Was that the pressure she felt somewhere while unconscious?

"Where you went...without me? There and back, but time spent how?"

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I'm kinda surprised nobody picked up on the fact that the first thing Natalia said upon waking up and seeing her friends was, "Home."

[achinca]

As Natalia awakens and is in decent health, Miriam steps back and let the reunion with Mithril and Shiny happens.

She knows how important these two are for the rogue as she was the ones calling as she was delirious.

The cleric stays back and wait. If the group decides to leave to go to the inn, she follows.

[Admiral]

Natalia sighs. "So...Everyone okay? Despite my foolishness?"

"I would hardly say we're okay," Shiny says gravely. "I've had the most irritating melody ("The Thousand Troubles of Tallman Trafalgar") stuck in my head all morning. But you can't keep blaming yourself for that, or you'll go mad."

The party reaches the inn, where the manager has laid out a sparse but welcome lunch downstairs. Shiny dives in and is silent for a bit, before asking, his mouth full of food, "so who's going to tell her about our next journey?"

[achinca]

Miriam opens her mouth and then closes it without saying a word. She realizes it is better for Mithril to speak.

[CoffeeIncluded]

It's not until they sit down in front of the meal that Natalia starts salivating and realizes just how hungry she is. When was the last time she'd had a proper meal? Not since being separated, that's for sure. Then again, she hadn't really had much of an appetite. But now it's returned with a vengeance, and she starts eating with gusto, cramming rolls and strips of meat into her mouth faster than she can swallow the food, draining her drink as fast as she can.

Natalia tries talking through her mouthful of food several times; on the third failed attempt of even being able to get a single muffled syllable out, she actually waits to swallow her meal and asks, "Found strings of Hooded one? Leading back to puppetmaster?"

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I think Athedia's got a final...like right now, actually.

[Athedia]

Mithril snapped from the daze she sat in. "Sorry, I was just thinking about how we eat this food and why we feel and hear. Have you ever thought about why some plants only have bees around them but others have birds instead... it is very curious.... Anyway yes, Natalia I know you are still injured and it may be too soon for you to join us in this, but we have been asked to go across the water to follow the source of the alliance. Unfortunately we will have to become citizens there, to keep our guise and safety intact. "

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Yeah, I was at my bio final.