Timestamp: 76th Winter 511 A.V. -- late afternoon
Cian Noc. The healer, the Opal Order man. The one who resides in the onetime outpost, on the outskirts of Denval.
The man who brought back long-buried feelings...
The man who brought back long-buried feelings...
Sela wore her anonymity like a cloak, a soft and warm cloak that sheltered her from the brewing hell around her. She existed in a perpetual state of indifference, scorn be to all the Denvalis that crossed her path on that long wintry walk. She was focused on one man in particular, and he was not of Denval origin. All others held no interest for her.
His name was Cian Noc, Sela had learned. She'd spied him from a distance in the marketplace. That had been a week and some odd days ago, but she remembered her reaction to his presence vividly. Wild and strnage...she'd felt feelings she'd long thought gone. Something about him brought back the repressed memories of the twined lovers and the stone, that damned, cursed stone. There was something about him that was the reason for the pull that had led her here. Sela knew it. Wanted it...
Further facts about the man had been easily acquired from the man in the Stranger's Welcome who had given her his name. Degtine and her prettiest smile had seen to that. Cian was a healer, ran a clinic in the building that had been a garrison outpost in her day, reconstructed into a place of healing in the current era. He was her target, the clinic her destination.
The walk was a long journey, the Opal Clinic being perched high on the Denvali cliffs like some overgrown bird of prey. But then again, the outpost hadn't been called as such for it's accessibility. Sela made do, and with that mindset, she found she had reached the clinic long before she'd thought her weak legs could have carried her. She remembered the trail better than she'd thought
Cheery light spilled out in an indolent arc around the entrance, illuminating a welcoming office that waited within. But Sela was loath to approach, skirting around the entrance like a snake around fire. She would dart in to see how close she could get, retreating when the burning sensation began.
She forced herself forward in the end, pushing past the turmoil inside of herself into the door of the healing center itself. She stood there, wavering and shaking in the doorway. Equal parts anxiety and caution struggled for dominance across her face. "Is Cian Noc in here?" She called out uncertainly, squinting to make out the figures that lay in the room beyond. "I'd...like to speak with him, if I may." It was only now that Sela began to consider how Cian would react to her presence. Would he know her for what she was, strip away the carefully placed defenses that she had constructed? Or would he be as clueless as all the rest?
There was a part of her that hoped it would be the former...
His name was Cian Noc, Sela had learned. She'd spied him from a distance in the marketplace. That had been a week and some odd days ago, but she remembered her reaction to his presence vividly. Wild and strnage...she'd felt feelings she'd long thought gone. Something about him brought back the repressed memories of the twined lovers and the stone, that damned, cursed stone. There was something about him that was the reason for the pull that had led her here. Sela knew it. Wanted it...
Further facts about the man had been easily acquired from the man in the Stranger's Welcome who had given her his name. Degtine and her prettiest smile had seen to that. Cian was a healer, ran a clinic in the building that had been a garrison outpost in her day, reconstructed into a place of healing in the current era. He was her target, the clinic her destination.
The walk was a long journey, the Opal Clinic being perched high on the Denvali cliffs like some overgrown bird of prey. But then again, the outpost hadn't been called as such for it's accessibility. Sela made do, and with that mindset, she found she had reached the clinic long before she'd thought her weak legs could have carried her. She remembered the trail better than she'd thought
Cheery light spilled out in an indolent arc around the entrance, illuminating a welcoming office that waited within. But Sela was loath to approach, skirting around the entrance like a snake around fire. She would dart in to see how close she could get, retreating when the burning sensation began.
She forced herself forward in the end, pushing past the turmoil inside of herself into the door of the healing center itself. She stood there, wavering and shaking in the doorway. Equal parts anxiety and caution struggled for dominance across her face. "Is Cian Noc in here?" She called out uncertainly, squinting to make out the figures that lay in the room beyond. "I'd...like to speak with him, if I may." It was only now that Sela began to consider how Cian would react to her presence. Would he know her for what she was, strip away the carefully placed defenses that she had constructed? Or would he be as clueless as all the rest?
There was a part of her that hoped it would be the former...