[The Quarters] In Sickness and In Health

[Mirage]

Amaryllis remained silent for a few ticks, her eyes weighing the situation. Through Eddy's vision the embalmer's aura would flicker into being, however, there was something odd about it. It flickered like a candle flame, making swift changes from dark blues to deep purples and back. There were some colors in between these two primary, but the visions were too blurry to make out. An outline of black surrounded the twisting flames that surrounded the nuit, edges frayed perhaps to indicate her undead state? The sent of rot grew stronger, overpowering the smells of perfume and embalming fluid, and there was a taste of iron. Blood...

"Very well." the Embalmer seemed to come to a decision, and she had switched back to common so Edreina could here. Her eyes, however, remained on Annalisa, "I will give you this knowledge in exchange for one thing. During the time you are indisposedYou will find out about this very soon ^.^ this summer I shall take your little slave under my wing. She will apprentice under me until your return to your normal Wizard duties later in the season. After that, she shall spend one in every seven days here with me. These are my terms, and you may choose to accept and gain the information I hold, or refuse and find another way to save the girl." She didn't smile. For whatever purpose Amaryllis had in this move, she did not seem the least bit amused. She did not even give a small smile of victory, which it should have been.

If Annalisa accepted the terms Amaryllis would not, unfolding and refolding her legs as she crossed her arms over her chest, "There is a secret known to only a precious few outside of the Wardens, and by telling this to you, you are also committing to keep the secret as well. There is in fact a Healer to be found here on Sahova. She resides in the Mudpools, guarded by the Warden Gresshal. Go there and you will find the help you need to save this slave." She paused, and now she smiled slowly, "Riyanna will guide you there. It will be much quicker than to wander aimlessly about until the slave dies. I will send a runner ahead of you to summon her to meet you in the Prairie."

[Annalisa Marin]

OOCEdreina asked me to change up the posting order to give her more to work with. Hope you don't mind!

Anna watched Amaryllis very carefully, attempting to read the Nuit as best she was able though it was very much an exercise in futility. As far as the sorceress could tell she was weighing the situation, deciding the worth of either the effort or cost of assisting her former Apprentice. The tall woman stood her ground and awaited her answer, her eyes never turning away from the Embalmer. Grey eyes only broke in their gazed for the occasional blink, a sign that unlike the undead before her the sorceress was still very much alive and unaffected by the slow decay of those touched by Uldr.

Finally the peacock clad Nuit seemed to come to a decision, her words switching back to common as seamlessly as her switch to the Ancient Tongue had been. Anna opted to switch back as well, casting an eye over Edreina at the offer of the deal being made. To the sorceress it sounded very much like Amaryllis desired a spy that was close to her, those days with her sounding like those she was to report in. Wisely Anna kept this somewhat paranoid, though not entirely unjustified conclusion to herself as she pondered over the deal. She was weighing the potential worth the slave held at the moment compared to the possible headache she could cause.

On the one hand Anna was now very certain Amaryllis wanted an agent close to her, most likely to keep tabs on her investment. Likely if she just Voided Edreina here and now it would save her the trouble of worrying about and extra ear, a possibility she chewed over before discarding. No, she would not kill her until she was entirely sure it was necessary. Besides, if the Embalmer was looking for a spy it would be a good opportunity to fill Edreina with misinformation. The sorceress slowly nodded as she looked back to Amaryllis, noting the absence of any mirth on the other woman’s part.

“Very well Amaryllis. You have yourself a deal. Your terms are acceptable; perhaps you can impress a bit more respectful obedience into her. In the time I am indisposed she will be yours to do with as you see fit, a fair trade for her health.” Anna said, turning a gaze at Edreina that promised a very painful death if she spoke out of turn here.

After holding this gaze for a moment the sorceress would listen carefully to Amaryllis, rather surprised by the information provided. A healer upon Sahova in the employ of the Wardens, now that was certainly a secret worth guarding very carefully. It was also a fact that Anna filed away for future reference and use, one never knew when either blackmail or otherwise might be useful. She was not foolish enough to attempt to gain the ire of the Wardens, but just in case there was that bit of information to use beyond this situation.

Anna did wince visibly at the mention of Riyanna, the Warden of the Prairie was someone the sorceress was not looking forward to meeting again. It was not so much that she feared the Morpher, with enough distance between them the sorceress was confident in her ability to deal with her. However there was enough respect for her abilities and position in Anna to where if the subject of a certain initiate came up she would not be looking forward to it. Still, the Embalmer’s logic was sound enough in this little instance.

“Very well Amaryllis, then with your leave we shall be away to the Prairie to meet with Ri- with the Warden. Until next time, Chief Embalmer.” Anna offered with a slight incline and a knitting of her brows ever so.

“Come Test Subject 1A.” Anna said, curtly gesturing for Edreina to lean against her shoulder again to depart the Palsa Hydrasa if Amaryllis had no more to say and to leave for the Prairie as she had much to ponder over.

[Edreina]

"Very well... I will give you this knowledge in exchange for one thing. During the time you are indisposed this summer I shall take your little slave under my wing. She will apprentice under me until your return to your normal Wizard duties later in the season. After that, she shall spend one in every seven days here with me. These are my terms, and you may choose to accept and gain the information I hold, or refuse and find another way to save the girl."

The Nuit's speech broke Edreina's fragile concentration and nearly caused her to sag to the floor as she struggled to grasp the implications of such simple statements. Terror raced through her, but even that emotion was dulled in her hazy brain as she realized that Amaryllis was demanding that the red head serve as her apprentice while Annalisa was... Too many ticks passed as Edreina struggled to find the Common meaning of "indisposed" before finally giving up and working through the rest of the conversation.

“Very well Amaryllis. You have yourself a deal. Your terms are acceptable; perhaps you can impress a bit more respectful obedience into her. In the time I am indisposed she will be yours to do with as you see fit, a fair trade for her health.”

Disobedience was definitely the last thing on Edreina's mind at that point. She would have licked Annalisa's toes for a moment's respite from the waves of hot and cold that raced through her system and the pain that lanced through her body with each beat of her heart. Though the ocean was out of sight and out of mind, she swayed slowly from side to side, arms and hair hanging limply like a sail without wind. At some point, part of her wondered over the fact that she had come to hold a certain measure of value to the sorceress and questioned whether it was caused by her hypnotism or other events. Perhaps it was just easier, in Annalisa's opinion, to have her fixed than to find another test subject to be broken.

The rest seemed to fade and be muffled by cotton in Edreina's ears as everything grew fuzzy again and it took every ounce of concentration to simply keep her upright.

“Come Test Subject 1A.”

In a motion more instinct than sentience, the sickly Svefra leaned against the wizard and started to shuffle along beside her, feet never leaving the ground for fear that her face would attempt to take their place.

Inexplicably, she turned her head ever so slightly in the wizard's direction and whispered that she was sorry, but that was all. Any other words would come at the cost of her balance, more than likely. For whatever reason, though, perhaps the fever or the torture days earlier, Edreina felt the need to apologize for the trouble she was causing though, in reality, none of it was her fault. The truth was, at her most primal level, the redhead was already fearing what repercussions would come of her troubling the busy wizard with something as trivial as death.

[Mirage]

Amaryllis offered a hand in a short wave, "Try to return in one peace, or do not return at all. Safe travels as always Annalisa Marin." She chuckled and went right back to her work, picking up a quill to begin scribbling.

*****

OOCI am fast forwarding you both to the testing grounds, but feel free to include something about the journey in your posts

Annalisa and Edreina would find themselves greeted at the prairie by two women. One was an eypharian, 6 arms folded carefully over her chest. Her olive color skin looked healthy, and her features were fine and delicate, completely out of place here on Sahova. The other was a woman as well, her build was more fit and muscular and she was a little bit taller than Edreina. Her hair was long with a slight wave to it and streaks of silver and gold ran through it in seemingly random batters, the ends of her hair then flaring out into a deep red. Her eyes were golden, slitted like a cats and as those eyes turned toward them there was something wild, almost feral in them. Her lips slowly parted in a snarl, revealing the pointed teeth like those of a shark. Two streaks of silver fell from the corners of her eyes, like she was crying quicksilver and it had stained her skin. Both women were naked, and as the two got closer the Warden, Riyanna, turned fulling toward Annalisa, "Welcome back corpse lover."

Despite her smaller size Riyanna gave off an aura of a predator waiting to pounce. The anger and hate in her eyes was palpable when she looked at Annalisa, and as she set her hands on her hips the nails on her fingers lengthened, forming black claws that pricked her own skin. The Eypharian placed one hand on Riyanna's shoulder, and then addressed them both, "We were told that you needed to go to the mudpools. We will be your escorts."

"Or your executioners." Riyanna folded her hands over her bare chest. In the light her figure was clear and easy to see. She had gracious curves, a womanly figure, and a network of scars that crisscrossed across her body. She had seen many battles, and lived to tell about them all. The most prominent one though was on her chest. A jagged scar that traced under her left breast, near her heart, like she had been run through at one point. As Riyanna turned her back on them the tattoo on her back was then visible, a black inky tattoo of a vicious looking sword that stretched from the base of her neck all the way down to her waist.

Tierra looked at Riyanna and then back at Edreina, avoiding eye contact with Annalisa entirely, "Don't worry you will be OK. We will take you to the healer."

OOCLeaving this a little opened ended for now. We will get back to the nitty gritty in the next post ^.^

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna’s eyes flicked to Edreina, a tiny sigh escaping the sorceress’ lips as she slowed her pace so as to not make the trip to the Prairie overly uncomfortable for the wounded slave. She would never admit to this entire affair being her fault naturally, in her mind if Edreina had been obedient she would never have needed to so mar her. However the sorceress was not without sympathy, she herself had been like Edreina had been once and it had arguably been much worse for her. Though instead of the threat of death it had been debts owed and memories lost, even now Anna was needing to slow to remember the path to the Prairie.

“Hush, 1A. There is nothing else for it, you are just fortunate you are so petching pretty and to damned amusing to keep around. A word of fair warning though, the Warden of the Prairie is a known Rhysolite, you might very well distrust me but she worships a being that exists to cause chaos and lie. Be very careful around her and about what you say.” Anna whispered.

The sorceress suppressed a smirk, knowing full well Riyanna was too much a fool to worship Rhysol, a sentimental woman at heart and it was rather her weakness. Still, Edreina did not need to know that, it was actually ironic that she was lying about another person worshipping the god of lies. Perhaps Rhysol would smile favorably upon such an action; Anna liked to think he would. In any event Anna would carry on the rest of the trip to the Prairie in silence, preparing to deal with the Warden for the first time in a long while.

Said Warden was waiting with one of her Initiates, another Eypharian. Just the sight of her was enough to cause Anna to unconsciously scratch at her throat as she remembered being strangled by invisible limbs. With that done she turned her attention to the Warden’s greeting, smirking visibly at the extremely blunt expression of her distaste. With such a crude greeting Anna could not very well let that little bit go unanswered. The threat of her claws extending was just plain mean.

“Ah, Warden, Initiate. Always a pleasure, I’m surprised you could muster the numbers to escort us to the Mudpools. I hear tell you Prairie dwellers are… thinning out in numbers as of late. My condolences by the way.” Anna offered by way of greeting as her voice dripped with false concern, smiling brilliantly at both though she met Riyanna’s hate filled gaze with a mocking one of her own.

“Executioners? My my, I am unaware why you would feel such a need for threats, Warden, certainly they do not befit a woman of your station or that of a… colleague.” Anna replied, some mild disdain evident in her tone at having to recognize the Morpher as any kind of equal.

Her own words were designed to stab and slice where Riyanna’s had been to smash and crush, blunt and rather inelegant to Anna’s mind. To most anyone with half a brain it was evident the two utterly despised each other, Riyanna had not forgiven what happened to Celeste and Anna considered Riyanna to be a powerful but crude savage of a woman. The sorceress would recognize her abilities and respect them, but on a personal level they were simply too different for Anna to possibly be fond of her.

“Now if we have gotten the obligatory insults and posturing out of the way can we get a move on? As you can see Test Subject 1A is rather sick, I’d rather be done with this as quickly as possibly Warden. Some of us have research of import to tend to.” The sorceress bid, quirking an eyebrow upwards at the Prairie Warden.

Anna almost wanted Riyanna to try something; she wanted an excuse to see if the Warden could survive being buried in molten lava. Almost, but not quite. At this range she would be at a disadvantage against the Warden, who could likely close it and rend the flesh from her bones. So she refrained from outright challenging Riyanna, she was arrogant most certainly but there was a fine line between arrogance and stupidity. It was not one Anna was willing to cross. There would be other times to settle their score and that time was not today.

OOCWow, I didn't think Anna would hate Riyanna that much lol. Fun to write though haha.

[Edreina]

Rhysolite... The redhead nodded dumbly, taking in the sorceress's words as deeply as she could, trying to pick them apart before giving up and deciding instead to take each word as it was offered and for the strictly stated meaning it possessed. In yet another attempt to please Annalisa, she moved a touch closer to the taller woman, tightening her arm around her thin shoulders in order to show that she would be obedient and would follow the sorceress's warnings. Better the demon you knew than the demon you did not.

Edreina could not help but stare at the multi-armed woman before her, hazy blue eyes swaying faintly with her weary body. She had heard, once before from the lips of a savage, tales of men and women with gilded skin and more arms than a normal human, like the octopuses of her watery home. But those thoughts were far beneath the surface of her fever, instead she found herself faintly wondering if the arms were just another symptom of her blurry vision.

The other woman, though... the instant she spoke something primal in Edreina started to raise her hackles, to tense her aching muscles as if preparing for a fight. In the woman's strange eyes, she felt like a wounded doe in the eyes of a wolf... or perhaps a sickly mouse before a cat. Something in Edreina told her that if this woman decided to end her life, it would not be a quick end. Perhaps it was a year under the tutelage of a Myrian that made her instinct to survive so keen, but there easily could have been more to it.

Even in so bleary a state, minute things were registering with Edreina. The scars, each of which told a story of fierce battle and of survival; the way that each muscle had been honed keyed the Svefra into the fact that the woman likely used her body as a weapon or, at the very least, had gained a much deeper understanding of its abilities than the undead or even Annalisa herself. The nudity did not bother Edreina as it may have others - she had grown nude and was nude again, though it may not have been her choice, this time - but just gave her a deeper understanding of the women and how they lived.

The strange woman's harsh words and expression registered with Edreina, again, but she could not summon the energy to make out more than syllables. They were all menacing sounds swirling in her ears, making her tremble faintly as remaining tensed for so long started to draw on the last reserves of her energy. It is insane that I've fallen so far so quickly. A coherent thought blew through her mind like a scrap of linen in a stiff breeze and was gone again before she could catch onto a moment of sanity.

[Annalisa Marin]

Riyanna’s lips curled up in a snarl at the darts shot her way by Anna, revealing better her unnaturally sharp teeth. Rage had obviously been bred due to the mention of Celeste’s disappearance, the fact that the sorceress had spoken so easily of it to use as a means of taunting her was almost as an admission of guilt to the Warden. Tierra placed a calming hand on the Warden’s arm, the battle scarred woman’s features returning to a less battle ready state. Anna herself had taken an unconscious step back at Riyanna’s hostility, opting to refrain from poking her too much more. This was the Testing Grounds after all, Anna’s rank held no sway here.

“Very well, corpse lover. Let us be off. Watch your step, its rather… treacherous after all.” The Warden growled, gesturing for the pair to follow with Tierra bringing up the rear silently.

Anna would follow wordlessly in the Warden’s wake, offering no more support to Edreina to lean on and thus forcing the woman to walk on her own or request aid from one of the other two women. The sorceress was actually rather hoping she would, it would give her an excuse to take out her foul mood upon the red headed slave when they returned to the Citadel. This was a lesson to Anna; she needed to be careful of her punishments to Edreina. Lighter burns would likely be best, enough to scar but not enough to risk infection. Probably along her arms, legs and back.

The sorceress was ever watchful as well, knowing full well the dangers that were present in the Testing Grounds. Indeed she had dispatched a number with her own magic on occasion; all of them were generally hideous and malformed. Despite her dislike for Riyanna she did respect her resilience if nothing else; it took quite the person to survive this place. It honestly made her a little frightened when she was to become the Initiate of the Heartlands. A far more dangerous and eerie place, one where it seemed even time held no dominion over.

Eventually their path would come upon the Mudpools, where Anna became even more alert and ready for action. She did not fully trust Riyanna’s restraint; the Warden obviously wanted her either dead or maimed for her imagined crime. The Warden of the Mudpools was one of her fellows, meaning that Anna immediately held the disadvantage. She calmed herself, her movements becoming a little less rigid as she reminded herself that she was no meek lamb. Anna had faced far worse things in her life than her fellow wizards. Far worse things.

OOCMirage said that once we arrive in the mudpools he'll provide a prompt for us to go off of for the rest of the thread. So once you get up your post I'll PM him for that.

[Edreina]

OOCSorry I suck. XD My brain is in a million other places... BUT! The show must go on.

Without Annalisa to support her, Edreina swayed dangerously before regaining her balance. It took her several ticks to realize that she was shivering and her body was covered in sweat. Was she cold or hot? The thought tumbled absurdly through her mind and then hung in the air for a few moments before crashing into the chasm of unconsciousness.

A questioning prod from behind set the Svefra in motion, finally. Her gait was scattered from side to side and varied in speed rather harshly. Half of the time it looked as if she were on the edge of toppling over and the other half made it obvious her feet would not be leaving the ground for some time. Her face hung as lank and lifeless as the hair that clung to it. Once bright blue eyes were now glassy and vacant.

Am I dying? The thought never truly reached past the point of conception as freckled limbs faltered and Edreina fell forward, shoulder hitting the back of Annalisa's legs as she struggled to catch herself on her elbow, splitting the skin there on a jagged stone. There was no pain.

Annalisa may have spoken to Edreina, may have cursed and threatened her life, but the Svefra merely groaned to her feet and continued forward, after the woman that led to a promise of life. Any life, even a tortured one, was better than death.

Unaware of the tension in the air, the very ill young woman allowed herself to fall to one knee as the group came to a halt, panting and trembling violently. Her stomach whirled and threatened to turn itself inside out if she continued to move. But, move she must. In a moment. For the time being, it looked as if they had decided to stop, for whatever reason. Perhaps they would go no further and were instructing Annalisa on what to do; perhaps they pitied her. Edreina wasted little energy on thinking either as her head nodded forward, signalling she was on the brink of unconsciousness.