Lutchka Zatari's Story

Harlan had quickly followed after Valrien, of course not before grabbing the drink as he had. It wasn't hard to find the Prince, mostly because Harlan knew these hallways about as well as Valrien did and there weren't many places he could have gone having left the way he did. When he saw Valrien down at the end of the hallway, a frown settled over his face as he spoke. "You call me the idiot and the bastard, Valrien?" Harlan's tone had become far mroe serious, as he was beyond jokes at the moment. "What the hell was that back there? Was a bit harsh don't you think?"

He picked up his pace so that he could reach the prince quickly, walking alongside him while taking a sip from the cup of wine. He looked to Valrien as he walked. "He offers to help with the problem, and you throw that at him?"

Valrien sighed heavily as he heard the mans voice behind him. Harlan was probably the closest person to Valrien that the Prince ever allowed. He trusted the man with his life amongst other things. Reaching up, he ran a hand through his hair, frustration piling up quickly.

"Yes, I know that was harsh. I'll... Apologize later," the Prince uttered softly, his gaze glaring out into the dim hall he was slowly walking down.

"I know he's offering help, but I also know he's looking for a way to end what he's feeling. Siya isn't himself and he hasn't been since my brother killed Reynard. I don't know what to do for him and I don't know how to deal with him. All I know is that the look in his eyes just now was not one of a man wanting to live for much longer."

Harlan took another sip of his wine, well technically the Air King's, watching Valrien before looking forwards. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Valrien." he said. His other hand had settled into his pocket, "I can see it in his eyes myself, though I'm sure if we see it so can the others."

He looked over to Valrien again, "All I can think of is giving him the time to process it, and make sure he doesn't get himself killed. I'm certain that he'll pull through this eventually, or at the very least find a way to cope with it." He looked to the red liquid sitting in his cup, swirling it around as he watched it. "Hopefully soon, though I can say, yelling at me at this point may not be the best way of helping him."

Valrien glanced over to his best friend and grimaced, "Yeah... You're right. I'll... Talk to him tomorrow. And apologize to Asier," he turned down the hallway, going left and stopped, leaning against the pillar that opened up to the courtyard. Silver light from the moon shed it's light all across the huge yard, filtering through the trees with their silver leaves. The vegitation seemed to glow in that light. It had been quite a while since Valrien had seen that sight before.

Crossing his arms he sighed a bit, "I'm sure that archer would like nothing more than to put my ass in the ground right now... Maybe I'll let him."

Harlan stopped next to Valrien, looking out into the courtyard alongside his friend. His eyes slowly scanned the area before him, a smile forming on his lips as he looked over the growing vegitation in the moonlight. "Good thinking, but I wouldn't worry. He's just an archer." Harlan said before taking a sip again.

He remained silent for a few moments, simply enjoying the silence and beauty of the scene before him and his friend next to him. "Would oyu have ever thought, growing up, you'd be the one to fix this? To bring something like this back to Reimrand, Valrien?" Harlan asked while looking over to him.

"Yeah- an archer with a hell of a punch..." he answered with a roll of his eyes. He remained in silence after that, enjoying the feel of the cool air, the moonlight on the courtyard. It wasn't until Harlan said something else that Valrien shifted and glanced over to him.

He shrugged, "No. I never would have thought it I guess. Then again," he took a deep breath, a kind of sighing sound on his voice, "No one really expects their family to murder each other either."

Harlan rolled his eyes, lightly pushing Valrien some while looking over to him with a smirk. "Could you try and not be a buzzkill sometime, Valrien?" he shook his head, looking out back to the courtyard, a smile still on his face though. "So it wasn't a perfect family, you fixed that mistake though by bringing the orbs back and giving the people of Reimrand a chance to actually enjoy the beauty of the world they live on." he said.

He looked back at Valrien, chugging down the rest of his drink before speaking again. "How about you be happy of the fact you are the one to redeem the family mistake rather than lamenting that the mistake even occurred?" Harlan sighed a bit dramatically, "This is why I keep telling you, just sleep with that Lutchka already! Perhaps she'd be able to put some cheer in you, gods know you need it." he said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Valrien uttered softly as he too rolled his eyes. As the young Prince was about to say something else, his gaze grew wide with Harlan's continued speech. Turning, a fierce blush on his face, he lashed out at Harlan, "You! Shut up with that! And here I was about to be nice to you!"

The Prince turned and sent a punch headed straight for Harlan's chest. It wasn't meant to hurt the man -too much anyway- only meant to send him backwards and get a clear idea of how Valrien felt about that topic.

Harlan couldn't help but laugh now, even when it became a choked laugh as Valrien slugged him in the chest. It caused the man to stumble back slightly, Harlan catching himself easily though before he went sprawling. He continued to laugh, especially when he got a look of Valrien's face. "Come on, Vally! That blush only says how you want to! Just relax some and go for it, I'm telling you, buddy. You won't regret it!"

Harlan finaly settled himself, rubbing where Valrien had hit him. "And besides, this wasn't the right time to be all nice and mooshy to me. Nahh, we gotta save that until some heart wrentching dramatic moment. Like my death bed! Think about how great of a moment that'll be?" Harlan leaned up against a pillar himself, looking off into the courtyard. "There I am, my beautiful, lush, smooth hair, now greyed and mangey. My wonderfully taunt and lushious skin, wrinkled and marked. Slowly I'm fading away, only to finally see my best friend be nice to me." he sighed again, bringing a hand to his forehead as if swooning. "Oh, so romantic."

Valrien's blush only increased as he ground his teeth at Harlan's speech, "You ass... Like she's even interested, or would let me without tearing my throat out, and I definitely don't want to!"

Pulling back to lean against the wall again, the Prince continued to glower out of the corner of his eye at his friend. It was further deepened as the man proceeded to go through a dramatic monologue of how Valrien was never nice to him and never would be until he died. Heaving a sigh, the Prince's head fell back against the pillar he was leaning on and he rolled his eyes yet again, "Oh please. If I were nice to you, you wouldn't know what the hell to do. Besides, you know I'm not good at... stuff," he muttered, that blush filling his face again as he shifted uncomfortably.

It was true. He was never good at talking, or being sensitive about things, or anything related to be nice and caring. Valrien just wasn't sure how to handle those things, or how to act and he ended up a bumbling fool if he tried. So, he stayed with what he knew. Being angry and having sharp words come off his tongue.

Harlan snickered, turning against the pillar so he could face Valrien more. "Oh no, Valrien. She's not interested at all~" he made his sarcasm very clear and apparent. This was the best part about being friends with Valrien, or at least one of them. He sighed in contentment as he got his laughing under control, pushing off of the pillar and walking over to Valrien. He patted his friends back, still holding onto his grin.

"And you are right. If you were nice to me, I'd probably be lost and confused. And give it time, I'm sure you'll eventually figure out your own way to be nice and all." he lowered his hand from Valrien's back, crossing them over his chest. "Though not yelling at people about how silly their reasons are would be a good start, my friend."

"Oh shut up," Valrien responded. Even so, he was grateful for the man's presence and the talk. It helped to settle him even if he didn't show it very well. Turning a little, he looked up at the pitch black sky, the little white dots littering it were so familiar to him, yet at the same time not.

"I'm going to bed. I'm too tired for much more of this. I'll speak with Siya and Ayier tomorrow morning. We'll get plans underway as well and most likely leave tomorrow afternoon in search of those abominations. The sooner I'm rid of them, the better," he said as he shoved off the pillar. Patting Harlan's shoulder, he squeezed it and then left the man in the dark hall to head off to his quarters.

~~~

Minnow paid as close attention as he could to what the Reimrandian healer was saying, but to be honest he couldn’t help but have his mind wander a few times. The other-worlder was explaining a few roots and what they did, but the blonde healer kept zoning out. Much to his chagrin, he had to have the man repeat it a few times. Luckily, the other was understanding, and didn’t mind talking about something he took an interest in. For the most part, he had made a few piles of similar ingredients and what they did.
Lord Amon and the others were up in the castle celebrating the success of retaking the throne with a huge party. Big crowds weren’t his thing… neither were parties. He felt so awkward and almost never knew what to do with himself. He hated being self-conscious, but he honestly still couldn’t help it sometimes. Besides, even if it had been a year, it was apparent that the battle had taken its toll- the land was recuperating, its citizens struggling under a lack of clear rule. It didn’t really feel like a time to be celebrating, though it had to happen sometime. And that wasn’t to say that Minnow wasn’t glad, gods no. He was thankful that the destruction was mostly over, that everyone was relatively safe, that a celebration could be had.
So while everyone was off supposedly having a good time and relaxing, Minnow was working his butt off down in the city, learning all he could about the local flora of Reimrand and its many uses. That was another sort of bittersweet thing. While he loved plants and learning about them, he also knew that he was doing this to get a better grasp of everything in case they were needed again. Maybe if he had known more a year ago, he could have been of so much more use. The celebration also marked the sacrifices of those who gave their everything during the struggle against Valrien’s brother.
That was a sore subject for everyone though, so Minnow did his best to steer those thoughts away from the front of his mind. Instead he refocused into what the other healer was saying. But even that didn’t last long. Soon his thoughts were sliding over to what Kanan might be up to. He was probably uncomfortable as well in such crowds, especially with so many strangers….
“Ivei- Minnow, this one’s important, you might want to pay close attention.” The man’s voice recalled his focus, and Minnow blushed slightly before nodding his understanding, focusing his mind on his work.

~~~

Harlan was whistling to himself as he began his walk back to the castle, working to get his hair back up into the ponytail he usually had it sitting in. He had been out in the city last night, having spent a wondrous night with a young city lady, and considering the risk of being stabbed by large hair pins was not all that wonderful while fornicating, he usually let his hair down. Not to mention, it was also rather irritating, and painful at times, to deal with while simply sleeping. He approached the gates, putting the clasp around the base of the pony tail before slipping the pin through it, then resting his hands within the pockets of his pants, thumbs hanging out as he did so.

As he did, he glanced over to a group of guards who were currently working to open up a crate that was sitting in front of the main gates. Harlan looked over to them, stopping next to the officer in charge as he did. ”What have you got here?” Harlan asked, looking at the guards at work.

The officer looked over to him before back to the crate, “Some gift that had been dropped off last night, one of many really. The message on it said they are swords from a craftsman a few cities north of here, a fella named Reller. He’s actually well known in those parts for the work he does, so we’ll see if these things match his fame.”

Harlan nodded his head, looking to the guards for a moment before back to the head guard. “Alright then, well I gotta go check up on The Prince. Make sure he hasn’t gotten into anymore trouble or anything since last night. Who knows what he might of done while I was enjoying the town.” He said with a grin, the officer nodding his head while looking over to him.

“Alright then, good luck with that. And I think it wasn’t exactly the town you were enjoying, based on who I saw you leaving with last night” the man said with a chuckle, drawing one from Harlan as well as the Royal Guardsman turned and made his way towards the throne room where he hoped Valrien would be. If not, then he’d aim for Valrien’s room and if The Prince wasn’t there, well then Harlan would just give up and go to his room to nap some more.

Valrien sat on his throne in the huge hall. One hand drummed along the arm of the chair, the other rubbing absently along his temple. Before him, he’d called Siya and Damiano to speak to him. He had to apologize for his awful behavior the night before. Yet, he sat there in silence, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. He was never good at apologizing. Or expressing anything other than anger and irritation for that matter.

Siya stood before the young Prince, watching him carefully. He was curious as to why the man had called him and his protector. So he waited. And waited. Finally after a while of watching the young Prince seemingly have a war with himself, Siya let out a soft sigh and gained his attention.

“Valrien,” he called out and got the man’s attention, “Just say it.”

The Prince stiffened in the chair visibly before he attempted to speak, “I-...” his voice cracked slightly so he stopped and gave a bit of an annoyed growl before starting again, “I apologize for my behavior last night. It was rude of me. I’m sure Asier would have liked nothing more than to punch me too. Which I won’t deny,” he said, giving Damiano a pointed look.

Damiano stood there quietly, thumbs hooked onto his belt as he stood there and watched The Prince. He wasn’t exactly sure why Siya and the protector had been called into the throne room. Something was on Valrien’s mind, and it wasn’t until Siya prodded the Reimrand that he finally spoke. The archer only blinked, caught off guard by the fact that Valrien was apologizing to them about last night. Honestly, Damiano had forgotten about what The Prince had said.

He smiled some, bringing his arms up and crossing them over his chest as he looked up at Valrien. ”Well, I appreciate the apology. I’ll hold off on the punch though, I’ve gotten revenge enough for one lifetime, so I’ll pass on this one. Less you really want me to, su majestad.” He then looked over to the sound of a door opening up, looking over to see Valrien’s brown haired friend walking into the room

“Don’t mind me.” Harlan said as he came walking over to the throne, sitting down next to it and leaning against it. “Seriously, don’t mind me.” he said while closing his eyes.

Valrien was about to say something, but the doors to the throne room opened and Harlan walked into the room. The Prince watched his friend as he made his way up to the throne. As he sat down, Valrien leaned over the side of the chair and eyed the man. Reaching down, he flicked Harlan’s head as he asked, “The hell is wrong with you? Too much to drink?” though he didn’t grin or laugh, he did enjoy the little tease. Harlan could, every now and then, drink far too much. It was those times that Valrien was sure not to miss making the man’s life hell.
Harlan looked up at Valrien, smiling some. “Oh no, not at all. Just a little tired from enjoying a wonderful night with someone from the city. Not to mention, You’d have thrown a wittle hissy-fit if I had come strolling in here singing the songs of our forefathers, so I figured I’d behave this time around.” he then turned to look on ahead towards Siya and Damiano, still smiling. “It might surprise you folks, but I am capable of behaving every now and then, despite what Vally here might say.”

“I also got caught up talking with the guards a bit, they were moving some gifts you received last night. Some swords, as a thank you, I guess. Why they’d thank you though, I haven’t a clue.” He said while stretching out his arms and legs, turning himself again so that he was now leaning with his back against the chair.

A heated blush coursed along Valrien’s face as Harlan mentioned singing songs of their forefathers. Turning around in the seat, he slowly curled his fingers into a fist. He counted a full five seconds before slamming his fist into the man’s unsuspecting head, “Ignore him,” the Prince said as he ground his knuckles into Harlan’s head for good measure.

When he was done, Valrien stood and straightened the silvery clothes that he was wearing. Honestly he hated the cloth that adorned him right then. The embroidery, the fine silk, he wanted his worn leather, the vest, white shirt, pants and boots. A sword at his side. Maybe he would just start wearing that stuff anyway.

Siya didn’t say anything as he watched the exchange. As Valrien stood, the Fire King only moved a little to accommodate his movement towards the doors.

“Alright. Lets go see these… ‘gifts’. Then it’ll be planning for the extraction of those damned creatures. The sooner we get that over with, the sooner you all can go home and recuperate,” Valrien said, giving a bit of a stare toward Siya who didn’t notice. If he did, the young King said nothing.

Harlan’s grinning vanished fairly quickly when he felt a fist slam onto the top of his head, “Ow, ow, ow~! Ok I get it!!” he exclaimed, having recoiled downwards when the blow had landed. “Stop, stop!! You win!” Harlan said, rubbing his head when Valrien stood up and began making his way towards the doorway. Grumbling, Harlan stood up to follow after him.

Damiano just chuckled softly at the display, moving to the side to allow Valrien to pass by. He moved his hands back to his belt, hooking his thumbs there as he followed after The Prince, Harlan not far behind. The protector made sure to stay next to Siya, speaking up to make sure he could be heard by Valrien ahead of them. “Valrien, if possible, you could give me some maps of the areas and I can move on ahead and scout out the area. Get an idea of what we might have to contend with out there. It’d be much better than running into those things blindly, after all.”

Valrien glanced over to Damiano as he headed for the doors that led out into the hall, “That… Is a good idea,” the Prince mused as he walked into the hall, “Yes. I’ll be sure to give you a map when we finish up later today. Just… Be careful. There are many places that are not fully healed yet and those creatures are very hostile, very volatile, dangerous.”

Siya looked over to Valrien as he seemed to finally catch up to the converstaion, “He’ll be alright,” he said, his voice soft though the tone and slight edge to it made Valrien worry. Even as he said that, though, the young King looked up to his protector, “Right?”
Valrien grimaced as he eyed the Fire King. When was he going to be back to the way he used to be? Would he ever go back? The Prince kept his thoughts to himself though as he continued on down the hall to where the guards had the weapons. He was a little surprised by the gift. Yet, at the same time, he supposed it was a good thing seeing as he was slowly rebuilding everything, including his army. Which meant that he would need weapons for his men.

As they approached the hallway, the guards still unpacking the swords, Valrien eyed the finely crafted weaponry, “Well… They’re certainly well made,” he offered as he leaned down to pick one up, eyeing the leather handle and sheath. It was well balanced too, very appealing.

Damiano nodded his head to Valrien, “Thank you, but I’ll be very careful. I have no intention of engaging anything unless I absolutely need to. I’ve done this plenty of times before.” he then looked over to Siya, smiling at the king, “Yes, mi rey, I will be alright; I promise.” he then looked back ahead as the group made their way into the front hallway where the guards were removing the swords from the crate.

Harlan walked up alongside Valrien as The Prince moved forwards, stopping to look down at one of the swords before reaching to pick one up. He felt the weight of it in his hand, tossing it very slightly up-and-down in his hand to test the feel of it before looking it over. The pommel and handguard were both polished to a bright sheen, and each sword had ornate etchings marked into them. “You know, I ain’t one for using swords but damn, these suckers almost make me want to use one.” he said as he drew the weapon from it’s sheath to get a look at the blade itself.

Damiano watched the royal guard pull the blade from it’s finely made sheath, looking up at the sword as the torch light gleamed off the similarly polished blade. It did not have the etching like the handle or pommel did, though considering the blade would be the part receiving most of the abuse, the craftsman probably figured it’d be pointless to put so much work into something that would be ruined rather quickly. Though as Damiano looked over the blade, he could feel himself getting somewhat light headed and dizzy.

His eyes were drawn to the other swords that were within the crate, and he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the weaponry. As he stared, he swayed slightly as his vision slowly began to go black on him. “Prince, watch out!” a voice shouted to the side, bringing Damiano from his haze. He blinked, noticing that he had moved forwards and was reaching out for the sword. when had he moved? He didn’t have time to think of it as he turned it head to see what the noise was, and his eyes widened as he watched Harlan in mid-swing, swinging downwards at Valrien.

Valrien’s gaze stared at the blade. The way it gleamed and distorted the light along it’s shiny surface. He was feeling slightly entranced by it. A shout took his attention, snapping his thoughts forward. The yell had come from another guard who had just entered the hallway. Valrien looked up to the man before he turned to see what he was yelling at him for. As he looked back over his shoulder, a surprised gasp filled his throat as he watched Harlan descending on him with one of the blades. Turning around completely, he backstepped to try to get out of the way. Even so, he was a bit too slow in moving. The blade caught his shoulder, dragging down and leaving Valrien with a nasty gash nearly from shoulder to hip. The burn of the wound caused him to drop the sword he’d been holding.

Stumbling back further, he choked on a cry of pain. Giving a growl instead, he glared at Harlan, confused as to why his friend was attacking him suddenly, “Harlan!” he shouted, trying to get the man’s attention. “The hell is wrong with you!” Reaching down at his hip, Valrien made to grab his sword. It wasn’t until he felt nothing but air that he remembered he’d left the blade in his quarters. With an irritated click of his tongue, he looked back up to Harlan and did his best to keep his distance.

As he backed up away from his personal guard, he noted a flicker of fire from the corner of his eye. Taking a quick chance, he glanced over to where he saw it and his gaze grew wide. Siya’s hands were on fire, his eyes squeezed shut though he peeled them open every so often as if fighting the urge to look somewhere. A sword was at his feet and Valrien watched as the blade disappeared into blue sparkles of energy, soaking into the King’s body.

“Siya! Don’t do that!” he shouted. He wasn’t sure why it was a bad idea, but he just knew it was. Something was wrong.

The young King ground his teeth as he looked over to Valrien who had shouted to him. The fires curled along his hands as he took short breaths of air, “I… Can’t help it… Have to do… Something,” he answered, his voice strained. Squeezing his fiery gaze shut again, he concentrated, struggling to make the fires reduce as they flickered and raged along his hands and forearms.

“Asier! Get him out of here, I’ll deal with Harlan!” Valrien ordered as he turned his attention back to his royal guard.

As Harlan lunged in on The Prince, Damiano moved to assist him. However, the sound of someone running towards him caused him to turn as he watched another guard come charging towards him with one of the swords raised above their heads. Quickly Damiano removed his bow from around him and brought it up to block and deflect the sword strike. Before the sword made contact with the wooden weapon though, Damiano sacrificed some of the metal marbles that he carried in a pouch on his belt, using the magic to quickly cover his bow in a casing of stone.

As he deflected the attack, he then delivered a hard push kick to the guards hip, causing the man to stumble back slightly from the blow. The archer cursed under his breath, as the hit should have knocked the man over. Regardless it gave him a chance to quickly grab two arrows and draw them back, firing on the guard. Fortunately, at this distance aiming was very easy and one of the arrows struck the intended target, which was the right shoulder of the guard, in the arm where he held the sword. the other struck in his lower ribs.

The protector was shocked though when the guard was not deterred in the slightest by the arrows, lunging forwards once more to slash down at Damiano. Once again, he parried the sword strike to the side, pulling an arrow from his quiver as he did so. As the guard was turned to the side, Damiano quickly stabbed the arrow into the back of the guard’s shoulder. The guard simply spun back around though, delivering a hard elbow strike to the side of Damiano’s face and sending the protector sprawling to the ground, some of his arrows scattering across the floor as he fell.

Harlan lunged forwards once more, wildly swinging at Valrien as he let out a loud, feral howl, his eyes wide and blood shot while his face was contorted in a look of unfathomable rage as he slashed down at Valrien with everything he had.

Valrien ground his teeth together as Harlan came at him, swinging the weapon in wild arcs that came utterly close to him. Continually backing up, Valrien finally measured Harlan’s strikes and when he came back again, he snatched the man’s sword arm and lifted it up over his head. Latching onto his shoulder, Valrien stumbled backward with Harlan in tow, the forward momentum slamming him into the wall behind him. With a slight grunt, he winced as he struggled to keep Harlan’s arm up over his head. Shaking the man, he shouted at him again, “Harlan! You God damned idiot! Snap out of it!”

Siya winced as Damiano went sprawling across the floor. His gaze was wide and he gave a shout of worry. Looking around in panic, his heart lodged in his throat, he found his eyes drawn to those damned swords again. They wanted to be picked up. Even worse was the feeling to just sacrifice them all. Cringing, the Fire King closed his eyes and struggled to keep from doing just that despite the overwhelming urges to do so.

Standing stock still in the hall, he didn’t pay any attention to the commotion around him. Not even moving when one of the possessed guards lunged for him, sword ready to thrust down into his chest.

“Siya!”

He snapped open his gaze to see the guard just as Kanan came into the fight. The Air protector jumped in front of the King and slammed his heavy blade into the one that the guard carried. Knocking it to the side, Kanan sent a heavy blast of air magic into the man’s chest, flinging him backwards and down the hall a ways. Kanan reached back and pushed Siya backwards into the wall and stood in front of him with his blade leveled, ready to take on anyone else that came by. His wind wrapped all around his body, swirling like a snake ready to snap at anything that was stupid enough to come too close.

As he stood there, his gaze was kept forward forcefully. He could feel the power in the room from his ruined eye. It made it hard to concentrate and keep from thinking too much on the discomfort of his cursed eye.

Harlan snarled at Valrien, trying to wrestle free the weapon as Valrien kept it held to the side. An audible pop could be heard from Harlan’s shoulder as he yanked with the arm, trying to wrench the limb free before the guard brought his head forwards to bite down on Valrien’s nose. He his head snapped to the side though as a fist contacted the side of his jaw, pushing the man’s head to the side. The forward momentum of his own movement caused Harlan’s head to smash into the wall behind Valrien, further causing him to recoil back. As he did, his foot stepped on a blood puddle, his foot slipping out from under him as it met the now slippery, rocky surface. Falling backwards, Harlan’s head slammed into the ground and instantly the royal guard was out cold, his body going limp as the sword slipped from his grip.

Amon stepped up in front of Valrien, retracting his fist as he looked down at the unconscious Harlan before he stepped on the blade and slid it away from the others. He grimaced some as he looked around the room, watching as guards hacked and slashed at one another, those with swords were doing so with completely reckless abandon. He watched as two possessed guards hacked away at one another until one finally collapse in a bloody mess of flesh, the other possessed man just turning to attack the next nearest target.

“Get Siya out of here, Valrien. Now.” Amon’s voice was completely neutral in tone, with no hint of any emotion to it as he moved to assist Kanan in the melee.

Damiano rolled onto his back, bringing his bow up to block a downward swing from a guard. He kept the bow raised between them, teeth clenched together as he struggled to hold the madman back. Then a block of rock shot up from next to him, shooting off at an angle to that it slammed into the man’s side and sent him rolling to the side and off of the archer. Quickly, Damiano then pushed off another block that rose up near his feet, rolling back up over his shoulder and then onto his knees. There, he reached back and grabbed an arrow, though he noticed that he was now missing a number of arrows, quickly drawing it back and firing at the guard who was already running towards him. The arrow struck the man right between the eyes, and instantly the man fell to the ground, lifeless as the sword fell from his grip.

Valrien cursed as he struggled with Harlan. Trying to keep his footing and keep the blade from coming down on him again. As Harlan lunged forward, intent on biting him, Valrien reeled back only to have his guard’s head go crashing into the wall. The Prince looked to see who had struck the man. Amon stood there, having shoved his fist into Harlan’s face and knocking him into the wall. As Harlan tried to reorient himself, the man slipped, dragging Valrien with him. Unfortunately for the royal guard, he seemed to hit his head fairly hard against the floor.

With him unconscious, Harlan finally released the blade in his hand. As Valrien removed himself from his friend, Amon kicked the sword away and ordered him to retrieve Siya and leave. Getting to his feet, Valrien stumbled slightly, panting as he reached up to curl his fingers across his wound. He felt hot, sticky liquid seep between his fingers, coating the silver cloth he wore. With a quick nod to Amon, Valrien turned to locate the Fire King.

However, as he turned to look, the young King was frantically looking around. His gaze was watching the men with the swords, a horrified look on his face as Kanan and Damiano fought to keep the men away from him. Valrien started toward him just as Siya shut his eyes and seemed to concentrate again, arms out stretched on either side of his small frame. Valrien was a little late in registering what was going on. A massive amount of swords disappeared both from the hands of the men wielding them and from the floor. The blue sparkles shot straight at Siya, sinking into his skin.

Siya trembled at the massive influx of energy. Valrien’s heart lodged into his throat as he watched, “Stop!” he shouted. The swords were still disappearing though, so Valrien did the next best thing. White energy flooded his hand. Sending the ball right at Siya, he watched as Kanan froze at the feel of power that just barely brushed his shoulder. It shot past the air Protector and took Siya straight in his chest. The young King was thrown back and slammed into the wall. His body instantly crumpled to the floor and whatever hadn’t finished sacrificing reformed itself back into those awful blades.

Valrien winced, cursing to himself slightly as he watched the young King’s body sprawl upon the floor. Damiano is going to have my head over that… he thought to himself as he slouched against the wall for a moment, feeling the toll of his wound.

Damiano had moved back closer to Siya, keeping his eyes open for any guards that might lunge in on them. He had attempted to disarm another one, and had come close to doing so. The arrow had struck the man in the back of his hand, causing the hand to go limp and loose it’s hold of the sword. As it fell, the guard suddenly began screaming in pain and grabbed hold of the wounded limb. However as his eyes came down and settled on the sword, all attention went back to the blade as he knelt and picked up up the blade with his good hand.

Scowling, Damiano then noticed as blue energy began to float past him and to a source behind him. Following them, his eyes settled on Siya who was absorbing the energy, but clearly struggling to contain the energy. Though just as the protector was about to grab hold of him when he felt a surge of power go by him and then slam into the Fire King. Siya slammed up against the wall and immediately fell to the ground. Damiano wanted to check on him, but as he watched the energy that hadn’t been absorbed seep back into the solid material that was the swords Siya had been absorbing, he chose instead to slide back into a position in which he stood over the unconscious king.

He watched as a guard went for one of the swords that had rematerialized, intending to pick up the cursed blade. Quickly, Damiano stomped on the ground, several slabs of rock shooting up from the gorund to cover the blade and hide it from sight. As it was blocked from his sight, the guard stopped and looked around, seemingly confused as to what he was doing.

Quickly, Damiano looked around for any of the other weapons, and began doing what he could to cover the swords he could see in earth and hide them all from sight. It seemed to be having an affect, as the guards near the weapons slowly came out of there insanity, of course there were at least three guards going berserk as they still held the swords.

One was running straight towards Amon, who calmly deflected the strike to the side by shifting his body slightly out of the way and batting the man’s hand to the side, using a burst of air to assist. As he did so, he then stepped in, grabbing the arm and pulling on it while thrusting his hips up and under them guards. The combined movements brought the guard up and over Amon’s body, where he then slammed into the ground rather hard. With a hold still on the hand, Amon kneeled down and pressed his knee onto the guard’s shoulder to hold him in place before quickly grabbing the pommel of the blade and yanking up on it and pulling it away from the guard’s hand.

The sword easily slipped from the man’s hand and fell to the ground, where Amon then shot a burst of air into it to knock it away from another guard who attempted to grab the weapon. As it slid across the ground, several slabs shot up from the ground to form a small tri-angular container which was then closed off as the blade slid into it.

Valrien shoved off the wall and made his way over to where Siya had crumpled. He watched as well as Damiano sent up pieces of earth to cover the wretched swords. He swallowed dryly as he approached. He half expected the archer to send an arrow through him for what he’d done. That would probably come later though.

Kanan let his air magic swipe aside another guard, knocking from his grip the sword that he held. Bands of red curled around the man’s hands as the protector had used his wind blades to get the weapon free from the soldier’s grip. Once he finished doing that, he swept the blade aside, far from the man’s reach. Using his own weapon, he slashed outward at the man, the air vibrating as it swept the guard off his feet and sent him crashing to the floor so that he couldn’t immediately go after the blade that bounced along the floor.

It was about then that the protector grimaced and let his weapon fall. The tip hit the floor as he knelt down, his free hand pressing hard against his eyepatch. The headache was starting, the painful pull of power burning in his eye. There was so much of it around him that it was hard to ignore. The desire to let loose his own magic had steadily grown and he wasn’t sure he could hold it back any longer. Valrien’s seal was breaking in the presence of so much Reimrandian magic.

The Prince moved and made his way to Kanan instead, kneeling down in front of the man as he’d watched Kanan drop down to one knee. Reaching out, he eased the man’s hand aside and pulled at the patch. Kanan winced slightly and pulled back a little as he squeezed his eye shut. It was a natural response seeing as how much power there was in that eye. Valrien pressed his hand over the ruined eye that looked like it had been carved with symbols and started redoing his seal. All the while he couldn’t help but to grimace as he looked over at Siya and noted the crimson color staining his pure white hair. Damiano is going to kill me… he thought to himself as his magic wrapped around Kanan’s eye. He hadn’t meant to throw so much strength into his power when he’d let it loose upon Siya. He’d only wanted to get him to stop what he was doing. However, it had scared him so much that he hadn’t paid any attention to how strong he’d gathered up his own power until after he’d launched it.

When he finished with Kanan, the man visibly looking more at ease, he handed him his patch back, “See me again tomorrow. We’ll have to keep up the seal as often as possible. Try to remember to remind me as well…” Kanan simply nodded and got up, sheathing his sword as he went.

As things settled, Damiano lowered his bow then looked down to Siya. Quickly slinging the bow on his back, he then knelt down to check over the young king. He didn’t move him more than was needed, as he didn’t know what other injuries Siya may have and whether or not they may be exacerbated by movement. That and he really didn’t feel like getting yelled at by Amon’s protector, Minnow. Noting the crimson in the king’s hair, Damiano scowled before he drew the knife he kept on his belt for utility purposes. He reached down, grabbing one of the extra pieces of cloth on Siya’s shirt and cut it free with the knife. He then pressed the cloth to the wound on the king’s head before glancing up and around.

A scowl crossed his features as he looked over the carnage of the hallway. Scattered amongst the mounds of rock that hid the swords were sprays and puddles of blood alongside the bodies that once contained the life fluid. Some of bodies were so mangled that Damiano couldn’t even tell what part was what. If he hadn’t seen such things before, he was sure he’d have thrown up.

As Kanan stood, Valrien looked over to Siya. Once again he grimaced as he laid eyes on the young king sprawled out upon the floor. The black cloth that he always wore was also splayed upon the ground around his lithe form. Slowly, he eased his way over to the King, weary of the archer as well. He was going to have to do something about that energy that Siya had taken though.

“Asier…” Valrien started, getting the man’s attention before he dared to get any closer, “I need to withdraw his energy,” he said, his voice slightly on edge.

Damiano looked over at Valrien as he spoke, a small scowl crossing over his face. As much as he didn’t want to let him near Siya at the moment, The Prince knew a lot more about magic of this kind than Damiano did. Looking at Siya and how the king looked wracked with pain, he then looked back up at Valrien.

“This doesn’t require you to slam his head against the floor, now does it?” he said, keeping the cloth pressed to Siya’s head wound. “Do you need me to move at all?” he then asked.

Valrien frowned at Damiano, “No,” he answered sharply, “I didn’t mean to throw him like that. I only meant to stop him,” he snapped in return though he quickly reigned in his temper and sighed a little, “You don’t have to move him. Just… Don’t punch me if he moves or anything. It’s not going to be… Pleasant, but if I don’t do it… We’ll be dealing with a lot of fire.”

Valrien leaned forward slightly, letting his hand hover over the King’s body as he twitched every so often on the floor. Though he was unconscious, the overwhelming amounts of energy flooding him was most likely the reason to his seemingly being in pain. Taking a deep breath, the Prince let it out as he gathered up his power and sent the white light flickering all around Siya’s body. He pulled at the energy, dragging it out of the young King and letting it flood through him and into the ground via his other hand. It would mingle with the natural energy there and eventually return to how it is supposed to be. As he pulled, Siya’s frame jolted, his fingers curling into fists as he gave a soft sound of discomfort.

Valrien continued for a while longer. He wasn’t sure exactly how much Siya had taken, and he didn’t want to drain the young King of all of his energy as that would most certainly put him in an even more difficult situation. It wasn’t until Siya let out a sharp cry, his frame shaking that Valrien stopped and let the last bit of what he’d grabbed pass through his own body and sink into the ground. When he finished, he fell back, bracing himself on his good arm and panting once again as he struggled to get air into his lungs. Opening an eye, he looked down at Siya who had relaxed across the floor, “There…” he managed.

Damiano watched as Valrien worked on dispersing the energy within the Fire King, tensing a bit as Siya showed signs of discomfort. However, the protector had to let Valrien work, as there was nothing that the Nevarren could do to help Siya. He watched Valrien drain the last bit of energy into the floor, looking at The Prince as he kept the cloth against Siya’s head.

“Alright, well I’ll limit it to un ponche. Uno a su estómago.” he said, before looking back down at Siya.

Amon had relaxed once the swords and such had been covered, grimacing himself as he looked over the violence. To him, it was almost like he was back in that village he’d been born in, after a vicious bandit attack. His fists curled into tight fists as his eyes slowly scanned over everything. He closed his eyes, shaking his head to clear his mind before he opened them. He looked to Valrien and Kanan, seeing The Prince work on the cursed eye of the protector.

With that handled, Amon decided to go grab his own healer, turning on the spot and quickly sprinting down the hallway. The last of his magical energy was used to eliminate the drag of the air on his form as he moved quickly through the hallways, weaving around turns as he went. He also took a page from Kanan’s book and extended out his sense to locate Minnow, quickly finding the young blonde sleeping within his room. It was going to be a rude awakening, that was for sure.

Sliding to a stop outside the door, Amon had to catch himself on the wall as his blood slicked shoes caused him to slide on the rocky floor. As he stopped, he quickly brought his hand up and began banging his fist against the door. “Minnow! We have injured in the front hallway and we need you there now!”

Minnow had been sleeping rather peacefully- or at least as peacefully as one could after pulling an all-nighter with intense focus, he was pretty much conked out at this point- when a terrible banging pierced through his sleeping mind. Minnow’s eyes scrunched together a bit at the sound, groggy from sleep and unwilling to face whatever it was that was apparently trying to break his door down. However, his mind registered that it might be something that required his presence, and he suddenly lurched from his sleeping position with a groan, propping himself up on his palms. He had to blink a few times in order to prod himself to further get up.

However, at the sound of Amon’s voice, he snapped his head up to stare towards the door. The words soon followed and registered to his sleep-groggy mind, and he struggled to roll out of his sheets. He had curled himself up rather nicely, but unfortunately it was a bit of a tangled mess. Eventually he just gave up and rolled over the side of the mattress, thumping to the floor where he could actually navigate the sheets off of his body with the help of a different material beneath him. He slipped out of it, stumbling a bit as he rose to his feet.

The little blonde haired protector staggered towards the door, still fighting off the sleep that clung jealously to his mind. He abruptly opened the door, looking very much the part of a troubled sleeper- hair was in a mess, clothes were wrinkled and frumpy, and very light hints of that tiredness clung to his eyes. ”What?” It was a simple word, not really meant as a question- he had heard the Air King perfectly well. Minnow was pretty much ready to bound outside and hurry down the halls to assist before he realized he needed his supplies.

He disappeared behind the door for a moment or two, soon reappearing with a leather bag slung over a shoulder. He didn’t say a word to Amon as he quickly passed him, heading down the halls. He had been in the castle long enough to know his way back to the front door, and a minute or two later he and Lord Amon arrived on the scene.

For a moment Minnow was stunned. He had not been expecting the horrendous scene that met his gaze. Blood was splattered against the walls, pooling a bit in some places on the floor. There were a few mangled bodies, almost unrecognizable, and many of the people in the room were injured and groaning in pain, a couple of them even had some arrows sticking out of their flesh. It seemed everyone was injured, actually, except for Amon, really. Everyone else seemed like they had gone through a battle, which obviously was what happened. Siya was sprawled on the floor, blood clearly showing through his white hair. But Valrien and Damiano seemed to be taking perfectly good care of him, and he seemed to be unconscious.

His pause was over in an instant as his focus took over and his knowledge of healing kicked in. He went to the closest person who could use some help. In all honesty, Minnow was at a disadvantage here. While he had spent almost all of last night learning of herbs and plants and such, the local healers knew more of the local flora than he did. Plus they knew how the magic worked here and how people would react. But that didn’t mean that Minnow couldn’t do some of the simpler things. Besides, in his own pack he had a few of Iveir’s herbs, and those he knew how to use.

However, as he worked at bandaging a particularly nasty wound, he could hear Siya begin to stir and groan in pain. Curiosity won over and he paused a moment to allow his gaze to settle on what was happening between the Fire King and the Prince. What he saw, though, was not worth the innocent little urge he had felt to see what was going on. It had been a huge mistake.

As soon as he saw the magic that Valrien was wielding, Minnow was suddenly back in the throne-room of the Air Kingdom. It was the same exact type that the Prince’s brother used, and while Minnow never really thought about such things nor did they plague his mind nor his nightmares, it wasn’t to say those memories weren’t still lurking in the back of his mind.

The little healer could have sworn that he could feel that burning grip around his throat once again, searing his skin and attempting to strangle him. During the flashback, one hand had unconsciously lifted itself up to his throat, his fingers settling delicately around where the burn had been those two or so years ago. The marks had disappeared long ago, but that muscle memory was suddenly painfully aware of the abuse he had suffered.

Where his fingertips touched, he left bloody marks from the wound he had been tending to in the same exact location where the burns had been. However, Minnow snapped back into reality an instant later, quickly returning his hand to his side and ducking his head a bit to hide his eyes, hoping no one had seen that bout of weakness and distraction.

He quickly finished patching up the man’s wound, standing rather abruptly and scanning the room- pointedly avoiding the areas in which the people he knew were resting in- and his gaze settled on the form of Valrien’s unexpected and unorthodox friend, currently docked in a puddle of blood and not moving very much.

He quickly moved over to Harlan, kneeling down in another small splash of blood. He did a quick customary scan over his form for any really serious wounds.

The first thing Harlan noticed was the splitting headache he felt. It felt like someone had there hands dug into his skull and was trying to tear it apart. Groaning in pain, he went to lift his hands up to his head, to futilely try to stave off the pain he’d only felt a few times after some very hard drinking. However, as he went to move his right arm, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as the limb also refused to move properly. He shouted in pain, bringing his left arm over to cradle the injured shoulder.

Groaning in pain again, he dared himself to open his eyes, and regretted it as the headache raged once more as the light hit his eyes. “Fu~ck…” was all he could think to say as he laid there and slowly glanced over, only to see his right arm limp at his side. That was when he noticed someone’s leg, and his eyes looked upwards to settle on the cutest little blonde above him. He noted how adorable the man’s face was, lost in the look of deep concentration. “Well, aren’t you just an adorable face to wake up to?” he muttered.

Closing his eyes as his head raged once more, Harlan just gave up moving and relaxed his body and head. “Hey, how about giving my head a kiss to make the pain go away, eh cutey?” he asked, somehow willing himself to smile some as he said it.

Minnow lurched backwards in surprise when Harlan suddenly came to life with a shout of pain. The guard tried to move, but the little healer was quick to place a gentle, though sturdy, hand to stop him. ”Don’t-” He attempted to say, but Harlan didn’t seem to hear him. Minnow sighed very slightly in concern, but then his gaze settled on the dislocated shoulder. Almost wincing in empathy, his fingers gently brushed over the injured area, extremely careful not to jar him to much as he figured where it needed to be set. The Prince’s friend said something or other that Minnow didn’t quite catch, but he did not tilt his gaze when he spoke, clearly concentrating on his current task.

”Sorry, what was that?” The young protector’s voice was soft as he worked tenderly. However, his fingers froze as he heard what came from the lecherous drunk’s lips next. A fierce blush heated his cheeks and he kinda just stared at Harlan helplessly. ”A-ah?” He stuttered, blinking in a flustered manner. He had been completely caught off guard, and the more his mind repeated what the man had just said to him, the more ruffled he became. A hand naturally sort of raised up to his chin to hide his lips as he averted his gaze to the ground.

He had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation- he had never been in this position before. He couldn’t just run off like he so desperately wanted to, because Harlan needed medical attention. He couldn’t really do anything to the guy for the same reason. He hazarded a glance back to the guy, which was an obvious mistake. His gaze was intense despite being injured, and he seemed to be smiling suggestively.

Kanan, at the sight of his beloved little healer, moved over to him but stayed just out of the way in case Minnow made any sharp moves in one direction or another. Kanan was fairly nimble to keep out of the boy’s way, so he wasn’t too worried about it. He kept close though in case the little blonde needed anything. Kanan wasn’t a healer himself, but he could help with bandages and things like that, it wouldn’t have been a first for him either.

He stepped out of the way nimbly as Minnow moved from one man and started searching for another to tend to as Valrien’s own healers came to the scene. Kanan shadowed the boy as he moved over to Harlan, Valrien’s royal guard. He watched for a while as Minnow worked before his gaze shifted to look out at the others. The groans and overall sounds of pain filled the hallway like a continuous orchestra, though not nearly as pleasing to listen to.

It wasn’t until he heard Harlan’s voice that he was pulled back to look at the man lying there. At first the only word spoken was a curse as he moaned in his reviving from unconsciousness. However, the words that came next once Harlan set his gaze upon Minnow had Kanan’s chest twisting tightly. His fingers twitched as they curled around the handle of his sword. His pale blue eye leveled down at Harlan as he stepped closer to Minnow, making his presence very apparent with both his air magic and his towering form.

“Wounded or not, I’ll break your hands if you touch him,” Kanan hissed, hardly keeping the hostility out of his voice, the blade pulled forward from it’s sheath just slightly for good measure, “Keep your lecherous words to yourself,” he snapped as he fought the overwhelming urge to grab Minnow and pull him away. He knew the little healer still had things to tend to and unfortunately one of those things was the wretch laying on the floor.

Harlan’s eyes moved so that they were looking up at the towering figure that was the Air King’s protector. Harlan nervously chuckled and smiled up at him, waving. “Noted…” he said, though as he settled he couldn’t help but mutter under his breath. “Just had to say, ‘that’s my boyfriend’, sheesh..” he said before closing his eyes and just settling down.

Recognizing Kanan’s presence settled the little healer quite a bit. But his partner’s words didn’t do much to help the blush on his face as it flushed again from Kanan’s words. Harlan seemed to get the idea though, which Minnow was immensely thankful for. Relaxing a bit himself, Kanan’s words had reminded him of the job he needed to do.

Turning a bit, he rummaged around in his pack before producing a small herb. He leaned forward a bit, tapping Harlan’s chin in request for him to open his mouth. It was to help a bit with the pain he was about to endure.

Once it had been successfully deposited, Minnow made a quick motion, hoping to catch the man off-guard as his fingers wrapped around his upper arm and rested against his shoulder, pulling the joint back into its socket where it belonged. An apologetic look filled his face for a moment as he watched Harlan’s reaction, but he didn’t spare much more thought, quickly going over the cuts and bruises with some other medicinal things in order to mend the guard. He’d like to move on as quickly as possible, because the tension that was radiating off of Kanan’s body was all too apparent to Minnow.

Kanan gave a bit of a warning glare before he let the blade slide back into its sheath. Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched Harlan and Minnow closely, uncomfortable with the man’s words from earlier. Even though he knew it was rather silly of him to be like that, he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t like Minnow couldn’t fend for himself. Kanan ground his teeth as he stood there, wishing for Minnow to be done with the man.

Across the room, Valrien leaned against the wall with one leg pulled up while the other was stretched out across the floor. One of his healers was kneeling next to him, fussing with the wound along his shoulder and chest. After a while, he grew annoyed with the man and told him to go tend to someone else as he shifted against the wall and leaned his head back. Valrien could heal himself. Not that he could right then considering how much power he’d already used. It would be a while before he even dared attempt to pull the wound together.

Even then, he wouldn’t be using his strength on himself as he felt he owed Siya much more. The poor man was lying sprawled on the floor, most likely with a concussion and bleeding from the back of his head. Once Valrien got his strength back the first person to be healed would be the young Fire King, as well as given energy so that he could wake up and be alert again. He chanced a quick glance over to the boy before leaning his head back and closing his eyes to hopefully will his energy back quicker.

”Damn, I’m gone for two days and I miss all the fun~” An unexpected voice parted the silence- well, silent asides from the moans coming from the injured- it was notably female, and the perpetrator stood with her arms crossed, a little smirk on her face despite the carnage around her- the healer’s were doing their job anyway, and while curious, she loved making an entrance. She wore a sleeveless oriental styled shirt that reached up to the start of her throat and ended above her stomach, though the cloth continued down her back and on the sides to her waist. She wore a skirt of the same type with two slits on either side of her legs that reached all the way to her upper thighs. She wore a pair of black shorts underneath, and the ensemble was stunningly embroidered with bright red and orange flames against a black base.

”Looks like a whirlwind of blades came through here,” The ex-protector mused lightly, placing a hand on her hip lightly as she looked over the room. She herself could do nothing, but it did seem as though she had returned at a good time- things were obviously riddled with excitement. Just the sort of mess she loved getting into to.

Harlan was still trying to get the taste of whatever the blonde fella had put in his mouth, though he did have to admit he was feeling better. Granted when the healer had reset his shoulder, Harlan had considered slugging the boy in the face. However, with the one-eyed fella looming over him, and not wanting to ruin the adorable face with a shiner, he had withheld such an action. Spitting to the side to try and get rid of the taste, he had pulled himself away from any blood puddles and rested himself against a wall as he looked out over everything.

He looked over to Valrien first, who was resting up against a wall being fussed over by a healer. Least he was being taken care of, though honestly Harlan was curious as to what in the fuck had happened here. He had noticed that none of the swords from before were in sight, but regardless he had no idea what had occurred.

Though his attempt to figure that out was halted as a voice he loved and yet taunted him so much cut through the groans of pain in the distance. His eyes turned, a smile forming on his face as they settled on the woman he knew and the pair of legs he loved so much. Managing a bit of a smile, he shifted a bit in his spot as he sat up some. “Hey! How about you come give my wounds a kiss? I could use something to make the pain go away, my dear, beautiful Lutchy~.” he said, wincing when pain shot through his still tender shoulder.

Kanan glowered at the man who moved and put himself up on the wall. As Lutchka made her appearance in the room, Kanan fought the urge to roll his good eye though he did sigh in annoyance as Harlan called out to her. At least his attention was off of Minnow, though his flirtatious manner switching to Lutchka still annoyed him. At least he didn’t have anything to worry about with that woman. She’d probably put her fist in his face before she did anything else with the man.

Valrien, on the other hand, jolted as he heard her voice. The sharp movement gave cause to a wince and a groan of pain. He struggled to stand, his body moving in awkward positions as he used the wall to push himself up. One of the healers caught his movement and rushed over to him, putting him back down on the floor, “My Lord! Don’t move! Not yet… Your wounds-”

“Leave me,” Valrien snapped, making the man reel back. As the healer gave a short nod, Valrien ended up staying on the floor anyway. He glowered at Lutchka, not because he was angry with her or anything, mostly it was because she’d walked in at the most undesirable time. Wounded, unable to get up at all, he felt like a damned child forced to stay in one place. It was rather embarrassing.

“You have wonderful timing,” he said, his voice acidic and dripping with sarcasm as he gazed up at her with a scowl on his lips.

She seemed to get a warm welcome from her two boys, and she nodded her head slightly in greeting when Kanan’s one-eyed glance shifted over her. To Harlan’s comment, though, she responded with a wry ”Mm, you probably wouldn’t like the kisses I’d give, I tend to be rougher before I get gentler.” Her tone was amiable and teasing, though, but she had an overly innocent smile on her face, and that always boded the opposite of its accustomed effect.

Then Chromi’s voice was enrapturing her attention, and she turned towards the direction of his voice. She found him on the ground, supported by the wall behind him and looking pretty darn weak. It only made her more curious as to what had occurred in her absence. The biting, scathing tone he used towards her only made her smirk in that pretty little way of hers- cocky, but not entirely challenging. It slipped off her lips easily though, and a certain look filled her face as she walked over to him- it had a certain intensity to it matched with a passionate look.

Lutchka crouched down, leaning in towards him with that intent look, and she bit her lower lip in response before speaking. ”Nice to see you too, pup. But… it looks like someone got to you before I could though. Such a shame…~” She practically purred in his ear before she was suddenly a few steps away from him, as if nothing in particular had happened, though a telling smirk was on her lips. However, all teasing dropped off of her form and she crossed her arms lightly. ”Anybody wanna fill me in on what exactly transpired here?” She let her gaze travel about the room for a moment or two before it stopped on Minnow. She blinked and tilted her head for a moment. He met her gaze with a startled sort of look, not entirely sure why she was looking at him. He had just dealt with one flirtatious devil, he didn’t want to be in the gaze of a wicked temptress in the same day, or any day for that matter.

Lutchka lifted her fingers to her own throat above the collar of her shirt, tapping the skin there before her gaze once more flittered away, waiting for an answer to her question.

Minnow was confused for a second until his own fingertips brushed his neck. He could feel blood crusted there, and he quickly rubbed his palm over the skin to brush it away. How much did Lutchka know about what had happened back then? … He was probably just looking into the action too much. She probably had just seen the blood there and wanted to mention it, even though his form had other blood stains.

Valrien rolled his eyes at her as she knelt down close to him, “As if I’d let you do something like this to me,” he retorted heavily. Though his gaze followed hers as she looked over to Minnow. The boy rubbed at his neck a little after and he arched an eyebrow at him before returning his gaze to her, dismissing the action altogether, “Some cursed swords came in. Unfortunately my idiot guard over there picked one up,” the Prince frowned then, not sure of how much he should really say. The poor man probably didn’t remember anything. He sighed a little and looked back to her, “It was my own fault I ended up with this,” he gestured to the wound, “I wasn’t fast enough,” he finished and left it at that.

Harlan probably didn’t need to know that he’d been the one who had almost killed him, or rather, attempted to anyway. Valrien offered a shrug to Lutchka but immediately regretted it as he winced in pain, his good hand straying to the wound, “I’ll have enough energy soon to heal it myself. First is Siya though… I… Accidentally… May have injured him,” he said with a grimace and a quick look to the unconscious King as well as up to Damiano.

“I’ll be surprised if I survive the rest of the night though,” he muttered, mostly in regards to getting payback from Damiano. Gods… He was not looking forward to that.

Kanan let out a sigh as he listened to Lutchka. Finally he uncrossed his arms as Minnow finished with Harlan. It took all he had not to wrap the little healer up in his grip. Even so, he couldn’t help but to reach out and brush his fingers through the boy’s blonde hair, untangling it some from it’s messy do. As he watched Minnow, he noted his wiping away the blood on his throat and for a moment, he nearly had a heart attack. Was he injured? What happened!

Kanan calmed a moment later when he saw it all come free without any notion there was any wounds. How could he have been wounded anyway? He hadn’t been in the fight. So he sighed in a bit of relief and stepped closer to him, running his fingers along the back of Minnow’s neck and rubbing gently to ease him.

Feeling Kanan lightly tug at his hair with his fingers, a little shiver wracked Minnow’s body. He shifted his head slightly to the side to indicate his appreciation, but mainly he had been listening to what Valrien had been saying about the cursed swords. However, he didn’t elaborate very much, and it didn’t explain the mauling of the other guards.

Once the little healer had finished with Harlan he had moved away from him, looking over the others who were still wounded. Most of them had been bandaged up and cared for by the Reimrandian healers, so he settled himself where he was then.

Had he not been aware of Kanan’s presence, he would have startled and jumped away from the fingers that slid along his neck. He instead eased back into Kanan’s touch with another little shiver, a content look on his face.

Valrien leaned his head back against the wall and let out a long sigh. He let his mind go blank for a moment before pulling it all together again. There was too much to do. One step at a time he thought to himself as he rested for a moment longer. Finally, when he had his thoughts together, he looked around to the rest of the group and shifted a little on the wall, “Rest. Everyone. Once I get my energy back, I’ll… Heal Siya,” he said, his gaze slipping to the young King. Guilt pulled at his stomach, he still felt horrible for having launched the poor man into the wall like that. At the time, he couldn’t think of anything else though, “After that, after he’s better and everyone else as well… We’ll meet and discuss those damned weapons,” Valrien finished, the tone of his voice leaving little to contend with.

Only then did he allow his healers to help him up to his feet as well as everyone else that needed it. For the moment, he wanted nothing more than to sleep for a while before he expanded any more power. Nor did he particularly want to think either, the strange weapons were his limit of patience for the day.

As things were cleaned up and people were attended too, Amon had simply stood back to watch. There wasn’t anything he could do, as he had no medical knowledge. It didn’t matter how many times Minnow tended to his injuries or wounds, Amon never paid attention to what it was to mend them that Minnow was performing.

As he watched Valrien be taken away by the healers, along with his guardsman Harlan, and Siya was carefully collected by Damiano and taken off to have the Fire King’s injuries tended to, all while pushing aside healers that wanted to examine the cut on his own head, Amon simply walked on over to his own protectors. He stopped near them, looking at them both as he crossed his arms.

“Good job, both of you. And sorry to wake you up like that, Minnow.” Amon’s voice had returned to its normal tone, now that the situation had resolved itself. He sighed as he looked around the room, not envying whoever it was that was going to have to clean up this mess. “I’ve dealt with stuff like this for almost two decades, and I still am not use to it…” he muttered. This was just a whole other kind of carnage too that had just witnessed; they needed to figure out who sent these weapons soon, to avoid this ever happening again.

As Amon walked over to he and Kanan, Minnow dipped his head in respect before a light smile of greeting donned his lips for a moment- solely there for the point of showing his being pleased at being in Amon’s presence. With the Air King’s apology, Minnow’s eyes widened just slightly. ”Oh, no Lord Amon. I always wish to serve in any way I can, and I should not like to think you would spare me at the expense of others health. I apologize for sleeping in so late....” He added in the last part as a sort of afterthought, though he knew Amon would not be concerned too much about it, he still felt bad. It always seemed that he was missing when serious things went down, and that actually bothered him greatly, though he never really displayed such feelings.

With his king’s next comment, though, Minnow looked at him before speaking, ”I should hope not. It displays a sense of humanity.” He gave a light nod before turning to look at Kanan. A very gentle smile eased against his lips, a tender though fragile look. The little healer sought out his hand and intertwined their fingers before giving a little squeeze.

Although Valrien had suggested they all get some rest, Minnow was far from tired by now, especially after having been awakened so abruptly. ”Dunno how anyone could really rest after that… other than those who were wounded.” He sighed lightly. It was a true shame that this had occurred- it seemed that Valrien had few men as it was, though Minnow was sure that he could find others to fill in those places easily.

Releasing Kanan’s hand, he gave the both of them a little bow. ”Regardless, I should probably get back to work with learning more of the local flora.” With another reserved smile- still mindful of the tragedy that lay around them- he turned and headed out the doors, stepping out into the air once more.

As to Chromi’s previous statement on his current physique, she simply smirked pleasantly to herself. ”We’ll see.” He then began to explain just what had happened, though she got the feeling he was being rather frank about it and leaving some details out. However, when he motioned towards his wound, her eyes narrowed fractionally. It seemed for a moment that she became rather serious, but it was quickly covered up as the Prince seemed to just shrug it off and play it thus.

Then he spoke of Siya, and she crossed her arms in disbelief. ”May have? Jeez, the poor kid isn’t even up to his former self and you decide to play rough?” Her tone was lite and a wee bit sarcastic- she couldn’t help but prey on him when he set himself up so easily. Perhaps it had been a tactical error to do so, because the fellow did seem pretty sincere about it. ”He’s tough, I wouldn’t worry about him so much. You seem to underestimate him, in my opinion.”

The ex-protector then left Chromi alone, turning her attention to Harlan as the Prince mentioned resting. ”No booze for you either if you wanna get back to your normal self quickly~” She teased, but a serious look also played on her face. When everyone started heading off on their own ways, she disappeared down a hallway to see about some business or other that had been on her mind. That was mainly the reason that she had been away those two days prior.