[@Lord Zee][@Thinslayer]
Kaite watched as the figure swept comrades aside with a swing of their large blade, pounding in the sparking shield of the man she understood was named 'Ivan'. While she could judge his stance and compare it to his confidence to soak the brunt of such a strike rather than deflect it, now was hardly the time. With a comically dismissing sniff, she lifted her shield to the ready before replying to Tiberius.[color=a187be] "Yeh, gotta earn that soldier wage somehow, I suppose"[/color] she said with a disappointed huff, approaching at his side though separating to ideally spring a two-pronged attack.
That was, until the spell struck.

Formless words from unknown depths seeped into the world from the being who's mere annunciation gave the syllables life, fed from the waning light of the fire. While the flames of the fire could be made out, they seemed hollow and placid. Then went the crackles of Ivan's armaments, off like a lightswitch. It wasn't until the conclusion that the gravity truly sink into Kaite who wasn't a spellcaster and such relied on will over mana. Looking around briefly to the others, a foreign and unsettling stillness seeped into her senses. A clarity as if waking up from a dream as the whispers fell silent; Not so much the dormancy that crept through her being like being watched with the judging eyes of an audience of two dozen superiors, but a cold emptiness. Even surrounded by ailing allies, the void that was left in the place of haunting voices of contempt evoked an agonizing sense of loss.
'Normalcy', some would call the silencing, but thirty years of the damning sway the armor held reduced the sudden snuffing of the nameless chorus to a maddening loneliness.

Kaite's body burned, scores of cursed scars evaporating and leaving every wound stingingly fresh. More than the oppressive hush to the chorus or the knowledge that tight binds of mail and plate was all that kept most of her blood inside her body at this point was a realization of her place in the world. Becoming so reliant on a simple object only to have it taken away...a simple object that took everything else away...put everything into perspective as she fumbled for the ring in a buttoned pocket with shaky hands. The wish finally came to mind. [color=a187be]"E-Eru..."[/color] Kaite whispered as she paused in her approach, loath to give the impression that her resolve had crumbled, spitting a bit of blood into the interior of her visor. [color=a187be]"I nee- [i]ehrnf[/i]...[i]need[/i] it back...all of it"[/color] She continued with a whine of a grunt, somehow managing to stay standing as it felt like the world was wobbling and bending around her.

Everything.
The armor to keep her alive long enough to see the job done. A city that wouldn't drive her away for the monster they now rightfully thought she was, and a place at Ispar's "Gate-Steels" smithy would have been a nice addition, but first things first, of course. Bleeding out after having some shady shit yell 'fuck off' for all intents and purposes was hardly a way to go. Moments after this thought, Kaite wondered if anyone would even remember her face, up in the frozen north. She wasn't the young woman she once was...a small smile working to her fading expression as she thought of the saying 'getting to old for this shit'.