[u]A moment...annd then it's gone[/u] Althalus' gaze focused back on Mar and Lyn, ignoring his headache, as Mar finally awoke. She wasn't the only one, Althalus noted, hearing Lyn's high pitched squeal and then giggle. A gentle smile crossed his face, and he relaxed a little bit more. Some small part of him had still worried that Mar wasn't going to wake up from whatever had happened to her. That part relaxed now and he found himself agreeing with Mar by nodding. Responding to Alaira's teasing he said, "Oh yes. Soft as a pillow, but not as soft as you when it comes to her." He nodded his head towards Lyn, a light smile playing on his face. When Alaira began to with his name, he raised an eyebrow. That was out of character. When she began complimenting him, he raised his other eyebrow. She must have been hit harder on the head than he thought. "I would hope that I'm a good friend. You sacrificed yourself to save Lyn and Mar. I can never repay you for that, but I can try." He said quietly. However, he soon realized that Alaira probably had no idea what they were talking about, and he turned to explain more to the half-elf, when Mar spoke again, about how she should have had puncture wounds. Althalus froze, barely noticing Alaira's final words before leaving. Turning slowly and deliberately to Mar, "[i]Puncture wounds[/i]? From a trident I take it?" Of course. Who else could have hurt her, or wanted to hurt her? His entire body tensed with repressed fury, and then slowly untensed. Rage would gain him little in this room. "I'll kill him. No prison is unbreachable.." Shaking his head, he returned to the matter at hand. "But you're okay? Nothing wrong aside from confusion at what exactly happened?" --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Althalus, I'm fine. Right now the most confusing thing is your behavior." Mar spoke, her confusion worsened at the man's reaction. She had lifted her head and watched the slight show between the pair. When it had ended, she merely sighed. Her hand was still rested upon her stomach now voided of holes, the fact seemed more like a distrubing one which refused to leave her alone. She knew had been hurt. The blood all over the floor and signs of struggle was a very clear reminder. Her mind had drifted over what Althalus had mentioned about a trident. The image of Xyden brandishing his weapon and it sinking into her belly became vivid that she flinched. A sour taste reached onto her tongue and settled there, filled her mouth with its foulness. Her hand back came up to help her swallow it down. Mar didn't like that as she turned to Athalus and spoke. "What happened?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Althalus opened his mouth to continue, then remembered who he was talking to and shut his mouth. Explaining why 'bipeds', humans in particular, used their emotions so much was a battle he would not win. So he kept his mouth shut, and simply watched her. It was much easier for him to just watch, rather than for him to talk. Thus, that's how he noticed her flinching. Concern flicked across his features, but he said nothing, waiting for her to speak. He could guess what she was flinching at, and gritted his teeth. He would kill the bastard. It wouldn't make up for his failure, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction. As she asked him what happened, he paused a few moments, gathering his thoughts. "Xyden beat Alaira, and knocked her unconscious, and started heading here. Sam tried to stop him and failed. He made a lengthy proclamation which pretty much summed up that he wanted to kill you and Lyn, he started to come inside and I stabbed him, there was a short fight where I tried to protect you and Lyn, he cornered me and nearly caved my head in with his trident, so I failed, and then I blacked out." There was a self-hate in his tone, quickly gone as he continued. "I awoke to finding you and Lyn covered in blood and filth on the ground. After a minor panic, I realized you were both alive. I cleaned you both up," He gestured to the bloody red cloth and the bowl of bloody water. "and then made you comfortable. I fell asleep in front of the door way, and then awoke to Alaira yelling at me. We talked, then you woke up." He shrugged. "That's all I know." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mar's eyebrow rose. Her expression seemed not to believe him at first, the spun tale a little hard to swallow for her. At least at first, then the memories seemed to edge back to her. First her own encounter with Xyden then Althalus's. Her skin paled into a brighter white, her heart seemed to race and her tail instinctively curled about her infant daughter. Lyn's small body shifted over the covers and pressed against her mother's side giving a little giggle before her hands reached to explore the surface of Mar's tail. The mother Naga however had stayed eerily silent. She seemed to absorbed the thoughts which rattled in her head but in truth, Mar was trying to keep herself from throwing up. Her fingers gripped the sheets tighter and took hold of fistfuls while the picture of Althalus fighting replayed in her mind. An emotion. Strangely sickening and wrathful seemed embedded in her chest, a sort of heat filled her and seemed to be the core cause of it. Without a word, Her head snapped back to Althalus. Her hand strike out to seize what remained of his shirt collar. Then gently pulled him forward, her eyes searched over to seek the wounds and examine him completely. Once she found no serious wounds, Mar's finger released her grip and allowed Althalus some room. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was mostly intact. That uneased feeling seemed to have faded with evidence he was alright. Of course her next words seemed to have indicated otherwise. "You don't ever do that to me again." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Althalus sighed, seeing her look of disbelief. "Believe me, if I hadn't seen the bl..." He trailed off, concern growing as he watched Mar pale, tighten her tail around Lyn, and then grab the sheets. Pulling himself up to his feet, muttering a curse as he still had a headache, he walked over to her. "Mar? What's the-" He was cut off as her hand grasped his shirt collar and then drew him close as she examined him. After his initial surprise drained away, Althalus waited quietly, a small smirk going across his face as he watched Lyn giggle and try to crawl over the tail that was suddenly drawn around her. As he felt Mar's fingers releasing his collar, his eyes returned to the Naga. Even though he could have straightened up, he didn't. At her last words, he shook his head, a hand carefully reaching out to touch her shoulder. She seemed...odd, to react like this after arguing with him for six months. Softly, he replied, "What was I supposed to do? Just let him kill you and Lyn?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That's the problem Althalus, you're only thinking about yourself!" She felt herself snap and continue, a slight depression within her tone. "If you have been killed what would Lyn and I had done? It's selfish to think you're the only one that would feel a loss because of a death. It was stupid of you to take him on and even more idiotic to think you had a chance to win." At this moment she didn't jerk her shoulder away as his hand rested upon it. Her eyes just turned to him, slight wetness edged to her eyes before she had noticed. Her hand back came up and wiped it away, head turned to hide it. She didn't want him to see how badly it shook her, surprised by herself, to think about him dying had on her. Her voice held some anger towards him as if he planned on dying and she resented him for it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Althalus blinked in surprise. This was twice now that Mar had revealed that she held more than contempt for his emotions and dislike of his stubborness to be apart of Lyn's life. He opened his mouth to respond, when he noticed a wet glimmer in Mar's eyes before she wiped them and turned her head away. His gaze softened, and his hand moved from her shoulder to her chin, gently forcing her to look at him. "I wasn't only thinking of myself, even if it appeared that way. While yes, failing to protect you and Lyn gives me great pain, and your deaths would have brought unimaginable sorrow and a desire for revenge that has only happened once before, I didn't do it to spare myself pain." A gentle smirk crossed his face briefly, before he continued. "I did it to try and save your lives. "You're my family, and the both of you are the most important things in this world to me. I would give anything, my life included, to ensure your safety. On a more practical point, Lyn will need you more than she'll need me. I will undoubtedly only be a small, small part of her life. A faded memory, at best. She'll live far longer than any human, and you're the only one of us who will be alive for most of her life. I didn't think I had a chance of surviving, and I knew very well how stupid it was for me to take him on in a relatively fair fight. But there was a chance I could delay him for help to arrive, or even kill or cripple him enough not to carry out with his plan, and I took it. I don't want to cause you pain, any more than I want to die, but I won't stand idly by while someone not only threatens your life, but the life of my child. It's not an option." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Mar felt her head tilted back to him, part of her wanted to fight but in the end, gave in. His fingers were coarse and firm, her heart pounded in reply to feel them softly clasp her chin. Not all the wetness had been wiped away in her haste, collected at the edges, while she knew he would've noticed. His face had became relaxed to prove her already known fact. Naturally at the sight, he turned into a long winded explaination. It was both far too long in her experience yet a bit of her felt a slight warmth at it. Her eyes fixed upon his rather handsome golden eyes that seemed to come to life with each word, reflected back both sincerity and sorrow. They had almost lost too much. Both for Mar's and Althalus's liking. At his words about a faded memory and the fact Lyn would her, Mar stopped herself from rolling her eyes at his excuse. Lyn had legs, not a tail. Mar could never teach her to walk, run or even fight since she had no experience with such things. Her child, if he died, would likely never learn to walk and that was a fatal reality. "Bipeds can be so...stupid." Mar said, unable to think of another word. She continued with a tone that her next words had explained everything, her head tilted to the side with a serious look. "I can't teach her to walk, Althalus. And why is it, you must say so much before you get to the point?" It was at this moment, the once delighted giggles had turned into slight fussy sounds. A strange sound had come from Lyn's middle, low and rather demanding, which announced the infant was hungry. Unable to crawl, Lyn's turn to her side hadn't gone as planned and instead, she rolled back over. Her little legs started to move and arms started to reach for Mar, who promptly pulled from Althalus's grasp to pick her child up. Cradling the now screaming Lyn, Mar looked to Althalus. "Someone's hungry and I need to make a trip down to the kitchens for some food..." Mar started to rise but suddenly stopped. Her head felt rather dizzy in her fast change in elevation, her body then sat back down before it had gotten very far. A hand rested upon her head until the earth had ceased its tilted. She muttered. "That was odd..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Althalus chuckled gently at her first words. After all, they were true, in a way. As she continued he raised an eyebrow, and opened his mouth to reply only to close it with an amused glance towards Lyn. He let go of Mar as soon as she turned from his grasp to pick up the squalling child, feeling the moment slip away like water between his fingers. A small smile crossed his face. [i]Such is the power of children.[/i] He observed wryly, before his thoughts were interrupted by Mar rising and suddenly stopping, before going down, holding her head. He didn't know what had just happened, but assumed that she couldn't go anywhere at the moment. Not surprising, given that she had apparently been stabbed by Xyden while he was unconscious. "[i]I'll[/i] go and get some food from the kitchens. What will she need, and what will you need?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a easy and steady sway motion, Mar gently rocked the infant. Her arms firmly settled underneath to cradle Lyn close to her as her mind thought. "Well cooked meat. Small chunks, enough for her to bite into them and swallow. Some water or liquid and an animal skin, so she can teeth on it." That was all she could think of at the moment, unsure if Lyn took after more the Naga in her or the human. To be honest with herself, if Lyn did take after her father much more then anything Mar tried would've bot been suited. In a last moment thought, she then added. "Bring anything you think a newborn would need as well. Incase. " ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Althalus nodded, deciding to go get some help on the last bit. He knew exactly nothing of what a newborn would need. Still, he didn't leave yet. "And what do you want?" He repeated. He couldn't very well just get food and water for Lyn and just leave Mar as she is, clearly in need of something. He waited for her, clearly not moving until she gave him something to return with for her. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mar sighed at his hestiation, even if it was meant to be heartfelt, her arms rocked Lyn a bit more. "Some raw meat and water would be fine." Her answer was quick and straight to the point, her hand reached to sooth the cried that soon became needy wails. She was trying to remain calm yet a pang og guilt for not noting and preparing for the situation at hand had dug into her. Like a nasty bard which seemed to bleed worse with the more she ignored it, the guilt poked at her heart. Why didn't she remember that Lyn would've needed food soon after her birth? Her teeth, unfanged, bit her lips slight. "Please hurry Althalus..." In a moment, the man was gone...like a shadow that was never there.