Ridahne shrugged gently with only one shoulder so as not to disturb Darin's head. "I don't know. I think readiness is an expectation but rarely a reality. But you'll look back and suddenly realize you've done all this before, or something like it, or  that you at least know what you want to do about it. And suddenly the future seems less dark. You'll never escape uncertainty--that's just the nature of life. But I think it will get easier without you realizing it." 

The warrior sighed, though the exact tone of the expression was unreadable and mixed. "Well, that's something. Thank you." Fidgeting with her long fingers, she said, "It's not like I don't want either of them around, especially Mrixe. He's a decent man. And if you'd like his company, it doesn't upset me. Not if you wanted it. But when it turned from having a local guide to having a [I]night watch[/I] I...well it...It made me feel like they didn't trust me, and I don't mean because I'm a killer. That's fine, I've expected that much. But it felt like they didn't trust me to look after you, and protect you, and...well, if I'm a bad Guardian, then there's not much else for me to be, honestly. And tools without purpose aren't generally worth keeping around. I'm the kind of person that needs a sense of purpose to feel....right. I know you don't think that about me, I know you," she said gently, patting Darin's arm. "But those are my fears in my heart of hearts." 

Ridahne let Darin sleep then, and frankly she was glad to follow. She did not sleep entirely well on account of her face, but she did get some sleep and that was better than nothing. She awoke later than usual for her, and some time after Darin rose. Her whole face ached, but as she peeled away the crusty bandages, she decided it was worth it. When she eventually came down to the common room, the warrior had evidently spent a bit of time preening, because her black, wavy hair was silky, combed, and freshly tied in a half ponytail. She'd opted to wear her more traditional Azurei garb--an uri fastened at the waist with a deep iron red silk sash, and a cropped, fitted top that only covered down to her ribs and was trimmed with bone beads--while her other sets of road clothing got cleaned and hung to dry. Instead of new bandages, she simply applied a new coating of salve to her fresh ink. Despite her slightly more done-up appearance, her face was a grim, puffy mask of painful swelling on one side, and it made her look somewhat disfigured. The innkeeper tried to hide his double take, but he did a poor job of it.

Ridahne sat beside Darin and tilted her chin upward, catching the new ink in the light. "Well, what do you think?" Along the left side of her hairline were a series of lines that, upon study and reflection, were almost vine like in their pattern. Branching off it were two  distinct marks. One was black, curved, rimmed by precise little dots, and crested with something that looked vaguely starlike. The other was inked also in black, and was a simple outline in an almost teardrop shape. Ridahne pointed to the different elements, explaining the significance of each. "And when my task is complete, this one here will be filled in with white, but in my case the black outline will remain, a badge of honor to reflect the whole of my story, and not just its ending."  At some points as she spoke, the words came out a little slurred because her face was too swollen for her lips to form the exact shape, and the resulting sound was a little off.