After the Sojourn

It's late afternoon - almost evening by the time Sebas is escorted and then sent to a room in the temple of Daeus. Hearing that it's Andelena and Dolan, Zeke quickly finds his way to the room to see what the trouble is. In truth the sith-makar is expecting that there will be an injury to Dolan - the man rather is a magnet for such. So he is a little surprised that it's not Dolan, nor even Andelena that's injured. Instead it's a young man he's never seen before. He pauses just inside the room as Sebas is being settled in and waits for the other clerics and novice-healers to clear out before looking around the room and settling his gaze on the young man. "Peasssce on your nessstsss."

Indeed, Dolan seems to be well enough, and is armed with longsword and breastplate. He's even _clean_. He's turned one of the two chairs in the room backwards and seated himself, straddling it as is often his wont, his arms resting comfortably on the back. "Brightest of days, Zeke. Seb, we lucked out," he explains. "Long story short, Zeke - this is Andie's little brother. I just kicked a demon out of him, and Andie ran it off. I'll let him explain the rest." He seems comfortable enough, and in good spirits.

The family resemblance is certainly there. Andelena and Seb both have the same red hair, and there's parts of the face that they share, as well as their propensity for height--although Seb is shorter than his sister by only an inch. His blue eyes, however, are one of the key differences between Andelena and himself, and while they were inherited from his mother... Andelena clearly doesn't care, as she just strokes Seb's hair gently, leaning over him. "Feeling okay, Seb?" she asks. "We've got Zeke here--he's the best damn healer in this Temple, _and_ he's my superior. He'll take good care of you..."

She lifts her eyes up to Zeke and smiles brightly. "Peace on your nest, Zeke. What a blessed day this is."

Sebas offers his sister a smile, but it's slightly strained compared to hers. He's clearly not thrilled to be in what is effectively a hospital, but he's also not complaining either which is probably a step up from what he'd usually be doing. He gives the sith-makar a bit of an interested look. "If my sister vouches for you, you are doubtless a peerless healer. I am in your hands." He offers as a vote of confidence.

"As for the demon business..." He shudders. "I owe Brydion here a deep debt of gratitude for freeing me from... that."

Zeke nods to them all and his tail gives a little flick. "You sssseem cheerful for all you bring an injured one to thisss one." He remarks with some amusement and slowly approaches Sebas. "Thisss one would like to look at your injuriesss yesss?" He inquires and waits for a nod of understanding before he begins a gentle look over the injuries that the young man bears. "Thisss hasss to do with thosse demonsss hunting you then? Thisss kin of yoursss bearsss ressemblance to the one that attacked thisss temple."

"I ain't never sorry to see you, Zeke," Dolan counters, sitting up straight in the chair and watching Zeke go to work. "It's what I do, Seb, and nobody is more pleased than me to see you freed from that. That's not the first one of those I've driven out, and it ain't the second, either." Back to Zeke. "You remember that communing Andie and I asked for a fortnight or two back? He's part of its subject. The part we needed to rescue. We - mostly got to him in time, I s'pose."

He sighs, his gaze going back to Seb. "I ain't happy about the state he's in, but it could be a damn sight worse from what I've seen lately."

"After everything we've been through... I'm happy my little brother's alive." Andelena looks almost apologetically at Seb. "I'm sorry, Seb. I'm sure it's not the most comfortable thing in the world. But Bry and I have been through _hell_ and back lately. Bry just got some information that connects Mother to a whole fucking boiling pot's worth of trouble and we wanted to get you out of there as soon as possible."

She grins and gestures to Dolan. "See why I wanted to marry him? We make a perfect team. Always have."

"You two did a communing? About me?" Sebas seems a bit shocked, or perhaps more shocked. The truth is that he's been rather in a state of shock for some time, and it hasn't faded away like it should. There's just... a lot. He gives Andelena a little smile to show that he's okay, but like the previous one it's a little thin. "I am glad you did. Being controlled by a demon like that..."

The young man shudders and he looks at his sister and then at Dolan. "Here I thought you were marrying him because you loved him." A soft mischievous smile. Taunting his sister comes naturally it seems. "You two seem... Different. Even more so than the last time I talked to you sis."

Zeke meanwhile does his checking and settles back from Sebas with a small sigh. "He isss going to require sssome healing if you want him to be able to move around much." The sith replies slowly, trying not to break into the conversation rudely. "Hisss arm and leg are broken, and hisss ribsss badly bruisssed. Every-thing elssse issss ssssuperficial."

"Do what you need, Zeke," Dolan says promptly, from his chair on the far side of the room. "We'll cover it," he offers with a crooked grin, and when he answers Zeke, he sounds not the slightest bit taken aback or put out. "Seb, he's saying to hush up and let him work, and we'd best do it. We'll explain once you're not half-beaten, yeah? Take care of you first."

"We'll talk in a little bit, Seb," Andelena says affectionately, walking back to Dolan. She leans down and kisses him on the cheek out of genuine affection and a happiness for the triumph they've managed. Zeke's analysis of the injuries do get a frown, however, and there's a flicker of guilt in her eyes. She's the older sister, so this is a pain that was always going to happen--the pain of seeing her brother so wounded.

Sebas seems slightly put-out from the rebuff, but the thought of being healed clearly makes up for any amount of being politely told that he's talking too much. He nods once and sits still for the sith-makar to do his work.

Zeke in fact seems somewhat relieved that the young man is finally sitting still. He does quick work to take off the bindings on wrist and leg. These so that he can more effectively see the breaks and assess them. Then he nods, seeming to appreciate that his guess on the bindings was correct. With this sorted he takes a breath and draws out his holy symbol, touching the young man gently on the shoulder and praying. "Dragonfather, let your Light heal thissss young one... Mend hisss bonesss and return hisss flesssh to health."

Those words are enough, and there's a gentle warmth passing through from him and into the young man he had chosen to heal. Not until this is done does Zeke turn his attention to Dolan. "You know, that thisss one doess not care about sssuch thingsss asss payment Dolan. Thisss isss what thisss one can do to be of aid; and thisss one isss glad to do it."

"No, but I owe Him more than a little, Zeke. I reckon it's time I repaid a little of that, and you've been a blessing to both of us. Seems only right to say thank you with a little more'n words." Dolan smiles up at Andelena at the kiss on the cheek, but hasn't moved from his perch, and these words are only spoken when the healing is complete. In truth, the spells of healing no longer hold fascination for him - he has been the subject of them frequently enough by now that no mysteries remain.

"Give it a moment, Seb. I'll feel weird and it might hurt for a little, your brain has to catch up with the magic." The words of advice are offered in a friendly tone. "We'll tell you in a minute. It's a damned long and sordid story."

"Deep breaths, Seb," Andelena offers as she continues to stand next to Dolan. Her hand goes to find his, and she smiles warmly at her brother. "I can't even remember the last time you got hurt like this. Probably..."

She sobers a little as she seems to realize something with the trailing of her thoughts, and her steel-gray eyes look back down at Dolan. "Probably never, huh," she murmurs. "Guess we really do live in different worlds." Injury comes as a fact of life for them; healing like this is so routine, especially among the people that they know. But not everyone's an adventurer. Sometimes... they're just a little brother.

Sebas shifts uncomfortably on the bed, unable to keep himself totally still though the words of his sister have him trying. "It itches." He complains quietly, but seems to realize that what he is complaining about is probably the least of his concerns. He sighs. "No, I don't think I've ever been this badly hurt."

He eyes his sister. "You though. That cut on your face is new." He eyes Zeke a moment as if to be sure that he is okay to talk a little now. Then he hefts a sigh. "What's going on sis? It was never like... _this_."

Zeke settles back a little from the healing, keeping half an eye on the boy and shifting his tail at Dolan. "You do hisss work Dolan, that isss thanksss enough for thisss one. Or... Perhapsss tea with thisss one sssome-time. Sssharing wordsss with friendsss isss alwaysss good." He looks at Sebas, talking to his sister and snorts lightly. Seems that he finds the young man amusing in some way.

Doesn't Dolan know all about _that_. He chuckles himself, turning his attention to the bed. "At your leisure, Zeke. I'm around. They're dropped the greatsword training back to every other day. I'm around." There's much unsaid in that statement, something - not entirely good, but he blithely brushes past it with only quick words.

He turns his attention then back to Seb. "Sorry, Zeke's used to me being the one to come in here a mess. You want to explain, baby? It's a damned long story and he probably ought to rest."

Andelena doesn't miss what's unsaid. Her eyes flicker down to Dolan as he says it. But her brother is asking what's going on, and Dolan's prompting her to explain.

She steps forward and approaches Seb, getting closer to him. The scratch on the face is no longer 'a scratch' as she gets closer. "It's a scar," she explains. "It's recent."

Andelena holds her hand out for Sebas to take. "After you sent that letter to me, warning me there was a devil after me--Bry and I were on the lookout. Bry took a request from a friend of ours to go free someone from a prison cell in the Iron Hells. I might have gone with him, but..."

Her eyes narrow a little. "You walked in. More accurately, a fiend wearing your face walked into the Temple here. It attacked me and other people. That's what gave me the scar. After that--Bry and I were looking for you, because demons and devils have a real fucking neat hobby where they like to 'disappear' people and then take on their appearances, and I was worried out of my damn mind that you'd been taken to the Hells."

His eyes widen and widen at the sound of his sister's words. The thought that something that had worn his face had given her such a scar. He reaches out tentatively, to try and touch her face and he shivers with horror at the idea of something he can not truly comprehend. "She... She wouldn't. Mother wouldn't..." He's stumbling over his words, horrified to think what their mother _had_ done. Might do.

Zeke shakes his head sadly at the revelations of things he already knows from having healed the wounds of these actions. "How did the fiend become you? A piesce of you isss necessssary for sssuch magicsss." The truth of this leaves the room oddly silent for a moment. It's a horrifying thought, and one worthy of the sadness in Zeke's eyes.

Finally, Dolan seems to notice that Andelena was reaching for him, after she has moved to take Seb's hand instead. Sighing, he sets his hand back down. "Your mother is mixed up in some pretty nasty shit, Seb," he remarks. "Sounds like your brother's a bit of a mess too, from what Tel said. He okay?"

"I'm sorry, Seb," Andelena says, her hand going to rest on top of his hand that's inspecting that very, very real scar. She's sorry that he has to learn like this--that the depth of their mother's cruelty and drive for control goes this far. "But it's true. I was forced to put my blade through the heart of a fiend that looked like you in order to keep it from killing more people. And that's why I've got this scar. There's no fixing it. I've got it for life."

She regards him for a moment. "What's going on with Gale?" she asks, gently. "I know he was actually getting serious with a woman, or was trying, and that was... fucking _weird_ for him. But it sounds like he's not the same person."

"I don't know." Sebas seems at a loss, his hand squeezing the edge of his sister's cheek and letting her hold his hand there. "She won't let me see him. He spends almost all his time in his room or... Or visiting her. I've seen him a few times all the same but..." Suddenly the young man seems tired. "He doesn't look himself at all. When's the last time you knew Gale not to shave?"

Noticing the dip in his patient's energy Zeke leans forward slightly. "You ssshould let him ressst Andelena. Quessstionsss in the morning yesss? He will be here. You all need ressst." But Sebas most of all goes unsaid.

Andelena rubs her fingers across Seb's hand before she returns it back down to the bed and gently places it at his side. Her steel-gray eyes are filled with more than a measure of her own tired mood when Zeke mentions that they all need rest. Sunguard Zeke, as always, is right about these things.

"Never," she answers Seb. "Strange as hell. But... You heard the man. You need your rest."

She squeezes his hand before she lets go, pulling away to return to Dolan's side. "I'll be back for you, Seb." Her voice is gentle with that promise. "I'll be back. But for now, you're safe."

And she's happy for that. In the face of all that her mother's done--she has to be happy for that.

-End