Mother My Mother

Drip. Drip. Drip. The sky is weeping today. A gentle fall of rain from a mantle of blue turned gray by clouds. It's the sort of day that makes one long for a blanket. For the comfort of home. It's the sort of day that makes memories of home rise up, for good or ill. Memories of hearth-fires and chats by candle light. The sting of pain and a name long left behind.

These are the memories that belong to Zeke. He walks in the front of the group of people who have come with him to talk to his nest-mother. He leads the way through Mictlan, a place he once knew well but has been to not very much recently. It holds too many memories, too many of those he has left behind. He walks as though he knows where he is going by some instinct that only he knows. The truth is that he smells her the moment he enters Mictlan. Knows her scent better than any other.

He doesn't talk as he walks, his silence is a pervasive, tense thing. It does not welcome breaking. Even the sound of his walking stick and his crystal claw are swallowed up by the soft wet earth. Drip, drip, drip.

Andelena's present with the group today, her expression almost stone-faced as she walks with Zeke. She's dressed warmly, but defensively, with two layers of white cloaks signaling her station as a Sunguard dressed atop her full plate armor, with Deliverance hanging off her sword-belt. She glances around on occasion as they walk, like she expects Zeke's mother to pop out at any occasion, which has the side-effect of making it look like she's not thrilled to be here.

Which, well, in better circumstances, maybe she'd be taking in the sights of Mictlan. Today, though, she's focused solely on the mission--of sorts.

Tlanexhuani does not seek to break any silence, with many thoughts occupy himself. Many questions wait to be asked. In the meantime, many possibilities are tentatively fancied in one's mind. Along with the others, he moves through the dripping wet into grounds only recently found yet welcoming.

The last figure, who has dropped to the back of the group, is also wordless as they make their way through the forest. The blonde man in full plate armor, his attire deepest blue and silver and with a longsword at his hip and a bow over his back, had introduced himself as "Seldan, servant of the Dreamer"; has proven quiet, steady, and soft-spoken, and the cold and wet appear to trouble him not at all beyond the pulling up of his hood against the weather. He seems to know his way, but allows the others to lead, watching the woods and path around them warily.

GAME: Andelena rolls Sense Motive: (3)+12: 15
GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (6)+19: 25
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls sense motive: (3)+2: 5

Every step forward is filled with a sense of foreboding. It can not be explained or defined. Perhaps it has something to do with the grim look on Zeke's face. Or perhaps it is something more. Zeke comes to a stop suddenly and without warning, but the why of it becomes clear after only a moment. Another blue-scale stands at one of the fires.

The sith turns toward them, and her shoulders relax, her eyes widen. She's clearly surprised to see him, and notices no one but him. She moves toward the group of you, slowly at first and then faster. When she's only a few feet away she makes a glad sound and calls out to him. "Maksur!"

Zeke flinches at the old name, the name he'd been born with, and had been his for a hundred years. He holds very still, as if by being perfectly without movement he might not draw her attention - but it's to no avail. He's been spotted. He is seen.

It happens without warning or explanation. Her claw does an odd little motion as she spreads her arms out in what is clearly intended to be a hug, and a dagger flies out with the motion of her hand. A dagger headed straight for Zeke.

GAME: Seldan casts Paladin's Sacrifice. Caster Level: 8 DC: 20

The wariness Seldan had worn the entire trip had but gotten worse as they approached an area that he had hoped never to find himself in again. Still was he willing to venture here, for Zeke's sake, and in fact had done on previous occasions. This time, though, the wariness, driven further by foreboding, paid off, because he was ready when the flying dagger glinted in the firelight of the sentries' watch station at the edge.

From the back, he raises a hand and shouts only, "Eluna, shield him!" The dagger - vanishes, and the clank of armor behind them shatters the silence as the paladin crumples in a shower of crimson to the dirt of the forest floor.

Seldan's spell results in Andelena growling, drawing her sword, steel-grey eyes flaring as she takes a step forward. "Nonatziné! Stand _down_!" the Sunguard orders. The crimson that comes from Seldan is of grave concern to her, but she's more focused on preventing this from escalating further and harming Zeke. "Stand down _now_!"

Tlan may be the only one present that, while concerned, is also happy to see the third bluescale. That she turns to greet Zeke only add more hope. -How- she greets him starts a snort, though. He does not approve of that name in the slightest. He is about to comment when a glint of steel shatters whatever pleasant thoughts he had.

"NONA?!"

Only anger, confusion, incredulity are left in its wake.

Zeke is slightly slower to react than is Seldan. He flinches away from the knife, but the knife has already found its mark. He turns toward Seldan and drops to his knees. "Kin!" His voice is a whip-crack of horror, and he immediately pulls Seldan into his arms. Blood pours out of the man faster than Zeke can possibly hope to stop it. There's a dagger in the man's throat. If he takes it out, he knows that Seldan's life will spill with it. If he does nothing, the man will die a slow death of blood loss. He is a healer. His life is built on moments like this. He forgets the woman trying to kill him. Forgets everything but Seldan in his arms.

A white light envelops him.

Nona, as Tlanexhuani calls her, grins ferally at the sight of Zeke on his knees. "He must die!" She screeches at the pair, some of the other sith in the area are curiously looking over, shocked they start toward Nona, but the woman draws a second blade from her clothes and draws a gash on her wrist. Spilling her own blood onto the sacred ground of Mictlan. There's a rumble, a miasma spilling forth from her blood that makes the other sith draw back. The ground shakes. Shivers like its trying to crawl away from her and sounds of fear can be heard though the camp.

"Let me have his death, and the rest of you can go free." She utters coldly, her blade dripping with crimson.

The chaos erupts. The horrifying sight of Seldan, a man who Andelena has only known a short time, with blood pouring from his dagger-embedded throat, in Zeke's arms--it's something the Sunguard has to tear herself away from, tearing herself away from the pain and agony that is on display there. Deliverance is warm in her hands.

This is no mother in front of her, Andelena's decided--and maybe she'd decided that already before this. She rushes forward, longsword in hand, putting herself in between Zeke and his mother. She has to protect them. She _has_ to.

"You'll have to get through me first," Andelena says firmly, stopping short only a couple of feet away from Zeke. She summons up the will, summons up the steel that's within. "Daeus, Holy Knight, protect myself and my allies, so that I may deliver us from Evil."

The protective aura floods out from her, covering herself, Zeke, and Seldan. Andelena's sword is lifted high. "Leave this place, servant of Maugrim!" she barks out, revealing Nonantziné for what she knows her to be.

GAME: Andelena casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 6 DC: 17

"No!" Tlanexhuani straightens and steps up, holding his spear at the ready rather than leaning upon it as he puts himself between Zeke, Seldan and ... one he does not know anymore. "You will have NOTHING, Nonantzine! Stop this!" This is no longer the time to ask questions. 'Why' does not matter at this moment.

Zeke is quite busy at the moment, his body shining with white light as he prepares the most difficult thing he has done in... some time. Not simply because it is difficult, but because the life of his kin is in his claws. "Thisss one hasss you Ssseldan. Have faith." He murmurs to the other man gently, grasping the knife and... pulling it free. Immediately a great gout of blood stains his hands and robes. Spills down Seldan's body and Zeke's form begins to glow even more intently than before. He is a nova of powerful healing magics. He pours the light of Daeus into the other man, feeding it to him as fast as the blood is spilling out. It's a race now, between Zeke's ability to heal, and the wound's ability to spend Seldan's life.

Nonantzine glares shortly at Andelena, or more specifically the spell she'd wrought. Something is rumbling under her feet, and distantly. All across Mictlan the ground is spilling to the sides, campfires burning out as their foundations are broken. Sith of all shapes and sizes begin to panic. One of them grabs Nona, and she cuts him with her knife. The wound turns black and smokes and he screams, running away from her as she begins a short spell that leaves two odd misty shadows standing at her sides. "You can not stop the will of the Dark Dragon!"

The two shadows move forward, one toward Andelena though it stops at the edge of her spell, and the other moving toward Tlan.

Andelena stands tall, red hair streaming behind her like rays of sunlight. Deliverance still drawn, steel-grey eyes trained on Nonantziné, she has to buy time for Zeke. Has to buy time for Seldan.

And Zeke's words, while they are for Seldan, resonate inside of her. She has to have faith, too. She pulls on it, draws on the divine spark, draws down the light of justice in the wake of this woman that is her polar opposite: a mother in name only, a servant of the Tyrant, a font of darkness. One she endeavors to stand against. "Shining Knight, I call upon your Light!"

Deliverance becomes a beacon, gleaming with bright light to obliterate shadow.

GAME: Andelena casts Daylight. Caster Level: 6 DC: 17

Wha? Tlanexhuani does not say this, but the ripple of startlement and confusion in his posture may be enough for even softskins to recognize. He exhales with a snort, jabbing the butt of his spear into the ground beside him as he stands with the another Dragonfather's servant. His hammer is unclipped from his belt and he begins to march towards Nonantzine. "Put down your madness, youngling, or this one do it for you!"

Thankfully for Tlan, Andelena's light burns away the shadowy figures that Nona had summoned. The female growls at this and tilts her hand over the ground and begins to pray. "Great Dark Dragon! Rise up this earth. Take hold the light! From this land give birth!" The ground ceases to shudder a moment and then beside Andelena the earth rises up. A great red eye blinking at her.

It seems that the stories about Mictlan being formed of a dragon are perhaps... not inaccurate.

Zeke hardly notices the danger that is erupting around him. He works his magic as fast as he can, and the wound finally closes. He breaths heavy, feeling Seldan's heart beat beneath his claw, but Seldan is by no means safe. Not with the world falling apart around him. Not with so little life left in his body that he can not move. Zeke begins the next step.

The dragon's red eye blinking at her gets a blink back from Andelena, almost wide-eyed in surprise, but then Deliverance reminds her, that older female voice that is more of a mother than her own and more of a mother than Nonantziné has ever dared to be speaking: "You are His servant, just as she is the Tyrant's. But your cause is true."

Steel-grey eyes snap to on the dragon, not an ounce of fear on her face. She fights fire with fire. And she prays, calling down a favor that is beyond her ken. But it is needed to fight against a dragon.

"Daeus, Holy Knight, grant me your strength and make me the halo of your justice. Make me the light that does not burn out. Grant me the power I need to protect another of your guard and another of your noble daughter's guard." The words leave her lips and she stands ready, no matter if her prayer is heard or not, for what will happen as a result.

GAME: Andelena rolls Will: (5)+10: 15
GAME: Andelena rolls Will: (18)+10: 28

No. This cannot be. Wanting the death of hatchling?! Own kin?! The People who shared their village with kindness?! Their nesting grounds?! It cannot be.

The old bluescale already lived through through the loss of one. He will not witness another. A roar, a sound slap upon his chest splint that triggers a small cascade os sparks across it, and then he charges at her, hammer raising high. She is not the egg he watched hatch, nor the first hatchling he raised. She cannot be.

Nana ignores Tlan as he rushes toward her, hammer high. Instead she flicks another dagger across the intervening space at Zeke. "DIE!" She yells at him. "The Dark Dragon demands it!"

The strike of Tlan's hammer lands on her head, driving her to her knees, but she isn't out of this yet. Worse, the dragon is rising, trying to knock Andelena off her feet with its head. Which is currently... only a fourth of its face but still more than large enough to cause issues.

Zeke pours healing energy into Seldan, but there's only so much he can do after spending the day healing others. Only so much of the Dragonfather's blessings left to him. The magic sputters out. The halo of light... dims to nothingness. He's left exhausted and drained. His body hunched over that of his kin. "Pleassse Ssseldan. Let it be enough." Let _him_ be enough, for once.

Slowly, impossibly, the figure beneath Zeke moves. Seldan shifts, slowly, and pulls himself out from under the sith-makar. He is covered in blood, ashen pale, and looks an absolute fright, blackening and dying skin peeling away from an angry-red line across his neck. But - he is moving, and slowly - so slowly, he stands, blue eyes sharp with ice-cold fury. The dragon's eye appears to frighten him not even a little. "Sleep," he manages hoarsely to the dragon, in Trade. "You are wrongfully disturbed." Instead of the usual smooth, light voice with the lilting tones of the Myrrish, the words are a barely intelligible mess.

With that, Reunion flashes from its sheath with a rasp of leather on metal and a "WOOHOO!" in the voice of a crotchety old man, and he snarls, the words again barely intelligible, "Holy Dreamer strike you down for defiling this holy place!" and charges the downed Nona, sword first.

Andelena sees that Seldan is renewed, and while part of the Sunguard wants to rejoice, she knows she has to keep the line.

So she turns her attention to the dragon again. "Holy Knight, may I be the servant that delivers your judgment," she utters in a familiar prayer, and Deliverance ignites in silver flame. She brings it down to bear onto the dragon, choosing to try and send it back into the ground below--or at the very least, keep it busy.

The blade that is Deliverance strikes down the dragon, and the flames burn silver-hot. Then, as Seldan's sword pierces Nona through, the dragon bits sink back into the ground. It seems that she was the only thing keeping it 'alive'. She stares at Zeke her eyes full of victory. Her blade flies true. Strikes the sith. He slides slowly to the side and Nona dies on the edge of Seldan's sword. "We are victorious."

With one jerk that is utterly devoid of mercy, Seldan rips Reunion from Nona's lifeless body and stares down at her, but it's the blade that speaks. "Seldan, she threw the other blade," a deeper, younger female voice warns. His head snaps around in response, searching, and lands on the crumpled Zeke. Instead of shouting, though, he merely turns to run towards the fallen sith, but Andelena's closer.

_The other blade_. Andelena snaps over to Zeke and carefully cradles the Sunguard. "Zeke, _shit_--"

Her eyes spy the dagger that's in Zeke's chest, sticking out perilously close to his heart. The scales and flesh nearest the dagger have turned black. Andelena cusses softly under her breath. "No, no...!"

She takes a moment before she announces, "It missed his heart, but it's way too close. Whatever magic she put on that thing's toxic as hell. Seldan! Can you help me heal? I can't do this alone with what I've got!"

Zeke looks around, but he can't see Seldan and his whole body feels heavy. The weight and pain in his cheat are a fire that consumes him and he struggles for consciousness. He sees Andelena and his tail gives a tiny wiggle. "Tell kin..." He begins, the pain struggling to come pouring out of his mouth. It threatens to suck him into darkness but there is something he has to say first. Do. "Thisss one goesss... Dragonfather... Firsst."

He can't breathe. His heart struggles to beat. Slows. Green eyes close slowly.

He was enough. Kin will live. Everything is okay. He can sleep.

"Yes." Again, the word is barely intelligible, and Seldan's words are much shorter and coarser than is his usual wont. He knows _exactly_ how toxic that is, and fishes from one of the pouches on the side of the small pack he carries a vial with a bright orange stopper. The stopper is flicked into the dirt as he drops to his knees beside Zeke, blue eyes flicking over his kin. "Force his mouth open."

GAME: Seldan used a Potion of Neutralize Poison.

Andelena doesn't waste time. She's not letting those words of Zeke come to pass if she can help it. She pries open his maw to let Seldan pour the vial down. "Zeke, live and you can tell him yourself," she urges quietly. Hoping the words somehow reach him. He is wanted here still, loved here still.

The flesh of Seldan's neck is similarly blackened around an angry red line where the dagger entered, and he, too, is an alarming ashen color, holding himself up with one fist driven into the ground. Reunion lies in the grass next to him, but he ignores it entirely, so focused is he on trickling the contents of the vial down Zeke's throat. He carefully does not look at the inside of Zeke's mouth as he does so, but when he is done, tucks the empty vial into his belt pouch. He'll get the stopper later.

Next, he places both hands on Zeke, around the dagger, but clear of it. "Pull it," he instructs, then begins to murmur what sounds like a rote, focused prayer, over and over again in that entirely trashed voice that now sounds pained as well, but he doesn't let it stop him.

Silver light begins to form under his hands.

No hesitation. Andelena pulls the dagger in one confident, quick motion, and she aids Seldan with the healing, murmuring her own prayers to Daeus for healing as Seldan murmurs his prayers to Eluna, asking for aid from celestial father and daughter to bring their friend back from the brink.

Andelena does not tremble or slip over a word in the process, given entirely over to the work of a Sunguard. The time for blades wielded in war is behind her, and now is time only for Compassion.

There's nothing to tell them that what they're doing is right. That they've succeeded. The silver light fades, the holy power ebbs. The hole in Zeke's chest is gone, the scales still dark, but the wound is healed. His chest rises and falls, and that's enough. He's still alive. Not well, not whole, but living.

On a day like today, that's enough.

-End