Voices of the Past

Temple of Daeus, mid-morning.

It isn't too terribly long after prayers on a gray and misty morning, and the temple is just starting to set about their usual tasks for the day. Another peaceful day. A girl of about ten or so with curly black hair, dressed in the blue robes of an Althean acolyte, dodges and weaves her way amid the hubbub at a breakneck pace, followed by a Sunblade barely old enough to have a beard. The Sunblade sighs exasperatedly. "Get back here, kid, you can't just go running through-"

Finally, he catches up with the girl and grabs her by the arm, and she squeals in indignant protest. "Hey, let me go! It's really important!"

"Then what do you want? Out with it, kid. You can't just go running through the temple, like that! State your business!"

"I was told to find Sunguard Zeke!" the girl retorts, angrily yanking her arm and trying to pull free of the Sunblade's grip.

The small commotion draws the attention of the ever-observant (at least of the ongoings of his temple) blue-scaled sith-makar who was sipping his tea on one of the comfortable benches. Slowly he makes his way to his feet, tilting his head at the sound of his own name and makes his steady way toward the girl and the Sunblade who holds her. "Peasssce on your nessst. Thisss one isss Zeke." He offers, looking steadily at the Sunblade with an expression that clearly says that the man should let the girl go.

Andelena had been praying quietly on one of the benches herself, but the girl's voice certainly carries in the air, and the steel-gray eyes open with raised brows as she looks at the girl's direction.

"Kid's got spirit," she murmurs. "Althea'll do well with her."

She gets up from the bench with a grunt and walks over quietly to Zeke and the girl. "Sunblade, get your mitts off her," Andelena says in her usual way. She knows most of the people in the Temple enough to feel comfortable addressing them as such. "Hey, kiddo."

It's the soft-spot of hers. Children.

The boy scowls, but lets go of her. "Fine. She's breaking rules. She should know better than to come running in here like that! You put one foot wrong and I'll throw you out myself!" He gives Andelena a look with narrowed eyes. "You know the rules too, _Sunguard_. Someone's got to enforce them!"

Meanwhile, the girl pulls herself free, hard enough to make her land on her rear. She sits there on the pavement, just _staring_ up at Zeke with slightly slack jaw and wide-eyed wonder. "Whoa..." Not a trace of fear is written in her eyes, only _awe_.

It takes her a minute before she spots Andelena, and looks between them brightly and with no little awe. "Is this really Sunguard Zeke?"

"Ssssa." Zeke offers softly and reasonably to the young Sunblade. They're all young really. "Ssshe will behave. Will you not young one?"

He turns his green eyes on the young girl who is staring at him. The attention makes him internally uncomfortable, but she's just a child after all. He might be the first sith-makar she's seen up-close. "You have a messsssage for thisss one?" He prompts her gently. "Thisss one _issss_ Zeke."

"Rules are rules, not sticks up asses, Sunblade," Andelena says with a small snort for the young Sunblade's commitment. "They're meant to protect, but if you go enforcing them too rigidly by the letter, you'll actually hurt instead. You'll understand one day." _Maybe when you've got hair on your jaw,_ goes unspoken.

She looks to the girl and nods. "The one and only Zeke," she says with a little smile. "One of the best damn Sunguards you'll ever meet." Andelena knows he's a reserved fellow, but she does like to say a good word about him from time to time. He doesn't get enough, as far as she's concerned.

The girl continues to stare in awe, until both sets of reassurances are received. She's still sitting on her rear end on the pavement, legs sprawled out in robes. Clearly, the girl is not yet a lady. It takes her a moment or two of staring, and Zeke's prompt, for her to find her wits. "Maybe that's why Hearthguard Mellia wanted me to find you! They found somebody unconscious in the street this morning at sunrise and they can't figure out what's wrong with him, but there's this black goo all over him like he had the plague or something! They said you know how to treat plague!"

Meanwhile, the boy narrows his eyes at Andelena. "That's stupid. Rules are rules. Fine, you have her. I've got a post to get back to." Face like a stormcloud, he storms back off in the direction of the doors.

Zeke watches the boy leave and makes a mental note to have someone talk to him - or more likely to do it himself. However the girl has the bulk of his attention and he puts two and two together quickly. Hearthguard means temple of Althea. Someone with plague-like symptoms. They need him immediately. He snaps to attention and rumbles. "On your feet hatchling. Ssshow thisss one to the patient." He motions for the girl to stand. "Quick asss you can!" He's suddenly in a hurry.

Andelena recognizes that description of the 'somebody' covered in black goo. She looks immediately at Zeke and nods at him. "We gotta go," she says. "I'll back you up, Zeke, but--Shit. Let me leave a message for Bry so he's not worrying his head off."

She goes to another nearby guard. "Please send word to Dolan that I'm going with Sunguard Zeke to treat someone in need," she says. "I'll be okay. I'm not in any danger." The last bit is important.

Andelena quickly returns to Zeke's side and goes to the girl, not wanting to be left behind for even a moment.

The girl's eyes go wide as saucers at the sudden peremptory order, and while Andelena is delivering her message, she fairly bounces to her feet in the way of any kid and starts to reach for Zeke's crystal hand, as if to drag him along.

Meanwhile, the older guard Andelena speaks to immediately seems to know who she means, and just nods. "I'll make sure he gets the message. Go on."

In the end, the girl ends up dragging them both through the quickly clearing courtyard and out through the doors to the Temple of Althea, back through the winding corridors and towards a tiny cell away from the main wards. The intent is clearly to isolate the patient, who is entirely unconscious in a bed. Armor covered in black cloth is piled amid what is quite clearly Seldan's adventuring gear in a corner - gear that is covered in a combination of black, silver, and crimson blood, dirt, and some kind of - chalk dust or similar.

The figure in the bed is definitely Seldan, and he looks out and out _bad_. His hair is coated in something black - boot black, it looks like, that leaves a smear on the pillow behind him, but he himself is ashen pale where the black, gltitery substance does not coat his skin - which isn't much of it. He appears to be breathing normally, with no rasping like a plague victim might have, but he does not stir.

There is another woman in the room with him, who has been keeping her distance from the bed. Zeke knows Mellia as an experienced healer with whom he has worked before, but she eyes the figure in the bed uncertainly.

Zeke allows the girl to take his crystal claw and direct him where he needs to go. He finds himself stopping just inside the door at the sight of Seldan laying on the bed. He's never seen Seldan look so... The cleric shakes off the thought and forces his body forward, moving to take in Seldan's condition more carefully. He doesn't hesitate to touch Seldan's forehead, his cheeks. Cataloging for injuries and where the black glittery substance is most thick. "Kin." He offers softly, a worried warble in his throat. "Andelena, can you have a bucket of hot water ssssent for? We need to clean him."

Andelena looks absolutely taken aback at seeing the state Seldan's in. Even though he's just a man, and she knows that much of him--she's seen him vulnerable--it's still a shock to see someone she knows in such a way. Pale. Covered in that glittery black substance.

She snaps out of the shock quickly, however, and observes Zeke looking over Seldan. When Zeke asks for water, she nods. "On it," she says, opening the door and poking her head out to ask for such of the nearest guard.

Thankfully, it arrives relatively quickly, along with some fresh cleaning cloths, and Andelena holds it out for Zeke. "Want me to get him a fresh pillow, too?" she asks.

Mellia starts forward when she sees Zeke going to touch him, holding up a hand as if to forestall him. "Thank you so much for coming - wait, he may be contagious!" But it is too late, and she, too, starts reaching for a bucket of soapy water - just in case. There's already one in the corner of the room, not far from the bed.

Seldan does not respond to Zeke's call, and cleaning him off takes a few minutes. His right forearm is, strangely, one of the thickest places, along with several other wounds in half a dozen places. Cleaning them off reveals what look like long-healed scars, some of them looking like they were deep. Something hit him _hard_ with a very large sword, and across his left cheekbone, fading bruising suggests possible fisticuffs as well. The right forearm scar goes all the way around his arm.

Otherwise, a checkout does not suggest that he is precisely _ill_ - there is no fever, and heart and breathing are slow normal, consistent with a state of deep sleep. His breath does not rasp or rattle.

Zeke does not obey Mellia, ignoring her concern for the most part while he cleanses Seldan's body of the black ooze and takes note of every healed injury. "He isss not contagious." He explains calmly as he does so, nodding to Andelena's inquiry. The bedclothes will all need cleaning, and he is glad that she's so competent that she thought to get some without being told. "He will need food, and water. His body is ussssing a lot of ressourcesss to heal his injuriesss."

He doesn't go into details about how he knows this, but he knows that his own calmness about the situation will rub off on the others. If he panics, they will panic, and that is not what they need. Instead once Seldan's body is as clean as he can make it, he considers the pail of soapy water and holds his claw out for it. He can use it to clean the bootblack out of Seldan's hair.

"Hence how pale he is," Andelena adds to Zeke's explanation of how Seldan's using so much of his own resources to heal himself. She'd add more, but she's already headed over back to the guard for food, water, and fresh bedclothes. All of which will come shortly, but not so quickly as the hot water did.

She gives the pail out to Zeke for him to take. "Everything will be fine," she says to Mellia in complete calm. She doesn't volunteer any information beyond that, however, simply because Seldan's asked them to secrecy. A holy woman's vow is more important than anything else.

"Where is his sword?" she asks. "It might need cleaning too."

A thousand questions bloom in the woman's eyes, but Mellia is not stupid. "You're telling me - that that black - whatever it is - is _healing_ him? How do you know this?" From a healer's perspective, this suddenly becomes very, very valuable knowledge, and she starts towards the soiled bedclothes once she has handed over the bucket of soapy water. "Can it heal others, as well? I never thought-" Suddenly, the questions come quickly, even as she finally moves to help.

In the end, getting the bootblack out of his hair is a bit of a chore, but it's one that Mellia's quite up to. "Ugh, why is all this in his hair?"

Reunion, meanwhile, is in the pile of gear, although it is near the bottom, beneath armor and soiled pack, and Mellia gestures absently to it. "All the gear we found on him is in that pile."

"Probably where he either got hurt pretty badly, or it ended up getting there because of the way he ended up fainting," Andelena remarks only on the hair having so much glittery black substance. "He looks like he got into a close-quarters fight, judging by the bruising on his cheekbone. Face and scalp injuries are bleeders, after all."

Andelena keeps her vows seriously. She'd vowed to silence on the exact matter of the black substance. "Good. I'm an armor and weaponsmith; I can take care of his gear and repair it if needed." Suddenly she's grateful she's not working on anything more complicated than forging nails and other small things at the moment. Plenty of time to fix things and buff them out.

Zeke gives Mellia a look that says that this topic of conversation is not appreciated. "It can not heal others, and Ssseldan desservesss hisss privacy on the matter." That is all that he will say of it. Nothing more. He sets to helping the woman clean Seldan's hair.

"When he doesss not want to be recognized he usssesss sssuch thingsss." He offers quietly. "If you can attend hisss gear Andelena, that would be appreciated."

Once Seldan is clean he moves to check on the man once again. "Mellia, would you leave the ressst to usss?" He knows that when Seldan wakes that the fewer people who are around the better.

That earns Zeke a long look from Mellia. "A close quarters fight is almost certainly the case, judging by the blood on his gear, but these are no ordinary injuries. If you can see to his gear, then that is a relief."

She knows perfectly well that these two know something she doesn't, and they aren't telling. That she's effectively being kicked out of the room confirms it. Still, now is not the time to pry, they clearly know what is going on, and she knows Zeke well enough to know that whoever and whatever this man is, he's in good hands. The name 'Seldan' will register with her later, after she is well out of the room, but she only curtsies and turns once everything is cleaned. "I shall see to others. If you are in need, call, and I would like to be informed when he wakes."

She turns and goes, not realizing that Seldan's breathing shifts during the last checks, suggesting that he will wake soon. The food and water is set on a table nearby.

Zeke soothes the hair on top of Seldan's hair into some semblance of how it looks when the man is awake to care for it himself. The sith-makar has never truly understood hair. Why humans keep it in so many different ways. Why they're so particular about it. He supposes in the end it must have as much significance as a sith-makar's horns. Or something similar.

He waits for the woman to leave before murmuring to Andelena. "He will wake sssoon." He sighs out a breath. He knew injuries well enough to make the accounting himself of course. Zeke hovers near his kin and waits patiently.

Andelena busies herself with tending to Seldan's gear, looking over the armor and assessing it for structural damage in addition to any bits of that glittering black substance that will have to be cleaned off. Reunion in particular is handled very delicately. There's actually a look of reverence in Andelena's eyes when she holds the sword. "Damn fine weapon," she murmurs.

"Don't encourage them," Deliverance's maternal voice says softly, a sigh coming from the longsword.

"Or what, you're gonna have some kind of weapon-threeway in a closet with Reunion again?" Andelena mutters back. That earns her another exasperated sigh before Andelena looks back at Zeke. "I'll keep the chatter down."

Curiously, the armor itself, once the black covers have been removed from each piece, is spotlessly clean. The worst of it is the pack, and the gauntlet that appears to be different from the rest of the armor. That is positively _covered_ in the glittery black gunk, all over the inside of it. When Andelena speaks, Kanian who had been previously silent on pick-up, finally pipes up. "Damn right we are, young lady. Where is the boy?"

The nasally, older female voice speaks up. "He's in the bed over there, Kanian. Now hush. We don't even know if he's going to talk to us right now."

And then Deliverance speaks up. "I'll have you know that I need no encouragement! We are a fine old blade from a fine old family, and we have the right to be proud of ourselves!"

"Not right now we don't, you idiot," The younger, deeper female speaks up, and it's a disgusted snarl. "I wish Tedric had a body so I could strangle it and leave it in the street."

"Well, you have to admit he had a point," Kanian shoots back. "It's not like the boy was actually _doing_ what needed to be done, although I'll admit that killing angels isn't my idea of a good time."

Zeke glances at the weapon. Reunion is a weapon he has a somewhat odd relationship with on the best of days. He likes it well enough, and respects it a fair bit more than that, but the trouble is... He doesn't agree with it. He's been trained well enough to leave that alone, but at times the weapon says things that Zeke struggles not to comment on. "An angel?" He murmurs, but shakes his head. Seldan will tell him what Seldan is comfortable with when the man wakes soon. "Now isss not the time Reunion. Let Andelena tend you and be sssilent. Ssseldan needsss what ressst he can find." Even if he was soon to wake anyways.

"A _what_--" Andelena begins with wide eyes, before she just shakes her head and picks up a cleaning cloth. "Okay Reunion, we're gonna play the 'be quiet' game. First one to talk loses. Starting... now."

She begins to somewhat aggressively clean the already clean blade. Deliverance, notably, _also_ stays quiet. She does not want to lose the 'be quiet' game to Reunion, apparently. But as Andelena cleans the blade, she eyes Zeke with a look that says, quite loudly, _A fucking angel? What the fuck?_

There's very much a multi-voiced argument brewing when first Zeke and then Andelena silence it. It's easy to imagine multiple schoolchildren on a bench trying very hard not to talk and kicking each other in the shins in its silence, and equally easy to imagine some kind of internal conversation going on, from the occasional snickers here and there from the blade.

Still, blessed peace falls over the room, and it's a few more minutes before the figure in the bed finally stirs and opens blue eyes. *blinkblink* "Where am I, and what is the time?" he asks after a scant minute.

Zeke leans in as Seldan wakes, taking in the sight of the man's eyes. Both pupils are reactive and attentive. "Sssa. You are in the Temple of the Dragonmother kin. It isss ssstill morning; the noon bell hasss not yet rung." Which is the closest rough estimate that Zeke has to what time it is. "How are you feeling Sssseldan?"

Andelena looks grateful that her gambit worked, although she gives Reunion an eyeful every time she hears a snicker coming from the blade. When that happens, she just digs a little harder into the steel with her cleaning cloth. Blades will behave...

Then Seldan stirs and she nods gently. "Good morning, Seldan. I'm taking care of Reunion over here for you."

She quietly hopes that Reunion won't explode into a chorus of voices upon learning Seldan's awake again, but there are only so many hopes one can carry before one of them is bound to be disappointed.

Curiously, when Seldan speaks, all of the voices from Reunion go completely and utterly silent. No sniggering, no nothing. Pure, dead, telling silence. The blade in Andelena's hand might as well be just a blade.

From the bed, there's a slow, drawn-out sigh, and he looks over at the blade in her hands, and blinks a few times. Closes his eyes and turns away, shuddering. "Weary, but well enough. Is there food at all?" Questions are settled on the even features. "Telmentar's temple? How did -"

Zeke looks at the food on the table as if to reassure himself that it is there. "There issss plenty of food if you want it Ssseldan. You were brought here. Thisss one isss not sssure what happened, but you are here now." He moves in a bit closer, offering to aid Seldan into a more upright position. "Can you sssit up?"

"You were found unconscious and brought here," Andelena adds to Zeke's explanation, "and then the healer here sent for Zeke. I tagged along." She offers Seldan a small smile.

She keeps cleaning Reunion, however, because a quiet blade is a good blade when Seldan's still getting grip on reality. "We have plenty of water for you, too. Your gear's in pretty good condition, but I'm gonna have to deep-clean your gauntlet. Reunion's fine." She knows that one of her first questions she'd have upon waking up in a healer's bed after passing out in a street is if her sword's okay and if her gear's been looted.

Seldan's eyes close and lower, and his left hand automatically goes to the right forearm, where the scar is, and to the hand below it, as if checking to make sure it is intact. "Mmm - I believe that I can be of aid with the gauntlet. I - would ask that of none." He does, however accept Zeke's aid in siting up, and once sitting up, it's quite clear that he is unhappy to be so, but is toughing it out. He looks in the same direction Zeke did, towards the food, which is simple fare only. Bread, cheese, a little fruit, and some broth along with the water. Curiously, he is not meeting anyone's eyes, at all. "I - I would ask your forgiveness. I - had not intended to be a trouble. I had thought to return to the Temple-"

Suddenly, he stops, and starts to reach for Zeke, but seems to remember, and stays his hand. "Kin. I need a message delivered to the High Seeress."

Zeke internally frowns at how heavily Seldan is relying on his support. Not because of the fact that Seldan is using him for such, but because he knows well that it is a mark of how wounded Seldan must be to do so. He lets none of it show on his face, and is glad - not for the first time - that none in the room can smell his concern. "It isss no trouble Sseldan. You are - were - wounded. Here." He leans Seldan against the pillows and pulls into claw the broth first. Only to stop at the man's reaching. He places his claw into Seldan's hand easily. He is not afraid. "Thisss one will fetch a messsssenger once you have sssome food in you." Priorities.

"If you want, but like Zeke said with the message, first thing's first--let's get some grub into you." Andelena watches Seldan inspect himself where his eyes linger on his scar and his hand. She looks thoughtful for a moment about what that look means. "Sounds to me like you tried to get back to the Temple. Whatever happened... Must have been pretty damn serious."

She looks down at Reunion, her hand still holding a cleaning cloth to it, but by this point she's stopped scrubbing down the blade. Andelena blinks when she hears Deliverance pipe up, however. "Please do have a good sip of that broth," the sword requests in her maternal voice. "Resting is good for the body. So is food."

Seldan hesitates, then takes the claw in his hand, then squeezes it very gently. "Forgive me, Zeke. I am not wounded, nor ill, and am in no pain, now. I am but - weary." A long sigh escapes him, and he stares down at the blankets in his lap, his eyes remaining there as he reaches for the broth, as if to take it. "I - the Griever is more evil than I had conceived," he admits, quietly. "I know not what, precisely, he is planning, but it may well be his hand, or the hand of a minion, that slew Animus. The weapon - used to slay him - was in his possession."

Zeke is careful in handing the broth to Seldan. He saw the depth of the injury to Seldan's wrist and suspects (correctly) that the hand had been in fact removed from Seldan's body by an attack and that the healing ooze had done its work to reattach it. That says nothing however for how well that work was done however, and so Zeke stands ready to catch the bowl should Seldan's hand fail him. The words draw a soft hiss from Zeke and he feels worry crawling up his spine. "Were you able to retrieve the weapon?"

Interestingly, Seldan's grip on Zeke's claw had been gentle, and when he takes the broth, he shifts it so that it is mostly held in the left hand. He flexes the hand a few times on the edge of the bowl, as if feeling it out, but lets the other hand do most of the work. He takes a long pause to drink, as fast as the heat of the liquid will allow.

When he finishes, though, the bowl is nearly empty, and he lowers it a little. "It is safe, although it is not in my possession. It is - a dangerous item, but one of many that he had stolen and was hiding in the castle. We were - unable to retrieve more than the one, for the guardian he had bound to protect it -" He swallows hard. "Kin, he tormented and bound a planetar to the place, and his mate within a gem. I was able to free the mate, but he was bound to my destruction. It - shared memories."

The blue-scaled sith listens and watches intently as Seldan drinks the broth nearly gone. It seems that he'd been right about Seldan's body burning through energy. The man would surely want something more substantial soon - even if it were something more gentle on the stomach than his usual fare. A low rumble leaves Zeke's throat at the thought of a celestial being bound to the Greiver's service. It was clear to him now, that Seldan had a need to share words as much as he needed food or water. Though Zeke silently pours a glass of water and holds it within Seldan's reach.

What becomes clearer and clearer in the course of watching Seldan, and examining him, is that the man has no reserves left. He is utterly exhausted, mind, body, and soul, and while the food and water help, they are only the beginning. He finishes the last of the broth, then takes the water, sipping at it. Gradually, he leans a little less on Zeke, but his eyes remain on the blankets, his shoulders just a little hunched. He seems to have lost track of Andelena entirely, for the moment, although he does not seem to object to her presence, _per se_. "The ley line on which this fortress lay is - chaotic. Unstable. At times would all magic go silent, and at others would it burst forth with power far beyond its normal. There are - others like it, and getting in there again will be - difficult."

Zeke takes the bowl back and sets it aside now that its empty. He's worried for Seldan. Worried that the other man is this... despondent after a fight. Yet his hearing catches on something in particular that Seldan says. "Do you intend to return?" There's no judgment in the question.

"Only if I - must." Seldan takes another sip of the water, then lowers it with a hint of disinterest. "It is - well guarded, but the man has stolen artifacts belonging to the gods. Among them was my target, and that one were w able to wrest from that place - at cost. I was - unable to take them all, although I would have attempted such, had I been less hard pressed. It - had seized Tanthariairisixchel."

He is definitely despondent, though, and much less certain of himself than he has been. "Kin, Sunguard - I would ask of you a favor."

Zeke holds his claw out for the water, offering the tray of fruit and cheese in return. In case Seldan needs something more substantial now. "You know you can asssk any-thing of thisss one kin." He says softly.

"Shit," Andelena murmurs, having paid rapt attention thus far to Seldan's story. "Poor little Tanith. Poor planetar." Her expression suggests she's thinking of Tanith seized, and she shakes her head to dismiss the unhappy image.

She nods to Zeke's words, steel-gray eyes settling onto Seldan. "Anything, Sir Seldan." The man had done so much to teach her and coach her through accepting Deliverance; she'd easily hop to a favor asked of her by the man.

"I - would have Reunion, and the rest of my gear, returned to the home that Zeke and I share," he ventures, quietly. "It is - best, do I not touch the blade, just now." He reaches automatically for the fruit and cheese, but stares at the hunk in his hand.

This elicits an explosion from Reunion. "Seldan, wait-" "Don't you dare stuff us in that pack, boy!" "I don't know that that's a good idea-" It's like an explosion of half a dozen objections at once.

"Shut up," the paladin tells the blade, a rasp of weariness in his voice. "Just shut up. All of you."

The protests and chatter continue, unabated, the various voices of Reunion pleading their case to remain in the room. That case appears to amount to _what happens if you're attacked in the city? You'll need us!_

Zeke looks at the sword. Disagreements with the blade set aside, he's never seen Seldan treat anyone the way that the Seldan just treated the weapon. The weariness. The words. They are not common to the paladin. "Andelena." He says softly. "Will you take Reunion for a walk?" He feels sorry to ask Andelena to do such a thing, to exclude her from what will come next, but Seldan clearly needs space from his chosen weapon, and the weapon itself is clearly not helping itself. "Please."

Andelena turns an ireful eye onto the blade. "Yeah, I sure will," she says, eyeing Reunion with a stern gaze. "We're gonna let the adults do the talking here. Come on."

She shakes her head at all of the complaining and pleading that Reunion does to remain in the room, heading for the door. "I'll bring the sword back when they're all tired out and wants nappies," she says with the small ghost of a smirk. Motherhood might really be well-suited for Andelena.

A short snort comes from Deliverance as the Sunguard departs the room with Seldan's ancestral blade.

"Her light upon your path, Sunguard," Seldan calls after her, gratitude in his tone, and with it out of the room, he does indeed seem to relax somewhat. He waits until she is gone to work his way quickly through a hunk of cheese, and then a piece of fruit. "Reunion is - not the only voices that I hear, at times," he explains, staring at the piece of fruit in his hand. He seems to be mostly manipulating it well enough, although he touches anything with it only very gently. "Seldom enough is it so, but if all can be heard at once, it can become - unruly."

Zeke watches Andelena go for a moment, but in truth the bulk of his attention is on Seldan. He'll have to make some manner of amends to the woman later. Perhaps a gift. He lets Seldan talk, it's clear - has been this whole time - that Seldan needs to let some things off his chest. "Do you know the sssource of thessse voiscess?"

Seldan is slow to answer - once he took that first bite, he has been working through the rest of the food brought with a vengeance. "Even so," he answers finally. "I know not if I have said. I - at times do I know and hear the voices of those who came before. Why this is so, cannot say, but it has been - so since first Reunion was gifted me." Monch monch monch. "At times can I call upon their wisdom and knowledge, but that - comes at a price, and seldom do I do so. It is in my mind that the magic - became wild, upon that ley line, for I heard those voices as only once before. They are - not easily contained, when there are - many at once." There's a hint of shame in his tone.

Still Zeke is silent, but he notices everything in the way of someone more used to listening than to talking. The way that Seldan eats so hungrily - confirming his thoughts - the hint of shame wafting from Seldan's body alongside the hint of it in Seldan's tone. "They came upon you in the fight?" It's only half a question.

Seldan's silence at the half-question speaks louder than words. "My control of them failed me," he admits, almost in a whisper. He stops eating, staring down at the grape in his fingers. "I was weak."

Seldan and the word 'weak' were so far apart from one another in Zeke's mind that he couldn't understand that the man might think such a thing of himself. "Ssseldan." He says gently. "Magic wasss more uscertain in thisss plassce yesss?"

He shakes his head. "I do not know one who definesss the word 'weak' lesss than you. One moment doesss not define you."

Quickly, Seldan shakes his head. "My companions depended upon me. None other fully understood what it was they saw, and Lord and Lady Lupecyll-Atlon - were distracted. I know not by what, but something else attacked them. Tanithariairisixchel was - nearly caught by that thing - because of me. We - scarce made it out with our lives, and it was not I who retrieved the Star. I was - not enough."

Zeke sighs softly, and tilts his head toward his kin. "Ssseldan... Why isss it that you think that you mussst do all on your own?"

Seldan's eating is slowing down now, and still he has not looked up, his shoulders and limbs slumping wearily. "The lord and lady - were sore beset merely by picking up such a thing. I - would have spared them that, could I have done so. They - spoke of what they saw, and it is in my mind that neither wish to touch it again. Nor - do I fault them for such a thing."

His voice rasps, just a little. "Never have I - been enough - to do all that must be done. I - just do what I can."

Zeke, still holding the board with food on it in one claw lifts his other and sets it on Seldan's shoulder. "You are not meant to do thessse thingsss alone Sseldan. You have alliesss. They are meant to _help_ you. Doing what you can, it isss enough. It isss _more_ than enough."

"And when those allies lose themselves, or turn aside? For turn aside most will." There, in Seldan's weary, aching, and sad words, lies the crux of the matter, the core of his thoughts. "Whether by force, or by their own desires. I must be enough to carry on when they falter." Not if. _When._

The blue-scale knew loneliness. Knew it better than most ever had to know it. Knew what it was like to be without the touch, the scent, the presence of any other for days. Weeks. To know in the depths of his soul that he had to endure... alone. He'd known in his way that Seldan carried a similar loneliness. That he felt apart even from his peers. Hearing Seldan say it out loud however was something of a different matter. "We are all mortal Ssseldan. We are all weak at timesss. You can not exspect other-wissse."

"For others, perhaps. Too many depend on me." Again, Seldan flexes the newly-reattached hand, experimentally, carefully. He falls silent, then, staring at the bedcovers, and the food, and reaches to pick up another hunk of cheese. "Truly are you a better friend to me than I deserve."

Zeke huffs a breath. "Ssseldan." He says gently and then steels himself somewhat. Zeke does not like drawing attention to himself. However, Seldan needs to _hear_ him. More, the paladin needs to _understand_. "You are mortal. Human. Thossse that depend on you do not exspect you to be perfect."

Well, perhaps they did, but if they did they were fools. Not worth a second thought. "We are kin." Zeke says firmly. "You would do asss much - have done - asss much for thisss one. When thisss one iss weak, do you not give thisss one your ssstrength? Let thisss one do the sssame for you."

Silence from Seldan, who stares down at the hunk of cheese in his hand, nearly motionless on the cot. What can he say to that? How can he possibly explain that it is not just the voices without who demand that he be _more_, that he be perfect, that scold him at every turn, but the voices within as well. Ghosts of generations past, ghosts of days past, the very mind within?

"Never have I been enough," he murmurs, very quietly. "Not since I was very small."

In truth, Zeke has never been very good at reading the emotions of others, even other sith. But he _tries_ with Seldan. Measuring every breath, every hesitation, the cadence of his voice. "You are _enough_ for thisss one kin. Good enough. Kind enough. Strong enough. You have never let thissss one down. You have never made thisss one feel anything but proud to call you kin." He wonders suddenly if anyone has said such to Seldan before.

That would be a no, not that Seldan will ever say as much. Still, the answer is evident enough. "Then I shall strive to be no less, for you and for others." Another long breath out. "It is in my mind that I have eaten my fill, Zeke," he replies. "Thank you - for your aid. For - all that you have done for me. I - do not hurt, but I think that I should like to sleep, for a time, if I may? I would not impose unduly upon Telmentar's temple, nor upon you."

Zeke carefully pulls back the board, eyeing the remaining food - of which there is not a lot really - and nods and he moves away from his kin to start cleaning up the mess to carry it away. "You desserve your ressst Sseldan. No one here will mind if you take ass much of it asss you need."

With that the sith has a servant of the temple carry the things away and makes himself comfortable in the corner, watching Seldan. "Thisss one will keep you sssafe while you ressst." He will not leave the man unguarded. Not even in a temple. "Sssleeep kin. You are ssssafe."

Ordinarily, Seldan might not have believed many who made that promise, nor does the fact of it being a Temple alone make it safe. Too well does he know that. But, this is Zeke, who has - in turn - never let him down, either. For they are kin, and even Seldan has at least one person he trusts.

The paladin breathes a sigh of relief when he relaxes back into the bed and pulls the covers up. "I would have a message sent to the High Seeress. Tell her - that the Star is safe."

There is nothing more from the bed, save soft, quiet breathing. Right now, sleep will have to be enough - but sleep heals many things.

-End