Dreaming of a Call

It's been a few days, and things on the Dolan end are very much looking up. A few days of rest and a reset, and progress is being made. Healers have begun to gently stretch out and work the muscles of shoulders and arms, and he has been able, with assistance, to sit up, stand up, and dress, the first two for limited periods of time.

The one issue had been the nightmares. Without the totem with him, the nightmares have been near-constant, and he hasn't gotten much quality sleep. It has been necessary to remind him of where he is when he wakes, more often than not. The result has been that he spent much of the last three days dozing, when not working with the healers. Last night was a different story, though. With the totem restored to him, he did indeed seem to sleep better and more soundly, and last night was not marked by awaking screaming at all.

Instead, he snaps awake, his lone brown eye instantly open and clear, and sits bolt upright in the bed. There is no screams, only a gasp, and deep breathing to calm himself as the stone walls coalesce and come to him.

Zeke is roused from his meditation by the subtle shift in Dolan's breathing, setting aside his cup of tea and edging closer to the man's bedside just in case... But there is no need for such precautions. Dolan doesn't roll off the bed as he has before. Nor does he waken with the sort of unawareness of his surroundings. Instead he wakens seemingly in possession of himself, though Zeke immediately thrums low in his throat and offers a greeting to the man. "Peasssse on your nessst Dolan. You are in the Dragonfather'sss temple. You dreamed?"

There's a twitch from Dolan's left side in the restraint, but he remembers quickly, and instead uses his right hand to rub at his flesh-and-blood eye. It's an awkward reach, but he doesn't seem to mind, and scrubs more gently at the furrows and acid scars down the right side of his face, then drops the hand entirely. Those, at least, he seems to be accustomed to. "Brightest of days, Zeke. Most vivid damn dream I've ever had in my life," he mutters, staring at the blankets. "I'm okay. But - damn it. There's something out there. The wolf. I swear I've seen it in my dreams before." His chest rises and falls quickly, agitation without true distress or fear. "It's real. I - I can't just sit here. I've got to do something."

The blue-scale listens to Dolan speak, some admitted curiosity about these totems. "You are doing ssssome-thing Dolan. You are rebuilding your body. Thisss isss ssome-thing very important. Or do you mean sssome-thing elssse?" Zeke has no judgment in his tone at the suggestion, but that same level of curiosity.

Dolan almost visibly deflates, his head drooping, but it is quite clearly something else that he means. "I - I think it came from the totem," he explains helplessly. "The statues are stronger when they're attuned by someone who follows the deity that made them. I mean, any of them will let you dream with it when you attune it - but the dreams are stronger when I use the one the Knight made." His free hand gestures to the one lying by his right calf. "Yeah, I can tell who made it by looking in the Dream Realm at it. I've had - visions, too. Outside of the Dream Realm. They're not bad or dangerous. They've got information in them. Important information. That's how I saw how -" He stops, shakes his head, and goes on. "This one. It's - I think it's a call to fight. That wolf. It's real."

At that moment, there's a knock at the door, followed by Andelena walking in. She looks bright-eyed and even has the slight quirk of a small smile on her face as she struts in and closes the door. "Sunguard Zeke," she greets, followed by a turn to Dolan, where her smile blooms into an even warmer one.

"Hey baby. Glad to see you're up," she says, walking over to the bed. She takes off her gloves and warms her hands as she rubs them together. "Had a little nap with the ladies, myself. Patches and Spot miss their daddy. What's going on?"

There's a long moment of silence from Zeke as he digests this information. He is granted some extra time to think about his words by Andelena's entrance into the room. "Peassce on your nessst." He offers to her warmly, his eyes flickering toward the door. "Would either of you care for tea? Thisss one made a mint and ginseng mixture thisss day. Dolan hasss had a visssion from the totem. Thisss one isss hoping that he will tell ussss what it wasss of."

"Brightest of days, baby. They do no such thing. They're cats." Dolan is sitting bolt upright in the bed, looking very rumpled and as if he'd just woken up, but he nonetheless favors Andelena with that cheeky grin that is warm and affectionate. It's short-lived, though. "I'm babbling again, aren't I?" He reaches for the holy symbol that he has taken to keeping in the bed with him, and with his right hand puts it around his neck, automatically and with only a little finagling.

"Okay." The move seems to have given him a minute to collect his thoughts. "A giant black wolf with red eyes, spewing tons of smaller black wolves everywhere. The smaller ones are big enough, but - I don't even know how big that thing is. I couldn't even see all of it. Next thing I knew, I had a longsword in my hand - the hilt felt like the totem. I remember that much. And - I heard battle horns. It was time to fight, and I did. Fight the wolves, I mean. "

Andelena can't help but grin back at that cheeky smile. No matter what, there are still pieces of the farmboy that she fell in love with as a teenager--and both of them have changed since then. "I dunno, babe, they keep pawing mournfully at your pillow."

But the matter turns serious, and she nods, the grin turning into a more serious expression. "Yeah," she says. "I got a vision of that sort, too--a wolf leaping at me, with a sword made from the totem I've got. Fighting it. And... something calling to me."

She scrunches up her face in thought. "Yeah. We're being called upon. That's for damn certain."

Zeke looks from Dolan to Andelena and then begins to rise to his feet. "Perhapssss the totemsss are trying to give all a messsage, but thiss one doubtsss that the Godsss would call upon Dolan ssspecifically in the condition that he isss in currently." He offers a moderate, tempered view. "Tea?"

Quite clearly torn, Dolan rubs at the back of his neck with his free hand. "It's a call to fight, and I'm not sure the Knight gives a shit whether I'm fit to fight or not. I'm just going to have to get myself in shape to fight. Even if I pick up His blade again for a while. Andie, has anyone gone to the camp yet? I haven't heard from anybody."

He looks up at the mention of tea, and nods. "Yeah, tea'd be good. I'm just going to have to get off my ass, Zeke. That's all there is to it."

"Beyond when Seldan and I went with Auranar and Verna, no, I don't think anyone's gone," Andelena replies, scratching her head in thought. "But..."

She turns to Dolan more directly as she looks at him. A look of realization blooms in her eyes. "Maybe the reason you got that vision is because He's telling you that He'll help you get your footing back--so long as you answer the call to fight," she says. "That seems like something consistent with the texts. Believe me, I've been reading a /lot/ of literature the past few days."

Then Andelena turns to Zeke. "Yes, please--sorry, I didn't mean to be rude by ignoring you the first time around. Vision talk kinda scrambles everything else up."

"No apology needed." Zeke says, picking up the orange tea pot and pouring a cup of tea for Dolan and Andelena. Dolan gets his tea first because Zeke is aware that the man needs his fluids and how much he has had to drink. The second goes to Andelena, and he tops off his own cup last. "Thisss one would not wager on the Dragonfather intervening in healing. Ssssuch iss the area of Hiss cihuaa. Besssidesss, he doubtless knowss that Dolan will recover much given time and effort. Why would he heal that which time will do?"

"Yeah." Dolan shakes his head, and starts to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He takes the cup of tea absently in his right hand, hunching over a little. "We don't have the time, though. He probably means for me to fight as is." Andelena's words sink in, though, and his expression falls. "Probably too late. I can't get in there, Andie, not at all, not in the Dream Realm. I guess Verna didn't think it was very useful?" He sounds thoroughly disappointed.

"No, this is... on me," Andelena admits, taking the teacup from Zeke. She doesn't drink just yet. "After we went through that camp, I thought to myself we needed more people that were better at infiltrating unseen and unheard if we were going to make the most out of getting into that camp and getting more totems. Problem is, I don't /know/ who would be good at that kind of thing. Everyone I know is loud as fuck, myself included."

Finally, she raises the teacup to her lips. "That's making bullshit excuses, though. I should have been a leader. I just didn't want to bring the wrong folks and end up coming back with nothing to show for it." There's a look in her eyes that suggests there's more to it, but it's not being said aloud.

"You have been busy Andelena. Doing double duty here and alssso in thisss tasssk that you have both taken upon your ssshouldersss." Zeke offers slowly, eyeing Dolan carefully. He sets his tea cup down and huffs. "Dolan, for now, leave thisss in your matess handsss. You mussst focusss on getting better. We have a plan. A good plan in plasce to make your body fit for the fight again. Thisss isss what matess are for; for sssharing burdensss."

For a moment, it looks as though Dolan might resist. He sucks in a breath, but finally relents and looks up at Andelena. "Damn it, Andie. Zeke's right. I'm in no shape to fight. Please. Go see if that's still open, and see what you can get out of it. Just - be careful, okay? Don't do anything stupid. We've got to do something. I'll see if I can find out if - if the Knight's okay with that. I'll - get back in as fast as I can, but I don't think you can wait for me. Did they at least go to the Vast?"

Andelena closes her eyes as she's reminded of all that's weighed on her. She nods slowly, then she takes a long sip of her tea. "Zeke's right," she says as she returns the cup back to her palms. "Been doing--a lot. It feels like a lot and not enough at the same time."

She nods again, more soberly. "I'll get onto it--the camp and the Vast. I've sought out guidance from Seldan, that Silverguard. He and I need to have another talk, and I think he knows who the right people are for this kind of thing."

Zeke tilts his head and was a mere moment about to pick up his cup when Andelena speaks. Instead of tea his tail gives a very light little thump. It's a distinct noise in the small space and he's glad that they're both human so they can't smell the embarrassment he emits from having done that unintentionally. "Thisss one will aid you Andelena. You do not need look further than thisss one. Thisss one knowsss many who can aid you. In fact, you mentioned a need for sstealth yess. Have you met a woman named Aya? Ssshe isss very ssneaky. Perhapsss Verna can take you where you need to go and the othersss with thessse totemsss can go with you." He makes an odd noise in his throat and nods.

"Andie, if it's too much -" Dolan starts, sitting more upright and turning himself on the bed so that he can see both of them. "I know you've been busy, baby. Mourner Verna promised me she would. Ask her. I wouldn't ask you if I didn't have to." Frustration curls through the words. "Maybe Tel or-" He stops short, and drops into silence, staring at the stone wall.

"It's not too much," Andelena says firmly. Steel-grey eyes bright with conviction. "It's just more than I've had to do before. I can get through this. I can ask people. I can get shit done. I just need to pull /my/ head out of my roomy ass and go. Find this Aya, get Verna to send us, go."

She sits down on the bed next to Dolan and leans in closer to him as he sits upright. "In the meantime, Zeke's right. Don't blame any of this on yourself, baby."

Zeke immediately dislikes the way that Dolan simply stops talking. He is uncertain if they managed somehow to touch upon a subject that is bad for Dolan, or if Dolan's mind wandered there on its own, but he thrums. Tries to remind Dolan of the present time. "Dolan? What isss it? Are you alright?"

Dolan just shakes his head. It's not a good response, but nor is it a panic response. "I just hate putting this on other people. But you're right. I've got no choice. Standing up wears me out. How in all the green garden hells am I going to fight if I can't stand _up_ without getting tired?" Again, the left shoulder in the restraint twitches, but stops, and he swears. "Look, baby. I'll do all the reading you want if you just bring me the book. I've done everything with dream-work that I can. Just - be careful."

"Better you do the reading than I do," Andelena quips with a little smile. "I've been reading the wedding ceremony stuff for days and I think I'm going to need to read through it about ten more times before I think I can do it without fucking up and accidentally getting married to, I dunno. A horse."

She looks like she's about to say something jumping off of that and then her gaze just slides over at Zeke... So she pockets it for later. "That's how you know I'll be careful, Bry," she says. "We're getting married in the eyes of the Knight. I don't intend on letting anything get between us and that."

-End