Visitor with Wine

The house which is Auranar's and Verna's stands on the edge of a cliff. Where it looks like it's stood since time immemorial, but it hasn't. The wild elf has the lights on, as if the cheery light will make her feel any better, or as if Verna might see the lights and find her way back home through use of them. She has books piled by the couches and the chairs. Everything she can find that's hers or not on Caracoroth, on werewolves, on... any subject remotely related.

Currently she sits with a scroll at hand taking notes from one such said book.

The last few days have been eventful, to say the least, but not necessarily all bad from Dolan's perspective. Still, others have been less lucky, and one such person has been on his mind for much of the day. With Andelena on guard duty this evening, the Redeemer has taken the opportunity to check in on someone who's been on his mind, when his mind is in one piece. He approaches the cliffside house from the front, his cloak and armor ditched in favor of a long-sleeved shirt and trousers, a small cask of wine on his shoulder, making his way up the mountain with little regard for what might come down out of the mountains.

When he approaches the porch, he hesitates, then knocks diffidently on the door.

It takes a moment for the door to be answered, and when it is, it's clear that Auranar's hoping that Dolan has some news. There's a bright light in her dark eyes, but it dims slightly when she realizes that Dolan is alone. No sign of Verna with him. Still, she steps back and motions for him to enter the house, belatedly noticing the cask on his shoulder. The elvish woman carefully closes the door behind him, then steps backwards to welcome him into the house. "Sit anywhere you like. I'll... I'll get some wine glasses."

She doesn't immediately head for the kitchen however. Instead she moves to the living room and clears the table off quickly before she makes her way to grab a couple of wine glasses.

"Thought you could use a friend and maybe a drink or two," Dolan offers, stepping inside and watching Auranar closely. her reactions are not lost on him, and his shoulders sag just a little bit, but he sets down the cask on a sideboard and follows the woman in. "You okay?"

Auranar stops in the kitchen a moment, glancing toward Dolan before finding the wine glasses and carrying them into the main area once again. She motions him again to sit down and takes a seat herself. "I... I'm trying to hold it together." She offers a very thin smile to him and sets the glasses down on the table. "I'm just so worried, and there's nothing I can do."

"I can't imagine how worried you must be." Dolan fishes around in a belt pouch, and produces a tap clearly meant for the cask. The third finger of his right hand bears a platinum ring, a dragon whose lovingly-shaped and wrought wings form the band, the tail trailing down his finger halfway to the first knuckle. He says nothing of it, though, tapping the cask with a firm hand and gesturing for the wine glasses. "Did she ever speak to you of what happened while we were in Quelynos?"

"No." She lets him do as he will, watching his hands and noticing the ring on his finger. Curiosity pulls at her and the question is out of her mouth before she can think to not say anything. "I haven't seen you wear that ring before. Is it new?"

The response is enough for Dolan to raise a concerned eyebrow, and read that as a clear signal to change the subject. He pours two glasses of wine, offering her one first and taking the other. "Oh, this?" A ridiculously happy, silly grin splits his features, wide enough to even pull at the scar tissue across the right side of his face. "It's a promise ring. Andie's forgiven me, and agreed to marry me."

Admittedly part of what Dolan says doesn't make immediate sense to Auranar, but she accepts the glass of wine. "I'm happy for you Dolan." She is. She just... can't make herself smile again. She leans out and touches his arm instead, offering him sincerity in her eyes if nothing else. "You deserve every happiness, though I'm curious what she had to forgive you for?"

She lifts a hand gently. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Dolan looks down and away, at that, not meeting her eyes. "I got found by a demon cult. I had to run. I made it look like I'd ditched her, so they wouldn't find her and come after her, but -" He stares hard at the ring. "I left the ring on her bed. Made her believe I'd abandoned her. I hated to do it - she's everything I could want, but - I was afraid they'd find her. I wanted to protect her, but to do that, I had to make her believe I'd abandoned her."

"I hurt her. A lot. I didn't mean to. I was trying to protect her."

The story makes Auranar settle into her seat, listening intently. It's a sad story, and she can understand why he feels reluctance to meet her eyes. "You love her. So you did the hard thing. If she'd been in your place... she probably would have done the same thing." She blinks, too emotional to not tear up at the thought of two people being separated in spite of being in love. "She knows now that you were trying to protect her, so everything worked out."

"I dunno, Auranar. She wants us to share in everything, and - that's what real couples do, right?" Dolan more stares at the wine than drinks it, twirling the glass gently in his fingers. "I don't think she's ever seen one of those bastards up close. She's still innocent, and ... I wish she could stay that way. I don't want to see what happens if one gets ahold of her."

Auranar ducks her head, hiding her expression briefly, but she's sad and angry and she's not good at hiding her emotions. "I don't know. I mean... I want to share in everything with Verna. I want to be on equal footing but... She keeps protecting me." She shifts her weight, tucking her feet up onto the couch and soothing her skirt down. "It's easy I think, to worry about what'll happen if something bad hurts someone you care about, but easy to forget that the people we love want to protect _us_ too."

"Just make sure that you know what you're asking, when you ask for that," Dolan counters, lifting his eyes to study Auranar seriously. "I've seen some of what Verna's capable of. You've got to let her know that you're not going to be a liability, if she does trust you with stuff like this. If you don't want her to feel like she's got to protect you, you'll need to learn to protect yourself.

"Andie can protect herself from ordinary foes, but when it comes to the supernatural -" He smiles just a little, without teeth, and snorts softly. "We're both fucking lost. I've felt a deity's presence twice in the last week. At least she hasn't run across a real demon yet, and Knight willing, it'll be long time before that happens."

Auranar looks down again. "I know. I know I'm weak. I know that I... I'm not strong like she is. If I could then I'd be out there right now finding her!" She wraps her free arm around herself as if trying to stop herself from doing just that. She looks up then at Dolan. "Instead I'm just... begging you all to do it for me. I'll sit here and be safe for her, but... someone has to find her."

"I'd planned on doing just that, Auranar." Dolan reaches out and gently pushes the wine glass in her hand towards her. "Don't you worry, I've got every intention of doing just that, and soon. We'll get her back to you. All right?" He looks around the room, then back at Auranar.

Auranar takes a breath and nods. Dolan's encouragement has her trying the wine and she has the grace to look embarrassed as he looks around the room. "Sorry for the mess. Verna's always saying that I'm great at research so... I can't do anything else, but I can read right?" She looks at him, and there's a force in her eyes that will not be dissuaded. "Maybe I'll find some way to help you all."

"Our place is worse, and I dropped in unannounced. You're not bothering me." Dolan guiltily turns his attention back to Auranar. "Any help you can provide ... come to that. In your reading, have you ever come across anything about the Woman Between Worlds?"

Auranar glances around at her books and looks curiously at Dolan. "That sounds... Familiar? Why do you ask?"

"The one we went to find yesterday made a reference to it, but it's the first I'd heard of it, and it sounds like it'll be important to figuring this whole thing out," Dolan answers, his eyes now fully on Auranar. He hesitates, but says, "It's someone we'll probably need to find to rescue Verna."

"Woman Between Worlds..." Auranar considers. "Between what worlds? Do you think that's a fae reference?" She asks curiously, putting her wine glass down after another sip and picking up a book that lies to her left hands side. She flips through it briefly. "They are often known for bridging worlds..."

"Yeah, probably is," Dolan agrees, finally taking a sip of his wine and settling back onto the couch. "It's one of two people that I can think of. It's either Phyrelia, or Verna herself. She ended up tying herself to the fae while we were in Quelynos."

Auranar thumbs through the book and then hands it over to Dolan. "Fae are often known for being where the veil is thin. Places 'between'. Women are often kidnapped by them because they are themselves between worlds. Being that they are a place between one world and another. There's more references there. Verna could be who is talked about in that phrasing. As a half-elf she bridges two worlds. And now she's herself connected to the fae. She's also a Mourner. Which means she stands between life and death. Two more worlds."

With her mind active, Auranar has momentarily forgotten her bout of sadness and depression, picking up her glass and taking another sip to encourage her mind to find more correlations if it can.

Impressed by the change wrought by mind activity, Dolan is not about to discourage her! Quite the opposite, and he sips at his wine, listening while she muses. "I told you we'd go find Verna, and we will. We've got to find out where they took her, though. To do that ... we need to talk to that werewolf they left behind to guarantee her safety."

Another light burns in Auranar's gaze and she leans forward slightly. "I'd like to help with that."

-End