Lean On Me

Deep in the distant recesses of the Temple of Daeus, Zeke is meditating. He is notably not wearing his holy symbol, and the two tea pots on the stand have been replaced. The orangish one looks exactly the same as the one before it, but the blue one is green now. Both with fresh hot tea inside them which Zeke is currently drinking slowly as he sits in the room at Dolan's side.

Looking at Dolan reveals where Zeke's holy symbol is. It's in Dolan's left hand, still bound to his side, and the Corona is actually awake at the moment, staring quietly at the ceiling while Zeke meditates. His thoughts seem to be his own, and his eyes have closed from time to time, suggesting more of a doze than a true sleep. He still has not yet put in the eye, resting velvet-wrapped on the stand by the bed.

The Sunguard that walks down the halls wears a solemn gaze. While her armor's been stowed away again in her bag of holding and she's wearing a comfortable pair of breeches and a tunic, there's still every bit of that tension in her muscles like she's preparing to fight as she walks in the Temple.

That tension doesn't fully go away, even as she steps into the room and looks at Dolan resting on the table. The door clicks shut behind her, and she looks at the holy symbol in her fiance's hand for a quiet moment before she nods.

"I'm back," she says, gently, to the room at large.

Zeke is more than halfway to his feet when Andelena enters the room, so he keeps standing. "Peasssce on your nessst." He offers formally, eyes flickering toward the door. He seems about to say something and then to change his mind. "Dolan, would you like your eye? Your mate isss here." The blue-scale shifts so that Dolan can see the woman without Zeke's big blue body in the way.

Almost at once, Dolan turns his head on the pillow to look over towards the door. "Yeah, I would, thanks. Hi baby. Did you get my holy symbol?" That's his first question, although it's said with real affection. He shows no sign of attempting to move or sit up, as he often does, only turning his head towards her. All the same, he seems clear, focused, and present, his lone chocolate-brown eye very much in the here and now.

"Yeah, I got it, and I've got damn good news, too. I've been on a whirlwind, babe," Andelena replies, a smile finding her face as she retrieves Dolan's symbol from the bag. "Verna needed to use your symbol again for scrying. But I've got damn good news and some... unfortunate's not the best word for it by a hundred miles, but it's what I've got."

She walks over to the foot of the bed. "Sunguard Zeke, you should hear this too," she says. "I have a couple of messages to pass along from Silverguard Seldan."

Zeke is digging into the stand by the time that Andelena replies, and he almost hesitates to offer the man his prosthetic eye. He quickly catches himself though, and offers it to Dolan in such a way as that they never need touch. "Thisss one iss eager to hear any messsage from kin." He says, his nervousness betraying him in the nictating of his inner eyelids.

GAME: Dolan rolls intelligence: (20)+2: 22

The name isn't one Dolan recognizes offhand, except in tales of the city heroes. He automatically reaches for the eye, and at the same time moves the fingers of his left hand so that Zeke may retrieve the holy symbol he's holding. He doesn't put it in right away, though, instead startling into trying to half-sit up, swearing, and sinking back to the pillows as the import of what Andelena said sinks in. "Wait, how did you get a message from someone with that name, baby? I thought he was missing from the city."

A beat, and something else hits him, and this time he turns his head towards Zeke. "And - wait, _that_ is your kin that you were talking about? What in all the green garden hells is going on?" He presses the back of his eye-filled hand to his empty eye socket, wincing.

GAME: Andelena rolls Perception: (19)+10: 29

Andelena catches Zeke's behavior and offers him a placating smile. "I assure you, the Silverguard is okay, Zeke. He wanted me to tell you that he will have tea waiting in the shelter."

She looks to Dolan. "It's a little bit of a long story. Zeke ordered me to take a break, so I did. Freshened up at our place, fed the cats, then went over to Auranar and Verna's house to get your symbol back. But there was Sir Seldan, and Verna was using your symbol to scry /that/ place again."

Her voice turns slightly bitter. "At any rate, we saw that he wasn't there, and we determined it was the time to go investigating. I got my armor back on, and we left the city to teleport, but..." Her body stiffens and she frowns gravely. The next part is not so easy to tell.

Zeke relaxes subtly, but the mention of tea spills the last of his tension away and he nods silently, letting Andelena give her information without interrupting her. Even when she falls silent for a moment, he doesn't intervene, allowing her what time she needs to tell the tale.

This sounds like quite a tale. Dolan makes no move to interrupt either, merely focusing on the mechanics of putting his eye in while he listens. It takes him a minute, and is a little clumsy, but he eventually manages it, and blinks several times as his vision shifts and adjusts.

Finally, Andelena finds the words. "Something was /wrong/," she says. "We... We found the scene at the Wayfarer's Inn. The massacre. We saw Kol leaving, and... We tried to find survivors. But there were none."

She sighs, finally having gotten that off her chest. "We were even more motivated to act. Verna, Auranar, Seldan, and I all imbibed potions of invisibility and we teleported in. Kol got out of the cave, since he didn't detect us there. And..."

Her expression turns to a small grin. "This man walked in /with/ a totem. And Seldan tricked him into thinking Kol was hiding in the shadows, and to leave the totem there. We grabbed it."

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (13)+10: 23

Zeke glances at Dolan, more than a little concerned with how the man might take hearing this story. That the one that had tortured him was still out there and doing terrible things. "Thissss. 'Massssa-'" He huffs at the word. "It meansss many dead yesss?"

"Yeah." Dolan swallows hard, and rubs at his flesh-and-blood eye, hard, leaving the arm to cover both eyes. "He's mad. He's probably looking for me. Wilderness Pointe was where he took me from." There's real worry there, but not panic, and he seems to be staying present. "So you're telling me - that you went back - there - with Silverguard SELDAN? That's a hell of a story, babe. And -"

He continues to digest this, but the last part makes his drop his arm and look over at Andelena, a leap of hope in his eyes. "Was I right? They still don't know? Kol didn't give a shit about those totems, baby. He didn't know what they were and I made damn sure not to let on that they were anything important. Please tell me they haven't figured it out yet."

The Sunguard nods soberly to Zeke's question. "I don't think they have realized," Andelena replies to Dolan's, as well. "Not a single person there seemed to realize we were there--we were invisible the whole time, and it was /crowded/ in the camp. Lots of people, but lots of wolves, too. We got that totem and took it with us when we teleported out."

She pauses for a moment and looks at Zeke. "He's got a headache," she says, gesturing to Dolan's arm gesture. "Do you want me to do anything for you there, babe?"

Zeke looks at Dolan and tilts his head. "Would you like sssome-thing? Sssome willow-bark tea perhapsss. Thisss one doesss not wissh to give you any-thing too strong at the moment." He glances at the tea pots beside the bed

That hand reaches up to rub at his face, then reaches towards the eye. "Let me see if it settles," he begins. "Shouldn't have tried to sit up." He blinks, several times, and a tear trickles from the corner of his left eye, trailing across his cheekbone towards the bed. "It fucking worked. Praise be to the shining and holy Knight who guides us all," he murmurs. "Now I just have to figure out when - when I'm going to be able to fight again. So someone can make use of it. Some of the others are in the camp, but I don't think they all are. I'll try to find out where the others are."

Andelena looks similarly as overjoyed as Dolan, nodding gently as tears bloom in her own steel-grey eyes. "I know," she says. "But don't push yourself physically too early, or you're going to set yourself back, and /neither/ of us want that. In the meantime, I..."

She looks at Zeke. "I think I need to meet the Silverguard again," she says. "What he did for us back there was not only impressive, but I think there's a bit I can learn from him. Bry, his sword--it /talked/. It reminded me of how oddly Deliverance has been acting."

As they talk, Zeke pours a couple of cups of tea. He offers one to Andelena. "It isss a light tincture of willowbark, but mossstly a green tea with a hint of honey." It smells very lightly sweet, but mostly of tea. The sith-makar nods to Andelena. "You mean Reunion. It isss a weapon of Sseldan'sss ancessstorss. It isss... very opinionated."

It seems he might have opinions on its opinions.

All of this is a lot to take in, and Dolan's mind is swirling with all that he has learned. To give himself a minute to think, he absently takes the prosthetic eye back out. "A talking sword? Don't tell me you want Deliverance to talk. It gets mad enough when you swear. Don't want to become a henpecked husband to a _sword_."

Once the eye is out, he relaxes a little more. "I - what I want to know was what was he doing at Mourner Verna's house. I thought he was missing."

"He... knows a lot about Kol. A /lot/," Andelena replies, although it seems like there's something she's holding back. "He knew him well enough to imitate Kol's voice. I nearly almost /shit/ myself with how accurate it was." Yeah, the swearing is at least a sign that Andie's feeling a bit more secure about things. "I think Verna contacted him because she knew he'd be the person to call on. She was /right/."

She... actually laughs a little, probably the first time she's laughed in all of this. "No, Bry, I don't /want/ Deliverance to talk, but I figured if he knows anything about weird-ass swords--no offense to whatever voice is inside Reunion--he probably can help me figure out what's up with Deliverance. Gods know that I would love some answers."

"He hass fought the vampire before and wassss among thossse that brought him down." Zeke replies calmly, his eyes nictating with nervousness and discomfort as he sits down. The movement is slow and careful as it always is and he takes a sip of his tea. "Kol, he was attacking the people of Alexandria. Ssseldan put an end to it. At great risssk to him-ssself."

"Wait - that's the guy in the vision!" The final piece falls into place for Dolan, and he turns his head towards Andelena again, not daring to sit up. "You're telling me that the man from that vision was standing in Mourner Verna's common room when you walked in?!" Yet another piece of information to absorb. "That's a hell of a story, baby. You - you think he'd be willing to hunt Kol again?"

His eyes turn back up towards the ceiling. "Somebody's got to, baby. He's - he's a monster. But not always." He trails off, his eyes gone glassy, staring at the ceiling.

Andelena's expression turns to worried on two counts: Zeke's remarks that Seldan hunted Kol at great risk to himself previously, and Dolan's last remark on Kol... not always being a monster. The implication of that visibly disturbs her, and there's a look on her face of complete trepidation as her man goes glassy-eyed.

It's here that she finally takes the teacup offered to her earlier, forgotten as she'd gotten lost in her talking. She takes a sip of it and considers her next words, before she says, "We need hunters. Hunters who will get the job done. Hunters who can kill that monster. For what he's done... He needs to pay."

She turns to Zeke. "And we need to make sure this room is as secure as it can be," she says.

The blue-scale thrums low in his throat at the look in Dolan's eyes. He motions with his crystal claw for Andelena to be quiet a moment while he gets to his feet slowly. "Dolan?" He asks gently. "You are in the Dragonfather'sss temple. Are you with ussss? Thisss one and your mate?"

There is no answer from the bed, its occupant lost in something only he can see and hear, although his eyes have gone wide, his pupils down to pinpricks. For a moment, it almost seems like he might be relaxing, nearing sleep -

And without warning lets out a howl of agony, his back arching at something unseen. "You bastard!" he fairly screams, right arm flinging himself out in the way of a limb bound to something horizontal. He relaxes then, at least muscular-wise, but continues to tremble, clearly in some form of remembered agony.

Andelena flinches as Dolan howls, but she recovers quickly. "Brydion," she says gently, "you're in the Temple of Daeus. It's me, your fiancee, Andelena. Sunguard Zeke is here. You are safe."

She wishes she could comfort him. She wishes she could hold him. That much is evident by the pain on her face as he watches him grapple with ghosts so recent. It's a sober reminder that as much as she can go traipsing around in Kol's cave, as much as she can get lucky and find totems to bring back--that doesn't make what Kol did go away. That doesn't bury the bodies at the Wayfarer's Inn, either.

"I'm here," she says. He may not hear her, but it's what she says. Despite it all, she is here. Here for him.

Zeke's reaction is another low thrum. Trying to bring Dolan back to the present with different sounds, different senses than those of the past. He finishes rising to his feet and wafts the soft scent of the tea toward Dolan. "We are here." he intones, thrumming. If this doesn't work he has one last trick to try, but he reserves it a moment longer in the hopes that the memory will pass without Dolan having a more violent reaction. - He has no way of knowing though, what comes next.

GAME: Dolan rolls will: (3)+10: 13

There's no sign that Dolan hears anything at all. Both hands clench into fists hard enough that his nails dig little half-moons into his hands. Whatever this is, it was _bad_, and it went on for a _while_. He's hearing nothing and seeing nothing here, and sweat beads on his brow.

Andelena is trained in handling traumatized individuals--but in this moment, seeing the man she loves more than anyone relive his suffering prevents her from drawing on her training fully. She turns to Zeke and whispers, "What do we /do/?" Her voice breaking a little on the last syllable. "I... I don't want him to suffer. I don't."

Zeke looks at Andelena, and it's clear there's something he wants to say, but he shakes his head. Declines to offer words that would be too harsh in this moment. Instead he focuses on Dolan. Instead he mutters something under his breath about 'silly soft-skin snouts' being 'too small' and abruptly splashes his slightly-warm tea all over Dolan's face. "Dolan." His tone is gentle, but firm. Loud enough to be heard and yet louder than the voice he has been using to speak with.

_That_ appears to have an effect. Dolan sucks in a breath and lets it out all at once in a curiously strangled noise, but there is at least sense in the lone brown eye. He still seems to hurt, though, his shoulders and back arching, and rolls over onto his right side, sobbing and shaking. Only then do his shoulders and back relax, even a little bit.

The pain and panic in Andelena's eyes and expression vanish as she sees Dolan is back--but the sobbing makes her breathe in again. She closes her eyes briefly. Gathers herself.

"Brydion, you're safe now," she says. "It's me, Andie. You're in the Temple of Daeus. Sunguard Zeke is here.

Zeke motions once more for Andelena to hold her words, thrumming at a slightly different pitch. He doesn't move to touch Dolan. Doesn't try to talk him out or down from his emotions. The only way out is through. The only way to heal is to acknowledge the pain and work through it. He simply lets the man know that his community is here. That he is not alone. That if he wants it; they are an arms-reach away.

It takes several minutes of full-out release for Dolan to relent and uncurl from the fetal position he'd adopted at some point during this. He remains on his right side, though, his back to both of them. "Andie," he gets out, hoarsely. "Andie. Run your hands down my back. Just flat hands. Hard." It's a weird ask, but his chest is still heaving, his face turned away.

The request makes Andie pause. Touching someone in his state is... often unwise, and she's been fighting with both her own exhaustion, her knowledge as a trained healer, and her instincts as Dolan's lover for the past few moments.

But... she does as Dolan asks. She steps forward and runs her hands down his back, flatly as he instructed.

This action Zeke does not seek to stop. Dolan had asked for it, and while sometimes a patient didn't know what would trigger them... Doing as they asked was almost always more of a benefit than a risk. Unless it was something specifically dangerous. He moved back even, to give her more room to touch her mate, thrumming louder just in case it did trigger Dolan to another memory.

This one, does not. Touching his back is like running one's hand down a washboard of scarring, but the touch itself seems to help, and when she is done, he's fully relaxed into the bed, breathing more evenly. "Thank you. Damn. Don't know what - what happened." He's still shaking a little. "Gods. That might have been the worst thing - no." He just shakes his head and goes silent. "I - I'm sorry, baby."

He still hasn't turned over yet.

"Nothing to be sorry about, babe," Andelena says gently, her voice and gaze warm and comforting. "You've been through hell. This happens. I'm just... glad I'm here this time. Glad I can be here with you while you recover." 'This time' refers to a time that Zeke wouldn't know--and truthfully, neither would she. She can only begin to imagine what it was like then.

"Do you want me and Sunguard Zeke to do anything for you? Do you want to be turned over?" she asks.

"Perhapssss ssome tea?" Offers Zeke, as if he hadn't just splashed a cup of the stuff all over Dolan's face. He remains where he is. It may seem that he's not being terribly helpful, but he knows that sometimes all that one can do is wait. Patience is the most important part of this process.

Dolan hesitates. It's almost like there's something he wants to ask, but silence rules for a minute. With an effort, he rolls back onto his back, the tea still vaguely sticky on his face. "Shit. Was there honey in that tea? There's something sticky on my face." The eye is left behind in the bed. "I - um - yeah I probably should have something. Not too much. I'm dizzy. I think I loosened this," he tugs with his left arm against the restraints.

Andelena spots the eye in the bed, and she walks over. "Let me get your eye for you," she says, retrieving it before he can roll over onto it. "And I think I can clean off your face. But if you've loosened your arm, we'll have to be careful when getting you to sit up for tea."

"If you are willing to pour the tea Andelena, thisss one will rebind hisss arm and help him sssit up for a little bit." Zeke offers, now moving closer. In a lower voice he murmurs to Dolan. "If you want any-thing, all you need do isss asssk. If we can give it; it isss yoursss."

"Can - can I lean against Andie instead?" Dolan asks after a moment, a little plaintively. "If she can sit behind me-" he starts. "I - I don't think I want the eye right now." He rubs at the mobile half of his face with his free hand. "I keep getting dizzy when I sit up. It's like the world spins if I move too fast."

Andelena sets the eye down, back into its protective covering and in its designated spot, and she smiles warmly. "Of course I can sit behind you," she says. "You're dizzy because you're still feeling the effects of blood loss. I can steady you."

She makes her way to the bed and sits on the edge. "Work with me here, Bry, but don't push yourself" she says, as she goes to maneuver behind him, then helps him so that he's sitting up against her.

GAME: Dolan rolls fortitude: (11)+12: 23

Zeke nods, agreeing with Andelena. "Asss you wisssh Dolan. You are in charge." He offers a slight swish of his tail before moving to quickly pour tea from the green pot while Andelena helps Dolan up into a seated position. Then he sets the tea down and hovers near Dolan. "Thisss one will fix your bindingsss firsst. Then tea. If thisss one may touch you?"

Dolan lets Andelena work herself in behind him, leaning against her. This does seem to be easier on him - he fights less, leaning his weight on her and letting her hold and steady him. He actually seems okay, unlike several previous attempts to get him to sit up, and nods to Zeke. "Go ahead. Do what you need to do. I'm - I'm getting used to it."

Andelena smiles to have the comfort of Dolan touching her again, even if it's just him leaning into her to stabilize her. "There you go," she murmurs gently to Dolan. "I won't let you fall over. Promise, babe."

Zeke works quickly to relash the arm to Dolan's body. Quick, effective motions that tighten the bindings and make it all but impossible for Dolan to move that limb. He works silently but that low thrum which has become almost silent. When he is done he gets the tea and holds it for Dolan, offering it to the other man gently. "Thisss one will be out tonight, but you will ressst a deep sssleep, and have ssome nisce quiet time with your mate." He swishes his tail behind him.

Tightening and readjusting are both necessary after that episode, and some points have become a little sore despite best efforts, but Dolan grits his teeth and holds still against Andelena while he works. When Zeke offers him the tea, he takes it, and sips carefully, experimentally at it. "Yeah," is all he says. Letting Andelena sit behind him appears to make a significant difference in how difficult sitting up is, and he leans against her without hesitation. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm not as much fun as usual."

"You're doing great, babe," Andelena says affectionately, a genuine happiness as Dolan leans further into her. "Don't worry about being fun. Worry about getting better so we can /have/ fun when you're all healed."

She looks up at Zeke. "Thanks," she says. "I think we need some nice quiet time. Together. Not to say that your company's been awful, Sunguard Zeke--far from it--but it'll be... nice, to have the room to ourselves."

"Thisss one hasss ssssome advisce, but it can wait until he isss assleep." Zeke murmurs, taking the cup back from Dolan and setting it aside. "Would you like to lay down Dolan, or remain like thisss with your mate for a time?"

"Wouldn't mind staying for a few minutes," Dolan murmurs, leaning back further into Andelena's support, his tones already sleepy. He rests his head contentedly against Andie's shoulder, right hand absently reaching for the blanket to pull it over himself. In the end, it isn't long at all until Dolan is fast asleep on Andelena's shoulder, and likely to stay so for a while. The statue and the holy symbol so far remain in the bed.

-End