The Retreat (Hellfire Aftermath)

[Sima Oratio]

Sima ended up lagging a bit behind the rest it seemed, but eventually he made his way to the desired destination. Appearing the same way the others before him had. He removed the mask from his face, the only thing that hid his identity in that skirmish. His face was oddly clean compared to the rest of his body, covered in sweat, blood, and a bit of char. His clothing was ripped and torn. Sima looked physically ok, however the truth was hidden under his skin. Despite there being minimal cuts or bruises that showed, his body was actually raging in pain. The way his body released energy destroyed his body. His leg muscles felt like they were going to split apart, and his arms weren't doing much better. He had broken a few bones in his hands from what he had did at the beginning of the fight. Sima didn't complain with the pain however, he knew overtime his wounds would heal. The only exception really was the broken bones which would need to be looked at. Despite knowing he would survive, the pain was still quite unbearable. He looked around the room, deciding that resting was the best choice for him.



He didn't trust asking anyone to heal him, and he didn't trust magic. There was only one person Sima would let use magic on him, and she would more than likely be upset with him. Not only that, but Sima knew how taxing healing was on her. He didn't want her to deal with that, especially the type of pain he knew she could feel when using healing magic. Sima kept himself from moving his hands, the hands carrying the most pain.


The room seemed to have a stale feeling, as if everyone was depressed. The looks on their faces were depressing to say the least. Sima wasn't exactly sure why, and it confused him. He understood that people died, by his own hands even, but he didn't understand exactly why the rest of these people were seemingly taking what had happened so hard. He began to wonder if they had much combat experience, this type of combat, at one time, was every day life.


"Why.." Sima muttered under his breath, almost inaudible. Sima refrained from asking his question, knowing it was a stupid one. However the way he acted, this did not mean Sima felt good about what he had done. In fact, he felt horrible. He had taken those lives without thought, which only brought him closer to being the monster he was always accused of being. Sima hated death, but he accepted what happened, and knew that he would have to make up for what he had done, if possible. 

Sima looked at Lilith, she was easy to spot, and he was thankful that she was focusing on something other than him. 

Sima walked outside the cabin, staying near the front. Sima would have said something, spoke to the rest of the group, had Lilith not been in the room, but now he was far too afraid to look someone in the eye. Sima knew that Lilith would be upset, maybe even enough to yell, and he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to take that. Sima, more or less, to everyone around him looked completely stable to the events that had happened in the gallows. He was used to putting up a facade, and it helped morale, at least that was what he was told. 

[Deleted]

Kail's gaze flicked over to Serenity and saw her pissed off look and he was not in the mood for this kind of shit. "Geee.....let me see here, am I the only one here that thinks that there is something off with Aria here? She had turned herself in to that Severine the day before. Then she goes and turns into a dragon protecting the captain of the guard. Is she on our side or did she sell us out, the only reason I know it was the captain. Was that I went to watch the Champions Calling tournament. I was not sure if she was going to attack us or not. So I erred on the side of caution and shot her in the shoulder." he said and was trying to cool off as a unexpected surprise came out to see the two of them. It had been awhile since he had seen Lilith since a few weeks ago on that day. "I'm sure the others can tell you what happened but to sum it all up from my point of view. It was hell in a hand basket....excuse me though I need to cool off" he said and got up from where he was sitting as other things were happening.

In the dim distance he sees someone and walks out and saw that Lia saw the person as well. He hears her asking the woman for any kind of assistance. When he got closer though Kail went deathly pale as he saw Claire in this state. "......My god Claire......"he said and walked over to get a bit closer. "You need help come with us, we have somewhere safe where you can go" he said hoping that she would recognize him even though it had been awhile.

[Trésor de Lys]

After finding more lunar flowers up in Aria's loft, Tres made her way back down to the main room where she saw more people filing in. This made her uneasy, and her wings tucked in further behind her back. This almost straining her healing back- but she was too focused to pay any mind to it. Tres dropped the lunar flowers next to the herbs on the counter in the kitchen, pushing past anyone who got in her way- not because she was being rude, but because she was in this stressful environment. It had been a while since she had been healing after a war zone. She listened to one woman as she made her way to the center of the room and explained everything that had happened, though Tres didn't understand all of it, she made her way over to her, looked her in the eyes and said"Thank you." She then turned to the rest of the group of people and continued, "I know some of you may not be trained in healing, however if you know any basic remedies using any of these herbs or lunar flowers, your help would be greatly appreciated." She started to walk, then stopped and looked at the crowd of people again with her head tilted to the side "Do any of you know a recipe for lunar paste?"

She then brushed it off and rushed over near Lilith who she saw healing a woman, particularly her side. She took into consideration how long this would take her, then ran over to another injured civilian. She saw this was a younger boy, who had faced trauma in his neck and upper back. This would be trickier for Tres as it dealt with the spinal chord. But nothing she couldn't handle. She has after all seen the aftermath of a battle with Helena. Tres felt nothing but focused, her heart was palpitating at a quickened pace and she felt adrenaline rushing through her veins. This is what she loved to do. See people feel better. She drew her energy and focus to the boy's neck and back, her hands hovering lightly over his skin. Tres drowned out the noise around her, but knew if anyone chimed up yelling, she would flip out. The quieter it is, the easier it is to focus.

When she had a moment, she would look up at Lilith to see how she was handling this. If eye contact is made, she would smile reassuringly. It's been a while since she had healed someone, and boy did it feel amazing.

[Deleted]

Séanait was the last one to come back to the house, other than Rivers. She had wanted to stay and watch his back, but Rivers had told her to get back through the portal, so she'd reluctantly gone. She didn't think any good could come from it, but she'd decided that it was best for her to leave. She had no doubt that Rivers could quite easily force her here anyway and he more than likely had enough problems on his mind as it was.

Within a few moments of Séanait stepping out into the cottage, Rivers began to transfer injured civilians into the already crowded cottage. If any more wounded were sent their way, they would end up being trampled under foot. Séanait slide her stolen sword into her belt and set her shield off to one side as she surveyed the room. She could see Roxy outside with wet hair and a sexy black dress, and then there was an obviously distressed Serenity to contend with. The healers didn't look to be in a much better mood as they began to tend the wounded.

Séanait undid the strap on her helmet and gingerly removed it, carefully pulling her right cheek flap away from her face before she did so. She might have removed the shrapnel from it before she had begun yelling, but the ragged edges of the hole had made a right mess of her cheek. Blood streamed from the wound down her neck and a small flap hung down from it, but the wound wasn't as bad as it looked. It hurt like a bitch, but Séanait was still on an adrenaline high and had a high pain tolerance, so it didn't bother her over much.

After pulling the chunk of shrapnel out of her thigh, Séanait began to speak in a clear, commanding tone that cut through the babel of the multitude and which brooked no argument.

"Listen up people! We currently have more of you than we have room in this house. If you don't have a head injury or aren't bleeding profusely, then make your way outside. I'll join you shortly, once I've seen to things in here. If you know anything about treating wounds, then grab what bandages and other supplies the healers can spare and start to work on those who aren't as badly injured. If you know anything about setting bones, then look for those with breaks and splint them. If you can't find any suitable wood, tell myself or the redhead in the black dress and we'll find some suitable sticks in the woods. On no account should you go in there yourself. These woods are dangerous outside of this clearing."

As some of the less injured rescued Fated began to make their way outside, Séanait turned and studied the healers. She didn't know them well, and really only recognised the man-dog. She did, however, suspect that they didn't have the experience or efficiency of a military surgeon. They would probably also hate to be told how to do their jobs as much as any military surgeon would, but she felt compelled to give them a little bit of advice about battlefield medicine.

"I don't know how much experience you healers have with this sort of scenario, or even what your capabilities are, but if any of you have magical abilities that are finite or strain your body greatly, save them only for dealing with immediately life threatening wounds. Don't even bother closing the wounds, because I don't know how many more casualties Rivers will send through, and you might want to pace yourselves. If you can buy an hour, buy it and worry about them after the flood has stopped. Anything which isn't life threatening should be salved and bandaged and the patient should be moved outside. I'll detail some of the more capable Fated to make a stretcher and carry them out for you. Got it?"

After everything inside was settled to Séanait's satisfaction - or as close as she was going to come to it - she went outside to begin organising people. She stopped beside Roxy, not even checking the woman out in her sexy black dress, and gave some instructions.

"Pick out a couple of strong men and find an axe. We'll need a stretcher to carry some of the more heavily wounded civilians around. Also, keep an eye on everyone, don't let them go wandering off. I don't want them lost in the forest."

Séanait was about to go on, when she noticed the really hot pink haired woman - Lia, she thought - and Kail approaching a third person. Séanait squinted and realised with a start that it was Claire. Even at this distance she could see that Claire was in a dangerous mental statement. With a quick "I'll be right back", Séanait started to head that way, just in case Kail and Lia couldn't talk Claire down. She didn't know if either of them could go toe to toe with Claire without taking or inflicting serious wounds, and subduing Claire would need to happen if talking didn't get her calmed down.

[Serenity Caine]

Serenity followed Kail outside, leaving her perch on the staircase. She didn't care if he needed to "cool down". She hardly noticed the frantic woman outside, or the pink woman trying to talk to her. Clearly you knew it was Aria, so you can't pretend you didn't. She wasn't even fully transformed into a dragon! Don't tell me you "erred on the side of caution"! Mr. Lancaster, Aria wouldn't have harmed us, you shot her blindly, you tried to kill her! Don't give me that "I shot her in the shoulder" bullshit. I heard you when you shot her, you said it would be the second dragon your slayed. It wasn't brave, it was stupid. You caused more damage, more pain. She was angry at the plan, the situation, and the fact that someone she cares about was hurt. She wouldn't have attacked us. She looked at Kail incredulously. The redhead wasn't sure if she was angry at him for hurting Aria, or for making the situation worse for Rivers. Really, she didn't know the woman, not well, so why it bothered her so much was lost to her. All she knew was he did something incredibly stupid and seems to think it didn't matter.

Turning her head, Serenity noticed the woman in the grass. Was that the woman they saved? It was clear she wasn't okay, so Serenity backed up towards the house, leaning on it. She would stay out of that, but she knew Kail needed to know what he'd done. He had tried to kill Aria, whether he'd admit it or not. She knew that Rivers was furious- she could hear it when he spoke to her. She really didn't care how Kail took her words- they were the truth and she would stand by it.

[Claire]

Claire clung to the trees, pushing forward into the woods when she heard a voice call. She paused, feeling a tug in her chest at the sound. She turned her head a little and could see a familiar face rushing to her. As he approached she couldn’t move- all she could do was stare in clear shock. Kail? What was he doing here? His lips were moving as if he were speaking but she couldn’t quite hear what he was saying.

“...boy. What are you-” realization dawned on her face. He was part of the attack. Rage flared up in her stomach again and she pushed herself off the tree, grasping Kail’s shoulders hard. “What were you thinking?! Who ordered this?”

Before she could yell, she saw another face over Kail’s shoulder. She let go of him, pushing her way to Shy and grasping hold of her by the arms, nearly collapsing against her. “Séanait!” she looked at the woman’s face, her wounds, and her expression steeled. She found her footing and stood firm, anger boiling in her expression again. She couldn’t find herself to be angry with Shy, no, but she somehow doubted that Shy would have a proclivity towards explosives.

“Take me to the man who planned this. I will have words with him and with all of you.”

[Deleted]

Claire pushed herself forward and grabbed Kail by the shoulders, rage contorting her face. Séanait picked up her pace, jogging towards Claire. She didn't think that Claire would actually hurt Kail, not if she was thinking rationally, but Claire had to be in shock from her time in prison and her abrupt reprieve from death. It might not take much to inflame her rage to the point where she lashed out without thinking.

Claire must have seen her coming, because she pushed Kail aside and staggered towards Séanait. The taller woman almost fell but grabbed Séanait's arms as she stumbled. Séanait grunted as she took up the weight and helped steady Claire, feeling the wound in her leg flair with pain briefly. For a moment, as Claire looked up at her face, Séanait could see the swirling mixture of emotions she was feeling: pain, anger, sorrow. Then Claire regained control of her emotions and demanded to be taken to see "the man" who had organised the whole operation.

It didn't take a genius to know that Claire intend to yell a lot at them all and maybe attack Rivers with that sword she'd dropped. Given how many of the rescued Fated were in earshot, some looking over at them and pointing at Claire, that seemed like a bad idea. If they wanted to keep some sort of unified front, any chewing out of this degree needed to happen in private or, preferably, not at all. Séanait decided that she needed to keep Claire away from the others and see if she could calm her down a bit.

Smiling up at Claire with slightly bloodstained teeth, Séanait reached up and gently laid a hand on her cheek. When she replied, there was sympathy in her voice, but it wasn't the condescending sort that might be used on a child or panicked animal. There was understanding in there, and a little bit of sadness too.

"It's good to see you safe, Claire."

She lowered her hand and went to hook her arm through Claire's in the hope of drawing her around to the opposite side of the cabin.

"Rivers isn't here right now. He stayed behind to douse the fires and send any critical cases through to us for healing. Why don't we go over there," She pointed at a random spot under a shady tree, "And wait for him? I'm sure Kail and Lia, was it?, will come and get us when he returns. You look like you could use some proper rest, and I'm not feeling too crash hot myself."

[Rivers]

Serenity would be able to feel one tunnel being created in the sky above the field and then another connecting back to the cabin. A moment later Rivers strides through the room, his lips set into a deep frown and his eyes set and bright with fire and suppressed anger. He hadn't calmed down from what had happened, but he was ready to confront what he assumed would be an uprising. As he steps through the door his face bore a myriad of small cuts and a large bruise on his cheek his usual coat was on now and for once he carried the air of someone dangerous.

As he looks around the room he finds the non-fated who have been healed then looks at the group. "The guard and arch healers have arrived at the gallows and are treating the injured, everyone's been brought through. We'll talk when the immediate crisis is over." He reports and then walks outside as he would be of no use in the building.

Rivers had never really wished for more power than what he had now, but for the first time in his life he really wished he was stronger. As he stepped outside he swept his gaze across those outside and walked over to Shy. "Looks like everyone made it back." He says and then takes a deep breath not trusting himself to say more and preparing for the torrent of anger that was sure to be directed at him.

A part of him deep down found this situation amusing. Sever bonds, prophecy is terrible when you aren't the prophet. He muses silently though the harsh caste to his face did not relent.

[Roxanne]

Roxanne continued to watch the area from her position leaned against the outside wall. She could see in the window as well where more injured were coming through and the healers were already making progress. Shy finally came through and that made everyone except Rivers accounted for. She listened to Shy give out instructions and found herself pleased that the soldier woman recognized her as capable of handling the forest. She was about to go in to assist the healers what little she could when Shy came out and asked her to find some men to help build a few stretchers. She could hear the argument going on between Kail, Claire, and Serenity and was more than a little concerned. Kail had shot Aria on purpose? Maybe that had something to do with Otsoa's bond which made it even more worrisome. Still, Roxanne felt Aria could handle herself and would contact someone if she really needed help. Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hand but she'd keep this in mind and hope Kail got his later.

First, she went inside to check the house for extra sheets. It took her a bit to find some and she made a mental note to replace these later with new ones. Walking back outside, she noticed Rivers had finally arrived and her face broke into a sneaky grin. "Rivers! You have perfect timing and you look relatively uninjured. How about coming with me and helping put together some stretches to transport some of the wounded about? Do you know if Aria has an axe anywhere?" she asked, her voice coming across as sweet and persuasive. Second, while she waited for an answer, she slid her boots back on and reached to undo the bun she had put her hair in, letting it tumble down to her thighs before she gathered it back into her standard ponytail.

After getting River's reply, Roxanne made her way into the house, looking around briefly before settling on the one man she didn't know: Sima. She positioned herself, standing, across the table from him. "Hi, I'm Roxanne. I'm sorry this is sudden and we haven't been properly introduced but could you keep an eye on everyone for me while I go make some stretchers? Séanait asked me to make sure no one wanders into the woods but she also asked me to go into the forest for materials. I won't be gone long and all you'd need to do is whistle if you see anything," she asked politely.

[Deleted]

Otsoa noticably calms down once he is reassured that Aria is ok. It takes him by surprise when a group of people suddenly materialize on the ground, and he jumps back initially. However, once he regains composure, he squats down next them, carefully assessing their injuries. Healing people was something that he knew how to deal with. There was just so many of them though. As Tres asks if anyone can make lunar paste, he nods. “Yes, I’ve been trained to make a variety of healing potions, pastes, salves, and ointments. However, we don't have a limitless supply of lunar flowers, so we’ll need to ration them out.”

He stands up and drags his bag of flora to a corner where he kept the rest of his things, and gets to work. “If there are extra hands, they can help me with this.” It doesn’t take him too long to put together the first bit of lunar paste.

He looks up as the… well, he wasn’t quite sure if they were male or female. He looks up as another human asks for stretchers. He hadn’t thought about that. “That’s good idea…” He hadn’t thought about how’d the move all these people. However, his hands were too busy with making potions to help make stretchers. He works on a few ointments for burns as well, and some things to keep wounds clean.

He takes what he has and goes back to over to group of injured civilians to start treating them. He takes a moment to look up at Tres and Lilith. “Remember to pace yourselves. I don’t think I could help everyone here on my own if you get too tired to cast spells.”

[Deleted]

Kail went a bit surprised when Claire gripped him hard like that, and the fury in her eyes got to him. But when Claire saw Shy she pushed him away and ran over to her. He sighed a bit and went over in his head on what Serenity said to him. The blond had no true trust in Rivers and now Aria, something was off on both of them. With Rivers and his puppet master/playwright mentality or thinking. With the redhead though, she was either the fool one moment and then the next moment the wise sage. On top of her being able to shapeshift into various creatures and beings. Perhaps he chose the wrong words on slaying the dragon. But he took into consideration that Aria had survived worse wounds then what he gave her. The dragon hide would have deflected his normal around or not make his shot not even count. If he was hated now then he did not give a damn. Kail does see Rivers show up again and desied to give the man some distance. If he did come after him though he had something planed. None the less he had to see what the next move was for everyone since he had no idea right now.

[Louie Kanto]

Brushing past the throngs of variously wounded, The man in red snakes through the ingress and egress of the overcrowded cottage, his eyes wide, and stepping forward stealthily. He makes his way into the kitchen, peering around the doorframe as if over a ledge, then emerges, standing upright, and goose-steps to the pile of herbs and lunar flowers on the counter. "Well, hellLOOOOOO!!" He leans down to the counter, eye level with the flowers.

"Hey baby, you and me should…getsome, freshair, whydon'twe? Awwww, don't be like that, you're much too pretty to frown. I know you want to go and do your thing with all of these -losers- but I promise we'd have agood time. Whaddya say?" He leans over the pile on his elbows, smiling broadly, with his eyebrow cocked and his lids partly shut. He remains silent for a few moments, and his face becomes sullen.

He sighs "OH-kay, OH KAY, we'll help the raggedy-Anne's and Andy's out with their "PRAH-BLEMS" but only if you promise to call up some friends, alright?" He stands up straight, raises his eyebrows, and points at the pile condescendingly.

He sighs again "alright, alright, damn….can't stay mad atcha, heh….IIII'MM SOOORRRYYY, Kay? Now, let's make you even prettier." At this, he begins to prepare the flowers, scrunching his face and mouthing "ooooo" and exaggeratedly pulling apart the petals. In a few minutes, a small pile of lunar powder lies neatly on the counter. He leans down to the counter once more and whispers "I'll be right back" and blows a kiss as he leaves out the front door, practically dancing along the way.

Outside, he notices a brief exchange between trigger-happy and the wonder pairs: Mocha Choca, and the Red Carpet. Losing interest, he calls to his familiar, who arrives a few seconds afterwards. "FINNY!! FINNRIS, WHERE'D YA GO?" The bird alights on his shoulder, then opens his wings and bounces a bit. "Where IIISS it? I can smELL it! Where IIISS it?" "It's in the house Finny, and you know what that means." The bird closes his wings, and cocks his head to the side, then looks back at Louie. "The BERRies, The BERRies!" "Yes, Finny, the berries. Get the young ones, we're gonna need as much as we can get. Now go!" Louie extends his arm, and the bird flies off over the treetops. Louie turns back to the house, and enters through the main door as a throng of mildly injured fellows exit, popping into the main room, where it appeared medical-related things were taking place. "WHO LOVES ME!!!" He nearly shouts, raising his arms to the ceiling. "In a few minutes, my familiar will return with the last ingredients we need for a high-potency lunar paste that's GREAT for part--I mean, GUARANTEED to cure what ails you."

[Trésor de Lys]

A woman in armor walks forward towards the healers and dictates what Tres already knew. Tres felt an urge to tell her to stop worrying and let the healers concentrate instead of being a distraction. Injuries like these that require magic need nothing but focus. Which is certainly what was not happening inside the cabin. But Tres holds her tongue and keeps her focus. As the room clears, it grew easier to pay attention. She was thankful that the woman in armor took charge in that way, making room for the severely injured rather than the panicked army... But if she interrupts her and the other healers again... Tres might not be able to keep quiet. She tends to grow moody when someone is taking away from her practice.

When Tres finishes with another patient, she sets them aside and encourages them to go outside to join the rest of the group. But her attention is caught when Rivers strolls by. Her eyes follow him as he walked past her, and outside with the others. She didn't want to interrupt him, just to say hello. He looked a bit scratched up, but not too bad.

When Otsoa calms himself and reminds the healers to pace themselves, Tres breaks for a moment to smile at him. "Thanks Otsoa. How many lunar flowers did you manage to find?" Tres crouched on her knees, then rested her hands for a moment as she moved over to the next civilian and had them indicate where any trauma may be. Tres takes a moment to breathe before continuing, so not to wear herself out- As Otsoa encouraged.

When a giant strange man with the large personality enters the kitchen, Tres can't help but stare at him as he pines over the lunar flowers on the counter. He was speaking to them as if they were some form of sexual partner, and quite frankly Tres wasn't sure if she felt comfortable with the sexualization of healing plants. But she watched him for a moment as he prepares the lunar flowers, and she realized what he was doing. When he leaves the room, Tres blinks for a moment, shakes her head, then beings using her healing magic on the next patient.

[Deleted]

Lilith ignored everything going on around her, from the woman in armour taking charge, the frustrated red head fighting with Kail, to the odd man seemingly in love with lunar flowers. She noticed it all, heard it all, but left it all alone. If she was good at anything concerning healing, it was her focus. She had taught herself how to use the magic, and at Rolands teachings, learned she'd taught herself all wrong. Her focus was the only good thing she'd learnt on her own. She healed one after another, slowly, but purposely. When the woman in armour asked those who were not severely injured to wait outside, the line up diminished, and Lilith let out a small sigh of relief. She could use the supplies brought for them, but she'd never needed to before, and had little to no experience with them. It would be better for her to continue as she was, pacing herself.

After helping a young man with a head wound, she smiled and brought him outside, needing to take a small breather. She knew she would return inside in jut a moment, but she also knew that Otsoa and Trésor could handle themselves without her for a minute or so. She stood just outside the door, not wanting to roam too far. Looking around she noticed the woman that she assumed to be Claire, and she didn't look good. She watched as Kail seemed to approach her, as well as a pink haired woman and the one in armour. She moved over slightly as Rivers joined the group outside. It was clear that whatever happened next wouldn't be good, so Lilith took one more breath and turned to head back inside, tying her hair in a tall long pony tale first. As she turned her eyes caught something familiar. She paused, looking at the man she shared her house with. It was clear he wasn't in the best of shape- there was blood everywhere...Liliths breath seemed caught in her throat, and as mad as she was at him, she didn't want to see him hurt.

Sima! Come inside. She called quietly, knowing he would be able to hear her, despite being about 10 feet away. She gestured her head inside, and turned away completely, walking back inside the cabin. She wouldn't heal him just yet- she would help with the innocents first, but he may as well wait inside, as she would heal him when she could. And aside from that, she knew he would tell her what happened, why there was so much blood on him compared to a lot of the others. Lilith kneeled before another wounded woman, haven gotten hurt somehow on her leg. There wasn't a lot of blood, but when Lilith felt her leg, and used her magic to sense what the injury was, she found that the leg was fractured, and some muscle was torn.

It's going to be okay. She lifted her left hand and grabbed the woman hand, smiling at her softly. This is going to hurt just a little, but it will go away. Squeeze my hand if it hurts, okay? This was the routine she'd set with most of the people she'd healed already. Some had rejected her kindness or the way she went about it, but most had been appreciative of it over all. She kept her right hand hovering over the woman's calf and and closed her eyes, channeling her energy through her body and to the woman.

[Claire]

Claire's expression softened suddenly at the touch of Shy's hand to her cheek. Her eyes fell shut for a moment and she sighed quietly, the sight of her bloody teeth pressed upon her mind. She was not alone in her suffering, she had to remember that. "I am glad you are safe as well." She murmured, nodding against her hand.

She was about to move when Rivers and the strange red-haired man made themselves known. At first, all she could do was stare, momentarily dumbstruck by the yelling. Then she refocused, turning her head to that man. Rivers. She recognized him suddenly, they had passed ways briefly a few times before. Why would he invest so much in her rescue?

Claire moved past Shy and to Rivers, the fire of anger in her stomach rolling again. She looked like she might strike the man when she reached him but stopped, hand raised. The man looked exhausted.

"...do not think that I am ungrateful." She lowered her hand, "But why did you do such a thing to rescue me? You don't know me. Why would you go to such lengths? You've turned them all against your cause! They think that I am Fated like you."