"Right now you need rest and I am too angry to deal with you at the moment. Go to sleep Mr. Mardak. Try to not step in any of Beast on your way back to camp."
She knew that parting remark was low, but she was too angry to care at the moment.
Being thoroughly confused at the mention of Beast "I know I need rest darlin' and...oh no...What happened to her?"
Lover's quarrel. Selina stays out of this part, but makes her way back to camp with Betimi. She doesn't say anything just yet, but knows almost instinctively that the other woman is in deep pain. The kind of pain she can only hope to lend succor to, because it cannot be healed by magic.
Betimi ignores Mardak, he has his marching orders as far as she is concerned.
She nods to Selina, not sure why the other woman's silent company feels oddly comforting.
As she settles onto the logs around the fire, her back turned to face the fire to preserve her darkvision, she appears lost in thought.
Yes, these surface dwellers complicate things so.. I know .. yes I know Beast was just a brutish animal.. What do you mean?... no I shouldn't have gotten attached... but.. look Beast cam along just when we needed him most, if not for him we would have been recaptured... they would have taken you from me...
...it seems we may not need Malphas tomorrow after all, whom do you think will be better slinking through tunnels, Leraje or one of the others? Hmmm , yup.. I agree the low-light and precision are most useful. Leraje it is...
{OoC I forgot Leraje grants lowlight vision so I currently have low-ight vision AND ddarkvision]
Selina sits on the same log, but gives Betimi her space. She settles into an upright position, hands folded in her lap, back straight and tilts her head slightly towards Betimi. She still does not speak, wondering what Betimi could be thinking. Selina was not, strictly speaking, the most sociable person. Certainly she was lovely, despite some of her genes... But that was it: her genetic makeup had made her so self-conscious that she feared outside contact. None of this passes through her head as she does not actually realize it, so she simply sits there, staring at the fire with her slitted, amber eyes and just works hard on 'being there' for her companion.
...the conversation in her head ending brings Betimi back into the moment... she realizes that Selina is still sitting there, seeming to be waiting for her to speak..
Betimi opens and closes her moth a few times, as if unsure where to start.. then her brows furrow in thought.
"I have seen your people," realizing that Selina might not consider people of other races, 'her' people, Betimi rephrases. "The people who dwell beneath these sun and stars. Anyway, they sometimes keep animals near hem for some reason besides food or labour. They call them pets, or companions. I guess Beast was like that for us. Yes he would have withered and starved down there alone, he needed us as well, but more than that he was our companion through a long trek.
If not for Beast we.. I.. would have starved, or been.. retaken.
We found him at just the right time, hobbled in a small side cavern in the depths, alone, with a packsaddle filled with gear. He was half starved and dehydrated, despite having his own feed and water hanging from his packsaddle. Food, rope, this spear and crossbow even. His former owner.. well he must have been a fool like Mardak, coming alone to the deep realms. He was nowhere to be found, and had left the poor animal to die of starvation, hobbled.
Beast was a fighter though, I got him un-hobbled, and fed; then he just started plodding along. I did not know then, but learned that he knew the way out. We had to fight to keep up with him, and he fought off more than one attacker with us, in his fight to reach the surface.
Beast led us.. me.. to my freedom. Without him I would never have made it away from the deep realms, I did not know the way. And one could spend a lifetime in the deep realm and not ever find one of the ways to the surface."
She stumbles to a stop. Realizing that is more than she has ever spoken all at once, to anyone in her entire life.
Betimi decides to continue her tale, to get it off her chest.
"It was to Beast's original owner that Endigon had sent his invitation. The note was in his packs.
It said there was safety in Cantus. All would be welcome.
As you can see we would not be welcome by the surface people.We are the monster they tell their children about.
But, we have escaped the overseers, from the pits, and we want to live.
It took us days to reach Cantus from the mountains, and Beast kept me safe the whole time. He watched over me in daylight when I slept. He.. she swallows we had never had a friend before."
The Guard follows the women and when they sit down he says, "I've slept enough. I can sit up and take a turn at watch with Betimi. I very much appreciate all your help. If you would like assistance to deal with these Kobolds, I will lend you my sword arm. Though after getting mugged by the beasts and left to die, I will need to borrow a weapon." He says that last part with a hint of embarrassment. "However if you feel you do not need my help, in the morning I will take my leave and return to Cantus to alert the guard."
[OoC: If Betimi starts talking about her loss...]
He sits with the women trying to be quiet and watching for any signs of possible encounters. When Betimi speaks of her mule he listens and waits until she finishes. He then replies, "I'm truly sorry for your loss. Especially since that other one seems to take little responsibility for his actions."
[OoC: However, if there is an awkward silence because Betimi doesn't want to talk of her pain in front of the Guard...]
The Guard sits for a bit with the ladies and when the silence gets too much for him any more he stands and states, "I need to stretch my legs so I am going to check out the perimeter of camp to make sure there are nothing hiding out there." He grabs a sturdy stick off the ground that he can use as a club, nods politely to the ladies, then leaves them to each other's company.
Selina listens. She turns her head to look Betimi in the eyes as she does, but glances away every now and then so as not to seem creepy. She listens as Betimi describes her connection to Beast and it makes perfect sense why she would take this loss so heavily. Selina only wished she could have spared her this pain. After all, there was no such connection between Selina and her mule.
"We are built to make connections, Betimi, whether we want to or not. That you make a connection with such a creature that saved your life is both admirable and understandable. I understand this connection was important to you and, you should know, that if ever you need an ear or a shoulder, I am always willing to give."
She looks up and grins slightly at the guard's embarrassment, reaching down to detach her Morningstar. "I lend you my weapon until we find you something closer to your preference. I seem to have taken to this piece of leather quite well." She indicates her sling. "We also liberated a number of small spears from the creatures. I am only guessing they can be used as javelins at worst." She refocuses her attention on Betimi, letting her make the next move. Then she blushes in mild embarrassment. "I...beg your pardon, sir, but in all this haste and sudden activity I have neglected the basic formalities. My name is Selina, this is Betimi. What might your name be?"
Being no where near earshot of their pow-wow, Mardak decides to rest wondering what she did. Knowing full well he needs to pay his friends, especially Selina and Jonath back for helping him. Mardak lays on his rock and stays put for the night.