Limping home|Beastlands

[Northen Light36]

(Set in the beastlands, a few days after the end of the Hunter's game)

Amaro shook his head as he considered his little sister's state. We should have taken Masego up on her offer. But no, Acqua had hidden just how badly her feet were cut and infected under their coating of mud and he'd been so eager to get home and away from the hell of the last few days that he'd overlooked Acqua's tendacy to push herself too hard.

Now he had to contend with a arm that still had no feeling and little range of movement and a young woman who could barely walk and kept slipping in and out of consciousness. His dead arm made hunting difficult, restricting their food intake, which wasn't helping either of them recover. So all Amaro could do was help Acqua along when she was awake enough to move, rest when she wasn't, and tend to both their wounds as much as possible, though his too were showing the early signs of infection.

During one of these rest stops, Acqua was pulled out of her feverish half-sleep by a familar brush against her mind. Pixie?

---

Traveling with Mat and Talon, Pixie suddenly stopped dead, then began to purr so loudly her body shook. ~Kitten!~ To the two men she added, ~I can sense Kitten. She's weak, but she's not far off.~

[Kender Bard]

Talon gave a small gasp of surprise at that. Out here in the middle of nowhere? He touched his sign and muttered. "What direction?" he asked Pixie.

[Northen Light36]

Pixie hesitated, uncertain, then took a few steps northwards while focusing fully on that faint connection. ~This way, I think.~ She didn't sound quite certain, but it was hard to tell direction with a mental connection.

"Let's go," Mat murmured, picking up the cat. "Pixie, are they all right? Is Amaro with Kit?"

~They're together,~ Pixie confirmed. ~Tired and hurt. Kitten feels ill to me.~

[Kender Bard]

Talon extended some of the wind building up around them to Mat and he was lifted up a half an inch from the ground. Grabbing hold of his other hand, he set off at a dead run in the direction that Pixie indicated.

[Northen Light36]

~They're very near here,~ Pixie reported soon enough. ~Kitten! Call to me, Kit.~

"Pixie?" Acqua called from where she and Amaro were 'camped', half wondering if she was still asleep. This wasn't the first dream she'd had that felt so real lately. She rested her head against Amaro's shoulder as her brother opened his eyes.

"What is it, Acqua?"

"I thought I heard Pixie," Acqua replied. "Though maybe I was-"

She was cut off when she heard Mat calling, "Kit!"

Amaro looked up. "Over here!" he called, then glanced at Acqua. "What the hell is your husband doing out here?"

[Kender Bard]

Talon began to slow as soon as he saw something in the distance and was down to a normal jog by the time he reached them both. He glanced between the two, took one of the little jars of healing water out of his pack. He'd brought three, not sure how the two would look by the time they were found. Now he wished he'd brought some more. "Forces," he muttered, at a loss of words.

[Northen Light36]

Mat swallowed hard, then managed a small smile as he knelt by Acqua. "You two look like hell. And just how did you manage to lose another pair of shoes, Kit? Your feet are a mess." He gestured to Talon to look after Amaro, while he tended to his wife since she was in the worse shape of the pair.

"Not her fault, entirely," Amaro muttered. "Forces, it's good to see you two. How the hell did you get out here?"

[Kender Bard]

"We walked, of course," Talon joked lightly. "Ran sometimes. What about you two? Looks like you dragged yourselves here by your teeth." Even as he spoke he began to administer some healing water to Amaro's wounds and offered him some to swallow as well.

[Northen Light36]

As Amaro drank the healing water and Mat tended to her, Acqua managed to laugh tiredly at Talon's joke and reply lightly, "Oh no, we got given a suprise ride all the way here by some quite insistant gentlemen. Who got somewhat less gentle when we explained we didn't need a lift. Thought they'd managed to crack even Amaro's thick skull for a bit."

Mat rested a hand lightly over the rope burn on Acqua's wrists, but it was the least of her injuries, so he turned back to tending to the more serious ones. "Seems they need to learn to read a map as well as accepting when someone says no. You're a long way from Sensatia."

Acqua grimaced. "They had a somewhat different idea of a holiday destination then we did. Different idea of how to have a good time too." She shivered and pulled Pixie closer for a hug.

Amaro reached out to give her a one armed hug, while the other remained limply at his side.

[Kender Bard]

"What happened to your arm?" Talon asked Amaro in concern, trying to tug aside the clothing over it to get a better look.

[Northen Light36]

"Took a couple of bad hits from another Storm," Amaro muttered. "Haven't felt a thing in that arm since." He looked at it and grimaced.

With the clothing pushed away, it was possible to see the horrible lightning burn that ran down Amaro's arm from his shoulder (just under where the dog had bitten him) to his wrist. If Amaro had had any feeling in that arm, it would have been incredibly painful.

[Kender Bard]

Talon winced and splashed healing water over the burn, hoping it wasn't infected (or if it was, that the healing water would help combat that.) As for not feeling anything... Well they'd need to get him to a healer as soon as possible. "I'll carry you two on wind," Talon assured them. "But that means our travel will be a bit slower than normal. We should get you two to Mangeville; it should be the closest village to here."

[Northen Light36]

"I can walk," Amaro replied firmly. "Acqua will need carrying, but there's not much wrong with my legs, just my arm."

"You're both exhusted," Mat replied, frowning. "And if you're not sick, it won't take much to change that. Swallow your pride for a bit and let Talon carry you. If you insist, walk into the village but until then just rest."

"Amaro, please?" Acqua murmurs, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm tired..."

Amaro sighes. "Fine, but only because the kid needs the rest."

[Kender Bard]

Talon nodded to Amaro as if to say, yes, of course that's the only reason. Touching his sign, he muttered and lifted them up--Mat could walk--and began trekking back north, towards the village.

((Do you want to play out the Mangeville stuff or naw?))

[Northen Light36]

(Nah. It's enough to say they saw a healer and both have some perment injury. Acqua's stuck with a slight limp and it's a matter of time whether Amaro will recover the feeling in his bad arm. (I'm thinking he'll eventually be able to use it again, but it'll always be stiff and weaker then his good arm.))