• PM To Join • Healing [Faith]

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Timestamp:90th of Vhalar, 717
Location: Desnind

The moment Kura had jerked awake under the tree, Cally had known something was wrong. But Kura, for the first time since the Mortalborn had been made aware of her presence, wasn't answering her. Something was wrong, it had to be. Then they burst through a clearing and Kura started talking to...a rock. Something was very wrong. And then Kura mentioned the dreams, and the incompleteness, and suddenly it clicked. Her familiar, they were finally meeting. Cally stepped back and watched the tense meeting in silence, hoping Kura didn't decide to try and kill her familiar. After a conversation that Cally only heard half of, she let out a sigh of relief as Kura held out her hand.

Then Kura's eyes turned gold, a sign she was drawing on her Mortalborn powers, put an arrow to the string. She saw golden cracks appear in the arrow and waited, wondering what the new power was. Then she let go of the arrow and it exploded into lots of arrows, all heading off at an angle. It appeared none of them were recoverable though, and she suspected that divine explosion born arrows weren't made of very stable stuff. Perhaps they were like souffle's. Cally was convinced that souffle's were put on Idalos specifically to infuriate and depress cooks.

Then Kura let out a scream of pain and collapsed to the ground in a dead faint. Letting out a cry of shock and surprise, Cally ran forward, rolling Kura over onto her back. Nothing seemed to be wrong at first, but then she rolled up the sleeve of Kura's coat and noticed the scar. It ran from just above her wrist to, as far as Cally could tell, her shoulder. Something had gone very, very wrong. Pulling down her coat sleeve, Cally put Kura's bow back in the quiver and picked her friend up, putting as much of Kura's weight on her shoulders as she could. Fortunately, she didn't really feel strain or pain, or the need to rest or breath, so she was able to get back to Desnind without stopping. On the other hand, she had no idea what to do or where to take Kura.

After a moment, her habitually wandering mind landed on Faith and Cally picked up her pace. Faith was a doctor of all sorts of things, she could make medicine and sew people up and tell people to shut up and let the doctors work and have that actually work. Cally was pretty sure that Faith was short because all the extra that would have gone into height had gone into smarts for Faith, so of course Faith would know what to do. Eventually, Cally made it back to Faith and knocked at the door. "Faaaaiiiith, I need help! Something happened to Kura!" she said, sounding panicky.

[Faith Augustin]

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It had been nearly thirty trials since they had been married here, in the temple to Moseke and in the eyes of the Immortals. Literally. Faith still thought, sometimes, that she must be in a dream or this must be a most cruel and unusual punishment. If it had been, it was a million times more so than anything Jamal or any of her owners could have ever devised. But it was not, she knew, because she knew him and he knew her. This place was beautiful and serene and they loved it here, but they would be home wherever they were because simply put as long as they were together, they were content. All of those thoughts went through her mind as she looked at her toes. They were an increasingly rare sight these trials and, soon enough, they would be a thing of memory, she knew. She'd slept poorly the night before, the baby had been restless and that had meant that she had been kept awake by the kicking. Despite her best efforts to keep still, she hadn't fooled Padraig for a moment and the pair of them had ended up not sleeping, but laying and talking, to each other, to the child nestled safe within her.

He'd gone out a few bits before, ostensibly to get them something to eat as noon was in the sky, but Faith knew him far too well to think that was the only reason. He'd told her that he was going to buy some things, pop to the library here and he might be a break or two. He was hoping she'd get some sleep, she knew, and in fairness she was sitting in the comfortable chair with her legs resting on the stool in front of her; wrapped in warm blankets, even though she didn't feel the cold, she was snug and snoozing. It was like she was in that strange state, that moment between sleep and awake dubbed a hypnogogic state, her eyelids drooping as she felt warm and relaxed and ready to sleep.

But when the thumping on the door started, Faith jumped and her eyes shot open. What on Idalos was that. "Hold on... Cally, is that you? I'm coming." She made her way to the door and when she opened it, she spied the ghost and Kura. Who she was carrying. Faith, whose pregnancy was progressing at a pace, as the swelling in her stomach showed more and more each trial, went into professional mode. "Alright, put her on the bed, Cally. Then tell me what happened. All of it," As soon as Cally had placed Kura on the bed, the young healer got to work, taking vital observations and searching to check that there was no head trauma or such.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Cally was practically bouncing with nerves when Faith opened the door and the moment she was told where to go, she took Kura to the bed and set her down, with the injured arm closest to the edge of the bed so Faith could have an easy time of reaching it despite being very pregnant. "We went hunting in the forest Kura fell asleep then woke up and ran off and started talking to air but I think it was her Sev'ryn familiar because of the way she talked to it and then she held out her hand and then shot an arrow from her bow and exploded into lots of arrows and then she screamed and fainted and when I checked on her I found this scar and then I brought her here because your the best doctor." she said, talking rapidly as she worked Kura's arm out of her coat sleeve to show Faith the scar.

Once the scar was exposed, Cally clambered up onto the bed. "She probably also has a big bump on her head from when she fainted." she said, before she firmly sat on Kura's legs and then reached out and firmly grabbed her wrists, holding them in place. "She doesn't always wake up easily. She would not want us to risk her hurting you because of it." she said, by away of explanation for her behavior. Kura, meanwhile, groaned and shifted, but didn't fully awaken. Faith, meanwhile, would find the bump Cally mentioned, but no other injuries besides the scar, which was warm to the touch and thrummed under her fingers, as if to the beat of a drum or a heart.

[Faith Augustin]

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Cally lifted Kura and then, whilst she was explaining things to Faith, she held Kura down. Faith had more or less come to the conclusion that Cally was being over cautious, but then she remembered Karem's worry for her daughter and, besides, Faith was much happier with over cautious rather than reckless, especially as far as Bun was concerned. Still, her focus now was on Kura and so she examined her carefully and quickly. With a deep frown, she examined the head bump and put a cold compress on it, to bring down the swelling. That was fine, she didn't think it likely that it was the cause. No, what was much more likely to be the cause was this very odd scar. Faith frowned, feeling it and she glanced up at Cally. She wasn't sure that Cally could do what she was asking, but she asked aloud so that maybe the individual themselves would hear. "Is Phelan about? I'd like to ask him some questions, if so, his link to Kura might be invaluable."

It was possible that Phelan would just hear her, or that Cally could communicate with him, either way, Faith carried on working. First things first was to check if the heartbeat the scar beat in time to was Kura's. She looked down at it and wondered aloud. "Has she got any other scars like this, Cally? I mean, I read whilst researching about children of the Immortals, for a friend," Tristan and his baby Ayla, in fact, "and I read that some of them have unusual scars, but why would that appear now?"

If Phelan had appeared, Faith would direct the next question more to him than to Cally, but either way, she'd ask. "Tell me more about the shot. You said it exploded? Was it a specific kind of arrow? Is there a chance that she might have been poisoned in some way?" It seemed highly unlikely to Faith, but she wanted to get all of the options. Her priority was observation and checking Kura constantly. Was the cold compress working, how was her pulse, her temperature, he general observations? Did the scar change at all, seem to be growing in size or changing in temperature? Faith was careful and thorough, but as efficient as she could be.

Then, a realisation hit her and Faith beamed. "She's found her familiar? Oh, I'm so glad." Another voice inside Kura's head, Faith thought. She was pleased, but equally, she wondered how Kura kept them all straight in her head. Rather her friend than her, Faith thought.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Cally looked up at Faith when the doctor asked about Phelan. "I don't know if he's aware. But even if he is, I don't hear him in my head the way Kura does. Poor wolf couldn't be answerin' any questions until she woke up regardless." she said, not moving from her perch. She watched as Faith examined the scar, which was in exact time to Kura's heartbeat, but shook her head at the question. "No, she's not got any other scars like this." she said, her tone firm. Cally would know if Kura had any scars she was hiding, after all.

Then came the question about the arrow and she shook her head. "No, it was one of her own arrows, from her own quiver. But I don't mean...not a regular explosion. I say exploded, but there's probably a big fancy word for what happened that I don't know. It...became more arrows. Like she had shot a bunch of arrows at once." she said, sounding frustrated at her inability to explain what had happened. "As for poison, maybe. But when would they be poisonin' her? It's not like she's careless about takin' food from people." she said, confused.

Cally was going to comment on Kura finding her familiar, but then Kura jolted awake. And as Cally had worried, she woke up badly, growling and snarling, her fingers hooked into claws and her Velduris fangs bared with her eyes brilliant gold as she struggled under Cally. It took nearly a full bit for the Mortalborn to recover herself, but when she did the change was instant. Her eyes returned to their usual icy blue and she went limp. "Okay, okay. Friends. Among friends." she said, looking at Faith and Cally both to see if she'd hurt either waking up.

Then she blinked and let out a pained growl. Cally rolled off her and Kura immediately grabbed her arm. "Ow, ow, ow." she said, her voice pained before she took a look at the new scar on her arm and blinked in surprise. "Oh. That's good." she said, her tone a mixture of genuine good cheer and surprise.

"Only you would sound pleased with somethin' like that." Rahmet said, laying next to Kura on the bed, invisible to both Faith and Cally.

"Oh shush. You know why I'm pleased, smartarse." she said to her familiar, before looking at Faith and Cally, picking up the compress she had shaken off on her waking and putting it back on. "Thanks for treating my head, lass. Shouldn't you be restin', though?" she asked, her tone curious before she looked at Cally. "I'm guessin' you brought me here after I passed out." she said, smiling at her as she stood up off the bed.

"Yeah. You were fainted and had a scar and I didn't know what to do for you so I came to Faith cuz she's really short so she's really smart." the ghost said cheerfully.

"Good thinking." she said, then paused as the rest of Cally's sentence caught up with her. "Wait, what?" she said, looking at her old friend in surprise and confusion.

"Well, yeah. Faith's really short, but also really smart, so all the stuff that would have gone into height went into her smarts instead. That's why Lotharro are so dumb, cuz they're so big." she said, her tone earnest.

Kura just looked blankly at Cally for a moment. "That...that is not how that works." she said, her tone still surprised.

[Faith Augustin]

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Faith nodded at Cally's assessment regarding Phelan but, as she worked, she made a few points. "Well, whilst that's true and so neither of us could hear him, he's intelligent so could answer. Sign, effectively. Nodding, shaking his head, specific paws to raise for particular answers. We would just need to be smart about what we asked him and how." That was, at least, how she saw it. "And since he does have that link with Kura, he might be able to provide an insight." As a doctor, she was very used to using every available bit of information, everything she could to find out what she could find out about people. Diagnosis, after all, was the first step.

Which, at the moment, was utterly confounding her. She frowned slightly as Cally described one arrow becoming lots of arrows and a thought entered her head but she dismissed it. Later, she would curse herself for being foolish and not asking when she should, but Faith thought and dismissed it. Because of the poison conversation, and from that she shook her head. "No, I meant poison from the exploding arrows, I misunderstood. I see now" This was growing more bizarre by the bit, Faith thought.

But then, Kura woke up and all bets, conversations and other things were very much off. Her friend did not wake easily and, as much as Faith knew it happened - after all Kura had lived with them a while, it still worried her. But when she realised where she was and what was happening, she calmed immediately. Then there was some very odd time where Kura was in pain, glad of it and then discussing that very situation with Cally. Then, Kura thanked her for treating her head and told her she should be resting and Faith frowned slightly. "I'm not going to be able to rest when my best friend is passed out with a strange scar and magically multiplying arrows." Faith never did firm, but that was about as close as she got, it must be said. "You should rest. I don't know what that scar is, I'd like to check it. Say what now?"

The last was directed to Cally, when she spoke about Faith being short, and therefore smart whilst Lotharro were tall and, therefore... not. Faith grinned at Cally. "I think Padraig is the cleverest person I've ever met and he's much taller than me. But then, I'm biased. So, come on then, Kura," Faith looked at the mortalborn with a smile. "What's the scar and tell us about your familiar?" She sat on the bed, feeling the fatigue of standing and the easing of the adrenaline. Yet she was here with her friends and that, to Faith, was delightful.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Cally hadn't considered that Phelan might be able to provide answers without being able to speak, but at that point, it really was too late to bring in the wolf. Cally had no way of contacting him, and if he hadn't show up yet, it was possible he couldn't manifest if Kura was unconscious. Or he was just asleep, either one was possible. Then Kura woke up and it didn't really matter anyways.

Kura, for her part, smiled slightly at Faith when she said no resting would be happening. Faith didn't really get firm that often, but Kura had a feeling she'd be getting really firm if she was told to rest again. As for Kura's own rest, she just shrugged. "I'll be fine. Nothin' permanent, unless there's damage to my head." she said, before getting distracted by Cally's commentary on the relationship between height and intelligence.

Padraig was as smart as Faith, and that reminder through Cally for a bit before she smiled. "Maybe he's a really short Lotharro, and that's why he's so smart." she said cheerfully, to which Kura just sighed and shook her head. Cally's mind worked in the oddest ways, and if anything, she'd only gotten odder since her death. Faith asking about the scar and the familiar got the ghosts attention, however, and she sat next to Faith on the bed, looking at Kura expectantly.

Kura nodded at Faith's question. "Familiar first, since Rahmet leads into the scar." she said, before gesturing at the seemingly empty spot next to Faith. "My Sev'ryn familiar is sittin' next to you. Right now, it seems only I can see him. He's...a barghest, sort of. Kind of shaped like a dog, except with a bigger mouth. Real barghests are reptiles, but Rahmet is covered in bunny fur, with long floppy bunny ears and a bunny tail." she said, by way of description.

Rahmet, in response, yawned at her. "Are you sure I'm not actually a big rabbit with a barghest mouth?" he asked, his tone amused.

Kura looked at her familiar for a long moment. "Nope, not fallin' for that." she said, before turning back to Faith and Cally. Rahmet just laughed in response. "Anyway, you recall the day when you first made Cally solid? How I was tryin', and failin', to release more of my inborn powers?" she said, pausing for a reply. "Well, it turns out the reason I couldn't trigger new powers is because Rahmet and I hadn't merged. We were an incomplete being, and because of that, we were limited." she said, grimacing slightly. "Somethin' I failed to understand until the moment we merged." she said, shaking her head.

Then she looked down at the scar on her arm. "The moment we merged, my power, the power that is me, surged. It was like an inferno, demandin' and outlet. I gave it one, and thus unsealed a new ability." she said, grinning before looking down at her arm again. "But such power has its price. We may be complete, but I am still imperfect. Both Mortal and Immortal. An Immortal is not...truly tied to their body." she said, frowning in frustration. "It is...difficult to explain, especially since I don't fully understand it myself." she said, pausing for a moment to try and figure out how to explain what she knew.

"The Immortals, the bodies we see. They aren't...their true bodies. They're vessels. The Immortals are their Domains, their powers. When you saw The Spectral Forest, you saw the Great Wolf and the Golden Hind. In a sense they, and The Spectral Forest itself, are as much Karem as The Hunter is." she said, still struggling to explain. "But for Mortalborn, the body you see is our true body. But we are also our Domains, and our bodies are not wholly sufficient to wielding our Domains." she said, shrugging.

"That's the best I can explain it. A mortalborn can unseal three powers before the body starts to fracture." she said, before gesturing at her new scar. "That's what this is, a Fracture Scar. When I unsealed Multi-Shot, or created it or whatever the process is, I fractured a bit. Like if you overfill a bag. A tear in my body from where I became too much for it to contain." she said, before shrugging again. "To my knowledge, utterly impossible to repair, though you're welcome to try if you wish. It hurts, now, but the pain will fade in due course, barring that I don't over-use Multi-Shot."

[Faith Augustin]

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"As far as I can tell, there's just a bump on the back of your head, nothing major," Faith said softly to Kura. Her friend wouldn't sit still, Faith was sure, but just on the off chance. "But if you experience any dizziness, nausea or feeling strange in any way, please just come get me?" She said it to Kura, and then added, "Or, you know, one of you."

And then, after Cally wondered whether Padraig might be a really short Lotharro, Faith sat and listened to Kura's explanation. Looking down at the bed, where apparently there was something sitting which she couldn't see. "Hello Rahmet," Faith said and she then turned her attention back to Kura. Kura's description of a big dog-bunny-sort of thing caused a single eyebrow to raise, but other than that, she said nothing. It was interesting to see Kura interacting with her familiar ~ it had been a long time coming and hopefully now Kura would be able to sleep better, Faith thought.

But yes, she said, she recalled that trial. Kura had been... "you were exhausted, then. Like now, but taken further?" What had Kura been up to, Faith wondered, but she said nothing, sure that she'd understand when Kura explained. And wow, what an explanation it was. Faith considered for a moment and she looked at Kura then, with a slight frown on her face. "So each time you unleash, or discover, one of these abilities, you take a step closer to becoming truly Immortal? Whereas, if you didn't, if you embraced your mortality, you would be a very long lived mortal, but a mortal nonetheless?" There was a rather horrid irony there, Faith thought, but did not say.

"Are you making a choice? As in, mortalborns up and down Idalos, I mean? Do you choose this?" But then, there was a word that Kura used and Faith considered further. "A fracture in an individual, like the fractures they say exist in Idalos where the Originals died? I did a course." she waved a hand dismissively at that, but it was an intriguing thought. When the Originals died, something happened to Idalos in the same way that was happening to Kura? "So, where they die, they leave behind a part of them? Tearing the skin, so to speak? A fracture out there, a fracture here?" She worked as she spoke, doing her best to minimise the pain for Kura, to try and minimise the scarring from this. She treated it like a normal wound, even though she knew it wasn't.

Then, another question. "And does this individual .. fracturing?... does that happen when you gain a new ability, or when you use one you already have?"

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura and Cally both nodded at Faith's instructins that if any more symptoms presented themselves, one of them needed to fetch Faith. Or, more likely, one of them needed to somehow get Kura to Faith, as pregnancy wasn't conducive to sudden moving around. Rahmet gave a happy grin that only Kura could see at Faith's greeting. "Rahmet says hello." Kura said, smiling slightly. Then everyone settled in for Kura's halting, imprecise explanation of what Immortals were and how it related to what she herself was and what that meant for the scar.

At Faith's question, Kura grimaced slightly. "Not...exactly. There is a way, apparently, for me to ascend to true Immortal status. I don't know what it is, and the number of Mortalborn that have succeeded, accordin' to what information I was given, is incredibly low." she said, sitting down in thought. "More than that, there doesn't seem to be a universal path, just that gaining more access to and control over our inherent powers is part of it." she said, then frowned again. "My understandin' is...limited. There's more to what the Immortals and Mortalborn are, and a lot of my explanation was extrapolation and guesswork." she said, shaking her head. "But there's a risk to unlockin' more power." she said, pausing again, in thought, before nodding.

"Neither Raskalarn nor my mother would ever talk about it much, but the Immortals had creators once. I don't know how, I don't know if the Immortals know how, but they died. All I could gleam was that they somehow had Fractures of their own, like mine. It's a very real possibility that too many Fractures would be fatal to me. On the other hand, it's equally possible that completely Fracturin' my Mortal body is how I...ascend." she said, grimacing.

Cally looked mildly horrified at that bit of dual possibility space, but Kura held up her hand before the ghost could speak. "I have no intention of finding out. For all their powers, the Immortals are limited in their own ways." she said.

Cally tilted her head to the side after a moment, then spoke up. "How do you mean? All that power, their long lives, surely they must have less limitations than Mortals or Mortalborn, yeah?"" the ghost said, her tone showing her confusion.

Kura shook her head. "Could you see the Empress as anything but a leader? My mother as anything but a hunter?" Cally thought for a moment, then shook her head. Kura looked at Faith. "Faith, could you imagine Famula not looking after the souls of the dead? Or Vri not helping to send them on?" she asked, her tone intent.

[Faith Augustin]

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Kura's explanation of how she might become an Immortal was, frankly, terrifying in one way and awesome in another. The link with fractures and the Originals was intriguing but if she was honest part of Faith's brain was starting to ache. She listened to Cally's question, then Kura's answer and she nodded. "That makes sense, yes." The course she had done, she explained, had taught them about the Originals.

There were a hundred questions, as far as Faith was concerned, but equally Kura didn't have answers for them and she was more worried for her friend than she was concerned about the future right now. "It's true. They are the very epitome of their Domains. Sometimes to the exclusion of other things." Faith didn't talk about the time that she'd told Famula 'no', mostly because it was somewhat something which made her cringe, but still. The Immortals were their Domains, their Domains were them.

But in truth, Faith was more concerned with her mortal-born friend in the right now. "That being the case, since it's all so unknown, I'd like you to take it easy for a little while," She looked at Kura hopefully. "I know how good at that you are not, and I understand that I am somewhat a pot calling a kettle black," she smiled at her but then spoke seriously. "Please? Just a few trials of no new abilities being used, or old ones come to that, and then, take it slowly."

She looked at Cally and smiled slightly. "What do you think our chances are of her listening?" She asked and then tilted her head slightly. "And what about you, Cally? Are you alright? You must have been very worried." Faith smiled slightly. "Which just means we're all worried about each other, which is what friends do." Sitting down, then she looked at them both and gave a slight smile. "We never seem to just get quiet time, have you noticed that?"