Hey, Remember the Promise?

[Balthazar Black]

?? Zi'da 720

"Well once we're out of here I'll have to show you the other ones." Balthazar said simply in regards to the many different magical abilities he had. He was sure she'd seen more during their fight against the mountain but he didn't recall entirely and was fairly certain that she'd been more concerned with staying alive at the time. If not then, he was sure she'd seen Rupturing when he shoved a man's head through a portal to frighten him into revealing the truth about a crime Yeva was helping Balthazar solve... but maybe she'd been doing her job and keeping attention away with his badge. Then again... if not that time, he was sure she'd seen the portal he used to get onto the ship where the children takers were... wait... had he used a portal for that? He could not really recall. He might have gone through the sea. Either way he said nothing to contradict the account Yeva had given him. She died and came back. From what he understood about Nimue that meant she might have lost pieces.

Yeva said she wasn't afraid of the pain anymore and Balthazar gave her a curious look. The dark storm around them was only growing worse with every step they took and as the storm grew worse, the sense that something was watching them began to creep up Balthazar's spine. He ignored it, or did his best to, for the sake of the woman beside him who didn't need to be bothered by his paranoia. She asked if he was just looking for a reason to hit her and Balthazar grinned but held in a small laugh. Yeva laughed. It was good to hear her laugh but it was a different sound than it had been before everything happened. It ended in a sigh and silence that dragged for a few trills, maybe a bit, before Yeva said what had been on her mind the whole time.

"I'm sorry I died."

Balthazar's brow scrunched slightly and his pace slowed down just a little. Sorry? She was sorry? He was confused. He had blamed a lot of people for what happened. He had even been furious at Praetorum for a very short stretch. But he never blamed her for what happened. Her strength was her mind, like he'd told her. Her weakness was her heart, but he wouldn't dare to say that now. She wanted to help people. She had the same sort of curiosity that he did, but the world was a dangerous place and that curiosity often got you hurt. So why didn't he blame her for her death? Why did he blame the warriors? Because it was the job of those who could fight to protect the lives of those who could not. Yeva had done nothing wrong but every warrior with her had... in his opinion.

But he listened to what Yeva said. He listened to her defend the things that he had done because she had "hurt" people too by dying. Balthazar shook his head a little but he did not interrupt her. He wanted to interrupt her but he didn't. She tried to change the topic. She tried to move on and pleaded for a distraction but Balthazar didn't want to distract her. He wanted to talk about what she felt but if she didn't...

"As you wish, but if you want to know what I think about being stabbed in the heart, we can always talk about it later." He didn't really know what to tell her when she asked the first thing a fighter needed to learn. Strike first, strike hard, the basic ideology, sure... but it was not really what she was asking about. At least he didn't think that was what she was asking about. So what was the first thing she needed to learn? "Well typically I think they first thing they learn is how to throw a punch." Balthazar smiled. She'd thrown a punch before hadn't she? He wondered if death had made her better or worse at it.

"Punching is pretty important but you're pretty good at that already aren't you?" Balthazar smiled, "You told me you punched that one boy a long time ago. Any other notable hits?"

[Yeva]

? Zi'da 720

"Later, then." Maybe talking about it would be a good thing. Eventually. Yeva still hadn't quite sorted her feelings on her death, her revival, on Balth himself. That could all be sorted later, when they weren't in a strange dreamworld with rules that did not obey the physical world. She sensed he wanted to discuss things but he allowed her to go at her own pace, guiding the conversation to more neutral territory. Something safe.

Fighting.

"Well typically I think the first thing they learn is how to throw a punch."

Yeva snorted, catching his smile. She wiped the final tears away, sealing the rest inside.

"Punching is pretty important but you're pretty good at that already aren't you?"

"Oh, stop," the dark mood that plagued her seemed to crack a bit as she started to smile. He was bringing that up? Drunken confessions.

"You told me you punched that one boy a long time ago. Any other notable hits?"

She sighed loudly, but there was no real annoyance to it. By turning through her memories, she searched for something that might amuse him. For the first time since it had started to rain, the dark sheet of water almost felt private, peaceful. After a moment of quiet walking, she nodded, almost mischievously, "Did I not tell you about the time I sucker punched Darius? Busted his lip up pretty good," Yeva was confident she hadn't really relayed the story to anyone. It had taken place shortly after she had arrived to Scalvoris, in the midst of Ashan, "Gods, that was funny."

She shook her head and the nostalgia with it, "I..." she looked up at Balthazar, still moving but thinking. She decided to rephrase her question, "Back in Scalvoris, you might have heard about members of the Order being attacked, being a detective and all. Well, that's what happened to me; I was almost killed in an alley. Saved by this roguish figure, but, I- that's not really the story. After all that had happened, I was shaken up, determined. As one tends to be after almost getting carved alive. Well, I decided I was going to get stronger. Went to the training grounds. Even went for a run," she snorted again, almost laughing at the thought. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but Yeva was not the biggest fan of exercise for the sake of it, "Anyway, Darius was there and when I told him what happened, we ended up sparing. He kept treating me like I was made of glass - and yes, I know I'm not, nor was I, the most stout woman. But, I'm from Rharne and it's a very insulting thing to not take a fight seriously. So I... I might have been wanting to prove a point, and maybe I was a little frustrated... stressed..."

Not only had the knife attack been a thing of nightmares, but she had been in the midst of getting her medical certification, alongside all her other work with the Order. Stress had almost been as constant to Yeva as breathing back then. But, she had done it.

The redhead pulled her lips together and pushed out a rush of air, creating a animated 'pop!, grinning and tapping her lip, "Hit him dead on."

She searched his face, lighter from the memory. That had been a good day. She had felt so guilty about the hit, she almost immediately rushed to tend his wounds, but she felt telling the mage would have detracted from the impact of the tale, "Poor luck on his part," Yeva admitted, pretending to ghost a couple fake jabs into Balthazar's stomach, knuckles barely brushing against his shirt. The woman gave her voice a mocking superiority, obviously pretending to know more about fighting than she did. Her back was to the grass, "Clearly he ducked when he should have weaved. Rookie mistake."

She grinned, the rain breaking just in time for Balthazar to see the eyes watching from beyond Yeva's shoulder and the long arms that yanked her into the grass, the sea of red devouring the woman from view as it ran.

Yeva screamed.

[Balthazar Black]

?? Zi'da 720

"You did what?" He was more a little surprised that Yeva had punched Darius and immediately hooked. He was more focused on her story than the things transpiring around them while they walked and as a result, he missed warning signs he should have seen. She told him about the Order members in Scalvoris being attacked which he had indeed heard about but not investigated. He had wanted to talk to Yeva about it at the time but their paths never crossed. Balthazar laughed with Yeva's snort as she said she'd even gone for a run. The laugh happened again when Yeva made her popping noise and told him she'd hit Darius dead on, more or less for thinking her fragile. Yeva of Rharne. Darius should have known. She was stronger than people thought she was.

Balthazar chuckled a little as she ghosted a few punches at him and he noticed the black rain beginning to break. The sea of long red grass returned, the mage looked at Yeva and her shadow with an amuse grin on his face for just a trill before he realized it was not her shadow- and then it grabbed her. The Shade, having been spotted by an unexpected shift in the mood, probably thought that it would do best to force the mage into a chase. It probably thought Balthazar would bounce through portals to chase it but he was smarter and faster than that at the range they were standing. Yeva had just ghosted a few jabs at him and his arms were longer than hers. As the shadow's arms wrapped around Yeva, Balthazar's hand shot out, catching it at the wrist and twisting its arm back while he pulled it to the right and pushed Yeva to the left.

The creature didn't seem hurt by its twisted arm, it must have been flexible, but Balthazar didn't let go and quickly began jabbing the shadow in the face. His hands found purchase so he knew it much have felt something but he didn't know it he was really doing anything. The creature suddenly twisted its arm back and wrenched it free from Balthazar, moving to retreat before Balthazar hooked his foot under the shadow and tripped it. He moved quickly to mount the strange creature but slipped out from beneath him and rose again behind the mage who turned and tackled the shadow again.

However while Balthazar worked the larger shadow, the black puddles on the ground seemed to rise and take form, moving swiftly towards Yeva.