"Those two," D'hein said as hee helped Antimony towards the inn portion of the Quicksand. "That was completely uncalled for! Assumptions and accusations." His tone was a low, aggravated grumble. The man's hands -- one of them somewhat weak and terribly scarred -- held Antimony as though she were more fragile now than after she had been stabbed. He expected her to be weaker, and his anger had made him stronger. All the more to be ashamed of his earlier weakness.
At least he had been able to defend Antimony from those two, if only in words and presence. It would be unbecoming of a gentleman to physically intimidate the homeless and elderly.
Though her limbs moved with the weak sluggishness of blood loss, Antimony's heart and mind was set on fire by the confrontation with the nosey Hellsguard. She kept her head bowed as she muttered, "All the more reason to set Aijeen to rights now. I won't... won't let harm come to her."
"Aijeen is a formidable girl. She won't let some refugee push her around. Though I suppose it falls to me to deal with D'ahl." Uttering the last sentence felt to him like drinking bile. It left him nauseous and frustrated, because 'dealing' with D'ahl was exactly what D'themia Nunh was trying to do by keeping her under house arrest. The thought of taming her, forcing a foreign will upon her, was blasphemy to every moral inclination D'hein Tia maintained. He did not want to become D'themia. He didn't want to resemble the Nunh for even the slightest moment.
They entered the hallways of the inn, and D'hein spoke through his illness, "I would present up front that legal action is out of the question. D'ahl is owned by D'themia Nunh, and he has no need for pretense in sloughing the law."
Formidable. Antimony's expression turned down. Yes, D'aijeen was certainly formidable. And terrifying. But she still struck Antimony as incredibly fragile. "She should not... I just need to talk to Aijeen again. Convince her to stop. I thought she'd stopped..."
"I had no idea such events were even possible," D'hein managed to sound more surprised the angered by that particular statement, though frustration was not far from his voice. "She told me that she had been abandoned by her tribe. That was the only history I ever received."
"Abandoned!" Antimony's voice choked and she stopped walking suddenly. "Abandoned! After I--after everything... she left us! I searched for her for weeks, I--" She shook and couldn't continue.
"Hey, it's alright. She's not telling that lie anymore." He paused to pet her arms soothingly.
She was quiet for a few moments and then just started walking again, twining her hands together up by her chest. She watched the wood planks pass beneath her feet as she spoke, "And yet I feel there are so many that remain. What else has she hidden?"
D'hein made a face. He didn't know. He didn't even know what to make of D'ahl anymore, and he'd known, admired, and adored the woman for most of his life. There was growing suspicion inside of him that D'aijeen was to blame for her behavior, but he didn't dare speak such a thing. "Perhaps if I knew more of what had occurred," he ventured, helping Antimony down the hallway.
"What had... of what?" She was distracted briefly when they arrived at her door, and she fumbled with it a time or two before unlocking and pushing it open.
"What Aijeen has been hiding from me," D'hein said as they arrived at the door. He watched her hands with a frown. "What she did before. Whatever she did while I thought she was just finding and caring for K'airos."
As the door opened, the woman who lingered in Antimony's room became animated. Skittishly, the broad Miqo'te jumped to the center of the room from wherever she'd been lingering in a dazed trance. Loughree's bear feet hit the floor hard as she set herself, sword in hand off to one side and shield in front of her facing the door. Her ears were up, eyes narrowed, fluffed-out tail wrapping her inner thigh.
Antimony flinched away from the door, ears splaying out flat from her head. "Ah what--" Blinking rapidly at the woman, it took several seconds for Antimony to recall she had been hosting a guest. When she did, her shoulders slumped, along with her ears and tail. "Oh yes, Miss Loughree... ah, apologies."
D'hein didn't even notice the woman until a few seconds after Antimony had adressed her, and when he did, one ear twitched, and he looked vexed. "What? Is this a--"
"Who's the beau?" Loughree interrupted him, looking suspicious. Her guard dropped slightly, but her tail still shivered like a wheat in the wind.
"What?" Antimony's tail twitched at the thought. "He's not--he..." She sought words for a moment and then sighed, having to settle for a simple, "This is D'hein. Ah, D'hein, I... well, I was letting Miss Loughree rest here for... well."
"More friends," Loughree said, letting the sword and shield drop to her sides, closing her stance and opening her expression.
"Yes," D'hein said, nodding slowly as his mind worked, and then he forced a smile. "I should not be surprised Antimony has such a disarmingly radiant guest, and so... prepared!"
The burly Keeper tightened her shoulders and frowned.
Grimacing, Antimony stepped into the room, now entirely unsure how to proceed. It didn't feel right discussing her daughter in front of Loughree, but she wasn't sure she was ready to just dismiss D'hein as it was a topic of such great importance. "I apologize, Miss Loughree," she spoke quietly. "I hadn't expected returning with... well."
"Don't apologize," Loughree said, tossing her sword at the bed, which was messed from use. Apparently she'd been using it. The edge of the sword pierced the blanket before it fell over. Loughree used her free hand to reach behind her and pulled her tail from between her legs. "I'm just a beggar at this point. You can throw me out anytime you want."
D'hein moved to step into the room, lifting his head high and spreading his arms, "Please, let's not behave so awkwardly. This meeting is a blessing to me, for had it never occurred I'd have missed out on one of Ul'dah's greatest gems, never knowing."
"Stop that," Antimony muttered wearily and leaned against the small, round table nearby. She winced at the hole Loughree's sword left in the bedding and then, "I wouldn't toss you out. Megiddo is... I was just speaking with him."
"Stop what?" One of D'hein's ears lay down.
Holding her tail, petting the fur flat, Loughree stopped her motions and rolled her shoulders, turning her hard eyes on Antimony. "What was that?"
She needed to sit down, she realized, and so went from the table to the bed, carefully avoiding the sword to sit at the edge. The thin mattress wasn't particularly comfortable, but it wasn't any less so than the chair she had sat in earlier. Dropping her head somewhat, Antimony rubbed at a spot between her eyes before giving Loughree a compassionate look, "I wouldn't push you out while he's still around, knowing what he... well, it just wouldn't be right."
Loughree wrung her tail between her hands. It looked painful. "You were TALKING to him?"
Completely irrelevant to the woman's tone, D'hein ambled further into the room, smirking at its quaintness. "Ah, was he that elderly fellow?"
"Er.. well... yes?" Antimony's voice faded a bit uncertainly.
"How the fu-" She released her tail and stumbled back a half-step, the motion unprompted, and then set herself in a broad stance with her shield up in front of her again. "How would you even know what he looks like? You said you didn't know anything!"
Antimony flinched, ears shifting back uneasily, but she held up her hands in a soothing gesture. "I--Not anything that would... mean anything."
“What the hell does that even mean? What do you KNOW!" Loughree was shouting loud enough that everyone in the inn had to be able to hear her, ears flat on her head and ears narrowed in hostility. She glances at the sword that sat near Antimony.
D'hein stood in still confusion nearby, as if trying to decide whether he was missing out on some sort of elaborate inside joke.
Cringing away, she caught herself on the bed with one arm and then grimaced as it sent a sharp pain through her shoulder. "I don't... I don't know..?" she all but squeaked, green eyes flicking towards D'hein and then back to Loughree. "About--about what? The... doll? I--I had no idea he was turning that into a... he said it was for his granddaughter! I had no way of knowing it was a--a--weapon!"
"You.. he said..." Loughree's gaze shook, her jaw working over half formed words. What have you told him? Did you tell him about..." In the next moment, she pounced at her sword, or at Antimony. Either way, she was holding her sword and shouting very close to the older woman, "What did you tell him!?"
Antimony fell back onto the bed, brought her arms in front of her face, and just froze, ears pressed back so far as to be nearly invisible in her hair, tail tucked away between her legs. "Please--please stop this, Miss Loughree! You're being--I didn't--unreasonable!"
Loughree stayed where she was, hand on her sword, but not threatening Antimony with it. "Shut up! What did you tell him?"
Before she could take another breath, a hot blast of unaspected aether struck her side, knocking her over the bed and against the wall. Her heavy body hit with a hard thud before falling where the base-board of the bed had once been, her upper body on the mattress and her slower body on the floor.
D'hein said with a smile, "Ah, effective! I'll have to thank Ulanan for the previous demonstration. Now," He held his scepter in front of him, robes seeming to grow darker. "I may have failed to protect Antimony from my daughter or my sister, but only your beauty stays my hand from harming you, miss. And those expressions you were just making were very ugly."
Continuing to hide behind her arms, Antimony tried to assuage Loughree by attempting to answer the woman's question, though she found her breath short and uneven, "I don't--I don't know what you mean! I haven't... I haven't said anything about you except to--I told him not to hurt you!"
"Why don't you tell him to go fucking DIE!" Loughree rolled to her feet and in the same gesture threw her shield directly at D'hein's head with notable precision. It hit the Dodo hard enough to knock his head back, making him stumble, but drew little more than a rough grunt and then a long exhalation of surprise.
Once on her feet, Lughree wasted no time darting out of the room, having reached the door in three quick strides, and she made even better time down the hall.
As the Keeper's footsteps faded down the hall, Antimony uncurled herself from her cowed position, peeking out from behind her arms to spot first D'hein and then the open door. Her eyes widened and she started, "Oh no, but he's still--", sat up as thought to move and then, very suddenly, just gave up with a heavy sigh, dropping her head to her hands.
Over several seconds, D'hein recovered from the metal plate that had slammed length-wise against his face, blood streaming from his nostrils onto the white bilaud he wore under his open black robe. He looked around in confusion with squinted eyes, one ear twitching, the other hanging limp. His scepter out in front of him, he turned one way and then the other, searching. "Wha.. I..." His voice was slurred and nasal, "Did I scare her away?"
Antimony's head shot up, eyes fixing immediately on D'hein's face. "She didn't--what happened!" She was on her feet quickly, stepping over to the tia to furrow her brow worriedly at his features. Then she started and grabbed at him to try and drag him towards the small bathroom, where the tub still sat half filled with water.
D'hein didn't struggle, letting himself be pulled along. He explained rather dumbly, "I think she hit me? Is it bad?"
"Is it--" she looked around and then just dragged him over to the tub, pushing down on his shoulders. "Sit down before--before you collapse." Her eyes cast about for a towel, settled on one still crumpled nearby, and snagged it.
The Dodo sat, not really sure what he was. He almost fell into the tub before he caught himself. "Doesn't hurt," he said. "I'll clean myself up if you give me a moment. I'm not very presentable right now I imagine."
"Doesn't hurt!" Antimony exclaimed dubiously. "At the very least your nose is broken." Dipping one corner of the towel into the tub, she hesitated only a moment at the thought of ruining yet another property that wasn't hers, and then began to wipe at D'hein's face, apparently ignoring his assertion.
"Really, it doesn't." He was actually smiling, the expression brought to his face by the mute tingling that wrapped his head, neck and shoulders. "It can't be bad if it doesn't hurt, right? And I'm sure my vision will clear up any moment."
"Your vision--how can this not hurt?!" She gave him a baffled look. Pushing aside some of his hair, she found a nicely developing lump on his brow, more swelling around his eye socket. His nose, as she'd suspected, was definitely broken, but such a thing was easily remedied. "Hold this, please," she muttered in a still bewildered tone, dragging one of his hands up to the towel pressed to the side of his face. Her own hands she moved to his face, thumbs pressed against either side of his nose, and in a very practiced motion snapped the crooked cartilage back into place.
As she moved up his hand, he chuckled, "Well, I can't refuse a lady's request, even in such a-" he paused when she snapped his nose back into place, a bit perplexed by the sound and the strangeness of the sensation. "Such an unbecoming situation. I do hope your friend is all right, though. That sounded like a terrible misunderstanding."
Antimony returned her attention to the rest of D'hein's head and skirted around his question with a nervous and weak, "I really didn't know." It was an uncomfortable thing to consider, Loughree's reaction, and so instead she focused on something that was so familiar she could work through it practically on autopilot. The swelling around his temple was concerning, but less so than... "Look up and follow my fingers," she ordered, placing a hand on his forehead to clear his face of hair and holding two fingers in front of his eyes, moving them slowly first left and right, then up and down.
With an entertained look, D'hein followed the tan blur of Antimony's fingers. "I'm not offended, if that's what you're worried about. This was a bit of a clumsy ice-breaker, but I can't hold it against her."
It was hard to tell if his pupils were even in the dim light of the bathroom, but she doubted a blow from a metal shield had left him unscathed. Grimacing at the blood that came away when she dipped the towel into the tub, Antimony returned the cool cloth to his head and again repeated, "Hold this there," before dropping to her knees with a sigh. Her shoulders slumped, drained. "I'm not worried about that," she muttered.
"I've come back from much worse blows to the head," he offered. "I don't want you to worry too much. The bleeding will slow, and my vision really is already clearing. Just a bit dazed!"
"Don't be absurd. You are not invincible," she replied, ears shivering. Her gaze drifted towards the door outside the bathroom through which Loughree had fled. She could only hope Megiddo had gone, was distracted by following that strange roegadyn, was maybe even protecting Aijeen.
Which reminded her.
Antimony leaned forward until her head rested against the edge of the tub and then just kind of sat there. Worrying.
Through the haze of his vision, D'hein watched Antimony, waiting for her to either verbally relent or dote on him some more. When she did neither for some time, the Dodo racked his brain trying to figure out what she was doing, and finally concluded, "Ah ha. You're pondering."
She realized she wasn't in an exactly flattering position currently, but there was far too much going on in her thoughts, and far too little energy in her body, for her to care. Would Loughree find a safe place to sleep, or would the next time she see her be in an obituary? Would Megiddo even bother going after her at this point? Perhaps he'd taken Antimony's words to heart finally. And what did D'aijeen intend to do with D'ahl? Would Ulanan be able to catch up with them? Would she be discovered? If there were a confrontation, would D'aijeen get hurt? Was she really going to stay in Ul'dah, or did she intend to leave, flee with D'ahl perhaps, and take K'airos with her? Why couldn't her daughter accept that her mother loved her?
Antimony's head hurt in place of D'hein's. After a time, she simply said without looking up, "If you feel any dizziness or nausea, please tell me."
"A gentleman does not discuss such things with a lady."
She did lift her head at that, frowning at D'hein. "You will tell me, because you clearly have no understanding of your own medical health."
"If I have some medical problem I can go to my tribe's healers." He blinked, thinking. "Ah, I hope you don't think it a cruel oversight of mine that I didn't force them upon you. Aijeen does good work when healing, so I did not even consider that it might be necessary."
"Had she not--" and Antimony was so glad that she had, that she had felt strongly enough about her mother to offer that kind of help, "--I could have taken care of myself," Antimony said stiffly, still frowning at D'hein. "Now tell me, dizziness or nausea?"
"Nausea, but only at my actions surrounding the events of the day," D'hein admitted. "I apologize that I did not act against D'hal, but you must understand that the woman is family, and she has never acted like this before."
Antimony let her head drop back down to the tub, letting her weight settle a bit more against it. "I understand." And she truly did. For her entire life, family had been everything. Family was what kept her people alive. She let out a sigh at the unexpected pain in her chest, thoughts unwillingly turning briefly towards that desert, towards people she'd had to let go. Antimony swallowed. "Do you think she will return? Aijeen? With or without D'ahl?"
"I do not think she can leave. Even if she were willing and able to leave the tribe, K'airos has her obligations. And she would not leave without her sister."
At that Antimony shook her head, one hand moving to loosely cradle her shoulder where it had begun to ache. "I'm unsure," she replied lowly. "The way Aijeen spoke to me here, she... there was no doubt that she would take Airos." A pause. "... Perhaps she's changed her mind."
"Changed her mind about what?" D'hein said, still sounding nasally. He takes the towel from his hand, looking at it, squinting at it, realizing for the first time that he was bleeding.
"Keep the pressure on your head," Antimony muttered with almost supernatural awareness. Then she added after a moment, ".. about leaving? About... me not loving her? About her expectations?" She closed her eyes. "I don't know what to else to do for her."
"I'm afraid I can't advise. I think you've always been a vexation for her. Otherwise..." D'hein mulled over his thought for a moment, and then said, "Things between her and D'ahl should not have twisted as they did."
"I am tired," Antimony said suddenly, not particularly feeling ready to dwell on her daughter's relationship with D'ahl and what it meant about D'aijeen's relationship with her own mother.
"You should rest, then. Nothing we can do until we hear back from Ulanan or someone." One of his ears shivered, and he winked a frustrated eye. "I realize I forgot to have the food sent to your room. It's likely sitting in the tavern going to waste."
Antimony winced, fingers distractedly scratching at some dried blood on her shoulder. He was right about Ulanan, but she didn't particularly enjoy waiting - not when it potentially meant her daughter was getting further and further away with every passing moment. As for the food... "I apologize. I don't think I have the stomach for eating right now." Perhaps when there was less worry gnawing on her gut. "You should at least take some of it with you, however."
"Ah, I know a hint when I hear one." D'hein set the towel aside and stood, then wavered a bit in his light-headedness.
"A hint..?" Antimony sat back and grimaced. "Ah, I didn't mean... that in a rude way. Just that... well. You can't exactly--" She gestured a bit uselessly.
"I should be off to a healer. Although you understand my reluctance to leave you alone in this situation. I wish you friend hadn't run off."
Antimony nodded after a moment, working herself to her feet. Her tail hung tiredly behind her. "I will be fine. Though," she gave D'hein a look, "I am a healer. I hope you are more cooperative with your own family than with me."
His tail spinning in vexation, D'hein put his hands up in front of him and said, "Ah, I didn't mean that in any way as criticism! I simply meant that some magical intervention might be able to help with the bleeding some! That was all!"
Antimony sighed, frowning at that with a muttered, "Magic. Yes," and then made to return to the larger main room.
"Not to say that your healing was in any way unsatisfactory! Quite the contrary, I feel very fine! I don't think I'll go by a healer after all! Just fine!" D'hein moved his arms to either side and over his head as if to illustrate his point, causing himself to sway a bit more.
"No, you're going to see a healer," Antimony said as she went to the foot of the bed, where a few changes of clothes sat folded in a neat pile.
"Fine, but I doubt they'll do any better than what you've done. They'll likely turn me right around and send me away as I'm perfectly fine." D'hein walked into the main room, brushing his fingers over his number face.
Turning back to D'hein with some non-bloodied clothes in her arms, Antimony watched him for a moment before just sighing. "Please just go get yourself taken care of so I can rest."
"Don't worry about me. Or anyone else, for that matter, before you worry about yourself." He paused to look around the room like he was forgetting something, then shrugged and went to the door. "I won't be far. If anything develops, we're to let one another know."
"If you hear anything of Aijeen..." She let the thought trail off, though she likely didn't need to finish it. She tried not to think about all the possible outcomes of this mess while she waited for D'hein to leave.
"Good evening, Antimony. Do rest well." And he left.
At least he had been able to defend Antimony from those two, if only in words and presence. It would be unbecoming of a gentleman to physically intimidate the homeless and elderly.
Though her limbs moved with the weak sluggishness of blood loss, Antimony's heart and mind was set on fire by the confrontation with the nosey Hellsguard. She kept her head bowed as she muttered, "All the more reason to set Aijeen to rights now. I won't... won't let harm come to her."
"Aijeen is a formidable girl. She won't let some refugee push her around. Though I suppose it falls to me to deal with D'ahl." Uttering the last sentence felt to him like drinking bile. It left him nauseous and frustrated, because 'dealing' with D'ahl was exactly what D'themia Nunh was trying to do by keeping her under house arrest. The thought of taming her, forcing a foreign will upon her, was blasphemy to every moral inclination D'hein Tia maintained. He did not want to become D'themia. He didn't want to resemble the Nunh for even the slightest moment.
They entered the hallways of the inn, and D'hein spoke through his illness, "I would present up front that legal action is out of the question. D'ahl is owned by D'themia Nunh, and he has no need for pretense in sloughing the law."
Formidable. Antimony's expression turned down. Yes, D'aijeen was certainly formidable. And terrifying. But she still struck Antimony as incredibly fragile. "She should not... I just need to talk to Aijeen again. Convince her to stop. I thought she'd stopped..."
"I had no idea such events were even possible," D'hein managed to sound more surprised the angered by that particular statement, though frustration was not far from his voice. "She told me that she had been abandoned by her tribe. That was the only history I ever received."
"Abandoned!" Antimony's voice choked and she stopped walking suddenly. "Abandoned! After I--after everything... she left us! I searched for her for weeks, I--" She shook and couldn't continue.
"Hey, it's alright. She's not telling that lie anymore." He paused to pet her arms soothingly.
She was quiet for a few moments and then just started walking again, twining her hands together up by her chest. She watched the wood planks pass beneath her feet as she spoke, "And yet I feel there are so many that remain. What else has she hidden?"
D'hein made a face. He didn't know. He didn't even know what to make of D'ahl anymore, and he'd known, admired, and adored the woman for most of his life. There was growing suspicion inside of him that D'aijeen was to blame for her behavior, but he didn't dare speak such a thing. "Perhaps if I knew more of what had occurred," he ventured, helping Antimony down the hallway.
"What had... of what?" She was distracted briefly when they arrived at her door, and she fumbled with it a time or two before unlocking and pushing it open.
"What Aijeen has been hiding from me," D'hein said as they arrived at the door. He watched her hands with a frown. "What she did before. Whatever she did while I thought she was just finding and caring for K'airos."
As the door opened, the woman who lingered in Antimony's room became animated. Skittishly, the broad Miqo'te jumped to the center of the room from wherever she'd been lingering in a dazed trance. Loughree's bear feet hit the floor hard as she set herself, sword in hand off to one side and shield in front of her facing the door. Her ears were up, eyes narrowed, fluffed-out tail wrapping her inner thigh.
Antimony flinched away from the door, ears splaying out flat from her head. "Ah what--" Blinking rapidly at the woman, it took several seconds for Antimony to recall she had been hosting a guest. When she did, her shoulders slumped, along with her ears and tail. "Oh yes, Miss Loughree... ah, apologies."
D'hein didn't even notice the woman until a few seconds after Antimony had adressed her, and when he did, one ear twitched, and he looked vexed. "What? Is this a--"
"Who's the beau?" Loughree interrupted him, looking suspicious. Her guard dropped slightly, but her tail still shivered like a wheat in the wind.
"What?" Antimony's tail twitched at the thought. "He's not--he..." She sought words for a moment and then sighed, having to settle for a simple, "This is D'hein. Ah, D'hein, I... well, I was letting Miss Loughree rest here for... well."
"More friends," Loughree said, letting the sword and shield drop to her sides, closing her stance and opening her expression.
"Yes," D'hein said, nodding slowly as his mind worked, and then he forced a smile. "I should not be surprised Antimony has such a disarmingly radiant guest, and so... prepared!"
The burly Keeper tightened her shoulders and frowned.
Grimacing, Antimony stepped into the room, now entirely unsure how to proceed. It didn't feel right discussing her daughter in front of Loughree, but she wasn't sure she was ready to just dismiss D'hein as it was a topic of such great importance. "I apologize, Miss Loughree," she spoke quietly. "I hadn't expected returning with... well."
"Don't apologize," Loughree said, tossing her sword at the bed, which was messed from use. Apparently she'd been using it. The edge of the sword pierced the blanket before it fell over. Loughree used her free hand to reach behind her and pulled her tail from between her legs. "I'm just a beggar at this point. You can throw me out anytime you want."
D'hein moved to step into the room, lifting his head high and spreading his arms, "Please, let's not behave so awkwardly. This meeting is a blessing to me, for had it never occurred I'd have missed out on one of Ul'dah's greatest gems, never knowing."
"Stop that," Antimony muttered wearily and leaned against the small, round table nearby. She winced at the hole Loughree's sword left in the bedding and then, "I wouldn't toss you out. Megiddo is... I was just speaking with him."
"Stop what?" One of D'hein's ears lay down.
Holding her tail, petting the fur flat, Loughree stopped her motions and rolled her shoulders, turning her hard eyes on Antimony. "What was that?"
She needed to sit down, she realized, and so went from the table to the bed, carefully avoiding the sword to sit at the edge. The thin mattress wasn't particularly comfortable, but it wasn't any less so than the chair she had sat in earlier. Dropping her head somewhat, Antimony rubbed at a spot between her eyes before giving Loughree a compassionate look, "I wouldn't push you out while he's still around, knowing what he... well, it just wouldn't be right."
Loughree wrung her tail between her hands. It looked painful. "You were TALKING to him?"
Completely irrelevant to the woman's tone, D'hein ambled further into the room, smirking at its quaintness. "Ah, was he that elderly fellow?"
"Er.. well... yes?" Antimony's voice faded a bit uncertainly.
"How the fu-" She released her tail and stumbled back a half-step, the motion unprompted, and then set herself in a broad stance with her shield up in front of her again. "How would you even know what he looks like? You said you didn't know anything!"
Antimony flinched, ears shifting back uneasily, but she held up her hands in a soothing gesture. "I--Not anything that would... mean anything."
“What the hell does that even mean? What do you KNOW!" Loughree was shouting loud enough that everyone in the inn had to be able to hear her, ears flat on her head and ears narrowed in hostility. She glances at the sword that sat near Antimony.
D'hein stood in still confusion nearby, as if trying to decide whether he was missing out on some sort of elaborate inside joke.
Cringing away, she caught herself on the bed with one arm and then grimaced as it sent a sharp pain through her shoulder. "I don't... I don't know..?" she all but squeaked, green eyes flicking towards D'hein and then back to Loughree. "About--about what? The... doll? I--I had no idea he was turning that into a... he said it was for his granddaughter! I had no way of knowing it was a--a--weapon!"
"You.. he said..." Loughree's gaze shook, her jaw working over half formed words. What have you told him? Did you tell him about..." In the next moment, she pounced at her sword, or at Antimony. Either way, she was holding her sword and shouting very close to the older woman, "What did you tell him!?"
Antimony fell back onto the bed, brought her arms in front of her face, and just froze, ears pressed back so far as to be nearly invisible in her hair, tail tucked away between her legs. "Please--please stop this, Miss Loughree! You're being--I didn't--unreasonable!"
Loughree stayed where she was, hand on her sword, but not threatening Antimony with it. "Shut up! What did you tell him?"
Before she could take another breath, a hot blast of unaspected aether struck her side, knocking her over the bed and against the wall. Her heavy body hit with a hard thud before falling where the base-board of the bed had once been, her upper body on the mattress and her slower body on the floor.
D'hein said with a smile, "Ah, effective! I'll have to thank Ulanan for the previous demonstration. Now," He held his scepter in front of him, robes seeming to grow darker. "I may have failed to protect Antimony from my daughter or my sister, but only your beauty stays my hand from harming you, miss. And those expressions you were just making were very ugly."
Continuing to hide behind her arms, Antimony tried to assuage Loughree by attempting to answer the woman's question, though she found her breath short and uneven, "I don't--I don't know what you mean! I haven't... I haven't said anything about you except to--I told him not to hurt you!"
"Why don't you tell him to go fucking DIE!" Loughree rolled to her feet and in the same gesture threw her shield directly at D'hein's head with notable precision. It hit the Dodo hard enough to knock his head back, making him stumble, but drew little more than a rough grunt and then a long exhalation of surprise.
Once on her feet, Lughree wasted no time darting out of the room, having reached the door in three quick strides, and she made even better time down the hall.
As the Keeper's footsteps faded down the hall, Antimony uncurled herself from her cowed position, peeking out from behind her arms to spot first D'hein and then the open door. Her eyes widened and she started, "Oh no, but he's still--", sat up as thought to move and then, very suddenly, just gave up with a heavy sigh, dropping her head to her hands.
Over several seconds, D'hein recovered from the metal plate that had slammed length-wise against his face, blood streaming from his nostrils onto the white bilaud he wore under his open black robe. He looked around in confusion with squinted eyes, one ear twitching, the other hanging limp. His scepter out in front of him, he turned one way and then the other, searching. "Wha.. I..." His voice was slurred and nasal, "Did I scare her away?"
Antimony's head shot up, eyes fixing immediately on D'hein's face. "She didn't--what happened!" She was on her feet quickly, stepping over to the tia to furrow her brow worriedly at his features. Then she started and grabbed at him to try and drag him towards the small bathroom, where the tub still sat half filled with water.
D'hein didn't struggle, letting himself be pulled along. He explained rather dumbly, "I think she hit me? Is it bad?"
"Is it--" she looked around and then just dragged him over to the tub, pushing down on his shoulders. "Sit down before--before you collapse." Her eyes cast about for a towel, settled on one still crumpled nearby, and snagged it.
The Dodo sat, not really sure what he was. He almost fell into the tub before he caught himself. "Doesn't hurt," he said. "I'll clean myself up if you give me a moment. I'm not very presentable right now I imagine."
"Doesn't hurt!" Antimony exclaimed dubiously. "At the very least your nose is broken." Dipping one corner of the towel into the tub, she hesitated only a moment at the thought of ruining yet another property that wasn't hers, and then began to wipe at D'hein's face, apparently ignoring his assertion.
"Really, it doesn't." He was actually smiling, the expression brought to his face by the mute tingling that wrapped his head, neck and shoulders. "It can't be bad if it doesn't hurt, right? And I'm sure my vision will clear up any moment."
"Your vision--how can this not hurt?!" She gave him a baffled look. Pushing aside some of his hair, she found a nicely developing lump on his brow, more swelling around his eye socket. His nose, as she'd suspected, was definitely broken, but such a thing was easily remedied. "Hold this, please," she muttered in a still bewildered tone, dragging one of his hands up to the towel pressed to the side of his face. Her own hands she moved to his face, thumbs pressed against either side of his nose, and in a very practiced motion snapped the crooked cartilage back into place.
As she moved up his hand, he chuckled, "Well, I can't refuse a lady's request, even in such a-" he paused when she snapped his nose back into place, a bit perplexed by the sound and the strangeness of the sensation. "Such an unbecoming situation. I do hope your friend is all right, though. That sounded like a terrible misunderstanding."
Antimony returned her attention to the rest of D'hein's head and skirted around his question with a nervous and weak, "I really didn't know." It was an uncomfortable thing to consider, Loughree's reaction, and so instead she focused on something that was so familiar she could work through it practically on autopilot. The swelling around his temple was concerning, but less so than... "Look up and follow my fingers," she ordered, placing a hand on his forehead to clear his face of hair and holding two fingers in front of his eyes, moving them slowly first left and right, then up and down.
With an entertained look, D'hein followed the tan blur of Antimony's fingers. "I'm not offended, if that's what you're worried about. This was a bit of a clumsy ice-breaker, but I can't hold it against her."
It was hard to tell if his pupils were even in the dim light of the bathroom, but she doubted a blow from a metal shield had left him unscathed. Grimacing at the blood that came away when she dipped the towel into the tub, Antimony returned the cool cloth to his head and again repeated, "Hold this there," before dropping to her knees with a sigh. Her shoulders slumped, drained. "I'm not worried about that," she muttered.
"I've come back from much worse blows to the head," he offered. "I don't want you to worry too much. The bleeding will slow, and my vision really is already clearing. Just a bit dazed!"
"Don't be absurd. You are not invincible," she replied, ears shivering. Her gaze drifted towards the door outside the bathroom through which Loughree had fled. She could only hope Megiddo had gone, was distracted by following that strange roegadyn, was maybe even protecting Aijeen.
Which reminded her.
Antimony leaned forward until her head rested against the edge of the tub and then just kind of sat there. Worrying.
Through the haze of his vision, D'hein watched Antimony, waiting for her to either verbally relent or dote on him some more. When she did neither for some time, the Dodo racked his brain trying to figure out what she was doing, and finally concluded, "Ah ha. You're pondering."
She realized she wasn't in an exactly flattering position currently, but there was far too much going on in her thoughts, and far too little energy in her body, for her to care. Would Loughree find a safe place to sleep, or would the next time she see her be in an obituary? Would Megiddo even bother going after her at this point? Perhaps he'd taken Antimony's words to heart finally. And what did D'aijeen intend to do with D'ahl? Would Ulanan be able to catch up with them? Would she be discovered? If there were a confrontation, would D'aijeen get hurt? Was she really going to stay in Ul'dah, or did she intend to leave, flee with D'ahl perhaps, and take K'airos with her? Why couldn't her daughter accept that her mother loved her?
Antimony's head hurt in place of D'hein's. After a time, she simply said without looking up, "If you feel any dizziness or nausea, please tell me."
"A gentleman does not discuss such things with a lady."
She did lift her head at that, frowning at D'hein. "You will tell me, because you clearly have no understanding of your own medical health."
"If I have some medical problem I can go to my tribe's healers." He blinked, thinking. "Ah, I hope you don't think it a cruel oversight of mine that I didn't force them upon you. Aijeen does good work when healing, so I did not even consider that it might be necessary."
"Had she not--" and Antimony was so glad that she had, that she had felt strongly enough about her mother to offer that kind of help, "--I could have taken care of myself," Antimony said stiffly, still frowning at D'hein. "Now tell me, dizziness or nausea?"
"Nausea, but only at my actions surrounding the events of the day," D'hein admitted. "I apologize that I did not act against D'hal, but you must understand that the woman is family, and she has never acted like this before."
Antimony let her head drop back down to the tub, letting her weight settle a bit more against it. "I understand." And she truly did. For her entire life, family had been everything. Family was what kept her people alive. She let out a sigh at the unexpected pain in her chest, thoughts unwillingly turning briefly towards that desert, towards people she'd had to let go. Antimony swallowed. "Do you think she will return? Aijeen? With or without D'ahl?"
"I do not think she can leave. Even if she were willing and able to leave the tribe, K'airos has her obligations. And she would not leave without her sister."
At that Antimony shook her head, one hand moving to loosely cradle her shoulder where it had begun to ache. "I'm unsure," she replied lowly. "The way Aijeen spoke to me here, she... there was no doubt that she would take Airos." A pause. "... Perhaps she's changed her mind."
"Changed her mind about what?" D'hein said, still sounding nasally. He takes the towel from his hand, looking at it, squinting at it, realizing for the first time that he was bleeding.
"Keep the pressure on your head," Antimony muttered with almost supernatural awareness. Then she added after a moment, ".. about leaving? About... me not loving her? About her expectations?" She closed her eyes. "I don't know what to else to do for her."
"I'm afraid I can't advise. I think you've always been a vexation for her. Otherwise..." D'hein mulled over his thought for a moment, and then said, "Things between her and D'ahl should not have twisted as they did."
"I am tired," Antimony said suddenly, not particularly feeling ready to dwell on her daughter's relationship with D'ahl and what it meant about D'aijeen's relationship with her own mother.
"You should rest, then. Nothing we can do until we hear back from Ulanan or someone." One of his ears shivered, and he winked a frustrated eye. "I realize I forgot to have the food sent to your room. It's likely sitting in the tavern going to waste."
Antimony winced, fingers distractedly scratching at some dried blood on her shoulder. He was right about Ulanan, but she didn't particularly enjoy waiting - not when it potentially meant her daughter was getting further and further away with every passing moment. As for the food... "I apologize. I don't think I have the stomach for eating right now." Perhaps when there was less worry gnawing on her gut. "You should at least take some of it with you, however."
"Ah, I know a hint when I hear one." D'hein set the towel aside and stood, then wavered a bit in his light-headedness.
"A hint..?" Antimony sat back and grimaced. "Ah, I didn't mean... that in a rude way. Just that... well. You can't exactly--" She gestured a bit uselessly.
"I should be off to a healer. Although you understand my reluctance to leave you alone in this situation. I wish you friend hadn't run off."
Antimony nodded after a moment, working herself to her feet. Her tail hung tiredly behind her. "I will be fine. Though," she gave D'hein a look, "I am a healer. I hope you are more cooperative with your own family than with me."
His tail spinning in vexation, D'hein put his hands up in front of him and said, "Ah, I didn't mean that in any way as criticism! I simply meant that some magical intervention might be able to help with the bleeding some! That was all!"
Antimony sighed, frowning at that with a muttered, "Magic. Yes," and then made to return to the larger main room.
"Not to say that your healing was in any way unsatisfactory! Quite the contrary, I feel very fine! I don't think I'll go by a healer after all! Just fine!" D'hein moved his arms to either side and over his head as if to illustrate his point, causing himself to sway a bit more.
"No, you're going to see a healer," Antimony said as she went to the foot of the bed, where a few changes of clothes sat folded in a neat pile.
"Fine, but I doubt they'll do any better than what you've done. They'll likely turn me right around and send me away as I'm perfectly fine." D'hein walked into the main room, brushing his fingers over his number face.
Turning back to D'hein with some non-bloodied clothes in her arms, Antimony watched him for a moment before just sighing. "Please just go get yourself taken care of so I can rest."
"Don't worry about me. Or anyone else, for that matter, before you worry about yourself." He paused to look around the room like he was forgetting something, then shrugged and went to the door. "I won't be far. If anything develops, we're to let one another know."
"If you hear anything of Aijeen..." She let the thought trail off, though she likely didn't need to finish it. She tried not to think about all the possible outcomes of this mess while she waited for D'hein to leave.
"Good evening, Antimony. Do rest well." And he left.
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
