Sisters of Light Hospice

[Alia Anor Graham]

The picnic seems to be generally accepted by the staff, and Vincent seems genuinely interested in helping. We'll set the date for the open house/picnic with the goal of increasing our revenues, and assuring the people of our care and treatment of their loved ones.

Each day as I traverse the walk from the Temple to the Hospice, I continue to feel as though I am being watched. I have not seen anyone, but it is a pervasive sensation.

As I settled into my office, news was being brought to me of Dimitri. I smiled, reading the missive. I will try to find him tonight.

[Legendazona]

The General had told me I could find the half breed at the Temple, but in watching her, it would be easier to deal with her at this place called the Hospice.

She spent her days here, and walked freely from Temple to Hospice without concern.

The ghost smirked.

Fading into the trees along the street.

[Rollo]

Agony...Agony was all he knew...all that he was aware of. With the rain coming down by the gallon, the injured man should have caught pneumonia or bronchitis...by his sever coughing and hacking he most likely had. Arrows protruded from his shoulder, hip, thigh and calf as he lay slumped over the neck of his horse, and by some miracle remained in the saddle as the rain came down harder, lightning flashing across the sky.
No longer able to remain conscious the wounded man in strange armor fell from his saddle into the thick mud in the street, the last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was part of a sign...it said..Hospice.

[Alia Anor Graham]

The Hospice keeps me busy, and I have not seen Dimitri in ages. I miss his amiable companionship. The duels have been neglected as I strive to get the Hospice launched successfully. We have several clients who are a joy to work with, and who will be missed in time, and one or two that I would very much like to see expire sooner rather than later.

Perhaps it is time for me to go out for a night, see if I can shake the ever present feeling of being watched, and just maybe, I will run into Dimitri.

[Alia Anor Graham]

I left the Hospice by the front door to be confronted with a strange man in armor collapsed near the front stairs of the Hospice, the rain was pouring down in buckets, and I ran inside to gain Sister Rosemerta's help.

He was pale, and his pulse was thready and weak as we had him carried within the walls of the Hospice, and found the last room available.

The sisters removed the armor, assessing the damage from the arrows, and he was beginning to run a high fever. How long he'd been in this shape was only a guess, but he'd ridden hard after his wounding.

It was going to be a long night, and clearly no dueling until we had him settled.

[Rollo]

Flickerflickerflicker
" There's no escape Ta'veren" Pain sears through his body as he crashed through the rank of archers

Flickerflickerflicker
"Ride...ride for your lives!!" The bandits were all around them, forching the small band of soldiers to scatter

Flickerflickerflicker
"We'll arrive at the fort in a matter of hours" Men are smiling and laughing at the prospect of riding home, being done with this war

Flickerflickerflicker
On and on the images raced through his fevered mind as the wounded soldier tossed and turned in his bed. Yelling at the top of his lungs, screaming out for the visions to stop. The pain of it all coming back to his already weakened mind.

[Alia Anor Graham]

The stranger lay in one of the Hospice beds after the sisters had removed his armor and padding. The arrows were extracted from his flesh, the wounds cleansed and sewn closed. They'd treated him with antibiotics and Alia Anor put a healing ward over his bed. With time, he should recover, but for the moment, there was little more they could do for him.

She left that evening with the distinct impression she was being followed, and yet, when she looked, there was no indication of followers, but as she entered the Outback, her nerves were drawn tight.

She headed for the bar, planning to gain a glass of tequila when she caught sight of a flicker, "Dimitri?"

His voice was soft, as though coming from a great distance, "yes."

Moving toward him, she could see his form, but he was translucent, ephemeral, "where've you been?"

His reply was as insubstantial as his form, "here and there."

"Are you alright?" She longed to hug him, but there was no substance for her to hug.

"Not really" his words stabbed deeply into her heart. He patted the sofa cushion beside him, "care to join me?"

She sat down beside him, brilliant aqua gaze searching his features, "what's wrong?"

He frowned slightly, "remember that form problem that I was having? Well, it was a Nyadd."

She gave him a perplexed look, "I thought we undid most of the Nyadd magic."

He shook his head, "this is a different one, there is a Nyadd named Tomac."

She took a sip of the tequila, "Dimitri, what is going on? Who is this Tomac?"

He reached for her hand, but his went right through her's. "He was King of the Nyadds about 900 years ago. My family trapped him inside a cavern."

With a puzzled look, "I am lost Dimitri, what could a long dead Nyadd have to do with you?"

"He wasn't dead," he corrected her, "anyway, when I accidentally opened the seal, he came out and took my body as a host."

She gave him a mortified look, "but, there has to be some way to drive him out."

He smiled sadly, "Artemus and Shan drove him out, but then, as they drove him out, he trapped my soul, and now my soul is trapped within my body, which is locked inside the Tower of Earth".

A half cat woman spoke up then, "and it's stayin there where tis safe fer now Dimitri."

Alia Anor looked at the woman, "why is your body in the Tower of Earth?"

Dimitri continued, "I need to get my body back, I can't stay like this much longer. Artemus took it there."

The cat woman spoke again, "ta keep the nyadd out."

She tried to ignore the cat, turning back toward Dimitri, "Why won't they let you back to your body Dimitri? This makes no sense to me."

He gave her a sad look, "because they think Tomac will come back and take my body."

The cat woman spoke again, despite not being part of Dimitri's and Alia Anor's discussion, "Artemus is bein cautious, he doesna trust the shadow beast."

Alia Anor was growing angrier by the moment, "this is YOUR body we are talking about. They cannot keep you from your own body, that's murder. You said you cannot go on much longer like this."

He gave a resigned sigh, "Ask them. Tomac is just a wisp right now."

Alia Anor glanced at Shandren, "you realize you're killing him by keeping his body where he cannot enter it?"

Shandren shrugged, "talk to my husband, I haven't much ata do with this."

Alia Anor gave her a toxic look, "well, tell him I want his time on this."

Shandren gave her a cold look, "do I look like a messenger?"

Alia Anor's gaze narrowed dangerously, "it's murder and I won't sit by and let him kill Dimitri. And yes, you do. He's YOUR husband. You clearly see him."

"you need your eyes checked, and a lesson in manners," she snapped.

"No, manners are needed by you both for keeping a body that does not belong to you." The Priestess was not prepared to tolerate the half cats idiocy over a demand to see Artemus when she's the one who said Alia Anor needed to talk to Artemus. Such stupidity was grating on the half elf.

Dimitri tried to calm Alia Anor down, but something dark and vengeful moved inside of her.

The half feline snorted, "you assume a lot. I nuh control over my mate's actions."

Alia Anor's voice lowered to a lethal hiss, "at least I don't lay claim to that which is not mine. I didn't tell you to stop him, I told you to deliver a message. THAT should be within your apparently limited realm of feasibility."

She glared back, "An I dun take orders."

Alia Anor sneered, "you're worthless too."

"Yer rude and blind," the half feline shot back.

"Rude is withholding his body and watching him die, among other terms."

"Rude is takin' it out on me. I've nuh any responsibility fer that. I would sooner have the thing gone afore muh babe arrives."

Alia Anor sipped the tequila, "then deliver the message to the one responsible you ignorant cat and stop whining that I have not asked you prettily enough."

"Ask and mayhap I will. You are nuh superior to me fer all your fancy talk, and I'll nuh be spoken to like you were." she spat back at the Priestess.

Alia Anor gave her a black look, "you have been told." And with that, she turned to watch the rings."

Shandren shrugged, "he can die fer your pride fer all I care."

Dimitri's hand solidified slightly and he placed it on Alia Anor's as she slowly turned to face the half cat. "You are a despicable excuse for a creature if you allow his death for your damned pride. May your whelp be still born." The Priestess cursed the woman and her unborn child in that moment.

The feline growled.

Dimitri's eyebrows rose, "don't say that," as he squeezed her hand.

"She is a moral less creature." The priestess' gaze was colder than Cania.

Sylus Kurgen walked in as Shandren placed a protective hand over her round stomach, "I've morals and honor and pride, and more morals than you for all I've been living in the woods alone for ages."

Alia Anor glanced at the cat, "you have some poor way of showing it creature."

Sylus walked toward them, "Problem here?"

Alia Anor glanced at him, "only a creature with a complete lack of morality."

The elder Kurgen looked at her, "everyone is different."

She sniffed disdainfully, "yes, IT certainly is."

Shandren retorted, "you know nothing of me."

The priestess gave her an assessing look that clearly said what she saw was lacking, "And I truly don't wish to know any more. You won't deliver a crucial message because you were not 'asked nicely'. We certainly need no more of your kind around."

Sylus looked up sharply, "watch it girl. Yer talking to my brother's wife."

Alia Anor sneered at him, "you watch it Kurgen, I know what it is." And what she thought of a creature more concerned with what she'd perceived as a personal slight when an elf's life hung in the balance.

Sylus meant to cut deeply with his words, "and she's family, something I know you have little knowledge of."

The words were meant to hurt, but they didn't, "I know much of family, when it's worthwhile, and when to cut free of it."

He growled back, "you don't 'cut free' of family."

She smiled coldly back, "you do when it's deranged and worthless."

Dimitri asked Sylus to stop, but he pushed on, "if you can cut free of that, you can cut free of anything, which means trust is an issue you have to deal with. Now, I don't know what the beef between you two is, but it stops here and now."

Alia Anor had something dangerous flash in her eyes, "you can't control my actions Kurgen, so don't even try."

"She's pregnant and in no condition for a fight, nor a major argument, you only hurt her and the baby," he admonished.

Alia Anor gave him a smirk, "then she should not pick one." The idea of upsetting and harming the half feline and her whelp was a deeply satisfying notion to the white robed woman. "The damned creature would let Dimitri die because she wasn't 'asked' to deliver a message, and you stand up for her?"

The elder Kurgen shrugged, "she's family, you stand up for family, no questions asked."

Alia Anor gave him an incredulous look, "that's garbage Kurgen, when family is wrong, it's WRONG." The notion of standing up for such an amoral creature just because she was 'family' nauseated her.

He shot back, "you who has none, sure act like you know a lot about it."

"I do," she told him. She knew enough about failed support and when not to stand behind someone.

"Where, the Temple?" he queried. "You'd die for those there? Step in front of an enemy blade to protect any of the people there?"

She rose, not deigning to answer him, "you have what you need Dimitri, and I am not going to spend any more time in the company of creatures with so little regard for life." She left with a personal vow to place every hex on the half feline and her unborn whelp she was capable of conjuring.
.

[Rollo]

He was vaguely aware that he was in a room as he drifted in and out of his feverish sleep. He saw people walk in and out constantly as he slipped in and out of consciousness, sweat pouring from his body. Whenever he did wake for those brief moments, everything felt like it was moving at a snails pace, sounds muffled, faces blurred. He had no idea if he was dead or knocking at that inevitable entities door

[Alia Anor Graham]

She'd returned from the Outback, still angry over Shandren's complete disregard for Dimitri's life. It angered her beyond words, but she decided to check in on the newest patient in the Hospice.

She stepped quietly into the room and stood quietly.

He seemed to be dreaming, and his inarticulate murmurs indicated distress. She walked closer to the bed, lightly touching his forehead. The fever had not yet broken. It was early, but she'd feel better if it broke soon.

She took a chair in the corner, settling in to wait.

[Alia Anor Graham]

As she sat watching the fight in the Outback, she was seized from behind in a bear hug. Dimitri had returned to his body, and for the first time in what felt like forever, she could touch the half elf in the flesh.

They sat together happily for some time, but his news that he did not know how to keep Tomac from trying to reclaim Dimitri's body was troubling.

As was his refusal to come live at the Temple. The longer he delayed his arrival, the more she felt him slipping away. She'd been charged with securing his initiation, and so far, she'd not complied. Sooner or later, she was going to have to explain why.

[Rollo]

The dreams were relentless. Flashing images with no signs of cohesiveness of sense, random visions...random nitemares. On and on they came into his mind.

Though the fever had broken in the waning hours of the morning, the endless dreams continued to race through his mind, scattering in his subconscious to await being reclaimed by his memory.

Slowly, the soldier opened his eyes, a groan escaping his lips as he tried to sit up, but could not from exhaustion and weariness because of the fever.

[Alia Anor Graham]

She sat quietly as he finally stirred, his eyes opened, and he groaned, seeking to sit up. She rose and placed a hand on his chest to keep him down. "Please do not try just yet to sit up, rest, you've been wounded rather severely. I am Sister Alia Anor, but I fear I do not know who you may be."

She watched him with brilliant aqua eyes as he tried to focus on his surroundings. His fever had broken, for which Alia Anor was grateful.

[Guest]

The woman's words hardly registered in his mind as he fought his way back to coherensy. "W.....Where am I? " Piercing waspish blue eyes regard her calmly, but still lightly gplazed over. "How....how did I get here?...and who are you?" Groaning softly, his hand touched where an arrow had pierced his hip, his slender fingers move over the bandage.

[Alia Anor Graham]

She pulled a chair closer to his bed, settling quietly beside him. "You got here by horseback, and slid from your saddle almost at our front door. I am Sister Alia Anor, the administrator of this Hospice."

"You came riddled with arrows, we've removed them, cleaned the wounds, and treated you with antibiotics to fight infection. Do you have a name?"

[Dimitri]

He walked into the Hospice silently and looked about. Dimitri walked by a room and glanced in and saw the warrior that Alia anor was talking about and knocked softly on the door.