Echos of a fateful meeting

[Feleti Eidothea]

Feleti was still diligent enough to not wander too close to the village unless he had been given a reason. Even though the nearest village was relatively safe and there was the option of retreating to the forest, it still payed to be cautious. Even so how could he not be curious and thus he found himself making excuses to go to the village more often each day. Today's excuse was hunting for some herbs that happened to grow near the village. It also grew near their home but the ones near the village were more potent, or so was the excuse. 
His eyes sweeped the field with a gentle smile as he hummed a pleasant tune.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The Wardens had received word of another Mystic spreading fear and deceit in the west. It was always the west. Though they could never pin down a specific place, the village of Greyshollow seemed to be a central harbor for those who clung to the dangerous and corrupting ways of magic. But today was not a day of ending the silent war. It was just another day of hunting.

One of the Viperidae, Risa, had gotten close to some of the villagers and gleaned confirmation in one of the mystics identities. Sebastian had been sent alone because they believed the man an easy target for a trained soldier.

Sebastian met her in secret near the mountains. The woman departed what information she knew before returning to her life among the villagers. The mystic was an older man. Not a healer, but supposed one who knew about some of their inner workings. The man was traveling alone today, to some ancient religious site. To pray perhaps. the Warden Legionnaire would intercept him as if passing on a simple scouting patrol. If possible, Sebastian intended to capture him. If not, kill him. He had been recently awarded his sun-forged blade. And he intended to make use of it against the man's plant magic. Unfortunately, he didn't have further details.

It was a quick fight. With the help of surprise, Bastion managed to take one of the mystics arms off at the elbow, the fiery heat of his blade cauterizing the wound. But that didn't stop the man from using his experience with his natural plant magic to stab a few nearby root through his back. The mystic missed his heart, thankfully, but the largest of them was enough enough to puncture his lung and chest. The fight was over after that and both sides knew it. The mystic ripped the roots out of his adversary, causing Bastian to gasp in pain, unable to get enough air to make words, barely able to breath, and losing blood.

He'd broken Bastian's leg for good measure. And then content with the fact the man couldn't speak or move, left him in the field, at the edge of the forest. He had his own wounds to tend to.

Mission put on hold or not, the Warden was determined not to die in the woods. If he could reach his blade an activate it, he might be able to stop the bleeding enough to drag himself somewhere. Half crawling, half dragging himself, he passed out before he could reach the blade.

[Feleti Eidothea]

feleti noticed the red seeping across the field before he actually saw the man it was coming from. A small gasp escaped his mouth at the severity of the man's wounds. It had been a long time since he had seen someone so horribly wounded and judging from the fact he was laid out in the field by a knife they weren't an accident.

Every piece of this situation screamed danger. But how could he just leave the man to die. Without a second more of hesitation he dropped to the strangers side and pulled a roll of bandages from his satchel. He did his best to stay the bleeding by binding the man's wounds but even without a deep examination he could tell that the man was clinging to life. The more he bandaged the man, the more he looked at the man, more clearly he felt a drive to help him stay among the living. If the man was to have a chance then Feleti needed to get him back up the mountain.

He quickly stashed the important looking blade in his satchel and carefully hoisted the stranger onto his back. He was certainly heavier than the jugs of water that Feleti normally carried up. Yet something made him feel like he had to keep trying. He hauled the the man up many stone steps, deep into the mountains to where his home lie, remnants of a home carved into the very mountain itself. 
Feleti was already ready to practically collapse himself by the time he manage to carry the man to his home. Still he pushed through and frantically half carried, half dragged the man to the large carved stone bath. The room itself was a remnant from a bygone time, but it had been used by healer after healer. It was filled with hand carved furniture and tools, shelves of healing ointments and fresh growing herbs lined it's walls along side the patterns carved by hands long passed.
The man was still bleeding enough that the water turned red almost immediately. Feleti had still not caught his breath as he reached out with shaking hands to place his palms against the mans chest. He steadied himself calming his breath and centering himself to begin drawing power from the waters. He knew that if this man were to wake up again this was going to be a marathon, not a sprint, for both of them. He knew that once his father stumbled upon this he would only be chastised. But there was something about this man that made him feel that this was some sort of test, that saving this man was important.
He spent long hours pouring his strength into keeping the man tethered to this world but truly only the man's conviction could determine if it would succeed.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Unconscious, Sebastian dreamed of the life he almost had. Of the family he barely knew. Of past fights and strange magics and almost always, the ground seemed pulled out from under him. He never fell. Call it determination. Dedication. But everything always fell apart. So he never got attached.

Injured or not, the warden exuded the aura of a predatory animal. Even in the fight and in passing out and in his dreams, there was nothing frantic or desperate in his actions. Just smooth calculated calm. Or at least...he was supposed to be. He kept the cracks to himself.

Drops of red were left on the stone steps up the mountain and on the young man that carried him. His breaths were shallow and ragged as shock set in.

The water was startling, enough to bring Sebastian nearly to the surface were the pain and confusion amd magic lingered. He didn't quite make it to lucid but he mumbled a little, still blissfully unware of the waking world.

The warden would never call himself important. But fate worked in mysterious ways. Perhaps in the future, this moment would be important. If he had a future. Bastion had a strong sense of purpose in life. He had been trained to protect his family and his country. The main means of that protection was to rid the nation of dangerous mages. Lacking that...Bastian ultimately had a sister to protect despite the fact she knew nothing about his existance. He couldn't leave her alone. Cera was almost never a conscious thought, but she was always there. He would always be her big brother.

He spent long hours in the pool, water long tinted red along with his soaked clothes and leather armor. Breathing was still difficult but eventually his dreams settled into a more forgettable peace. Whatever tethered him down, he clung to it. Because he still had work to do.

[Feleti Eidothea]

He found himself almost in a trance. Gripping the thread of the man's life tightly without thought for anything else. Eventualy his father returned and found the shocking sight. An unkown patient in their home with his son kneeling pale faced over the blood colored bath. With a great sigh cain came over to teasingly poke the boys forehead, breaking feleti's singleminded concentration.
For the first time feleti looked up from the stranger and realized his own arms were drenched in blood. He looked up at his father wearily expecting a lecture but instead he saw a face of resignation. "help my change his bindings, then I will change and oint the water while you rest. You will need your strength if you are to finish what you started.'' It was clear the old man wanted to say more but feleti was too exhausted to hear the words if he did. They worked to remove the remnants of the mans clothes and armour, then to change his bandages to more secure ones. Feleti eyed the limp form reluctantly but he knew his father was right. For now the man was stable enough and this battle was far from over.
He cleaned himself off and fell into a dreamless sleep.


Some hours latter he would awake with a renewed sense of purpose. He returned to the man in the bath and was able look upon him without the fog of panic for the first time. Lying there in the pool of now much cleaner water, surronded by aromatic healing herbs he could see the man was.....handsome. It was a rugged manly sort of handsome that made feleti's heart skip a beat. Even in such a helpless state the man looked formidible and filled with an animalistic strength. Feleti wondered what had brought the man to this. Had he been mugged? Had he fought another man over sone lass! Had he been seeking some revenge? Perhaps he was a fellow mystic outrunning the rumoured wardens! Feleti conviently ignored the idea that the man might be a warden himself. After all he had met a mystic before but he had never seen a warden. Only heard boogeyman tales from his father.

Seeing the dark brow of the man knitted together in pain as if chasing something in his dreams brought the pale healer back to reality. With a much clearer head he was able to calmly place his hands to the strangers chest and resume healing. Without the turmoil and panic in his heart he felt his gift grow surer and level. He prayed to ease the man's pain, to mend his wounds, to bring him to the waking world, he prayed with his heart to the old gods pouring his gift forward.
His father continued the daily routine of going to the village, checking patients, and brewing remedies.
But feleti never left the stranger's side. His heart felt at ease when the stranger made less pained faces, And when his breathing became less ragged.
When he eat he attempt to feed the man goat's milk with honey, sometimes he would sing to the man an old lullaby, sometimes he would fall asleep with his arm still resting on the man's chest. Several days passed in this fashion. Feleti began to worry again. Even though the wounds were starting to heal over quite nicely if the stranger didn't wake soon and get some solid food down then the healing would start to go down hill.
He watched over the stranger even when there was nothing but candle light and the moons rays peaking into the cave to see by.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Sebastian didn't wake for days. He didn't dream very much either. It felt like both no time an all time had passed. Like he might lose connection with who he was. He didn't know if there was a waking world anymore or just this slightly less painful nebulous existance. And yet part of him dug his nails in and wouldn't let go. Part of him understood what living meant. And this wasn't it. He needed to go back.

When he did, it was suddenly, in a near dreamlike state. One that didn't look at all like the stone hewn room or bath he lay in, one that didn't include the water surrounding him. All he could remember in his first waking moment after so long was that he was dying.

The man jerked awake, gasping and trying to roll over and pull himself up in the field at the edge of the woods. He couldn't explain why he could breath or why he was wet or that there was some strange unseen obstacle to his attempts to crawl onward, he only knew he needed that blade. Looking down, he only saw the injury as it had been. Looking up, he saw there was no sword. He tried to pull himself out of the tub, still blind to what was really before him and heedless of any further attempts to stop him.

Ultimately, in was the scent of herbs and blood, his blood, that nearly brought him back to full awareness of his surroundings. The pain in his leg prevented him from going more than a step. The pain in his chest and ribs, from ripping something open, that got him his first real look at his surroundings - the cave, the carved furniture, the shelves of growing herbs, the young man - before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to his side again. Sebastian clung to that thread of consciousness like he did to life, a determination that his recklessness and clouded memory supported.

Belatedly, he realized he could breath easier, even through the new hurt he felt. That he was somewhere unknown. That his sword was missing. That he waa hungry and exhausted and everything hurt. That he wanted to fall alseep right there but he refused this time. Or tried to. That he wasn't alone in the candle light and moon rays.

He tried to get a look at the young man. White blonde hair, slender...nothing else stuck as he tried to pick himself up off the floor but hardly succeeded in moving.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Feleti woke with a shock from where he had fallen asleep beside the tub. He had known that the stranger would likely be out of sorts when he woke but not that it would be quiet so aggressive. He was knocked aside by the man's initial thrashing around before he could even really figure out what was going on.
The man didn't even seem to realize where he was at first and the blind lashing and struggling he was doing was definitely bad for his wounds. At first feleti could hardly do more than babble some unintelligible sounds of worry and half coherent pleas for the man to calm down. His hands held out palms out in the mimic of an attempt to actually stop the man from dragging himself around the stone floor.

At least after a few minutes the man seemed to calm enough to at least take in their surroundings but the poor guy was still clearly disoriented. Feleti's face was filled with concern as his eyes fell on the blood beginning to seep back into the bandages with gusto. Even with the help of his gift a wound that bad was in no position for the guy to be frantically moving around like he was.
"G-good morning" He said finally his voice quiet and unsure. He felt as though he had spent so much time with the stranger but now he realized that the stranger in reality hadn't spent any time with him. Since he couldn't possibly be aware of it.
He tilted his head with an awkward and timid smile "er- I guess it's more like good evening?"
The pale young man only 19 hadn't quite filled out his own frame yet. Though carrying water up and down a mountain everyday certainly hadn't left him a bean pole it was clear that he wasn't exactly built for combat.
"L-look you're still really badly hurt, let me help you." He added with a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Sebastian rolled to his back as the young man spoke his greetings and smiled. It was difficult to focus on his words but he seemed...nice? Was that a thing? Nice enough? Non-threatening at worst and friendly at best. A slightly more coherent study of the man showed he was lean, with almost white hair and grey eyes that were full of some emotion Sebastian wasn't familiar with. Concern was the word he didn't have for that look. It was...mildly confusing. More confusing that even just where he was and what had happened.

He pressed a hand to the bandage just below his chest, grunting in pain. A full breath hurt. He wasn't even sure it was possible to get one. His hand came away red. It wasn't supposed to. He'd been...fighting someone. Obviously. That happened a lot. He had other scars to prove it. This specific encounter currently slipped his mind, however.

Let me help you. were words he didn't often hear. But he also wasn't in a state to refuse and he could feel himself slipping away again. Really badly hurt had been the other thing he said, now that his brain tried to catch up and put pieces back together. Sebastian tried to speak and succeeded at a pained noise,vocal chords and tongue not used to taking orders after days of lack of use. He nodded instead.

His gaze drifted over the man and the room again. His hair was white. Almost alarmingly so. Like snow. And he recognized some of the herbs on the far wall, for treating wounds. And there was something glass that kept catching the dim light in the space and pulling his diminished and shifting attention to it. He left lost in all the details and perfectly okay with it even though he felt he needed to do something or find something. Something important.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Feleti jumped at the pained noise escaping the man. He had gotten so used to the guy making no more noise than haggard breaths or faint groans that it startled him. Still he was glad the man seemed to have calmed down enough now that he could be treated. He had spent days looking at the man but now that the stranger was moving around there was a different quality about his face. well....aside from the confusion, it was hard for feleti to put his finger on.

He wanted so badly to ask for the man's name but he didn't really want to encourage the man to push himself talking either. Instead he busied himself by doing his best to gently unwrap the bandages so that he could have a look at what the man had done to himself whilst panicking. His hands were less sure now that the stranger was awake and he could see the visible pain in his face, but feleti tried to put on a brave front. It wasn't too bad really, but the guy had reopened one of the large gashes and it was bleeding quite a bit.
Feleti found comfort in focusing on treating the wound and his awkwardness faded a little as he worked to applie fresh ointment and bind the wound back up.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The man winced, attention brought to the foreground of the moment as the pale blonde, was it blonde? He didn't look entirely albino or strange but... More unwrapped bandages brought him back again and he tried with slightly more success to keep his focus on what was happening around him.

He tried to keep his pained noises to a minimum. Grumbling and whining had never gotten him very fair in training, but sometimes it was an involuntary sound or twitch that escaped his control. He didn't let that pain reach his eyes directly, at least, while he was mostly lucid. The man seemed to know what he was doing. He also seemed quite familiar with Bastian's body. And the wound did look...well, not fresh. How long had he been unconscious?

Sebastian propped himself gingerly on his elbows, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath as the other man worked. "What-" the word caught in his throat as he tried to speak again. He swallowed and opened his eyes, watching the...healer? work. "What happened?" It came out quiet, but harsher than he meant it. He wasn't sure the man would know. He remembered the moment of pain...and before that that he had some mission to leave for...but in between...he was still working that out.

And then he suddenly remembered what he had been looking for. "A sword...?" He brought his gaze up to the other's grey ones. It wasn't that he couldn't make words, they just felt awkward at the moment.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Despite himself the healer still jumped a little when the man actually spoke. He sat back having finished the dressing worry glinting in his eyes like uneasy sea waves. "D-don't push yourself if it's hard to speak." He replied softly and eyed the man with sympathy "I was....sort of hoping you could tell me...." He reached to find one of the pillows he had been resting on earlier and offered it to the man so he could use it to make himself a little more comfortable.
The mention of a sword really confused feleti for a moment and he had to think it over. Thinking back to how he had found the man lying half-dead in the dirt he pondered what the man meant. Had the attacker used a sword? He couldn't really say, I mean whatever had made the wounds was certainly sharp. Then meaning donned on him like a flame being lit. "I just sort of found you ther-......oh!" He stood brushing himself off and left breifly to another room.

When he returned he was holding the blade he had found near the man wrapped in a bit of cloth. He had pretty much forgotten about it until now. He held it out to the man for his inspection "This? Is this what you want?" He asked with a hopeful look clearly eager to fulfill the man's request.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The man's stammer was interesting. Was he that scared? He didn't otherwise act scared, with his hands redoing the dressing confidently, nor did his eyes and pupils suggest as much. Something had him anxious, worried.

It was difficult to get as much air as he wanted. Sebastian was of the mind that one didn't improve a skill if they didn't use it but he was more inclined to trust the known healer among them. He shook his head. He shifted his arm as if to do something but quickly realized he was too weak from blood loss and not eating to get very far. He took the offered pillow weakly and settled it behind him so he could lay back down. Pillows...had he been sleeping here? Mea while Bastian had been sleeping...he glanced over. In a tub? Back down at his bandaged and mostly naked body. There was a distant recognition of being wet and cold.

That the man knew nothing didn't surprise him though it was unfortunate. From what little he had seen from the wound, it wasn't from a slashing weapon. Piercing maybe. Certainly sharp was one way to put it. He nodded once and then his eyes locked onto the young man when he cut himself off and left the space on an expectant note.

He couldn't make out much beyond the room. The space he was in seemed...old. Ancient. It made his skin crawl a little.

The white haired man returned with his sword and he instinctively lifted a hand for it but before he touched it he lowered his hand. No need for that. He didn't wish to make the guy more anxious. Sebastian nodded and tried to relax the knot between his shoulders. It was and wasn't important. Best to treat it like any old sword for now.

That matter taken care of, the warden changed tactics. He gestured at the bandages around his chest and tried to take a deep breath that that felt...not deep enough. He offered a questioning look to the young man. How bad was it, why couldn't he breath, how long had he been here, why was he wet and barely clothed...anything really.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Feleti saw the way the man seemed relieved to see the blade. He set the blade near the man and settled down next to him again. He watched the man gesture at himself with a tilted head and confused expression.

Feleti would have been a lot more confortable if the man was back in the tub but that was silly. It was more dangerous to use his gift now that the stranger was awake. He wasn't really sure how to respond.
"um....I'm feleti, but everyone calls me 'leti'. What's your name?'' Admittedly everyone was a pretty small number of people.
The more he looked at the man the more his dark features and reserved actions seemed different to anyone he'd met.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

His didn't return to the blade once assure of where it was resting. The young man seemed quite familiar with him, sitting so close. He must have been unconscious a while. With that thought in mind, he finally lifted a heavy arm to his face. He didn't have a crazy beard but more than normal. Days. He dropped his arm quickly. Even that was exhausting after the straining he had just put himself through.

He realized the man didn't understand the exact nature of his non-verbal question. That was to be expected unless the guy could read minds. Still, he was learning information of some kind.

Feleti. He looked the man over again, expression much more tired. It was a name that reminded him of wind. Or flowers. Something natural and free.

At the notion of 'everyone,' Sebastian attempted to cast an exaggerated look around the stone room for everyone. But it was just them and the hewn furniture. Everyone seemed like...well, he wasn't aboit to assune the man was crazy. Not yet. But Bastian at least hadn't be awake to call anyone anything.

"Bastian," he said with a heavy breath. He wasn't anymore important than another common guard and he saw no reason to hide who he was. Or maybe he should have and he was too exhausted to think about it.

Leti's further study of him was returned, though this time his inspection was a lot softer, feeling sleep tugging down at him. The other man had such...concern on his face. Worry. It made him look so innocent, especially with that shock of white hair. Sebastian didn't have the word for it, but the word he wanted was 'beautiful.' What exactly was beautiful...that was another question he hadn't an answer too right now. Leti was different than most he had met too.

The fresh blood loss made him even more tired. He looked down at the traces of blood on his hand from when he had touched the previous bandage. He didn't need anyone to tell him the injury was severe.

[Feleti Eidothea]

A gentle smile lightened his face at finally having a name to put to the man's face.
Leti chuckled as bastian cast his eyes about as if searching for who leti was talking about. Likely father was asleep and there weren't any patients here aside from bastian.
As much as he wanted to know much more, he could see how tired the man was. He would have liked to move the man to somewhere more comfortable but moving around wasn't a great idea.
" rest for a moment.'' He said quietly before standing and leaving the room. He was gone only a few moments before returning with a steaming wooden bowl and some woven sheeps wool blankets. He set the bedding aside and sat at bastian's side. A warm savory sent wafted from the bowl, bread soaking in a hearty soup of some kind. Leti wasn't sure if the man was well enough to eat himself yet, well that and he'd gotten used to spoon feeding the man at this point. He took a spoonful and held it out toward bastian's lips '' you must be hungry.... but eat it slowly, alright?''