Echos of a fateful meeting

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti blinked a bit in surprise, well it was a pretty normal request. "oh...well I suppose that should be alright."
He was surprised that bastian was ready to be up and about so quickly but he was a soldier after all.
It was nice to have someone sitting at the table honestly. Even if it was a bit of a struggle to get to the table he understood why bastian would want to sit where he could sit outside.

He brought out some juice to the table and sat with the man to take up his own sandwich. The light of the late afternoon sun slowly drifted into the cave completing the peaceful scene. Leti wished not for the first time that he could initiate some kind of small talk with bastian but eating quietly with the other man's company would have to do.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian nodded gratefully. He certainly should do more resting, but he wanted air. Needed air. Needed that bit of sunlight. Besides, after all the climbing, what was a few more steps? Still, he didn't turn down the healers help to the main room.

He had, in fact, never had a sandwich. He had had rolls though. And pies. The concept of meat and the like between dough was not foreign, just the construction. As such, he considered his meal in silence for a moment. Then he spent another moment watching Leti. And another moment pretending his arms were still tired as he collected the bread and meat layers in one hand. Consuming and enjoying it were easy, at least.

Small talk wasn't the soldier's strong suit either. Fortunately, the silence didn't weigh on him at all. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that it weighed on Leti, or he might have attempted to say something. As it was, he enjoyed the sandwich and the company.

[Feleti Eidothea]

After finishing the meal leti tidied up the plates and set about getting a bit of chores done. He left bastian to sit at the table, or rather implied that bastian wasn't allowed to help with the chores.
There wasn't much that urgently needed doing anyway. Not long after Cain arrived home and took up a seat at the table. Leti had followed his in and listened as the old man chatted on about the various patients in the village.
Leti began to consider what they should have for dinner, deciding on making a pot pie from the leftover stew. As he set about making a pie crust on the table Cain playfully began to goad bastian into drinking wine with him. The light of the just lit fire casting a warm glow over the trio as night began to fall on the isolated mountain.

It was a lovely scene all this considered but it was to be short lived. None of them knew yet that misery had followed cain back from the village.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The soldier had opened his mouth when Leti took his plate but promptly closed it at the look he got. It wasn't dark or rude or aggressive by any means, but the healer certainly had a way of cowing him. Bastian did, however, manage to look properly grumpy about the implied order to rest. But he listened, watching Leti busy himself with chores, attentive but quiet. His gaze shifted between the healer and the waning sunlight.

Talk about the village was heard but not directly listened to. Words here and there caught his attention but Bastian was still quite a bit more laid back than usual. He resisted the older man's goading at first (initially because the first time he didn't understand the suggestion) and then a bit because of Leti's reluctance the time before. But he yielded quite quickly to a cup. Or two. Or three.

After a drink or two, Bastian found his nerve to at least offer his help with whatever it was Leti was making. "I promise I will not cut myself," he added, because that had seemed to be a concern last time. And he had had a few drinks this time. It seemed relevant, though he doubted the man would take him up on his offer.

It was, in fact, one of the most normal moments the soldier had ever been a part of. And he found it quite strange. Nice. But strange.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti declined bastian's offer less because he was worried about the man hurting himself and more because there wasn't much for him to do. He ended up partaking in a cup of the wine himself. "Unless you've learned to bake recently you'll have to settle for filling your stomach as help." He joked easily as he set the pastry into a dish and began filling it with the stew.
He had just finished setting it up nicely when there was a crashing noise outside. As though perhaps one of the large clay pots had been toppled. The goats were baying a bit but that had been a rather large noise for a fox or wolf. Leti paused from where he was about to set the pot in the oven and turned to look at the entrance curiously. Even with the rising moon, It was now far too dark to see what was going on outside.
"OLD MAN" came a desperate shout from just outside the cave. Leti couldn't tell who it was from voice alone. He glanced worriedly at Cain as he set the dish on the table and made as if to go toward the entrance.

Cain seemed to have some idea of who it might be and held up a hand to stay Leti from moving. He picked up his walking stick and rather quickly shuffled off toward the entrance.
It was rare for anyone to find let alone make the journey up to their cave. Whoever it was must be quite determined. Or so was leti's thoughts as he peered anxiously at the dark entrance.
He thought it must be someone fetching help for an injured party....but then a few moments passed. Not only did Cain not reappear but whoever it was hadn't stepped into the cave either. What could be heard of their voices seemed to be rising into some sort of argument.
Just as Leti turned to rush outside two unfamiliar men entered. One of them holding Cain roughly by the arms, forcibly walking him forward into the cave with them. They were men that Leti had rarely seen before, as far as he knew they didn't have a great reputation even amongst the village they were outsiders. The two seemed to be brothers, with similar hair color and build. The starkest difference being that one was missing an arm from the elbow down.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

"Not particularly," he say clearly, if a little disappointed. He couldn't argue with the healer's logic however. Besides, it was his kitchen. He mumbled a bit further about 'filling his stomach' not being helpful in the sense that he had meant but he didn't press and enjoyed his drink and the company.

The noise made Bastian jump and then wince at the motion. When neither of the other two men seemed overtly alarmed, he tried to keep his concern to himself. The soldier didn't inherently find the idea of things going bump in the night comforting. The shout, however, made him draw himself up. Yes, maybe they just needed aided but...all the way up here? Bastian had seen the view from the top of the stairs. There was something else about the shout that sent a shiver up his spine, but he struggled to place it. His memory was still rather...fuzzy.

When confront by said memory, however, it crystallized. Only now there were two of them. The warden stiffened, the faint concern slipping away to an emotionless mask. Had the mystic come here for him? No, he couldn't know. By all accounts, Bastian should have died in that field at the edge of the woods. But then why come here, why use force on the old man like that? And what exactly was the soldier to do about it? He supposed the good news was there weren't large living plants inside the home for the one man to call on. But his partner, very likely a brother...

The mystic's eyes met Bastian's and the two studied each other in a silent moment that seemed to stretch on forever but really was only a moment. It was more considered than they had given each other before.

"Warden!" the man growled, eyes going slightly wide. His surprise was evident, almost like he suspected Bastian to be a phantom or demon or raised by some magic. The mystic glanced between Cain and Leti and smirked as if pleased about some discovery or another. "Seems we came to the right place, Lugh," the other man said.

Bastian frowned faintly. Whether he had endangered Cain and Leti or not, they were his responsibility. "Let him go," Bastian ordered in a deep commanding tone that belied his injuries. He did not get up from the stool.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti rounded the table toward the men but stopped in his tracks when the man yelled his acknowledgement. Neither he, nor Cain seemed nearly as shocked by such a statement as they should have been. Or rather neither of them seem to balk at the use of the term. His face was filled with anxiety as he watched the man grasping his father.
His gaze did turn back to Bastian as barked an order. But his expression seemed to be pleading bastian not to interfere.

Cain was the next to fire a tone of indignation "I don't know what you're planning but I'll not allow a patient to come to harm on these grounds!" His voice somewhat hoarse from the argument earlier. The two brothers seemed to find that very amusing, they broke out in deep cruel sounding laughter. "What are you going to do about it old man." He tossed cain hard onto the stone floor leading into the cave. There was a sickening noise as he landed prompting Leti to try rushing to his side. Only for Lugh to reach out and yank the healer away by the back of his robe.
Cain gave a rough breath, it was clear the wind had been knocked out of him, from the way he was clutching it Leti could guess the fall had dislocated his shoulder.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian didn't register the revelation of what he was with shock or concern either. He did notice there was less...confusion than he might have expected but at the moment, that was a secondary note.

Leti's worried look was one he struggled to read. But he could feel the apprehension and fear from the other man. Normally, the warden didn't have a problem separating dangerous work situations from his personal life. Normally, the warden didn't have a personal life, or emotions, to separate. His instinct was to settle the conflict quickly the only way he knew how. But Leti's look made him hesitate, sharing the healer's silver gaze before cutting back to Cain. Bastian wasn't sure who the older man directed the words at, but he supposed it didn't matter.

Whatever the warden had been planning - where his sword was, pulling on the adrenaline suddenly coursing through him to get there, how to overpower the known assailant and get Cain away from the other... Whatever that foolhardy violent plan had been, he stopped. But unlike the brothers, he didn't find it amusing. He frowned.

He tensed when Cain hit the floor and was on his feet and leaning on the tabletop as the trespasser's hand gripped Leti's robe.

"Suppose you not being dead means the rumors about this one are true..." the mystic spat the words while his brother did his best to wrangle Leti into submission.

Bastian didn't give any outward recognition about rumors. He only grit his teeth and looked back at Leti with concern in his eyes that didn't reach his face. He shifted slightly, desperate to make them let go of his friend and uncertain how far he could or should go to do it.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti found himself being jostled a bit as lugh grabbed his hair with big meaty fingers and pulled him forward. "I been livin' in a shack like a dog while this Warden is 'ere gettin top care eh?" He thundered at Leti as if ready to spit from disgust. His brother wandered over to the table apparently not threatened by bastian enough to stay away, or to block his way. "He was 'bout to get fed like a king too, wine and all." He called to his brother equally disgusted.

Lugh shoved what remained of his arm into Leti's face "You're going to fix my arm up right, or you're going to pay with for it like he is."
Leti's face was at first bewildered. He couldn't understand what the man meant by 'fix'. As many unbelievable things as his gift allowed him, not even he could do something so impossible as to regenerate an arm. What was taken was taken, he couldn't give it back. But his face grew uncharacteristically angry when the man mentioned harming Bastian. "You're not going to do anything to him." He replied defiantly without a single tremor.
Lugh was the one surprised this time "Don't you know about the Wardens? He's one of them! You're one of us! He'd gut your pale little stomach if he knew what type o' healin you get up to." He smiled a vicious smile "Maybe he was just waiting till you finished patching him up, maybe he was going to slip poison into your nice little chicken pie the moment you looked away."
Leti stood firm twisting the hand out of griping his head "He is my patient." The healer replied as if the possibility of betrayal were irrelevant.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian took half a step forward but the brother was there to meet him, giving a casual survey of the table. He growled in quiet annoyance, but more at Lugh's manhandling of Leti. After their first encounter, he had considered it inevitable that one of them would kill the other if they met again. And as usual, Bastian wasn't all that personal about his personal safety.

It was a bit harder to ignore the direct mention of magic. Bastian grit his teeth and bit back the healer's name uncomfortable. There was supposed to be a wall there. He wasn't supposed to care. The warden didn't say anything, but it was clear he struggled with each word and threat.

"He's just using you, kid. Wardens don't care about people like us. We ain't even people to them," the brother chimed in, stepping into the soldier's space more directly.

Bastian made to shove the brother aside and step toward the mystic and the healer but the man tripped him. Bastian grabbed the guy's shoulder for support and got a fist to his gut for his trouble. He wheezed and tried to keep his lunch down.

Lugh was still confused by Leti's defense of the warden and his insistance was more than a little annoying. "Why protect him anyhow? He's just gettin'what he deserves." He gestured behind him with his free hand and Bastian had a sickening feeling in his stomach about what that might be. His magic. Plenty of plants outside.

The brother tugged Bastian to his feet and pulled his arms behind him. "Lugh, if the kid cares that much, just kill this one first." The warden winced but he didn't struggle. He had be asked not to, after all. And if his compliance meant leaving Leti out of it then so be it.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti instinctively moved as if to reach bastian's side when the man fell but he paused as bastian was lugged up like a hostage. He grit his teeth knowing that they weren't lying about what bastian had done. He knew that Lugh's appearance only meant that what Cain had told him, he had learned through Lugh. Even so he couldn't bring himself to believe their venomous words about what bastian might do. Nor could he feel an ounce of sympathy for their burning desire for revenge.
"I won't allow your senseless vengeance. not here." He replied defiantly again. "There is nothing I can do for you. Leave."

Lugh seemed much less amused by the rebellious streak this time. He jabbed a finger in Leti's face "Don't lie to me. I've lived in this village my whole life. I know the rumors'. I saw what you did for that boy with the rot. You're going to do as I say. " He straightened up his back with a smug expression "But not before I get mine."

From behind cain calmly spoke "May the light of her eternal sorrow shine upon them." While the monk-ly sounding phrase seemed like a blessing Leti understood what Cain meant. He glanced at Cain who had moved aside of the stair case and then turned his gaze back to lugh his eyes had a strange sharpness to them. As if he had made up his mind about something.
The brother's were understandably confused by this esoteric euphemism. They passed shrugs between each other and were clearly about to start deciding bastian's terrible fate when-
Leti closed the distance between himself and lugh, hoisting the man up by his shoulder and trousers. Lugh made a bewildered "wuh!?" noise as he suddenly found himself off the ground. Neither of them had considered the well built arms beneath the robes, they had only the image of the meek healer in their head.
He pivoted using the momentum to hurl the man down the stone stairs like barrel of water down a mountain. With only a few dried herbs and the occasional moss about the man could stop himself no better than a sack of potatoes.
The noises of the man colliding with rough stone and crying out weren't pretty.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

Bastian's eyes tightened as he watched Leti's concern for him. This wasn't...he couldn't... The warden closed his eyes and sighed. He should have known better. Had known better. He had simply decided not to see. But there wasn't much avoiding it now. He didn't need to trust these men to have them confirm what he already knew.

He was less resigned to accepting whatever revenge the pair had out for him, twisting to try to get himself free as they threatened Leti again. Bastian stopped when Lugh mentioned him again, straightening up as best he could to meet the mystic's gaze with his own unyielding look. There was no apology or pity or pleading there.

When Leti picked up and tossed Lugh, Bastian didn't give his brother time to react beyond shouting his brother's name. The soldier slammed his head back into the man's nose and then tried to rip himself out of his grip. Only it didn't seem to have the desired effect of breaking the man's nose and grip.

"Not the only one with magic, warden," he half teased. Certainly he seemed to be a lot more...solid than a nprmal man. The brother looped his arm around Bastian's throat tightly, chuckling angrily, looking from Bastian to Leti. "Some bloody healer. You hurt my brother, I oughta return the favor," he growled.

Bastian panicked for a second, struggling and then a calm settled over him. He pulled his hands from the guys arm and reached over him, ducking at the same time to flip the man over him and back first into the table. The soldier gasped and spluttered on his hands and knees.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti's attention was quickly drawn back to bastian as the brother voiced his intentions to make Leti's efforts fruitless.
It was true that Leti had done what until this day he would have considered unthinkable. Never had he thought that he would have need to harm another. Yet here he was. He wouldn't let himself dwell on it until Cain and Bastian were safe.

He watched bastian flip the other man in a ballet of physical strength and almost wondered if the warden himself weren't magical...well he knew bastian wasn't but it was still impressive. Leti came to bastian's side quickly, it was two against one now. Leti wasn't going to let either of the brother's have their way.

[Sebastian Arcturis]

The soldier needed a moment to collect himself and push down the strain lifting the guy over his head. It hadn't been his best idea but it had worked, more or less. The brief choke hold had him coughing as he pushed himself up.

The brother collected himself a lot faster than the warden and aimed a kick to Bastian's ribs that left him wheezing and worried about bruised ribs or not being able to breath like before. And then he rounded on the healer. "You...you...!" At a loss fpr words, he lunged for the white haired man. This time, however, it was Bastian's turn to trip him, yanking his boot out from under him so the man landed on his face hard, the air momentarily knocked from his lungs along woth a good amount of sense. It seemed only to make him more angry as opposed to incapacitating him.

Unfortunately, Bastian was in much the same condition as he attempted to pick himself up off the floor amid pieces of wood. What a pity. He had really liked that table.

[Feleti Eidothea]

Leti found his intentions to keep the brother from injuring bastian further were a moot point. As the man immediately made for the soldier. Leti for the first time in his life regretted his lack of combat experience. He had enough arm strength to throw some wild punches and do some damage, but it might not knock the guy out fast enough. The man already hit bastian in his pretty large injury, and with all the bandages Leti doubted that the guy would have a hard time figuring out where to hit.
As the guy landed in front of him with a wheeze he realized this was going nowhere fast. In a slight panic his eyes glanced around and met cain's. He knew what they really needed. They were in a healer's hut with all that pertained. He quickly stepped around the brother as he made it back to his feet. The brother must have thought Leti was running away because he gave chase as Leti bolted across the room and toward the nearest storage. As he reached the chest he could feel the huge man right behind him. His hands fumbling through the bottles, His fingers finding the right vial just as the brother manage to catch hold of him. The man was shouting all sorts of obscenities and threats. His desperation to subdue Leti, and a bit of a concussion causing his frustrated proclamations to make less and less sense.
The two struggled breifly, with the brother trying to get Leti's arms behind his back, but with all his shouting it was and easy enough shot. Leti managed to shove the vial into the man's mouth just long enough to get it's contents to make contact.
The brother immediately spit out the vial, it clattering to the floor and breaking against the stones. The man cast his hands off of Leti and backed away as if Leti himself were poison. "What did you do to me!? What did you do!" The panic was clear in every part of his face.
"you're a big guy, lie still and perhaps you'll live." Leti replied simply.