Chapter Text
"I told him that's what happens when you spend too much time in Goldshire but no one wants to listen to the priestess." The woman in the gold trimmed white robe looked annoyed as she moved away from the stables, a bottle in her hand and what looked like hay on her skirts.
"I get that people can get dumb ideas spending too much time here, but why did he think he could smuggle the pig all the way to Booty Bay?" The second person looked about the size of a child but the voice was adult, pink pig tails bobbing as they kept step with their companion.
The priestess snorted a laugh and looked like she was going to answer when she caught sight of him. Grey eyes widened in surprise and then shifted down in a quick look of assessment.
"Hey, are you alright? You're favoring your right side."
Whatever laughter and teasing were gone from her tone, replaced with a steady calm. One hand reaching out but staying held upwards to show she had nothing but the staff in her off hand rather than a more dangerous weapon. The short woman with the pink hair all but squeaked and started to dig in the satchel at her side. His hearing was fading a bit as he sank closer to the ground but he was sure he heard something about bandages and calling for help. Whoever the priestess was, she was doing her best to hold his weight or at least keep him from slamming into the ground too fast.
"Get the guards to bring a cart, we can take him down to the abby." The priestess was looking for the sections of his armor with a grimace. "I've got him, don't worry. Just hurry! Now!"
His breathing became easier so quickly that at first he thought he might have simply passed. But looking up at her, he could see the woman had a glow all around her, hands splayed on his chest. Her lips moved in what he assumed was prayer but he saw no scripts dangling from her robes. Just a single locked tome that she wasn't touching.
"Hey, you're going to be okay." She murmured in a warm tone, stark white hair flowing over her shoulder as she cast healing words over him. "Try to stay awake for me. Can you tell me your name? Where you're from?"
"My name?" He hoped his voice wasn't too weak, too muffled by his helmet. His fingers felt numb and he tried to twitch them, hoping he wasn't losing feeling in them. "I'm Kaessian Planter."
He tried to catch his breath, intending on reciting his full title. Not as formidable as some of his brethren but he still deserved to speak his accomplishments didn't he?
No, a small voice in the back of his mind needled him. You deserve nothing, fool. You allowed yourself to fall to chaos and it's lies. Why should anyone listen to what you've done? You're not a true champion.
His heart stuttered with pain and he closed his eyes, wishing he could close out the sound of that voice that had started to plague him. It was his own voice, his own thoughts and he couldn’t deny that they were true. Any other words caught in his throat and he swallowed them down, wincing when the woman’s fingers rested lightly on his helmet and found the sections where it would come apart. He didn’t try to stop her since it didn’t hurt, and a bit at a time he saw more light come through and the HUD spilled away when the interior reticle was lifted away from his eye in the process. Without the gear in the way, he stared at the white haired woman that was smiling down at him. Her fingers lightly brushing across his temples and down to check his neck and the back of his head in a gentle sweep of her hand. He heard her saying something about checking for a concussion but felt oddly tongue tied.
Without the helmet and HUD in his vision, the glow that was coming from her was more obvious. It shone around her in a delicate aura, small flickers of the light spilling away from her like tiny stars that fell to the ground and were soaked up. He wondered if the grass should have looked healthier from those small sparkles coming down, but it appeared to not be affected at all. Perhaps she could only affect bodies. He could see her setting the helmet to the side and it occurred to him that she shouldn’t have been able to lift it off with so much ease. Even when it wasn’t drilled to him through prosthetic locks, it was still difficult to move for the average person.
“Kaessian.” The priestess combed his hair away from his eyes. “I'm Meghaya, of Andorhal. Everything will be alright, but I need you to stay awake for me. We'll have a cart here soon and my sisters and I can work together to make sure you recover swiftly.”
“Are.. your sisters as beautiful as you?” Kaessian muttered, blushing when he realized she heard him just fine and was chuckling softly.
“I suppose you can't be too hurt if you're trying to flirt.” She looked down at him, not unkindly, and focused her attention on healing him again. “What did you get in a fight with? Looks worse than bear or gnoll mauling.”
“Demons.” He slurred, blinking at her as he spoke. It should have been obvious shouldn't it? Wasn't the smell of demon blood all over him?
Her comforting smile fell and the hands that were healing him stilled for a few seconds. She nodded in understanding and took a breath before her fingers lightly pushed his hair back so she could check his scalp. He was used to this with some of the others doing basic first aid when they came in from fighting. Checking for bumps and bruises, for blood that he might not have noticed for how much he was sweating while out fighting. Her other hand was just in front of his gaze and she held up a finger.
“Alright, I want you to follow my finger.” Her voice was soft and he felt her fingertips brushing his scalp, a warm tingling settling in as he watched her finger going back and forth then up and down. “Alright, now repeat after me. White, purple, blue, green, pink.”
“White… purple, blue-green, pink.” He repeated, blinking in confusion.
“Good, in a couple minutes, I’m gonna ask you to repeat that. Do you think you can remember it?” The healer smiled at him, her fingers shifting down to touch his neck, wincing and looking faintly confused.
“I can remember, ma’am.”
“Ooh, I’m a ma’am now. Does that mean I make you nervous?”
“No ma’am.” He responded automatically, confused when she laughed softly.
“You’re doing well. Can you move your arms? Do you feel pain when you’re lifting them up?”
“Sore, but not hurt. Just from lifting too much and moving around.”
“That tracks.” She muttered and found the latches of his gauntlets so she could take them off one at a time. They were obviously heavy for her, but she waved away his attempts to help, muttering that he needed to just rest while she checked him over.
He followed along in fascination while she got him to turn his wrist and flex his fingers one at a time, confirming that he didn’t feel any pain from doing so and that none of the more delicate bones of his hands were broken or bruised. He didn’t want to let her know just how relieved he was of that fact. If he couldn’t hold a bolter then he didn’t know what he’d do.
“I think your armor took most of the damage, and for that you’re lucky. There’s demon blood on the armor, but a good cleaning will get the taint off. None of it seems to have gotten on you. But if you’d like a priest or paladin to aid you with a cleansing bath, that can be arranged at the abby. I’d still like you to stay off your feet for now until we can be assured that you aren’t concussed.” The white haired woman spoke with a surety that came with many years of experience.
Moving made him feel a shock of soreness but he was fairly certain nothing was broken. He jostled when he heard a high pitched voice calling the name of the priestess and when he glanced over, he could see the twin pink pig tails of the short woman who had been beside her earlier. The small woman was sitting at the front of a pony driven wagon that was more than likely meant for moving feed or some other sorts of supplies.
“Is.. She one of your sister priestesses?” Kaessian asked in a soft voice, afraid that he might offend one or both of them with his assumption. The pink haired woman didn’t exactly have the same demeanor, but that didn’t mean the short woman wasn’t a member of the clergy.
“Nevah? No, she’s a mage, actually. We met in the Stormwind capital maybe a year or so ago and I couldn’t imagine going somewhere without her.” Meghaya smiled softly and looked at him, a furrow in her brow as she moved closer and curved her arm around his shoulders. “Do you think you can stand to get in the cart, or will we have to carry you?”
His eyes widened at the thought of making these two women carry him into the pony cart and he shook his head abruptly before shifting to get a foot under himself. The priestess waited patiently for him to steady himself and let him lean on her for some support, boosting him when he grunted and got to his feet and then placing her hands on his chest and shoulder to make sure that he didn’t topple over backwards. He didn’t think that he was going to tip over, but he was still grateful for the help as she got him to move over to the cart a little at a time and climbed up to lay back against a hay bale near the front. The smaller woman with the pink hair helped to shuttle his armor pieces onto the cart as well and closed the back up so nothing would fall out while they were on the road.
The priestess sat beside him in the small wagon, his armor mostly placed to the side where he could make sure no one could try to take it. It wasn't as though anyone else could wear it, of course, it was specially fitted to him. But it was the only thing he had left right now. His bolter was wrecked, his brothers were split from him by that demon portal. All he had was his armor, and even that was now half off him as the priestess tended to his wounds. Resting back against some bales of what he suspected was hay, he let his gaze lift up to the sky. There was no pollution from drop ships here, and the air smelled different from what he was used to.
There were little things that reminded him of the Empire of man, but by and large it felt oddly alien. He didn't want to consider what his superiors would think of that. Would they consider this place too different and label it was being a xeno world or would they show leniency as it might simply be a colony that was behind the times? He listened to the fall of hooves on the dirt path and blinked as the clouds above simply drifted and brought an odd smell across their path.
"What is that smell?" He muttered quietly.
"Smell?" The priestess looked up automatically, her body tense as she reached out to him and lightly touched his neck and flitted her fingers up to check his temperature. "What sort of smell? Is it metallic? Musky?"
"It's light." He closed his eyes briefly and tried to sit up, only for her to firmly press him back down. "Like... Perfume?"
Meghaya paused and glanced at the short woman who was driving the cart in the front. "Are you wearing perfume?"
"No... But the widow Beth-Ann lives near here. She's got a huge flower garden. Former apothecary and current herbologist and all that." Their little driver hummed and pointed over to the side of the road where a house was not too far off.
“A former apothecarian? Why would she leave the service to work with plants…” Kaessian murmured, more to himself than anything.
"Oh.. I think you're just smelling the peacebloom." Meghaya nodded, apparently not hearing his question. "It's not usually a heavy scent but with that much of it all together, it's no wonder you're not used to it."
"What is peacebloom?" He asked slowly, trying once again to sit up.
"Did you grow up in Darkshire?" Meghaya looked at him curiously. "Peacebloom are those little white flowers, lots of petals, yellow center. They're used in small amounts to make health potions."
It sounded a bit like daisies, although he didn't know what she meant by a health potion. Maybe she was talking about tea. "Maybe I know it by a different name, different region."
She didn't look convinced, but she nodded in acceptance, offering him a small smile and absently touching his neck to check his pulse and then shifting to do the same with his wrist. He wasn't sure what the difference was but he could feel a warmth pooling against his skin and slowly pressing into his bones, making him feel lethargic. He noticed that Meghaya was sitting up straighter and her fingers stroked up the inside of his arm like she was checking for something odd.
"Something wrong?" He tensed up as her fingers palpated against his inner arm, her brow drawing together in worry.
"There's something in your arm. Has this been broken before and had a plate put in to help it stabilize?" She peeked at him, her fingers glowing softly with holy light.
He was entranced by the sight of the light and almost forgot that he was supposed to answer until she gave him a little squeeze to gather his attention. "It's something like that. I have several pieces inside me that have been put in over time. Enhancements to make sure that I could withstand demons and the like."
"Physical wards inside your body?" She looked disturbed at the thought and grimaced.
"Metal inlay to strengthen my bones and make sure I can handle my armor and weapons."
The explanation didn't seem to make her feel any better and he raised a hand to awkwardly wiggle his fingers, flexing them. "It's natural, where I'm from, to do this. It's necessary. There's nothing really wrong with it. When your body isn't strong enough, you just do what's necessary to bridge the gap.""
"I sincerely hope that you'll excuse me if I don't agree with that." Meghaya winced and shook her head a bit. "As a healer that's not really something that I can consider to be... Natural. To put in metal plates after a break has happened can be normal but as a precursor? The first rule of healing is to be as unobtrusive as possible. To do no harm because any surgery is going to be a traumatic thing to heal through even if it’s a necessary one.”
She spoke to him softly, quietly, and he wondered if this was the same tone that was used around children. The idea made him frown and he cleared his throat, doing his best to sit up further, wanting a physical reminder that he was larger than her. That he was a warrior in the God Emperor’s army and he had earned that spot through vigorous training.
But when he attempted to move, her hand latched onto his shoulder and firmly pressed down, surprising him with her strength as she pushed him to ensure that he was sitting down properly in the cart. He didn’t know if it was her strength or his own weakness at the moment that ensured she was keeping him down, but regardless it shocked him into staying down.
Everything about this place was different than what he was used to. There were similarities, but largely it was as if he'd been spit out into a different reality. But if that has happened then his mind and soul would have been twisted by the warp. He was sure that he would have felt the Chaos gods leeching his soul away from him as his mind broke, if that was the case. There were terms that he knew about, like the apothecarian. The light that the priestess wielded felt much the same as the light of the Emperor, only softer, more forgiving perhaps. There was even something similar in the houses that they passed going down the dirt road towards what he assumed was the abby that the priestess mentioned.
But then there were such differences. Like the young woman with the pink hair who was driving the cart. The flowers in the gardens close by being so abundant that they perfumed the air sweetly and tempted him to forget about his troubles. The sun was warm on his skin and the breeze ruffled through his short cropped hair, making him wrinkle his nose at the brief discomforting feel of it drying the sweat there. He blinked when Meghaya took a bit of pretty fabric from pocket of her robes and started to mop his brow with it.
“That isn’t—“ He started to stutter quietly, a blush rising on his cheeks. Being healed was one thing but he wasn’t used to care so delicately given to him.
“Hush with that.” Meghaya clucked her tongue and checked the pulse at his neck, her brow furrowing slightly. “Your heartbeat is rather faster than average.. Can you remember the colors I told you earlier?”
“White, purple, blue-green, pink.” He recited obediently and was rewarded with her smile. If his hearts were beating quickly before, it was faster now for seeing the sweetness of her lips curving for him.
She seemed to consider something as her fingertips brushed from his throat to his jawline and back towards his ear. He had no idea what she was looking for and he almost wished that he had more wrong with him so she would have to continue to take care of him. It was a ridiculous thought, of course. He needed to be healthy so he could continue to fight in the Emperor’s name and find a way to get back to his brothers.
“Your armor is unique. I’ve never seen anything like it. Was it specially made for you?” Meghaya questioned.
“It’s standard, for me and my brothers.” He spoke in a soft tone, turning his head slightly and studying some of the armored men that stood guard at the walls of the place they were coming near.
He could hear the squeals of children and he felt his hearts jump to his throat as he reached out to the side of the cart to brace himself and tried to look around and see where it was coming from. There was a boy and girl rushing past the cart, barefoot and laughing, liberally coated in dirt like they had been tossing and turning across the grass for who knows how long.
“How far from the fighting are you?” He watched the children race by, swallowing back the lump in his throat. He wasn’t used to any of this. This place was a home, not a hot bed for conflict.
“Not terribly far, if I’m being honest.” Meghaya’s tone was soft and she let her eyes wander to the children. “But the kids all know where the safe areas are. One of the biggest problems here is probably bandits rather than orcs or undead, so it’s safe enough for them to play where they like for the most part.”
“For the most part.” Kaessian frowned at that and watched the way that Meghaya’s grey eyes started to darken.
“For the most part.” She repeated and lifted a hand to wave to the guards at the wall, leaning against the hay when the cart began to turn and reaching to make sure that Kaessian didn’t end up tipping over and tumbling from his spot. “There’s always risks, no matter where you go. It’s just less here than other areas.”
“This place seems so peaceful.” The marine looked down at his hands, still marveling that she’d managed to get him to undo those few pieces in order to look at him closer. Counting the scars that ran across his knuckles and seeing the spots where they had been broken before, he had the urge to hide them away from her soft fingers when she reached out to him.
“You’re not feeling any numbness, right?” Meghaya murmured worriedly.
"It's fine." He looked down at her small fingers.
"The.. the marks on your temple, those are for installations right?" She spoke softly still. "Are those also for fighting demons or is that to help with your health?"
"Connectors, for my helm." He stiffened when her expression changed minutely, not liking the flicker of pity in her grey eyes.
"Has there been a lot done to you so that you can continue to fight?"
The question was so softly spoken and it shouldn't have made him feel angry. He was one of the Emperor's angels, a protector who ensured that the demons were pushed back so that people could live in safety.
"It's not as though upgrading the body is completely unfamiliar." Nevah spoke from the front of the cart. "Some of the warriors of Gnomeregan do something similar. Helps combat against the radiation. Some artificers have gone so far as to have a set up that will feed potions to them as long as they're preselected before leaving base."
"I thought that was still in the experimental phases." Meghaya snapped her gaze over to her friend. "They're just doing it with health potions, right?"
"No… they pushed it through when Minister Scramblepot pledged his funds towards one of Professor Mitnash’s projects.”
For some reason Kaessian couldn’t understand, Meghaya looked furious. Her jaw was clenched and she flexed her fingers like she was itching to dig them into someone and rip someone apart. He watched her cautiously as she turned her head upwards and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
“I only just found out about it this morning.” Nevah admitted with a small wince. “I sort of hoped that we could get some drinks and talk about it after you had a chance to relax. But then our friend here came by…”
“Well, I’d rather know this now rather than finding out the next time I end up going back to Ironforge. Or Light forbid, I find out about it when I head to the church and someone there tells me what the latest advancements are and I’m expected to agree to it all during a mass healing session.” The priestess covered her face and growled softly.
“Sorry this is being put on your plate too.” Nevah was quiet, clicking the reigns and shifting them into one hand as the cart began to pull down a road that presumably led towards an abby.
“I should have known this was going to happen. It just means I’ll have to speak to the Paladins and ensure they know to check over any warriors in their ranks or anyone they come to suspect over uses the potions of enragement.” Meghaya ran her hands down her face and blow out a slow breath, her eyes briefly flicking over to Kaessian.
“What is a potion of enragement?” He asked quietly, relaxing minutely when she sat up straighter, the storm grey of her eyes seeming to lighten.
“It’s a type of narcotic that many warriors tend to turn to for brief boosts of speed and strength. Used sparingly, the negative affects of it can be offset. But if someone decided to take this feed line meant for health potions and decided it would be best used for enragement instead… the benefits pale in comparison to all the detriment it does to the body. Overuse will cause muscle atrophy, which in turn means that you would have to rely on the potions to continue the same of work, and eventually you’d have to use more of it. Which then just causes an oroboros effect. Truthfully, even if it was health or mana potions I would be wary of it because no one has studied any long term affects on humanoids when these things are put directly into the system on a constant drip.” Meghaya explained it, gesturing with her hands for emphasis.
“Would taking too much of these other potions also make your body weaker in time?”
“We don’t know for sure. Potions in general isn’t exactly a new science, but it’s never good to rely on an outside source. We do have studies that show that enragement potions are detrimental, but not health or mana ones. For the moment I would… hesitantly say that those are alright to streamline in seasoned fighters. The problem comes when it’s men like the Minister who want to make money off of these endeavors. Who have stock in potions making and are biased towards pushing it forward for the good of their own pocketbooks.”
“And this other person.. Mitnash? What projects does he have that would make this better or worse?” Kaessian watched the ways that she relaxed, his gaze briefly flicking to their surroundings and pausing when he saw there were orchards around them on the roads.
“That is something I intend to find out.” Meghaya smiled and pushed herself to her knees, raising an arm in the air and waving it to grab someone’s attention.
Turning around to see who she was greeting, Kaessian startled at the sight of a large stone building. There were men practicing drills along the side yard and he watched with curiosity at the fact that they all wore different types of armor. Wielded drastically different weapons even. But they attacked training dummies with precision as a teacher with an old sword explained about how important it was to be able to hit a target without thinking. To move the body automatically and ensure a swift kill. There was a ring set up where some of the men were paired off to duel and none of them seemed to be using their surroundings to their benefit.
“Paladin Gomah, we’re going to need your help with this gentleman’s armor. Demon blood got on it.” Meghaya spoke up.
Looking over at the one that the priestess had spoken to, Kaessian expected to see armor that he was more familiar with. The paladin had silver armor that appeared to be a closer fit than the bulk that he was used to and there was a blue tabbard with gold trim covering it. An embellishment of a lion’s head roaring on the chest. Yet again, it was something similar yet different and Kaessian didn’t know where he stood next to this stranger. They appeared only as tall as the average baseline human, but they apparently took a title of paladin.
“Keep the squires away for now. If you can help Mr. Kaessian out of the cart, I’ll carry the extra pieces of armor.” Meghaya swiftly gathered the gauntlets and helmet that she’d helped him out of earlier and hopped down neatly, her long white hair fluttering slightly from the drop to the ground.
The Paladin looked him up and down and offered just a hand at first, meaning to simply help him up rather than carry his entire weight and Kaessian felt a flash of gratitude that he wasn’t immediately treated as an invalid. He could accept that sort of fussing from the priestess because it was her job to ensure to the health of others. He could hear the lady in the front asking for a stool so she could better reach the horses in order to rub them down. Since everyone seemed to know what they were doing he just had to worry about getting his armor cleaned and figuring out more about where he was.
Putting a hand on the side of the cart, he grunted softly and pushed himself up, accepting the hand that was offered and coming to rest part of his weight against the shorter man. The paladin gave a gruff laugh and muttered something about how he was built like a dwarf before bracing him to get down from the cart. As they walked through the yard to go towards the abby he noted that there were plenty more children there, but also a decent amount of people in training. Further away from the training grounds he could see more farm land, although he didn’t recognize the crops that grew there. He could see some people carrying large baskets full of fruit away from it and his hearts squeezed at the amount of smiles and laughs that came from the populace. There was an ease here that he didn’t know if he could ever get used to. As much as he wanted to leave, however, he also wanted to find his brothers and bring them here.
“Where were you fighting the demons, brother?”
It took Kaessian a moment to realize that the paladin was speaking to him and he blinked at the other man dumbly, his brow furrowed. Someone outside of his own chapter calling him brother was enough of an oddity, but a baseline doing that seemed almost presumptuous. Looking down at the dirt paths that led to the abby, his jaw worked stiffly as he took a slow breath.
“It wasn’t here.” He finally answered, hesitant about who around them would be able to hear him. He knew that he was likely coming off terse and possibly uncooperative, but how did he even start to explain that his wasn’t the world he was from? That the previous planet he had been fighting on was nothing like this one.
“Do you know where you were? Or did you just get shipped out without a warning?” The paladin sounded vaguely upset. “Anything that you can tell us, we need to know. We cannot have trouble brought into Elwynn Forest and it’s surroundings. There are too many of the average citizen here that would not be able to defend themselves from the evil that you and I see.”
“Inside.” Kaessian lowered his voice. “I can report inside, but I must ask you to keep these things silent.”
Paladin Gomah stiffened under his arm and then nodded in acceptance, helping him inside and down a stone hallway that seemed chilled despite how warm it was outside. He could hear footsteps behind him and grit his teeth, not liking that he found it so hard to move now.
“Squire Levin, I’ll require a large basin brought to the first aid room along with some cleansing supplies.” He heard Meghaya’s voice behind him and relaxed minutely, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he knew it was her or because he knew the last pieces of his armor were still close by and he might be able to grab them.
Looking inside the medical room as they came upon it, he was relieved to find that there weren’t any others there save for a couple of nurses. The paladin quietly excused them from the room as he helped Kaessian to sit down and take off the rest of his armor. There was a large wooden apparatus near one of the beds that he couldn’t quite make heads or tails of, but apparently it was made to hold armor because Meghaya started to set some of the pieces on it. Obviously his own armor was too big for it and the paladin chuckled when they needed to use a second piece to hold his gear when he began to carefully strip down to his body suit.
Kaessian avoided Meghaya’s eyes when the ports along his body were unveiled. The paladin, at least, seemed to understand the need for them and didn’t look upset. Since he knew that someone would be coming with a basin, he was quiet and thought about what he could say to make it sound somewhere closer to normal or sane for these folks. His mouth was dry and he let his fingers clench on his knees, staring down at the stones as the very air around him seemed to vibrate with tension. His forearms trembled and he forced his hands to press together quickly, wanting to cut off any signs of anxiousness that someone could try to take advantage of.
From the corner of his eye he could see that Meghaya was treating his helm as if it was something easily broken, a cloth in one hand and some type of solvent being pressed into the fabric before wiping down his armor. It was something that he should have been doing and he would have felt guilty if not for the fact that he saw her lips moving in prayer as she did the work. He would go over it later, to be sure, but he was fairly certain that she wasn’t going to do any harm to the ceramite.
He saw that the paladin was speaking quietly to the squire from before and ran his hand across his short white hair, wincing when he realized just how greasy it had gotten from being inside for a long period of time. If he could be allowed some privacy once the questioning was done, he was going to take a hot shower and hopefully rid himself of some of the taint of self hatred that clung to him like a second skin.
“I should warn you that what I’m about to tell you will be rather shocking. But I think that I can say with some certainty that the things that I have been fighting will not show up here. I believe that if that was the case, they would have already been in that same area that I was when the Lady Meghaya found me.” Kaessian began in a quiet tone, not wanting his words to drift beyond the stone walls.
For whatever reason, Meghaya looked uncomfortable and shook her head slightly. “Sister, if you please. Not Lady.”
Kaessian nodded in acceptance, his lips twitching minutely in what could have been a smile. “Of course. Sister.”
She must have taken some sort of vows when she became a priestess for her to only wish to accept the title of Sister. And unlike when the paladin called him Brother, to call her this didn’t feel like it was holding a larger weight to it.
“Please, I ask that you try to keep an open mind. Where I am from.. I believe that it is far from here. None of this is at all familiar.” He spoke in hushed tones, looking from the paladin to the Sister. “The look of your world. The feel of it. It’s completely unknown to me, and I hope you will not think me a madman. I… come from the stars.”
He didn’t know if he should feel relieved when they simply nodded along as he spoke or if he should scream because they didn’t really react at all. They had to think him someone ready for an asylum. They were simply keeping calm so as not to upset him and have him strike out at them. His teeth grit hard and he began to push up from his position, ignoring the pain in his side as he did so.
“You must believe me!”
“Quiet down.” An unfamiliar voice boomed from the doorway.
Standing next to a tiny squire was a man with skin that was a warm rich brown. That alone wouldn’t have thrown him. But the eyes that pierced through him and caused him to sit back down heavily were a sharp shade of red that caught everything.
“Brother Gideon, thank you for coming to join us.” Paladin Gomah sighed in relief.
Gideon let his gaze shift from Kaessian over to the armor stand that Meghaya was slowly working with and the pieces that were being cleaned. Seeing the black and white checker pattern made him pause first. He craned his neck to be sure he was seeing the blood droplet properly on the shoulder and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Damn. I guess that means we’re stuck here.” The Salamander muttered.