Event: Winged Comet

[Indivar]

It didn't start off as a dangerous situation. At least, not anymore dangerous than normal.

The Winds weren't something Indivar frequented, typically not worth the exertion and the turbulence of use. But he was tired, and his wanderings -- the search for his siblings disguised as helpful meandering across Askavi -- had lead him farther afoot than he'd anticipated. He was aching and wanted very desperately to go home and bathe and make further inroads with his neighbors.

So the Winds it was.

The few times he'd had to use them had made him roughly familiar with what to expect: the choppiness, the nausea, the feeling like he might rattle apart at any moment if he changed any part of how he was handling the Green. Barely dark enough to risk it in the first place, it was sure to leave him wearier than when he'd started, for all it got him home faster.

Maybe, if he had been more focused, he would have sensed the pulling, rippling cascade that rose up behind him and overtook him, maybe he would have been able to drop free before he was subsumed. But he wasn't, and he didn't, and instead a seething wave of power crashed against him, picking him up and flinging him along the Wind. It was instinct that tightened his shield around him, that threw up further layers beneath the shaking Green as he struggled against the power -- so much of it, and terrifying -- fighting to descend.

It was like falling from the air but a thousand times worse, mind reeling, senses straining for anything that might mean 'freedom!' in that moment.

He drained his Green to half before stowing it, falling back into Summer-sky. The transition rattled his teeth in his head so hard he bit through the skin of his cheek, mouth full of blood as he was flung and spun in the nothingness.

The wave subsided, Indivar left in a disoriented free fall while he struggled to breathe, exhausted.

A free fall that he didn't realize was real until the whistling of actual air by his ears and through his hair pierced the swimming fog in his brain. The sky swung around him as he tumbled, city above, blue below, blue above, city below, and he thought he was screaming, crying out across the psychic threads of the Green in terror but he couldn't be sure. Summer-sky shuddering with exertion, he wrapped one last shield around himself before he crashed into the closest building.


Yelling. A language he didn't know. Common, with an accent he hadn't heard in a century. Panic rising up in him, visceral and numbing. The world swum as he stood, figures barely distinguishable from rubble. One arm and the wing on the same side limp, unmoving. Panic rising to a fever pitch.

Something reached for him, and he was slicing through it before he could think, blinking at red wetness fanning across his side. Screaming then, and the mobile wing mantled. There was blood in his mouth and down half his face, and he tried to send across the Summer-sky but he only succeeded in worsening the drumbeat in his own head. The ring of people around him shifted and wavered, and more cries of pain, more aggression, and the Green was back on his hand, responding to his fear, the disorientation. Something cracked, rubble fell, and at the same time pain shot up his back, staggering him to kneel.

*Stop, please!* Ripped from him, wide and hurting, but the pain didn't recede even though he could feel responding cries from the people around him. There were more strikes, in front of and behind him, and more cries that he caused, attacking out without accuracy, before exhaustion and blood loss washed darkness across him.



Psychic pain rushed from the Territory Seat, reaching for miles. Those close spread word quickly of the calamity: a surge of power so strong it had shaken homes apart and rippled the roads like waves, toppling businesses, trapping families, starting fires; a dark figure that appeared in the sky miles above the hill and its unmitigated decent until it hit the uppermost building. Further spikes of psychic rage and mangled cries from the crash site as, mangled, the buildings collapsed.

Along the border the rippling earth spread, sending the lake into a frenzy, shredding farms and homes, turning roads jagged and treacherous. The farther from the border the less the overall fluctuation appeared; instead sinkholes began to open intermittently in the farther reaches of Dhemlan, large enough to swallow a person or destroy a building. Meanwhile, passage through the mountains strangled to nothing by fallen rocks and debris clogging passage ways. All eyes turn toward the smoking Territory Seat.

[Eunji Khal]

"Step aside." Her voice pierced a wall of male flesh. Bristling tempers swirled around her. Craft ruptured against shields. Or ruptured the shields themselves. It made the air smell strange, and caused Eunji to speak with a tongue that tingled. The words stuck to the roof of her mouth, and her lips thrummed. Yet she stood calm beneath the wild glares that darted across her body and searched her face.

Serenity, she spoke softly with her body. Serenity, she embodied. Standing still, perhaps even tall, hands folded at her waist as if she was awaiting the serving of tea. Or at the door of a friends quarters. This was just another sort of audience. The blood did not matter, nor the angry Green power lashing the room. For the people dead and dying, Eunji did not cry. Lifting her gaze, Eunji shed demure for demanding.

"Step. Aside." It was agony. Not her words, though Eunji did not care for repeating herself. It caused her no pain to ask them to do something so against their nature. But she recognized the emotion that filled the eyes that met her own. The painful stiffening of shoulders as they edged away. The wall of flesh broke, but the shields remained. Eunji imaged their souls cried out.

But they did as she bid them, and she was pleased. "Thank you."  Sometimes it was best to let them think they'd had a choice in the matter. It helped them to forget that they could just as easily over power her with their Jewels as they were trying to do with the comet that had fallen through the roof.

Eunji would bend low and praise and thank Mother Night for allowing her to be the first on this scene. The men mattered less, not at all that they were truly the firsts. She was the only queen in the room, which meant all of this chaos belonged to her. To be spun as she chose.

Her slippers squelched uncomfortably in the blood pooling on the floor. Eunji did not look at the bodies. She kept herself pointed carefully forward. One steady step at a time, allowing them to shift and settle around her. Temper crawling up her skin and along her psyche. Eunji refused to acknowledge a lack of skill in settling it. She would lead by example. Example would be enough.

"Peace." She spoke to them, flinching at the wash of Green that cried out along her barriers. A half dozen shields rushing forward to protect her from its momentum. Eunji spread her palms outward, arms stretching into the air alongside her hips. "Peace." Was it worth the risk? She examined the Eyrien, for Eyrien he was. Big and be-winged.

One side of him sagged strangely. Wounded, Eunji assumed, looking up at the broken rafters. Wounded, surely. Unkempt, even without the gore coating him. "Warlord," she spoke to him, barried parting just enough. Probes cautious as she reached out to him. Let her caste be the anchor point, even if their people were enemies. Stray dogs could be turned to guardians with the right handling.

Eunji was sure she could turn this disaster to her advantage.

Mourning the ruin of a good dress, she lowered herself to his level. Resting her weight deeply into her feet so that she did not sway. Knees drawn toward her chest, she leaned forward, holding out placating hands. Behind her, the waves of her skirts soaked up the blood on the floor. The hem in the front doing the same, falling straight down her knees and into the gore.

"Peace, lord. Attend me." He was Blood, for all he was of one of the bestial, lesser races. "I am the lady Eunji. Let me be your friend. My men will not harm you, if you but stop lashing out at them." She knew they look askance at her. Felt their eyes all down her back and up her sides. *We must contain him without murdering him. He has answers I want. Control yourselves.* She cautioned those closest to her. Knowing they would die to bend the others to her will.

"Will you attend?" She asked the Eyrien, feeling the power of other queens creeping into the room. The warm, calming swath of their power. Eunji wished she could shut them out, but she would let them settle the tempers for her, all without releasing her prize from her clutches. She had been here first. He was hers now. She might even be able to use him to rebuild the throne he'd so kindly broken for her.

She could feel the world changing, just as it had when Witch had died. Eunji was not one to turn away from opportunity.

[Indivar]

Colors swam in and out of focus, blurry and thick. The voices had trailed off into distant rumbling, and he could feel the clouds of their emotions. Anger, fear, indecision and more, bursting in fractals, scraping like sand against his skin.

He hated that he was kneeling. Hated that his arm needed to be held against his chest, that his one wing sagged against the rubble while the other fought to stay flared. The blood on his face was tacky, and he had a brief, terrible thought that it was going to be a bitch to wash out if he didn't shave.

It was into this muted hysteria that the ripple spread, starting beyond Indivar's limited sight. Unease, confusion, frustration, and the slow wash of a psychic scent: Queen. Tucked behind the the shifting shields, Craft stretching to accommodate. Moving toward him, weaving through the gore. He couldn't make out the details of her - slim, delicate, dark haired. Her face swam before him, above him, all eyes and the slash of color at her mouth. A voice, her voice, speaking to the circle, words muddied while Indivar tried to focus.

And then speaking to him, and he couldn't stop the roiling hate that bared his teeth and tilted him away from her, wing fanning for balance. But the Green came back too, reluctantly. Instinct, memory, training, all stamped unmistakably by Dhemlanese hands, made the potential danger to her equally distasteful as her found her to be.

He shuddered at her probe, drawing back from her mentally while he couldn't physically, for all the stinging pain kept him in place. Eyes narrowed, squinting to draw her into focus. The thrumming in his head made his teeth ache.

Gaze following as she knelt, flickering to the hostile shapes of the soldiers beyond her. Folding in on herself, smaller and smaller, and his hackles began to settle. Her scent drifting over the blood with her hands.

And then Protocol like a firm push between his shoulders, straightening him against the aches. Fuck, Darkness be-damned woman. Friend she said, with the blood of her people around them and her bristling guard dogs waiting beyond that.

But the Green was a weight on his hand, the jewel hungry for more than he had, certainly more than he could maintain. He shifted, settling slightly, wing folding slowly, both from the pain and as a deliberate act, the control of his choice. There was no guarantee that the ring around them wouldn't tighten, that he wouldn't be dead the moment she stood clear of him. He debated using her as a shield but balked immediately. It would be pointless, and he'd definitely die. That was a tactic they would have encouraged.

Little choice at all.

A shift came over the guards, emotions fluttering, as more Queens entered the room. His attention, less fuzzy without the active drain of his Green, split to flicker of the new arrivals, then back to the lady - Eunji's - face. There was no scrubbing the immense hate from him, but he tempered it as best he could. Civil, he could be civil. If this woman offered a chance to save his life and get out of this pit, he'd take it.

He slid down from the Green, falling into the softer warmth of his Summer-sky. It was like a weight lifted from his chest, even as he balked at the idea of not having his Descent for defense. But the Lady was lighter than he was, and he wasn't sure by how much. His Birthright was the safer bet. *I will attend*, he sent, shifting his grip on his arm to hold it better against his chest. Better to risk a few more moments living than bring death closer on dumb impulse.

[Eunji Khal]

He did not like her. One good wing quivering in the air like a warning. Teeth bared in the same. Eunji did not react, eyes flicking from face to wing then back again. Their people had been enemies for many centuries. His hate, if that was what it was, was a natural consequence. Excepted, really. The Eyriens were foolish and uncouth. They never had understood the glory Dhemlan could have led them to if they had only submitted.

Face stoic, Eunji exhibited no fear. Or remorse. She was the calm stone at the center of the swirling maelstrom of male emotions. The eye of the storm. She bore it with grace. Patiently waiting for the Eyrien to choose his course. Death, surely, should he defy her. A chance at life should he attend. The request was really that simple. All he had to do was attend. Eunji would figure out the rest.

Behind her the men grew restless. Frightened by the Green clenched in the warlord's hand. Tormented by her nearness to the beast. Eunji ignored their distress. Their emotions were base, often useful but troublesome tools. A distraction to the current dilemma between herself and the Eyrien. He had a choice to make. A very important choice, and Eunji needed him to decide a very particular way if she was going to make any use of him.

With calming craft at her back, the room settled. Even the Eyrien settled. A queen was  queen, no matter where she came from, and their craft commanded all. Tongue at the hard edges of her teeth, Eunji had to navigate carefully, the skin at the corners of her eyes tightening as the Green vanished and the warlord grew more restful. It wouldn't do to lose him to a poaching queen.

She was quick to react once he had chosen. "Very good." With the decision made, Eunji stood, back straight and shoulders square. Behind her the room rippled. Some faces turning away, to other queens, called to service elsewhere. But those closest set their gaze on the sharp relief of her shoulder blades. Or the bloodied figure of the Eyrien in front of her.

Eunji held out her hand. "Come then, warlord." She'd need to stake her claim. A gesture with her other hand, fingers barely moving, tightened the ring around them, like a noose drawing tight. "Help him up if he can not stand." Her hand still offered should he wish to take it. Eunji would be unlikely to able to bare his weight, but it would solidify their new partnership. Like a handshake.

With an Eyrien. Internally, Eunji sighed. But perhaps with this winged beast she could make some advancement she might have otherwise.

[Indivar]

Even with the flaring fuzz of pain, Indivar found himself scrutinizing the Queen's face. He had to lock the memory away for later, to turn over with a clearer head, to pick apart and gain all that he could from it.

He'd flown himself into a snake pit and dashed himself against the walls. Now he had to climb out.

Such particular and pointed attention from anyone else might have mad him flush, embarrassment or nerves at home on his face. No such unease occupied hers, even with the shifting, volatile emotions around them, the snapping vitriol of his own temper as he worked to wrangle it. He didn't know if he appreciated the lack of her own calming push or not, when the Queens around them were so easy to detect. It was only Indivar's own roiling anger and pain, and her unmoved, patient gaze.

He tracked her as she stood, even as the room followed her cue, dividing attentions. He made note of those who did not, feeling out to see what he could gauge of their strengths, but finding the mire of feelings too much. A spike in his aching head narrowed his eyes further, but he tucked it away behind assessing her as she stood. Not as small as she'd appeared, he decided. Taller than he'd expected but still narrow, like a hairpin blade.

Her hand hovered in front of him, baring his narrow eyed assessment. At least the Summer-sky had gotten him a response, even if he was too muddled to suss out much else. *Indivar, Lady,* he replied, shifting feet and knees to ease rising. He placed his hand in hers enough for the effect of contact while baring most of his weight himself.

*May I ask, Lady,* he grit, *where will you be taking me.* Not trying to make it a question, even though he knew being genteel would likely smooth the way some. He'd try a little harder, perhaps, outside of the range of the ring of guards. For now, wings angled as best he was able to alleviate the hurt, he did his best to seem... middling. Not small, not helpless, but not the immediate threat he a little bit wanted to be.

[Eunji Khal]

Eunji was used to being observed. The scrutiny of an attention's center was a sensation she had long grown used to. In truth, she expected it from many. Without it, many of her plans would have failed. It was part and parcel with her caste, and her place as a ruling queen, rather than a failed contender waiting patiently in the wings for luck to hopefully bring something more fruitful.

She could not imagine any queen being content to simply serve.

He looked, and Eunji looked steadily back. She wondered how much calculation lived behind his eyes. Mostly she sensed from him pain and fear, underlain with aggression. She did not delve too far, not wishing to invite him further into her barriers where he might pry her apart with his Green. Nor was she ready to test the waters of an Eyrien mind in so public a place. She had heard strange rumors about the way they worked on the inside.

As different as they appeared on the out.

*Indivar.* Eunji confirmed for him privately. Behind her the room rearranged itself. He noticed it, Eunji saw. His eyes leaving her to trace the fracturing of the males. Each one drawn to a particular queen. Some to none at all, they simply awaited orders from whoever would dare to take the reins. Eunji's own built a wall around them. Pinning queen and Eyrien alike between themselves and the devastated throne.

She heard one of the other lady's address her from across the room. Even as Indivar finally rose himself, hand fitting briefly with hers. "What have you there, Lady Eunji?" A smile flickered at the corners of Eunji's lips. What had she indeed? She was not yet quite sure. But certainly she had something. "A wounded Eyrien. He seems to have fallen from the sky to frighten our men." Eunji replied blithely. As if Eyriens often fell from the sky just for fun.

Releasing his hand, Eunji tucked her own back beneath the other. They rested together between the cradle of her hips. Holding in the greasy squirm contact created in her stomach. She was also not found of petting hounds for much the same reaction. Behind her there were shocked gasps and small sounds of outrage. A flurry of questions rose in the air like an angry flock of birds.

Eunji ignored them

"To the healers." Eunji answered Indivar's silent question and prepared her men at the same time. A faint dip of her head setting them into motion. *Beside me, please.* She instructed the Eyrien. Turning, Eunji lead the way out of the room, her men hemming them in and keeping the others out. Their ears as deaf to the questions and demands that followed them.

No one ruled the capitol at the moment. Eunji was sure it left her free to do as she pleased. And at the moment, it was to leave everyone guessing.

[Indivar]

The shifting crowd made him want to reach back for the Green, but he stifled it. Looked down at her before his gaze cut to the woman who called out to his... well. Whatever Lady Eunji happened to be. Deterrent, as long as she stood between him and everyone else. He glared, and watched the fuzzy crowd ripple, the advancing guards prickling forward instead of away.

Watched the way her words affect the mass - because that was what it had become, either due to blood loss or whatever head injury was maligning him. People shaped smudges of color in varying heights stood between him and the door. He flared his wing, squared his shoulder, bared his teeth in something barely masquerading as a smile. A wounded Eyrien indeed.

He dismissed their tittering, their angry fluttering at whatever their perceived offense was from her words. But didn't ignore the idea of a Healer in his future, even a Dhemlanese one. He'd had them in Witch's employ, and could suffer them again. Even as he bristled and then soothed himself at the ring of guards that adjusted around them. Didn't balk at the order trussed up like a request. He vowed to be good, so long as it served to be so. The anger was already exhausting, the pain numbing, and all indivar wanted, very badly, was to sleep. *Of course* he replied. *Everywhere else is quite sharp.*

Instead, he followed the lady and her armored entourage down halls and around corners that he was quickly unable to keep track of. He couldn't even take in the foreign architecture, too preoccupied with maintaining enough distance that he didn't tread on Eunji's dress or jostle one of the encroaching guards.



If the little team of Healers that Lady Eunji lead him to had been alerted to his arrival before he appeared at their door, they certainly didn't act like it. Healers and apprentices alike went through shocked stillness in varying intensities, and one of the younger ones dropped something glass that another immediately vanished.

Had he been more of a mind to try and translate the Dhemlanese that filled the air immediately after, he might have tried. As it was, he slid into the room while Eunji sallied forward, her guards splitting between the hall and strategic points against the walls.

Whatever conversation was had, it ultimately resulted in Indivar perching awkwardly at the edge of a hastily cleared table while one of the senior Healers began to pass her hands over him. Perhaps she was the most senior, or the most willing to prove herself - she definitely barked orders he wasn't paying attention to with the tone of someone who was used to being obeyed. Two more subordinates were swift to join her side, doing... healing things, Indy guessed. He just tried to make his wings as pliant as possible for when they decided to brave shifting them.

*I can't imagine,* he sent, as privately and as whisper-like as he could be while feeling like a sieve with a pounding headache, *that this will be the last stop before I'm put on a wagon and sent back to Askavi.* The entire situation was unprecedented, and Indivar was simultaneously grateful for and regretful of his lack of political connections. On the one hand, he had no leverage, no names to drop. On the other, no one would be making any dumb decisions about getting him back, because no one knew where he was. None of the people in the room likely knew that, which just served to make him further aware of his precarious position. He could end up in a cell for the rest of his life, or worse, and only his neighbors might mark the absence. *What's the purpose of this?*

[Areum Khim]

She was late. Of course she was late. They had just arrived in the capital the night prior and she was exhausted. Areum had looked forward to a hot bath before working her way through the upper echelons of rulers. She was content with ruling Anahi. Content with her wilds, horses, and lack of putting on the full show of court might and carefully couched words. Areum had just woken up; the thin trail of drool along her cheek marking where her slumber had dipped beyond simple rest into near comatose.

'Damn, damn, damn' The chant echoed in her brain, beating like a drum in timing with the migraine that had formed after that scream that echoed over the psychic webs and tore through the earth. No matter her hair was bristled in its braid or that her dress was still wrinkled and unpressed, or that her shoes didn't match. Instead, she found herself rushing out towards the courtyard in disarray towards where the explosion had struck.

Fear echoed over the crowds and for a moment Areum worried they were under attack. Worried the Eyriens finally were organized enough to raid this far into Dhemlan in vengeance for Witch and for her people occupying their lands. A worry she swallowed away as she worked her way towards the emptied crater. People murmuring as the little queen worked her way through. No matter her circle wasn't with her; or that she was left undefended.

Gently she pushed out a sense of calm using her Purple Dusk to enhance it enough to effect those around her. Just enough to turn the confused and conflicting babble into something discernible. Not that the snippets of conversation she heard meant much. They were too jumbled and discordant to come together into any sort of logical sense. Finally she caught the attention of an older warlord. Her expectant gaze leading enough she supposed to earn his slight bow of recognition.

"What happened here?" She motioned with her hand towards the man sized hole in the ground. The cracks radiating out told the story of a hard and potentially fatal hit if shields had not sufficiently held. What depth of craft could swallow sort of impact?

"An Eyrien fell from the sky, Lady. The other Queen took him to the healers at her orders." The response at least gave her something to stand on. Later she would task Aera and Jaeong into searching the crowd for further details. Later being operative as they at least deserved to get their full rest and grooming in. Well, some being the operative word depending on how this Queen was staffed for healers. Her own being well versed with the Eyrien form and able to be summoned at her need.

"Would you be so kind as to guide me the direction they went?" Areum left her request loose. Open enough the warlord could wriggle out of it and yet firm enough to be clear his refusal would be noted. With no ruler in the city and all the queens jockeying for power it was a hard path for many of the males and witches living and working in the city to balance courtesy and stepping on the potentially wrong toes. His slight bow and step back told her that he was going to play at safe.

"Of course. I do understand. I am certain I can guess the direction..." It shouldn't be too hard. Just follow the wake of confused and alarmed citizens. A hand rose to her throbbing temple as it were. The psychic echoes reaching out from the male's pain upon impact. A pain that had her biting her tongue to ignore before she sighed.

"Someone get a Black Widow out here to clean up the residue. The previous court no doubt had several on employ." That command given seemed to help restore some order and in doing so obscured the direction of said wounded Eyrien and the other queen who had him. Would this be a mark against her for the upcoming petition to rule? She wrote it off quickly. Establishing order was her first priority. She served Dhemlan not herself and not her quest for authority.

"Also, have a crew come out to start clearing the debris and filling that hole after it is cleansed. " Things they would have eventually thought of then passed off as someone else's job. Now it would get done and gave those around something to focus their minds on. Her decades of ruling at least giving her that much knowledge in how people, much less the Blood, operated in times of crisis.

Another sigh passed her lips before she finally decided the best course of action and asked for directions to the infirmary. At best she would find the fallen male and mystery queen, at worst she would at least get her headache soothed. Off on her next snipe hunt and with hopes for relief and possibly some coffee. A little frown crossed her lips as she caught the tip of her braid in one hand fishing out a piece of straw caught in one of the plaits. A silent curse formed on her lips; a great way to showcase she wasn't just some wild-woman from out in Anahi. Just perfect.

[Jaeong Rihm]

The male echo rode over the webs smashing like a hammer upon his shields and then reverberated therein. Eyes flashed open even as he felt the thumping in his mind play over and over and yet he drew himself out of his bed.  A groan left his lips as his palm touched to his brow before he jumped up to his feet.  The sheet and comforter slipped from his trim and lithe body, stripped bare from slumber before his hand reached out.  Clothing snapped upon his form even as he let the gentle pressure of his jewels reach over to fix the clothing on him.

A ripple wove over him as his clothing slicked into place.  Wrinkles removed and a faint shine taking to his shoes as he took off in a brisk lope.  The feline like movements drawing his attention towards that singular beacon of His echoing in his mind, overriding the faint pain from the echoed scream that tore through the webs.

There was no wasted movements, his presence drawing people out of his way effortlessly as he came forward into the crowd of gawkers that happened to be surrounding his Queen.  That was a poor place to be in his mind, and yet he pressed himself through without issue. He was drawing ever closer, his pace not slowing til he found her within his gaze, just a few paces ahead of him as he finally slipped into a graceful walk.

The echo of her Purple Dusk washed over him and yet he continued forward, there was no confusion and distress within him.  Thus the need for a sense of calm wasted and yet not if everything else around him was as effected from the event as the confusion seemed to prove.  He came closer just as her voice rung out, asking about what had transpired, though the man sized hole was rather impressive to say the least.  The speed in which what ever had hit the ground was moving, all that came to mind was Ouch.

The faint echo of his own jewels reached out to brush the trace of saliva from her cheek as he stepped in place just behind her.  Her clothing smoothing out and the wrinkles erasing themselves as he let the explanation fall in place.  A damned Eyrien crash landed. While the question to ask if the body was still intact came to mind, he managed to keep himself from asking.

Outside of the soothing of clothing, and adjustment of her presence he kept himself just out of reach allowing her the moment to question and inquire though ultimately he fell in step a touch further allowing a faint trace of fingers upon her lower back to make sure her notice of him was taking place, "My Queen." he stated simply, letting his head tilt curiously as he turned in line to moving towards the infirmary, "Shall I accompany you or do you need me elsewhere during all this... mess?" he questions simply, uncertain if he should attempt to start organizing the clearing of the crash though the psychic echoes wouldn't be something that his craft would be properly placed against. 

[Eunji Khal]

Eunji did not have the chance to study their new guest as she would have liked while they walked. She was careful to keep herself a step ahead, to lead and let him follow. Her eyes focused forward while her attention extended like a ripple outward. Probes lapping like waves, they washed against her men. Brushed against Indivar. And sought out what lay beyond the barrier of her people.

But watching and chasing outside threats was not her job. The males around her would see to that. They would mind any who followed. Would temper any threat. Break any attack. Eunji trusted them to do their duty, and it left her free to think. About the Eyrien who slowed their pace. The future before them and the ways he might affect it. And how Eunji might use all of this to her advantage.

She had not brought her whole court with her, so she did not have her own healer in residence. Those of the court that remained would have to do. Her men were familiar with the layout, of course. It was standing orders to know all places their queen took residence in. Eunji did not like surprises, unless they were of her own making. So finding the infirmary was not something she had to worry about.

But apparently healers who knew how to deal with Eyriens was. Broken glass. Half formed panic. Their reaction was not wholly surprising, but still frustrating. Eunji expected more aplomb from healers. They were suppose to be used to crisis. This one just happened to have an extra set of appendages. *A good host always sees to the comfort of their guests.* Eunji felt no pity for either party. The dejected Eyrien perched awkwardly on an examination bed, or the healers who seemed to be terrified of his wings.

One had taken charge. Older and less shaken than the rest. But she seemed set on ignoring the limp wing in favor of other parts. At least she did not treat it like a barbed and poisoned weapon. Small mercies, Eunji supposed. *I do not know if carts are currently taking passage to Askavi.* She continued, tightening the wavering thread Indivar extended. Grateful he did not use his Green. Hopeful he was too weak to bring it to bear with any force.

Something nagged at her. The feel of a hound on the trail. A whisper of psyches. And something else. A memory. Letters. Petitions. Rumors. Eunji aligned her thumbs. Measuring them against each other in an old gesture of thought. The left was just slightly longer. "What about that girl?" She asked the room, breaking the flurry of work and whispers between the healers. Everyone looked at her. "I know she is residence here. The Eyriens held her captive during the war to exploit her abilities. She is a healer of some experience, is she not? Experience with wings?"

Eunji gestured coolly to Indivar, to the wing that hung sadly, though his arm appeared to be in much better shape now. She raised one eyebrow, and then nodded crisply as one of her men supplied the name she was looking for. Had he seen the letters too? She knew she had spoken of them on occasion to her people. "Send for Nian-zhen." She commanded. One man stepped out to see to the job. Eunji looked at the door, lips pursed. *He is fetching a healer with more experience with Eyriens. Your wing looks terrible. Is there much pain?*

One did not need to be sympathetic to be seen as such. Eunji schooled her features. Brow slightly furrowed, mouth soft. Worry, but not fear. Eunji squared her shoulders, but did not bristle. *They are to be admitted, if they should ask.* She told her men quietly. *We are not here to fight our own people.* She reminded them.

[Areum Khim]

Tension relaxed from her shoulders as Jaeong joined her. The gentle feathering of his psychic probe enough to put her at ease. Her head still pounded from the psychic backlash and screaming of the winds; but she could relax her guard a little with at least part of the way. Her clothing, hair, and even the drool mark gone with the tender caress of his craft. Her wry gaze told that she noticed his subtle attempts to make his Queen appear a little more refined. A teasing smile touched her lips as she lifted the hem of her dress enough to show the two different colored shoes. At least both were court shoes and not leaving her lop sided with a riding boot and a court shoe or slipper.

"Attend with me if you please Prince. Though put a call out for Aera to meet us at the Territory Court infirmary; my head is pounding and that is where the Eyrien was taken. Our healer can aid with both." Plotting beyond that was not something she could get her mind to focus more on. She just needed to make certain this male would be healed and returned to his people. Anahi was the first on the border, the first place that would feel the after effects of Eyrien displeasure of this other Queen poked at that beehive.

Areum wanted to establish trade, to figure out solid peace treaties that had once been enjoyed for centuries. The Purple-dusk Queen did not relish the idea of war. This other queen left too many questions unanswered. Too many possibilities of things going wrong; of escalating what they had barely torn back from the teetering chasm of further war. The main reason she had even let herself be swayed to come to the capitol. The only reason she was there to contend for a throne she previously had no interest in.

"This turn concerns me. Raining down Eyrien males is not typical weather patterns and concerns me that further war may be on our horizon. This needs be handled correctly and I do not know the other queen who arrived in advance to the scene. It is my fault for being so uninformed about the current political climate here." She would accept the failing completely. Decades had been spent trying to blunt her family's influence at her court. Decades that saw shifts and changes in power at the core of the territory she was left unaware of in the wilds of Anahi.

Her hand lightly moved to Jaeong's wrist. Giving him proper accordance to escort her to the infirmary. WIth luck Aera would be there waiting; however unlikely it was that something as mercurial that luck would work with her.  It would lend both validity to her own needs for a healer but also allow Aera to ensure the healing was done correctly. That there were plans to send him home rather than worse for the male. She couldn't allow further risk of war. Not when her people, her province, were in the direct line of fire.

"Once we see the territory court healers, I want you and Aera to put your ear to the ground to find out what we can of this other queen and the current situation found here." Jaeong was new to her court; mostly unknown despite the years he had served. For Areum it was enough he was hers in only the way a bonded warlord prince could be. A cherished part of her first circle and she trusted him implicitly.
 

[Aera Minji]

Certainly everyone felt it. As she had gotten to her feet and hastily pulled hair back into a chignon at the nape of her neck, soft rabbit paced feet had her dressing and moving towards what she felt. If it had been their province, Aera wouldn't have bothered to dress to the extent she did but who knew how many were hurt or wounded. It was as if a little voice within was a taskmaster with the whip. Move faster, dress, faster, everything faster Aera

Had she been so deep into her thoughts that she had missed Aerum's call? She doubted it in the highest degree. The fact that she hadn't heard from her though was just another log on the raging fire within herself to find out what had happened. Feet scurried down and out towards were people were gathering. Whispers and hushed conversations taking her to where she knew she'd soon be beckoned but before she could go there she had to find Aerum and make sure she was ok. Of course finding Jaeong in decent condition would also be acceptable but Aerum was and always be her first priority. Like some overprotective Auntie, Aera had to know that she was in good health before she could attend to others.

It was Jaeong she saw first and if Jaeong was there, he would be faithfully attending Aerum. That still Aera's worrying mind enough she could stop hot footing it through the places like her ass was on fire. Her steps slowed to a more steady pace as she came to them. "What happened? It felt like a small earthquake but through everything. I was worried about you Aerum. You weren't in your room and you shouldn't be wandering without me or at least Jaeong." A gentle reminder that she might be Aerum's Court Healer but beyond this, she was her elder cousin and felt a grave sense of duty to protect her younger cousin and Queen.

As per her usual Aera went from prodding Aerum to doing her duties, "You don't seem hurt so I assume you will need me to assist with others? Whom is hurt and where should I go?" Small talk could be for tea, not for instances of unrest. Whether Aerum thought she had the fortitude to be a Territory Queen or not, Aera had ever confidence that she could and should hold that seat. Level head and endless love for her people, Aerum would be best suited. Her job here was not only to help heal but to ensure that Aerum looked like the Queen doing the most and the best suited. Let it be adoration for her Queen that elevated her above those jockeying for the prime seat but not so overt that poor relations with other Queen would ensue. With Aera's wide knowledge of how to heal, even with her lighter jewel she could be an asset in healing others.

[Nian-zhen Huang]

Chaos. Glorious, fortuitous chaos. If that was not proof Mother Night smiled on her state then Nian-zhen did not know what was. After weeks of being ignored she now had a platform to showcase her true worth! She rose to the occasion without hesitation. Shoes tossed on at the first rumble in the Winds. Fleet steps bringing her through the damaged city and up to the crumbling Territory Seat in a few haggard breaths. Before the guards had fully descended on the site of impact she had sectioned off a first floor gallery as a triage area. The infirmary must be reserved for surgery and the highest ranking casualties. A space for the lesser would be appreciated, and Nian-zhen was in the business of pleasing. Her entire reason for being in the city was to impress the right queen.

She just had to do the impressing blindly, since no specific queen had been decided in her mind. The one that noticed, that would be the one worth serving.

”We must have a curtain here to keep the sunlight from burn victims,” She told a young man standing at the ready. The beacon of her power lightly marking the room called in healers and helping hands of every sort. She did not have the magnetic grace of the queens that hovered in other areas of the building- being useless in her opinion- but she did have a voice that suggested command. In a panic, a calm voice above the rabble was all it took to find oneself in charge. Years serving in war hospitals gave Nian-zhen that suretiy in her tone. ”We need a ladle for this water bucket and more clean bandages. Sheets will do if none can be spared from the infirmary.” Her instructions came between short spans of healing. Opal fanning out to find the worst cases and see them paired with capable healers.

It was her plan to stay there, choosing the patients that would bring her the most glory in healing while the rest were doled out among the healers of lesser drive. This was her hospital blooming into life as crushed soldiers and hysterical courtesans were carted in. Someone would want to claim her initiative as their own stroke of brilliance. This was the first step on her rise back to rank.

And she was right. Red lips tugging into a one sided smile she listened intently to the guard that asked for her by name; hands busy in the chest of an elderly, but still important, general that had found himself split open by a falling tower. ”Of course I will attend the lady immediately.” She assured him, another healer was beckoned over, her course of treatment for the general detailed carefully so that the old man could hear her speak it aloud. ”And do not forget that our honored guest deserves consistent management of his pain.” She ended before turning on a bright blue heel.

The hallway seemed to grow in her subdued haste to reach the royal infirmary. She had been inside before, in years passed when she was a favorite instead of tolerated. The room had not changed in the least. Except that now a very surprising patient dominated the center of the room. Clicking heels coming to a short stop she gazed between shoulders with a moment of shock. Pin straight hair pushed behind her ears and stark red lips wetted with determination. Yes. The rumors in the sickroom were true. A winged, battered, dark jeweled Eyrien. Like the star on a stage he was the focus of all attention. Healers orbiting him in unsure examination. ”Excuse me, I am needed within.” She said with a short, polite curtsy before pressing by bodies to break into the real scene. A few words caught her ear as she slid behind another healer, ”There is a triage center in the Moon Gallery.” She suggested helpfully. She didn’t need the glory of running that room anymore. The victory of creating it was hers, now the honor of healing in this one was hers too.

Another curtsy for the lady who had requested her was given, but no words. There could only be one reason for her presence to be requested. This was her time to shine. ”You may leave his care to me.” She told the hovering healer with a wave of her hand, like batting away a pesky fly. She was a stern woman of age greater than her own, but in this Nian-zhen was the expert. None were due the honor of this challenge more than herself. None held the combination of knowledge and experience in the matter of Eyrien healing. ”Where is your pain the most severe?” She asked her patient, stepping agilely to his sagging side. One gentle finger brushed across the elbow of his crumpled wing as she set diagnostic sight to the bones and sinew beneath his skin. Her assessment was quick. To the man she spoke under her breath. Lips hardly daring to move while others looked at them in open curiosity. ”You will fly again- someday.” The sooner the ability was restored, the sooner he became a threat.

*My lady there is no life threatening damage. Only broken bones, and in the wing crushed cartilage that will prevent flight. The pain of his wing can be managed by brews. For now I think it everyone’s best interest to have it wrapped for support. They are very pliable over the threat of losing a wing, it will make him more manageable to believe it needs treatment over several weeks. The arm I can mend in a few hours if it so pleases you. His back is also in a sad state and I will not guess as to how long that healing will take to complete.*

She pooled craft in her palms before offering them to Eyrien for inspection. ”To ease your pain while we decide what requires the most urgent care.”

[Indivar]

A croaking bark shot from between Indivar's lips, inspiring a flicker of anxious stillness in the crowd. He smiled blandly at his attending healer's shocked face, unrepentant. Surprising them was the least of his concerns, and Lady Eunji's words had been amusing, and an admittedly bleak way. He sincerely doubted there was a good host or travel in Askavi's direction for someone in his situation. He allowed the solidifying of their link, and made a touch better effort to separate his pain and their connection. No need to give any more reasons, imagined or otherwise, to make his stay worse. Or longer than it needed to be.

The psychic susurrus outside seemed to be picking up, weaving through the halls. Considerably less pressing than the crowd immediately around him. Paid attention to the directions spoken around him, even though he didn't doubt there were multiple silent conversations happening over his head.

One, at least, was explained to him. An acquaintance of Lady Eunji's being summoned to see to his injuries. Nian-zhen Huang. Another name to file away.

*I'm surprised someone with such a skill set survived the courts.* He stated. The number of unfavorable rumors about them must have been great. *I'd hate to keep your Healers from members of your court that require aid.* No need to further the debt he was steadily incurring.

But the little covey of healers continued to move around him, and Eunji's cohort around her, and Indiviar could only think about how surreal it all was. When the other shoe dropped, what would it look like? He dreaded it.

Gradually he let his attention catch and follow people as they moved around the room, tracking only with his eyes, and it was on one such circuit that he happened to be looking at the door when a threat appeared.

The healer Eunji had summoned, apparently, and a woman with strength enough that going through her would be a real fight. One that, in his current state, Indivar was guaranteed to lose.

It said more about Lady' Eunji's consideration of him than anything else done thus far. This healer could cripple him, and there'd be little he could do to stop it, and few who might be able to reverse it.

All of this hit him in the handful of heartbeats it took for her to pass the threshold, pass Eunji, and wave away his attending. Her touch lit a fire on the nerves of his injured wing, the muscles twitching in a way that fanned the fingers and sent a hiss between his teeth.

*The shoulder of the limp arm, and the collar bone of the same side.* He sent, shifting up to Blood Opal. Cracked, if not broken, from tearing through the building. Likely the same cause for the mess his wing had become, although it didn't look as mangled as he'd feared. *And my sight is fuzzy. Swimming.* That he wouldn't let sit longer than necessary. Head injuries had lamed enough of his peers when left untreated.

The muscles in his back tensed at her whispered affirmation, working wing flaring slightly and then subsiding when he brushed against a passing body. She was close enough to make out the details of her face, however blurred, and he scoured her look, jaw working.

*Someday soon, if Dhemlan's pride in her people is to be believed.* Indivar knew next to nothing of healing, and losing the wing was out of the question. But he could no more trust her words than Eunji's. He would have to wait, as much as it grated.

Eying her palms with a tersely raised brow and grit teeth, Indivar snorted softly. *I appreciate your honesty,* if such was the case, *But I don't think my prospects get much better than you. You may touch me, but I will be staying conscious.* He bared his teeth. Hopefully he wouldn't have to capitalize on his threat. There was no way he'd get out the door, let alone through however many floors and guards separated him from the sky.

[Eunji Khal]

Eunji's lips grew thin at the corner, creasing the space between mouth and cheeks in a bleak smile. The stillness after his strange laughter - and what a strange thing to laugh about - passed quickly, though their flurry was tempered now with even graver suspicion. Perhaps it was an Eyrien thing, to laugh at such things. Or perhaps he had broken his head in the fall.

None of the healers mentioned damage to his skull, or his webs. But they worked around his wings as if they did not exist, and even Eunji who was unskilled beyond the most basics of first aide - apply pressure, keep clean - could tell one, at least, was damaged. Anyone with eyes could have seen this. It was most frustrating. Eunji did not enjoy being frustrated, but she had many remedies for the trials that faced her on a daily basis.

*Fear not, my court is whole and well.* None foolish or weak enough to be trapped beneath falling debris. *However there are many in Dhemlan who have survived the war with new skills. Including tending to those who had been our enemies.* Eunji was careful to frame it in the past tense. The war was technically over. Dhemlan and Askavi no longer openly charged each others borders and villages.

But the hatred was still strong on both sides. If she had not seen opportunity in the comet of an Eyrien before her, she herself would have gladly let one of her males slit his throat.

*Ah, here she is.* Eunji watched him bristle. A Red often did that to people. For herself, Eunji accepted the homage paid her with quiet dignity. Bowing her head graciously to Nian-zhen, her Purple Dusk was pale in comparison, but her caste gave her all the power she needed to dominate. Smoothing her countenance, Eunji watched the dynamics shift. The other healers moved aside for Nian-zhen, who touched the Eyrien's wing as if such a thing was common place.

It made Eunji's skin prickle. Though she had held out her own hand in friendship to the warlord, such casual contact did not suit her. It was to be suffered, like many other things in the long climb upward to glory. Lacing her fingers together, Eunji stretched out the digits, the heels of her palms pressing tight to one another while she watched and waited.

*I see.* Nian-zhen was far too clever. Eunji would have to keep a careful watch on her until she could be sure of her loyalty. A thing Eunji was very good at being sure of. *Surely his other wounds are much more pressing than his wing. It would be unsafe for him to try flight in any instance. I'm sure the palace is in quite an upheaval.* Eunji played ignorant to what was happening outside of the infirmary.

Fingers coming together, she turned them upward, tips touching the soft skin beneath her chin. *Let the worst be taken care of today. The rest may wait on another sunrise.* Eunji  bowed faintly to Nian-zhen, and smiled softly at Indivar, who was baring his teeth at the healer. *It seems prognosis is good, if recovery long. Nian-zhen has assured me she will personally see to your care. I am, of course, willing to host you until you are well enough to travel.*

And it was safe enough for travel, but that was unspoken, and unlikely for quite some time.

"We will need to find rooms for Indivar so that he is not dominating a whole infirmary. Many might be afraid to seek the healers in his presence." It was much too far from her reach and control. Unsecured and open to the public. "Yong-gi, find suitable apartments within our block, please." The prince bowed swiftly and departed, a saber rattling at his side.