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--- sessions:worldbuilding:2023-09-02 [2023/12/23 18:25] – shyriath
+++ sessions:worldbuilding:2023-09-02 [2024/01/06 14:51] (current) – shyriath
@@ Line 115: / Line 115: @@
 The eldest matriarch, Hna'i, brought out a sack and withdrew the book from it, passing it into Tlett's hands; Ok'ah' looked like she wanted to snatch it away and throw it in the fire, but made a snarling sort of snort and called out Hyd'natt's name in a peremptory way. Tlett carefully, and somewhat hesitantly, opened the front cover of the book, staring at the endlessly swirling lines on the front page, and then, taking care to keep a firm hold on it, turned the book around to face An-uxhwi.}}
-{{wst>pinkgothic|"Thank you," he said, again. "To reiterate, if you do allow us to take our leave, I intend to do my best to return to you what my poor health has taken from you. I appreciate the hospitality. I hope we will meet again and I can repay you." Said, he touched a hand to the swirling patterns.
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Thank you," he said, again. "To reiterate, if you do allow us to take our leave, I intend to do my best to return to you what my poor health has taken from you. I appreciate the hospitality. I hope we will meet again and I can repay you." Said, he touched a hand to the swirling patterns.}}
 {{wst>shyriath|Once more, the world spiralled away, to be replaced by another.
@@ Line 150: / Line 150: @@
 He was interrupted with a sudden cry from Evrith, who came awake with a violent start. She looked wildly around her, fixed her gaze on An-uxhwi, and expelled a shuddering breath before trying without much success to clamber up onto all fours. She seemed to be having similar trouble assembling sentences. "Anuwi, are - alive - shouldn't've let-"}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|An-uxhwi was about to protest Shyriath's insistance, even though the wire of nausea in his gut vehemently agreed that sitting down was the best idea, when Evrith stirred and slurred fragments of sentences. Both heartened and alarmed at the same time, he stepped toward her, then sank to sit beside her - technically doing as Shyriath asked, as a part of him noticed grudgingly. What he wanted to say was //'you should have let them kill me and escaped'//, but it didn't seem right to chide her in her current state. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop them from hurting you," he said, instead, parroting what he had told Shyriath already.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Evrith put a hand on An-uxhwi's shoulder, and for a moment it looked as if she might try to do the same with the injured one, but it just twitched gently. She shook her head desperately, and tried to align her brain with her tongue. "//You're// sorry-" Her voice cut off, and she tried again, miserably, "don't be absurd. I didn't stop them from hurting me either."}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|"Will you recover?" he asked. It felt like an obsolete question - they were no longer in any immediate peril, she had just woken from slumber and proven she could transition from unconsciousness to consciousness, and she could see into the future and had only just effectively admitted that she'd let the xtauh manhandle her, presumably in the knowledge that she would survive. But he had to know.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|"//Yes//," she snarled with such venom that, off to the side, Shyriath winced. "For all the good it'll do." She removed her hand from An-uxhwi's shoulder and slumped back into lying down. After a moment, pushing aside her evident disgust at knowing she would live, she managed to add, "I'm glad you made it back. I was afraid-"
+She stopped, unable to finish the sentence.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|He misread the moment, feeling chastened, drooping visibly. Should he have risked more back at the village, fought, in his present state, for control of the book, and escaped with it to secure their return? If she could see that they would be trapped here indefinitely, then it would indeed not help her cause if she were to survive; they would have lost their chance to make a difference. Was that his fault?
+He would have been willing to accept it, if he saw a means he could have acted differently and not made things immediately worse. Tiredness blossomed through his skull. "I apologise for not securing the book, but I think I could only have made things worse. Have I stranded us here?" he asked.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Evrith was astonished. Was //that// what he thought she was upset about?
+"The- I don't care about the //book//, I damn well almost got you killed!" she exclaimed, in a voice that would have been a shout if she'd been able to put together the energy. "After everything you've tried to do to help me! What are you doing apologizing to //me//?"}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|An-uxhwi shook his head slowly. "You didn't almost get me killed, you gave me a life I couldn't otherwise have had," he reminded her, gently. "Everything else is borrowed time. I don't intend to squander the gift unduly, but it's very important to me that I help you. Please don't blame yourself for my //peril//. I chose that life. And I am, evidently, doing a bad job at my stated goal. That is why I'm apologising to you. I promised you help, but I've barely given any. I seem to just be getting you into trouble." It was all said quite observationally. Maybe if he were less tired, himself, there would be more emotion to it, but he was currently mustering less of it than Evrith was.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|How... how could just sit there and talk like that? Like his life had no other meaning or purpose? It was enough to make Evrith angry. She grabbed his shoulder again and shook him with what little force she could muster.
+"You are one of the best of men, you understand?" she demanded. "One of the best! And if you do nothing else, you can help me by //not dying// on me!" She stopped, struggling with other words, words that tried to pile on top of each other and stuck in her throat, and then awkwardly squashed him against her shoulder in a one-armed embrace.}}
+{{wst>pinkgothic|He folded his arms around her, in turn, quietly curving his neck and resting his head against her shoulder. "I will try," he promised softly.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|Shyriath watched them with a mixture of relief and uneasiness. The self-destructive impulses that he'd seen in Evrith's mind were ebbing, but he wasn't sure he approved of the other feelings he saw there.
+As he began to open his mouth, Evrith slowly craned her head to look straight at him. He licked his lips awkwardly, then closed his mouth again.}}