Calliara Enslaved

"Hey there Wolf. You gave us all quite a start. Bowen says you're alright, but I know how bad the nightmares can be. Is there anything I can do?"

Calliara smiled calmly. Or so she tried. Still sitting on her cot, hands on her lap, trying to breath steady, calmly, thinking.

''Hey cub. Everything is alright, don't worry. It was nothing but a bad dream'' The Wolf said slowly, carefully.

Then Sinjan appeared as well and sat beside her and before she could say anything he pulled her to him for a hug. A hug. Creators, how she needed that, and how little she knew.

"Feeling not too well are you? Maybe I can help you with Drake not here."

Calliara smiled, her eyes suddenly becoming wet while looking at him, knowing that he was joking.

"Maybe I should ask Nyggy if Macha could be her second while I take you away for a rendezvous ... I mean, Drake can't keep this beautiful wolf all to himself now can he?"

''Now, now, are you flirting with me? About time you tried, I was feeling like I was being ignored by your awesomeness'' Calliara tried to tease him back, grabbing his hand and brushing her cheek against his palm. The tattoos on her cheek felt like scarred skin instead of the smooth skin that was usual in her. ''Thank you both. Everything is alright''

"Does this look like a medical concern or something else?"

Bowen shrugged, looking back for a moment and then back at Jez and Caterina. ''Maybe, but I also think it's more than that. I am used to see her in pain but not saying a thing about it, so I recognize the signs. She was obviously in pain when I talked to her, and it was worse than usually, but not so special. Alas, there's something more''

"Whatever this is she is keeping secrets, or that is what you got from the sign language. If this is so ... I wonder if she could have something ... she's not a mage but ... oh, I am going to have to check her over and see if she has any signs of something else. She's not the type to scream at nothing and this is very strange. Do you think you can get more information from her using sign language while I poke and prod?"

''No, she is not a mage, but maybe she has... 'special conditions' for it? I don't know if that's even possible. I just know there's something wrong, and her tattoos are part of it. They felt... wrong when I touched them accidentally. Like scars. I mean, most of the tattos on her body are covering real scars, but her facial tattos are not covering anything. But now they feel different. I think you could check those as well but... try to not be so evident with it'' Bowen sighed and stroked his beard, meditating. ''I've just heard her screaming in a way like this once, and it wasn't pretty. I prayed to not hear something like that ever again. Calliara never screams, even in her worse nightmares, and that's what made me suspect. We can try your idea, Jez, if you keep talking. I mean... if she used the signs instead of talking, maybe that means that she can't talk about it, right?''

"Alright then Wolf. Try to get some sleep." Khael said as he rose from the bed. He reached out and gave Calliara a quick hug. He went to leave and then turned back. "Now that Takara is gone I've got extra room in my tent if you ever want company." He paused as he thought about what he'd just said. "Though not the kind of company Sinjan is suggesting. No way I'm messing with Drake. I'd rather keep my head thanks." The dwarf smirked and then exited the tent.

Once outside the tent Khael moved over to Bowen and the others. "Yup. Definately something not right there. Sinjan flirted with her and she didn't threaten to disembowel him."

''Now, now, are you flirting with me? About time you tried, I was feeling like I was being ignored by your awesomeness. Thank you both. Everything is alright.''

"Of course I am flirting with the woman who has amazing snow hair!" Sinjan winked then kissed her on the cheek as well, "Get your rest. I don't want to be blamed for letting you get hurt."

"Yup. Definately something not right there. Sinjan flirted with her and she didn't threaten to disembowel him."

He followed the dwarf out, catching the last part of what Bowen was saying then chuckled at Khael, "Calliara would never disembowel me for flirting. Now if I touched her wrong she would remove special items I would rather keep. Back to business though ... I know I'm not a warden but as one of Nygozy's informal officers I do have some clout. Bowen and Jez ... go on in and see what you can find out. If the lovely Caterina will indulge me I would like her to do some looking around to see if she can find anything that could be from an assassin. Takes one to catch one often enough. I will talk with Ny."

Jez agreed with Bowen and looked to the tent with concern, "There most certainly is something wrong going on here. There has to be an underlying meaning here and I am sure that if she is using sign language that it would mean she cannot talk."

When the other two came out of the tent all that she could think of was her concern for Calli. Directions were suddenly being given but she hardly caught the context until she looked up and realized that she was being ordered into the tent to help Calli. That was exactly what she was going to do with or without orders. Even if Calli was not going to want the help, Jez was not about to stand there and do nothing. She was a healer for goodness sakes and it was within her soul that she was called to the skills which she was born with.

Without another word the young healer went into the tent and smiled at Calli, "Good morning Calli I hear that you had a nasty nightmare worse than normal." She waited for Bowen to go on with talking to the other woman.

Bowen nodded and followed Jez inside the tent. His heart cracked when he saw the calm desperation in Calliara's eyes when she saw them, and it cracked more when she smiled, trying to look stoic as always.

"Good morning Calli I hear that you had a nasty nightmare worse than normal."

''Yes, Jez'' The Wolf nodded, still smiling, but her fingers reached the healer's hand and made her touch her tattoos. ''They are usually bad, but this time was specially awful. I am glad I am awake now''

The Nevarran was still studying her, with his usual badass grin. ''If you need some kind of enterteinment to sleep better, I think Sinjan would volunteer for that task. Are you feeling well then?''

Calliara's eyes met his, and she nodded, slowly, her smile still on. ''Yes, big oaf, I am''

Her fingers traced four words in Jezarine's hand while Calli was looking at Bowen. Voice in my head

Caterina didn't have to look to know that nothing was out there, but she nodded at Sinjan's suggestion and turned to flit off into the woods surrounding the tent anyway. Better to be safe than sorry, but she knew that she would have felt if some assassin or rogue had sneaked their way into the camp. Even if she was sleeping, that sort of invasion of their relatively safe camp would have woken her immediately. But if she could do anything for Calliara, she would, and the least she could do was be overly cautious of the surrounding area.

As she worked her way from the outer trees, making a circle that grew smaller and smaller as she traced a path back to the tent, she could find no evidence of an intrusion. Just as she had thought, the area around the tents - and around Calliara's tent in particular - was untouched. She did pause, though, when she went to look more closely at the piece of earth just outside of the elven Warden's tent. She frowned and crouched down, running her hands along the grass. The hurried footprints of Bowen, Jez, and Khael would have long erased any footsteps of an intruder, if there had ever been any in the first place, but something about the grass seemed . . . odd, to her. It wasn't physical - the grass was normal in every way possible - but was rather a feeling. A feeling of what, she couldn't say, but she could almost liken it to how the hair on the back of her neck stood on end whenever she entered or exited a shadow for a stealthy cover. Like a shadow had washed over this place, and its residual energy was lingering.

She crouched there for another few moments, trying to put the feeling into words when she stood, and turned back to where Sinjan and Khael were standing. Bowen and Jezarine were in the tent, speaking to Calliara presumably, so she turned her focus immediately on Sinjan. "I need to speak with Nygozy as well. I need to ask her about . . . something. Do not ask me to explain - it would waste time, and I am not certain how I would even begin, regardless."