It's Happening Again... (Zandelia, Sahashkalila)

[Ana Sol Starris]

Crimson Edge Camp to Kalilas Apartment Spring 25th, 512AV Synas rays shined through the partially open flap of Wrenmaes tent, though he had gone, Ana had stayed back; she had been doing so for the past couple of days, her energy just wasn't brimming with life as it usually did. Shivers wracked her body and even the slightest movement brought an aching, throbbing, stinging pain inside her bones. Headaches bombarded her temples and forehead every time she tried to sit up, her lungs rattled as if death were crawling around inside them just waiting to worsen the problem. Coughing was painful and became fits of choking, always clearing her throat to breath. Ana ignored the persisting problem that she was sick and needed medical help, she figured it would go away on its own- it did before. With a groan and a sigh the small woman rolled onto her side to avoid the light that peered through the open flap, even the amazingly warm rays that Ana loved with a passion were causing her pain. Making her want to hide from them due to the brightness against her heavy eyelids and light sensitive eyesight. Time to get up.. No more dawdling.. Okay, Ana ya' can do this.. Ana thought to herself with failing confidence, easing herself up slowly so she could begin the morning activities. Though lately, she had been half assedly doing them as she was too petching irritated with herself to get on with the routine, with heavy limbs and aching bones she would begin the process of undressing from her night clothes (ragged shirt and pants that were washed some time ago) and then into her newly bought clothing. Any sudden movement made her whimper, how glad she was that Shroud was not here to hear her do so; he would have only made her mood worse, depressed even. Running a hand through her greasy hair, closing her eyes as she continued to brush through it with her fingers till finally she bent over with her head between her knees to rub her temples. How petching great this was, from a silly unexplainable cold to a full out fever or.. whatever she had. Ana had no clue, but the thoughts were discomforting so she pushed them from her mind. Bringing her hair into a messy bun, she was now ready to go about her activities for the day. If she could, that is in this condition of body and state of mind. Determined to ignore the problem still, Ana got up and was out of the tent; albeit drudging her feet against the ground, trudging onwards she was no more than a few feet out of the entrance when the ringing in her ears began. A wash of black flitted past her eyes, everything swirled and leaned to the side. Swirled, and morphed before her very eyes into nothingness, blackness, darkness, a resonating ring in her ears could be heard- as if her heart was actually becoming some tempo for the beat, slowing, body swaying to the side then stopping, her vision returned bit by bit. Ana was not in the same position as she was before, no, she was laying on the ground having a shaking fit. Waves of both cold and heat passed over her, shivering, her vision began to swirl once more. Head pounding, heart thudding against her chest, cold sweat, what was happening to her..? This was getting as bad as when she was a child, Ana thought despairingly, grasping at the ground with a hand to try and get up once more. Screaming in painful defiance, Anas body wouldn't let her even as she struggled to, it just would not, it was simply too heavy to lift by herself and the frustrating pain that kept washing over was awful. So she layed there helpless, eyes watering as her synuses began to clog up once more..

[Zandelia]

Zandelia had spent the morning exercising for the most part, her muscles complaining at her for their lack of fitness after so many days disuse and neglect. It was strange how the healthier and fitter she became the more intolerant it became also. It was almost as if it had learnt to drive her on by itself, its mewling complaints designed to be just annoying enough to spur her to try and shut them up lest she turn from ruthlessness to insanity in a single day. So it was with deep breathing and considerable acknowledgement of tranquillity that she now found herself within her own tent, her clothing drying upon her own body heat, and perusing over the accumulated notes and missives from her various blossoming friendships. As she did so she could not help but smile at the concept of possessing something more than just a ramshackle gathering of louts and layabouts.

No, what I have now is becoming something more. From the seedy underworld of cajoling, bribing and befriending had grown something I had not dared to breathe enough to hope for in my wildest dreams. With time and patience I could begin to flex my own strength in this blasted city she thought to herself as she pushed yet another missive away and picked up another.

The day’s messages were of little to no consequence, her budding appendage of a network not entirely tuned into what she truly desired. Still, she took them and read them dutifully and to the letter each time. Upon occasion a jewel of information would slip into the midst of the useless papers and so Zandelia never threw them away without examination. She could use anything that she could get her hands on and manipulate, the smallest seed of division and intelligence that could lead her upon the path of success – anything was useful for the underdog and its organization. She had been choice with the pickings of her foundations, only taking those loyal to her – for whatever reason – and whose merit was great enough, though it was a low bar to reach at her present moment.

“Nothing much this day, however” she sighed to herself as she tucked and tapped the papers into a neat pile and rolled them into a large cylinder, slipping it under her bedding for now before taking the effort to secure them all with either a good fire or in her secure hiding place.

It was only after a few moments of peace that the real twist of her day began to set in, linking together various days spent sweating and cursing into a symmetry that would have been quite pleasing, that was if she had not seen Ana collapsing towards the floor as she strode from her tent. As she jogged towards her prone position, noting how she stubbornly refused to give up before slumping back down into the dust, she rifled through her memory to find the data pertaining to Ana’s almost interminable sickness. She had noted it herself, how she appeared paler and her eyes more sunken by the day. She had been bedridden once before, vomiting and more. Sickness was spreading rapidly throughout the camp, however Ana had seemed to suffer the worst of it. She had been meaning to ask her about it but had not found time. Now, seeing her upon the floor, she realised what a mistake that had been.

“Ana! ANA!” she shouted at her as she slapped her cheeks, trying to get her back into lucid consciousness, checking her eyes and pulling the lids open only to see them snap shut again, “come on lass come back to us now!” she tried for a few more moments before failing to get anything beyond a feverish muttering.

As growled and knew that Ana was beyond her own meagre abilities, her illness too long lasting to be explained away as a simple thing. No, Zandelia knew she would require a true healer, one whom knew what they were doing. It was fortunate for Ana, then, that as Zandelia hauled her into place over her shoulder – with great difficulty indeed – and grabbing a good portion of her pert rump for grip at that too that Zandelia knew one. Kalila, she was called, and she as close enough to help out the small Crimson Edge member. It was hard going, carrying Ana’s weight across her shoulder as she jogged as quickly as she dared towards the Sunset Quarters. She tried not to bump her about all too much, however it was impossible and grumbling complaints were common from her lips upon the journey. It was with sweat pouring from every pore in her body that her fist hammered upon the door of the healer.

“Come on! Open up now! Please!” she shouted in accompaniment.

[Sahashkalila]

Kalila had spent most of her morning writing her her small journal about her studies, trying to remember all of the various plants that she had discovered while she was in Sunberth. Her thoughts kept traveling back to her recent houseguest though, the dark headed man that seemed to fill her thoughts of late, Roka. SHe was still in shock that she had even offered her home to him, since they barely knew each other, but she felt in her heart it was the right choice. The sound of her quill scratching on paper filled her senses and she felt a peacefulness about her....until she heard the sound of banging on her door.

The person outside sounded familiar and in a slight panic, and Kalila put down her quill and got up from her chair, not bothering with her veil as she hurried to the door. She opened it quickly to find the woman that she had met at the tavern fairly recently, Zandelia, carrying someone over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise but she quickly moved aside, ushering Zandelia in quickly and bringing her over to her bed, watching as the other woman placed the smaller girl on her bed. "What happened Zandelia?" she asked quickly, not bothering with greetings. She placed her small hand on the girl's feverish brow and leaned down to listen to her breathing, the sound ragged and forced as she took each breath. She had no idea if the small girl could hear her but Kalila quickly got up and got a rag from the table where she kept her medicinal supplies and dipped it into the pot of water that she had, squeezing the cloth before she came back to the girl's side and place it on her brow. "Do you know what iss wrong with her?"she asked once again, her tone brisk as she looked to Zandelia.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Groaning under the pressure of her head, Ana waived between being awake and delirious and half asleep and dreaming. The slaps to her face, behind her eyelids she was only semi-conscience of what was happening around her as her attention was focused on the beginning dreams.. Someone was calling her name, sweetly, there in a field of flowers Ana stood and saw Zandelia close to her face wearing a pretty white dress. Grinning at her, what an odd sight indeed.. Ana thought to herself as she smiled back "whats up?" She inquired, only to feel a searing pain push itself through her head as if a dagger had been lodged in her skull. The field of flowers was no more and had been replaced with fire blackened, ashened ground, a blood red sky filled with bright, shining white stars. There in front of her, the creature of her dreams took on Zandelias features, warping them to fit her liking, a monstrousity.. Her bone white hair and gaunt skin, eyeless sockets with cancerous looking lacerations crawling out of them; she had slapped her hard across Anas face and when she looked at the woman, leering at her, growling "revenge, you'll have it, no matter what." Ana muttered feverishly as she slept "rev-re-revenge..no-no..matter.." then she slid back into her dream state once more. Feeling naeusia wash over her. Storms, lightening, cackling thunder and swirling ocean waves tossed Ana to and fro. Ravenously it threw her around, flailing, thrashing, Ana tried to keep her head above water as she looked up despairingly as a tidal wave rose high, monsters formed in its water, crashing down on her screaming like bloody animals. Ana began to choke in the water, gripping her throat she felt the water begin to sufficate her, drown her as she remained suspended in the below of the oceans ravaging appearence. Her small hand, a childs hand reached out to the light of the above water. Blacking out completely, it was only after a few moments she heard someone talking. Spluttering as she could breath again, she looked up into the face of her brother Sinvelt, sopping wet, patting her face with frantic honey hued eyes. Sunlight shown, glared behind him brightly, warbled shouts filled her ears.. Ana began to cry as she was laid on the bed, resisting weakly, a memory.. One distorted in the beginning of a dream, but now had turned into a horrific nightmare.. One memory that was flung from her mind, what had happened was unknown to Ana, all unknown but the reasoning.. She had fallen off the docks in Zeltiva as a child, how she ever did.. How she had ever managed to get there was beyond Ana. Shivering, her body convulsed in waves of them, everything was cold, why was it so cold? The small girl had begun to break out in a cold sweat, the wet cloth on her forehead made her skin jump alive in a firey pain. Anas body was becoming so warm that she was freezing, again the image of her brother crossed her eyes "S-sinn.." coughing, she didn't mean to.. Oh how petching great this was.

[Zandelia]

Zandelia watched as Sahashkalila set about her work, the demeanor of past altercations together all but dissolved when put up against the tide that seemed to be her caring spirit, though Zandelia was dubious as to the altruism of it all. She could not understand, could not completely accept, that someone did something good for another with no thought of gain or profit – it was beyond her psychology of understanding. She could rationalize it, think upon it and even brush the edges of its form upon occasion, however never enough to penetrate it fully. She only knew that there were those, such as the healing woman before here, whom seemed to live by such a creed. Zandelia was less noble in her intentions, intending to get an owed favor or more out of the now disabled Ana. Still, the end result was much the same regardless of her motives, something which she took close note of.

No, I do nothing for free and without reservation. If that makes me evil then so be it, but it also keeps me alive…and thriving she thought to herself as she watched the cloth being wiped across Ana’s brow and felt the feverish radiance of heat from her skin with the back of her won hand for a few brief moments.

“I do not know what is wrong with her, only what I have observed myself and have learnt from…other observations,” Zandelia began to tell Sahaskalila, pausing upon telling her the details of her eyes and ears of course, “she has been on and off her feet many times in the past week or so. She has slept little from what I understand, and what sleep she does get has been disturbed by sleepwalking and the like. She has seemed paler and less energetic recently too, worn perhaps, though I have yet to hear any sustained vomiting. I could be wrong though…” she trailed off as she flicked some hair from Ana’s face in an unusually gentle gesture.

“Just make her better, she better not petching die n me” she covered her action with the harsher sounding words after a few moments, her gaze though still filled with worry as it passed across the other woman’s face briefly.

You better not petching die on me you bitch, I work too hard on you she thought as she felt her knuckles go white with the strain of gripping the table top.

It was then that Ana set about muttering t herself, her fever reaching newer heights as what Zandelia could only assume were past memories insidiously curled through her brain and out of her mouth. Names, emotions and tears that dried upon her heated skin all too quickly – she displayed all of these signs. Zandelia new them well for she had undergone much the same whilst she recovered from the wound that had stolen her eye from her, almost killing her in the process afterwards. Zandelia, stressed though she found herself to be, still playe3d the consummate information broker in that she made mental note of the few words Ana did manage to force through gritted teeth – lest they prove useful to her in the aftermath. She was still searching for things to bind the girl to her after all, in between the training and the watching out for her. Ana needed a reason to follow where Zandelia would tread, one strong enough to conquer fear and keep her in line too – it was a difficult pendulum game indeed.

Perhaps I can give you your revenge, in exchange for service? It is a start, something to consider. If it proves to be true that is she mused as she watched the healing commence.

“Come on Ana, don’t you dare die on me” she whispered, barely audible in the room.

[Sahashkalila]

The girl on her bed was sinking into a dreadfully high fever, and quickly sinking into delirium because of it. Her body was breaking out into sweats and she was shivering, mumbling in her delirious state. Kalila quickly pulled the blanket up and over the girl, deciding it was best to sweat it out in hopes that she would pull through it. She wet the rag one more time and placed it back on the girl's brow, turning to Zandelia. "And no one thought to bring her here ssooner than thiss? Sshe hass a dreadfully high fever that iss worsse than a common cold, and all I can do iss hope that sshe ssweatss it out,"she scolded the other woman, getting up from her place on the bed and heading over to her medicine supplies on one of the tables. "Make yoursself usseful and keep that rag on her brow. The besst I can do iss give her ssomething to help her ssleep and give her common cold medicine ssince sshe iss not sshowing ssignss of anything more sspecific."

She did not look to see if Zandelia had done what she had asked, but she heard the shuffling of feet and Kalila took that as an answer to her request. Kalila took the clay mug that she had and filled it with a bit of water, taking a small vial from its place on the table and dropping a few drops into it. A simple mixture made from chamomile and lavender and diluted with water to let her rest easy, or at least calm her mind for awhile. She then took another cup and grabbed another vial, pouring a dose into the cup. It smelled absolutely awful, and Kalila thought that it most likely tasted awful as well. It was a mixture of garlic, echinacea root, goldenseal, and ginseng, all ground finely into a paste and then diluted with water to help ease the dosage down. Once she had finished, she walked back over to the bed and sat down, handing Zandelia the mug that held the common cold medicine. "The one you hold iss common cold medicine, this iss all I can do for her ssince I don't know what iss truly ailing her until she wakess up,"she said to Zandelia, reaching down to gently lift the young girl's head and pour the liquid into her mouth, and she seemed to swallow it without trouble. She then switched cups with Zandelia and began to pour that one into the girl's mouth, watching as she sputtered a bit on the thicker liquid, but got it down.

Kalila then laid her head gently back down on the bed and sighed, getting the rag and wetting it again to place on the girl's brow. "And now we wait."

[Ana Sol Starris]

At first she was silent, breathing, she had to breath and she was going to do just that. The first liquid to drain down her esophagus set her mind at ease, made it easier to breath as well as relax, to sleep peacefully. That was far from the truth however, as soon as the healer turned away, Ana began to feverishly mumble outloud to some unknown force "no, no, no, no.." The whispers were quiet, they cracked under the pressure of her sleeping mind. Seeing her brother smile, the sunlight fading into black as her memory once more rejoined the dream realm. Voices, many of them, tons of them collided into eachother and warbled like water cascading down into a pool of despair. Rising as she breathed, the whispers heightened and she could hear them with painful clarity. Falling as she held her breath, twirling about in her subconscience, she twisted and turned in a circle to see many people surrounding her. Counter clockwise, she saw them, counted, and found there was a total of twelve. Ana stared at each in the face when her vision would stop spinning chaotically, till finally her mind began to relax, calm, she could see them. They all had honey hued eyes, out of all of them there were only two female and they looked dangerously close to Ana in features. The group looked down at her closely, spearing the small womans soul with their eyes to analyze her. Sinvelt was apart of this grouping, only he held a warmed, but still serious aditude towards her, as if on que everything around her exploded as a black swarm of dust and fire bombarded them. Screaming, she saw her brother engulfed first and moved to save him but was held back by a deathly pale arm, jerking her head to see who it was, widening her eyes as she realized who it was. As Kali would bring the second cup to Anas lips, she spluttered, then took it down as if she were a marionette on a string. The contents were awful, but they seemed to invoke a firey discussion within Anas mind. One with parts mumbled outloud for all in the room to hear, "why.." "stop, stop it.." "no" for a moment, she was quiet, as if watching in horror at what she was dreaming of. Then her voice changed, only an octave lower than her usually bouncy voice, as if to repeat what Zandelia had said "..don't die..no die.." "..another day.. rev.." The blackened fingertips, honed into sharp claws were the only indicator the woman needed to know "why? Why do you do this to me? STOP THIS! STOP IT!" Ana pulled her arm, yanked, tugged, screamed... They were alone now, nothingness, blackness, darkness enshrouded them in a land of destruction. The monster was in front of her now, blackened grip still on her shoulder as she held Ana's chin and whispered quietly 'now is not the time, revenge is not now, focus on becoming well... Do not die,' she breathed, acidly 'if you do, then everything will have been for naught,' gripping her chin, then her neck, pressing into Anas throat with the knuckle of a blackened thumb, choking her 'breath, child, breath, live to die another day' the whispering voice continued on, airing her serenade of revenge, plots and plans to be had, the death of Gerron would be at hand... But now was not the time 'live for his death,' Ana stared the creature in her eyeless sockets, widening, she grasped at the claw at her throat and spluttered as she tried to keep breathing. Spluttering, choking, Ana awoke back to conscienceness.. But barely, she was teetering between the edge of sleep and the realm of the awake, a stupor. Coughing, she could do nothing more than try to clear her throat, eyes opening halfly, they were watery slits, blearily she looked around. The first face she saw, she could not see easily and so with a guess she whispered like a child "..m-mom?"

[Zandelia]

Zandelia listened to Sahashkalila as her words, venomous and seemingly constructed to hurt her in ways she was sure the Dhani knew nothing about, bit into her heart and soul. Her gaze shifted from the doctor to the patient with a speed so rapid that they blurred together. She feared the worst, that Ana would die despite all of her efforts to teach her how to live, how to survive. It was a feeling that took over her, of fearfulness, that gave a bitter taste to the back of her tongue. She had tried to build something and now it was in danger of being swept away, against a tide that she could not shield against. Her helplessness wounded her more deeply that she could ever have expected, but kindled within her a seed of something she comprehended all too well – anger. The seed exploded, ripping rage through her as Sahashkalila’s words became to seem far too foolish to be allowed to stand.

Petch this for a game of soldiers! You have no comprehension of me beyond the cursory! she raged inside her head, trying to bite her tongue but losing the battle too quickly.

“I can’t keep an eye on everyone all the petching time woman, I only have one in case you hadn’t bloody well noticed!” she responded in clipped tones, her knuckles growing white as she realized her fists were clenched so tight that her nails were beginning to bite into her palm – drawing a small amount of blood there. She didn’t care, it was the least she deserved for letting it come to this.

“I do my best, but when my efforts are having to be focused upon keeping everyone from being swarmed by thugs and rogues it gets a bit difficult to keep track of everything. Shroud was supposed to be watching her, she sleeps in his damned tent enough for him to have noticed,” she kept up her diatribe, slowly falling towards a whisper, “I’m going to take his damned head for this!” she growled as she had cups thrust into her hands and tried her best to become useful in an art she did not fully understand at all.

It was then that Ana seemed to respond to he won words, mirroring them in a stuttered form with the beginning of the word revenge once more upon her lips. Zandelia bent down so that she could hear it properly in case she gave her further knowledge of what was going through her feverish mind. She shifted the waterlogged cloth upon her head a little so as to squeeze a bit more of its cooled contents across Ana’s forehead. She could not believe that Shroud had been so careless as to let her get this far, had not cared enough or mentioned anything at all. Ana was a member of their band and she deserved to have her rear watched by those whom wished to do so, not by a man whom did nothing to ease her suffering. She would make Ana see sense, move out of the confines of his tent and into her won if she had to. She would not let this neglect go unchecked.

Revenge Ana, you will have revenge. But for what? Tell me so I can help you! I’ll drag you back from death just to get it, I swear she thought to herself manically.

“Just don’t die…” she whispered into Ana’s ear once more, softer and tender now. She did not care that the Dahni bitch heard her, that she could use it. She would have gladly accepted that as exchange for the girl’s life.

It was then that Ana spluttered, coughing up several mouthfuls of saliva and retching forwards and towards Zandelia’s face. She leant back so as to keep out of collision range but did not move too far away that Ana did not see her face. What she said next broke her heart, finally hacked down one of the walls Zandelia had been using to distance herself from the girl. It tapped directly into her won past, the loss of her mother and how many times she found herself wishing she were still alive to find comfort in her arms. She took Ana into her arms gently then, cradling the back of her head with her hand as she wished her mother had done more often in her memories.

“Yes Ana, it’s mother,” she stuttered the words a little, not sure how to go about saying them but sure it was what Ana wished to hear, “I’m here now. You’re safe. Hush now…rest girl” she closed her eyes then, trying to stop her won tears from brimming.

She opened them with a snap and shot a look at Sahashkalila that dared the woman to even utter another barb at her. She was beyond breaking point now and sailing waters not ventured into for nigh on a decade.

[Sahashkalila]

Kalila did not know what the girl was babbling on about in her sickened state, but she assumed it was past torments that plagued her as she listened to the poor girl. Ana, from what Zandelia called her. She watched the interaction between the two with a bit of sadness, the care the older woman showing touching Kalila more than she cared to let on. The serpent woman was alone, with few and precious friendships. She got up from her seat on the bed, paying no mind to the glare that Zandelia seemed to shoot at her, and gently smoothed the stringy blonde hair from the young girl's face. "Yesss child, you are ssafe. Ressst and be at easse little one, mother iss watching over you,"she said softly, the words a strong reminder of what her own mother would say to her. She then let her hand fall and walked back over to her work table, beginning to clean up her things quietly while Zandelia tended to Ana.

"Whatever it iss that I have done to offend you Zandelia, I apologize,"she said after a few moments, not exactly sure what was eating at the woman. She seemed to care for this little family, but she hardly ever showed it except in dire situations. She made connections to people, but yet only if they suited her own purposes. Kalila could not understand her concept friendship really was, or if she even had one. "I did not mean any ssort of sslight to you perssonally, I merely meant that whoever who hass sspent the mosst time with thiss girl sshould have sseen the ssignss, or sshe sshould have come here hersself." She moved the small glass bottles back to their original positions on the table and placed her palms on the wood, looking out the one small window that she had. "I do not know what iss wrong with her, sshe only sseems to have a fever and her breathing iss harsh. I do not know if sshe hass jusst a lot of fluidss built up in her chesst that hass made her ssick, or if it iss ssomething more becausse of her high fever. It iss not natural, and that worriess me." If the girl had showed more signs of a definite illness, Kalila would have no trouble at giving her the proper medicine to get her well again. But she didn't, and the delirium was also another worrisome sign.

Kalila cleaned out the two mugs that she did have thoroughly and then poured tea from her waterskin into both mugs, bringing one to Zandelia and keeping one for herself as she watched the young girl struggle with consciousness.

[Ana Sol Starris]

The silhouette above her, a dark shadow, she reminded Ana almost of her mother.. When the woman began to whisper comforting things, Anas mind bulked and believed it was Nephile. Delirious when awake, she began to mumble quietly, tiredly "what are you doing in Sunberth mom..wheres Dad.." her voice trailed to an impeccable whisper "Sin? Oreia? Liddy?" Anas own eyes flicked to the movement that the silhouette made towards the other woman, hopeful that it was one of her sisters but she couldn't see very well. It was hard to move without her body crying, struggling, she wanted to sit up and began to push herself up only to be pushed back down again. Even though Anas eyes appeared to water tremendously, she saw what was not to be seen; as if in plain sight Motif was hunched next to the silhouette with a malicious grin. 'You're not dreaming Neille,' she let out a cackle that the other two couldn't hear 'what would happen if I do this..' She asked lightly, as she let a blackened clawed hand grip Anas ankle. The small thiefs body gave a jolt, convulsing in shivers as she began to beg helplessly for the pain to stop. Motif wasn't finished, she dug the poison lathered blades for nails into the skin, biting it, tearing it, burning it to the point Ana felt as if she were about to scream. "Stop, stop, stop, you're not real, not real" Ana stuttered, jumbling her words quickly into the air for all to hear. Seeing only what she could, tensing, her leg seemed to curl inwards as she gasped "stop, stop, stop" what was causing the small woman so much pain "this is just a dream, just a dream, terrible night terror! Wake up!" There was a dark chuckle, darkness began to overwhelm the thiefs vision once more 'shouldn't have kept it a secret' Motif let the claws travel up the womans leg to her knee, puncturing, stabbing and pushing into it and pulling upwards. Anas eyes watered in pain, what did Motif mean- by secret? The slight wound in her lower leg? No! She was making it worse! "Stop making it worse, stop, stop!" Ana began to sob shamefully of her supposed sin. The string puller cooed lightly, taking a place next to Zandelia, draping an arm around her shoulders and then placing a clawed hand to her jugular 'tell your mother the secret, or she dies, I'll kill her in the night' Ana stared at some unknown force next to Zandelias face terrefyed, nodding as if in understanding she flicked her eyes shut only to be greeted with sharp teeth in front of her own face. Letting out a gasp of pain, Ana seemed to squirm, she was delirious, everything she was seeing wasn't real and Zandelia and the healer wouldn't see anything or hear anything at all. Anas voice warbled, her body trembled as it began to fall from the high "l-l-leg, m-my leg m-mom, I-I'm sorry f-for keepin' it s-se-secret" shutting her eyes now, feeling an ease of calmness wash over her, for the time it had taken for the drug to work she was thankful for it, whatever had been shoved down her throat "I'll I'll b-be a good girl mo-mom, d-dun tel-tell da-dad p-pleas-please.." Her voice was shuddery, chunky, pleading and sobbing. Never in Anas life had she shown such childish insecurities to anyone, or anything, not even animals or Wrenmae. In fact, it seemed almost like she had just been a thieving prankster instead of a mental little girl at heart.