Blood on the Waves (Daniel, Daeris, Alis, Gideon)

The air was heavy, heavy with dust, blood and bitterness. Anywhere she went inside or out, the lingering scent hung over like a bad mood. It hadn't really sunk in yet, the whole thing, that Belport was attacked- almost ripped apart. The margrave wasn't sure when she last had a good night sleep, she worried about a second attack, that Cassair would melt out of the shadows for revenge. He haunted her dreams sometimes, that innocent face turning into a monster swallowing up Gideon... Everyone, that Belport would fall due to him.

Relax. Alis forced herself to breathe slowly, inhale... Exhale. She had to get some air, she stood lingering around the entrance of the City hall, but not wishing to wander too far away from Gideon. The willow bark tea brought some comfort, a simplistic remedy that reminded her of home, it helped warm her against the cold of the sea wind. Her blade tapped against her thigh as she shifted position, leaning against the open doorway as she studied the destruction, Alis refused to go anywhere without a weapon now. The empire had retreated when it was winning- it left her one edge, surely they would want to come finish the job? Either way, the rebuild would be slow, Alis had sent a drak north soon after the battle was done with the request for aid. Valsk would help rebuild. The margrave was filled up with her own thoughts that she barely noticed a familiar figure emerge from the crowds, a foreigner yet surprisingly frequent visitor to the north. The abbot had arrived? She wasn't expecting him till later, but the sight of him was good news indeed, they could always have more healers.

"Abbot! Daniel!" Alis called to the man, ignoring the company he brought with him for now, she merely assumed the wood elf was there for his protection. The margrave moved towards them, awkwardly striding over to greet them, her own injuries hadn't fully healed either. 

Daeris jupmed a bit when someone suddenly called out to Daniel—while also making another mental note to herself to stop getting startled for nothing—and turned to the new company as she walked—limped? Hobbled?—over. She also caught the small look that Daniel sent her way, and she frowned slightly as a result. What was that for, a warning? Or was he just checking to make sure her disguise hadn't dropped? She stopped behind him now, looking to the woman now; she had more or less brushed off her own presence there—not that it was something that bothered her; the less attention she received, the better—, wondering if she was perhaps the reason Daniel shot her that warning look.

But she didn't have to wait long to learn why, because moments later, Daniel called her by name. Sure, she lived in one of the most isolated regions of the Empire, but that didn't mean that Daeris didn't occasionally pay enough attention to the outside world to know about the leaders of other cities, and it just so happened that the one before them now was the Margrave of Valsk. She tried to keep the surprise on her face to a minimum, and offered her a small, quick bow; better to act the part of a respectable citizen and not hold onto any kind of pride as someone who had just defected. It would be bad to have anything working against her, especially so far north, in the worse-hit town of the attack. She tried not to react at his mention of a 'Gideon' either; it took a few brief moment of thinking, but she soon realized he was talking about the Regent of the ruins of a town they stood in. Would they be meeting him too, then? She wanted to ask, but thought better of it, deciding not to interrupt the Abbot and Margrave as they spoke amongst themselves. The answer would surely come in due time, and this time would be better spent focusing on staying relaxed and keeping her nerves in check. She didn't want to come off as suspicious, after all... Or, at least, any more suspicious than she must have already seemed.

Breath came shallow and controlled from the Regent as he pursed his lips and swallowed again, leaning over his desk and surveying a map of the city. Red chess pieces marked the areas with the most damage, of which there were too many. Ports had been devastated and farmlands had been bombed, and while estimates of casualties were low official reports had yet to come to him. How many, the Regent wondered as he grit his teeth, how many had he failed to protect?

His gut flexed nervously with the thought, and in an instant the pain of his wound flared to life. Stifling a sound he curled in on himself, unable to stop the sudden, reflexive coiling of his muscles. The pain grew and Gideon shut his eyes tightly, holding his breath and gritting his teeth as he tried to work against instinct. It hadn’t hurt when he got the fucking thing so why did it have to now, when he needed to keep going? After several moments of fighting his muscles gradually relaxed again and the elf panted a few hasty breaths, wiping the sweat from his face. The pain quickly dwindled.

“…Shit”, Gideon murmured as he opened his eyes, catching sight of a fresh spot of blood on his shirt. It appeared small, but the man smirked dryly at it; that was what had bled through the bandages, and from the feel he may have opened the other side too. Letting out a slow exhale Gideon pressed his hand over the wound and turned his attention back to the map. Unfortunately for the Regent, he didn’t have enough time to settle back into his thoughts before the door to his office opened and broke him away from work altogether.

Looking up from his desk Gideon frowned at the Margrave who marched in stubbornly as ever, looking as though she knew best. “Alis,” he said warningly, following her with his gaze, “I’m handling it alright, don’t press the subject. For fuck’s sake you’re injured too; I just need you to not—” as his eyes flickered to the doorway again Gideon stopped, catching sight of another familiar face. He stared for a moment, recognizing the man with visible surprise. “…Daniel.”

And then came relief. The fight drained from his features and Gideon looked suddenly tired, closing his eyes as he felt a shiver inside and let out an audible sigh. They were alright. The both of them were safe… Rubbing a hand over his brow the elf shook his head slightly, leaning on the desk as his breathing eased. Daniel and Alis were safe…

Daeris frowned slightly at all of the questions the Margrave belted out at Daniel—she wondered if she would have run out of air before she got to the end of them—, wondering just how bad the situation could have been there to have her so worried. Certainly, it couldn't have been as bad there as it clearly was here, so wasn't it more important to worry about where you were standing than where you were not? Of course, that was just the way she saw things; as someone having come from Iadlain, it was always easier to worry about yourself than it was to worry about others.

Suddenly, the questions were the last thing on the Margrave's mind, and getting inside to see the Regent was top priority. The way she was going on about it, she was rather upset that he wasn't taking the time to rest after having gotten a pretty bad wound himself. Daeris sighed and shook her head slightly, following Daniel and Aliswen into the building now; she had always heard the people of the North were hot-headed and thick-skulled, but putting your health aside honestly seemed a bit too much.

Once inside, it was a brisk walk down the hall and a barge through some doors to an apparent study—though it smelled more like a room for smoking than anything else— and there was the Regent of Belport. First, loud and annoyed, and then quiet, and... Relieved, perhaps? He saw the Margrave and was first ready to put up a fight about taking care of himself, and then he saw the Abbot, and it was as though exhaustion and relief washed over him at the same time. Guess he was worried about him, she thought, leaning against a wall by the entrance, looking around the room. Even Leaders must worry about their fellow Leaders from time to time, especially during war-times.

Daeris' attention was brought back to them, however, as Daniel had started to introduce her. She moved away from the wall now, stepping closer to the group as she offered the Regent a small nod and a slight bow. Dan seemed to be doing just fine with the talking on his own, so she chose to stay quiet for now. After all, what was the point in speaking unless spoken to? 

The regent gave his name and a brief nod to the wood elf before Alis growled her protests, and his gaze flit to her briefly with a quiet breath. At the glare he received Gideon met her eyes blandly with only a hint of irritation; the Margrave’s racism was really just par for the course, and it hardly phased him anymore. He briefly closed his eyes and sighed however, taking a moment to recover from the fatigue in his body before he looked to Daniel again. Subtly, one of his hands moved over the desk to obscure the spot of fresh blood on his shirt. It was no doubt going to grow, but his wound could wait a little longer while they worked out… whatever this was.

“Alis plenty of my citizens are elves; one more around here doesn’t change things,” Gideon reminded levelly. He glanced to Daeris next, taking in the woman’s neutral expression with a careful eye before frowning slightly and meeting the abbot’s gaze again. “…That being said, the Margrave brings up a point; we really don’t have much time to waste outside of the war right now. I’m assuming this is important?”

Daeris waited patiently in her seat as the leaders spoke amongst themselves—or, rather, as the Margrave spoke to the Regent, shooting him looks all the while as she moved about the room—looking around herself again as there was nothing else she could do for the moment. Was that a record player she spotted over there? It was hard to tell, with all the papers and books stacked around it. It was pretty difficult to tell what anything in this room was, with all the mess around it... She doubted that even half the things inside were necessary.

She looked back at everyone now, frowning slightly at their words. Waste of time? Important? So these people really were going to be rough about this... And this was where Daniel had wanted her to stay for the next... However long it would take before all this blew over? She sighed lightly, rubbing her thumb and forefinger over her eyes. No, making a face wouldn't do them any god now. She had to be as serene as possible if this were to even come close to working. She looked to Daniel as he spoke, ignoring whatever looks or glances that might have been thrown her way as he talked, only looking towards Gideon once Daniel had looked her way again.

"I... Spent many years growing up, studying the art of healing," She stated simply, offering the Regent a nod. "If there's an injury that needs looking at.... I'd be more than happy to help." She made it through the last part of her statement with some reluctance; of course, if the Regent wasn't looking to get help, or would be difficult about it, then she didn't want to waste any time herself trying to convince him he'd needed it. But that wasn't the current matter at hand, so she pushed those thoughts away and, finished with her own words, waited for the rest of the conversation to continue.