Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lilith and Tony were camped at the edge of the forest. They had been traveling west, towards Tok, almost by instinct. With Jack gone, Tony didn't have the heart to invent a reason to stay. He was fairly certain that his friend was dead, and by any account, the raid had failed. They may have caused the compound some trouble, but without the man or dragon power to carry out consistent strikes, they would have to abandon raids for now.

The two had acquired a tribeswomen, and Kiyap Turea, which helped account for the fact that Tony wasn't dead yet. Although he had only been injured in the ankle at the actual raid, he had lost a lot of blood and suspected that his leg was now infected. The Kiyap woman had tended to him, and now he slept while she and Lilith kept watch and talked.

"There is a boy camped near here," the Kiyap woman informed Lilith after a brief scouting trip. The Kiyap were known for their ability to remain unseen, and not contacting Liam and Tesunie was characteristic of their ways. She probably informed Lilith with the idea that they would avoid the other camp.

"A boy? Then we should join camps. Perhaps he has news, or can direct us to a friendly settlement."

The Kiyap woman snorted, uncomfortable with the idea of a settlement, other than her own tribe's settlement far south and east of there. "There is a strange beast with him," she warned as Lilith walked off towards the camp.

Tesunie and Liam heard before they saw the light-skinned stranger approach. Lilith approached on foot, weapons sheathed, and called out, "Ho, are we to be friend or foe?"

Liam rode out in front of Tesunie, his greeting to the newcomers a hefty spear held at ready. "Strangers must first state their purpose, before friendship be considered!" The way he said it, it almost sounded like a planned ritual that Tesunie must be uncultured not to know about.

Lilith stopped at a good yard back from them, eying the small person suspiciously. She had heard about strange things in this land, but this? It didn't occur to her that dragons might be just as strange-sounding to the plains people here. "Sir," she began, trying to be as serious as possible. "I am caring for injured, and wish for no more trouble. I was concerned to see a boy out alone, but I see now that he has ample protection. I had thought to join camps this night."

Liam grumbled as he considered her proposal. "How have these injuries occurred?".

"In a brave fight against an oppressor. In fact, this boy was with us briefly earlier, but I left him last under the care of another," Lilith answered.

Liam nodded, and with his brief consent, Lilith, Tony, and the Kiyap woman were soon joining their camp. Strangely, though, Liam did not abandon Tesunie to these people, who were clearly his friends.

"We do not know what happened to your party," Lilith apologized. "It is just us. We wish them the best of luck. We would, however, like to hear your story, so that we may know what you know, and then we will tell you our story."

With that, the two camps settled together, ate, and exchanged their stories. Tesunie learned that Tony, who was a dragon, had been injured in a fight against his homeland, a story that Lilith delighted in expounding upon. The Kiyap woman had her own stories, but hers were short and to the point, telling the group that the Anjts had been in lock down, but that the lock down was just now being lifted, and that the Demere were fortifying their positions and formations in preparation for a counter-attack. Word would not reach them until later about those in the underground being driven out of Feretris; for now, there was only the immediate after affects of the raid.

Just as every one was falling asleep, Tony woke up and seemed determined to stumble around camp. He mumbled something about bedsores as he tripped over Tesunie, but caught himself from falling into the fire. Every one else was either sleeping or, in the case of the tribeswoman, scouting further from camp.

Tony grunted as he sat down beside Tesunie. "Seems I can't move far at any rate. Whatever tomorrow brings, I am at luck's mercy." His breathing was somewhat labored and his voice strained. "If I may ask, who are you?" It was dark, and Tony had no idea what was going on or who he might still be with. His injury from the raid was blurring his memory, leaving only an unshakeable sense of urgency. It seemed that there was something going on that needed his attention, but he could not recall what.

He seemed coherent enough as he spoke, but swirling memories disturbed his focus. He knew that there was a lot going on, both here and in the dragon world, that they should be attending to. Tony also felt that ToK would be the safest place for them all at the moment, yet here they were, still in the plains. He needed to call on the help of his family members. If he could get some of them to come down and rescue them, then he could atone for getting so many people killed in the raid. He just didn't have the heart to continue fighting without Jack, who had always been more of a risk-taker. Things were too out of control now, with too many shades of grey and things that he didn't know or didn't understand. "Yes, I will be fine. I feel groggy, but I have slept so much already. Time cannot wait for my injuries. There is too much that we should be doing. I need to make plans, and then--"

The older man coughed, and for a moment, his breathing was worse for it. "I have lost a lot of blood. Do you have any water?"

When he came back with a skein of water, Liam had woken and was standing beside Tony. Tony was listening patiently, but Tesunie could not hear Liam, who finished talking before Tesunie arrived.

After drinking gratefully, Tony said in a chipper voice, "I'm afraid that I must do something foolish. Will you help me away from camp?"

Tony stood up, leaning heavily on the younger man. His breathing seemed a bit ragged as they walked from camp, but nothing more than one might expect from exhaustion or great effort. Liam followed silently behind them.

"Step back," Tony ordered when they stopped. It was not place in particular, except that it was far enough away from camp and about as far as Tony felt that he could walk. Once Liam had scrambled out from under foot, and Tesunie had backed up enough that he could no longer see Tony, Tony took a deep breath.

And then Tony was a dragon, just like that. There was no mistaking the scales that Tesunie could suddenly reach out and touch. There was no mistaking the head that loomed close over his and said, Perhaps next time you will step back a little further.