Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had taken Teiluj several hours longer to return to Ast than it usually did on her morning adventures. Normally the young woman returned with either food, materials or books. Neither of which seemed to be held in her hands, instead strange patterns of blood covered her hands and a patch on her side. Bruises were now starting to show on her skin and her limp had increased over the course of the morning.

Tao had been sitting patiently beside the house watching the unbonded pups play. He had taken over watching his siblings while their mother had left on a journey of her own for the day. Sniffing at her approach Tao gave a loud startled bark and took off into the trees towards Teiluj. His pace slowed only when he reached her side. Giving a whine when her hand brushed over the longer fur on his head.

Teiluj was glad for her companions comfort. She wasn't sure she wanted to return home in the state she was in, but didn't want to cause further worry to anyone in case they had noticed her prolonged absence. She had taken several breaks just getting back into the village, her body shook with the effort it took to get home. Her muscles screamed, and worst of all tears stained her face.

Tao barked several more times until Teiluj could see the house in plain view. Her eyes settled on Nkole, her shoulders slumped forward. There was no way she was going to be able to sneek into the house at this rate.

Teiluj staggered and nearly tripped forward as she heard him call out to her, feeling the tension grip her chest firmly. She had wanted to be able to recover before he saw her like this. Trying to pull her posture into a better stance Teiluj let out a yelp and hunched back over again, stumbling forward a little more.

His demand caused her heart to thump painfully in her chest. He shouldn't be worrying about her, he should be more concerned with his own health first. She was supposed to be strong, not... not this. Another wave hit her side as she tried to take in a deep breath, no breathing only made the pain in her side worse.

Falling to her knees Teiluj gave a soft whimper. "You... y-you should be more concerned with yourself." Teiluj responded first before looking down at her hands. She hadn't noticed the shifters blood on her hands until now. Color drained from her face.

"I didn't kill anyone." Teiluj quickly cried, wishing desperately that she could bury her hands into the soil and leave them there. "They wanted to make an example of me because... because I'm a hybrid not a full blood like my mother. Why are Alkidikes even here!?" Cringing and giving another whimper Teiluj moved one of her hands to her side. She hurt so much, and to top it off her mind had been so distracted she couldn't even summon forth her magic to attempt to heal her own body.

His touch was warm, even now when she was so obviously unable to hold herself together. There was something about the way he hugged her that eased and unsettled her all the same. Her arms wrapped around him instinctively as her silent cries rushed from her body.

It had taken time before her tears had settled, somehow though, she didn't want to let go of him just yet. Her arms tightened a little more until the pain rushed into her side again and he let her arms relax a bit. Inhaling a quick trembling breath Teiluj stayed where she was, realization dawning on her. When had the distance between them become so short? When had she become so comfortable with Nkole around? His presence and scent had an odd way of calming her.

Blushing as she realized how she clung to Nkole Teiluj tried to lean back. "Are you ok? Does your head hurt today?"

Teiluj attempted to brush away the tears from her face, only to end up smearing more blood across them from the back of her hands. Hiccuping from the remains of her tears Teiluj opened her mouth to protest his ability to wave off his own injury. Her eyes staring dumbfounded at the Oban. He hadn't used that tone with her since before the fall. She closed her mouth and nodded, she didn't have the energy to insist he needed to look after himself. She knew where an argument like that would go.

Caving into Nkoles attention was easy, even if it made her uncomfortable to have someone other than her mother demand she fix her injuries. Giving a guilty look back into the forest Teiluj wanted to speak up again about the injured shifter. She should just gather supplies and head back, what if he was still injured out there. A faint blush tinted her face as she slipped her hand into Nkoles, with a sigh she struggled to rise. Not wanting to put all her inability on the injured man. Nodding her agreement Teiluj looked back into the forest nervously.

"Then afterwards, I need to go back out there. What if he's still hurt? I don't know if I was able to heal him properly." Teiluj winced, the last him she had spoken about was Isaris, and what had transpired in the forest only a few days ago. Even if the him was actually a her, and Teiluj had been to oblivious to actually pick up on the fact. "N-not Isaris..." Teiluj muttered quietly after realizing the possibility for confusion.

At first his anger had shocked her, she had become so used to this friendly version of Nkole she had almost forgotten how angry he seemed at her presence before his fall. At first she wanted to snap back that he had just waved off her concern for him a moment ago. She opened her mouth to say something, wincing from the pain that shot through her body. 'I need you' the words clung against her heart gripping and freezing it in place. Did he mean, what she thought he meant? Her blush was spurred on by his own quickly reddening one.

The feel of his grip on her hand wasn't painful at least not to her. Her eyes flicked towards it, as if mentally making sure what she felt was real. Forgetting her pain for a moment Teiluj's heart throbbed in her chest. Giving him a squeeze back to let him know she had heard him. Doubting her own mind, her own ears. Teiluj pulled her hand free of his only so she could wrap her arms around him. Ignoring the searing pain in her ribs, Teiluj tried to stop him from moving as she hugged him tightly from behind. Pressing her nose into the base of his neck.

She selfishly didn't want him to reject her after saying something like that. "Okay," Teiluj easily agreed, trying to calm Nkole. "I'm sorry."

Blushing Teiluj released Nkole, stumbling on her feet she attempted to walk forward on her own. It was strange, he hadn't rejected her like she had expected him to. A warm feeling filled her body, pleasantly allowing her to forget the pains that threatened to tear her apart. He had mentioned embracing her later, and those words only made her heart flutter more. Maybe she was right in thinking he had developed feelings for her. She had suspected something like this when he was flirting with her. Part of her had chalked it up to his recovery, that he was merely toying with her in some way, yet another had wanted his attention on her and loved the way he flirted.

Pressing into the house Teiluj glanced over the two pups that had lingered near the house. Giving them a smile she moved to head upstairs. "M-my room has the supplies." Stumbling on the stairs Teiluj tried to stop herself from falling forward. Catching herself against the wall she pouted, this was hard but she was going to be able to make it. Once they had reached the top and rounded the corner to her room Teiluj stepped inside. Leaning against the wall for support as she stared at the shelves across the room near her bed.

It was easy to maneuver in Teilujs room, there were few things in it and what little was in there, was already up against a wall. Stumbling towards the dresser Teiluj pulled out a couple flasks and some ointment. Until she could concentrate on pulling her mind into one place, she wouldn't be able to use her magic to heal herself. Plus she wasn't sure how effective it would be on cracked ribs. Bones were tricky things to heal she'd been told and the best she could hope for was to potentially ease some of her pain so she could breath better.

Settling on the bed Teiluj smiled at Nkole, grateful he was there. Even if there was nothing he could do to help her for the time being. Popping the cork off the first bottle Teiluj took a few sips, making a face at the bitter taste, before re-plugging it and setting it aside. Opening the ointment Teiluj winced. It wasn't the greatest smelling substance but it was supposed to help relieve pain and reduce bruising. Nkole had offered to help her and Teiluj was pretty certain now that she would be taking him up on that offer. It wouldn't be easy reaching some of the more painful bruises on her back, not with her cracked ribs. But actually asking him if he would help was a bit of a challenge for her. She could feel her face heating up before she even opened her mouth to ask what she wanted to ask.

She turned so that her back was towards him, hiding both her blushing face and taking him out of her line of sight. It was...a little easier this way, to ask him what she wanted to ask. Swallowing she moved her hair away from her neck and off of her back, letting the locks drape over a shoulder. "I-if you're still alright with h-helping, w-would you ruh-rub some of- of this onto the bruises?" She asked, holding the ointment out to him awkwardly. Holding her arm at such an odd angle made breathing difficult as it pulled on her ribs, but she would endure it, if it meant that he'd help her."