Alone in the Dark

Sharpened Tools

Lyana had been with Lord Kannein through most of the night, since his nightmares and pain had woken enough people that they had called for her. Wading through memories of torture so awful that he should not have survived, she had discovered that a great deal of Kannein's torture had been in his mind. They had injured and cut his body to be sure, but most of the torture had been in the mind. They could form connections and burrow into a person's subconscious, and had haunted Kannein's dreams until he did not have a firm grasp of reality. If she had not done the training with Nerini that winter, Lyana wasn't sure she would have been able to find Kannein and begin leading him out of his own mind.

He had built walls and a twisted and crumbling labyrinth to protect himself from the creatures, managing to hide in a small part of his mind. Now he was lost in the places they had broken through, wandering in his dreams and subconscious as he struggled to come to terms with reality. Lyana spent the night searching for him, manifesting a projection of her form, along with a lantern that she held up to light the area as she climbed over rubble and wandered the damp tunnels of tombs. Then she had found Kannein's own projection of himself, took his hand and led him up out of the wasteland that had kept him safe through his torture. He did not speak, though she could feel him gripping onto her hand, watching her curiously. When the two of them were safe, she wrapped him in healing and warmth and left him to return to a restful slumber.

Lyana sat up from where she had been bent over Kannein's body and let out a slow breath, fighting back her own exhaustion. She had a moment to brush her hand over his now peaceful brow before nausea hit her and she rushed to the bucket placed off to the side, throwing up as her body rejected all the trauma she had healed and pulled out of the man.

The terrors and torture that were swimming in her mind began to slowly dissipate as she crouched on the floor near the bucket, her body shaking even as her mind continued to tremble from the darkness and fear she had gone through with him.
When she finally steadied herself, she straightened and took a drink of water as she watched Kannein continue to slumber. He would continue to sleep and though she knew that it would not be the last time she would have to help him return to safety in his mind, Lyana hoped that it would eventually make a difference. That this rest was now allowing his body and mind to heal itself as well.

Lyana then walked outside, blinking as the brightness of day hit her. She had been working for longer than she realized. She paused for a moment, before seeing her brother standing with Lady Wyn and the rogue at the bow, looking out to land.

Lyana frowned, knowing that the three of them were looking for Nerini, and hoping that perhaps the woman had appeared, she hurried across the ship. When she made it to the stairs and began to climb toward them, she heard their conversation.
"Those are my scouts on the beach. They have found nothing." Keana said, pointing to the shore, handing a long telescope to Shiar who looked out in the direction indicated and nodded before handing it back to the other man.

"We've run out of time, then." Shiar frowned, turning around and pausing for a moment upon seeing her.

"We have to wait for Nerini." Lyana said flatly, shaking her head stubbornly. Mere thought of the woman brought a sense of her. She was close. Incredibly so. "Take me out there, I can find her, I feel her."
Keana gave her a considering look, and though his face was a mask of coolness, she swore she could see hope in his eyes. "You swear, that you feel she's ok? You're sure?"

"It's an inexact feeling, I usually lose my connection with people after a while, but I spent months practicing on her. The connection has faded, but I still can feel it. She's close, she's really close." Lyana looked out at the shore, half expecting to see Nerini standing there with the scouts. She glanced down for a moment, frowning at the fog that seemed to coat the surface of the water, obscuring it around the ships. Then she closed her eyes and tried to reach out, frowning at the indistinct feeling that Nerini was not in that direction.

"You need to go south with the ships, Lyana." Shiar said firmly, pulling her eyes to open. There, she saw the firm expression on his face. "For Kannein and your own safety."

"She sounds pretty useful here, to be honest." Keana casually challenged her brother, which was odd to see from someone who did not know them well. "Like a compass, she might make our job easier."

"She's my sister, not a tool." Shiar snapped, shaking his head, looking back out at the shore to calm himself.

"Yes. But she's a person, a useful person, not a bauble to keep behind glass because its precious and belongs to you." Keana quipped.

Lyana saw Shiar's jaw tighten, but was surprised when he let out a slow breath and finally inclined his head. "Why do you say we should wait, Little Bird?"
Before Lyana could come up with an explanation beyond a general feeling, Wyn sighed and turned away from the railing to address the three of them. "We've waited as long as we agreed to. Keana himself said that Nerini said that if she didn't think she could make it in time, she'd head south instead. She may not even be heading this way."

Caelur joined them, nodding slowly as he caught Wyn's words. "Searching for her is like searching for a needle in a haystack, we don't know where she would have exited, she could be miles from here. Where would she go?"

"South. Like she said she would. But I think she'd still try to make the coast, just to see if there was any trace of us or a battle, she'd want that intelligence. She'd try to figure out what she missed, if any of us needed help, beforehand. Nerini doesn't know if we survived. She wouldn't leave without knowing as much as she could. She'd come back here.." Keana murmured, turning back to look at the water and land.

Lyana frowned at them all, looking back and forth before shaking her head as she tried to focus on her feeling. "I can feel her. I just... I need to figure it out."
They all paused and turned to look at her, as if they had forgotten she was there.

She frowned at them, before closing her eyes once more, to reach out. "It's hard to focus on, so disjointed... but just wait. Just wait till I can get it out. Another couple of minutes."

Lyana could feel Nerini. Hurt, exhausted and near frozen. Alive and close by, and though the air still held a hint of winter, she couldn't figure out why her friend was so cold.