The Paladin Awakens

Malik sits in one corner, fast asleep in a chair that Zeke brought for him some time ago. Zeke sits in his only other chair he owns. Not for the first time musing that he needs more furniture. The bedroom like the rest of his house lacks... something. Anything really. It's simple to the extreme, and there's nothing decorative about it. The most 'decorative' aspect is that his blankets are all the same blue-gray color. The sith is alert for the moment, noticing the subtle changes in Seldan's breathing that indicate to him that the other man might wake soon. He considers waking Malik, but doesn't want to bother the man should he be wrong. Nor truly does he desire to rouse anyone from peaceful slumber.

Particularly given that he is aware that Malik has not been sleeping soundly of late.

For two days, Seldan has been utterly unresponsive, heartbeat and breathing slow and steady. Thankfully not erratic, but this is more than just sleep. In fact, observation over some time suggests similarities to those newly returned from the Grey Halls. Not totally identical, but it bears resemblances.

He draws a deeper breath now, though, and blinks once or twice, raising a hand to wipe crust away from his eyes - a motion that almost at once becomes slow and uncertain.

The motion stirs excitement in Zeke, and he feels the rush of relief that Seldan is not going to remain unconscious. "You are in thissss onesss home Ssseldan. Sssafe." He hopes that the familiar sound of his voice will cut through any anxiety that Seldan might feel about waking up in an unfamiliar environment. "Take your time."

The hand lifted to clear his eyes does its job, and promptly drops to his side. Seldan stares at the ceiling, clearly trying to get his bearings. "Zeke - kin. What - what am I doing here? What of the others?" Suddenly, he tries to sit up and look around, frantically looking for someone or something not present. "Agh." He immediately drops back to the pillows, realizing that he is both not wearing very much - and doesn't exactly have the energy for that. "Where are the others? We did it, somehow. I felt it shatter and dissolve into nothingness."

Zeke half-rises when Seldan tries to rise, but the other man falls back and Zeke once again relaxes. "Take it easssy Sseldan. You have been out for a while. Thisss one... Doesss not know the detailsss of what you did, or what happened, but Sserene did not sseem to act asss though you had lossst any-one in your endevor." He has little idea what the other man is talking about, but he offers a calming hand to Seldan's arm. "If you tell thisss one who you sseek, thisss one can look in on them if you like."

Seldan's eyes remain fixed on the ceiling, and he almost at once reaches for the blanket, to pull it up over a thoroughly tattooed chest and shoulders, still breathing deeply and quickly. "Silverguard Serene. Archmage Cesran. Mourner Verna. Where is Mal?" From his position, he cannot see the sleeping man in the corner, although his eyes rove the room. "Eclavdran. We destroyed his soul. I would know that they are well."

"Ssserene isss well. Thisss one healed her though her injury wasss mild." He keeps the others in mind, determined to talk to them soon so that he can reassure Seldan of their safety. "Malik, isss here. He isss sssleeping at your bedssside." He shifts, standing up so that he can stand at Seldan's side.

"Thisss one can help you to a ssseated posssition ssso that you can ssee him." His chest is tight though, with the thought that Eclavdran might actually be dead. He doesn't doubt Seldan's word, but it seems so... sudden. That could wait though, his patients well-being came first.

"He knows, then." Seldan starts to push himself up, but will accept the assistance to sit up so that he can see the sleeping man. He is clearly coherent, but weak and lacking energy - again, consistent with those freshly resurrected. "I - did not tell him of our plans. I told none save those I knew. I ... trusted fewer than I ought to have." His eyes lower. "The orbs were encased in a trap of his making. They are freed, what of the scroll?" He is speaking fairly fast.

Zeke helps Seldan sit up, then moves the pillows to help hold the bed bound man in place. He is slightly disturbed by the symptoms that Seldan is displaying, but he dares not say anything. Not yet. Yet... Seldan is already upset. Demanding answers that Zeke simply doesn't have the answers to. "Thisss one doess not know of what you ssspeak Ssseldan... Perhapsss... You would ssshare wordsss with thisss one, and tell thisss one what you remember of what happened?"

It takes all of Seldan's focus to remain sitting up without assistance, but his eyes rove until he finds the sleeping wizard. A small, warm smile comes to his features, and he settles back to the pillows, consciously drawing a deep breath. When he speaks again, his tone is much lower and quieter, and he seems to be making an effort to control himself.

"Very well, and I would ask your forgiveness. We had plotted to capture Eclavdran, and did so in a place I shall not speak of openly, that its proprietress be protected from retaliation, should there be aught. We had - learned of a weakness in Eclavdran, and of the trap that he had laid for me. I now know what it was that he had for me that he bade me find, and a foul trick it was indeed. Save only for Tanith - she found them and destroyed the soul trap that encased the two of them that I had. Her holy gift is now freed."

"Forgivenesssss isss given, but not needed." Zeke offers quietly to Seldan, sitting down in his own chair now that Seldan has relaxed against the pillows. He remains however, alert to the other man and any further attempts to move about unassisted. "He laid a trap for you?... Thisss one isss glad that thisss dragonling wasss able to do sssuch a thing. It ssseemsss you have one of your own anssswersss Sseldan. The orbsss are freed, even if thisss one doesss not know where they are at thisss moment, sssurely Ssserene will."

Seldan relaxes back into the pillows, ice-blue eyes staring at the ceiling. "Even so - I would know where they are. And yet was there a third, that Eclavdran himself held, and it was yet trapped. It - attacked the orb that I held. I - knew not what would happen, but I knew of the soul trap, and I would not see Her holy relic destroyed at the hands of evil," he explains, still much more quietly. The blanket is wrapped firmly around his waist and held, an assurance of decency. "I had a scroll, that I had purchased from the Arcanist's Guild when I prepared to make our stand against Salina, and had not required. A spell of disjoining - that I turned upon the corrupted orb and its prison."

He closes his eyes. "Disjoining an artifact is both difficult and risky, for does one succeed, it releases an uncontrollable backlash. I ... the backlash was ... harsh. As if I did stand within the Sea of Mana again."

Zeke's mouth was slightly agape. He knew just enough about disjoining to know that it _was_ risky. That Seldan could have lost much in that effort. That the artifact could have been destroyed entirely. One of Eluna's relics... gone. He closed his mouth and shook his head, knowing that Seldan would only have risked so much in dire circumstances. It would be foolish to ask if it had been the only option. Given another, would Seldan have done it. "Thisss one thinksss you mussst be blesssed Ssseldan, to risssk ssso much ssso often, and come out the other ssside."

Malik slowly stirs back to consciousness as voices around him start talking. The man looks like he might have been there the better part of the night, hair wild and mussed with his cloak over him to fend off any danger of chill. Still, a familiar voice is speaking -- one that he's been waiting to hear. His eyes flutter a few times, fending off the last vestiges of the sleep that seems to have taken him, the wizard's mind working to sort dream from reality as he sits up in the chair, looking between Zeke and Seldan. But he offers the pair a small, sleepy smile that goes all the way to his eyes. "I never thought I would be so glad to hear the two of you interrupting my nap."

"Of Her blessing and guidance, there can be no doubt, kin," Seldan replies with a weary smile. "Many times over would I be lost, perhaps dead, perhaps worse, did She not stand by me. In truth has She offered me Her face -" He breaks off when Malik chimes in, and turns his head. "Mal. Eclavdran is no more, and well am I pleased to see you." He does not appear to have any inclination to move or sit up, although he seems coherent. "Forgive me, I had not wished to wake you."

Zeke nods sagely to Seldan's words, though when they cut off he more than half wishes that he knew what Seldan had been about to say. Still, Malik is awake. "Thisss one apologizesss asss well. Thisss one can leave yout two to ssshare wordsss if you care to? Make sssome tea and perhapsss a light meal?" He looks at Seldan, trying to gage if Seldan can eat anything.

Malik gives a small shake of his head. "No need," he tells Zeke, that smile still warm, bright. The smile of a man that just saw hope walk back in the room. "Seldan and I have no secrets from each other, and any words that we need to share need not be done in privacy." He stands up out of the chair, though, moving over to the edge of Seldan's bed and sitting down on it long enough to lean over and kiss the paladin's forehead, gently. "You sealed him away, then?" he asks, not really following what Seldan is saying.

"It is in my mind that we have managed his utter destruction." Seldan lifts a hand, his fingers reaching feebly for Malik's. "He - " His eyes drift closed. "It is in my mind that he attempted to trap, to either enslave or destroy my soul, and that the orbs were in truth a soul trap. We were alerted to the soul trap by Eclavdran's son." They drift open again, and hold weariness as they drift over to Zeke. "I thirst, but do not yet hunger, I think. We broke it, but in attempting to trap and consume my soul, he must needs expose his in turn. He - near succeeded," he murmurs. "I somehow saw. Perhaps it was ... Her hand that guided mine. But - Another wished to consume - but he exposed it, and it was possible for me to fight back. Will it. I - had aid. Will it destroyed. We were a near thing. Such evil that flooded me ...." He begins to ramble.

Zeke hushes Seldan, gently laying a hand on his arm. "Ssssh. You need to sssave your sstrength." It explains much, and now he understands. "Your ssspirit waged war with hisss Sseldan. You are weak, in your ssoul, from thiss exchange. To evade thossse trapsss, to bear the ssspell you wrought, and then to defeat his evil with your own pure desssire to dessstroy him... You neeed ressst."

Malik reaches for Seldan's hand, finishing the move for the man, though his eyebrows look like they might slide to the back of his head as Seldan manages to finish that sentence. "You -- destroyed him?" he asks. "Completely?"

His free hand instinctively reaches up to rub at the side of his neck -- where the scar, though faded and smoothed with time, still remains as all but a ghost. The wizard struggles for words -- but Zeke, fortunately, seems to have some for the pair of them. The caution, if that's what it was, seems to snap Malik back out of it, looking to Zeke. "Does that mean that he's vulnerable to influence?"

Already the wizard's mind is working exactly like the spymaster he is, brows knitting. "If so, then we need to take precautions. There will be powers that want to make a name for themselves on the one that managed to slay an archdemon in his own game."

"Even so. " Seldan looks over at Zeke at the touch of claws, even not painful, grabs his attention. "I - am not in danger. Not idly is the soul exposed, and mine was not fully pulled from me." We won't talk about how close that was. "I - was not alone. I ... in truth do I ask your forgiveness, Mal. I was wrong. I had desired to shield you from his reach, from his evil. I did not wish ... for you to suffer more at his hand. I ... thought to spare others, that I dared not place my trust in them ..." He trails off.

Zeke takes back his claw at Seldan's look, sensing in his way that it was perhaps not totally welcome. "It isss asss Sseldan sssaysss. He isss not in danger in hisss ssoul, and thisss one thinksss that few would risssk coming into thisss oneess nesst to find Sseldan. Particularly with you here." This causes Zeke to flash his teeth briefly, a threat against those that might think to try. "You did what you thought you needed to Sseldan, and you sssucceeded. That isss what mattersss."

Malik gives a small nod to both of them, though offers a follow-up shake of his head to Seldan. "You did exactly what I would have done were our situations reversed," Malik tells him. "I can't be mad at you for that. Hells," he sighs. "I'm almost impressed you managed to keep it so quiet. And -- very impressed that you managed to complete the work so -- completely..."

The idea of Eclavdran being well and truly *gone* apparently hasn't fully settled in yet. The walking nightmare that's plagued Malik's dreams and made him jump at shadows for the better part of a year, and left so many marks in so many ways...

"Thank you," he finally says, voice quiet. "Both of you."

A weak smile at Zeke attempts to give the lie to any impression that a touch was unwelcome. "You do not trouble me, Zeke," Seldan replies, the rasp of weariness beginning to color his tone. "I ... am grateful for both of you. I would - explain? It - happened so fast."

Zeke looks at Malik and nods his head low to the other man. "Thisss one was grateful to do what thisss one could to help. Though Ssseldan did the larger ssshare." He looks at Seldan with a mixture of fondness and bemusement. "Explain in your own time Ssseldan. You are weary yet, and we will not leave you ssso quickly. There isss time enough."

Malik lays down, curling up next to Seldan. "Zeke is right on this point, my love," he whispers to Seldan. "You need water, and food, and rest. There will be time enough to explain once you have some of your strength back. For now, don't exert yourself too much." He leans over, kissing the paladin's shoulder gently. "I'll be here with you, as will Zeke. And when you wake, if you're still feeling the need to explain, I'll act as the scribe, so you only need do it once."

A smile forms on Seldan's lips at the touch of lips on his shoulder, but he nods slowly. "I tire." he admits. "So much - remains to be done - the scroll," he says suddenly. "What was the fate of the scroll? Still, it is clear that he isn't going to last much longer before he sleeps, not today.

Zeke silently slips out of the room. He will have an answer for Seldan in the morning. He after all, has been the one keeping it. For now however, he makes himself busy by making a light broth for Seldan as well as some tea. It'll be some time before it's ready, and hopefully by then Seldan will be rested enough to have it. He decides to make something slightly more substantal for his other guest and himself. He has time.

Malik knows nothing of any scroll. He doesn't know what the others have sacrificed, or who Eclavdran's son is. What trap the devil had in store for them. What damage has been done to Seldan's soul. What plans and ambitions Zeke and the others might have.

Right now, he is simply there to support his husband, who is hurt, and tired -- and alive. Very much, blissfully, alive, and once again in the Soldier's defense. The nexus point where their lives intersected the first time, and where they keep coming back, even if not in the same room.

He leans over, giving Seldan a proper kiss once Zeke is out of the room -- for propriety -- and brushes that lock of hair back out of his eyes. "That, my love," he whispers, "is someone else's problem for the moment. You've carried your burden. Just -- rest."

-End