"I'll... Uh... Do you want to get some clothes, Liadanann?" I started to say, originally intending to go see Nin. But, now was not really the time, he might just need to be left alone. Especially considering how I might just shift the topic to what he did prior to the fight...
"I'm good." she would tell me as her eyes narrowed.
"No... We need to get you into something." I tell her as I start gesturing down the centre of the airship. Maintaining a frown at her until she reluctantly started to move forward.
"I'll see what I can do." Larishazza informed me before she began to follow the route Nin took.
"Well, if you'll follow me, I can take you to my workshop... Well, not really..." I awkwardly mutter to the large woman who was ducking occasionally as she walked. She wasn't taller than Nin, yet, she was larger thanks to her tail and horns.
"Whatever." she told me rather passive-aggressively. I wasn't sure either, I have done nothing to her since meeting her. So why was she so distrustful of me? Was it perhaps because I was human?
"I'm not from... Tobaballe, you know." I pointed out with a meek tone, hoping that would at least ease her somewhat.
"Makes no difference to me, human. Now stop talking." she says to me while looking down at me. Both literally and figuratively by the tone of it.
I would then do as she says, at least, until we reached my workshop, "Here we are." I would say with some forced cheer before I went to the desk I had been using. Tapping my hands awkwardly against my legs while she focused on Nin's clothes. Something that seemed to calm her down if I went by the way she smelt them.
"These are Nins?" she asked me as she picked up the mask and put it on her face. The echoes of a relieved sigh would then come just after she put it on partially.
"Yes, those are his clothes. Albeit, I am not sure why they are here." I let out in confusion. Some of my curiosity was satisfied as I had wondered why Nin was naked prior. And now that I acknowledged it in a calmer environment, I couldn't help but blush. He may have not had that bracelet on but it was still him naked...
"Would... Would he have any issue with me using these?" she asked as she tenderly picked up all the bandages. Uncertainty on her face as she tried to keep them from getting tangled.
"I don't see why he would, they're just bandages and a simple cloak." I begin to say before I stopped when I remembered why he wore such clothing. It was all to hide his form from everyone else... Something he might want to do given the current crowd. But, maybe he has grown used to it...?
I either assumed that and made his state worse by giving his stuff away without permission. Or, I go and ask him just to make sure. Yet, I doubted he would say anything to me if I was to ask. Especially not given what has just happened.
"I... I would like something to be made using this." Liadanann requested before I went to get some measuring tools. But when I went up to her to do the measuring. She became defensive and struck me with a harmless blow.
"I can't make you some clothes if you don't let me measure your body." I say to her, mildly agitated about being hit by her. And, if she was strong enough to hurt me, I might be a bit more than just agitated.
"Guess." she snorted out.
"I can't just guess your measurements, so either you calm down or do it yourself." I tell her as I stick out a hip while dangling the tools before her on my finger. Nearly tapping my foot impatiently until she dropped her guard.
"Be quick about it." she grumbles as I start to move around her. Making many mental notes of how much material she would need. How wide the main part would need to be. How tight it should be and how tough and so on.
I would look at where we kept our dancing outfits before saying anything else, "There isn't enough material for me to make much, so is this alright?" I ask. Showing a quickly drawn image of her body in a pair of suspended overalls. I can make the main body with Nin's cloak and use bandages for the actual suspender part of it.
"Will it have lots of pockets?" she asked, something that surprised me as I was expecting this to really just be a temporary thing. Why would it need lots of pockets?
"I... I can add some on, but I would have to cut the legs short." I say whilst looking down at the way her feet-claws were. How the largest one curved up and came back down. A natural sickle.
"I am fine with that." she says with a nod before she sits down. Shooting straight back up when she set off her injuries in her... Private area.
"Again, we can heal that up for you." I tell her as I look on with worry. Was this an extension of her lack of trust towards us? If so, it was pretty stupid...
"No, Nin can handle it." she tells me as she backs away with a glare on her face. Sighing and shaking my head before I got to work as quick as I could. It was a simple affair, making this outfit. No patterns, just recycling old material into something else.
But, still, I found myself wanting to add a little extra to it. So I started to take what bits of metal I could so I could then haphazardly apply them. The end result as I got closer to finishing it was a mess of different metallic colours. Something that would very much bother the more pattern inclined.
I then sighed once I was done, stretching it a little to test its strength before handing it over. I would sneer a little at how she snatched it from me. But I was glad it held up as she rushed to get it on. With the material not even tearing as she put her clawed feet through it.
Nin's magic must have strengthed the clothes over time. Or, maybe it was me as I have had to repair it a few times. The patchwork nature of the cloak gave that away. Or, well, the patchwork nature of Liadanann's new suspender overalls did.
"Hm, nothing for narrow tools..." she would then cryptically say as she tested the depth of her pockets. Using various items around the room to fill them out before she took them all out again. And, she would seethe in pain quite a bit as well. The clothes clearly irritated her breast injuries.
She was even spilling blood over her new outfit already. And the ones a bit further down gave the wrong impression... Something that made me feel a bit awkward. Awkward enough to just clap my hands and stand up.
"Uh, well, you hungry?" I then asked her to which she gave a stern shake. Looking away didn't seem to help my awkwardness either right now...
"Einervaene?" Larishazza then asked as she stepped into the room. Her eyes briefly looked at Liadanann before she went back to me.
"What's wrong, is Nin alright?"
She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know, he's never been like this before. Normally it all just comes out!" she tried to joke while putting on some fake anger. But her laughs were uncertain and she quickly went quiet.
"Where is he now then?" I asked, just in case I might think of an idea that might help him out.
"He is in the bunk area meant for men, but, he's kicked everyone else out. Locked himself inside."
"So we will need to get Vadei if we want to get to him without breaking the airship?"
Larishazza nods slowly, "Seems to be the case and with her reeling from recent news..."
"We might not be able to be there for either of them." I point out before shaking my head slightly. Vadei at least had her mother and younger sister. Nin, however... He needed someone to be there for him, even if he is not asking for it.
And we would just need to keep quiet on the questions we wanted to ask both of them. Sure, what they did to us was a grievous shattering of our bond. Of the trust we had in one another. But one has just lost his home and the other a loved one...
Now was just not the time for us to talk about it. And perhaps, we would never get the opportunity to do so. All that time walking has certainly calmed my mind and what has just happened is a distracting affair. So maybe I had to either find an opportunity or just forgive them, no questions asked.
"Well, I'm about to go check in on Vadei. See if she is being looked after and..." I admitted as I got up, moving out of the room and matching Larishazza's pace. Liadanann, however, did not follow us. I did, however, catch sight of her going the other way.
"So what happened in the mountains? What was that explosion?" I asked her as I recall what it was like seeing the mountains suddenly go off. What at the time I thought was something other than magic. But, when I got there, it became clear it was magic, not particularly strong magic. It was something, though, going by the scale of it all.
Then again, even Vadei was able to carve apart buildings in this land... That is how destructive magic was when it was taken out of a land filled with it. And it certainly gave context as to why people back home were cautious about where they were. The peculiar nature of our magic mountain meant its strongest bolts could be anywhere.
"I could not tell you, but, just after, that wyvern would appear."
"So it was the wyvern signalling its arrival?"
"No, the magic that went off at first was much too different. It felt like watered down wind magic, but that wyvern is well..." she said to me before trailing off.
"A user of fire magic." I would say to her, finishing her sentence off with what I felt was most appropriate.
"Yeah, I think it might have been a bomb made by these people."
"A magic bomb in a magicless land?"
"Well, think about it, Einervaene, they have magical weapons and magic users. Or, well, had these two things... They must have made a bomb using a high-concentration of this fake thunder-gold."
"I suppose that makes sense. Does that mean they likely set it off to kill Nin and our new friend here, or do you not know?" I ask, putting some aggravated emphasis when I spoke of Liadanann.
"Don't know, but, if I was to guess, then yes. I wasn't with Nin or Liada by any bomb at the time. So they must have just set it off as we were preparing to leave the mountain." she answered while looking away. A notable amount of sadness had taken over her features as she did so.
"As long as none of you were hurt badly, then."
"No, I was able to get a barrier up. It's how I ended up getting the feeling it was modified wind magic. The way it reacted with my magic reminded me of how the magic of most of the students back at Suhurlodst worked."
"Well, we're here now, anyway. So I guess we best steel ourselves." I then brought up once we reached the medical bay. And it was packed with several families as well. Most if not all of the people in here must have met the same fate. But how did a shield turning on kill these people?
I guess we would have to ask Vadei about it, or Liadanann if I hated myself. But, for now, I would just have to hate the fact we couldn't beat that wyvern earlier. All these people were dead now due to our incompetence. And an already strained friendship might as well have been cleanly broken now that this had happened...
"Vadei, are you and your family doing alright?" Larishazza then asked as she stepped closer to the bed her father was on. And, by his sides were his two daughters and his loving wife. Each of them clearly heartbroken by what has just happened. But, only Vadei reacted with any aggression.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK!?" she would yell before returning to her father. One who she desperately clung onto while keeping her ear on his chest. And each moment she failed to hear a heartbeat only made her more anguished. If it wasn't for the fact the body was so magic-deprived, I might have been able to...
Yet, I doubted that would work either way. I was not a healer by trade nor was I someone trained in first aid. Nin had handled most of that stuff the last time a major injury happened. And as I clutched my once-broken arm, I looked away.
Even though Vadei was grieving right before me, I couldn't help but worry for Mother. She was in a position that saw her nobility slowly eroded away and now she was on her own. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her while I was out here. I wouldn't even know what to do if I came home and found out she had died in my absence.
It did not even matter how she might have died, it would leave me much like Nin I'd suspect. Broken and quiet with next to nothing being done but the efforts I took to be alone. And maybe I should not worry myself like this, but Vadei made it hard. To see a parent again so soon, only to lose them again so soon...
It was a firm reminder of how quickly the God of Death would walk on by with the Pack of Seven...
"If there's anything we can do, just let us know." I then spoke as I wanted to get out of my mind. The mind that was so worried for my own family.
"YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING!" Vadei shouted back.
"Vadei!" her mother would say to her sternly as she wiped her tears away, "Thank you, your offer is appreciated."
I nod, smiling just a bit at her attempt to put on a kind face, "Is there anything we can do right now? It seems like we have a lot of work on our hands..." I say as I surveyed the room. My heart tightened with every corpse I saw. With every miserable family I caught sight of, it made it hurt...
"I'll... I'll let you know..." Vadei's Mother said with a nod before she started crying once more. Her hands went straight to her face after she picked up her husband's ring hand.
"We'll leave you be for now, then." Larishazza said as she takes my arm and guides us out of the room.