Aftermath

Chapter 16: Will You Tell Me?

Ingressus must get Achillean somewhere safe, but the only place he can think of is back in Hailstone. After he stops at a healer along the way, his job is made harder when the old woman gives Achillean some pain relief that sends the Tidesinger completely loopy and he must try and sneak him through the streets of Hailstone with no filter and no volume control

What could go wrong?

Author's note: I have no regrets on this chapter, fight me

also, strap in - it's the longest chapter we've written to date XD

also, yes, by popular demand, everyone's favourite background character does get a crappy cameo in this chapter. it's about as noticeable as it in in canon, but he's in here doing the same thing as always
(time and location go a little out of the window, here, just roll with it - don't think about it too hard)

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Arriving back in Hailstone wasn't easy. Not with an extra person and especially not when that extra person was a Nestoris being smuggled into Voltaris territory – and it was even harder when that Nestoris was so high on healing concoctions that he wouldn't stop babbling. Ingressus had decided to take a risk for the sake of Achillean's life and, under the cover of the dark night, hidden by his robes, he made a stop at a healer in the middle of nowhere. After too long travelling, Achillean had become dangerously weak from the infection growing ravenously in his arm and he was not willing to see him go out this way.

After knocking on the door to the healer, an old woman stood in the doorway, overshadowed by Ingressus' height and she squinted up at him to try and discern who he was. He interrupted her before she could do anything else.

"Please," he began, calmly. "My...brother – he needs help..." He held out Achillean's arm to show the old woman the wound and she winced, gritting her teeth.

She beckoned them both in.

"Come in, come in," she said, waving her hand. "Lay him on the sofa and I will be right with you."

Ingressus carefully laid Achillean down where the old woman had gestured and he stared at him in his delusional state, watching as his eyes rolled all over the place and the only signs of life were the light moans that he made as he tried to breathe, the occasional wheeze making him nervous and the flickering of his markings making him tense as he remembered his dream from before.

The old woman appeared from the kitchen only a few minutes later and immediately began working on Achillean's arm.

"If it is all the same to you, I would like to wait outside... I am...queasy..." Ingressus lied, sheepishly shuffling on the spot.

He did not want to be recognised. He could not be sure of who knew what in a time like this. The old woman may be old, but she would not be old enough to recall the Great War and so, hopefully, she wouldn't recognise either of them by their markings; but he couldn't take any chances, nonetheless.

The old woman looked him up and down, confused. Ingressus had referred to the other Ardoni as his 'brother,' yet they did not share the same markings, nor the same clan colours and she could have sworn she had been warned of Ardoni in red, before, but she couldn't recall when or why. Her memory was not as it used to be, but after a moment, she simply accepted that not all are as immune to injury as others. It didn't sit right that this powerful-looking Ardoni was uncomfortable around wounds, but she thought it best not to think too hard about it and just accept that they needed her help.

"Of course. There's a bench to your left as you leave if you wish to sit."

Ingressus did not sit. He rarely sat.