With a huff, Khadgar moved the last of the literature to his makeshift bed side. Heavy books half the size of his own torso, scrolls as thick as his arm and manuscripts scribbled on ugly worn animal hides, Khadgar gathered his second go around of studying and sat with a plop on his rugged bed. Raising his cold hands to the flicking heat of the fire Khadgar felt a heavy tired sigh leave him as the mage looked over at the empty bed he'd made up for his traveling companion. It remained untouched for the past two hours.
The sun had set and only the spare candles and fire kept Medivh's study lit enough for the man to continue his research. Gathering his previous scribbles, Khadgar continued with his research on the subject of fel and warlocks possibly locked away in the words of these books. A small cast iron pot of stew had been pulled off the fire and sat beside it keeping it warm. His stomach hadn't settled and Khadgar lost his appetite after his unintentional confrontation with Fain. Looking through the books had provided some relief to his aching stomach but it lingered while he labored over the second set of stories and recollections of fel from times before him or even the kingdoms.
Click.
Khadgar swiveled around to the sound he heard over by the window and relief crashed over him as he saw Fain standing by the stone window. Words posing a possible argument, he licked his lips a tad nervous and spared one last look in her direction before returning to the book in his lap. By now the mage had pieced together that her spell class had some transformation traits like mages did. Khadgar himself hadn't mastered turning into a crow like many mages before him but the owl Fain's kind turned into was a peculiar adaptation he'd like to know about some day if they ever spoke again.
Soft steps barely gave her away as Fain moved over to the bed Khadgar had made her. Not going unnoticed that hers was fluffier and much more inviting that his hide pad and single woolen blanket. Khadgar watched out of the corner of his eyes as Fain moved to stand in front of the fire. Observing that she'd lost her shoes or discarded them, her feet were covered in spring dirt. Astonished when she thrusted a book into his face Khadgar was shocked to see it was his dream journal.
Scrambling to take it from her the man thumbed through the pages to see if it was what he'd been missing. Before he could speak though Fain shook her head, "I didn't take it. But I looked through it."
Crimson blush scathed his face knowing well that she must have seen his poor drawings of her. Tongue tied Khadgar's chest swelled with a breath as he tried to settle down and ran his hand over the journals face, "...then who did?" Fain's face never turned away from the fire, it flickered and deepened her features. Adding an angularity to her face that it didn't have in normal light. Khadgar watched as shadows flickered on her cheekbones, across her nose and softly kissed her lips. Suddenly realizing two nights ago he was hoping to get a kiss from the stranger before succumbing to some sort of spell, "Were you the one who cast the spell on me?"
That agitated sense fell on him again like their first interaction when he broke into her room. Shifting a little, Khadgar set the book down and made his posture friendlier if that was possible as he felt his emotions gurgling inside him making it incredibly hard to form a coherent thought. Fain dropped down to her bottom as her knees tucked up under her chin and arms wrapped around her legs. A jagged breath left her and sent a quiver through her shoulders. Timid to reach out at lay a hand on her Khadgar sat still and made no movement as he could feel distress radiating off of her.
"Fain...I..." he tried to piece something together in the hopes of quelling her unstable state but Khadgar couldn't think over the thumping in his chest.
"...I tried...I tried to do good with this wretched power, I thought I could. I thought I could be good with all this fel in me. I-" Her voice hitched and a sob choked out from her voice. Khadgar mistook her agitation for anger but quickly came to realize the woman was sobbing into her lap. Scooting closer on the edge of his cot Khadgar reached out and touched her shoulder, stunned when the normally combative female didn't even lift her head. The only sense of life to her was the shudder in her body as silent tears rolled down her cheeks and quiet cries choked her words, "I....I didn't know they'd hurt you.....I...I didn't want to be this."
"Be what? Who's going to hurt me?" Khadgar listed towards her and his hand moved from her shoulder to the middle of her back, less and less worried now that she'd snap at him.
"A-Athrikus...Athrikus and his nasty minions, vile disgusting horrible killers, I didn't want to see you hurt, I couldn't...." Fain wiped feverishly at her cheeks trying to clear her face as incoherent fragments left her.
Nothing she was babbling made sense to him but Khadgar felt an inordinate need to comfort her. Unfamiliar with how to aid her the mage didn't understand what she was even upset about but her words sowed a seed of dread in his stomach. Looking around he didn't know what to do but impulsively grabbed one of the ceramic bowls. In one fluid movement he filled it most of the way and carefully held it in his left hand as his right sought one of hers. When she made the move to wipe at her face again, Khadgar snagged her hand and meticulously place the mug of soup in her palm and clasped both his hands over hers and the warm clay mug.
Observing the soup fitfully between both of their hands, Khadgar looked up to her with his lips slightly parted in his normal perplexed manner and regarded with still content as Fain looked down at the stew. It caught her off guard enough that the crying ceased and only fat stray tears rolled down her rosy cheeks. Running her tongue over her bottom lip and coming full circle over her top lip, she starred down at the food for a while until Khadgar was startled to hear a tiny chuckle left her.
"...Why do you insist on feeding me so much? Do you wish me fat like a fel bore approaching slaughter?" Fain couldn't deny him the timid smirk crawling on her lips.
"Fel what?" he bemused, feeling a sense of relief at least as her tears stopped.
"Your people...they would call them....a swine yes? You eat swine here in Azeroth?" Fain interrupted her homelands piglike creature to one she'd seen hanging in the butchery in Stormwind.
"A pig," Khadgar's lips pulled back in a toothy smile at her still so different views of things. Moving his thumb over her own, his smile faded and the nerves started gnawing at him again, "...was that you in my nightmares..."
He could hear her soft breath come and go in the nights silence. Fain's dreary slate eyes stared down at the cup clasped between their hands and it took her some wrestling with herself before answering, "....I didn't know they were causing you nightmares....They...it wasn't supposed to."
A break through Khadgar leaned into her compelled to get all his questions answered, "That was really you then? I was having dreams about you? Do you know what those monsters where then? All the dread and black, what was that? What was happening-?"
Taking her hands away from his, Fain folded his hands over the mug of soup as she carefully sat down fully, "...I...I found out the shadow council was taking notes and observing you...foolishly I thought I could reverse the minds eye spell they were using watch you and see the progress since your guardian succumbed to fel. Ignorant as I was my spells were sloppy and the shadow council found out and instead of terminate me they saw my spell was stronger connection to you than their simple spells was and forced me to maintain it. All those nightmares you saw, those monsters were demons where I come from." Fain swallowed a lump in her throat and close her eyes as she shook her head, "I tried to show you all the horrors of the council....I wanted you to see they are up to no good. I tried to warn you."
In addled silence Khadgar bit his bottom lip unconsciously as that seed of dread in his stomach took full bloom and it sunk into him what all those nightmares were real and tangible just like she was right now, "..y-you're not here to help..."
"....." rubbing her forearm over her eyes, Fain couldn't bring herself to look at him, "...they're a scouting party....before they come..."
Every ounce of energy left Khadgar as he quickly had to set the cup down as he felt faint and leaned back. Head spinning all the nightmarish scenes he'd blocked out over the months flared up and he could recall every wicked thing he saw came back to him. Fain looked over at him and felt her skin crawl and become clammy.
"...they're just here to mark our weaknesses, to befriend us like idiots," Khadgar baffled at how easily the royal court, even Lothar, scrambled for help that no one saw this outcome. Coming back to the moment present, he looked at Fain almost broken hearted as his brown eyes tore at her and she felt smaller and smaller to him, "Y-Your....you're one of them-"
"No!" Fain cried out, shaking her head and trying to deplore his words, "I'm not! I'm not one of those depraved monsters! I've been trying to warn you and keep them away!"
"Then why were you the one I saw in my dream?!" Khadgar edged away from her.
"I was warning you! I needed you to see those bad things were real! That I was real! That-" Her words cut short the woman clutched her chest in agony and crumpled like a piece of paper.
"Fain?" Khadgar's eyes widened shocked as she was doubled over in pain, "Fain!" tossing aside what she'd just confessed he rushed to her and unclasped her hands from over her chest. Under the fabric of her tunic was a sizzling noise that made his skin crawl and caused even worse pain as Fain screamed out in inconceivable agony.
Ripping into the material he was horrified to see an undistinguishable mark boring into her skin like glassy green maggots beneath her skin as they wreathed and traveled in the scared areas of the marked symbol on her skin. Jerking to cover his mouth, Khadgar suppressed the urge to gag knowing this was causing her monstrous pain. Fain's eyes rolled back so far in her head that the whites showed and Khadgar panicked seeing her loose consciousness before him.
Wracking his brain for what to do the mage was lost for what was happening to her. A priest would have been more useful as his hands were raised frightened to make it worse, Khadgar searched around panicked for help. Convulsing Fain's eyes rolled back and Khadgar knew he didn't have time to think. Seizing the small letter opener he had to unseal the scrolls, Khadgar swallowed hard and prayed to any god that he wasn't making a mistake as he plunged the small sharp object into Fain's flesh. Wailing in pain Khadgar could feel his spine tingle as blood poured out of the incision. Better yet though the green raised area shifted away from his letter opener and took that as a good sign as he cut towards it.
Vermillion blood gushing out Khadgar was startled to say the least as green toxic ooze seeped out of the punctured raised ridge in her flesh. Stomach in his mouth, the man reached with his free clean hand into the cut and almost lost it when he felt something plump and slippery between his fingers. Retching as he got a better grip on the object, he twiddled it out from it's burrow in her chest with the letter knife. Producing a squirming iridescent grub like creature between his pinched fingers, Khadgar yelped and immediately through it into the fire without second thought. Fain's blood and the green ooze covering his hand Khadgar watched the grub sputter and spit more green before popping like a zit in the fire.
Fain's whimpered brought him back to the woman passed out and he cupped her face trying to bring her back to. Eyes sealed shut Fain didn't respond and Khadgar realized the green discoloration was gone but blood still leaked from her chest. Quickly wiping his hands off on his robe Khadgar tried to center himself while fumbling to clean his hands to preform the simple healing spell he'd shown off with before. A few tries but the third time her pale skin began to knit together and blood stopped seeping from her. Exhaling a deep breath Khadgar felt a sense of relief when she was still breathing and no longer bleeding.
Gingerly taking his cloak he didn't mind as he soaked a corner of it from the water skin he had and took to blotting up the now drying blood on her skin. Tending to the sealed wound Khadgar watched her chest raise and fall in a slow rhythm now as Fain's head rested in his lap and the pain etched on her face before was gone. Getting the rest of the blood cleaned up Khadgar carefully moved her back onto her cot. A tiny whimper left her and Khadgar chewed at his bottom lip nervous if she'd wake up. Few beads of sweat sparkled on her forehead and Khadgar wetted a new corner of his robe and dabbed her face slowly and carefully.
Brushing her light brown hair from her face he couldn't help stare at her and then look down at the wound that produced such a nasty creature from her chest. Gagging at the thought Khadgar yielded to the fact he couldn't sleep until she woke up and he knew she was ok. Sitting up beside her, Khadgar pulled his work closer to him so he could continue. Dragging another book up onto his lap the mage tentatively laid a hand against her head and when she didn't stir he kept it there and mindlessly traced his fingers through her soft hair as he attempted to piece together all that she'd said while trying to dig up items from his books to give him a solid idea of what was happening not only to him but also back in Stormwind and all across Azeroth at that very moment.