Orlain

"No, no." Asha sighed, getting up and dusting herself off. "I'll be fi- Wait. Did you say healing? You have a healer?" She asked quickly, pausing.

Damien starred at Jack for a moment before closing her eyes tightly, trying to keep herself calm. Jack glanced at Joey and moved to the side so Joey could get in closer.
"It hurts..." She mumbled, doing her best to not look. She lost her balance and started to fall forward, toward Joey.

"Yes, though I'm relatively certain she was asleep when I last left her," Kerian said. "Is that so surprising?"

Forgetting that Damien probably wanted nothing to do with him, Joey instinctively moved to catch her, moving awkwardly to avoid brushing against the arrow in her shoulder.

"They aren't common, can I meet her?" Asha asked suddenly, smiling. She picked up her bow off the ground, "I really love what healers do and I want to meet as many as I can and talk to them about their techniques," she tried to explain quickly.

Damien was actually pretty thankful that Joey caught her. Falling on that arrow would have been pretty damn painful. He hand moved up to his arm to help hold herself close to him for support. Part of her told her to yank away from him. Part of her told her to be mad. But she couldn't help but feel so thankful to be in his arms again.

"If you only want to speak with her, I would ask you to wait until morning," Kerian said with a raised brow. "She is healing herself, and I don't want to deny her the rest she needs."

Joey sighed quietly, glad at least that Damien wasn't protesting. "Help me get her back to the camp," he said, looking to Jack for assistance.

"Oh..." Asha looked disappointed for a moment, then she glanced over at the others. "Well, aren't you going to have to wake her to heal that girl?" She asked.

Jack nodded and stood up, carefully helping Joey and Damien up. He glanced back at Zakuro once before helping Joey carry Damien back to the camp. Maybe Damien getting hurt would snap her out of her anger? He hoped so, as horrible as it sounded.

Kerian sighed, watching Jack and Joey cart Damien back to the camp with Zakuro trailing behind. "Most likely," she conceded. "But still, I'd ask you to keep your questions to a minimum. She's already healed Joey recently and, frankly, I'm uncertain how Taiju will react to a random young woman pestering her."

Joey helped lay Damien down near the fire and stood back, uncertain of what else he could do. Taiju, who had only just managed to set Rane aside and hopefully avoid waking her, was visibly confused by the scene.

"Was there a fight?" he asked.

"Sort of?" Joey replied. "I don't really know what happened. Supposedly Damien attacked a traveler."

Damien didn't seem to be protesting to being accused of attacking someone. But she wasn't really talking much. Jack sighed once she was sitting and told her to lay back. She did as she was told, wincing in pain.

"I will, and I'm sorry to pester." Asha said quickly, "and I'm sorry I hurt the girl. I didn't know what else to do." She rubbed her neck tenderly where a dark purple bruise was appearing.

Rane hadn't woken up. Normally she might have, but she was too tired to be bothered by movement now.

Joey knelt beside Damien for lack of anything else he could do, at least wanting to be there even if she didn't want him to be. He eyed the arrow, knowing that removing it would probably cause more pain that it had entering her shoulder.

Kerian shook her head a little. "Again, I apologize," she said, turning to go back to the camp.

Taiju rubbed his eyes under his glasses, tired and a bit frustrated at the turn of events. "Can she survive with bandages for the night?" he asked. "Rane's done enough today, I think."

"I think as long as she doesn't lose anymore blood she might..." Jack said slowly, "but she would be in a lot of pain."

Damien closed her eyes and listened quietly. Subconsciously she grabbed Joey's hand. She was scarred and he always comforted her. If she hadn't been in so much pain, she might not have. She made sure not to look at him though.

Asha turned to fallow Kerian, glancing around the area for a moment. She wondering if Damien was going to tell her side of what happened, and what she would say exactly...

Taiju thought for a moment, then heaved a sigh and went to wake up Rane. As much as he preferred to let her sleep, and as much as Damien had frustrated everyone in the past weeks, he couldn't leave the girl in obvious pain.

Joey was surprised when Damien took his hand, but he didn't pull away. Maybe, he thought as he sat with her, he could convince her to come around if he could prove he still cared. It seemed like a long shot, but it was all he had.

After a few shakes from Taiju, Rane opened her eyes slowly and gave Taiju a very tired look. "It can't be morning already," she mumbled tiredly. She knew she hadn't slept that long.

Jack sat on the opposite side of Damien ad Joey, worried for his friend. He starred at the arrow, trying to figure how deep it was. Damien made a pained noise and he frowned. He needed to try and distract her from the pain.
"So Damien... That power was little different from what I have seen you do. It was red." He said, glancing at Joey.

Damien opened her eyes and gave Jack a weird look, "it was?"

Asha came back to the camp with Kerian, silent for the moment.

"No, it isn't," Taiju replied wearily. He wanted to sleep, too. "No, Damien's hurt. Took an arrow the shoulder. I figured I should at least ask you about it, though I'd understand if you just wanted to sleep."

"It was," Joey agreed. He forced a little smile, though the possible implications of Damien's powers made him wonder. "When did you get so good at all that?"

Rane let out a long sigh and rubbed her eyes with one hand. "As much as I would love to just sleep, I can't knowing someone is hurt..." She pushed herself up very slowly, then got Taiju's help to stand. She grabbed her bag of supplies and moved over to Damien, yawning and covering her mouth with one hand.
Jack got up so Rane could get in close but Joey could stay. She sat down, grunting lightly and sighed again.

"I have been practicing a while... In secret.." Damien admitted, finally looking over at Joey. "Malak has been training me sometimes too..."

"So who shot you?" Rane asked, looking tiredly at all the blood. "We are in the middle of nowhere...." Rane seemed slightly more annoyed then usual, but it was just because she was so tired. She smiled though it though.

"Malak?" Joey repeated. He unconsciously held Damien's hand a little tighter. "What the hell has he been doing around? Why were you even with him? He wasn't trying to pull anything, was he?"

Kerian gestured behind her to Asha. "This young woman, apparently," she answered for Damien. "I'm not entirely sure what happened to cause the fight, though."

"No, I asked him to help me..." Damien said, her voice hardening a little. "Cause he has the same sort of powers as me... What do you care..." She asked, becoming more bitter the more concerned Joey got.

Asha quickly moved over to Rane and the others. "So you are the healer?" she asked excitedly, "Joey why didn't you tell me you had a healer friend?"

Damien narrowed her eyes at Joey suddenly, "you know her-" She asked suddenly, gasping in pain from getting angry and tense.

Rane looked confused by Asha and glanced back at Kerian for answers.

"I care because--" Joey was interrupted by Asha's excited inquiries. Frustrated by both that and Damien, he couldn't help an annoyed frown.

"Yes," he said tersely, "I know her, but only just. She's the one who helped me after I ran. As for why I didn't tell you," he added, looking over his shoulder, "it was because it wasn't relevant and you didn't need to know."

Taiju raised a brow at the elf girl, waiting for her to act out too much.

"Well geeze, I told you about my foster father and how he is a healer..." Asha said crossing her arms over her chest.

Damien tried to relax, sending her glare to Asha now. She didn't like her one bit. And why was Joey hanging around with other girls while he was away. What else had he done?

Rane sighed, growing a little irritated herself. When Damien was distracted, about to say something mean to Joey, she reached forward and quickly yanked the arrow out.
Damien quickly tensed up and whimpered in pain, her hand gripping Joey's tightly, her jaw clenched shut as she tried not to scream.

Asha's eyes widened with shock. Healers were usually so gentle.....

((PS. Jeremiah just called Rowan the 'evil lord of evil'))

((That pretty much sums him up, I think. Maybe "metrosexual" would fit somewhere in that description but mostly yeah that's about right.))

Joey ignored Asha for now, not in the mood for unneeded interrogations when he wanted to focus more on Damien. He was surprised, too, by Rane's unusual roughness, but said nothing, wincing as his hand was nearly crushed in Damien's grip.

"Are you sure you're not too tired for this?" Taiju asked, eying Rane oddly.

"I'm fine..." Rane said tiredly. "I just need one favor..." She said slowly. Before Taiju could ask what it was she looked up from her work at Joey and Damien. "I need you two to grow the hell up and shut up while I try to heal you, even though I will be taking from my own healing energy..."

Damien was shocked into silence once the pain faded. Rane must have been really tired....

She relaxed and turned her head to the side to look away from Joey, but left her hand in his.

Rane wiped up most of the blood and laid one hand over the wound. Luckily, it wasn't too deep. It would heal fast. She closed her eyes to focus her very tired energy and after a few moments she pulled her hand away again. It was healed up pretty nicely, but she wrapped it just to be sure.
"Now, I am going to go back to sleep before I decide to put this arrow in anyone else..." Rane sighed, trying to get to her feet. But she was even weaker then before.

Joey, startled by Rane's outburst, felt an overwhelming sense of shame despite not knowing exactly what he had done wrong. He looked off, feeling his face burn.

Taiju awkwardly cleared his throat, not wanting to comment on Rane's behavior. He simply offered his hand to help her to her feet.

"Well," Kerian said lightly, looking to Asha. "I suppose your questions will be waiting until morning after all."

It took Rane much more energy to stand then usual and when she was standing she lifted her shirt a little to look at her own bandages and saw blood speckling them. She sighed deeply, "I will deal with it in the morning.." She mumbled to Taiju, knowing he would protest.

"Uh... I'm okay with that.." Asha said slowly, a little weirded out by Rane's behavior.

Damien remained silent, not wanting to talk to Joey, or even look at him. But she never moved her hand.

Predictably, Taiju started to argue, but figured that Rane was less likely to listen to him now than before. He simply nodded his agreement, figuring she couldn't possibly bleed too badly overnight, anyway.

"If you care to make camp nearby, she may be feeling more generous in the morning," Kerian continued, casting a look over her own camp and its inhabitants. "If not, though, I'm afraid there's not much more we can do. I wouldn't advise staying long."

Joey felt conflicted as he continued to sit where he was. Damien continued to act as though she hated him, which fit with everything she had said earlier, but she still had yet to let go of his hand. Until she did, he wasn't sure if he should move or not, and he didn't particularly want to.

Rane laid back down tiredly and laid her hand limply over her side. She felt a little bad for what she said, but it just came out and felt so right. She knew she was going to be apologizing in the morning. It wasn't long before she was completely asleep again, feeling overwhelmingly exhausted.

"Alright, I will leave you all alone for the night and be back in the morning then," Asha said with a smile and a nod. She turned to leave the camp, just happy that Kerian said she could come back. She decided to make her camp about 100 feet away from theirs.

Jack yawned and hooked and arm around Zakuro where they were sitting. "Come on, we should sleep."

Damien was silent, thinking and waiting for the others to fall asleep before she spoke to Joey. She looked at him though and motioned for him to lay with her.

Taiju watched Rane a moment, wishing there was more he could do besides sitting around and hoping she felt better. For now, all he could do was let her be, so he laid down a few feet away so he could sleep as well.

Zakuro nodded, stifling a yawn behind her hand. "Sounds good," she agreed tiredly.

Joey looked around as the others went to bed, longing to go to sleep himself. The feeling was offset by more confusion, and anxiety, as Damien told him to stay. He wasn't sure what to expect as he carefully lay on his stomach, propped up on his arms to look at her.

Jack laid down in his spot and pulled Zakuro in close to him, wrapping his arms around her to keep her warm. He kissed the side of her head and settled in, closing his eyes happily.

Once it was pretty obvious that everyone else was asleep Damien looked at Joey tiredly. "I don't hate you.." She started very quietly. "I could never hate you. But you hurt me. And it's going to take me a while to let it go..."

Zakuro lay with Jack, grateful for the night to finally be drawing to a close. She fell asleep quickly, worn out from all the excitement.

Joey looked at the ground sadly. "I know," he replied. "And I am still so sorry. I wish I could do more than just apologize. I would never hurt you on purpose."

Damien sighed tiredly. "It's going to be hard for me to trust you. Part of me know it wasn't you, but I'm just too scarred that it may happen again. And I'm sorry that all I can express it as is anger. I know it's wrong, but I can't change it no matter how much I try." She looked down as well, saddened by the next thing she was going to say. "I don't know if... If we could ever be together again..."

Joey felt his stomach twist. He'd been afraid she would say something along those lines.

"I know it's not going to be easy, but I don't want to just give up now," he said emphatically. "It isn't going to happen again. Nobody would let it. I know I can't expect things to be perfect for us right away, but . . ."

Damien was hesitant to agree with him. She didn't think it was possible for her to ever feel right again. But... She just wanted to be with him.
"Maybe..." She finally said at length. "Maybe someday."

"Is there anything I can do?" Joey asked, almost feeling desperate. He wanted so badly for it all to just fix itself, but he knew it wasn't going to happen that way. Zakuro and Rane hadn't had so much trouble after their respective incidents--why couldn't Damien be so simple?

"I'm not sure..." Damien said. She paused to think a moment, "I guess you will just have to prove that I can trust you and you actually do care... " She almost shrugged but froze from the pain in her shoulder, wincing. "I'm sorry."

"I . . . alright." Joey bit back a sigh, trying not to appear as disappointed as he felt. How was he supposed to build up years of trust again? Or months of affection? "I guess that's all I can do."

"I'm sorry Joey..." Damien murmured quietly. "I wish I could change the way I felt..." Her eyes started to involuntarily close, she was tired form the day and the drama of Joey being back. And she just wanted to sleep, so she didn't have to feel bad for a little while.

Joey wanted to say something else, but he sensed the discussion was finished. What would it matter? Nothing he said was going to change it.

Before Damien fell asleep, he leaned forward as though he might kiss her, stopped, and pulled away and stood. He doubted she would appreciate it much now.

Damien felt horrible for the pain she was causing Joey. But she just couldn't change the way she felt over night. She knew it was wrong for her to feel this way, but it's the way it was. When she tried to look at herself from one of her friends shoes, she couldn't understand why they were friends with her.
She lay there, thinking these things, and thinking about how much she wanted to cuddle to Joey and sleep with her head on his chest. She laid there until she fell asleep, welcoming the numbness that came with it.

Joey found an empty spot for himself, but after casting a glance around and seeing everyone else, most of them happy together, he shook his head and walked off into the forest. He wouldn't be able to sleep yet. He needed to think for awhile.

Slowly the morning rolled around and Damien was one of the first people awake, woken up early from pain in her shoulder. She sat next to the fire that was quite small now. She rubbed her shoulder lightly and wished Rane had more energy to heal her better. But then again, she was thankful to be healed at all.

Jack woke up soon after Kerian was up and moving, stretching and grunting lightly before playfully flopping a arm over Zakuro.

Rane didn't wake up early like she usually did, she slept soundly through the commotion.

Joey was only gone for an hour or so before stumbling back to the camp, exhausted and frustrated. He slept dreamless, using his cloak as a blanket, and didn't so much as stir as the rest of the camp began to wake.

Zakuro made a slight squeak of a noise, startled awake by Jack. She didn't move afterward, but she was smiling, giving away that she was awake.

Kerian quietly surveyed the camp, rekindling the fire as she did. "How is your wound?" she asked lowly, looking to Damien.

"It hurts, but I don't think it's bleeding anymore," Damien answered quietly, yawning tiredly. She glanced at Joey and then looked at the fire, thinking about what they had talked about.

Jack laughed lightly at Zakuro's little squeak, leaning in to kiss her on the nose. "I can tell you're awake," he mumbled quietly.

Asha was picking up her own camp, getting ready to go back to the others like she said she would.

"Stop it," Zakuro said, trying not to laugh as she pulled her cloak-turned-blanket up over her face. "Maybe I was trying to sleep more."

"Good," Kerian said idly. She glanced at Joey, who was either still asleep or ignoring everyone else. She had to wonder about him, but he had seemed so distressed since his return that she couldn't be sure if she should be suspicious or not.

Taiju eventually got up, knowing he would be expected to pack up camp and keep an eye on everyone else. He paused to check on Rane and drape his cloak over her, not wanting to wake her until he absolutely had to. Hopefully, she would be in a better mood today.

"Maybe I don't care," Jack laughed lightly, stretching again before sitting up and running a hand back through his shaggy hair. It was almost weird how his hair seemed to stop growing when it got the point where it almost covered his eyes. He noticed that Damien was sitting up, he smiled lightly at her. She gave him a soft glance, a huge change from the looks she had been giving him lately.

She almost seemed like she was going to say something but stopped when she noticed Asha walk back into the camp site. She smiled lightly even thought Damien glared daggers at her.

Rane didn't move, still sleeping soundly. She was still exhausted and wouldn't wake up until forced to.

Zakuro finally sat up, knowing that she wouldn't get anymore sleep no matter what Jack did. She halfheartedly tried to untangle her hair with her hands, failed to do much at all, and stood to gather up her things.

"We should be in town by this evening, I think," Kerian said conversationally, though she wasn't sure anybody cared. "We'll be able to stock up there and hopefully sleep somewhere a little more comfortable again."

"That will be nice," Damien said softly, "being able to sleep all the way through the night will be nice." She looked away from Asha, trying to ignore her.
"What city are you going to?" Asha asked, quirking her head to the side a little.

Jack looked back Asha, almost forgetting that she was coming back in the morning. He stood up as well and pulled his cloak up over his arms to shield him from the chilly morning.

"Just to Mistral. We travel a considerable amount and typically find nearby cities to stay for a few weeks at a time," Kerian replied lightly. "We move with some frequency, so we spend more time than is comfortable on the road, but we do well enough."

Zakuro halfheartedly listened to the conversation as she looked around. Rane and Joey were still asleep--she expected that much. Damien just seemed moody.

"I travel a lot as well, what is the reason for such a big group to travel so much?" Asha asked, glancing at Rane. She had mostly wanted to speak with her, ask her about her healing abilities.

Jack paused for a second, wondering if Kerian would just tell Asha, but he soon kept moving. Once all of his things were picked up and his horse was saddle back up he sat back down next to the fire to warm up.

Damien's things were still together, sitting next to her saddle, next to her horse. She figured it didn't need to be saddled up yet.

"For the sake of travel," Kerian said evenly. She saw no reason, with so many enemies about, to disclose just who they were to Asha. "There is not much to it besides that." She looked up to Taiju. "And we'll want to leave soon to get there by evening, so you might want to rouse the others."

Taiju nodded and reluctantly went to wake up Rane.

Asha didn't buy Kerian's explanation. What kinda of group of people would just travel all the time. She was instantly saspicouse after that. But she smiled widely when she heard that Rane would need to be woken up.
"I would just like to have a few words with her and then I will be on my way.." She smiled.

"Good..." Damien mumbled dryly.

Jack decided to help Taiju and moved over to Joey, shaking him lightly by the shoulder. "Hey, Joey. Wake up." He said gently, but firmly enough to wake him.

Kerian glanced at Damien, but said nothing. The girl was always angry about something nowadays.

Joey woke reluctantly, looking blearily up at Jack. Despite sleeping solidly, he was obviously still exhausted; the skin under his eyes was already going purple. He reached for his glasses and said nothing as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and pushing his hand halfheartedly through his hair.

Taiju hated to wake Rane, especially after how tired she seemed to be last night,but they would have to be on the road soon. He shook her gently by the shoulder, calling her name lowly to wake her.

"Sorry man, wish I could let you sleep," Jack laughed teasingly.

Rane groaned lightly when she was woken up. She finally opened her eyes and looked tiredly at Taiju. "I think you're lying. It's not morning..." She groaned softly. She almost started to sit up but winced and laid back down. Her side hurt more then it had the last few weeks.

Joey made a tired noise in response, unwilling to even attempt a real response. Sleeping, at least, had kept his mind off of thoughts of the previous night. He had expected to be much happier upon finding everyone, but now he wasn't so certain.

Taiju smiled slightly. "I'm sorry, but it's morning whether you like it or not," he said. He frowned again when Rane seemed to be in pain. "Are you alright? Don't push yourself."