Peace...of a Sort (Open)

[Calandra]

The daemoness sat patiently as Rio worked on her wing. She was slightly stiff, both from the pain and from the initial dislike of someone other than a certain furry shoulder-wrap inspecting her wing so closely, but she quickly realized that relaxing was necessary for the boy to treat it.

Calandra sighed to herself, lost in thought while her wing was put into the make-shift splint. No doubt she had made Gabriel worried and more than a little angry. He was one of the few she actually cared about and she tried to avoid making him unhappy as much as possible, especially because when the Daemon Lord got mad, people were usually either bewitched or killed.

Calandra shook her head to clear it and watched Rio work. She had been keeping the wing partially outstretched so the boy could reach it better, and because of it she had a clear view of the damage. It was bad, but in time it would heal. The daemoness was really more interested in Rio’s injuries. Not only the bruised and possibly fractured shoulder, but his blind eye as well.

She hadn’t noticed it in the beginning due to his bangs, but when Calandra had come at him from his blind side, he reacted much faster and the wind blew his hair back. One eye was a normal, bright blue, the other a deep amber.
Not that amber eyes were unusual at all, seeing as Calandra possessed them as well, but the fact that the golden eye was just unfocused enough to be either blind or damaged was curious.

“Boy.” A pause, “Rio. What exactly happened to your eye? The amber one I mean.”Calandra asked as the Mammalian finished with the splint and she stood to study his handiwork. It was cleanly done, or at least as clean as it could be with limited supplied, and the bleeding seemed to have stopped by then.
Loki stayed silent, but had an approving look in his eye as he looked to Rio. Calandra, noticing the change in attitude, smiled halfheartedly and scratched behind the wisp’s ears. He gave the daemoness a irritated look that quickly turned to one of content.

“You can tell me while I look at your shoulder. You fixed up my wing, so it’s the least I can do.” The lieutenant told him as she properly sheathed the blades she had used.
“If you like you can tell me about your eye while I do so.”Calandra’s tone was calm and friendly, but the look in her eyes made it clear that while he didn’t have to tell his story, she was going to make sure he hadn’t broken anything.

“I’ve broken my shoulder and collarbone a few times each, and I can tell you, if you don’t catch it right away, you’re in for a nasty surprise. Besides, I can’t let my new comrade wander around Litharia clueless and injured now can I? And by the way, feel free to ask Gabriel, Loki, Auspice, or myself any questions you may have. I'm sure you're more than welcome to tag along if you so choose, though Gabriel and I will surely go our separate ways when we leave.” The avian seemed to have gotten over her initial annoyance with the boy, deciding that it was better to be friends than rivals. The fact that she admired the skills in one so young didn’t hurt either. In a few years Rio could definitely be more than a deadly match for Calandra.

“And don’t worry, Gabriel can wait a few minutes,” The daemoness laughed, “Serves him right for not keeping his powers in check and for making me so damn guilty.”

[Rio]

Rio was just about to strap the bow and quiver back over his shoulder when Calandra interrupted him:
“Boy.” He looked up. Calandra had obviously addressed him as there was no one in their immediate area. “Rio. What exactly happened to your eye? The amber one I mean.”
Instinctively, Rio reached up, feeling the old injury that hindered his sight. No, it still had not healed. Even though it was obvious that his sight would never return, he still held onto the hope that it might. Calandra seemed genuinely curious, not as if she was seeking to disclose this information to anyone. Well, he could tell her.

“You can tell me while I look at your shoulder. You fixed up my wing, so it’s the least I can do.”
Once again, Rio looked to his shoulder. He was confident that it would heal without care, but if she felt like she should, he would let her do so. The mammalian daemon inclined his head, flicking his ears to show that he would not mind. And telling her about his eye? That seemed like a worthy thing to do. "I am sure that nothing too serious has happened to it," He informed Calandra. However, he had not received such wounds before and Calandra would definitely be more experienced with such wounds. He left the quiver on the ground to give the daemon a little more space to work with.

"My eye... it was an old injury... a punishment from a time before." He told her quietly. He couldn't remember many details about it, neither did he think they were important. He nodded in response to her comment about Gabriel. Personally, he did not understand it, but apparently, Calandra did not feel too happy about what Gabriel had said--or done to her.

[Calandra]

Calandra nodded and began gently running her hands over the injured area, careful not to inflict more pain. After a few moments she straightened and gave the boy a small smile. “I believe I bruised the bone, but as long as you don’t get hit there again for a while, it shouldn’t break.”

Then, as if she was too curious to help herself, she flicked the boy’s bangs back to better see his eye. Only a moment later she stepped quickly back, looking thoughtful. “It doesn’t really seem that bad.”
She turned and began to head after Gabriel. “I know a man who specializes in delicate injuries such as yours. Perhaps if you paid him a visit he could help you see at least a little in that eye. I’m not sure though, you seem to heal well, and the eye looks mostly fine, but eyes are the trickiest thing to damage.”


She shrugged to herself and glanced over her shoulder to look at Rio. “You’d best hurry, we don’t want to keep the Daemon Lord waiting too long.” She gave a wicked little smile and motioned for the Mammalian to follow.


Loki, who seemed to grown tired of his perch, hopped off her shoulder and lit the way in his other form. His disembodied voice came from a few feet ahead of her in mocking clarity, “Well, he has about a much personality as a rock, but he is strong and I think he’ll grow out of it. Just wait for him, he’ll meet a pretty girl, or boy, and learn how to act in society.” The wisp paused, “Maybe.”

[Rio]

Rio barely flinched as Calandra ran a light--albeit harder--hand on the bruised area. It was not pain that he was unused to. He himself had often bruised previous injuries, but it had not hindered him.
“I believe I bruised the bone, but as long as you don’t get hit there again for a while, it shouldn’t break.”
Rio thought for a while, bruising it too the bone? That sounded rather serious, though if he remembered it correctly, the worst would be over in what? Half a week at the most. He could definitely last half a week without straining his shoulder.

Before he knew it, Calandra had reached up to his blind eye, unsettling the bangs that usually covered it, exposing the deep amber color. It was so sudden and unexpected that he blinked, taking a half-step backwards.
“It doesn’t really seem that bad.”
Rio couldn't say much to that. He had never seen the injury and had long accommodated it into his lifestyle so that it didn't matter to him. In fact, he rarely thought of it.
As Calandra turned away, he strapped the bow and arrow onto his back, taking care to make sure that the strap did not rest on the injury as he followed her. He nodded in agreement; keeping the daemon lord waiting was not something that he'd like to try out any time soon. He would have sped on with his practiced stealth, but unlike Calandra and Loki, he had no idea about his way through these Tunnels.

Loki the Wisp hopped off Calandra's shoulder, turning into a ball of light and unnecessarily lighting the tunnels for them to follow. It was obvious that even the Wisp himself knew his way around, but what Rio did not understand was his comment. He looked to Calandra questioningly, a silent look asking her to elaborate if she wished so.

[Calandra]

Calandra laughed as soon as she noticed that Rio did not understand Loki’s rude comment. “He means that you are unused to being social and that he thinks that eventually you’ll find someone who you will be able to act comfortably around.” Not totally true, but Rio didn’t need to know that.

The daemoness winced as the light of the sun came into view. The ends of the tunnels were near, as was Gabriel. She saw his silhouette up ahead and a thought occurred to her. “Ah yes, Rio. Beware the sun. As we daemons are used to the dark, the sun has proved rather dangerous to our kind. Once you are used to it, you can walk freely, but it will still be painful.”
Calandra pulled up at Gabriel’s side, giving him a small smile. She left it up to him as to where they would go next, though personally, all she wanted was a strong drink.

[Gabriel Jhaedaes Os Tar]

Gabriel waited patiently for the other two Daemons to join him at one of the very few entrances to the labyrinth of the Daemon Tunnels. Well, as patiently as one could expect of a Daemon - hot blooded, tempermental Gabriel was no more known for his mellow nature than any other of his kind. But he returned Calandra's smile, eyes lingering on the splint that Rio had fashioned. This explained the short delay and he could happily forgive them that; the support would ensure the injury didn't worsen until the break had a chance to at least begin to knit.

Gabriel had chosen to wait just shy of the sunlight flooding the clearing just outside the tunnels because, try as it might, it could not penetrate the dark beneath the blue-gray rock that made up his kingdom. Daemons reacted in varying degrees to sunlight and Gabriel had not gotten off lightly; anything more than a few minutes of direct exposure had serious implications, though fortunately the infrequent dappled sunlight of the forest was now little more than a discomfort. So he had waited in the protective cloak of shade, moonstone skin milky and almost glowing from the bioluminescence of the tunnel, long fingers turning a rough chunk of clear diamond over absentmindedly to pass the time. It was rare for a Daemon to covet stones like Gabriel did but the Daemon Lord wore them set in countless silver jewellery pieces on his fingers, wrists and throat. Doubtless this one would be added to the collection when he next made it to a city to have it cut and set.

"I don't blame you for avoiding me for a bit; I know how you hate my bardic influences, though I try not to use it on you on purpose." Gabriel grinned wryly; moody and unpredictable as ever, his irritable bout of before had all but evaporated.
"Even so, the longer I live and the more I refine my abilities the more automatic and defining of my every behaviour my magic becomes. I will make a conscious effort not to let it define me too much, but I really would still like to know how you got those injuries in the first place." No direct eye contact and a deliberate effort to keep the velvet hypnotism from his voice allowed Gabriel to come across as more relatable, less unpredictably magical, but he left it up to Calandra to decide if she would venture the information. He respected her too much to wrest it from her with bardic manipulation - plus, it could never hurt for Rio to not learn the full extent of Gabriel's powers all in one go. He knew very little of the boy after all and until he came to trust him more fully, the Daemon Lord would quite like to retain the element of surprise when it came to his magic.
Just in case.[/font]

[Rio]

“He means that you are unused to being social and that he thinks that eventually you’ll find someone who you will be able to act comfortably around.”
Rio inclined his head, but otherwise did not respond; he wasn't sure if he could ever get used to all this, being comfortable around people the way Calandra, Gabriel and Loki all were. He would probably have to, as Calandra had put it, be his own free man. He would have no master any more and therefore had to learn how to act on his own. The mammalian wasn't entirely sure if he could get used to this; he was just so unused to speaking so much. Sure, Claudia had made him speak more than he was ever used to for a few years, but listening to the open conversation of the two senior daemons, it seemed that he would never get to that point.

A moment later, Rio turned away from Calandra to look at the path in front of him and ducked his head again. He had never seen anything so bright before, this small ray was even brighter than the fires he had seen so far and it hurt his eyes. The advice of "beware the sun" would be more than taken. The sun hurt, especially to his eyes. Following suit, he skirted the sun delicately, to where Gabriel attempted to make conversation with Calandra without his bardic influences. In fact, now that they were at the end of the tunnels, he wasn't sure where to go on from here. Perhaps he should follow Calandra and Gabriel if they traveled together.