Hunting Thingamajigs

"Exactly, Cassidy," Khaat said. "I'm thinking this area must hold some sort of enchantment about truth telling--or the lack of it. And I'm not so sure how honest our new guest has been with me. But here's the thing--if she's bewitched, then its not her fault. And if she's bewitched, then none of what she showed me may be the least little bit real. I don't think her information is worth the telling yet because I knew there was something not right about it right from the start. I just didn't know what it was. But--if Remus was right, we might be wise not to trust her any farther than we can throw her."

"And we won't," Brian said. "I think that might be wise. We don't need to make her uncomfortable, but we don't need to take her information as truth yet either. Even if you had told us." He looked at her deliberately.

"Look," she was angry now. "You're pushing. If I felt it was worth passing on, I would! Knock it off!" She hurled her glass to the rock floor of the cave, shattering it, and walked outside again, deciding she needed to walk. Brian was unsettled. He hadn't seen her so frustrated.

"I'll go," Michael said. "Let me see if she'll de-stress with me. I don't know what you said that ticked her off, but let me see if I can unwind it." He went back outside to talk with her.

Jim listened and watched as khaat walked out he was going to follow but Michael went after her and he staid with the others hoping it was nothing but a name given to scare people off and away from the land. Jack staid stood next to the young girl his wand at the ready as he kept an eye on her. cassidy re folded the map and handed it back to Sergio.

" thanks but it seems to have thrown up more problems than solved " she said softly and sighed and she went to move to sit down in her chair she made it grow a little and sat cross legged on it looking out at the rain.

Michael took Khaat for a walk. He found a small lagoon with a waterfall. It was beautiful here, even with the rain. They sat down on some large boulders in the rain and just talked. He was wondering if that web business had affected her somehow. He wasn't sure. She finally told him she had lied about what she had seen. He got her to tell him what she had lied about. When he knew, he reassured her that she had only seen pieces in the first place and that even the pieces she had seen hadn't been enough to make sense. He asked her to trust him. He promised her that they came together and they were all leaving together. He took her back awhile later and took her rain poncho and his.

He said nothing to the others about his conversation with her. He only served tea and the apple pasties. Once they had enjoyed them, Khaat checked on the girl. She was weak and exhausted. She would sleep for hours. Khaat channeled some of her own energies into the girl. She knew if she did not, they would not be able to hike tomorrow. Brian finally stopped her from her efforts to share her own strength.

"If you don't quit, we'll be carrying both of you up the hill tomorrow," he said softly. "You can't do any more. Let the blood recovery spell do its work, honey. It will help her quite a lot by morning." He moved her hands off the girl. "Come on. You need to rest before we're carrying you too." He helped her to her feet and walked her back to where the hammocks where and helped her into one of the upper hammocks. He covered her with the blanket and knew she'd gone to sleep almost instantly. He returned to where Michael was sitting. "Do I need to talk to you?" he asked Michael.

"No. You don't," Michael said. "All she saw was a great deal of blood. It felt like death. A lot of death. It was heinously ugly and terribly frightening. But she truly didn't see enough for us to go on. If she had, I would tell you. She would tell you. It frightened her badly. No one ever likes the feel of death. I've seen grown soldiers come apart from that. She's handling it rather well, I think."

"Thats because its not foreign to her," Brian said. "If she believes it is that dangerous, we'll stay close."

"Agreed," Michael said. "As well we should."

Jim watched Khaat and Brian and knew what ever it was Brian and Michael would sort it he saw cassidy sat alone and walked over to her his hand placed on her shoulder as she looked up at him " you ok?" he asked softly and she nodded and looked at Khaat.

" I'm worried " she said and Jim nodded" what if it meant some thing different, what if..." Jim stopped her and sighed.

" stop it, stop worrying about what could be and accept what is, right now we are here. " He told her and she took a deep breath and smiled nodding.

Brian didn't say much. He was a bit worried, but he knew that they were all well trained. He wasnt' worried about whatever it was she had seen. He was far more woried about whatever it was that she had not seen, the gaps in her vision. It appeared that the gaps were where the keys were for knowing if they were going to be safe or not. And that was what she had not seen.

Blood, in itself, did not bother Brian. They'd seen their share of it in their lifetimes. That wasn't the issue. The feeling of death, well, they lived around that a lot. But--there was no information on what would come, when it would come, who it would come for...and if they would survive. But the fact that she was withdrawing from talking about it told him that, at least for her, there was some fear involved in it on her part.

"Stop overthinking it," Michael told him. "All we can do is to be alert and stay on the job. If she tells me anything more, I will certainly let you know. So--perhaps we need to get some sleep so that we can hike tomorrow."

Jim sat with cassidy next to the woman while Jack paced back and forth not liking the quiet one bit his pacing made Jim take out his pipe and light it " sorry got to smoke, his pacing is annoying , please sit down Jack" he said as cassidy yawned and lent on him gently. Jack sighed and sat down close by.

" sorry but this not understanding is getting to me and Khaat strange behavior is unsettling" Jim sighed and shook is head gently as he wrapped his arm around cassidy.

" ok guys knock it on the head , Khaats fine let focus on the artifact and get on with the business at hand"

Brian didn't sleep much. His mind was racing. It wasn't like her. She didn't do this. She wasn't short tempered--not like this. When morning came, he found he had dozed off for a couple of moments. He woke and found she was awake, up and was tending the girl they'd found. She was helping her into fresh clothes for hiking. He didn't know when she'd had a chance to wash up, but she apparently had. Khaat had loaned her some of her own clothing. The girl's neck was still bandaged, but they appeared to be fresh dressings now. She had a touch of color to her face today, and Brian figured Khaat had given her even more of her energies. He said nothing.

Michael was fixing breakfast. Toast grilled over the fire, eggs, tea, coffee and more fresh fruit. Simple but certainly better than when Brian had roughed it out here with Angus years ago. Khaat helped the girl over to the fire and gave her a cup of tea. Michael gave Khaat a cup of coffee.

"Khaat and I found a waterfall not far from here," Michael said. "It might be a good place to get a shower while we can. It's maybe the distance of a couple of blocks to the northeast of the cave entrance. And it appears to be fresh water."

"Perhaps we can all check it out, one or two at a time after breakfast," Brian said.

"I thought you might feel that way," Michael said.

Jack stretched and fell out his hammock bed " ouch ,ouch, right in the bu...." he looked at the girl and smiled at Khaat and Brian " oops, never got the hang of these things. " he said and heard cassidy laughing behind him " hay wait until you fall out of bed " he said and chuckled himself as he dressed and made his bed . He smelt the food and smiled " that smells wonderful Angus my tummy is rumbling" he added as cassidy and Jim walked over to where Angus was with the food. Jim pored several cups of tea and took two over to Khaat and Brian returning as Cassidy handed him a cup with a smile.

"You need to meet our new friend," Khaat told them. "Her name is Aura. I dont know much else. But she feels well enough to travel with us today."

"This will help," Sergio said, coming into the cave. He had two 6 foot tall walking sticks handcarved very simply and sanded out of some local hardwood sticks he'd found nearby. He laid one beside Khaat and one beside Aura. He had seen Khaat giving a great deal of her energies to Aura during the night, and he knew that if they were to keep up, they would need the help of a walking staff.

"Thank you, Sergio," Khaat said, not admitting to what she had done. She figured most of them could already deduce it anyway. She figured there was no point in making her uncomfortable.

"Hello, Aura," Brian said. "Welcome. Where is your home?" Sergio translated for her. Aura didn't seem to remember. That meant that, for now anyway, Aura would be coming along. He tried to ask her what she remembered about how she was hurt, but she didn't seem to remember that either. So, it didn't appear they were any further ahead than before.

Cassidy sat and ate her food with Jim at her side she could tell Khaat had given more of her energy to Aura in the night and was looking weaker but she would not say it to her face knowing they all could see it. " Good breakfast Angus" said Jim noting the look on everyone's face as they ate. he wanted ever one to be as normal as they could be this day there priority was the artifact and Khaat not this new woman. Although to him she was a puzzle and he kept his eyes on her as he ate.Cassidy and Jack both watched her with suspicion as they too ate.