Host

Kya – Feral-kin (fox) Rouge/Monk

Kya’s tail hung limply, but she waited till she was out of sight before showing any sign of injury. No small feat on the limbs of world tree, surrounded by the incessant chatter of the squirrel-folk, Ratatoskr in their own tongue. It wasn’t that she needed to hide injury or even just the temporary bruising from the playful squirrels, just so long as she hid any sign of weakness from It.

She refused to ever let her guard down, ever to even grimace after sparring, something she did ever more frequently to gauge Its skill. It’s fighting style was so different, the blade only an extension of Its arm, not an entity all its own, something given life in the dance, in the song her absent friend would weave with it.

She started when touching a particularly sore spot - It also didn’t pull punches... A distance now and out of sight from the wider bough the squirrel-folk used as a town-square of sorts, she finally rubbed her lower ribs, both sides. Her white and beige fur hid bruising well enough, at least for a time. She was grateful It seemed more intent to pummel her to near death than use the blade in any effective manner. And in a way, that made it worse. It was obviously testing her, them rather. She didn’t know why, but as a result, she intentionally sparred without invoking any of her more effective talents. Sure, it put her at a disadvantage which she paid for now, but her hope was that investment would pay off.

“Are you hurt bad?”

The voice in her head no longer startled her, but it still wasn’t comfortable.

“We’ll heal. Just need time to rest.”

Just short of her usual animal-like grace, Kya leaped up with the help of a vertical waterspout and onto an adjacent bough that provided some cover. Just a little privacy in a weird world that otherwise social inattention was really as close as it got.

She grimaced again as she shifted her weight, “He doesn’t do it intentionally. Kavyr’s...”

“Don’t call It that.”

They had the argument regularly, the Kya who ventured into the nether realm and the Kya who had joined her from the cauldron within. Currently she-who-ventured was in control - they had to take turns. She-who-returned waited in a partition of the mind with full awareness, but without influence other than as thoughts for her host.

With all the reality bending, illusion, deception, and just downright lies she was operating under, Kya wasn’t exactly sure whose body it really was. She felt while her memories and experiences to date left little room to doubt as to her body being her own, for the reasons just listed, she couldn’t just dismiss the claims of she-who-returned -- that she-who-ventured has stolen the body, adopted the memories they had shared, and somehow the process had caused her to forget the whole exchange.

Yeah, even reviewing it now, it sounded insane. But that may be the one constant since entering that first portal. Madness was infectious here.

But sensing no guile nor deceit - were it true that she had wronged her guest, she would do what she could to make amends, short of surrendering this body entirely and wandering as a disembodied spirit. Neither was that a fate she wouldn’t impose on her guest. So, she would share, alternating as host and guest. It was a truce of sorts she felt allowed some justice in a world of lies. And perhaps together they were stronger.

After just a moment of rest the voice within offered tentatively, “I could pray?”

And by this, of course she meant Augury, a ritual of incense and marked bones – several of them. And it wasn’t so much question, but a genuine offer of help. However, thus stated it was obviously that she-who-ventured's mental reservations to rely on the divine or even the effectiveness of the spell was doubted. How could a spell that at best foretold good or bad fortune for an action, or at worst both or even better yet and most commonly of all, no response at all.

Kya quickly dropped the smirk. That was all too obvious and rude to her mental guest. But it was hard to not be at least somewhat irritated at the change required. It undoubtedly meant changing clothes from the seal wrap that allowed her full range of movement to a more restrictive and modest robe that “covered her navel” and the scar she earned in the Salience.

But it was a small ask in the pursuit of an inner peace and a powerful alliance, “OK.”

Kya looked out between the leaves to all her friends – always fighting some deep fear it may be for the last time. Then she learned back against the limb, and her golden eyes – predatory, hard and guarded behind fang and claw – relaxed, then closed.

When they opened, they were bronze – more innocent and defended instead by devotion and faith.

She winced at the realized of just how hurt she really was. She still didn’t understand the need to trade blows with party members. But far be it to question her guest.

She reached for her pack retrieving robes, runes, and incense - cedar for purification, sandalwood to increase her ability to reach out to our Holy Mother.