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WHO: Kain Ventfort and OPEN
WHAT: The return from a month's captivity in Tevinter's 0/5 star accomodations
WHEN: This month, now-ish
WHERE: Inquisition areas and around Kirkwall
NOTES: References to captivity, nightmares, and associated dark things

I. Infirmary

They had made sure to keep the captives well enough to stay alive, so they might retain their usefulness… but that was about it. There was little regard for their mental states, particularly, or looking too closely after their overall statuses beyond the basics. Once the adrenaline of the escape had worn off, Kain had crashed pretty hard. He'd gotten quite weak while lingering in a cell, and feverish and sickly in those last couple of weeks, all of it aggravated by his worsening insomnia.

So on returning, it was off to the infirmary with him to start his initial recovery.

He's being given all kinds of herbs and tinctures, along with the healers tending to him as well. They've been adjusting and adapting what they're giving him, not about to let him leave until he's got the right mix that'll work. Some of those things should be helping him sleep, and for the most part, they do… Mostly.

The nightmares still keep coming back, like they are right now. Kain wakes up with a sudden jolt, screaming as he flails his arms around against an unseen enemy.

II. Chapel

Kain hasn't always been the most devout, even if he considers himself Andrastian in theory. But he feels compelled to pray, though he's unsure if he's there to thank her for being freed, or simply to ask the Maker… why. It's an excuse to leave his room, anyway, and the healers have allowed that much, since it's not too strenuous to walk there.

At least it's blissfully quiet here, something he's sorely needed after the month of whispers in his head. Perhaps even a little too quiet.

Although he starts out kneeling, deep in prayer, he soon enough finds himself nodding off… eyes getting heavier and heavier… Until Kain ends up curled up on the bench, fast asleep. After the month he's had, and the mix of various herbs he's been taking to help him sleep, it's no wonder he can't keep awake.

His snores are hard to miss, loudly echoing throughout the chapel.

III. Kirkwall Merchants

Amid all the chaos, he's lost his favorite pair of gloves. It's a small thing relative to what he'd been through, but to him it matters. They'd been perfect for covering up his shard and nothing else he owns entirely does the trick. At the moment, he's still not in the best state of mind, so he's become a little obsessed with finding something new to cover up that shard, especially after all that he's been through recently.

So Kain is at a glove merchant. He's trying on pair after pair, one by one, all different colors and fabrics. One by one, he's also tossing them aside when he still sees that glow emanating through them. There's a black leather pair which seems almost promising… but no, they don't quite fit. A soft velvet purple pair, no. A silky deep maroon, also no. A plaidweave pair… yeah, definite no.

Kain sighs in frustration as he holds his hand up to observe that faint glow through the plaidweave.

"How annoying. I guess I really will have to return all the way home to get something…"

IV. Griffon Roost

It feels like forever. Kain still isn't in the best of shape, but he's desperately missing Potato, and the griffons in general. So at some point he heads off for the roost. He's oddly nervous as he approaches. What if she's moved on from him? Does that ever happen, after a long enough span of time apart?

Of course, he had nothing to worry about. As soon as he enters, cheerful squawks greet him. The griffons all know and like the Warden, since he always comes bearing plentiful treats.

Potato is the most enthused of all. She bounds toward him, knocking him flat over. He's a bit too weak to get up just yet, but he doesn't care at the moment. As for Potato, she's nuzzling him like a fiend and making very elated noises. She's clearly missed him.

"I'm... glad... to... ahh, to see you, too, Potato…"

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Tessa merely shrugs. "Still alive." It's sort of an inside joke for herself, since she managed to survive zombies, falling through a rift, and then just adapting to the new world.

"I take it you're with the Inquisition, right? So they can keep tabs on that?"

"Staying alive is impressive by Thedas standards. It's not easy even for the natives." Some have it worse than others, admittedly, but no matter who you are and where you're born, there are dangers lurking everywhere. Kain can appreciate how much harder it must be, if you're not used to this world.

He nods slowly. It's the right place for him to be, given the problem of the shard. "Of course, I consider myself more of a Grey Warden, first and foremost. But yes, I came to be with the Inquisition because of this shard. I was hoping they had better answers when I first joined... it's a lot more complicated than I realized."

"Oh, you're one of those," she says, though her voice doesn't really hold any emotion at the revelation. It's more that she's heard of the Wardens and their griffons, but knows little else.

"So what do you guys do in your organization? Do you just patrol on griffons or something?"

Kain isn't too surprised that she's only heard of the basics about the Wardens. After all, they're a secretive bunch as a group anyway, not exactly about to spill too much detail to even other natives, let alone the rifters. He smirks a little at the idea of spending his days just flying around.

"There's more to it than that, but if I had my way, I'd spend all of my time patrolling around on a griffon. You haven't truly seen the world until you've seen it from the air." He sighs wistfully. "Anyway, raising, training and going to battle with our griffons is only one piece of what we do. Our ultimate responsibility is to fight darkspawn and their kind. If it's tainted, it's up to us to put it down."

Tessa raises her brow and nods, deciding to not say quite yet that she's seen the world from the air. From a plane.

"Wait, hold up. I've heard of those darkspawn things. Those are the undead, right? Sort of?" Because in reading about them, they seemed sort of similar to zombies to her, and Tessa wants to stay far, far away from any zombie-like creatures, thank you very much.

"You could say that they're quite similar. Many varieties look like walking corpses. They're just as murderous, and they're typically found underground... and they prefer the night. There are different types of darkspawn, of course, all of them turned into what they are by an infection caused by the taint." His tone is darkly serious, as knowledge about them and how to destroy them is something he takes incredibly seriously.

"The taint often outright kills whoever it infects, but if someone were to survive while tainted... they'd become a specific type of darkspawn called a ghoul."

The description makes Tessa visibly wince. But even though this information is unsettling, she absorbs it all. It's always better to hear this sort of thing from an expert than reading about it in a book.

"A ghoul. Can ghouls turn people too? I mean infect them." She sighs and rubs at her forehead a moment. "We have these infected people at home called zombies. They attack healthy person and either kill them and eat them, or they infect them through bites, scratches, or proximity. But not if you're immune." She turns her hand to point dramatically at herself.

"I'm one of the immune ones, but my world's overrun with the rest."

"You're fortunate to be immune. We Wardens are... well, you could call us immune as well. That's why we're the ones who fight darkspawn in the first place." There are some things he won't get into at least just yet, the fact that this immunity is only borrowed time in a sense. "As for the rest of that... I think I've heard others speak of these 'zombies'. They sound hideous, and very close to what we're dealing with here. Ghouls... they're generally not doing the main infecting, though it surely would be possible. But they're usually more like servants to the darkspawn, crafting things for them, or sometimes they become a source of food."

"Wow." She guesses if they had something like the Wardens set up at home that she'd be one of them. "So there must not be a lot of them, or you guys are really good at holding them back, because I've sure never seen one and I've been here half a year."

"You've gotten lucky... and so you would, if you had no cause to visit the Deep Roads so far. Nor are we in the midst of a Blight, so there's that going for us as well." He wonders vaguely if she is, in fact, immune to the taint because of her immunity to those zombies. It's doubtful, though, since it's another world entirely. So he doesn't ponder that aloud. "You're definitely not missing anything by not encountering them."

"Well, I'll just stay far away from the Deep Roads. Hopefully I don't get assigned there for something." Because she kind of can't control that.

"So! Now that we've discussed that creepy, scary thing, are you gonna buy some gloves?"

"I don't blame you. If it were up to me, non-Wardens wouldn't get assigned there. The risk is too great. But... we only have so many of us here. They sometimes have to send whoever they can, unfortunately. Just keep your wits about you and you'll be more apt to survive." Well. More or less. He'll never pretend the danger isn't worse for those who aren't protected against the taint. It's better that people are informed of what they're getting into.

But, yes, changing his focus a little, he looks at the gloves he's been considering, then sets them aside to pick up another, one that will be better for adding in some extra fabric. "These look promising."

Keep her wits about her. Tessa's never considered herself to be that type of person, so there's a bit of a worried crease to her brow. However, what she thinks of herself and who she actually is are two different things. She managed to survive in a world where few people did. She's more capable than she realizes.

"Yeah? That's good. And they look pretty cool too. I don't know what counts as trendy here, but they'd definitely be in style back home."

"They're Ferelden-made, which is all the more reason to get them. My countrymen would hate them." He gives a wry little smirk, before returning to the more serious demeanor. "I've nothing but pride in my homeland, don't get me wrong. But sometimes, they do go overboard when it comes to what's fashionable." Ok, and maybe he's gotten a bit of a thing for things that are Ferelden, these days.

"Oh, yeah?" Tessa gives a soft snort. "Where I'm from, you don't dare wear an opposing city's gear." Of course she's talking about sports teams and he's talking about something else.

"You must be pretty brave."

"Believe me, it's still the same even now, between Ferelden and Orlais, and I doubt it'll ever change, no matter how well they might get along at times. I just have a certain... new found preference for Ferelden." He looks down toward the hand with the shard, thinking about the recent situation that he'd been through, then over to her. He takes such words very seriously, after all, bravery means a great deal to him.

"I certainly try to be... Thank you for saying so."

Man, what a sincere guy. Tessa hopes the world doesn't chew him up and spit him back out.

"No prob. I'd better get going, but it's good you found something that'll work for you."

Ah, it already has, it already has. Hence why he's struggled to be as good of a person as he can be.

"Yes… and I appreciate the help in the matter. It's best getting the opinion of someone who's in the same position… in this one regard, anyway." Sure, he's no rifter, but he very much understands what they go through with the shards. He'd never have expected to have such a thing in common, but here they are.

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