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WHO: Kain and OPEN
WHAT: The return to Kirkwall
WHEN: After they return and onward into the earlier parts of the month
WHERE: Kirkwall/Gallows
NOTES: Talk of violence and death.

Infirmary

With that neck injury, Kain has been ordered to stay in bed for a little while, to be certain he'll properly heal. He's not exactly thrilled about this, even if he's struggling to behave as much as possible. Though with each day that passes, he gets more and more restless. He tries to occupy himself with books and has already amassed a sizable stack on the nearby table. When he sees someone else who seems like they might be up for it, he waves a deck of cards with his right arm.

"Care for a couple of rounds of something?"

Garden

Eventually, Kain is allowed to take short walks and move around some more. Short, careful walks being the order, not that he's good at obeying it. With his neck in a brace and his left arm in a sling, he definitely still looks quite beaten. But at least the scary part is over, and it seems that the extent of the neck injury wasn't as debilitating as they'd feared it could be. It's still serious and the broken bones need time to fully mend, but they've started to by now.

Today, though, as he's walking around the area, Kain has an especially somber expression on his face. He's gotten some terrible news from home, as now the names of casualties are beginning to come in... He's clutching a letter and envelope in his good hand, so hard the paper is getting all crumpled up. As he walks, he accidentally drops the envelope unnoticed. All he can do right now is keep pacing around, going in a circle, faster and faster as his terrible mood appears to worsen.

Library

At some point, Kain manages to get himself put on light duties. He can't go back to his usual training at the moment, or do anything requiring physical exertion, but he hates being inactive, feeling useless. So he gets to do some boring paperwork for a little while, and there sure is a lot of it. He takes it all to the library, finding a good place to settle and work.

Except he hadn't anticipated how difficult it would be to do this with his "off" hand. The left is still all slung up to prevent the shoulder- the actual broken part- from moving. So he's kind of stuck. He struggles, dipping the quill into ink, then tries to write, pretty sloppily. He gets increasingly frustrated until... whoops!... his hand accidentally knocks the ink, spilling it all over.

"Maker damn it!!" He pounds his right fist on the table in frustration.

Training Area

Of course, he sneaks out to the training area eventually anyway, it's inevitable once he's allowed to get up and move around. He stands aside brooding as he watches others train. When the area clears out and he's pretty sure he's alone, he goes over to pick up a light, one handed sword in his good hand. He takes a couple of experimental swings with it. All he wants right now is to know he can defend himself if, for some reason, he needs to...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I know... but a lot of the news has taken a while to fully get here... we still don't know a lot about the full extent of our losses, the exact numbers..." It's easier to talk about that general stuff, so he starts there, but his emotions are very much starting to spill over a little. He clears his throat, slumping a little and looking a bit unsteady on his feet.

First, there'd been Biggs and Wedge, that had been rather hard to bear: they'd all trained together, and the two had gone on to become Templars with Cecil. Noble's sons, both of them, and good men as far as Orlesian nobles went. Then he'd heard about Ser Baigan, a chevalier well liked and respected within the Heartlands especially, very loyal to his people.

But this... This loss hits closer to home. He'd not been as close to all those others as Cecil, so he feels more for his friend in those cases. They're sad losses, yes, but Cid...

"It's... it's Cid Polenta. The artificer, I think I told you about him before, how close he was to Cecil, Rosalie, and I, almost another father-figure of a sort..."

Cid. Inessa remembers that name, having listened to whatever fragments of Kain's past that he chose to share with her. She never took the initiative on prying, but gently encouraged him through questions whenever he did bring it up. She knew how fond he was of the man...and how much this had to hurt now. Without a word, she slips her arms around him as Garahel rests his weight on Kain's other side, whining softly.

"You did, I remember. We can go to the chapel and light a candle for him, if you want." Kain is still recovering, she can't encourage him to go be with his friends right now, even if the Wardens and Inquisition did the unlikely and permitted it. But that doesn't mean the man can't be remembered in some small way.

Yes, at this point, Kain will have brought up all of the important people in his past, those he'd grown up with or gotten to know well even later on. Some friends he'd met only after becoming a Warden, but some, like Cecil and Rosalie, and Cid... He'd known them essentially for his entire life. He leans in toward her now, for a moment just wrapping his good arm around her in turn and letting down some of that usual guard.

"I'd... yes, I'd like that, if we could. He means a lot to me and I... I just wish I'd gone to visit more, to tell him how much he meant..." But of course, that was pretty impossible, given how busy they generally are around here. It's just not realistic to think about returning home all that often. Not getting to say a proper farewell definitely hurts.

"I never met the man, but I'm willing to bet that he knew even without you telling him so. You express how you feel in action more than words, and anyone who knows you can tell that much. Give him some credit, hm?" She gives him a light squeeze, a small sad smile on her lips. "We can also ask for his name to be included when they have a service. It's all too common these days."

"I hope you're right. I don't... I'm not one to tell others nearly enough how much I appreciate them, when I really do..." He feels so bad about this fact, knowing that she's right, it's just who he is. He's not the best at socializing. He never has been. "He taught Cecil and I so much about combat... I only regret that he never got to bring some of his inventions to our cause here. One can only imagine what he might have achieved, if he had even more resources..."

The man had been a bit wacky at times, of course, drawing designs for things that are just not possible, like ships that could go through the air. But some of his more realistic works as an artificer definitely proved to be useful.

"That's also a good idea, about the service... that ought to be happening for all of those lost, after all."

"Alright, then. Let's go." She gently loops her arm around his, gently urging in in the direction of the chapel. "You do what you need, and I'll be at your side. I promise, we won't go anywhere." Garahel huffs in agreement, following alongside the couple. He'll faithfully wait for them just outside, probably take advantage of the moment for a nap.

"I'm so... so glad to have you right now." Kain looks over at Inessa, and then over down toward Garahel. "Both of you. I don't know what I would do otherwise..." He'd definitely be a lot worse off than he is, that much is very certain. He's never really had someone before like this, someone there for him at such a time.

Slowly, he makes his way alongside her toward the chapel.

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