Author's Note: I didn't think I was going to update this one but here I am. Honestly though, it was my excuse to write Canach, because who doesn't love the snarky cactus man?
Anyway, this takes place pretty soon after our dear Commander deals with Joko.
Also. I'm still not done with Tending the Dead. I'm just hella stuck with writing the next chapter of it. :'^)c
I don't own anything except for my OC.
xxx
"Commander, we found someone you may want to speak with", Sayida the Sly's smooth voice said over the communication device. "Said she was a healer to Jokoʼs cadaver-like army. Found her near the docks of the fortress just as my naval support arrived."
"A healer?" The Commander echoed as their grip on the piece of equipment in their hand tightened. Along with the splinter group of Dragon's Watch, the band of heroes were making their way back across the bone decorated bridge that led directly into Gendara, the Moon Fortess. The last thing they wanted right now was another problem after just dealing with bringing down the tyrannical lich in his house of horrors. A loud sigh escaped the battle-worn mentor's lips, as they realized trouble was not yet done chasing them.
"Bring her back to the main encampment for questioning", they continued. "But be careful though, we don't know what we're dealing with yet."
There was nothing but static-like laughter on the other line before it prematurely cut off.
The Commander was left to pause and stand there with an utterly confused look on their face, now looking more unsure than ever.
xxx
Julianna Fyre had been brought in for immediate questioning the second the Captain Sayida and her gang of scallywags has brought her back to the recently fortified Allied Encampment. The fluffy haired woman looked a little worse for wear after being roughly handled around by the Corsairs, but she otherwise appeared mostly unharmed. Her thoughts had appeared entirely elsewhere since arriving though, and she had nervously been fidgeting nonstop with the ring on her finger.
The Commander was quite taken aback by what was brought into the temporary staging room for an interrogation, as was just about everyone else that was currently present.
"I was expecting someone... a lot more mummy-like", Braham said aloud, breaking the stunned silence from the group. The large Norn yelped when his Charr friend, Rox, suddenly elbowed him in his side as a physical cue for him to keep silent about what everyone else was already thinking.
It didn't take a Skritt to realize the woman was an bizarre anomaly when dealing with a group like the Awakened, and it was even more concerning given new information from Shadows Agent Kito when he had quickly overheard from a valuable source of information about exactly who had been captured. The secretive assassin had kept most of the information on the person of interest discrete, but he had dispelled that his Order held some rather inquisitive, yet interesting files on the supposed Awakened healer. Most importantly being that she held some type of importance to the recently fallen self-proclaimed King of Elona.
It was unanimously decided that questions from the woman needed to be answered, and because of Majory and Kasmeerʼs current absence in current events, it was chosen that their local bombardier was going to be the next best bet.
"Weʼre asking you to keep a close eye on her", the Commander said to the person in question with slight uncertainty sounding in their bravado as they stood near the door to the room. "While I donʼt think she actually presents any type of threat after what Kito was able to tell us, we still shouldn't trust her."
The dusty-skinned Sylvari's purple eyes glinted with mischief upon hearing the order. "Youʼre really going to entrust her upon me? I have to say I am quite flattered Commander", he jovially said, a grin on his pointed features. He tapped a finger to his spiky chin. "Iʼll make sure to take my newly appointed post with extreme caution."
"Canach, look. I really donʼt want to hear it right now. Just know you have an important job to do", the Commander said with a resigned sigh before promptly leaving the room. They paused at the doorway, watching the two for a second more before muttering something under their breath and shaking their head before slamming the door behind them.
The plant-like being turned towards his target after his comrade in arms left, his smile only widening further when he saw the clearly annoyed look the woman had been sporting on her own freckled face. He had remained seated at a creaky wooden table in the middle of the room, and she was seated exactly across from him on the other side. After deeming she hadn't been dangerous, it had been decided that there was no need for shackles or immobilization of any kind, as the healer was bound to the room.
"What?" Canach asked innocently, shrugging his shoulders after seeing her irritated looking face. He leaned back in his chair, throwing all means of manners out the window as he put his heavy boots up on the table. "The Commander isn't wrong. You spent a disturbing amount of time with that deplorable lich, would you really expect us to not trust you?"
Julianna let out an exhale of hot air through her nose, now turning to look away from the snarky sounding person across from her.
The explosiveʼs expert shrugged and continued, the matter hardly pressing. "Then you see our point, hardly any room for further argument."
The healer stubbornly said nothing still, as her focus was still entirely elsewhere in that moment. Her eyes watched the burning candle atop the table, which was just inches away from the heavy mud caked boots propped up next to it. Her mouth formed a tight, nearly invisible line as she watched the candlelight flick and dance around.
"I have to ask, if you donʼt mind me indulging about your personal life", Canach began again as he broke the silence between the pair. He removed his boots from the table top and sat up more straightforward as though he was intently invested in the new conversation. The Sylvari propped up an elbow upon the table and watched his company more attentively.
"Go on...", Julianna said lamely, snapped from her thoughts by the question. Her eyes focused back into the pair of purple ones watching her more closely now.
"Rumors go around saying that you and that awful bedazzled corpse were relatively close", he began. "Which is hard for me to believe because I assumed from all the grand, obliviously overcompensating statues placed around, that the only person he liked was himself. But then you come around into the story at some unknown point and completely threw that speculation to the ground."
"Very funny... But I think... I think that I just had more trust with said-undead ruler than most others", Julianna hesitantly replied, eyes returning back to the flame again. Her answer had been simple, but it still left a lot of speculation. She wasn't entirely about to spill her entire life story to a complete stranger. "Though trust wasn't something earned with ease and without consequence."
"I wonʼt pry further into those nitty-gritty details then", Canach continued. "But I do want to know about other nitty-gritty details instead. How far into an intimate relationship did you go with that disgusting, rotting bag of decaying flesh?"
Juliannaʼs head snapped back towards Canach, her brows raising skyward with shock. She had grown used to the different names being used for Palawa Joko, as she was even guilty of a couple of them herself. But the prodding question about her personal life had caught her off guard. "W-what?", she stuttered.
The Sylvari merely laughed, watching the deep red color cover the womanʼs face. There was no way she could have hidden the answer when her physical features betrayed her so evidently.
"I can only assume from the color on your face that my intuition was correct", he continued, stifling his laughter with one last chuckle. "The Commander had mentioned a harem once in passing, and it had Rytlock and I talking about it for weeks. So, care to enlighten me?"
"That place is horrible", the healer answered, squirming in her seat and sounding disgusted as she crossed her arms across her chest. "I chose not to think about it since he occasionally made trips there."
"Go on...", Canach asked, raising a curious brow.
"The place is used as potential fodder for Joko to manipulate those into giving over a town or village in their... sacrifice", she continued, looking at the stucco wall behind her interrogator. "Itʼs.. a pretty messed up thing."
The plant-like man hummed, as he had witnessed far more macabre things in his short life time. This caused hardly a dent to his hardened perspective of the world.
"I guess it should be expected given how notorious that rotting corpse became for his lies", Canach said after a long silence between the two. "Though Iʼm still baffled you would share a bed with him."
The deep red color on the womanʼs face returned with a fury filled vengeance, but this time she opened her mouth to speak and retaliate back. Though it was swiftly interrupted when her table guest continued talking.
"Stockholm syndrome, Iʼm daring to guess?" he asked, his tone now sounding more serious. Purple eyes narrowing dangerous as he had mulled over the possibility many times already. It was the only thing that made some sense of the womanʼs bizarre affiliation.
Julianna closed her mouth, her hand fiddling around with the familiar ring on her middle finger again. "Doylak spit... I-I wouldn't... know", she said with a shaky tone.
"Trust me, Iʼm the one person in Dragonʼs Watch that would know of it given my own personal experience of having a ballot with a harpy of a woman", Canach sighed, sitting back in his chair again as he thought back to his imprisonment with Countess Anise. "Denying you know anything about it says otherwise though."
"Itʼs a long and complicated story", she retaliated back, still not wanting to retell all that had happened up until this point in time. The man in the room in her was a complete stranger to her still, even if he did seem to be putting on some kind of friendly bravado.
"You have the time to tell it now, so why donʼt you?" he pressed.
"Because I donʼt have to", she stubbornly shot back with equal fervor.
Canach merely laughed, his eyes glinting with mischief again. "And here I wonder why Joko would have taken an interest in you."
"And whatʼs that supposed to mean?" Julianna asked with a less-than intimidating looking glare.
"You have a fire inside of you, albeit itʼs laced with quite a bit immaturity and bullheadedness", he answered.
The healer uncrossed her arms and splayed her fingers across the surface of the table, leaning forward in her chair as she glared daggers at the plant like being across from her. "So tell me then, how does your kind indulge in such private activities? Photosynthesizing?"
The bombardier placed a hand over his heart, mocking a face to that of disappointment. "Such harsh words, Julianna Fyre. And here I thought you were going to play nice."
There was a long pause between the two as the spoken words had settled between the pair. There was a long uncomfortable silence between the two before one of them finally broke it again.
"So it sounds like your job is a glorified in-home nurse? Does that sound about right?" Canach teased.
"Very funny..." she muttered under her breath.
"Iʼm not hearing a no?" he continued with an all-knowing smile as he maneuvered himself to lean back into the chair so it was precariously balanced with his weight.
Canach certainly hadn't been expecting the woman so suddenly go on the offensive as she cast a petty, but effective-enough knockdown spell directly towards him. He was thrown backwards from the chair, and he remained laying on the ground as he mulled over the words and the next course of action for him. Obviously he wouldn't have retaliated back with a physical attack, as he more than deserved it for his imperious words. He groaned before sitting up on his elbows, shooting an impassive look towards the incredibly bothered looking person across from him who was now standing from her own chair. There was a light aura of blue surrounding her palms as she waited for his next move.
He only raised a inquisitive brow towards her before continuing yet again. "Your actions speak louder than words, you know?"
"So I've been told..." Julianna mumbled back as she relinquished the remaining magic in her palms and let it return back to its source. She figured that if this was how the questioning was going to go for the rest of the process, then it was going to be a long night.
A very long night indeed.