Nadri was greeted into the campsite that the elves had formed together in the few hours that they had been in the forest of Storybrooke. It resembled a time that Nadri thought had long disappeared from their lives. There were poorly made campfires keeping the free folk warm enough to take the chill away from the air so it didn't make for a completely uncomfortable night and the elves had to hunt the small animals that were scattered around the forest.
Nadri followed Nimue past a large campfire, the royal elf greeting her people who had remained behind. Nimue brought Nadri to three bodies that were laying against the grass, sheets and blankets covering them as they mourned by more of their kind. Nimue explained that from the ship crashing, Vesryn was fatally injured and died moments after they landed. The other two elves had also died from injuries from the crash that their remaining healer struggled to fix.
"Zu'u los krosis, Nimue." Nadri apologised sincerely, kneeling down with the elven leader at Vesryn's side. She liked Vesryn, he was a breath of fresh air when it came to Asari inhabitants, and he was a young and joyous elf.
"Do you wish to say a prayer from your Gods, Nadri? I'd like him to travel to Deshu in peace." Nimue whispered, a hand resting on Vesryn's chest. Deshu was the elf's vision of the Underworld, it was where they wished to meet their loved ones when they had finished their business in this life. Nadri once had a version of that herself until she died and was met with the crushing reality of the Underworld.
Nadri took Nimue's free hand, clasping it as she looked towards the night sky, sparkling stars winking back at her before she closed her eyes.
"Akatosh, I ask for your light and guidance. Please, direct Vesryn into your son's safe hands. Guide him to his light and let him find peace in Deshu." Nadri prayed in a low murmur. She felt Nimue squeeze her hand softly, silently thanking her as both of them opened their eyes.
"Thank-you, dear." They both got up from the ground, Nimue quickly exchanging words with the healer before continuing back with Nadri to sit down around the fire. "I know you haven't joined me to say goodbye to Vesryn. Your energy speaks volumes even in this form, Nadri. Not that I'm not happy to see you."
"I want you to come to Storybrooke. I want you all to be safe, you deserve that after the last thousand years."
"With so many oou? I don't think that would be appropriate."
"Hweal, forgive me for talking out of line but I think that's ridiculous." Nimue cocked an eyebrow. "Storybrooke is full of souls that have changed their paths from conforming to evil to confronting evil. They are good people, I trust them."
"Is that why the pirate showed his anger towards you before?"
"I believe he's worried but…you were out of line. I understand what happened, the genocides…but this realm is different. Killian is different, you can't paint him with the same brush." Nadri passionately defended, making her feelings known enough that Nimue eyed her suspiciously with a small smirk as they sat themselves down near the warm, crackling fire. Nadri put her hands out, enjoying the warmth of the flames.
"That is why he stormed off I imagine?" Nimue deduced as she crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the chill that the fire couldn't warm fast enough. "You were trying to play peace on both sides. Just like you did before, my dear." Nadri shifted in her seat on the grass, moving her eyes away from Nimue.
"I wasn't aware of Nathaniel's intentions." Nadri cleared her throat, looking down into the fire with a hard stare.
"That wasn't what I was talking about, Nadri. I see the look in your eye, this pirate has stolen your heart."
"He has always had my heart, ever since I was brought back." Nadri quipped, giving Nimue a small smile. "It would not have been worth it otherwise."
Nimue looked over her disapprovingly.
"Just because you have claimed this mortal man does not mean there will be peace between you. He is combative like all oou are. I imagine that the energy you are carrying belongs to him too?" Nimue guessed, her eyes glancing down to Nadri's stomach.
Nadri knitted her eyebrows together, staring at Nimue with absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
"Oh, by the Gods. You haven't found out yet." Nimue regretted when she saw the look of horror wash across Nadri's face.
"I…I'm not with kiin, don't be so ridiculous! Hefhah." Nadri shook her head crossly and Nimue reached for her hand, Nadri recoiling back in shock.
"Nadri, I have the magic to sense there is a living being in you."
She didn't know what her body was capable of, what it could and couldn't do. She didn't know what her body was built to do apart from obey and conform to demands. Nadri had no idea what could happen to her if something like this occurred.
And that scared her to death.
"You're lying." Was Nadri's instant assumption, her voice was full of fear and confusion.
But why would she lie about such a thing?
"I have had several children ride into battle, Nadri. I would not lie to you." Nimue blinked and Nadri kept shaking her head, waving her hands to say no to everything that she was saying.
"I-I don't believe you. This is-." Nadri began to panic, her anxiety spiking heavily. "How is this possible? My body…it isn't-" Nadri scrambled up from the grass, being careful not to stumble into the fire pit, and felt the overwhelming urge to be sick. Nimue followed her up, reaching out for her again and Nadri slapped her hand away. A guard caught the act, hearing her hand connect and shot up from his seat on the ground to come to his princess' defence and Nimue put a hand up, reassuring him that it was okay.
"Calm down, Dovah, please."
"Nimue, you have just told me that I am carrying a child!" Nadri yelled out. "How can you tell me to calm down!? I…I…" Nadri's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed into the long grass and branches below her.
"Nadri!" Nimue rushed down to her side and called for the healer to come over as quickly as she could. Nimue shook Nadri by the shoulders, hoping for a response and nothing came.
"I have to tell her friends that she is here." Nimue expressed to the guard, Kymil that had rushed over with the healer. They tried to sit her up, Kymil taking a blade from his armoured boot and resting it against the bottom of Nadri's nose to see that she was still casting breath.
"My Lady, they are oou. We can't trust them." The healer interjected.
"I know what they are." Nimue told her guard firmly, looking back down at Nadri who was unconscious in her arms. "But they are friends of Nadri and she has done enough for us." Nimue soon ordered Kymil to pick up Nadri, the tall elf lifting her up against the armour of his chest.
Killian sat in Granny's with David and Emma. A plate of untouched chicken pie and mash was sitting in front of him while empty plates surrounded it. It was late, the darkness from the turning seasons made it look like it was midnight at 9 o'clock. He had left Nadri with the elves that had escaped the dirigible and he hadn't received any word of her progress, not even a text.
Others had come back from the forest, Snow and David had recruited a massive amount back and now Granny's was heaving with newcomers from various different realms. Snow was spending her time making sure that rooms in Granny's hotel were taking by as many travellers as they could while Emma, David and Killian sat in the booth of the diner and ate what was meant to be their late dinner.
Killian had spent the walk back pondering about Nadri. He just wanted to know that Nadri was okay and that he was sorry for being so obnoxious with her. If he wasn't such a proud man he would have immediately spun on his heel. She was trying to bring people in from a land that was heavily suppressed by human power, he had to understand that it wasn't going to be an easy fix but he wasn't stick around to be slandered when he hadn't done anything.
He poked his food with a fork, seeing that the mash had begun to turn cold and the gravy in its china boat was congealing. Kilian hadn't touched a single bit of it, instead brooding over Nadri. Killian looked up to see Emma's concerned features and David pushed a glass of rum in front of him which he happily accepted.
"She's being a good Samaritan, Hook. I thought that's what you loved about her." Killian graciously took the mug of coffee from his hand.
"I love a lot of things about Nadri." Killian started. "But I know she will make it her personal mission to help Nimue when with have so many others to help."
"What was she like?" David questioned, intrigued by the presence of elves in Storybrooke, something that he had never come across before himself.
"Nadri calls her Hweal. I think its Elvish for royalty or something. She's…attractive-"
"Hook!"
"I would never lay eyes upon another woman - Nadri will only ever have my heart. I mean the elven people entirely, they are attractive. Even the men." Killian quickly explained himself to David's shocked assumption of his eyes wandering. "From what I had seen, Nimue is a leader, that's why Nadri wanted to stay behind so if Nimue was on our side the others would be. But she was just…insulting. I have never heard such bloody racism towards being a human being in all my life!" Emma raised an eyebrow at Killian's outrage.
"I'm sure there are people out there a lot more offended by racism than you, Hook." Killian rolled his eyes. "Have you got a thing against elves?" Killian shot a warning look towards Emma's teasing tone.
"No I bloody have not. Nadri just acts like she has something to prove when she is around Nimue. I love that woman to bits, I'd lay down my life for her…she just needs to accept that she's not going to change no matter how much she helps those in her past." Killian preached before taking a long, drawn out sip of his rum. "I didn't think she wanted to change." He muttered.
"I'm sure Nadri doesn't. Helping someone from her own story will give her peace of mind." David spoke with a reassured tone. "Have you actually read her story? Cover to cover?"
"I've never pressured her on it." Killian answered honestly. He didn't need to know the details of her story, he believed the words that she spoke to him with and there was no reason to divulge any further. Nadri never pressed him on his time of becoming a Dark One, only from what Killian had said in passing. It was in the past, it shouldn't have made a difference when they were so focused on the future. "We've always had trust, there's been no need to talk about the past."
"Ask Henry for the book, I think you'll understand why she wants to help them so much." Emma cut in and Killian narrowed his eyes with doubt.
"You've read it haven't you?"
There was a moment of silence before Emma stuttered.
"O-Only when we were in the Underworld, just a few pages. It only appeared once we met her, I don't know how it all works."
Killian put his glass back down on the table, thinking to himself. He didn't want to betray Nadri's trust, that was the last thing that he would ever do, but maybe the others were right. If reading her story properly would help him understand her and help her then he would do it.
He just didn't want it to end in a tearful argument.
The bell of the diner's front door chimed nosily when two newcomers entered. Killian immediately recognised Nimue, only she had the wildest expression of concern across her strong features. Another elf was with her, still dressed up in his royal guard armour that had been spattered with dirt and leaves had collected underneath his boots. Nimue observed the room first, earning looks from every single resident of Storybrooke who were fixated with the two elves, before her eyes landed on Killian in the booth and she rushed up to him.
"Pirate." Nimue spoke with urgency as she went to their table, her guard close by her side. Emma and David stared at her, starstruck. They could see what Killian meant, her features were so intense with an immortal beauty, and the snow-white hair was straight as an arrow as it flowed past her shoulders. Emma could sense the sheer magical forces that Nimue held, she was intimidating, towering and powerful.
"What's wrong, where's Nadri?" Killian immediately responded, raising an eyebrow when his partner did not appear in sight.
"You must come at once, it's the dragon. She is in our camp, she lost consciousness."
"What!?" Killian got up from the seat, almost knocking his glass off the table at the sudden movement. "Swan-"
"We'll come with you, don't worry. We'll get her to the hospital to see what's wrong." Emma reassured him as they all got up.
"Actually, the Hweal would ask that only the pirate oou would accompany us." Kymil interjected as David and Emma went to leave the booth, stepping in front of them.
"Nadri is our friend." Emma retorted, viewing the elf closely. "And Killian is our friend too. We are coming."
"Sorry, love, but they're coming whether you like it or not." Killian shrugged, brushing past the princess and towards the front door of the diner. David and Emma stepped around the guard and followed Killian, the elves close behind. "What happened to her? She was fine when I left her."
"I hope you are not insinuating that I have caused this, pirate. You would be looking in the wrong direction." Nimue hissed at the accusation. "Nadri must go to your own people, we can't help her for what she has."
"What is it? Nadri has been fine, she doesn't get sick." Killian hadn't noticed anything wrong with Nadri in the last few weeks apart from stuffing herself with food like she did every day but that was normal when it came to Nadri. To be honest, even if she was ill Nadri wouldn't let that stop her when it came to food. "Nimue." Killian pressed her again, becoming more agitated by the elf's cloak and dagger.
Nimue went silent, glancing up at Killian several times and they could see that there was something more going on that she wasn't letting on.
"I do think it is best she is seen by your healers."
Killian couldn't help but feel like he was being lied to, still unsure of Nimue's motives from the first time they had met properly.
David drove them into the forest to make sure they had a method of transport to get Nadri back to the hospital. Nimue and Kymil followed behind closely and they met back at the campsite. Killian was the first one to get out of the vehicle before it barely came to a halt, jumping out as David had begun to put his foot on the break.
They were met with hostility straight away, the elves standing guard as if they were prepared for battle against the humans that had wondered into the forest. Emma held her hands up, preparing to fight back if she had to while David stood close to her ready to keep her backed up.
"This is why we ask of only one oou." Nimue retorted, approaching the vehicle through the thickening darkness. "Kymil."
"My Lady." The guard stood straight by her side, his arms behind his back.
"While Nadri is here, make it known to the free-folk that the oou are welcome here." The distaste soured Nimue as she spoke, looking towards the humans with a grimace before walking on, clicking her fingers so that they would follow her.
"You really don't like us, do you?" David looked around, watching with paranoia as the elves kept daggers at his back.
"We don't like any oou." Nimue replied shortly. "Don't be offended. Nadri came here to convince us to come to the town and she lost consciousness, our healer took care of her while she has been here." Nimue's tone changed again, more secretive. "I believe you will find answers in your modern healers." She pointed towards a campfire where Nadri was sitting up, her head in her hand and using her other hand to push away the medicinal herbs that were being offered to her by the healer.
"Nadri." Killian jogged on, heading up to the ground where Nadri was sitting uncomfortably and he was met with a tired, weak face. She looked paler than usual, ill and an unsure smile came over her face when she saw the pirate. "Are you alright love?"
"I-I'm fine, I didn't need a rescue." Nadri told him, bringing her hand down from her face. "Nimue, why did you-" She tried to cut the words out but Killian cut her off. Nimue gave her a look on the side lines, a silent promise that nothing else had been said between the groups.
"Well if she hadn't I wouldn't know that you fainted in the middle of the forest love." Killian crouched down next to her, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles. "We need to get you to the hospital, make sure you're alright." Killian could see how uncomfortable Nadri was, almost like she was paralysed with fear when her eyes saw David and Emma standing aside with him.
"Killy, I have to-" Nadri tried to get up from the ground, coming across light headed again and fell into Killian's embrace. "The elves-"
"-Can take of themselves. You're going to the hospital." Killian helped Nadri hold onto him, Emma coming to her other side to make sure that she didn't pass out again suddenly on them.