The expectation of death was that there was nothing - that she would be nothing. The splitting headache and burning in her muscles suggests otherwise. And when amber eyes open she realizes that in fact for another day she has dodged death. She may have dodged death yet it feels as though she's just crawled back up from the grave.
The first thing she notices is something green on her left hand. She tries to wipe it off, whatever it is. But then a pulse of pain comes from the mark along with a slight glow. Eventually the pain fades.
Carefully Kasaanda stands up and adjusts her armor (if one could really consider Antaam-saar to be armor). The rub of the red ropes against her skin as she stretches is irritating, yet does not compare to the earlier pulse in her hand. For a moment she stands still, eyes taking in her surroundings. There's trees and other greenery. A few feet away is a river. Her staff lays near the water's edge. Odd. None of her surroundings seem familiar at all. Fingers fidget a moment, pulling leaves from long, snowy locks. For a second she considers that maybe the whole incident with the conclave was just a dream; a very vivid real feeling dream. That doesn't seem right though.
Brows furrow and a frown begins to tug at her lips. If she were being honest with herself her memory of the past few hours was foggy at best. She remembers a commotion and a woman but that's it.
The harder she tried to recall the past events the more her head hurt. Regaining memories aside, her next priority would be finding some sort of civilization.
Kasaanda moves to where her staff lay and when she goes to pick it up, something on the ground moves. Weapon is snatched up as she jumps back like a startled doe. The creature in question looks like nothing more than an over sized crab; much larger than the norm yet not on the verge of being monstrous in her opinion. She tries to shoo the creature away even as it came closer. There's no use wasting any magic on it, so instead she ends up first try to bat it away with her staff and then settle on just kicking it as hard as she can.
Begrudgingly she starts walking alongside the river, following it's path. Where there's water there should be people...At some point.
Following the river has been a good idea. A great one even, despite the fact that she ended up straying from her original path; which in turn led her to wandering through a forest.
A few fights with some wolves and bandits later, she found herself in a more open area. The landscape was somewhat rocky with hillsides. The sun had already started to set while stars slowly began to dot the sky. In the distance she could make out the silhouette of a wall and buildings. Relief temporarily set in her heart. She trudges onward with the hope of sleep if nothing more. Darkness has settled when she finally makes it to the gate of the city. The minute the guards set their sights on her they tense, hands ready to reach for their weapons.
"Halt! The city's closed. Be on your way traveler." One of them says.
"You can't be serious!" Kasaanda all but snaps. There's anger building up in her chest. She's exhausted both mentally and physically. On top of that, she still has no clue where in Maker's name she is nor what's happened. The mage takes a deep breath before speaking again. "Look it's been a long day. If you could just please let me-"
But as she takes a step towards them they draw their swords. "Already told you the city is closed. Now leave." The second guard hisses, the volume of his voice louder than his companion's.
With no further argument Kasaanda turns on her heel and stalks away from the gated hold. Tears threaten to spill from tired eyes. Why were they turning her away? Was it because she's a mage? Did she say something wrong?
You know why they reacted that way, her mind says. And it's true. It wasn't that she was hostile or doing anything wrong. It was the simple fact that she was not human. That much was very obvious. Being a mage probably didn't do her any favors either.
Finally she just says fuck it and settles with camping out. Even better she'll just sleep in the stables right outside of the hold she was denied entrance to. No one was around to see her anyways. So she finds an empty stall that's relatively cleaned up, flops down onto the pile of hay and curls up. Staff is kept within reach of her sleeping spot. Tears start to skip down her cheeks as eyes are squeezed shut.
What had she done to deserve this?! All she had wanted was to do her job and go home. Had that been so much to ask for?! It seemed so.
The sweet release of sleep takes a hold of her, dreams replacing memories of the day that has just ended. She dreams of her mother's hug, of warm fires and home cooked meals. She dreams of hunting with her siblings and drinking with her mercenary company. She dreams of everything that isn't here. It doesn't seem to last as long as she would have liked. It's the sound of a booming voice that cuts through dreams to shake her back to reality.
"You know, it's pretty gutsy to sleep in a stranger's stable. Especially after picking fights with city guards. Someone's bound to think you're a horse thief...or a vagrant. So which is it?"