* 75 * 2/21/13, 3/5/13

Lily woke up. She briefly shook her head, her golden-brown locks swiping her cheeks gently. The room was empty. Despite that, Lily didn't feel alone.

"How do you do that, Bevil?" she mused, smiling to herself.

Cautiously, she drew her knees up near her chest and slowly placed them to her right over the edge of the bed. As she moved her head, she saw a flash of green and turned to focus on it.

One of Bishop's arrows.

Lily paused. How does that make me feel? she wondered.

Bewildered. Annoyed. Blasé.

It was nice of him, Lily allowed. She tenderly continued getting to her feet, wondering how unpleasant it would feel to walk again after having been bedridden. Her left foot hit the ground.

Not very, actually.

Relieved, she placed her other foot on the ground and began changing into the set of clothing left for her in a nearby wardrobe, a long-sleeved black shirt over a strikingly red skirt in the style she liked to wear when not going out to battle. She left her tattered clothing over the back of a chair and took hold of the arrow, fastening it in the bag left next to the wardrobe for possible later use.

She didn't remember putting her hair in a bun, but there it was. Not feeling very businesslike this morning, she then reached a hand up to her messy bun and let her hair fall free before walking out of the room.

She was immediately met by five pairs of eyes: Grobnar's, Neeshka's, Bevil's, Casavir's, and Bishop's.

Lily ignored the last pair for now, but gladly welcomed the others. First she grabbed Grobnar and pulled him into a hug. "My little lifesaver," she cooed happily.

Bevil's face lit up. "Lily! I was just chatting to Casavir. I didn't think I'd actually see you wake up today! Welcome back to the world of the conscious!"

Still hugging a thrilled Grobnar, Lily giggled. "Thanks, Bevil. You've helped me recover more than you even know." Perhaps she'd tell him about her dream later. She finally let go of Grobnar and moved to Bevil, throwing her arms around him once more. "You were talkin' to Casavir, huh?" That made her a bit surprised.

"Yeah. To be honest, I didn't initially think we'd get along so well, but I'm happy to be wrong!"

"That's great!" Lily oozed. She dropped her hold of Bevil and looked over to the paladin of whom they spoke. The sun elf was amazed to see that he wasn't in his plate armor for once. He must have been committed not to go anywhere outside of the Keep until Lily had awoken.

Lily approached him and Casavir greeted her with a "My lady" and a warm smile. Lily almost gawked at how the paladin looked with such a genuinely relieved expression. His smile was contagious and she grinned as she admired him. She opened her arms in a gesture and, to her surprise, Casavir pulled her close to his chest immediately and unabashedly, immensely relieved to see her well enough to speak, let alone to stand.

"I am happy to see you awake once more," he whispered to echo his fast thoughts, elated at her steady recovery. But he let go of her unnaturally quickly, feeling he was overstepping her personal boundaries.

But Lily had just barely tasted the paladin's warm, hesitant affection, and now she wanted more. She disregarded his formality and hugged him back, deriving soulful gratification from being so close to him. Casavir more than welcomed this, holding onto her for several more precious seconds, even despite the number of eyes focused upon them. He took in the scent of her hair and sighed quietly but deeply, feeling truly at peace.

Finally, the elf disentangled herself from her very comfortable spot there, and the paladin's eyes shone with pleasure, both in her warm affection and in her somewhat-regained health.

"Oooh, it's gettin' hot in here!" a high voice finally chimed in.

Lily laughed and moved to the offending voice. "It's good to see you too, Neeshka."

"Oh, come 'ere," the tiefling demanded, pulling Lily almost off of her feet into a hug. "We missed ya."

Lily nodded. "I don't feel entirely like myself yet, but I'm getting there," she reassured the thief. After pulling back from Neeshka, she looked at an intensely brooding Bishop, which surprised the ranger. He didn't think she'd even acknowledge him, especially after her stint with the paladin just now. She only nodded and said, "I'm alive and well."

Baffled, Bishop nodded back. He was a little unsettled by the sudden, blank look in her gaze at him. There was almost no emotion in it, good or bad. He almost preferred she come over and whack him upside the head to her being so...robotic.

The others noticed her curt treatment of Bishop and looked confusedly at him. All except Grobnar.

Bishop scowled and walked away. It'd be better for his sanity for him to return to the tavern than stay here with these rubbernecking fools.

Grobnar wasn't certain how to feel about the hostility between the two now, or rather, the seeming hostility Bishop felt toward Lily. Lily, on the other hand, seemed to be acting rather indifferently, especially odd given the emotional outburst she'd quite recently had in front of the gnome. The unsure air between them definitely ran deeper now than it ever had before, and he was worried that it might interfere with the party's future missions.

Oh well. He was just glad their Leader was safe again. He couldn't even begin to think what it would feel like losing Shandra and Lily.

"My lady, may I have a word?" Casavir asked, interrupting Grobnar's thoughts. The gnome snapped out of it and looked around for Bishop, but the ranger had already left.

"Sure," Lily replied. Without hesitation, she began walking to Casavir's room. To her own surprise, she didn't even try to hide her destination; before, she would have. She also noticed that, especially after looking at Bishop, she felt odd.

Neeshka's eyes bugged and Lily could tell she wanted to know what they were going to talk about, but the tiefling reluctantly stayed put, only pouting in their direction as they disappeared from view.