"You're awake. That is good. I'll go fetch mother."
Gentle hands touched her, and Triadae cried out in pain as bandages were removed quickly from raw skin. The room came slowly into focus, and she blinked a few times while the sting left her body. Light met her eyes first, and she followed the sight of globes that swung from the low ceiling, releasing a dim glow over the room that was almost calming. There was a scent of earth and grass, and she took a deep breath as those same hands helped her to sit up and slowly removed the bandages around her chest. "Where am I?" A different voice answered her, and Triadae felt the bed she was seated on shift as someone else took up a place beside her.
"Amon' friends, lass. Can ye find it in ye to stand up? Easeh on yer head, tha globes are delicate. Brinneh's cracked a few o' them already comin' in here to take care o' ye. Tha's it, little bit at a time. Bah, who lef' tha there? Must 'ave been the chillun. Fudge. Take mah spoon ta them, ah will." The woman grunted as she moved backwards, guiding Triadae with an easy touch. "There now. How do ye feel?"
"Like a kodo sat on me."
"Humor! Good, good. Ye've been out like a ligh' fer a week now. Eaxoa took care o' most o' yer hurts, but we've bin unnah siege and unable to realleh heal ye the way ye deserve. Hence, tha bandages an' ilk. Sorreh for the sudden rip. Tha arcanists were hard at work keepin' tha beasties aroun' here from chewin' on us, an' ah had na chance to ten' ta ye last night. Here now, put this on before ah take ye outsi'e."
Soft cloth brushed Triadae's fingers, and without complaint, the elven woman clasped her fingers around it and held it to her chest. Suddenly, she was quite aware that she was nude, and that made her both confused and slightly insulted all at once. The hell of a hand rubbed at her eyes, and she swatted at something that tickled her neck. The resounding smack and yelp that followed were answered by the woman's chuckle.
"Yeh, I had a though' tha was na tha way ye had yer hair before. Shoddy job, realleh. Ah got someone who can take care o' tha if yeh like. First, though, we get yeh into some sort o' bath before yeh see anyone else. Easeh, easeh. There, feel a bit better ta be dressed? Follow meh."
Triadae ducked beneath a low hanging globe and followed the shorter woman out of the room, blinking back at the firelight that danced in front of her, and the sudden amount of noise that filled her ears. An urge struck her as the voices and laughter crowded around her, and the smell of smoke and cooking meat hit her like a wall. Her hands clutched at her ears, eyes closing tightly against the assault of the noise and scents that were banging at her memory. "Help me..."
She felt that gentle grasp on her waist, guiding her as much as she would allow. Had it been her way, the fear and anxiety might have just propelled her from the camp and into the night in her urge to leave it all behind. Yet the gentle touch continued, steering her away from the flames and the noise, and the further she walked, the better she felt, until at last she allowed her trembling fingers drop from her ears to curl nervously at her chest.
"Mah fault, sweetlin'. I'm sorreh. I was nah thinkin'. Out! Out, ye lot." Triadae cowered back against a tree as a flood of people pressed past laughing and fleeing the stocky woman. "Lazy, tha lot o' 'em. Hide back 'ere 'aving their fun when they should be workin' with tha rest o' 'em. Hmph!" The woman rounded on Triadae once more, and the frustrated look she had died into something bordering a mother's kindness. "Here now. Ea asked a few favors o' tha elements. We 'ave a nice bathin' ring 'ere, and it's warm enough for anyone. We can get ye clean before we let ye see anyone else."
Triadae nodded slowly, peeling herself away from the tree to follow the other woman as she rounded a bend. Steam startled her, made her shrink back for just a moment before she steeled herself and took a deep breath. Step by step, the elven woman followed into the starlit steam, only letting her feet touch where the other woman walked. Above her, trees spread their foliage to shade the area from the moonless night. She could just barely make out the stars from between the leaves, and she spotted small things blinking and flickering as they danced in the light breeze.
The glade held several pools, and she noticed that the trees had been wound close enough to create a wall around the area, keeping those who might peep on the bathers themselves. One pool was still, no steam rising from it at all, and she found herself drawn to it. A simple touch made ripples dance and flicker in a myriad number of colors, and she found herself trying to chase them all with her eyes like a child.
"Ea's messagin' pool. Fancy li'l thin', but it gets tha job done, yeh? O'er 'ere, lass."
She left the pool behind her to follow once more, and found herself standing in front of a large pool that steamed in the cool air. With some assistance from the woman, she stripped and slowly lowered herself into the water, finding that the bottom was firm and that a ring had been placed around for seating that submerged her from the shoulders down. The warmth made sweat bead on her forehead, but she made no comment as the other woman left her alone.
Alone. Her thoughts trailed from the pool and slammed her back into the harsh reality of a room with no exit. Heat baked her skin, seared her until she couldn't stand to touch anything. Knives against her skin, tearing screams from her as she writhed and tried to break free. Manacles held her down. Alone! Trapped!
Triadae screamed and tried to flee from the pool as memories and nightmares tangled into one to become a powerful force that threatened to break her to her core. Something grasped her, pinned her against rock, and she scratched at her bonds, bit at what she could until something managed to break into her mind.
A heartbeat, sped up with adrenaline, but there nonetheless. She could hear it, and her breathing settled to match it even as she gave a few tugs on the binds around her wrists. The haze across her eyes cleared slowly, soon replaced by tears that wouldn't stop, and her legs finally gave out. The hands that grasped her wrists loosened and wrapped around her shoulders, holding her in an uncertain grasp, and she could feel the rumble of a growl in the throat of the one who held her.
"It... isn't real."
"It feels that way." Triadae whimpered the words as she buried her face against bloody skin, noting the tang of copper in her mouth. It made her feel sick.
"True enough. Things don't leave as easily as we'd like them to, sometimes. It's alright to know fear and pain, it makes us who we are." Brinella's voice was soothing but halted, as if she had no idea how to say what needed to be said.
The elven woman didn't look up at her companion, merely shivering on the grass against her. "I was terrified. If I close my eyes, I can feel the walls closing in. I can feel the knives and the fire. I can feel th-the chains..." She choked on her tears, trying desperately to pick herself up from the depths she had fallen. Pride yelled at her, called her a slew of names that she didn't even know existed, but her eyes were open and focused on the blood in front of her as fear boiled within her.
She felt Brinella shift, and then hiss with pain as her nails dug into her skin. The worgen did not move again, except to gather the smaller woman up into her lap as she moved her feet to dangle into the water. "Is this what it was like for you? When you were touched, was it..."
"It still is. Ea managed to piece my sanity back together, and even stopped the taint from spreading through me and severing me from nature... but I still have the nightmares. I still go days without sleeping when I am frightened. I am not cured, and I may never be."
Her shivering ceased, but she still clung to the woman as if she were the last thing that held her to the world. Silence was the only thing between them for a time before Brinella spoke again.
"Kalthor made it back to us a few days after we brought you in. He and his companion have been staying together in one of the tents with the other spellcasters. I spoke with him, and he told me of what you had done and gone through. He asked that I help you as best I can, believing that I will know how to help you. I'm afraid I don't."
Triadae moved as Brinella did, dropping back into the water with only a whimper of discomfort. Her hand reached out to snag at the slender ankle of the woman as the worgen stood, and looked up at her with eyes that still did not quite have the fear gone from them. "Help... me. I don't want to be alone."
"I said that to you, once."
The elven woman's ears drooped, and she released Brinella's ankle to sit instead, staring vacantly at the center of the pool. There was silence for a few moments, and then the sound of something settling behind her, and the ripples as someone lowered themselves into the water beside her. Before Brinella could even speak, Triadae flung herself at the woman, burying her face in her neck.
Brinella relaxed slightly, resting her hands around the woman. "I won't let you be alone."