Matters of Death and Life
Raphane woke up to a rustling of covers and blinked her eyes open just as Karlach was easing into bed next to her with a nervous smile on her face. Caught. On the horizon over Karlach's shoulder, Raphane could see fingers of daylight pushing away the night.
"Couldn't sleep?"
"Not a wink," Karlach admitted. "Paced around the house for about an hour before I finally decided to get some air. Ended up going from one pub to another until first light then ran back here fast as I could."
Raphane smirked. "If it were anyone else I'd say you'd regret that but anyone else you most certainly are not. Come on, sweetheart. Big day today. We'd better get ready."
Karlach and Raphane met up with Dammon and the Gondians at the High House of Wonders. Instruments and supplies were loaded onto a cart and Raphane wild shaped into a rothé in order to pull it down to the docks.
A couple Watchmen tried to stop them. While the Watch didn't seem to mind cats and dogs in the upper city so much these days, pack animals were another matter, but Dammon had the right paperwork with the archduke's signature no less.
They made their way down to the harbor and then to a pier where the boat was waiting. It didn't take long to load the Gondians' equipment onto the boat but the captain of the vessel said they needed to wait before departing on account that some other cargo, being delivered further upriver, hadn't arrived yet. Karlach and Raphane sat on a sturdy railing overlooking the harbor while they waited.
By now the sun had risen over the city. The azure blue sky was interrupted only by a few white wispy clouds. Beneath the sky rippled the darker blue waters of the harbor.
"It's going to be a beautiful day," said Raphane.
"The last time I took in this view," said Karlach as she looked out over the harbor, "I was prepared to take a very different trip."
"I'm so grateful you didn't," said Raphane. She leaned her head against Karlach's shoulder. "You really scared me that day."
"Whatever comes next, I never would have come this far without you," said Karlach, wrapping an arm around Raphane.
"We're going to fix what was taken from you," said Raphane, not an ounce of doubt coloring her voice, "That's what comes next."
Karlach smiled as she held Raphane against herself. "Well, I don't say this as often as I should: thank you, darling. For everything." She looked back to the pier where Dammon and the Gondians were waiting with varying degrees of patience. "All of these people, sacrificing their time and talent for me, to give me another chance. I can scarcely believe it. Never would have expected it."
"You don't expect enough," said Raphane.
Once underway, the boat gently sailed its way down the River Chionthar. Karlach and Raphane sat together on the deck for most of the journey, enjoying the sun and the breeze as the boat passed by cliffs and forests.
At one point Karlach nodded off, her head lolling against Raphane's. The druid didn't dare move for fear of depriving Karlach of even a second of sleep the red tiefling must have dearly needed.
The journey lasted some hours before the boat arrived at the banks of the Selûnite enclave. The enclave itself was a white stone building on a bluff overlooking the river.
A stone path ran down a gentle slope from the enclave to the riverbank, from which a wharf jutted out. As the boat slowed to approach the wharf, a woman in silvery robes and a pair of armored men with swords girt at their sides appeared at the top of the path and began to make their way down toward the river.
By the time the boat was tied up at the wharf, the three were close enough for Raphane to recognize the silvery robed, silver-haired elven woman, Isobel.
*Be most welcome," said Isobel, once she had gotten closer.
"Thank you, Isobel," said Raphane, stepping off the boat, "It's good to see you again."
"Hey, Isobel!" Karlach called out. "Where's Aylin?"
"With her paladin order," answered Isobel. "She and I both have a century's worth of catching up to do."
Karlach frowned, "Well I hope it doesn't keep the two of you apart for long."
"It won't," said Isobel.
"Are the guards really necessary?" asked one of the Gondians, a ruddy-faced gnome.
One of the armored men shrugged before he spoke up. "We're bored and came to see if you needed help unloading?"
"Oh, aye? That's okay then," replied the Gondian.
"So, not to be a bother or anything, but when do I get to get rid of this thing?" asked Karlach, tapping a claw against her engine.
"Soon," said Isobel.
Karlach wrinkled her brow at the vague answer.
"The healer is sailing downriver," Isobel explained, "We expect her to arrive shortly."
"Ah," said Karlach, before leaning in to ask, "How shortly?"
"You mean to say you don't have any other healers in this whole place?" a different Gondian chimed in to ask.
"We do," said Isobel, "Myself among them. But Agatha is a specialist in complex resurrections," she looked back at Karlach, "You're very fortunate she's agreed to do yours. Now gather your things and come along. I'll show you all to your rooms for your stay.'
Karlach and Raphane were on one side of the room. Karlach alternated between sitting down next to Raphane and pacing but hadn't stopped fidgeting for a moment whether sitting or standing. Five Gondians and Dammon were clustered on the other side, talking amongst themselves. The Selûnites hadn't arrived yet.
"How long have we been waiting?" asked Karlach. "An hour? Two?"
"Something like that," answered Raphane.
"Healers," muttered Karlach.
"I'll try not to take that personally," said Raphane with a slight smile.
It was maybe twenty minutes later that a silvery robed and cowled Selûnite cleric opened the door and held it open. The next woman to come through the door came in like a storm: a human woman with a weathered, well-lined face, hard grey eyes and an intense stare that swept across the room before settling on Karlach. Raphane didn't think it a stretch to assume this woman was Agatha.
"You are the one, correct?" the grey-eyed woman interrogated Karlach.
"Yeah-I mean, yes, ma'am," sputtered Karlach.
"Good," said the woman. She spoke brusquely whilst a number of other Selûnite clerics were filing in behind her, Isobel coming in last, "I regret that you were kept waiting. I believe there was some misunderstanding as to the timing of my arrival."
"Thank-" started Raphane as she stood and went to stand beside Karlach only to be interrupted almost immediately.
"I do not require thanks. Isobel explained Karlach's case convincingly and eloquently. You may thank her if you must thank anyone."
Karlach opened her mouth but didn't get a single word out as Agatha continued.
"You should already have been made aware I neither require nor accept remuneration, although an offering to Selûne would not be misplaced. The only payment I ask is that you live a life worthy of having been saved. Based on Isobel's testimony, I am confident you will do so."
Karlach got to look proud for a moment. But just a moment.
"Take off your clothes," Agatha didn't give Karlach even a single breath to hesitate, "there is a time and place for modesty and it isn't now. And come stand in the center of the room as well. I need to see with what I am working."
Karlach complied, undressing in short order, handing her clothes over to Raphane as she removed them. Dammon and most of the Gondians were busy pretending to be extremely interested in the floor and ceiling.
Agatha's eyes shone white as she examined Karlach, looking at and through her at the same time.
"You," said Agatha sharply over her shoulder, addressing Dammon and the Gondians, "You are performing the removal of the infernal engine?"
"Y-yes," said Dammon.
Agatha's tone turned patronizing, "Then get over here and stop averting your eyes. She is our patient, not some object of veneration upon which you are forbidden to gaze. Move!" Half the room flinched when Agatha barked. The priestess then looked at Raphane, "If you are assisting in the removal as well then you may stay standing there. If not, make room for those who are."
Raphane squeezed Karlach's shoulder before moving to the edge of the room, to stand there with Karlach's piled clothes in her arms.
Karlach shifted uncomfortably but kept her chin up and shoulders straight as the gaggle of onlookers shuffled over to examine her. Agatha circled her, pausing at times to scrutinize something only she could see. "Stand still," the priestess said at one point. Karlach rolled her neck once, then did as she was told: hands at her sides, head facing forward, only moving her eyes.
"You were correct to ask for my services," said Agatha, continuing to circle, "I can see for myself that the infernal engine cannot be removed without killing Karlach and rendering her to a state from which only a resurrection will restore her. All of you know this already. I only say it in order to point out that I do appreciate it when my talents are not sought out needlessly. I have long since lost count of the number of self-important fops who demanded I attend to them because they 'suffered' a headache or indigestion."
Karlach chortled. Agatha's head whipped abruptly in her patient's direction, her face utterly devoid of humor. Karlach was facing dead ahead, still standing uncharacteristically still.
"This is not such a case," Agatha resumed, declaring, "The infernal machinery must come out. All of it."
Dammon spoke, "I thought that if we just removed the engine-"
The priestess interrupted, "All of it. The resurrection will replace every missing organ of Karlach's body. Seal all wounds. It is a potent spell, but the infernal engine itself is imbued with powerful magics. If any infernal metal is present it may interfere with the spell. You must remove all traces of it before I will commit to the resurrection."
"The infernal engine itself is obvious," the priestess pointed to the soft orange pulsating glow beneath Karlach's ribcage, "And the exposed cables on the thigh and shoulder, for instance, are plainly visible. These cables and various other components have been implanted throughout our patient's body. All of them contain infernal metals, in whole or in part, and all must be removed. You have the means to detect the infernal metal yourselves, correct? Even subdermally?"
"That we do," answered one of the Gondians, and thumped a toolkit in his hand.
"Good. Now attend, we will compare methods and ensure we have located and marked all of the infernal metal that must be removed."
The whole process took nearly an hour and at the end of it Karlach's whole body was practically crisscrossed with lines from the neck down that mapped the components and channels of the infernal engine.
"No infernal metal to remove in the head or particularly the brain," said Agatha, "That is fortunate."
Karlach looked down at all of the lines mapping her body, "How much of me is going to be left?"
Agatha looked Karlach in the eyes, "Do not let it trouble you. Regardless of what must be removed, you will be whole in the end. The important thing is that the infernal metal be removed."
"Whole," Karlach chewed the word, "I like the sound of it," Karlach's mouth twitched nervously, "I hate to ask for more on top of everything you're already doing," she started, "can you get rid of the tattoos as well? If I'm starting over with a new heart I'd like to do it without 'property of Zariel' inked into my flesh. Even etched into my horns."
"I understand of course," said Agatha, and looked toward Dammon, "remove the tattooed flesh and those etchings as well. The resurrection will do the rest. What about your scars?"
"I'd like to keep them." That nervous twitch again, "If it isn't too much trouble. I earned them, after all."
"Those that do not conceal infernal machinery, or share flesh with the marks you want removed, will remain. The rest you will have to reacquire in your own time."
"That'll do me. When do we start?"
"Tomorrow," said Agatha. Karlach looked suddenly disappointed. Agatha continued, "I need my rest. As do you. The resurrection will require much from us both. You." Raphane was startled to suddenly become the object of Agatha's attention for the first time. "You are a druid, yes? I assume then that you have some knowledge of healing magic?"
"Some, yes," said Raphane, standing from the bench and moving toward Agatha.
"She's being modest," said Karlach, "Don't let her. She practically reattached my arm once! She's fantastic."
"That's an exaggeration," said Raphane.
"But you did fix me up that time I got an axe blow to the ribs. Good as new! Well. Good as I was."
Agatha quirked a brow at Raphane.
"That is not an exaggeration. I also told her to start wearing armor after that or stay in camp."
"Spoilsport," murmured Karlach.
Agatha spoke to Raphane again before either of them could answer, "I will want you present for the resurrection then."
Raphane nodded, "Of course."
"Can I put my clothes back on now?" asked Karlach.
"Yes," said Agatha.
Raphane started handing Karlach's clothes to her so she could get dressed.
"There is also the matter of the diamond. I trust that you have brought one."
"Yes," said Raphane, and she produced the diamond from its pouch once she had handed Karlach the last of her clothes.
Agatha stepped forward to scrutinize it. "It will serve the purpose. Keep it in your possession. I will ask for it once it is required and no sooner." Agatha turned her gaze to Karlach once more. "Isobel has some additional guidance for you. After that, your time is your own until tomorrow. Dammon, I will show you and your associates to the healing room so you may make your preparations."
Isobel stayed behind with Raphane and Karlach while Agatha led the rest of the throng to their next stop.
"I'm sorry that was so awkward," said Isobel as she drew closer to Karlach and Raphane.
"No worries," said Karlach, "To get rid of this blasted tin can, I would go through that a thousand times without hesitation. I'd feel better if you were doing the resurrection though."
Isobel smiled.
"We'll both be there,' said Raphane.
Karlach let out another laugh as she finished getting dressed. "Never been so motivated to stand still for so long before either. Don't count on that ever happening again."
"Agatha said that you would have more guidance for Karlach?" Raphane asked Isobel.
The silver-haired elf nodded, "I don't want you to be surprised by anything tomorrow. You already know that, in order for Agatha to heal you, she needs to resurrect you-"
"And in order to resurrect me I need to be dead," Karlach finished the thought.
Isobel nodded again, "You will be given Selûne's Mercy before the infernal engine is removed. You will fall asleep and you will be suspended from the mortal plane of existence. If your soul is free and willing, you will awaken back in your body when the resurrection is performed."
"I've never given anyone or anything a claim on my soul and everything I want is here in this world," said Karlach, shooting a smile at Raphane and squeezing her hand. She breathed out a long breath and fidgeted excitedly, "I can't wait! Wish we could just go ahead and do it."
Isobel smiled sympathetically, "Agatha needs her rest and so do you. Resurrection is taxing for both healer and patient. Now, nothing else to cover except for the dietary matters. No food for the rest of the day and only water to drink until sundown."
"And then a big breakfast at sunrise?" asked Karlach hopefully.
"Nothing to eat or drink the morning of," said Isobel. "Not until after you return."
"What's it matter what I eat or drink?" asked Karlach, "It's not like I'm going to be alive for most of what's going to happen tomorrow."
"Let's just say that it will avoid a lot of unnecessary and potentially messy complications," answered Isobel.
"Is that it?" asked Karlach.
"That's it."
"Great," Karlach clapped her hands together, "let's get a pint!"
Isobel raised her eyebrows and looked at Raphane.
"I'll keep an eye on her," the green tiefling said to Isobel.
"Maybe consider keeping both eyes on her," suggested Isobel.
Karlach was a blur for the rest of the day, making up for lost time spent standing still with an especially keen vengeance. She started with a sparring match with the paladins in the training room, at one point taking on four at once, until a passing priestess recognized her as a patient and threatened the paladins with repercussions if they continued to spar with her. Then she ran laps around the courtyard until one of the clerics ordered her to her and Raphane's room to get some rest, where she paced restlessly.
The pacing was broken up by a vigorous lovemaking session, which was interrupted in turn when a different cleric knocked on the door to check on the screaming.
Soon after, Karlach was back out to run laps, this time around the periphery of the enclave in order to avoid the scowling cleric prowling the courtyard.
After sunset, Karlach arrived back in her and Raphane's room to find the druid sleeping and soon had her wide awake and up against the wall. Raphane managed not to scream this time but the banging noises precipitated a knock on the door regardless. The priestess didn't seem to believe that they were rearranging furniture even though there was some truth to the statement.
"Somehow I think they'll be glad to be rid of us," said Raphane later on, wearing nothing but a smirk as she straddled Karlach's back and rubbed the soothing balm into the claw marks on the berserker's shoulders.
"Mmm. They'll miss us," said Karlach confidently.
Raphane smiled. "You seem like you finally relaxed."
"I thought you'd be on me to rest as much as the clerics," Karlach said with a chuckle.
"I know you better than they do," said Raphane, working her hands across Karlach's shoulders and down her back. "And you can't get the slightest bit of rest when you're wound up as tight as you've been today."
"Can you blame me?" asked Karlach, "I'm dying tomorrow."
Raphane gave Karlach's shoulder a sharp slap. With hand and shoulder both coated in oil, the sound might have been the crack of a whip.
"Ow!" Karlach protested.
"Not even as a joke. You're coming right back," said Raphane before she turned around to straddle Karlach facing backward, pulled Karlach's tail straight up and toward herself and began to knead her fingers down its length, from tip to base. It was with a self-satisfied smirk that Raphane noticed the beginnings of the telltale blue shift to Karlach's glow.
"Mmm. Keep going in that direction and you're going to get me fired up again, soldier," said Karlach.
"Good," said Raphane, "I want you tired enough to sleep through the whole night."