Darkest Night [DragonSong] [M]

[Zero]

Cole gently pats her back as she laid her head against him, sighing at her determined declaration that he wasn't going to die. What else could he do? It wasn't like he could help her treat the poison, and despite her desire to save him, well, what if she couldn't? He doubted the poison would go away just because she wished really hard.

"Why do I dream that you're so sweet to me?" His voice was soft and ended with a tired sigh. It was what he had asked himself over and over again. He assumed it was just him being desperate for someone to show him such a level of kindness.

Although if he thought about it she had been nice to him even while awake.

Red eyes closed softly as Cole felt the heaviness and the cold creeping back up on him. He knew he was technically asleep, but he was so, so tired.

"Sweetling, I think I have to go now." Cole was afraid to fade back into the real void from before, but he didn't think he had the strength or presence of mind to stay longer. Indeed, when he opened his eyes again everything seemed less substantial as he started fading out of that strange dream once again.

[DragonSong]

"Oh, Cole..."

She could feel him start to fade, and though she knew it was useless she tried to grip him tighter. "You're going to be fine," she told him determinedly. She forced a smile and reached up to touch his cheek. "I'm going to save you. I promise."

She could feel the dreamscape itself fading around them, but she wasn't waking up, not yet.

Perhaps it was time to put her suspicion to the test, properly now.

[Zero]

The feeling of her palm ghosting against his cheek was the last thing Cole sensed before falling back off into a deeper unconsciousness.

Outside of the strange dream world, the drow's fever was spiking, reaching its peak as he faded back into the dark dreams that haunted him.

[DragonSong]

Back in the no-space between dreams, Zahra stared hard at her own hand, still outstretched to cup Cole's cheek.

With a soft sigh, she allowed her hand to drop and turned, eyeing the nothingness around her critically. If her hunch was right... She closed her eyes and took a breath, focusing on a memory, a place, a feeling.

The oasis bloomed into being around her, the same oasis from that first shared dream with Cole, the oasis of her childhood. But it was empty.

Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, dropping her head. I guess they are just dreams...

"Zahra?"

Her head snapped up. She stared for a long, silent moment, and tears filled her eyes. "Elder Maeril?"

Her old teacher clapped her hands to her mouth, her own eyes suspiciously bright. "Oh, sweet child. It's you, it really is you."

With a choked cry Zahra ran to her, and the shaman met her halfway, wrapping her up in a tight hug. "Oh, little desert rose. My little flower, you've been gone so long. I feared you may never truly discover your gifts, I hadn't time to teach you..."

At the same time she spoke, Zahra was babbling, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything, I never wanted— I just—"

She was fading. Why was she fading? "No, no, not yet, please, I didn't have time—"

"Shhh." Maeril stroked her hair even as they both began to shimmer and fade around the edges. "This is not the end, dear girl. You are learning. Practice your gifts, and you will find me again..."



Zahra woke with a soft gasp, struggling to sit up. It took her a few moments to orient herself— and when she did she realized her left hand was incredibly warm. Too warm.

The hand she'd fallen asleep with resting against Cole's brow.

"Oh no." Snapping into action, she twisted and grabbed for a water skin, dampening a cloth to press against his forehead before dropping a few mouthfuls through his lips.

[Zero]

Cole's entire body was on fire, not only his brow. His breathing was raspy and the water poured over his lips caused him to cough and gasp in his sleep, unclear how much was actually making it down his throat. Hours had passed, even if it had seemed only a few moments that they had shared within their shared dream.

The old cook came over beside them, offering her water skin to Zahra quietly. "Here, just pour some water over him. There's an oasis at our stop tonight, it has a pool of water, if we can get help moving him I'm sure it would help."

[DragonSong]

"Thank you." Zahra took the water skin gratefully and carefully began tracing trails of cool water over Cole's face and neck, then his wrists, trying to focus on concentrations of heat.

The oasis was promising, and she murmured her thanks again to the woman who had been so much help the last few days.

It took some doing, but they managed to convince a few other passengers to help them move the elf-- once they were convinced that he truly was poisoned, and didn't have some contagious illness. Panting lightly with the effort, Zahra and a young man she didn't know managed to get Cole settled beside the pool as the sun was setting, and Zahra quickly set about dampening cloths and laying them over Cole's brow and wrists.

"You're going to be okay," she whispered, brushing hair back off his forehead. "I'll make sure you're okay, Cole. I promise."

[Zero]

"Sweetling," It was the barest whisper of a whisper, but the word still managed to escape past Cole's lip as her hand brushed the hair from his forehead. His head fell to the side with a soft sigh, but he didn't open his eyes or wake up. The heat coming off of his body was less intense than before, and a soft sheen of sweat was coating his brow, indicating the fever was breaking.

[DragonSong]

Zahra froze. Then she exploded into action, leaning over him to feel his forehead and check his pulse, grabbing for the water so she could drip a few more mouthfuls down his throat.

The fever was broken.

"Oh thank gods." A sob of relief caught in her throat and she let her head lull forward, resting against his chest for a brief moment as she tried to pull herself together. Laughing softly and crying all the while, she leaned back and pulled Cole's shoulders up gently so she could rest his head on her pack as a sort of pillow.

"You're going to be okay," she whispered, wiping at her eyes. "You're really going to be okay."

[Zero]

Despite the broken fever, Cole remained in a deep slumber. Observing him it would be obvious that his resting and breathing was much easier now. The immediate danger was passing and now the drow simply needed to recover from the poison that had ravaged him over the past few days.

It wasn't quite dawn, the sun hadn't actually crested the sand dunes, when everyone began preparing to leave the little oasis. Water barrels and skins were refilled, things were packed back into the wagons, and the caravan leader was barking orders for everyone to load back up. It was one of those shouts that made Cole groan, brow furrowing as he struggled with himself for a moment before cracking his eyes open, and immediately squinting at the low light.

"Where are we?" He asked with a croaking voice.

[DragonSong]

Zahra never moved from her patient's side, so when he finally opened his eyes she was rather sagging beside him, exhaustion slumping her shoulder and darkening the circles under her eyes.

But then he spoke, and she smiled. "You're awake. Oh thanks gods." She lurched toward him slightly and began fussing with him, trying to help him sit up and hand him a water flask. "We've stopped at a small oasis," she explained as she tried to help him drink. "We have to get back on the wagon soon-- I'll call someone over to help, okay?"

[Zero]

Cole barely managed to struggle upright with Zahra's help, but he took the offered water and gulped it greedily. He was definitely thirsty. It made him wonder how long he had been out. With a frown he looked around the oasis, thinking it was sort of familiar, but he couldn't be sure. The group had probably passed through this way before at some point.

"Yeah, help..." He probably did need help. The drow's limbs felt like jelly. Cole tried to roll onto his knees and nearly fell flat on his face. "I feel like death."

[DragonSong]

"Whoa, easy." Zahra quickly lunged forward to grab his shoulder, steadying him. "That'd be the poison," she chuckled weakly. Gods, she was just so relieved he was conscious. "You were out for a couple of days."

Raising her voice, she called for the two young men who had helped her move Cole out of the wagon, then returned her attention to the drow. "How do you feel? I mean, specifically. Does anything hurt worse than soreness and weakness? Are you thirsty? I can get some more water."

[Zero]

Poison.

Right.

Zahra had told him that. In a dream. Cole reached up to hold his head in his hands once he was sitting upright semi-steadily. It was easy enough to dream that he had been poisoned, but then to wake up and it to be real was a little dizzying. None of what he dreamed was really real, the drow knew Jarvis and when he realized he was sick and in trouble he just subconsciously decided it must be poison and he just happened to be right. That was all it was.

Yeah, that was it.

"My throat feels raw and cracked, yeah, more water would be great. My head is killing me and my side hurts a little more than the rest of me." Cole could chalk that up to being just a bit dehydrated and there being a wound in his side, though.

[DragonSong]

"Here." She pressed the water flask more firmly into his hands, keeping one arm around his shoulders to try to support him.

"Will you let me look at your side?" she asked after a moment when she saw the two other travelers were finally approaching, apparently having decided that even now that he was conscious, Cole was still weak enough to not prove too dangerous.

[Zero]

Shaking hands brought the container back to his lips, gulping down several mouthfuls before Cole shook his head at the question, watching the young men approaching them. "Wait until we're back in the wagon. If we hold them up I don't doubt that caravan master would leave us behind. We don't want to finish crossing the desert by ourselves."

It took a man on each side to help lift the drow off the ground. Stubbornly Cole stumbled between them, trying to walk as much as he could on his own, but his legs were weak and he wouldn't have made it without the help pulling him into the wagon and leaning him against the back wall.

"I'm so tired." Cole groaned softly as he leaned his head back against the wood behind him, eyes closing wearily.

[DragonSong]

"Easy." Zahra quickly sat beside Cole again, mouthing her thanks to the two men who'd helped them back to the wagon. She handed him the water flask again and started rooting through her pack for the few healing supplies she had. "Of course you're tired. Your body is still trying to heal itself."

She sat back, looking at him with obvious concern. "Think you can let me take a look at that wound then?"

[Zero]

"I've slept for days and I feel like I could sleep for a few more." Cole huffed, cracking an eye to open glance at Zahra beside him. He still didn't understand why she was so hell-bent on helping him. The drow didn't even have to ask who had cared for him while he was unconscious and fighting for his life.

It was more than obvious.

"Sweetling you do what you want, I'm too tired to argue why you shouldn't care." A brief smile actually crossed his face as he closed his eyes again, before he grimaced slightly. The wound wasn't cracking open or bleeding anymore, it was beginning to scab over now that the poison was working its way out of Cole's system.

[DragonSong]

She huffed at him quietly, but didn't bother retorting as he'd given her permission. Murmuring to herself, she lifted his shirt so she could see the wound. A small sigh of relief left her as she noted it finally seemed to be scabbing properly, but she still took care to smooth what was left of the anit-infection poultice over it.

"Sorry, I know that must sting," she murmured as she pulled away, glancing up at him. "If you're tired you should sleep. It's alright."

[Zero]

A soft hiss escaped the drow as the poultice was spread over the cut, grimacing a little as well. Cole managed to drag his eyes open as Zahra apologized for the sting the medicine caused and he gave her a only slightly forced smile before closing his eyes again.

"It's fine. I've felt a lot worse." Well as far as injuries went. Cole wasn't sure that he had ever felt worse in his life, physically speaking. Sleep sounded both great and terrible. He had slept so much, and some of the nightmares had been truly horrific. The other dreams weren't as unpleasant, just cruel in their nature.

"I don't want to sleep more. If I sleep I'll probably dream about you again. I don't know why I keep dreaming about you." His voice was soft and husky, as if fighting to stay awake despite what he said.

[DragonSong]

Zahra stiffened.

"Cole..."

She licked her lips, swallowing thickly. "Cole, about those-- this is sort of strange, but..."

Gods, he just looked so exhausted. She bit her lip, then shook her head decisively. "Never mind. You need rest. We can...I think we should talk about some stuff when you wake up, okay?"