Immortal Love (Closed for Veroe)

[Asa]

Selena released the infant to him and crumpled some against him.

I can not keep losing them

She sighed her exhaustion finally showing through.

How do we tell her about this precious little life?

~~~~~~~

Gitana dismissed his words Sonam had the family and Alain and she hoped Dominique and Donnovan to help her. Blood loss and the her lack of actual combat for quite some time was beginning to take its toll.

I have already seen your death vermin you will not win this time with Selena.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"Yes he has passed, but..." He cupped her chin and turned her head to look on the long row of people lying in the beds. Some were still suffering from the illness but others were on the road to recovery. "...Others won't...because of you. The only way forward is to focus on your victories not your defeats."

Slowly her arms loosened around the dead body of the infant boy, and Alain gently took it from her.

"I can not keep losing them," She sighed with years worth of exhaustion revealed in one expression.

Alain felt for her. He knew just how tiring the progression of years, the loss of loved ones, the loss of connection to the world they all lived in...it could easily lead an Immortal into despair. He wished he had an answer for her-something that would make her feel better, but this had no answer. There was no words to solve a problem as large as the one she was feeling.

He wrapped an arm around her in a comforting hug for it was all he could think to do.

"How do we tell her about this precious little life?"

He assumed she was speaking of the infant's mother. He had faced this problem: answering why someone's son or brother or husband died while he survived to return from battle, countless times before."Without flinching away. With kindness, but honesty, and with respect and sympathy for the hole in her life this great tragedy has left."

---------------------X

IC: Acheron

"Such a pity you will die for something so futile, Gitana," He laughed derisively while pressing a series of attacks and waiting for the blood loss to weaken her, "I have spent centuries tracking her down. Do you think that insignificant brat can hide her somewhere I will not find my wife?"

"I have already seen your death, vermin," She replied arrogantly, "you will not win this time with, Selena."

"I grow tired of your prattle, witch," He said pressing a series of attacks that increased in speed and ferocity allowing him to lunge a thrust past her guard and into her chest. The point of his rapier slipping between ribs and past her sternum, puncturing a lung and piercing the left ventricle of her heart. "She is mine, and in the end you will be but a memory long forgotten."

He twisted the blade to make the pain excruciating as the mortal injury made her collapse to her knees. Withdrawing his rapier from her to allow her a brief moment to feel her long long long life finally coming to an end. "There will be only one, Gitana..."

The rapier swung in a low sweep to sever her head from its body.

"...and I will be that one."

 

[Asa]

Selena just stared at him as her centuries of life showed through her eyes. Shaking her head she looked to the mother who Amir was placing in one of the beds.

To tell her now will give her no reason to continue living and my healing will be wasted.

She pointed it out to Alain with a sigh as Amir walked over.

I do not think the mother will survive perhaps best to let them cross over to the Gods together Priestess.

She nodded and walked out of the tent and leaned against a nearby remnant of a wall. Where was her precious friend when she needed her. So much darkness taking both mortal and immortal of late she could not deal with much more of this. No matter how many centuries she lived or nations she called home or people she helped she always found the darkness. Either her own whatever this cruel mortal world chose to slaughter its own kind with.

~~~~~~

Sonam was stalking the camp when she saw a woman talking to the sword eater. She recognized her from Alain's pictures.

You... You know Alain... We need to talk... Now.

Once she was closer to her she seemed to go defense as she allowed her to come to her mother's train car.

Before you get all combat I know what you are, going after my mother and I will end you... Got it. You are about to meet someone else who apparently has a past with Alain.

Gitana knew this was the end. She knew how it would be for a very long time. She and another old friend knew what to do. It was now up to Sonam and Alain to save Selena now but she knew Acheron taking her head would slow him down. When a Hyoka was killed every dark painful emotion and pain they have ever absorbed into themselves assaulted their killer as well as the power of the quickening but their gift died with them.

Prepare for a hell you are not ready to endure vermin...

Her final words as her head and body were then separated in death. Before the quickening could touch him the dead black tendrils shot from her piercing through him like fiery yet frozen razor sharp blades. Then the souls that she help in death attacked him seeking to make the evil before them slay their savior. Then once that was over the centuries old quickening assaulted him last.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Acheron

"There will be only one, Gitana..."

The rapier swung in a low sweep to sever her head from its body.

"...and I will be that one."

Her head fell to the asphalt at his feet. Gitana's head now lifeless stared up at him in silent accusation. Acheron wanted to step on it to silence her accusations forever. Before he could it happened.

"Prepare for a hell you are not ready to endure vermin..."

Her voice? How?

He didn't get to find out for tendrils of ghostly black rushed out of her neck embroiling him in agony hot and cold at once. The rapier clattered onto the ground and he huddled onto the ground soon after. Then a whole other level of pain happened. Even a young immortal had a massive amount of power packed within their quickening and Gitana had lived for more than half a dozen millennia.

A column of light erupted from her headless corpse engulfing the entirety of the bridge in its scope. The darkness took refuge rushing into him as he was wrapped up in lightning forks of power. It was monumental. Her quickening was more powerful than any other he had received. And as Acheron hung in the air body convulsing from the currents of electricity stampeding over his nerve-endings he was brought full circle to the moment that had made him, the moment he died for the first time.

Acheron had been nothing then. Another small insignificant, impotent creature eking out a living as a mere potter in the island nation of what was now called Santorini. Then the mountain in the heart of the undersea caldera erupted. He remembered the feeling of helplessness as he saw fate flow inexorably to consume his simple little life and his simple little home. After the pyroclastic cloud rushed over him and he died and was resurrected again and again and again in a matter of seconds of eternal agony he swore he'd never be so impotent again. Thus on the day of his death Acheron was born in smoke and ash and fire and pain.

All of Gitana's power, her skills, her talents, her knowledge, her memories all of it flooded into him, and Acheron wrestled with pushing it all down to be marshaled at his command and then the quickening was over. It was a quickening so powerful that it melted the steel supports of the bridge in key places enough to cause it to collapse into the river. Unconsciousness claimed him as his body fell into water letting the current take him.

---------------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He assumed she was speaking of the infant's mother. He had faced this problem: answering why someone's son or brother or husband died while he survived to return from battle, countless times before."Without flinching away. With kindness, but honesty, and with respect and sympathy for the hole in her life this great tragedy has left."

She looked at him the long march of years evident in those deep dark eyes. "To tell her now will give her no reason to continue living and my healing will be wasted." She replied as Amir finished settling the ill mother in her cot.

He shook his head, "You're right, we should not rob her of her hope, but neither should we lie to her also. It would only make the sting more painful when she does learn the truth."

He came over to them, "I do not think the mother will survive perhaps best to let them cross over to the Gods together Priestess."

Selena nodded and left the tent. Alain wanted to go after her. He hadn't met many Immortals that were friendly, his Sifu, the cousins Duncan and Connor Macleod, the witchdoctor brother Mogoro Ubesi, but outside of those all the others he had encountered had ended with the clash of swords.

But instead he walked over to the side of the mother. Weakly she asked him after her baby. Alain remained respectful to her, but did not tell her the painful truth. He allowed her to believe the child was alive, so her last moments were filled with a wealth of hope for her son.

When she passed a placed a hand on her shoulder. "If there is an afterlife I hope you are reunited with your child, madame, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." But there was no afterlife. He had been dead several times, so Alain should know. Heaven was just a quaint fantasy, but sometimes so was hope, and hope endured in spite of the light the truth cast.

He emerged out of the tent to find evening fast approaching and an exhausted and depleted Selena waiting for him.

"We need to talk," He asked her, "Don't we?"

 

[Asa]

What would we need to talk about?

She stared at him too tired to deal with mortal or immortal insanity. Brushing her hair back she just watched him finally getting a good look at this young outsider. He was not without his charm of appearance but he still believed it seemed that they always had to fight and kill each other. It was so tiresome all she wanted was to help people while she was far from her own hell.

If you feel we need to talk then talk.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"We need to talk," He asked her, "Don't we?"

"What would we need to talk about," She replied irritably. She stood there just watching him with a withering eye. "If you feel we need to talk then talk."

"Just that I haven't had many friends of our kind," He told her with a shrug, "It seems to never work out. The knowledge that someday eventually we'd have to cross blades inevitably drives us apart."

He leaned against a nearby table and tiredly ran his hand through his hair before returning his eyes to hers. She had such deep and radiant eyes. Even now with the shadows of despair and exhaustion haunting them. Alain would like to see them under better circumstances.

"I just recently had a falling out with one of us I'd been friends with for over a hundred years," He confided to her, "If we had not been on holy ground at the time..."

He brushed that line of conversation aside, "The point is: I'm skeptical that any of us can be friends long term, Selena."

He then held out his hand, "But watching you in there fighting with everything you have...I don't want your head. I don't want to deprive this suffering world one of its greatest champions."

---------------------------X

https://40.media.tumblr.com/5e14b94bd1e059fbeb51c47a8dc3c060/tumblr_nm4sezYbIu1tuy8zto9_500.jpg

IC: Brother Mogoro

Brother Mogoro had arrived in town on business this morning. His beloved wife, his voodoo queen, and his watcher had then told him why she had insisted upon coming to this city and this carnival in particular from their safe and secure home on holy ground in New Orleans. His darling Althea knew his feelings on the Immortal that had mentored him until the argument that had torn them apart. He had never met this Selena that had shaped De'Montreau's life this past century, though the way Althea spoke of her she sounded like his old friend Alain's ideal woman.

He got out of their rental car and crossed to the other side. "Pretty girl," He said reaching through passenger side window to run his fingers over liver spotted wrinkled skin. Althea was eighty-six years old and to him she would forever be his twenty-one year old beautiful bride. He paused when his fingers crossed to the airhose leading under her nose to the oxygen tank in the footwell behind her seat.

How many more years would he be blessed with her in his life. Time was cruel to take her and leave him untouched. Someday, someday soon, that terrible day would come he would walk this earth alone again...without her in it.

"Are you dead set upon me doing this?"

Her nod was clear. Brother Mogoro raised back up and felt the quickening. Someone like him was out there in that carnival...someone old...someone not to be trifled with. He fitted his hat on his head and crossed to the back of the car. Taking his guitar case from the trunk.

He lifted it over his shoulder and closed it. It held Masa's sabre inside, the only souvenir of his previous life on Masa's plantation-well the sabre and the scars from Masa's whip on his back. He took a deep breath wondering why he was doing this. He didn't owe Alain De'Montreau anything, and he certainly didn't owe his woman anything.

But he had made a promise to Althea. Brother Mogoro, immortal, and husband to the most precious beautiful woman on this earth headed towards the people packing crates and boxes onto the carnival's train.

 

[Asa]

Sonam

Sonam was stalking the camp when she saw a man talking to the sword eater. She recognized him from Alain's pictures.

You... You know Alain... We need to talk... Now.

Once she was closer to him she seemed to go defense as she allowed him to come to her mother's train car.

Before you get all combat I know what you are, go after my mother and I will end you... Got it. You are about to meet someone else who apparently has a past with Alain. Sonam was every bit the venomous protector now it didn't matter immortal or mortal. Frank used to say...

~Way too much darkness in the eyes of one so young and full of life~

Selena

Friends among our kind is possible even long time friends. You simply let life carry you places and them perhaps different places but always finding each other time and again as the cosmos or the Gods and Goddesses wish it or whatever is out there

She motioned to a crescent moon cradling a full moon necklace she wore.

A gift from one such friend... He was a Goldsmith for the pharoh Jedefre and a dear friend and mentor... He said he would always know it was me by this symbol that he and the others found me asleep in as an infant in the desert. So yes it is possible and as for what I do... It is what his dear wife taught me as well as others and almost instinct knowledge.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

After Brother Mogoro had spoken to the sword eater he hadn't made it very far before a young teen approached him and told him, "You... You know Alain..."

He nodded conceding the point but not without some lingering baggage for De'Montreau, "One could say that, little girl."

"We need to talk... Now."

"Do I even know who you are, Little girl," He asked this precocious young woman.

"Before you get all combative I know what you are," She barged on, "Go after my mother and I will end you... Got it."

"So this Selena raised you like you were her daughter," Brother Mogoro stated. Did she know how much information she was giving someone she just ran up to? If he was the unscrupulous type of Immortal or just still nursing a grudge against Alain this little girl was offering herself up to become bait in any trap he cared to set for one or both Alain or Selena.

But he hadn't come here to take heads. Brother Mogoro just wanted to live his life with his cherished wife in peace. He'd leave the crusades to De'Montreau, and he'd like to think he owed the man who'd taken an escaped slave that should have died when they lynched him and taught him to become like a brother until they parted in the worst of circumstances decades later.

"You are about to meet someone else who apparently has a past with Alain."

"I Know," Is all he allowed himself to say. When the young girl turned to lead him to De'Montreau's woman he reached out and took hold of her chin directing her to look into her eyes.

"These eyes have seen so much of the shadows," He commented, "Look into my eyes, Little Girl. Mine have seen so much more." He let her go then and adjusted the strap of the guitar case over his shoulder. "Be careful. When you stare into the darkness for too long it becomes all you ever see."

He didn't know why her attitude made him react so-that wasn't true-he did know. Brother Mogoro just did not want to admit it to himself. The reason he took umbrage to this teenaged girl's demeanor was that it reminded him so much of himself. Well this girl wasn't going to get a pass, not from him. There was no way she'd play the wounded victim card on him.

"Lose the attitude," He told her, "And take me to this Selena woman."

------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He then held out his hand, "But watching you in there fighting with everything you have...I don't want your head. I don't want to deprive this suffering world one of its greatest champions."

"Friends among our kind is possible even long time friends," She stated.

"I don't how that could be true," He replied tiredly, "It never seems to work out for me."

She nodded, "You simply let life carry you places and them perhaps different places but always finding each other time and again as the cosmos or the Gods and Goddesses wish it or whatever is out there."

He gave her a conciliatory smile and shrug accepting her advice.

She tapped her necklace which bore a silver crescent moon nestling a full moon resting between her breasts, and quite the enviable place to spend one's day it had too Alain though again noticing how attractive this woman was to him. "A gift from one such friend..."

"Anyone I've met," He asked. Alain would hate to have taken the head of her friend only to be the one who had tell her now.

"He was a Goldsmith for the pharoh Jedefre and a dear friend and mentor... He said he would always know it was me by this symbol that he and the others found me asleep in as an infant in the desert."

He didn't recognize the name of the pharaoh she mentioned, but if she was speaking truly that made her very old. He wondered how old, but thought better than to ask her.

"So yes it is possible and as for what I do..." She shrugged modestly, "It is what his dear wife taught me as well as others and almost instinct knowledge."

He nodded to that, "Let's get something to eat and get back to work. We have a fight of several people's lives still ahead of us." He held out his hand to take hers waiting for her to allow him to lead her to their supper.

 

[Asa]

Sonam

She glared at him knowing her true advantage over immortals... None of them but Gitana her mother and now Alain were the only immortals that knew that she knew of them and how to destroy them... The only ones living that is. A low snarled curse in her native Tibetan about arrogant immortals and opened the door to the train car slowly as the silver of a sword appeared in her hand and a few of the others from the carnival began to move that way as well.

Mom?

Sonam called out but no answer. She saw her still asleep and muttered.

What the hell did Gitana give you mom?

This only made her twice as protective as she very clearly placed herself between her mother and this strange immortal. He was nothing like Carl... Another black immortal she had met through Gitana when she was little. He was laughing and joking about life.

Why do you seek my mother?

~~~~~~

Selena

She nodded too tired to really argue. Normally she would simply take a break and go back to work much to the protests of Amir.

Fine let us find something to eat but return quickly to them unless you need rest then I will return to them.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He nodded to that, "Let's get something to eat and get back to work. We have a fight of several people's lives still ahead of us." He held out his hand to take hers waiting for her to allow him to lead her to their supper.

"Fine," She nodded resignedly, "Let us find something to eat but return quickly to them unless you need rest then I will return to them."

Together they went to the camp's mess tent and received two bowls of steaming broth. It was thin, and a bit too peppery for Alain's tastes, but it was quick and filling.

He looked up to see Selena finishing her bowl. There was something oddly different about her to him. He couldn't really place it, but he felt it every time he looked at her.

"You're not like any of the other Immortals I've ever met," He told her, "You're not at all absorbed in getting the prize. It's like you're not really interested in it at all." He shrugged, "I mean we all say we don't really care, atleast the ones that deserve to get it say that, but you can tell we all really want it...except for you."

-----------------------X

IC: Brother Mogoro

"Lose the attitude," He told her, "And take me to this Selena woman."

She scowled at him muttering something in a native Tibetan dialogue. Mogoro smirked placing a hand on her shoulder. Then he leaned in to whisper in her ear, "میرے ساتھ آپ کی زبان بہت کم لڑکی کو دیکھنے." ("Watch your language with me, little girl.")

He followed after her. The poor kid, probably had quite the shitty life, but if she thought for one second that gave her any highground on him. Well, life was shitty to a lot of people too, some more than others. He'd spent years breaking his back in a Louisiana plantation under the lash of a man more despicable than any she'd ever seen...so no, she had no grounds to cop an attitude as far as Brother Mogoro was concerned.

She pulled open one of the Train's car doors calling out, "Mom?"

Brother Mogoro climbed inside after her to see a woman lying asleep atop some pillows and blankets within. She was dark, sultry, and exotic, the type of woman that would be a constant mystery to a man...exactly De'Montreau's type.

"She seems to be catching her beauty sleep right now," He retorted.

"What the hell did Gitana give you mom," The girl asked.

"Forkroot extract, Midelbark tea, even some spores of some pretty rare mushrooms probably." He shrugged.

He turned to see the young girl looking back at him, "Why do you seek my mother?"

"Good question," He said placing the guitar case against the wall of train car, "I've been asking myself that since I got out of the car, but my wife wanted me to see this woman that owns De'Montreau's heart, and I admit to a little curiosity in that regard."

He shrugged again, "Seems to me the question you should be asking is where can you go that he won't eventually find her again? She's already been all around the world six or seven times over and he's been close on her heels despite her best efforts to cover her tracks the whole way. Face it, little girl, no matter where you take her or how fast the two of you run he's coming right after you. So the question then becomes what are you going to do about it? Try to kill him? Good luck if De'Montreau and Gitana both couldn't stop him."

 

[Asa]

Selena shrugged.

They need our knowledge far more than we need some mythical prize. What good is our longevity if we so nothing to help the world we share with them.

Finishing her soup she looked to him a faint smile.

When you are as old as I am you will understand better my words. Now do you require rest or are you able to continue helping? If you are the elderly man near the water stand seems to enjoy your company.

~~~~~

Sonam hissed.

Yeah if I have to I will. How do you know Gitana?

She was becoming wary of this guy the longer they talked. Not difficult though to gain her distrust with someone hunting her mother.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

He shrugged again, "Seems to me the question you should be asking is where can you go that he won't eventually find her again? She's already been all around the world six or seven times over and he's been close on her heels despite her best efforts to cover her tracks the whole way. Face it, little girl, no matter where you take her or how fast the two of you run he's coming right after you. So the question then becomes what are you going to do about it? Try to kill him?"

"Yeah, if I have to. I will," She hissed at him.

"Good luck if De'Montreau and Gitana both couldn't stop him."

That caused her a moment to pause before asking, "How do you know Gitana?"

"I don't," He shrugged, "But I have heard about her from my watcher-my wife, Althea Partridge. She was sad to find that we got here too late to be of any help to her favorite protégé-a watcher you may have known: a man named Frank-before his death, but according to her I was being just too stubborn about silly old grudges."

He took a moment to regard this young woman, "Look, little girl. I am still uncertain how I feel about helping De'Montreau or your mother, but my wife is not, and I will do anything to make her happy."

-----------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"You're not like any of the other Immortals I've ever met," He told her, "You're not at all absorbed in getting the prize. It's like you're not really interested in it at all." He shrugged, "I mean we all say we don't really care, at least the ones that deserve to get it say that, but you can tell we all really want it...except for you."

"They need our knowledge far more than we need some mythical prize," She shrugged, "What good is our longevity if we do nothing to help the world we share with them?"

"That's a dangerous attitude to have though," He returned, "It assumes our age and experience somehow makes us superior to them. Its a slippery slope that even the best of us can be lured into believing the best way to help is to control the people. Yes we have an obligation to help as much as possible during their....youthful exuberances...but in reality we are relics. This is their time. It's like my argument with my former friend: we need to stay out of the course of history. Let them forge their own destiny."

"When you are as old as I am you will understand better my words," She replied and Alain began to wonder just how much older she was to him. He was over eight hundred years old, and other than Sifu he'd never met anyone older than that. He had wondered if there was a limit to the years an immortal could see before they lost their head or found someway to just kill themselves.

He was about to ask her just how old she was when she continued, "Now do you require rest or are you able to continue helping? If you are the elderly man near the water stand seems to enjoy your company."

He smiled to her, "Let's get back to work then."

 

[Asa]

Sonam shrugged. Well then while mom naps maybe your wife and I should talk. Frank was moms watcher... He chose me as his replacement his boss agreed... Apparently this butcher even warrents Watchers taking certain precautions. He taught me to take over and Gitana taught me to take out an immortal if I had to.

She paused for a moment then laughed a little...

So Alain rubs everybody the wrong way... Good to know. Wonder how mom tolerated him?

~~~~~

They stood deep in the city. Along the shoreline the river followed. They knew their sister was gone and now the young immortal would know. Dominique allowing her son to haul him from the water as they sat down by a little fire to wait.

~~~~~~~

She smiled and standing to make her way back to work. Her mind was far from her own life and now curious about the young man here with her and Why Amir was so determined to play matchmaker.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He smiled to her, "Let's get back to work then."

He got up and followed her. There was something about this headstrong and dedicated woman. He couldn't quite put a name to it, but he felt its pull on him like the pull of gravity keeping his feet on the ground.

"You know," He told her as they reached the treatment tent, "When this is over I wouldn't mind sitting down and talking about things more with you."

--------------------------X

IC: Brother Mogoro

He took a moment to regard this young woman, "Look, little girl. I am still uncertain how I feel about helping De'Montreau or your mother, but my wife is not, and I will do anything to make her happy."

"Well then while mom naps maybe your wife and I should talk." She said giving him a shrug.

He nodded to that, "My dear wife has told me much, but I wish to understand how this Frank trusted someone so young with so much."

"Frank was moms watcher..." She said with a sad air, "He chose me as his replacement his boss agreed... Apparently this butcher even warrents Watchers taking certain precautions."

He nodded, "And then...?"

"He taught me to take over and Gitana taught me to take out an immortal if I had to."

He laughed at that, "A mouse with sharp fangs."

"So Alain rubs everybody the wrong way... Good to know." She said with a laugh of her own.

"Don't get me started," He said with a wry smile, "De'Montreau is like chocolate great in small bites but bad for you in large doses."

"Wonder how mom tolerated him?"

"Let's ask her when she wakes up," He smiled back at her.

 

[Asa]

She nodded

Very well when all are resting peacefully we can talk again.

She went immediately back to work long into the night.

~~~~~~~

She nodded to that.

So should we go speak with your wife or try to wake mom?

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

"Let's ask her when she wakes up," He smiled back at her.

"So should we go speak with your wife," She nodded, "or try to wake mom?"

"Let your mother sleep a little longer," He answered, "I am sure my darling, Althea will wish to speak with you."

He led her back out to the parking lot to his waiting rental car. Once he reached Mogoro leaned down to look his elderly wife in the eyes. He reached out stroking the sunken, wrinkled, and liver-spotted cheek tenderly with a love that surpassed the passing of the decades. "I have here the girl your apprentice, Frank, has named a successor."

Althea reached out a hand through the open car window for Sonam to come closer to her.

Mogoro stepped back to give his wife and the young girl their space.

--------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"You know," He told her as they reached the treatment tent, "When this is over I wouldn't mind sitting down and talking about things more with you."

She nodded to that, "Very well when all are resting peacefully we can talk again."

They both plunged back into the courageous struggle against illness and suffering and death. They worked past the point of exhaustion well into the small hours of the morning. By the time the first light of dawn started to peek over the horizon outside the dunes of the desert he walked over to Selena.

"You look dead on your feet. We both need to rest now," He told her, "Come on, sleep, a couple hours, let's go."

 

[Asa]

Sonam

She walked closer to the car and looked in.

Hello... Seems like the watchers are not as well hidden as I was led to believe. I am Sonam Watcher for the ancient orphan Priestess Selena and... Her daughter.

Sonam kept looking back distrusting any immortal being near her mother especially in this condition.

~~~~~~~~
Selena

The need for sleep will pass their need for healing will not.

She sat down next to a patient who looked to her.

Rest child... Amir... You have taught him well...go... Rest... For me...

With that the old woman was free from her frail mortal form smiling to her precious doctor.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

Mogoro stepped back to give his wife and the young girl their space.

"Hello..." She said bending down to peer through the car window at his wife, Althea, "Seems like the watchers are not as well hidden as I was led to believe. I am Sonam Watcher for the ancient orphan Priestess Selena and... Her daughter."

"...I know..." His wife's words were barely audible. Her body so weak and frail from her advanced age wasn't able to manage the breath of more than a whisper. When Sonam turned her "...so young...you have his fire in..you..."

"I taught him what it was to be a watcher..." She said a shaking hand reaching out to take hold of Sonam's, "...he was such a driven... and haunted young man after...his war..."

She turned Sonam's hand palm upward and placed something within them. It was a string with several military dogtags. "He kept them...all of his comrades from battle...this was his burden...I stole it from him...to force him to move on..."

She let go and sat back in her seat whispering, "...I leave Frank's burden...for you to carry...now."

-------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"You look dead on your feet. We both need to rest now," He told her, "Come on, sleep, a couple hours, let's go."

"The need for sleep will pass their need for healing will not." She replied stubbornly sitting next to an old woman before glancing towards Amir, "Rest child... Amir... You have taught him well...go... Rest... For me..."

Alain looked to Amir in exasperation before nodding to him. He crossed over to her and bent down lifting her up in his arms and began carrying her out of the medical tent.

"I'm going to have to insist you get some sleep, Selena," He stated just as stubbornly to her, "You can't really help these people when you're like this."

 

[Asa]

Sonam nodded and closed her hand around the dog tags.

If I could ask you one thing. Can Alain defeat Acheron?

She knew her mother couldn't and she also knew if her mother lost Alain to him that would kill most of the fight she had left in her and she would lose her mother. Angry or not she knew even with all she had been taught she was only mortal after all.

~~~~~~~

Selena tried to protest but there was something about this strange young foreigner she could not put her finger on so she would humor him and her patients for a little while. She had learned long ago and very well how to go without sleep for very long weeks if not months but it was taxing.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

She let go and sat back in her seat whispering, "...I leave Frank's burden...for you to carry...now."

To that Mogoro saw the young lady nod and solemnly close her hand around the dog tags. "If I could ask you one thing. Can Alain defeat Acheron?"

"Who can say..." She shrugged, "Being as old as I am...I have seen many Goliaths...and many Davids."

Mogoro shook his head to her, "From what I heard of this Acheron I don't think anyone can, but that does not mean we should give up, little girl."

--------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

"I'm going to have to insist you get some sleep, Selena," He stated just as stubbornly to her, "You can't really help these people when you're like this."

He left the medical tent and crossed over to an unused sleeping tent. He laid Selena down on the empty cot inside and set down to the ground beside it. He'd be well placed to make sure she got her 40 winks. "We both need our sleep to function. I learned a shaolin meditation trick I could use in place of slumber a couple centuries ago, but it's not as effective as good old fashioned slumber."

 

[Asa]

Sonam thought.

What do you know of Dominique and her "son" Donnovan? They apparently used to run with Gitana apparently in some darker days? Could they do it? Mortal or not I have been shown ways to possibly if I had to take an immortal out. Gitana in her peaceful years has become very well versed in something called hwa rand do? Seems pretty lethal to me but it acts like Tai Chi to her.

Ending this nightmare for her mother had her mind locked like a pit bull on a porterhouse.

~~~~~~~

Selena laid down.

I know in my long life I have actually trained myself to go at longest two months with perhaps only 48/hours worth of napping dusted throughout that time. We both rest now.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

Mogoro shook his head to her, "From what I have heard of this Acheron I don't think anyone can, but that does not mean we should give up, little girl."

He watched her mull that over before asking him, "What do you know of Dominique and her "son" Donnovan?"

That took him by surprise. He shook his head shivering, "Only by their reputation, and only the Immortal named Kronos and the horsemen have ones that are worse. Among us Immortals those two are infamous and not in the helpful to our situation here kind of way. I have heard that those two were responsible for the disappearance of the Roanoke colony in the late 1600s, and before that the Viking settlement in New Foundland...Wait..why are you asking about them?"

"They apparently used to run with Gitana apparently in some darker days," She explained, "Could they do it?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, but from their reputation they could wind up becoming more of a threat to us than Acheron is now."

To that she said, "Mortal or not I have been shown ways to possibly if I had to take an immortal out. Gitana in her peaceful years has become very well versed in something called hwa rand do? Seems pretty lethal to me but it acts like Tai Chi to her."

"Really," He asked raising an eyebrow. He Reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the fairgrounds where no one would see. Then he let her go and bent down lifting up a stick and tossing it to her. "Alright little girl, show me."

He raised up facing her another stick in his own hand.

-------------------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He left the medical tent and crossed over to an unused sleeping tent. He laid Selena down on the empty cot inside and set down to the ground beside it. He'd be well placed to make sure she got her 40 winks. "We both need our sleep to function. I learned a shaolin meditation trick I could use in place of slumber a couple centuries ago, but it's not as effective as good old fashioned slumber."

She laid down on the cot beside him and agreed, "I know, in my long life I have actually trained myself to go at longest two months with perhaps only 48/hours worth of napping dusted throughout that time. We both rest now."

He nodded chuckling to that, "Two months on just forty-eight hours...really?"

He looked to her with a lop-sided grin, "Maybe you could show me how you can do that, someday?"

 

[Asa]

Sonam

Well they are here and... They were helping us... At least with Acheron's army. Said something about owing their sister.

Moving along with him she nodded and moved through what she had been taught about taking the legs out then the gut all while also protecting against opponents shots and then to move to take the head.

~~~~~~
Selena

Perhaps if I can. I had to do so out of necessity but that is neither here nor there lets rest.

She closed her eyes trying to sleep even with all the patients and work she has to do.

 

[Veroe]

IC: Brother Mogoro

Mogoro listened to her explanation of meeting the infamous Dominique and Donnovan. "Just judging from what I heard about them I wouldn't trust them, but then Gitana had much the same reputation until she left them..." He shrugged, "Would you trust them?"

He watched her perform the technique and nodded, "You've practiced it fairly well, but do it again."

This time when she made to sweep out his legs his stick streaked in rapping across her knuckles and knocking the stick from her grasp followed by slamming his elbow into her nose knocking her on her ass in the dirt. The end of his stick pressed against the side of her neck.

"Dead." He declared, "How can you defeat Acheron if you can't even beat me, little girl?"

He kicked her stick back over to her. "Now get up and try to kill me again, because the only way I'll let you take Acheron down is over my dead body."

------------------------X

IC: Alain De'Montreau

He looked to her with a lop-sided grin, "Maybe you could show me how you can do that, someday?"

"Perhaps if I can," She said smiling radiantly to melt Alain's heart, "I had to do so out of necessity but that is neither here nor there lets rest."

"Perhaps," Alain agreed, "After we help these people and things here settle down...perhaps you and I can spend more time to get to know eachother better."

He immediately chuckled at himself, "I haven't been this nervous about asking a woman to court in centuries."

 

[Asa]

She stood up eyes narrowed some as she watched him.

Careful how you word stuff. You might sound like you are one of that vermin's henchmen.

Moving again into more forms she has learned from hwa rang do with Gitana's help.

As for trusting them he did help me survive a sniper. Though they seemed to try to make it clear about any of us getting Gitana killed.


~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sleep overtook her quickly as she laid down. Sleeping for several hours before any nightmares attempted to show through.