Mathuriel got up, a little unsteadily.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry yourselves about me. A little water would be nice though."
He smirked weakly. "And make it snappy! Vomiting makes my throat sore," he half-joked, clearly trying to mask his pain.

The king and Kiss both hugged her tight, Kiss murmuring "It's all right, I'm here, I'm here," in her ear to get her to calm down.
The king kissed her cheek, and cradled her softly. "Kiss," he said gently, "make sure she's alright. Get her anything she wants."
"Yes my lord," Kiss bowed obediently. "Thank you my lord."
"Anytime," the king said kindly and rose. "If you wish me to return Ella, just call, but I must deal with your rude visitor. I will be right back."
He left the room, closed the door behind him. He looked skyward for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts and counting to ten.
Then he took hold of Vorgen by the ear, dragged him to a nearby room where the sound wouldn't carry and practically threw him inside before slamming the door shut behind them.
"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" he hissed like an enraged snake. "You are not to go NEAR them again, am I absolutely clear? This isn't a discussion."

Elyan nodded back to Mathuriel with a wry smile.
"Sure thing, your highness."
Saying that, he left the room to grab a flask of water. A few moments later, he came back and handed the flask to Mathuriel.
"You know, this is one of those times where I think to myself that it'd be real nice if we had a healer in the group. Maybe we'll get lucky and run into one once we head up north."

Mathuriel hid another grimace and spoke politely.
"Get some sleep. I'll be dandy in a few hours." He sounded a lot surer of that than he looked or felt. "Thank you all... I'm sorry I'm burdening you."

The king's expression became stunningly sour.
"I think you take far too many liberties with your role, Vorgen. This is your last warning. Do not go near those two again or I will personally ensure you regret it." He stalked around the room like a caged tiger. "Every time you let your curiosity get the better of you, you jeopardize events meticulously planned out. As it stands, I am more than capable of making up for your miserable inadequacies, supreme incompetence, and above all your intolerably disrespectful attitude. But now I'm drawing the line. And I mean it. If you ever, EVER, do ANYTHING that could even slightly run the risk of ruining even the most minor of my carefully-laid plans... your punishment will be permanent until you do your damned job."
The king turned.
"And as for the nature of the girl, for all of our sakes - hers, yours, and mine - stop asking. The universe doesn't like it when you do." He kicked the door open and left, leaving Vorgen alone.

Kiss's arms folded round Ella's again, even though the poor girl was shivering still.
"I'm here, sis. I'm real. I'M REAL!" Kiss was starting to cry. "I'm here! I'm not dead, I'm here! Look at me! I'm right here sis! I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not letting you go anywhere without me! I promise!"

Valeria glared at Mathuriel. "You are not a burden." She hissed at him. "You have been an asset...well...you have since I've joined. I can't really speak for before I joined, but I'm sure you were an asset then too." She walked over to him. "You are our friend and ally," she spoke a little softer, but still in a firm tone; "that won't change."

Mathuriel managed a smile.
"Thanks. As long as I can assist, I will. Now everyone go rest up, you'll all need it. I know I do."
He sank back onto the bed and fell asleep instantly again, barely able to stay awake after all the madness.

The king stormed through the corridors.
"Bumbling fool. Years of hard word ruined by his long pointy nose in other people's business. I will not allow it."
He had some matters to attend to, so he went to his private chambers to seek council privately.

Valeria turned, and smiled gently to Elyan, as she walked out to the hallway. She paused, and turned slightly, her gentle smile still on her face. "Sleep well, Elyan." She spoke softly, then walked into the other room.

Elyan smiled gently back at Valeria.
"You too."
When she left, he turned to face Mathuriel, who had already fallen asleep.
"And you...try not to have any nightmares this time, alright?"
He muttered under his breath in a sarcastic tone, not actually expecting to be heard. He then made his way to the closest bedroom, took off his equipment, lied down on the bed and fell asleep quickly. A wave of relief spread over his sleeping face at the end of a difficult day.

Kiss's response was to snuggle up to her and fall asleep almost instantly.
"Sure thing, sis..." she mumbled as her eyes fell shut.

Mathuriel tossed and turned in his sleep, visions that seemed too real to be fake dancing in his head. He saw that wall again, the scroll right at the very top standing out like a sore thumb. He heard the voice - "Give me the scroll, Mathuriel, give me the scroll!" - and he shook his head, backed away saying no, he didn't know why he couldn't but all he knew was that he had to say no at all costs otherwise the cost would be too much -

He woke up, and immediately went outside to relieve himself.

Elyan had always been an early riser, so it wasn't surprising that he woke up soon after dawn. With a yawn, he stretched out and slowly made his way out of bed. He walked outside, thinking that he was the first one up, and sat down to do some regular maintenance on his weapons. He heard what sounded like running water nearby and, not looking in the direction it came from, took a guess as to what it was.
"You marking some territory, Spirit? Just don't get it anyplace I can smell it and we'll get along just fine."

"Woof woof."
Mathuriel flashed a glare in Elyan's direction, before grinning to show he wasn't actually annoyed. He did, however, look absolutely awful - his eyes were bloodshot, with huge bags under them, and he looked sick. He didn't seem too badly affected though.
"You always up this damn early?"

Kiss's eyes flashed open at the sound of her sister's distress and she cuddled Ella close.
"I'm here... it's ok sis, I've got you... I've got you sis, I'm here... it's ok..."

Elyan chuckled slightly as he looked in Mathuriel's direction.
"Says the guy who's also up this--"
He stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened when he got a good look at Mathuriel's condition.
"Whoa...don't take this the wrong way, but you look terrible. Was it those nightmares again?"
He had a look of concern on his face, as if he was worried that the man in front of him might collapse at any moment.

Mathuriel attempted a smile... only for it to fall flat and he sagged where he stood.
"They're getting worse," he muttered. "I can barely close my eyes. Every time I do I hear that damn voice screaming in my ears. Being in this dimension is starting to kill me and I have no idea why."

Kiss cuddled Ella close.
"You were moaning something... I think you were moaning for the king to come to you, to make you feel better down there."
Kiss patted Ella's crotch. "Do you want me to go get him?"

OOT: I'm starting to think that Kiss is into the freaky stuff.


Elyan lowered his head. He couldn't look directly in Mathuriel's eyes to say what he was thinking.
"That's right, you came from a different world, didn't you? So if you go back to your world...those nightmares might go away?"
He hesitated for a moment.
"Because...that is an option, you know. This is our world, our fight. We've dragged you into enough of our problems as it is. And if you can barely even stand up without feeling sick, how are you gonna help save Ella?"
He braced himself, knowing that Mathuriel wasn't going to like what he was saying.
"I'm not gonna lie, it won't be easy, but we can carry on this war by ourselves. If the choice comes down to staying here and dying or going back to your home and forgetting all of this, you should just go...and don't look back."

Mathuriel swayed on his feet for a second, acknowledging what Elyan was saying, understanding the wisdom of it.
As much as I hate to admit it... he may have a point.
Then he stepped forwards and slammed his fist into Elyan's chin. Mathuriel wasn't the physical type, so the punch probably did more damage to hand than chin, but the pain and adrenaline that resulted was more than enough to instil angry fire in his heart.
"No. I'm staying. This is not something I can run away from, I feel it. I can't leave, knowing Ella's in the thrall of that psycho. If I have to die for this dimension to be at peace, then write "Too dumb to live" on my gravestone!"
Then he heard what Allora was drowsily yelling. "Either she's drunk, very confused, or we're about to get attacked. Potentially all three."

Kiss left, and a few moments later, the king entered the chambers.
"My queen..."
A few moments later Ella was on her back, the king on top of her.
"Kiss told me you were begging for your lust to be sated." He started undressing her. "Shall I fulfill you?"

When Mathuriel struck him, Elyan rubbed his sore chin and groaned.
"You know, I figured you were gonna say something like that. But how about next time, you just use your words instead of your fists?"
When Allora was ranting and raving about some pie, Elyan simply stared blankly. He nodded at Mathuriel, but didn't turn around to respond.
"Yeah, I'd say that'd be anyone's guess at this point."
All of a sudden, he had a wide smile as an idea came to him.
"She'll be pissed when she figures it out. But I just can't pass this up."
He took a deep breath.
"Allora! Hurry up and get down here, the shopkeepers are coming and they want their pie back! Grab your weapons and get ready, WE MUST DEFEND THE PIE WITH OUR VERY LIVES!"

Valeria woke to shouting..though her first thought was: 'Why are we defending pie this early?'. She pulled herself out of bed, and walked into the 'living room'. She looked around, expecting to see Allora in the room with Spirit...she saw neither of them. She looked out the door, and saw her quite a distance from the house. Puzzled, Valeria walked to the doorway. "What's going on?" She shouted.