Rise of Ruin

Iridian's expression went a bit more grim. "Not great. He lost a great deal of blood." said Iridian. "He'll make it though, I'm certain of it. I doubt he'll wake for quite a while though."

Farei gave a faint nod. She hadn't exactly been able to stop to help Mardian in his time of need, and she realized she would have been unable to help even if she had been in her right mind. "As long as you're sure.." she murmured, talking itself feeling like a chore. "And you don't have to worry about my arm. It will be fine."

"Well, I'm already here, so I may as well take a look." he said with a faint smile. "We can't have it getting infected." He sat down beside her at the edge of the bed. "Let's have a look." he said, gently drawing her arm from her side.

Farei sighed as he insisted on looking over her arm and allowed him to examine it. It was strange how unlike his brother he was in almost every way except for sharing similarities only siblings could have. It was as if Iridian was the very antithesis of Mardian.

"You're nothing but trouble yourself, aren't you?" she asked.

Iridian smirked softly. "I get the distinct impression Mardian already thinks so." he said. "Heh. Can't say that Mom and dad exactly disagree with him either." He flashed her a rather rakish grin. "Ah well, sticks and stones. It's hard to live up to the golden child brother I never knew, right?" he smirked as he looked over her injury and cleaned it.

"You sound just a little bitter." Farei said softly, watching him as he worked on her arm. "I don't know you at all, really, so I'm the last person to judge." she leaned back once more and rubbed her brow. She was certainly going to soak in a hot bath once he'd gone about his business, her muscles were beginning to ache terribly.

Mardian was far from perfect in her eyes, but she was the epitome of flawed, it seemed. Even more so than Avis. Avis had the blessing of being seemingly unaware of...pretty much everything while Farei was painfully aware of what a monster she was.

Iridian shrugged. "Our parents only had good things to say about Mardian. I guess most people only really try to remember the good things about people when they lose them. Mardian was interested in Dad's work, was helpful to mom, and behaved fairly well. I tended to worry them sick." he said with a faint smile. "I don't think they meant to, but I think they always just sort of measured me by how Mardian was, and I was a lot different than him. Our folks are good people, but every once in a while I guess I figured they would have been happier to have had Mardian back than to have had me at all."

Farei was honestly getting tired of hearing about Mardian and his family. She didn't have one, had no siblings, and had a hard time feeling sorry for Iridian right now. She waited for him to finish examining her arm.

"Don't bandage it." she said quietly, not really responding to his venting. "I need a bath after all of that and there's no point in getting fresh bandages wet." she pointed out. "Thank you, though."

"Always happy to tend to a fair maiden." Iridian smiled faintly. "Point noted. Be careful with it though." the moment was clearly over.

Farei watched Iridian leave and waited for the door to close before she tried moving to get up. Her muscles felt weak and certainly did not want to cooperate. Her legs felt shaky and wobbly and her arms and head felt heavy. She gathered the only clean clothes she had, her usual sleeping attire, and let herself in to the adjoining bathroom. She sank into the tub once the water was high enough and rested her head back on the side, letting the heat soak in and relax her muscles, soothing her aches and pains away. She had no plans on moving for a while.

Iridian returned to the room where Mardian lay sleeping. He was still pale as parchment and very still aside of his soft, slow breathing. Iridian sighed and ran a hand through his thick, dark brown hair, sitting down next to his older brother. "You're a mess, big brother." he said quietly. "You've gotta get back on your feet though. I can't have just come across you like this by pure chance. I never was one to think much about fate, but this is just too weird to be coincidence. I can already tell you're tough and stubborn as hell....what am I supposed to tell our folks if you don't come back?"

Gayle floated on in, looking down over at the two brothers. "We'll just have to make absolutely certain he pulls through, so you won't have to tell them anything, won't we?" she said. "As I said before, his will is strong, and he is stubborn. I have no doubt that he will pull through," said the ghostly woman reassuringly.

Iridian looked up. "Stubborn I gathered." he said with a somewhat wry smile. "This really seems to be some heavy stuff the lot of you have gotten into." he said. "How did you pick this set of elites, huh?" he said with a faint smile.

"They just happened to be the ones that came to the aid of the Gorons in their time of need," said Gayle. "And then they happened to be the ones that the Elements chose to be their champions. Of course, I did see in them the potential to be the heroes this world needed-but that was all," she added.

"Heh, that's all huh? They do the gorons a good turn and get shoved into the center of a war. Not much of a reward for chivalry."

"Not all heroes were met with praise and reward for their deeds," replied Gayle. "Many were met with tragedy, or death. That they have lived through the horrors they have faced is something I am glad to see...were I only able to, I would grant whatever their hearts desired as payment for their help. Alas, that power has long since been taken from me..."

"Yeah well, just getting through this alive will let me take care of that part for him. I'm pretty sure that he wants to see our parents just as much as they would want to see him."

A faint glow lit up in Gayle's mask. "I've no doubt they'll see each other again soon...after all, you both were able to meet."

Farei waited until it was late at night before she emerged from her room. She had been unable to get any more sleep since waking up and decided to make use of the hot spring in Gayle's home. She made her way down the hall, hoping Iridian was asleep at least. He gave her an odd vibe. She folded her clothes and set them near the edge. She toed the warm water once she had placed the towel beside her clothes and sank into the hot water.

It felt absolutely heavenly.

Iridian had been sitting up with his brother, who had shown little change throughout the day and he was concerned that he was going to develop a fever. The sheer amount of blood he had lost had made him vulnerable to such attacks, and it was the last thing he needed to try to fight an illness. Needless to say, that when he decided to take a walk that night, he was in a less than chipper mood, but when he emerged from the hall to find a very undressed Farei in the hot springs it perked him up a bit. She may have been having some very bizarre daddy issues, but that didn't change the fact that she was quite the fetching creature. "Well good evening there." he smiled faintly.

Farei had been resting for a few minutes in the warm, relaxing water, her head rested back against a rock and her eyes half closed. She hadn't heard any doors or footsteps and was startled when she heard Iridian's voice nearby, addressing her. She instinctively folded her arms across her chest, her head snapping around to look at the man.

She didn't really know what to do. Trouble followed her even when she was trying her best to keep a low profile. "Ah...hello..." she suddenly regretted ever leaving her room.

"That looks comfortable." he smiled faintly. "Most relaxed I've seen you since I got here. So, how did you wind up getting stuck in all this mess? Did you pull heroics in Death mountain too?"

Farei shook her head. "No. I guess that was before they came to the desert. They needed an element in the Arbiter's Grounds." she tried to get comfortable again, keeping herself covered as much as possible. It was awkward for her trying to carry a conversation this way. "It chose me for some reason and I've been forced along ever since."

Iridian kicked off his boots and rolled up his leggings, slipping his legs into the water across from her. He had decided against making the situation any more awkward for the nude woman, after all, he got the impression he made her nervous. "Makes you wonder what the goddesses were thinking, huh? No offense, but this group really doesn't seem like a band of heroes. I guess they take what they can get though when the circumstances are this bad." he shrugged. "Course I haven't seen any of you in action either." he said. "And looks like Mardian got pretty creamed."

Farei wouldn't be able to stop him from getting in fully. She was wary, but considered him harmless unless he got too close. "Yes. They must be desperate if someone like me and Avis are acceptable 'heroes'. I'm not fully convinced this isn't some sort of cruel joke." she frowned when he mentioned Mardian. That had been partly her fault. She had only made things worse and couldn't protect him in time.