Somehow, Daphne had managed not to vomit, though it took most of her concentration to do so. She was vaguely aware of shouting, and she caught some words which had caused fury to rise within her again, before the feeling in her throat distracted her once again. Somehow, she was aware of a piece of paper as Furley slid it into her hand. Her mind was churning over the sight of the bones and the knowledge of some of what they were facing. Yet somehow, she still managed to mumble something about her inability to read.
Finally, she was able to lift her head and listen to whatever was going on without fearing making a mess on the floor. Just in time to hear Ioranir's final word to Catrena.
"I have bled for this Company! Can you say the same? I rid myself of your company. Furley, you know where to find me." After these words, he left the room. Daphne had no clue what to do with any of this. She glanced around the room before finally coming up with a discernible thought. "I should pick up those bones..." So she knelt and picked them up, though her hands still shook terribly.
When she made it outside with them, she wandered about, unsure what to do with them. Fortunately, Anastasiar offered to bury them for her. She knew she would have a hard time handling a shovel with her shaking hands. "You go to Furley and find out what we're doing from here." So she did.
Turned out her timing was good for her...but quite unfortunate for Furley.
"-ready to leave at dawn. Just...don't tell Daph. She'll try to make me stay." The words shot through her and she froze, arms crossed and brows raised...directly behind him. She hadn't caught all of what he said, but somehow she knew exactly what was being said. He intended to go with Ioranir. To see for himself.
Not only did this strike her as an all around bad idea, considering he was the leader and going off on such a dangerous venture basically alone was nearly suicide, but his manner of going about it made her feel like she'd been slapped. He was going to sneak off, in the middle of all this danger and dark times, without a word. To leave her without any knowledge of what happened.
"Not only does he not care, but I'm a stumbling block. A barrier. Have I failed my job? Does he...no. I've caught him. I can still.." As her mind worked to solve this, she heard Ioranir say, "She's right behind you mate."
She didn't have to see him to know the look which passed across his face as he said a simple, "Ah." He turned, his face red and an attempt at a casual smile that somehow made her chest hurt worse. "Hiiiiiii Daph.."
She was unmoved. Clearly Furley had never been caught with his hand in a cookie jar before, because he was absolutely terrible at acting normal.
"You thought you were going to...what...ride off to Forochel...without telling...?" She almost said "me", but caught herself. It wasn't just her. This was a breach against the entire Company.
She, Altheric and Furley argued for a little while about this decision. Furley was of the opinion someone had to go; see what had happened in Ioranir's village. Daphne didn't disagree on that point. But he somehow seemed to think he was invincible. Again, he was going to race off recklessly and likely get himself killed.
"If you don't want me going, that's fine. But we need an alternative. Someone must go." And with his words, she knew. "Maybe I have failed at my job. But if my job is to keep him safe, then.." She crossed her arms tighter. "Then send me."
For some reason, this caused him to scowl at her. "No chance. It's far too dangerous for you to go alone, and they'd know you're connected with the fish-man!" This stung even more. "Am I really this useless? Doesn't he realise..." She shook her head.
"Oh, and it would've somehow been different for you?" He just scowled deeper and said, "Duty, eh?" Then a young lass, around the age of Bellindah, volunteered. More arguing was to be had. Finally, there was one conclusion they could come to.
Furley proposed a fighting match between her and the lass, Arrdith. "You win, I won't go. You don't participate and the horse is saddled," he had said with a chuckle. Her hand twitched as she had the urge to slap him, but controlled herself. Finally she ground out the words, "I will win," before stalking off to the large stone dais where the fight would take place.
Ardith was fast, and decent for one so young with such little training. But of course, Daphne won. She nearly went inside immediately, the ache in her chest growing more painful the more time her hurt was allowed to grow, but first spoke to the lass. "You can do well with training. You're fast."
With these words, and without a glance spared, she stalked back inside to prepare her gear. She knew what had to be done.
