[exandriias]

@vaxi1dan cast message: oh, god, i thought i was too old for this.

his head tilts down to find his uncle still in the lower branches; danny's twenty feet above him, legs swinging as he settles on a branch that should, by all accounts, be far too thin to hold his weight. but the mountain trees like him — at least, that's what aunt keyleth had said the first time he asked her how come he could climb so high in zephrah but not back home. he's pretty sure now that she was just using commune with nature to keep him from busting his head open on the rocky mountain side below, but he's been climbing so long that it's more than second nature to simply let the branches be when they decide to hold him. he tries not to question the trees too much, lest they decide to drop him once and for all. " too old for what? climbing a pine tree? " he calls down, grinning — and it's his mother's grin, which means that it's vax's grin, too; because danny, who has been the spitting image of his mother since the day he was born and continued to be so long after he cut off most of his hair and changed his name, has known exactly what his uncle looks like for far longer than the man has been in front of him. and what an odd thing it is, to have vax'ildan, champion of the matron of ravens, in front of him. odd, but also somehow welcome. more so than danny had originally thought he would be to the idea. it's a strange thing, meeting the man you named yourself after.

[whitestone-endures]

sneaking out of the castle hadn't really been his idea; prue, one of school friends, whose father was a blacksmith in the city and whose older sister always made far too much sweet-wine in preparation for festivals, had invited him and several others to the woods just outside the city. woods that danny had grown up in, woods that were watched over by a wolf blessed by his uncle's patron, woods that his mother and older siblings knew like that back of their hands. it really shouldn't have gone so poorly, this gathering, but there had been others —others who were not supposed to be there, judging by the way they'd all but tried to murder the group as soon as they'd seen them. it was only because danny religiously kept a knife tucked into his boot, prue produced a slingshot from somewhere on her person, and tirian and osyth had brought their swords in case any of them got it in their heads to have a half-drunk mock fight that none of them did die. but danny had still made it a point to make sure all his friends got out of the woods before he'd burned a wildshape to make it back to the castle before the sun rose. to be quite honest, danny hadn't noticed exactly how hurt he was until there was blood coating his aunt's nightdress, and the faint, buzzing headache that had been building in the back of his head ceased altogether. he gave her his best smile — in this light, in the low candle cast shadows of the kitchens, it looked more like a grimace. " i'm fine, auntie, " he said, instinctually. she wouldn't believe him, he knew, but he said it nonetheless. the boy's shoulders rolled and danny did his best to hide his wince as he used the table to help himself stand up. " really, it's fine. you can go to bed. "

[bookofvesper]

"I think not," Vesper said, nearly laughing, standing up with him, her much older bones creaking in effort, grabbing the table herself. She took a slow breath, a short wave of pain washing over her, the effect of the Life Transference taking more than she realized. She was no longer a young woman, more lines in her face every day, she reckoned. Thinner skin, aching bones.

Whether she determined her going to bed or his being fine negated, she did not clarify. She turned her head to the healer as the castle's cleric rushed in. A plump lass not much older than Danny, a little bit of a permanent scowl on her round face but diligent, gentle and talented in her duties nonetheless. The fact that the halfling hummed in disapproval looking at Vesper first, then at Danny before reaching out and touching both of their arms lightly, casting Lay On Hands to both of them, impressed Vesper. She knew she would be having a talking to with darling Merriweather, a cleric of the Knowing Mistress and someone Vesper was getting to be close friends with. Their shared beliefs and discussion, and of course Vesper seeing Merriweather more frequently lately to manage the growing arthritis in her hands and hips.

"Just a simple case of adventuring with friends?" Merriweather frowned at Danny from under her colbalt blue wimple. Vesper placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling, which drew a apologetic look from the cleric who bowed her head for a moment.

"He's alright now, thanks to you, dear. As always, you've been ever helpful. Please, I only wish we hadn't needed to disturb you." Vesper apologized herself.

"No bother, my lady. You know I'm a night owl, same as you." Merriweather nearly blushed, casting another slightly disparaging look to Danny as if to chide him over disturbing his elderly aunt's night time routine. Then, her neutral face returned, "If you don't need me further...?"

"Danny? How are you feeling? Where you out with anyone else?" Vesper asked, no judgement in her voice, only concern. She knew the servants would have the blood cleaned by now and Danny would need to lay down and rest sooner rather than later to recover loosing so much blood.

@toskahs

[vaxi2dan]

" something like that, " the boy replied to thr maid, hand reaching out kind of instinctively to help his aunt to her feet. to merriweather, he murmured a soft, " we'll be fine from here, i think. thank you, miss merriweather. " as soon as both of them were steady on their feet — which, admittedly, took a few moments longer than danny would have preferred — he swallowed and turned his full attention back to his aunt, though some part in the back of his brain was focused on his friends. had the three of them made it to their homes alright? they'd had further to go, all the way back down into the city, and none of them could change shape like danny could. he'd have to ask vesper — his sibling, not his aunt — to use sending when he got upstairs. he said to his aunt, " i was in the woods with my friends. prue, osyth, tirian, i think you've met them before? we thought we were close enough to the castle to be fine, but ... patrols must have missed the bandits, i guess. " he grimaced, mouth pulling down into a frown as he considered the events of the past hour. " i don't know what they were doing so close to the edge of the woods; shouldn't the hunt or galdric have found them? i should tell emme. "