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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7433787" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 167Glori stared down at Javerin and tried to figure out what the hell had happened.They had moved her to someplace different, a building not that different from the guest cottages except in size.  There weren’t many elves about, but the place still had the feel of a hospital; something in the quiet ways the people moved or the general sense of calamity that hung in the air.The elves had had to cut away most of the couch she’d been lying on when they’d found her.  They’d cut away most of her clothes as well, though someone had been kind enough to lay a blanket atop her.  Glori might have preferred it if they’d covered the wizard’s entire body, then she wouldn’t have to stare at the sight that spread out in front of her.At first glance, it looked almost as if Javerin had fallen into a thorn bush and gotten tangled in the growth.  Glori might have been able to stomach that, to keep the illusion simple and deny the reality.  The elves had already described what they’d learned.  But she forced herself to go closer, to see for herself.Javerin hadn’t just fallen into a bush; the bush had fallen through her.  Tendrils of growth penetrated the flesh of her arms, neck, and face, and Glori knew it was the same the rest of the way under the blanket.  A ropy tendril even erupted from her half-open mouth, and a few tiny sprouts from it probed up into her nostrils.  Only her eyes remained unblemished, though they stared straight up without any awareness within them.  The healers had closed them earlier, but they’d popped back open again in a way that was utterly creepy.The door opened behind her, and she glanced back to see Kosk enter the room.  “The few elves I could manage to pin down all said the same thing,” he told her.  “For all their vaunted magical prowess, they can’t seem to do much to help her.  Can’t even cut the bloody parts that are outside of her.”“That’s the first thing they tried,” she told him.  “She went into convulsions as soon as they began, and started bleeding internally.  Whatever it is, it’s embedded too deeply to cut away.”“Quellan would know something,” Kosk muttered.“The elves have clerics far more powerful than him,” Glori said.  “And when it comes to plants and growing things, their lore rivals anyone’s.”“For all the good it’s doing her at the moment.”Glori stared down at the limp form lying on the bed in front of them and didn’t say anything.“It’s going to be a long trip back to Severon without her,” Kosk said.“The elves could send us back, if it comes to that,” Glori said.  “But we’re not leaving without the key.”“This was no accident,” Kosk said.  “Or just a case of someone not liking a human diplomat showing up in Tal Nadesh.  If you stay, if you take over her mission, you’ll be painting a nice fat target on your back.”“I know that,” she said.  “Is that a problem for you?”Kosk spat a curse.  “No, damn it.  I’m just making sure that you know what you’re getting yourself into.”“I knew when I agreed to come here,” she said.  She glanced over at him.  “Where’s Embrae?”“She went to talk to the bloody council, or whatever they call themselves.  I’m not sure how likely she is to move them.  Thus far they’ve been generous with their sympathies and apologies, but they’re as stubborn as rocks otherwise.”“We can be stubborn too,” Glori said.  “Javerin said we have to play by their rules.  But we’re not just going to go away.  If necessary, I’ll make the Advisory Council or anyone else see that.”“Fair enough.  You going to stay here a while?”Glori shook her head.  “No.  I guess I’ll go back to the cottages.  I didn’t get much sleep last night.”Kosk nodded.  “I think I’ll go visit the gymnasium.  I need to punch something.”He turned to the door but paused when she called his name.  “Kosk?  I’m glad you’re here.”“Just watch your back.  And don’t touch any strange plants.”“Right.”It wasn’t far from the hospital to the guest cottages.  An elven soldier accompanied her as soon as she left the building, keeping a discrete distance but not giving her a chance to leave his sight.  For once, however, Glori was not troubled by the thought of eyes watching her, at least not the ones she could see.She was just approaching her cottage when she caught sight of Embrae approaching briskly along another of the paved paths.“I got us a meeting with the Advisory Council,” the elven monk announced.“Good.”“Has there been any change?”“No.  She’s in a sort of coma, the clerics said.  They don’t think that will change until they can remove whatever’s growing inside of her.”“I’ll go get Kosk,” she said.“He said he was going to go to the gymnasium.”“I know where it is.”“Embrae… wait.”“Yes?”“Why did you come here?”The elvish woman paused.  “You’ve probably already guessed that I left against the wishes of my kinfolk.”“That part is none of my business.  That wasn’t why I was asking.”“I know.  I never wanted to come back here,” she said.  “Leaving was a decision I made on my own and have not regretted.  But Abbot Anaeus said that I’d left matters unfinished.  That I would never find peace until I closed this chapter of my life.”“Well, he couldn’t have anticipated this.”“No.  But somehow, what happened to Javerin… I shouldn’t say it.”“It makes the rest of it easier to deal with?”The monk nodded.  “I’ll go get Kosk, and then meet you at the Hallowed Hall.”“I’ll be there.”</blockquote>

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