Tanrial smiled st the sound of the laughter as she climbed out of the river and quickly dressed. She wandered back over, the smile still plastered on her face as she sat back down by the fire, “Did my ears deceive me or did I hear Mike laughing?”
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Mike scoffed, but he was still smiling. "Don't bring it up, or I'll never laugh again. It was a pity laugh anyway."
"Suuure," Bernon said, looking ridiculously proud of himself. "It was a good pun."
“I don’t want to hear it.” She said, passing the bag to Mike, “Bernon wasn’t wrong, it is very cold.”
"Good. Maybe that'll finally wake me up." Mike got up and headed off. "Be back soon. Don't get too relaxed, we're still in sort of unfriendly territory."
Bernon flopped back onto the grassy bank contentedly, gazing with a drowsy smile at the sun-dappled leaves overhead. "I s'pose he's probably right….shouldn't let our guard down, particularly not right now when we're kinda vulnerable."
She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, I know. Those guards I saw are probably long gone which is a plus but you can never be too careful.”
"Mm-hmm." Bernon put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Suppose you could have any meal in the world right now," he murmured, "what would you have? I like the sound of green grape pie, myself."
“Um… fish and chips. Easy.” She said, looking out over the river.
"Nice. Classic." Bernon's voice trailed off and his breathing slowed down. He fell into a doze, heedless of the butterfly that flitted around his head.
(brb, eating right quick)
Tanrial reached over and the butterfly landed in her finger, she smiled and watched as it flew off. She breathed in deep and watched the river flow.
(I have to go out now anyway, seeya later^^)
(okay, guess it's goodnight from me then ^^)
After a while, the butterfly came back, this time with another. They danced lazily just above the rippling water, their reflections flashing like swirls of paint. The smell of lilies was heavy in the afternoon air, and even the birds were singing with slurred, syrupy voices, as if the whole world was going to sleep. More butterflies gathered around the camp, swirling like a slow, mesmerizing tornado of color.
She watched, not touching this time but watched them dance about the camp. The faint sound of Bernon’s snoring was drowned out by the slightly louder sound of the birds and scurrying of animals around them. The cool, afternoon breeze had died down, leaving the water prefectly smooth, like a mirror sitting in the afternoon sun.
The sunlight was dark gold, gilding the edges of every butterfly's wings. The world outside their camp seemed so far away, so harmless, as if they were in a bubble of safety. Even the other bugs that whined and bit had fled. It was incredibly relaxing.
Almost…..too relaxing.
Something seemed wrong, even though everything was fine there was something wrong. Mike hasn’t come back yet, that could have been nothing but he had been away longer then Tanrial or Bernon had been. Bernon, still asleep, had stopped snoring and it was almost silent. A silence in two parts. The first a silence that would have been filled if ther had been talking of some kind of at least filled with Bernon’s snoring. The second was the silence of the woodland folk. Almost stopped altogether. Tanrial stood and walked towards the river, trying to see anything unusual.
At once the butterflies bunched together and surrounded her, obscuring her vision. Only now did she notice the heaviness in her limbs and the sluggishness of her thoughts. There was a small figure standing in the shade not far away, but the urge to ignore its presence was overpowering. The butterflies swarmed even closer, batting at Tannrial with their wings and hovering around her face, stirring the smell of lilies that filled the air like smoke.
Tanrial coughed, a lot. The smell was overpowering and she couldn’t find any release from it. Even though her arms were heavy and slow, she tired her best to swat away the butterflies with no luck. Opening her mouth to speak, she realised her ability to do so had gone, as no sound left her lips when she tried. She shut her eyes to regain her thoughts with no luck, all she wanted to do was sleep, or really to pass out.
The figure slowly came forward, revealing itself to be a young girl, with night-dark skin and long black hair in little braids down her back. She was wearing camouflaged military clothes and was holding a little bouquet of blue flowers in one hand. At her approach, the butterflies slowed, and some flew to circle her like moons around a small planet.
"Go to sleep," she said ever-so-softly. "It's all right. You're safe. Close your eyes."
Tanrial stumbled backwards a few steps before falling over, fighting to keep her eyes open. She shook her head but her consciousness was slowly slipping away from her. Her breathing became heavy and she couldn’t do anything to stop herself before she slipped into sleep.
There was no telling how much time passed. But eventually, it was possible to wake again. The first sound to filter through the haze of sleep was quiet conversation, coming from somewhere to Tanrial's right. She was on a soft, clean bed, in a cool, dimly lit room. She wasn't tied down or restrained in any way, but her weapons were gone, as well as her pack and supplies. The two voices continued, but their words weren't quite audible.
Tabrial gently pulled herself up into a sitting position as her strength came back, trying to get some sense as to where she was. The figures were still blurred as her vision hadn’t quite fully returned yet. As for her head, it ached slightly and she brought her hand to her head as if it would do something to help stop it.
After a moment, the figures came into view. It was two strangers in long white coats, a man and a woman. The man held a clipboard, while the woman was asking him questions and answering questions of his. When Tanrial sat up, they looked over at her and nodded.
"Hello," the man said politely. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"
Tanrial flickered her eyes between the two of them, “Where am I, who are you and who was that little girl? She asked not brothering to answer the mans questions. She winced when a flash of pain shot through her head.
It was the woman who answered. "You're in Mr. Maxwell Ryker's private bunker in his estate. We are two members of his medical team. The girl that brought you here was named Leila, and she is also employed by Mr. Ryker. She apologizes for her actions earlier, by the way–she was worried that you were hostiles. And don't worry about your friends, they're both safe. You're the first one to wake up."
She nodded slowly, “Okay… good, I think.” She said, pulling her knees to her chest, “Leila, the girl, Leila.. is she human?” She asked.
The man looked puzzled for a minute. "Human?…..Oh, you mean because of what she did. No, she's perfectly human. It's really complicated, but her ability to put people to sleep and her affinity to butterflies is a completely scientific power. There's quite a few people like her here. Mr. Ryker oversees their training and development." He tilted his head. "What about you? Our scans show that you're not human."