#rakha's so tired y'all

[blackjackkent]

Quick chats with Cerys and Art Cullagh, who are both hanging around.

-----

"Back in Last Light, I was wracking my brains. How the hells do we get past the curse? And then a blinding light cuts through the darkness, like a blade through butter. All thanks to you, I hear."

Rakha never really knows how to respond when relative strangers are grateful to her for things that she did - especially given she wasn't really thinking about them when she did it. So she just kind of shrugs this off. She does tell Cerys about Zevlor, but Cerys is pretty skeptical that they'll see him again.

"He didn't have any fight left in him," she tells Rakha. "I looked up to him - we all did. But he let us down when we needed him most."

Perhaps she's right. Rakha remembers the beaten, defeated look in Zevlor's eyes - the knowledge that he was controlled and used by something in his head that wasn't him. She knows that feeling all too well.

-----

Art Cullagh is also complimentary of her, although his comments are a little easier for her to process.

"When Duke Eltan formed the Flaming Fist, he sought out people of courage and honor to fill its ranks. You saved Thaniel, lifted the curse, and killed an immortal. It's safe to say you'd have been recruited in an instant."

(A/N: I know I said this when I blogged Hector's run as well, but for gods' sake, can we PLEASE get this man a TOWEL, and then a SHIRT? He's been in the Shadowfell for a century; he doesn't deserve to stand out here just hanging around looking moist and uncomfortable.)

Rakha has no particular associations with the Flaming Fist except her interactions with Florrick - but those associations are positive enough. She isn't really sure about his description of her - courage and honor.

I fought to kill, and to not die. Is that courage and honor?

"How did you make it here?" she asks.

"A Flaming Fist. A novice, actually," he answers. "She dropped everything to make sure I made it here safe." He frowns. "I heard about Duke Ravengard's capture. If his soldiers are anything to go by, he is a man to admire and respect. I hope you can save him - for the good of Baldur's Gate."

Rakha is struggling to turn her attention to the "good of the city". She know she should... but her thoughts remain firmly with Wyll. If she does manage to find Ravengard, it will be for Wyll first, and the city very much second.

"What about you?" she asks, rather than try to explain this.

"When this land fell to the curse, I should have gone with it. Thaniel is the only reason I survived. It's only fair I stay here and wait for him to awaken."

Rakha quirks an eyebrow up. "And after Thaniel awakens?"

Cullagh shakes his head slightly. "I don't think there will be an after. The truth is... the Shadowfell broke something in me - something no healer can fix. I don't know how long I have." He smiles, without any trace of self-pity. "But... because of you, Thaniel is safe. Because of you, I could help him, as he helped me. So thank you, my friend, and know that I have no regrets."

Rakha stands there and chews over this for a long time after Cullagh walks away. Her life - the part of it that she can remember - has been a constant struggle for survival, hers and her companions'. To stay alive and keep from being consumed by her own violence.

Cullagh's calm acceptance of his own impending death, peaceful and serene, gives her considerable pause. Yet another thing she cannot imagine ever manifesting in herself. Yet another thing that takes a strength she does not possess.