Being patched up by Evan is not nearly as much fun as being patched up by Genny, but it gets the job done. Both helping with the wounds and giving Chago enough strength not to look like he took acid in the face.
When he re-enters the halls, they're much quieter. In the bale room the boggan is finishing his work on the wounded soldiers and Chago's folk inside. Kenny needs new clothes, but looks better and the twins...well...like anyone really got a hand on them? The remains of bodies have been moved over to one side, giving Chago the right to dispose of them as he sees fit. Kiersten is sitting with Shova and the Baron’s General, the three talking quietly while the General oversees the withdrawal of troops from Chago's Keep given how the lay of power has changed.
While he clearly doesn't look the part any longer, Chago still keeps his head up and his manner that of leadership now that the crisis is passed. He goes and reclaims his other Gauntlet but he doesn't pull it on. Instead, he moves to the group and offers his free hand to the General with a soft "You Pardon Lady." as he intrudes. "Good man. Not everyone would have listened in the heat of such a moment." he tells the man directly with the offer.
The General lets the conversation drop, taking the offered hand. "You are fortunate that your man knew the right words to make one listen." He looks to Kiersten. "And that my loyalty is to the County and the blood, not one particular man or woman." A pause, and a smile cracks the old soldier’s face. "Though I prefer her face to her uncles if I might be honest."
Kiersten might respond, but she's kinda staring at Chago. She's trying not to, but she can't help it.
Chago might not have noticed her stare if not for the General's words. He glances her way as he replies, "So do I." and his lips curl into an amused grin. Sometimes he can restrain himself, but in the relief of the moment and the restrain he's manages to keep for so long he nudges Shova. "So... jealous yet?" he asks in an amused tone as he nods to the stare.
And, when Kiersten reacts, he adds "I got two more if ya wanna see 'em." to tease her directly too. Considering he's only wearing one glove and a loincloth, it shouldn't take her long to get it, even if she was still drugged. Go figure that despite them both having title now, he's not going to treat her that much differently.
Kiersten's lips move, but words don't come out immediately. She turns rather scarlet and looks away, squeezing Shova's hand. He cracks a grin and shakes his head. "Jealous of you or Genny?"
And then there's the General. On one hand he's amused as all get out. On the other hand, he's supposed to be being proper and seeing to Kiersten's well being, so he thumps Chago on the shoulder of the head. Not even hard enough to stun him. "Please, Witch King. There's a lady present."
Chago doesn't even try and avoid it. He earned it, after all. "A Lady indeed. And either bound or soon to be bound to a satyr. If she can't stand a little teasing from a friend that's done that to her for as long as they've known one another, she'll never stop blushing when they're bonded."
Then he glances to Shova and grins a bit wider. "Either one. I didn't figure to be your type though." he notes before laughing.
Once the laughter dies, he turns back to the General. "As long as you and yours are with her, you'll be welcome here, General. You showed the honor I hoped for." he says in a more serious tone again.
Then it's back to Kiersten. "Lady, I do still have some private business I wish to discuss with you. When you have dealt with your matters, I hope to see you to speak of it."
And last, but not least, someone finally got word of what happened to Chago to the right ears, either from seeing Mr. Acid Wash 2010 or by finding his clothing in the kitchen and one of the boggans that made the tapestries in the audience chamber brings him a change of clothing.
Clothing...yes...clothing is better and Kiersten turns away so that Chago can dress if he chooses.
The humor is well taken all the way around and the general is much more relaxed as he sees the interactions. One might get the idea that he really didn't want hostile relations with Chago on their border, anyway. This is much more to his liking.
Kiersten nods at Chago's request. "Tomorrow maybe? We still need to see the outcome of what has happened outside, and within a couple of days I suspect it is best that I return with the General and my Consort to the palace."
Chago nods to Kiersten. "Whenever is convenient, Lady.You have a lot of pressure ahead of you, where mine is now ended for the moment." He drops into a pretty darn good bow to her with that. "Assuming you approve of... what you've seen." Not that he'd pause to make her think of other things or anything. And yes, after the bow, he does begin to dress, showing he does indeed have other piercings she missed if anyone looks. He is about as shy as a typical satyr.
Speaking of, once he's dressed, he signals Evan over. "Go check on Genny for me. Let me know how she's doing. Status in general too." Hard not to see where his priorities are though.
Evan takes off and, once he's dressed, Kiersten turns her attention back to the men. "I leave the disposal of my Uncle to your discretion. You've earned the right to deal with his remains as you choose." Not like she might suspect eating the old Baron is on the list. There was all that talk of garlic and spleens.
A few minutes pass and Evan returns. He pauses at the doorway, his whispery voice barely carrying. "The new wallss and gatess are ours, but not without a great deal of mess. It is being dealt with." Another pause and he grimaces. "Genny is rather under a ton of rocks. The twins are working on it. That she hass not moved the earth herself, I suspect she is unconscious." The normally quiet whisper even more so.
Chago nods to Kiersten and then heads to the head and body. He lifts the head and tosses it to Kenny. "Spike this near the gates. Have the body gibbited for the crows." Yeah. Not going to eat that thing. "Keep some of the scraps. Something didn't taste right about him."
Then, before he can say anything else, Evan's report comes and Chago goes still and cold. He steps calmly to the bale and thrusts his hands into it as long as he can bare, growling as he takes the burn for what it carries before turning and running out, gesturing for Evan to take lead with a burned hand.
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Evan leads the way quickly, scowling at the baleburn not about to argue with the man. Shova, Kiersten and the General follow while Kenny deals with the issues of piking the head and such. That's good old redcap work.
Once they get outside, they can see that the place is kind of messy. There are more of those spider things, all dead, and many corpses which are being gathered for burning. Closest to the mountain one can see where land was let loose from above and came down hard, and it's there that the twins are moving rock. They have a couple of folks using gentle earth magic which is helping, there's just so much of the dang rock.
This is going to hurt, even when the burns are so new it's hard to imagine other pain. Without breaking stride, Chago bends and rakes one burned hand along the ground to gather gravel from the fall. He preses his other hand to one of the stones, splitting burnt skin and leaving a bloody handprint as he focuses what glamour he was able to gather in such a brief gesture and any he has left to spare and releases it as he throws the handful of pebbles as high and as far as he can lob it, targeting the mound of stone with moving magic before falling pretty much on his face and curling around his hands in weakness and pain from the sudden drain.
The next thing Chago feels is soft hands wrapping around his shoulders, and being pulled against a familiar form. Genny smells of dirt and blood, but holds him close to her. Orders are snapped at the others to preserve both his place as leader and to get her what she needs. Then she's singing softly in Spanish against his ear, a flood of cool glamour pouring through her hands and over his flesh.
Hard to believe it wasn't that long ago Shova wondered how the redcap could claim to be her Trueheart because of him punching her in the face to knock her out before setting a broken bone when Chago pulls a stunt like this, huh?
For his part, Chago just leans into the comforting presence, fighting to keep the pain in his hands from being expressed. Anyone close enough would hear the little whimpers that want to be screams after how he burned himself and then abused the burns until that cool glamour begins to slowly restore him. He still says nothing though, focusing on preserving his pride in the face of the pain as much as possible.
At first it was just glamour to recharge him and help him against the pain, now she begins to mold it. The glamour becomes a song against his temple, healing and soothing as it goes. Her fingers move over his shoulders and down to brush his burnt fingers. Once he can move again, she's there to tuck a shoulder under his, continuing to glamour shape for as long as needed.
Whimpers grow to hisses to growls as his strength grows and the pain is pushed back by healing. As his skin knits and returns to a more proper color, he twists to better rub against her cheek with his and soon after forces himself to his feet, still leaning on her quite a bit until he's stable, then offering her help to rise as well. "Who else needs us?" he asks in an only slightly strained voice as the pair hold each other up.
Genny shakes her head. "No one fer a bit. Everyone has orders an' stuff ta do." Yeah, she's efficient when she's glaring at people. "I think we kin collapse fer about an hour befer we feed the noble types who are stickin' around."
Chago nods and loops an arm possessively about her. Well, to the look of observers anyway. She can feel how much he's leaning on her. "Head for the bale then. Sweetcheeks was there when I came to get you." And hopefully the General isn't -here- where Chago has missed him to hear that comment. "We can head back, send them all to rooms, and then drop for a while." Yeah. They're being as stingy as sidhe of that bale for the moment, but they've had lots of reason.
"And I'll tell ya about the colors after I've had some rest." he adds before she sees the changes their bale took on during the fight.
Her support is stronger than he is right now. She got kicked around and smushed under rocks and took a headshot that kept her out for a few minutes, but not nearly to the degree he did. She guides him through the keep as he speaks, her eyebrows raising as he mentions changes to the bale. "If ya'll broke the bale while I was out, I'm gonna kick someone." It's a light amused threat, she knows he wouldn't let anything really bad happen to the bale if he could help it.
Once the get to the room she pauses, taking in the changes. Someone has scrubbed up the gunk from the floor, but there are stains in the stone now, swirls and patterns that a seer could make sense of for ages. The bale light isn't as intense as it was during the fight, but the color change seems permanent, that rich dark fire which reflects the heart, blood and will of those who live here. "Huh." She glances to Kiersten, Shova and the General, who have been watching over things here. "Glad everyone looks ta be in one place. We've got rooms where ya can rest fer a while."
Chago nods his head and flashes Kiersten a grin. "You and Shova know the way around, Baroness. Take what rooms ya like that ain't in use, or go back t' yours. I ain't picky. Ask for someone t'get him one if ya don't wanna do it yourself." Yeah. He's not bothering to talk properly anymore. Things are done and he can relax for a little. "Curious though. Do any of ya know who the hell that councilor was? I don't like the thought there might be more like him."
Kiersten frowns, shaking her head. "I don't really know much about him. He was just always...there. He and the Baron would talk frequently, but he didn't have much to do with me."
The General echoes the frown, pondering. "He came from beyond the county some time ago, back when the Baron was young." His speech, now that one can pay attention, is very precise and generally formal, whether by nature or nurture. "Lots of things changed over the years, things I hadn't thought much on until recently. It was easy not to...almost too easy."
Genny steers Chago closer to the bale so he can talk and warm himself at the same time. "I don't know anythin' 'bout him. Didn't have really much 'f a chance befer the trouble started ta hobnob.”
Chago nods and settles with the faintest hiss and grunt as he does. His eye closes a moment, then he looks back at the others and waves them on. "We can compare notes later. You guys need rest." You guys? "You been through a lot. Go get some sleep. We'll talk later. Me and Genny need to compare notes of inside and out." Not that he'd try and say they needed it when he's the one that's barely able to stand.
The General looks like he might say more, but Shova and Kiersten bustle him out of the room, talking about plans to go back to the palace and some of the concerns of the county.
Genny secures the doors so folks will have to knock if they want to talk to them and then settles next to him. She arranges herself so that she's serving as a warm pillow for him. "No comparin' right now. Jus' rest. Plenty 'f time ta deal wi' everything else soon."
Chago proves he's wiped out. He doesn't even playfully act as if he was going to do more than collapse with her and soak up heat. "Why do you think I was getting rid of them?" he asks. "When I wake up, I'll tell you which smear is who and you can tell me how the hell you ended up under all that rock." Another sign of how tired he is, as bad a mess as it might have been, he didn't drop a single F-bomb. In any language.
"Mmmhmm..." She tugs him a little closer, nuzzling his temple, but it's not sexual, just being closer. "Hush you...sleep now." Watched over by a dark angel of a satyr...for some people that would be terrifying, for Chago it's a comfort and par for the course.
She's not going to have to tell him that twice. From the feel of his body against her, she might not have had to tell him once. For some, that satyr might be a dark angel, but for him, she's the missing piece of a very complex puzzle, or perhaps more accurately the garnish on the plate that turns the dish from nice to something special. As he sleeps, he does mutter and once even turn his head and spits sharply before saying 'Not right' in Spanish, but he doesn't wake for many hours.