Drawing the curtains

[Ziad]

For a moment, even though knowing he could not allow the merchant woman to stay long, Ziad was glad he had brought her in with them. Apparently, women were easier to avoid or gap anxiety and awkwardness around each other and if the dark haired woman could do so, all the better.

Not wanting to intrude or seem impolite, but still careful to keep an eye on things, the guard closed the door and retreated to the other end of the room, near the cell, sitting down at the massive, crudely built wooden table he had been sitting at earlier.

[Maeve]

Maeve entered the small building after Kalani, smiling at her. But as soon as the young woman asked her about the whereabouts of the crew, a shadow veiled her features, which she tried to conceal by lowering her brown eyes to the ground. Not paying attention to the guard disappearing further in the room, she slowly walked to a small wooden bench leaning against the wall. She sat down on it and toyed with the extremity of her sleeves.

Her mind had been so fuzzy and confused, guilt over’s Dim-Dim fate clouding everything else, that she hadn’t really wondered about the crew, except for the few connected memories roused by Kalani’s appearance in the street. But now that they were officially mentioned, a twinge in her heart itched silently.

“I don’t know.” She shook her head, thoughtful and troubled, and briefly glanced at the blue-eyed woman. “I lost touch with the Nomad about a year ago.” She looked down at the floor blankly, once again processing the fact that she was back in the world, but more precisely in their world, a wave of contradictory feelings washing over her. Joy and dread. Affection and hate. She wondered where they were. How she could possibly contact them. What would happen if she did...If she saw him again...

[Kalani]

It was difficult to tell, but Kalani thought she saw a shadow cross the expression of her friend, but before it could be told for sure, Maeve had lowered her brown eyes to the floor, effectively veiling any emotion from the brunette's observant gaze. All this because of querying about the location of the rest of the crew. More and more, Kalani was getting the feeling that something very odd had happened and she hoped that she would find out what was going on very soon. The young merchant followed the Celt over to the bench, but chose to stand as the other responded.

Surprise registered in the brunette at the knowledge that Maeve did not know where the others were. How could this be? What had happened in the past year or so since Kalani had last seen the crew? Apparently, the red-haired sorceress had been separated from the Nomad's crew; how had such a thing happened? And if such was the case, was the Nomad in port after all? Kalani registered a brief sensation of disappointment at the possibility, but that was followed immediately by guilt for such an emotion, when it was clear that -- whatever it was that had occurred -- Maeve had been through a lot. Whether or not she would see the letter she was expecting now or later did not matter when a friend was in such need.

'I'm sorry.' she offered hesitantly. 'I had no idea. It's been over a year since I've seen the Nomad and her crew.'

[Mala]

The mixture of all too different feelings that filled the sorceress' heart didn't go by unnoticed by the spirit and Mala felt herself sigh silently at the situation she was in. The words the Celt had just spoken didn't bear much but a simple statement; but it was her voice that gave away so much more.
And how Mala wished to help. She had no idea if she would have been able to call out to the crew at all; knew that this was the world of the living - a world where she was nothing but a wandering soul. But she had succeeded in appearing to one of them before; maybe she could have done it again. But all this thinking was of no use, she was aware, for she could not do anything about it; had to let the elements calm down again.
And it was the redhead's distant look that suddenly made her realize something by far more important, too: would the young one even want them to be there? All the time Mala had just thought about what she had sensed within her son; of what she obviously meant to him. She had no idea what went on inside this Maeve.
Mala knew she had seen the Nomad in waters close to this bay some days before but where it had been going to or where it had come from she had not questioned. None of this she would have anticipated to take place and the longer she was part of them, the more she felt confusion about the events stir inside of her.

Her blue eyes she let follow the brunette when her words sounded in the room, but soon Mala had to understand that she knew as little as she, herself, did, too - in fact knew even less. Obviously she had not seen the crew, and with them her sons, in over a year; knew nothing about their current lives. There obviously was no knowledge she could share; had to offer nothing but her company. But this at least was by far more than Mala could have ever given Maeve this day.
And so, finally, the ghost stepped back a little - away from those lives which were still so young - feeling the need to grant them a little privacy which was, as she realized now, what the guard had already done as well.

[Maeve]

She shook her head at the brunette’s apology, smiling sadly, and distantly lost in multiple worst case scenarios of her possible reunion with the crew. She ran her hands through her hair, holding her head between them for a brief moment. This was driving her nuts. Glancing up at Kalani she forced her thoughts on her, and off the crew. Thinking about them was just too overwhelming at the moment. It stirred up to many feelings all at once. Especially hope. Which she had worked so excruciatingly hard to suppress during the last year because it was simply too painful to endure. And now she felt like she was back to square one trying to deal with it.

“You don’t have to be sorry.” She didn’t want the young woman to feel bad for something that she had absolutely nothing to do with, and as much as she tried to keep her thoughts off the crew, as much as she hated thinking about them right now, it was inevitable. Heck, the Nomad was her home. The place she always came back to. Her life was connected to them in every possible way. Even if the past year had given her a whole new perspective on a few silent issues...

“In fact, I guess I should be the one apologizing, on behalf of the crew.” Now, she didn’t really know why she was doing this; whether it was to deviate the subject a little, or whether because she truly did feel sorry for the blue-eyed woman who relied on the Nomad for her correspondence, which she knew very little of but sensed was very important to Kalani. “I mean, you must have been waiting for a letter...”

In the end, she decided both her reasons to apologize were eligible, even if the former excuse still made her feel quite selfish.

[Kalani]

Though she could not even begin to imagine or fathom what strong emotions were running through the Celtic sorceress at that moment, Kalani was certain that she wanted to help somehow. As Maeve ran a hand through fiery locks, the young merchant briefly rested a hand on the other's shoulder. Whether it was meant as a gesture of comfort, sympathy, or of a simple, silent statement of support even Kalani did not know. Whatever the case, she wanted it known that she was here to help, if the Celt was willing to accept that help. She could recall the red-head being quite stubborn, but she would do what she could do; that was all she could do, considering she had no knowledge of what the situation was or really in what way she could help.

Pale blue gaze met brown at the apology on behalf of the crew. Kalani was confused for a brief instant, until Maeve added mention of correspondence. She smiled reassuringly, answering, 'It's true that I have been awaiting a letter, but I do understand that such correspondences take time when there is so much distance between. I certainly don't expect the Nomad to play messanger for me as the crew's top priority.' It was true that she awaited the letters from home with eager anticipation. However, she had learned a great deal of patience in between. It was difficult, had been especially difficult at first when she had been a stranger in a strange land, far from all those she had cared about. It was a necessary thing, however. She was as repulsed at the thought of marrying her foster brother now as she had been on the day they had overheard the plan. True, she cared deeply about him, but most certainly not in that way. Kalani knew that she could no more have thought of him in such a way than she could had he truly been her brother by blood and not just through fosterage.

Realizing she had let her thoughts wander far, even in a few brief seconds, Kalani scolded herself silent as she gave a brisk inward shake. Then she refocused on Maeve. 'At any rate, I can be patient. No matter what happens, I trust that the Nomad's crew will bring a letter eventually.' She paused, uncertain what to say now. She sensed that the subject of the Nomad seemed to be a painful subject for Maeve, though why she had no idea. However, she wanted to help in any way she could, so finally she voiced hesitantly, 'If you wanted, I could probably find someone who knows where the Nomad is. I have many different contacts; I'm sure I could find out for you, if you wanted.'

[Maeve]

Listening attentively, she raised her chocolate brown eyes to Kalani. Welcoming the young woman’s understanding words on the usual awaiting that comes with long distance correspondences, she found herself, despite her fleeting thoughts, wondering about the nature of the brunette’s ocean wide mail. Were the letters from her family? From distant friends? A lover perhaps? Although the young lass claimed that she could be patient, the slight glint in her blue eyes silently betrayed how very dear to her the letters were, and Maeve could only wish that she would get one soon.

But since there wasn’t much she could do in the matter, she offered the other woman a compassionate smile, and as she resolved that it wasn’t her place to inquire about the correspondence any further, time curiously seemed to stand still; Kalani’s last words simply booming against the walls of the small dim room, like a huge echoing bell, ringing dramatically as if to emphasize every single word. The woman’s offer to find the crew was a massive call back to reality. It was voicing a question that she hadn’t even asked herself yet.

Where did she go from here?

Roughly catapulted back into the real world, disoriented and confused and shaken, the odds making it so that she had landed face to face with the captain of the guard who probably thought she was nuts and who would most likely put her behind bars if she failed to prove him otherwise; What was the next logical step to take from here? What was she supposed to do?

Kalani was offering all the answers with this simple little favour. A favour that was most reasonable to accept at the moment. It was the most logical thing to do. To call for the Nomad to pick her up.

And still...

It made her feel cornered. She felt as if all her options were poorly narrowed to this one step, and even though she knew that it couldn’t be otherwise, she wondered why on earth she felt so uneasy and so troubled about it, aside from the reasons she already knew of...And she realized that, in fact, none of this simply seemed real enough at the moment. It just didn’t feel real. Not yet. As if there was still, hanging in the air around her, the slightest chance that she might get back to the realm to fix her mistake. As if the thin curtain she had foolishly lifted between the worlds was still within her reach somehow. She was still stubbornly clinging to that hope. And she feared that sending after the crew would make everything...official, erasing in the process this timeless feeling of misty, surreal atmosphere that somehow ridiculously held the potential of a going back to fix things.

But if she sent out for them, for him, then there would be no going back and she knew it. There was simply no point in trying to deny that.

Her eyes searched the floor aimlessly. And after only mere undetectable seconds, despite her struggling, debating mind, nature took its course and she answered back to Kalani with a small, thankful smile curving her lips. The response she gave simply slipped her by, like the most natural thing in the world despite everything that was colliding in her head.

“Thanks...that would be great.” By the time her words resonated softly in the room, her smile had faded to a small imperceptible veil covering up the silent feelings that smouldered within her. Fragile apprehension. Angry shame. And relentless longing.

There would be no going back now.

[Kalani]

Though there were only a few short heartbeats between the moment that Kalani voiced her query as to whether Maeve wished her to find out where the Nomad's crew might be and the moment the Celtic sorceress responded, it seemed as though there must have been a millenia pass them by. She could see the way the redhead's eyes briefly wandered the floor aimlessly, as if some answer or solution might be present, engrained in the fibers of the wood. The young merchantwoman could not have explained the sensation of a vast amount of time passing, even though it was only a few moments. Neither could she quite explain why she felt as though, for whatever reason, Maeve seemed to be greatly conflicted about her question. Whatever questions and musings might have been in her head, however, she pushed them all aside as the Celt gazed upward, a fragile, grateful smile upon her lips. Kalani smiled back, nodding her dark head. Raising her voice just enough so that the guardsman Captain could hear as well, she said, 'So long as it is acceptable to the Captain, I could find one of my friends that work at the port. I'm sure we could find out where the Nomad is in no time at all.'

Whether the latter was a comfort to Maeve or not, Kalani was not entirely sure -- especially considering the conflict that she had sensed from the redhead. However, there was nothing she could do but hope that this was all for the best.

[Maeve]

It wasn’t long before she realised how lame her poker face truly was. With the way Kalani looked at her, she could tell the young woman was perfectly noticing how conflicted she was about this idea to fetch the Nomad. The brunette was simply reading her features as easily as one could read white chalk on a black board, and it was unbelievably frustrating. Inwardly she cursed herself for her lack of self-control on her composure, and then she was immensely grateful when Kalani didn’t inquire on the source of her inner-struggle, the lass simply continuing on with her good deed.

Determined not to let her features betray her this time, she cast a quick glance in the guard’s direction to evaluate his opinion on the woman’s proposal-but she could care less about what he thought on the matter-and then turned back to face her friend with the best, honest and thankful smile she could put up at the moment, even if she knew it probably wouldn’t reach her eyes. “Aye. I guess it’s worth a shot.”

[Kalani]

Kalani's glance briefly cast towards the guard, wondering if he would be opposed to her leaving in order to seek out her contact and begin the process of tracking down the crew. However, he seemed to make no response to hinder and thus, the young merchantwoman focused again upon Maeve. An honest, thankful smile was upon the lips of the Celt, though it did not quite reach the dark brown eyes. Though she could not help wondering about the situation, the brunette cast her curiousity aside. 'In that case, if you will both excuse me, I will be off.' Nodding farewell to both occupants of the room, Kalani then turned with a soft swish of satin, opening the door quietly and shutting it as softly behind her as she headed off to find her contact.

[Maeve]

She gently nodded back at Kalani as she excused herself, but when the door shut close completely and as her smile slowly faded away, she let out a deep sigh, finally allowing some of the tension to leave her stiff body. As a heavy silence installed itself upon the small room like a suffocating drape, her eyes blankly went focusing in front of her, a gazillion thoughts twirling in her head.

It was only a matter of time now before the crew got the news that she was back, and before they docked here to fetch her. But just how long exactly was that going to take…? She had no idea, but she found herself hoping that they were off somewhere at the end of the world on some crazy adventure. The farther away they were, the more time she had to decide on what to do once she came face to face with them. With him.

Blinking blankly a few times and sighing again softly, she leaned back against the wall behind her. As her head rested against the hard stone, her eyes went dancing up to the ceiling. A dry knot at the back of her throat, she swallowed hard. What was she going to do…

She could pretend like she didn’t know anything, like nothing had changed. She was good at that. Heck, they were both good at that. And something told her he would be more than happy to oblige to pretending as well. She could also tell him the truth and discharge all the pain she had bottled up inside her. She would be good at that, too. However, that option implied acknowledging certain things, certain feelings, and she didn’t want to go there. No. She preferred pretending. Preferred masking the truth. Preferred lying. Perhaps that was the easy way out, but it was also the least painful one. All she would have to do was smile and act like nothing had happened. That is, at least, until all hell broke loose…

Her brown irises suddenly growing restless with the dark austerity of the ceiling, she closed her eyes and breathed in calmly. Her plan was not the cleverest one and she knew perfectly well that it was bond to suffer a couple of alterations once she stepped aboard the Nomad for real, but that was not going to happen for a while so she still had time to work on it.

As the silence around her became too oppressing for her liking, she decided to brush away all those thoughts of there and then, and to start focusing on the here and now. Opening her eyes again, she tilted her head in the guard’s direction at the end of the room. Who was it exactly he had sent the young lad to fetch? A physician? She wasn’t ill. A shrink? She wasn’t nuts. But what if they thought she was dangerous and worth putting behind bars like the guard had threatened to do earlier? Then what would she do? No. They had no right to imprison her. Heck, she hadn’t committed any crime, had she? Aside from popping out of nowhere and scaring the wits out of this man and destabilizing him to the core…

She realized they hadn’t even presented themselves. Not that they had had the occasion to do so, what with her violent reaction to their first presentation, and then her breakdown outside, and then Kalani…

She looked at him, her voice soft and steady. “What’s your name?”

[Ziad]

Ziad had been standing aside during the two women´s conversation. There did not seem to be anything harmful to the words of Kalani, quite the contrary, Ziad had been glad for the young woman to offer her help. The red head seemed quite next to herself, whatever had happened to her, whereever she had come from. Even without knowing anything much about magic, Ziad was trying to grasp what effect it would have of a person to be suddenly transported to another place. Had she been taken away from a family? A lover? Been thrust into a world that was not her own? into a city she had never been to. It seemed likely to him. She probably was wondering how to get back. Her few scrambled words and sentences earlier had not made much sense to him and since he had respectfully not paid attention to her conversation with Maeve, Ziad did not know that he was far from the truth in a way. He nodded curtly to the dark haired woman, letting her know his gratitude and that he had no objections for her leaving, yet he wondered how much longer it would take for Caipra to arrive. He wasn´t awkward around people but... people confused by magic seemed to be more Caipra´s area of expertise than his.

Still, he was glad to see that the behaviour of the red haired woman had changed a bit. From open hostility, fear and mistrust to something that almost implied a plea for forgiveness even though she seemed like someone too proud to admit such defeat. Or like someone who had once known such pride.

He watched her for a moment, two seconds, maybe three, before smiling a little. "My name is Ziad." he said. "I am the captain of the guards of this part of the city, so if I scared you, I beg your forgiveness. I have to make sure things here go as they are supposed to."

[Maeve]

Ziad. That’s how he was called.

He was still a complete stranger, but at least now she could put a name on the face of the man whom she had so ungraciously barged in on, and as he spoke to her, she was glad that they were finally starting a real conversation, a normal one, one that didn’t include shock or shouting or struggling or mistrust. She even smiled back at him, and for once it didn’t feel forced. It didn’t feel like she was wearing a mask to cover something up. It was a good-hearted, genuine smile, with even a hint of amusement. “Why, having people magically drop in on you is not part of your daily procedures?” She could have replied by saying how he was the last thing she had been afraid of back then, but that would have drawn the attention back to her and now that she had managed to reclaim some control over her composure she wanted to avoid that at any cost. So she preferred to mock him harmlessly.

[Mala]

It was a curious glance that Mala sent towards the young dark-haired woman as the same offered to help in finding the Nomad crew and excused herself only few moments later. Whether the stranger would succeed in getting to know about her sons' whereabouts, the ghost was unsure of. Too long had she not been among the living as that she would know how well poeple knew each other and how business worked these days. For the sake of this Maeve though, she hoped that the merchant would do better than her, and find them.

Mala let her gaze linger on the delicate form of the brunette until she was out of sight, before she slowly stepped a little forward - closer to the Celt and the guardsman. Being somewhat curious about what would happen now - and still feeling the strange need of watching over the young redhead - she wanted to be within earshot again, but made sure not too disturb the two in their conversation. It was a remainder of her once beating heart that made her respect the personal space of those still breathing and she followed this habbit whenever she could - despite knowing that none of them would notice her no matter how close she was.

[Caipra]

Caipra was home since a few hours already, but even if she felt very tired, she couldn't sleep. She was thinking about all that happened today.
The visit of Sinbad and his crew, Maeve's disappearance, and Bryn's return.
The young girl didn't seem to remember anything about her past or about her family. She wasn't even aware about her powers. And that's what had caused all the events that happened later on the day.

Ziad helped her so much that night, she had been lucky that he was working that night, otherwise things would have been much more difficult to settle.

Now, everything was fine...well, Caipra would be sure of that only when those guys would wake up after the spell she had casted on them. That spell which had weakened her more that it should had.
And here she was now, recovering from all this.

The new day was already beginning. Caipra was looking at the window, waiting for the sunrise, when suddenly, a knock on the door broke the silence.
Surprised, she went toward the door and opened it. A young man was standing in front of her, breathless. He started to say something but he was so breathless, probably because he had run to come here, that only a few words came out of his mouth. "guard...come...the lady..."
"Calm down" Caipra answered, "It's alright, just breathe."
The boy listened to her and controled his breath.
"Fine. Now, tell me what's going on." Caipra asked.
"The chief's guard asked me to come to you as fast as possible. He wants to see you. There is a strange lady with him...very strange." The young guard finally said.
When Caipra understood that he was talking about Ziad she automatically thought that something went wrong. But if he was with a young girl, then it would probably not be a problem related to what happened in the night.
The old lady was confused. She wondered what was going on, this time.
She grabbed a coat and some of her stuff just in case, and said "Let's go." before following the boy.

As she was getting closer to the guard's place, the sun was rising in the sky, sign of a beautiful day to come. But Caipra had no idea what was waiting for her, today.
When they arrived, the young boy opened the door and let the old lady getting in first. She first saw Ziad, then took a look around, noticing that the guys were still sleeping, until she saw her...

Maeve.

For a moment, everything stopped.