Steel blue and green hazy eyes blinked open only to immediately squint against the sun that was beating down on her. The air itself was surprisingly cool and the water was even a bit chilly, but she could hardly notice. She sputtered and coughed a bit when she tried to breathe in, rocking the piece of wood she had managed to pull herself onto before she had passed out at some point the night before. Gripping the edge of the piece of wood to make sure she didn't slip off entirely, she lifted her head as much as she could manage, glancing up to try and see if she could see anything besides just open ocean. Her hind legs were dangling in the water because of the fact that the drift wood was barely big enough to hold her torso, but at this point she certainly wasn't going to complain.

Off in the distance she could see a shore line after she blinked and rubbed her eyes a bit to clear them of the salt that had dried to the fur around them, but it wasn't land she recognized. The sandy beach and the cliffs still felt so far away as the waves ever so slowly rolled her toward them. She tried to swallow and hardly could with how dry and sore her throat was and every muscle ached so the idea of attempting to paddle herself to shore was laughable at best, but at this point she wasn't sure if she had much of an option. Suddenly she spotted a dark figure moving along the shore. They were too far away for her to make out any real details, all she could see was that it was a fairly large wolf with dark fur, but it was another wolf on dry land and that was exactly where she wanted to be right now. She made a futile attempt at calling out to them and it simply came out as a rough croak instead. In the end she could only lift one of her legs and try to wave it in the air to get their attention while she prayed they might be willing to help.

"Anthea Dásos"

Mercury always found his way to a beach. It seemed a given in his life, and much of his exploring was based on shorelines. It was a rueful admittance, since his ship was long gone and he didn’t think it likely he’d return to a life at sea. The Shimmering shore was blessedly close to the Hallows, and he was already beginning a routine of making his way down there in the mornings. Early enough to catch the last wisps of light from the fluorescent shore. Today, he had been held up in the palace and it was already late into the morning before he could break out into a trott. Stretching his legs across the sand as he tasted the bitter wind. Drawing the cool, salty air into his lungs.

It was Solar who noticed something amiss first. The bird let out a sharp caw and banked suddenly. Catching an updraft that sailed him out towards a floating… something. He squinted against the bright light and caught movement. Movement!

He didn’t hesitate, nor think twice. He plunged into the ocean. Gasping at the sudden cold that enveloped him. The winter air did nothing to warm the water, and he could feel it leeching the heat from his fur. As he swam against the tide, Solar started a descent, and landed on the wood the wolf hung to for dear life. The bird caws gently at the wolf, as if to offer encouragement as Mercury’s powerful strokes brought him closer.

He arrived, panting more from the cold then the excursion as he lined himself up behind the wood, and latched on with his teeth. Towing raft and wolf in the direction of the shore. With his mouth occupied, he wasted little time with speeches. He didn’t know how hurt she was, and it was likely the cold was hiding any injuries.


"Speech"

For several moments she couldn't tell if her signaling was in vain, worrying that she was still too far out for the stranger to take notice of her, but then she noticed the bit of black flying in the air above them and saw the wolf stop on the beach as the bird started moving in her direction. A shuttering sigh of relief left her as the bird pulled the attention toward her and she let her foreleg settle back on the floating piece of wood once more, resting her head between her paws while she struggled to stay conscious, exhaustion tugging her back down into a heavy sleep as if just waving her paw had taken all of her energy. She blinked and then suddenly the bird that had spotted her was beside her on her scrap of a life raft, the feeling of its weight shifting the piece of wood and the sound of its caw in her ear making her eyes flutter open again. She glanced up at the bird, breathing in shallow breaths and focusing all of her energy on just staying where she was while she waited for help. She did ofter the avian a slight, grateful smile, turning her head a bit to tap her nose to its foot in a silent thank you.

A few moments later she spotted the wolf that she had seen on the shore, the male growing closer as he swam through the waves as if he had been doing it all his life. It was almost a little hard to see him out here where the water was deep, the dark hues of his fur almost blending in with the water. She watched in amazement as he cut through the waves to reach her and moved around the piece of wood till he was behind her. All at once her slow, unless shift toward the shore suddenly picked up speed as this talented man pushed her toward the beach. She turned her head a bit to be able to see him with one blue and green eye and she looked at him with a deep gratitude that she was sure she'd never be able to properly express. "Thank you," she managed in a hoarse, cracked voice before she settled her head between her paws again and let her eyes close, just focusing on staying awake and alive now that she had her life line.

"Anthea Dásos"

Mercury was putting his all into hauling the wood towards shore. He was extremely worried about the wolf beside him. The questions churning in his gut ranged from how much energy did she have left to how did she get here? He worried she would have a similar tale to his own, and hoped for otherwise. As her soft, croaking voice reached out to him he glanced her way. He couldn’t open his maw to say the words he wished to, so he tried to say it with his eyes. Hold on the stormy blue of them urged. Just hold on

Solar patted her nose with a very gentle claw, and then spread his wings and pushed airward once more. The sea bird was well comfortable with the ocean and his flight path was smooth as he rose, and turned towards the direction of the castle. Luckily, he knew exactly who to find, and where to find her.

As Solar fetched Gwyn, Mercury made the last push to shore. As they reached shallow water, the weight of both wolves made it impossible to keep pushing the log. Instead, he pushed his nose under the arm holding onto the log and forced himself between her and it. Taking her weight as he dragged her from the shallow water and up onto the sand. He didn’t stop until both wolves were fully clear of the water, and then collapsed panting on the sand beside her. With luck, Gwyn would be here soon. He took a moment to draw in a few sharp breaths, and then turned back to the wolf beside him. She wasn’t the first wolf he’d pulled from chiling waters, but it had been some time since he’d done it last. He knew the drill, he nudged her gently, pulling her around until he could reach her chest, and began to rub his paws in her fur. Warming her heart with his body heat and friction. He didn’t know how long she’d been in the water, and couldn’t wait for Solar to fetch Gwyn with coats and healing supplies. “Help is coming, you did good to get this far. I’ve got you”


"Speech"

A light tap on her nose made her eyes open slightly and she watched as the black bird took off, swooping away toward the land ahead of them, but she didn't have the energy to lift her head and watch the bird go to see where it was off to. She just let her eyes close again and hovered between staying awake and passing out again until she felt the wood lurch a bit and suddenly something was picking her up and moving her. Anthea tried to lift her head, move her limbs, anything to help her savior with getting her onto shore, but the best she could manage was opening her eyes a bit and some half-hearted steps as he pulled her onto the shore. As she hit the sand she fell onto her side, taking fast shallow breaths. Everything ached and it wasn't until she was laying on the sun warmed sand that she realized just how cold she was. Her muscles started trembling and shivering, her limbs feeling burning hot and freezing cold at the same time.

She hadn't realized that the darkness of her eyelids had covered her vision again until she felt large paws rubbing at her chest, making her blink them open. She found herself face to face with the blue eyed male that had pulled her to shore, his encouraging words reaching her ears as she tried to keep her teeth from chattering. She nodded quietly, her lungs and throat hurting too much to try and speak again. She managed to give him a little hint of a smile as she slowly began to catch up with reality and realize that she was back on land and she was safe. A sheen of relieved tears glistened over her blue and green eyes before they fluttered closed, one of her paws trembling a bit as she lifted it enough to rest it on his foreleg near his elbow, just holding onto him to reassure herself that it was real even when she couldn't see him.

"Anthea Dásos"

Gwynevere was in the infirmary when a black sea bird came in through the window that she kept open for Eilwen, the worried avian fetching her to help someone down at the shore. She quickly grabbed a few warm furs and supplies, shoving the herbs and smaller items into her satchel and slinging it on before she raced out the door and down the path that connected the castle to the shimmering shore below. The bird wasn't one that was familiar to her, but as soon as she got close enough to see who was laying on the sand she realized it must have belonged to Mercury. Concern gripped her as she kicked up sand as she ran down the beach, breathing hard from the run by the time she reached him and the smaller girl that was laying next to him. She very quickly put together the fact that the stranger was the one in real need here, figuring out without him really needing to explain that he had pulled her from the water.

With focused intent on her features, she handed a fur to him to wrap around himself and get dried off while she took another and started using it to gently rub down the other woman to get her as dry as possible as soon as she could while generating heat and friction at the same time. After Mercury had a moment to dry himself off a bit, she said, "Here, keep doing this. I'm going to check her for other injuries." Handing off the fur to him, she moved around to the nameless girl's legs, feeling each one with careful paws and testing the joints, making sure that nothing was broken injured. When she reached the woman's back right leg, she started to bend it and heard the half-drowned girl gasp and felt her tense, making her stop. She felt over the bone again, confirming that it wasn't broken, but when she put a bit of pressure on the lower part of the limb it caused the woman to react. "It looks like this leg might be fractured or maybe a torn muscle." It was going to be hard to tell until she got them back to the infirmary and she was able to examine it more closely. Pulling a water skin from her bag, she brought it to the girl's lips with a gentle smile. "Here, just take a couple of swallows. You don't want too much water on your stomach at once."

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Now that the stranger was safe she seemed to have stopped fighting. The occasional slow rise of her eyelids told him she was keeping conscious, if only barely. He worked on keeping her warm, and Solar returned to him. Landing on the Beach beside them both as Gwyn followed in his wake. Mercury looked up in relief at the familiar face of the Hallows healer. When she offered him a coat, he took it wordlessly. His own teeth had begun to chatter, and he wrapped it tightly. Huddling in its warmth as he pulled back, giving Gwyn room to work.

Gwyn however wasn't done with him yet, and she handed him the coat she had been using to warm the wolf in much the way he had been trying to with his paws. He took over, working it over her body in the manner of a wolf familiar with hypothermia and water. He avoided each limb until they passed Gwyns test, and only lightly blotted the one she indicated was fractured or torn. "Can you tell us your name?" He asked the stranger as he worked. To Gwyn, in a quieter voice he asked. "Should we move her to the castle? What's the procedure here with Artorias."

As promised, help soon came in the form of a mostly charcoal woman with lighter gray markings, her eyes two-toned like her own, but marbled with sage green and lavender. There was no resistance from her as the two of them started to dry her off despite the ache from every movement. It body felt like it had been through hell and she supposed in a way it had. The healer and then her rescuer rubbed her body down and pulled the water from her fur as they worked on warming her up, ruffling up her slate fur in the process. She was steadily feeling even the smallest bit more alert while she watched the woman test and move each of her legs. When she reached her back leg the movement sent a sharp pain through the limb, making her gasp from the sudden shock and making her try to tense and pull back on reflex. The cold, numbing water had kept her from noticing the injury before now and she managed a soft whine, voicing her displeasure until the stranger released the injured leg.

Eventually the healer brought a water skin to her lips and she drank from it gratefully, doing as she was told and only taking a couple large swallows of the cool, fresh water. It immediately did wonders for her parched, rough throat. It didn't entirely take away the pain from breathing in salt water and coughing it back up, but it did help. As she sighed with relief she turned her tired gaze back up to the dark-coated male who then asked for her name. "Anthea," she managed with a bit of effort. All she really wanted right now was to go to sleep, but for their sake she stayed awake, looking between them occasionally. She couldn't really focus on what they were saying to one another, but she heard something about a castle and it made her wonder just what kind of land she had washed up on. Somewhere with very large wolves and castles, apparently.

"Anthea Dásos"

Gwynevere let the woman take a couple of drinks and then sat the water skin off to the side, instead rummaging through her bag for a couple more supplies. She heard Mercury ask for her name to which the woman replied Anthea so at least she had a name for the stranded stranger. Glancing up to Mercury as he leaned closer to her, she nodded to his question. "Yes, I definitely want to get her back to the castle once she's stable. Artorias would never turn away someone in need." The Hallows was intended to be a place of refuge and healing after all and if this wasn't a case of that she didn't know what was. "Let me just get a splint on her leg and give her something for the pain and then we can try to move her." She pulled out the supplies and herbs she needed, wanting to move quickly so they could get her to somewhere warm as soon as possible.

She started with the herbs first so they would have more time to take effect, bringing them to Anthea's lips. "Just a bit of meadowsweet and ginseng to help with the pain give you a bit of energy," she explained. She knew Anthea was likely to start hurting more as the cold faded and she came more to her senses so whether she really needed the pain meds right now or not she would get them. Luckily Anthea took them without issue and once Gwynevere was sure she could keep them down she moved on to the leg, carefully stabilizing the portion of her leg between the knee and ankle with a bit of slightly pliable wood, and then wrapping it with bandages to keep the splint in place. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but it would keep the bone from getting shifted and fracturing further as they moved her to the castle if that was indeed the issue.

Gwyn looked to Mercury then with a nod. "Do you think you could carry her? If not we can keep her between us and help support her up to the castle." The sooner they could get her inside and into warmth the better so she didn't really want to wait for Artorias or one of the other knights to come out here to help. Luckily Anthea was on the smaller side and looked fairly thin so she wouldn't be that much of a burden to carry.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Anthea. She gave her name, and Merc gave her paw a very careful pat. “We’ve got you, Anthea, I won’t let anything happen to you” he promised. They would have a lot to figure out later - what happened to her, where she had come from, and if there was somewhere she needed to get back to. Once she was a little more aware, he would ask her if he needed to let someone know she was okay. Until then, their priority was getting her back to the Castle in one piece.

“I’ll leave the procedure of letting him know to you” Mercury said. He’d watch to see how Gwyn approached it and brought Artorias in. So he would know in case he came across another injured soul in need of their help. He watched as Gwyn administered something for the pain and made a splint for the leg. “Pull her on my back, and let the splintered leg hang carefully to the side. That would probably cause her the least amount of pain” he suggested. Lowering himself down beside the injured wolf. Hopefully Gwyn would have the strength to hoist her onto his back. But he imagined as a healer this wouldn’t be the first patient she’d had to bodily move.


"Speech"

Anthea took the herbs she was offered without question and laid carefully still while the healer splinted her injured leg. At this point it would have been silly for her to question or resist the help she was being offered. These wolves had dropped everything, one of them even leaping into freezing water, in order to help her even though she was a complete stranger. She didn't have much reason to question or doubt them. She turned her two-toned gaze up toward the dark male that was comforting her and when he said that he wouldn't let anything happen to her she believed him. After what he had done for her she couldn't imagine that there was a single bit of ill intent in his whole body. She let her eyes close for a bit while she was being treated, only opening them again once everything was done and she heard the male telling the woman to pull her onto his back.

When the healer went to do so, Anthea attempted to help even a little bit by pushing off of the sand a bit and helping to drag herself onto her rescuer's pack, settling over him with her head resting in the thick fur of his scruff. She felt a fur be draped over her as she slipped trembling forelegs around his neck to hold herself on and then she closed her eyes, accepting wherever they were going to take her with quiet gratefulness. She wasn't sure if the walk to the castle they had mentioned really was that short or if her consciousness wavered for a few minutes, but regardless when she refocused on the world around her she found herself in a stone structure, the large room filled with a row of padded cots that had dividers positioned between them, the room feeling welcoming and warm with a large, crackling fireplace. She blinked her eyes open and looked up at the two wolves that were helping her just as she was being placed on one of the cots, relaxing into the softness of it. She didn't feel quite as utterly exhausted as she had before and she wasn't sure how much of that was finally getting warm and dry and how much was whatever herbs she had been given. Still, her body ached and moving was difficult so she stayed still, grimacing a bit as the healer started looking at her leg again.

"Anthea Dásos"

Gwynevere nodded as Mercury told her to pull Anthea onto his back. She wasn't the strongest wolf around, but Anthea was fairly light all things considered so getting her onto Mercury's back wasn't all that difficult. It helped that Anthea pushed off the ground a bit so she didn't have to fully lift her up on her own. Once the blue-hued woman was situated on the Knight's back, Gwyn grabbed the last dry fur from the supplies she brought and draped it across her before giving Mercury a nod and leading the way back up toward the castle, following the path that was cut through the brush that led them up to the castle gate. She tried to move swiftly, but not so fast that they'd risk Anthea sliding off of his back.

She didn't bother calling for Artorias just yet, more focused and concerned on getting her patient cared for first. She was sure that she should have, but she would go speak with him as soon as Anthea was stable and comfortable. A small liberty taken as the Chief Physician of the pack. She brought them into the infirmary and guided Mercury over to the cot that was closest to the fireplace before helping him get the woman onto the cot and covering all but her back leg with the fur to help keep her body heat increasing. She went to the girl's leg then, unwrapping the temporary splint she had put on and inspecting the leg more closely now that she wasn't fighting against the wind and cold coming off of the ocean to do so. Experienced paws felt over the leg and felt the slight give that the bone had in the portion between her knee and ankle.

"It's definitely a fracture, but it feels like a pretty clean one at least," she told them quietly and then went to get some more supplies, wrapping the leg and stabilizing it with a more well constructed splint. "You'll have to stay off of your paws for a while to let that heal, but otherwise I think you've come out of it pretty unscathed," she said as she worked. Other than some bruising and exhaustion, her fractured leg was the worst of it that she saw. Of course that was only the physical damage—mental anguish was a lot harder to pinpoint and diagnose. Once she was done with the cast, she covered Anthea up completely under the fur and then looked to Mercury, saying, "I'll go alert Artorias and let him know what's going on. I'm sure he'll want to come meet her. Stay here with her and make sure she rests." With that she stepped out of the room, gently closing the door behind her before she went off in search of her brother.

Gwynevere | Eilwen

Mercury took great care to keep his gait as smooth as possible despite the great load he bore. It took considerable effort, and he was well winded by the time they made it back to the castle. They unloaded Anthea as gently as they could, and he leaned back against the wall and caught his breath while Gwyn took care of the splint. Watching how the healer had immediately taken action, used supplies and shown compassion without a second thought told Merc so much about the people he’d thrown his lot in with.

He gave the dark tone girl he already considered a friend a smile as she spoke to him. ‘I will” he promised, pushing back off the wall and coming closer to the bed. He placed his head on the bed near her, resting his rump on the ground. “So, Anthea. What can you tell me about how you came to be on the beach?” He asked, his voice cautiously gently in case he was prodding at a sore point. So far, he knew very little about her and how she had ended up there.


"Speech"

Anthea nodded as the still unnamed healer gave her instructions to stay off of her feet after informing her about the fracture she had found. She couldn't imagine being on her feet right now so that wasn't a difficult instruction to follow. She tried to remember what might have happened to cause the injury to begin with, but she came up short. Everything was so jumbled and full of turmoil when she attempted to look back at her own memories that it was hard to pin point one thing that might have caused it. "Thank you," she said quietly as the healer turned to leave, watching her walk out the door to go get someone named Artorias. She likely should have been more concerned about the fact that she was somewhere completely unknown to her, surrounded by wolves she didn't know, without any idea how far away she was from home, but right now as she curled up under the fur she was given in front of a fireplace with only friendly faces around her she couldn't find the will in her to care.

As the dark-furred healer left, the man that had rescued her came over to the edge of her bed, his head resting on it near her own so that she could see him easily while he spoke. Her water color gaze lingered on his handsome features as he asked her how she had ended up on the beach. She went to answer and paused, her brow furrowing a bit as she tried to put the flashes of memory that filtered through her mind in some kind of order that made sense. Everything felt disjointed and fuzzy, as if the memories were from long ago even though they had all just transpired. "There... was a fire," she finally managed after a bit of thought, knowing at the very least that it all began with that. Her voice was still soft and a bit raspy, occasionally cracking a bit as she went. "My pack was in a forest, but there had been very little rain and it was very dry. We had to run to escape the fire and no matter how far we went it just kept coming... We ended up on the shore. I had never seen so much water before—I had never left the forest."

Her gaze was still on his face, but she wasn't focused on him. Her heavy lidded gaze was distant as she recounted what happened, some of it stitching together for her as she went. "The blaze was so hot... It pushed us into the water to get away from it. But then... I guess there was a big wave or a current that pulled me under and when I got back to the surface I was far away from the shore. I saw some of them there, floating by the beach, but I couldn't get back to them. I just... I kept getting swept farther out to sea. There was a storm... I was on a raft at some point, somewhere else..." She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, her ears pinned back against her head as she struggled to remember anything else. "I... I don't know what else happened. I just woke up on that log and when I saw the beach and I saw you there..."

She blinked opened her eyes again, refocusing her attention on him and his pale, clear gaze. "Thank you," she said softly again, tipping her head forward for a moment to lightly touch her nose to his since it was the only part of him she could reach, looking at him with the deepest gratitude that she knew words could never really express. "What's your name? Where am I?" she asked, feeling like she could finally get these questions answered now that it seemed she was no longer in danger.

"Anthea Dásos"

He could tell it was a struggle, but whether that was from the turmoil of it, or trying to find her bearings, he couldn’t tell. He was silent, giving her time to sort through it and begin. He did raise a brow at her first sentence, but didn’t interject. A fire was never a good start. She spoke of how it pushed her to the ocean. There was a bit of confusion between that, to how she got on a raft, to arriving at their shore on a log. Perhaps it was trauma, or she had hit her head harder then they realised.

She touched her nose to his, and he kept his gaze on her, offering her what comfort he could. She had been through a lot. More than just a near-sinking. “I’m Mercury Ermís. You're in the Hallows castle, led by Artorias and Briar. In Auster” he continued, to see if any of those names struck a chord with her. He wasn’t sure how far from home she had drifted.


"Speech"

She finally learned her rescuer's name as Mercury introduced himself, and listed off the names of the pack she was in and its leaders along with the name of the place where she found herself. There was no recognition that crossed her gaze as she committed the various names to memory, realizing now that the wolf that the healer had gone to get was the alpha of this pack she had been brought to. Her gaze shifted away from his as she fully started to grasp the fact that the waves had brought her somewhere entirely unknown, completely separated from her family and former life, perhaps even more separated than she would have originally guessed. Her ears flicked back as she processed the thought, the lingering memories from how she had ended up here still hovering at the edge of her mind. She let out a slow sigh, letting her eyes close for a moment as she pushed them away and calmed herself before she brought her attention back to Mercury again.

"Auster, huh?" she questioned, familiarizing herself with the name. "And The Hallows... lead by Artorias and Briar... and home to Mercury." She smiled a slightly sad smile as she added, "Well... If everyone here is as kind as you and your healer friend are then I suppose I at least washed up at the right place." There could have been far worse options, she was sure of that, and as she thought about the state she had been in when she finally made it to shore she wasn't sure she would have survived if he hadn't found her. "I have no idea where home is in relation to here... Although, it's not like there's much for me to go back to, I guess." There was a thoughtful pause and she gave Mercury a curious look as she asked, "Do you enjoy living here?" She knew they just met, but she had no reason not to trust him after everything he had done for her. She looked to him for some kind of guidance, badly in need of a direction after having so much pulled from under her.

"Anthea Dásos"

It didn’t seem that the area was familiar to her. A long way to end up, and he wondered exactly what had happened to her. Perhaps if she stuck around, he’d hear the story one day. Assuming it wasn’t so traumatic that she never regained the memory. He winced at the thought, and wouldn’t wish such difficult memories upon anyone.

“Gwynevere - she’s the lead physician here.” He explained, realising they hadn’t been properly introduced. As Anthea went on to ask what he thought of living here, and explained how she didn’t know where home was… he understood what she was asking. “I’m pretty new here myself. Artorias, he…” he paused, searching for the right words. “He’s a good guy. I can’t speak for him, but I can’t see him not offering a place to someone in need” he continued. Not able to describe what Artorias had done for him and what it had meant.


"Speech"

Gwynevere had found the Aegis amongst the castle halls and alerted him of the guest resting in the infirmary. Naturally, as protector of his wolves, Artorias needed to go meet and know every wolf that crossed his borders, more so he could know all of the souls under his protection than vetting them for anything. The azure and obsidian wolf strode down the corridors with purpose, claws clicking against the stone while rounding the corner and stepping into the infirmary. The first thing he noted was the slate-furred stranger lying in one of the medical cots, Mercury close by her side. Having one of his Knights nearby to keep an eye on her did make him feel more comfortable, though he doubted any wolf that showed any signs of malicious intent would have deceived Mercury to sneak into the Hallows.

Artorias approached the two, looking first to Mercury with a nod of his head, then to the unknown female. She reeked of sea salt, betraying where they had found her. A castaway, shipwrecked or marooned? "Rest easy, you're safe here," he spoke in calm, even tones to their unexpected guest. "I'm Artorias Carpathius, alpha of the Hallows. What can we call you, miss?" He looked to Mercury next. Gwynevere hadn't shared the woman's condition with him, simply that she had been found half drowned and injured. "What's her condition, Merc? Tell me everything."

"Artorias Carpathius"

As she listened to Mercury gave her the name of the kind healer that had helped her—Gwynevere—and then spoke about Artorias and his newness to this pack as well. She was hopeful that he was right about the leader of this pack offering her a place here. She had no idea what her next move would be, but at least knowing she had somewhere to stay while she healed would help tremendously and take a weight off of her mind. As if summoned by Mercury's mention of him, a black, gray, and blue hued man walked through the door of the infirmary, walking toward them with a nod toward Mercury. He was equally as large as Mercury was and it made her wonder if all of the males around here were massive or if it was just a coincidence between the two of them.

The male she assumed to be Artorias confirmed her thoughts as he introduced himself and told her to rest easy before asking for her name. "Anthea Dásos, sir," she replied in her still slightly rough voice with a small, tired nod, offering him a slight smile. As his attention shifted to Mercury, asking him for her condition, she spoke up again to say, "Mercury saved me." She gave the blue eyed man a slightly shy, grateful glance before turning her two-toned eyes back to Artorias again. "He swam out and pulled me back to shore. I don't think I would have lasted much longer if it wasn't for him." She didn't know him very well yet, but she had a feeling that Mercury wouldn't give himself the full credit he deserved so she wanted to make sure Artorias knew what an incredible man he had in his ranks.

"Anthea Dásos"

As Mercury explained the positions of the people in the Hollows that she would need to know, the Aegis appeared. Mercu turned his head, and nodded to Artorias in greeting. The blue wolf spoke first to the shipwreck victim. He held his quiet as Anthea introduced himself, and she spoke first in answer to Art’s question. He inclined his head, his eyes on the blue wolf. “I have some training with aquatic emergencies” He explained. His birth pack had had access to a port, and he had spent much of his life on a ship.

He glanced to Anthea, and then back to Artorias. She had been quick to praise him, but he wasn’t the reason she was safely in this pack. “Your sister took over from there and saw to her immediate care, I assume Gwynevere has spoken to you?” he said, the unasked question in his eyes - had she explained that Anthea needed further care, and that remaining in the pack would be best for her? He didn’t feel it was his place to pose it to the Aegis.


"Speech"