Everything hurt. That was Siduri's first thought when consciousness tickled the edges of her mind. Her back leg was on fire as though it was still dipped in lava and her front leg ached, but she wasn't quite sure why. Everything was muddled. Multi-hued eyes cracked open and Sid expected to still be in the cave with lava and the worm, but she was laying in the sand. Was she home?

Sid fought to stand and crumpled to the ground quickly. One back leg was out of order and one front leg as well. That didn't make for good walking. The small pups lower lip jutted out in a pout but she refused to cry. Sniffling, she managed a sad little howl, hoping that someone might hear her. Thankfully, someone did.

Across the sand shuffled a wolverine. Her father's wolverine. Seeing help coming her way, tears filled Sid's eyes, but again, she refused to let them fall. As the mustelid came closer, Siduri spoke, her voice wavering. "Can you go get my dad, please?" The girl rarely said please, so she must really mean it. As the wolverine turned and raced back in the opposite direction, Sid lay in the pale sand, her gaze fixed on the horizon.

Piratess

Gilgamesh was not expecting Urtur to arrive in a flustered hurry. The look in his companion's eyes immediately set him on edge. He didn't need to know who, what, or why, just where. Words weren't exchanged as he dropped what he was doing and took off after the wolverine. Paws drummed against the cold stone, racing down the stairs and out the swinging doorway. His body barely reacted to the frigid waters as he directed Urtur to swim with the raft over to the isles. Being directed to the shores of the archipelago, Gilgamesh swam faster than he ever had before in his life. He could feel his heart drumming in his chest, his ears deafened by the panic that settled within him.

It felt as if a century had passed before he was emerging from the wake of the salty waters. Breathless, exhausted, and all around wanting to collapse, he pushed. His paws barely touched the sand as he practically flew over to the small pastel form of his daughter. Yet, she wasn't completely ivory and pastel anymore. Two of her limbs appeared... crispy. Damaged. Wrong. A snarl builds in his throat as he swoops down beside Siduri, crashing into the sand with little care for anything else in the world at that moment.

"Sid, what happened?" His voice is hoarse as he waits for her answer. He couldn't move her until he knew it was safe to pick her up.

"speech"

CODE BY SHELBY

The tears that she had tried so hard to keep at bay came gushing forth the moment that Sid saw her dad racing towards her. As Gil threw himself down in front of her, the tiny pups voice quivered. "Daddy..." Sid wasn't one to cry, so the ordeal that she'd gone through had really shaken her up. Despite the pain from the long gash in her foreleg and the burn on her hind leg, the girl threw herself against her father's chest and wept.

As she knew he would, Gil asked what had happened. Still clinging tightly to her father, her safe place, Sid tried to speak clearly. "I...I don't knoooowwww..." Sniffle sniffle. "I had a dream that I was in a big volcano and I had to find the way out. The lava burned me and at the end, I..." her throat squeezed tight, her words coming out in a quiet squeak. "I died." The little girl buried her face in her father's fur, effectively soaking him with her tears, but she didn't care. After what she'd gone through, she needed the comfort.

"I thought it was a dream, dad." Siduri pulled back enough to show Gilgamesh the bloody gash on her right front leg and a horrible burn that takes up almost the entirety of her back left leg. "But when I woke up, it still hurt." There was a slightly manic expression in the little girl's wide eyes. "There was a guy at the end. He was wearing a long cloak thing and his face was made of lightning bugs." To Sid, her father was god. He had all of the answers. He could make everything better. "What happened to me?" she pleaded.

Piratess

Seeing the tears stream down his daughter's face put forth a fury in his chest that he could not ignore. He felt the heat build in every inch of him as he pulled his daughter closer. As much as it may hurt, he needed to comfort her. To allow her tears soak into his fur so he could make everything okay. While she stuttered out her words through the bubbling sobs, he rested his nose against the top of her head. Closing his eyes as he hid the trembles of rage, he listened.

Her dream sounded all too real. Though there was a volcano on Boreas, it would not as active as the one she described. He glances then at her burnt leg and has to tense his paws. Forcing himself to hold back from reacting as she continued to tell him of this dream. How had this happened to his baby girl? Clenching his teeth together, Gil has trouble holding back his emotions. His heart feels as if it will burst.

It is then that she speaks of the man in the cloak with the fireflies. Suddenly, every hair on his body stands on end. That mother fucker. When she asks what happened, he scoops her even closer into his chest and runs a paw gently down her back. "Was he the one who hurt you?" His voice is a hoarse whisper, pure hatred seething in every syllable as he lifts his gaze from Siduri to the island they lay on. "Did. He. Hurt. You?" Gil asks again through the tremble of anger. He would send her with Urtur if he needed to. He would hunt down that mother fucker to every corner of the world if he had to. The mysterious figure of everyone's nightmares would perish if he had anything to say about it.

"speech"

Siduri was still shaken, but having her father there, stroking her back and providing comfort like the immovable force that he was, it was helping. She felt him go still though as she told him her story. Vibrant, watery eyes looked up to the serious, slightly enraged expression on Gil's face and he looked down at her, pointedly asking if the cloaked figure had harmed her. Sid gave her head a little shake. "I don't know. He fixed my leg." Lifting a little pale foreleg, Sid showed her dad a big scar that was already healed and that she definitely hadn't had before this incident.

The girl's back leg was singed and burnt and was still in quite a bit of pain. Siduri curled tighter against her father, suddenly realizing just how hurt and tired she was. "Can you carry me, daddy?" Another little sniffle was given. She didn't want to walk with her hind leg being burnt to a crisp and would likely need the attention of a healer for it. For now though, she just wanted to go home.

Piratess

Looking down at the scar presented to him, he lets out a threatening growl. The figure in the cloak would pay one day for the things he had done. Not only to himself, but to Siduri, to Rivin, to Tarnish, to Calliope, to all those that he cared deeply for. While Gil was one to find enjoyment bullying others, he didn't see the sense in causing permanent injuries. Sid would now have to forever live with these scars as a reminder. Perhaps a good reminder, but she had not sought out the figure this time. Coming for them in their dreams was abhorrent and his disdain for the mysterious cloaked figure was obvious in the way his fur raised along his spine and his lips trembled with clenched teeth and glistening fangs.

Gil's fury quickly dissipated when his teary eyed daughter requested to be carried. His body smooths and he nods slowly before grabbing her gently by the scruff and placing her neatly on his shoulders where she couldn't be harmed by the crystals along his back. "Try not to let your burn touch the water," he warns her as he moves toward the shore where Urtur waited with the raft. Though Sid would be safe from the salty brine of the ocean, he still wanted her to be careful. If her burn were to dip into those cold depths, the salt alone would cause more pain than he wanted her to experience.

Stepping carefully onto the raft, he adjusted himself until he was carefully balanced on the center of the raft. With Urtur willing to push them through the waters, he turned to glance at Sid over his shoulder. "Rivin might not be there when we get to the isle. If she is not available, do you know what needs to happen with your burn?" Gil poses the question, one brow raised, not expecting his daughter to have any knowledge, but since they had a decent journey back, he figured a lesson wouldn't hurt anymore than she was already feeling.

"speech"

Gil warned her to keep her burn out of the water and Sid did her best. As Urtur worked to swim them across, Sid stayed curled up as close to her dad as she could get. Her leg throbbed and was in pain as though covered in a thousand cuts. She was small and the burn was rather large. When healed, the scar would take up her entire hind leg. A traumatic wound for one so young.

As they made their way across, her father asked if she would know what to do if Rivin wasn't around. Sid furrowed her brow for a moment, trying to think through the panic and pain. "I think... aloe is for burns?" A little head tilt was given as though she was asking her father whether or not she was correct. It was so hard to think with her leg hurting like it was. She was thankful at least that the wound on her front leg had been turned into a scar. How, she didn't know. Some sort of magic or something.

Piratess

Gil lets out a thoughtful hum as he turns to glance back at Sid. Giving her a small nod and fatherly smile, he reaches to nudge her cheek with his nose. "Yes, but before you put aloe on it, we will want to flush it with fresh water," he says, giving pause for a moment. He doesn't want to hurt her, but knows the first step when they get back will probably be excruciating. "We have to ensure all debris is removed from it before we cover it. Once it is clean, we can slather on some aloe and then bandage it. Think we can handle that?" Gil asks, his tail swishing a few times as he corrects his balance over a few choppy waves.

Another little whimper of pain left Sid as her father laid out the plan to fix up her wounds. Even the soft ebb and flow of the waves was too much force and it made her hurt. The searing, all consuming pain of the burn was unlike anything that Siduri had ever felt before and she said as much. "It hurts so bad, daddy." She was too young for this sort of damage but she tried her best to focus on the gameplan ahead. "Clean the wound, put on aloe and bandage." A big sigh pulled from the girl and she placed her chin flat on the raft "I could take willow bark and uh..." she searched for the name of the herb, eyes squeezing shut for a moment, "Goldenseal will keep it from going rotten." Gods... what if she had to have her leg cut off?! At the thought another little sob escaped. "I don't want to lose my leg, daddy."

Piratess

"I know little one, but it'll be over soon," Gil speaks in hushed tones, his muzzle brushing over her forehead to help comfort the pup. He'd known pain for most of his life, it was nothing knew to him, but for one so young? He could understand why it lingered. Gil takes Sid to a fresh water spring that they had found earlier that year. The brush around it had been cleared and they were intending to dig it out to draw it over to the back end of the buildings if they weren't able to find another. There he could set Sid down gently and place her beside the pool's edge.

He hears her talk, adding on that willow bark and goldenseal will help prevent rot. His eyes widen slightly as he gingerly brings her injury closer to the water. "You will not lose any limbs. Not under my watch," he presses his nose to her forehead once more to reassure her that he would protect her at all costs. "I know it'll hurt, but then the worst will be over. Just dip your leg into the water and swish it around a few times," he then dips his paw in and swirls around to show her what to do.

In the meantime, Urtur returns with a bundle of herbs. Laying it down on the grass beside them, the wolverine steps back to give them space. To Gil's surprise, there is some willow bark included with the aloe and bandages and even some feverfew for the pain, but no goldenseal whatever that was. Surprise, Gil didn't know everything. "When you pull your leg out, we'll spread on some of this aloe and then the bark and then the bandage, okay?" His eyes look to Sid, ready to help or comfort her or whatever she needed.

Gil assured Siduri that she wouldn't lose her leg and the girl believed him. Her daddy would never lie to her. If he said that she'd keep her leg, then she'd keep her leg. He did say that she had to rinse it off with clean water first, so that's what she did. Gently, Siduri placed her leg within the stream, using a paw to splash water onto the burn. A whine of pain squeaked from her as the cold water made contact with the hot skin. It still felt as though the lava was biting her.

Urtur returned with some supplies and Sid looked them over. She recognized the willow bark and aloe but wasn't quite sure what the other plant was. Lifting her hind leg away from the water, she allowed it a moment to dry while she chewed the willow bark. It would serve to help with the pain.

Siduri dipped her little paw in the aloe and began spreading it on the angry, red skin. Touching the skin hurt, but she could feel the relief a moment later. Once her little chicken leg was coated, she looked up to her father with tear filled eyes. "I don't want to see lava ever ever ever again."

Piratess

Gil watches Sid carefully to ensure she doesn't need help. As much as he wants to be a father, to do everything for his little girl, he knows she has to learn too. Some day, he won't be there for her. Some day, she'll have to do it without him. The thought makes him sad, but he quickly puts it away for another time. Now was the time to be relishing in the fact that Sid even wanted to spend time with him, to learn from him, to be around him. She wouldn't want to one of these days.

"Once we're done with the bandage, make sure to chew up and swallow the feverfew," he takes the hide bandage and helps Sid wrap it around her freshly cleaned and aloe smothered injury. "The feverfew will help reduce swelling and pain from the inside while the willow bark helps from the outside," Gil says as he helps her finish tying up the bandage until it is neatly and tight together so it won't fall off.

At her words, he lets out a sigh. Putting his paws gently around her, Gil pulls her close to snuggle her into his chest without hurting her more. "You never have to ever again, as long as I'm alive," he whispers, resting his chin atop her ahead. Of course, there were lands around Boreas that did have lava, but if she were careful, she could avoid them as much as she wanted. As for that mysteriously cloaked firefly guy.... Oh, he had it coming. If Gil ever got that creep in his sights ever again, it would be lights out forever.