Commune-al Support

Freshly washed and smelling of soap and clean water, his hair still damp, Dolan approaches the by-now-familiar door to Zeke's cell and knocks on it, his other hand extended behind him towards his companion. He wears his usual full gear, brace, armor, weapons, and all, and waits to see if there will be an answer.

Andelena follows behind her Redeemer, dressed in her suit of armor and white cloak that she wore on the bloody day that gave her the scar on her cheek. She takes the hand that Dolan's holding out for her and squeezes it, sighing softly.

"Hope this gives us answers," she murmurs. There's a small weight in her voice and in her steel-gray eyes. She hasn't let them show often, but there are moments like these where she does let down her guard--when it's only her and only him.

It does not in fact take terribly long for the door to be answered, and unlike with a human, it's impossible to tell really if Dolan is waking Zeke from his slumber or from some other occupation. Sith-makar after all have no hair to muss in the act of sleeping. Zeke blinks once in surprise seeing not only Dolan, but Andelena with him. Which... in retrospect is less of a surprise than perhaps it should have been initially. "Peassssce on your nessst." He offers, his voice a bit thick as he opens the door and allows the pair entrance to his room.

The room is somewhat larger than the usual cell offered to those that live in residence of the temple; perhaps in difference to Zeke's station; or more likely knowing the sith a fact of his size in relation to the others who live here. There's a small table with two stools, a small cot just large enough for the sith to sleep in; the blankets hurriedly lain flat but untucked and suggesting that he might have indeed been sleeping. There's also a small bedside table which holds a pot of tea besides which lies a small cup which is currently empty.

Dolan hesitates, on hearing the voice, but grins up at Zeke lopsidedly. "Peace on your nest, Zeke. I hope we didn't wake you," he offers. When Zeke gestures them to entier, he does so, squeezing Andelena's hand and keeping ahold of it as he enters. "Now I feel like a complete ass," he mutters to himself. "I caught you sleeping, didn't I. We can come back later if this is a bad time."

"Sorry, Zeke," Andelena says as apologetically. "You didn't have to drop everything to play host for us." She knows firsthand how the senior Sunguard has been working and how he's deserving of rest, and the ache shows in her voice and in her face, similar to the weight she carries.

Zeke closes the door behind them and gives himself a subtle little shake. "None of that now, if you have come, it isss with good purpossse thisss one doesss not doubt. Thisss one will be well enough." He moves toward the tea pot and pours out what seems to be the last of the tea that is in it. The sith peers at the tea for a moment before drinking the whole cup in one go. It is obviously cold, but he seems not to mind overly much as he sets the tea cup aside and motions the pair toward the stools. "How can thisss one be of assssissstance to you?"

Embarrassment is firmly settled across every line of Dolan's firm and into both sides of his features, but he takes a stool, semi-automatically as directed and leans forward with elbow on knee. "I was wondering if you could make some time in the next few days to do a communing for us, or if you knew someone who could. I'm working on tracking down the devil that Andie drove out, see if we can find where it went and if it's got friends. I know that this is a great deal to ask of someone who was asleep five minutes ago."

His other hand still reaches towards Andelena.

Andelena takes Dolan's other hand, squeezing it, too. "I need to know if it has my brother," the Sunguard says, conviction in her voice. "And if it does--if Seb's in the Hells or if he's still on this plane somewhere."

She sighs heavily, leaning into Dolan. "I never thought--never fucking thought--for a moment... Not a single fucking moment, that my mother would do that to one of her own sons. My brothers were her golden children. Seb was her _baby_. But I can't put anything past her."

Zeke nods slowly. "Thisss one underssstands." He looks at the pair and nods. "Thisss one wasss right. You did not come with-out purpossse, but rather with need. Thisss one can help."

The blue-scale glances toward the door. "Thisss one isss not expected for sssome time now thisss one believesss, ssso thisss one will take care of thessse consscernsss presssently. If you will wait here a moment, thisss one will acquire the necesssary thingsss for the prayer." He does not actually in fact wait for them to say anything further, unwilling to allow them to talk him or themselves out of the urgency of their request. He quickly steps out of the room and closes the door behind him.

Left to blink one brown eye in the wake of Zeke's abrupt departure, Dolan turns instead to pull Andelena close, pulling from inside his breastplate a rolled-up pair of parchment pages, bound together at the corners with purple ribbon. "Lana set down for me the questions that she and I were thinking about," he explains, holding out the parchment for her to look at, still with an arm around her. "You've done a communing before, yeah? Do you want to add to these?"

"I haven't *personally* attended a communing before," Andelena replies, looking over the list of questions. Her lips purse together as she inspects the fine and neat handwriting on the page.

Finally, she concludes, "I... I just want to know if he's okay." The last is said with a wobble in the voice, and Andelena's eyes shut tightly. "And if he isn't, I will carry out the Knight's justice on my mother _personally_."

It is thankfully not a long wait, though perhaps a touch longer than desired. Zeke bustles in a bit hurriedly, holding a tray with a new tea pot and a pair of cups that goes immediately on the little stand beside the bed. He also has a small package stuck in his belt that once the tray is out of the way he sets up on the tray itself. He pours three cups of tea and offers one to Dolan and Andelena each before leaving the last on the tray itself. "Thisss one will remind you, that thisss one can not asssissst you with the quessstioning. You mussst have your quesstionsss in place and ready; becaussse if there isss hessitation the connection will be cut ssshort. Thisss one will remember what isss sssaid, but can not offer aid until the ssservant leavesss."

Dolan had pulled Andelena to him at the wobble in her voice, abandoning the questions list on his lap, though, in favor of pulling her to his shoulder in what he hopes is a measure of comfort. "We'll find him, baby. If I have to go after him myself, we'll find him." It's not until Zeke re-enters that he even looks up, merely letting her take comfort in his hold.

When Zeke returns, he looks up, without letting Andelena go unless she pulls away. "I've got a list, Zeke," he says. "I think I've got pen and ink in here." He doesn't move, although the scroll is visible in his lap.

Andelena keeps close to Dolan, not letting go of him. The man is her rock in a world that is often unkind enough to feel like a surging and endless ocean. "I'm going after him, too," she says quietly. "It's my responsibility. Always... Always has been."

She nods to Zeke as he enters. "I think we've got it, Zeke," she says. "List's all we need."

Zeke nods solemnly. "Very well then." He murmurs the words and settles himself on the bed. It takes him only a moment to take a sip of his tea, and then light the incense that was in the package on his belt. It doesn't take long for this to have an obvious effect on Zeke. He takes a deep breath and his eyes close, his breathing evens out to a solid meditative meter. Then his mouth opens and a hollow voice unlike his own emits from there-in. "Begin."

While Zeke settles himself, Dolan kisses Andelena on the cheek, then releases her and stands, walking over to the small desk. Suddenly, he is all business, extracting a pen and a vial of ink and dragging the stool over to the desk with one foot. The word is cue enough, and he says nothing else to Andelena, instead speaking firmly and calmly, pen at the ready.

"Is the fiend known as Jal'goroth the one who assaulted Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon in his home a year ago?"

Andelena has drawn her own writing utensil out, and she quietly gives Dolan a look that says clearly to him--because he's seen it hundreds of times-- _Don't worry, I've got this part--you do what you do best_. She dips the utensil into ink and hovers over the pages, ready for the divine servant's words.

"No." Replies Zeke, or rather more exactly - the servant through Zeke.

Dolan merely nods and stands, surrendering stool and writing materials to Andelena with an affectionate grin for her. He has indeed seen that before, and accepts it without question. Such is the nature of their relationship. "Is the fiend known as Jal'goroth currently on this plane?"

With an affectionate grin to match Dolan's, Andelena records the answer onto the sheet. Her handwriting is not nearly so neat as the woman who wrote the questions, but she manages--as she was once a noblewoman's daughter, and learning how to write was among her classes that she at least paid attention to. "No" is a brief answer, but it's a solid answer.

The next answer is quick in coming. "Yes."

Dolan's mute nod as he assesses the swift answer reads _I thought maybe._ He folds his arms across the breastplate of his armor, then thinks better of it and drops them, consulting the page. "Is the fiend that threatens Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon a devil?" It's a question that is not written exactly on the page Andelena has, but it is clear that he is tailoring his next questions to the answers he receives.

Andelena nods to herself with the answer. It makes sense--both the answer and the question that Dolan asks. She adds it to the page, thankfully making use of the extra space that the scribe before her has left for her to use.

"Many things threaten that individual." The voice within Zeke clarifies. Not the most direct answer, but perhaps more clear than a simple yes or no might have been in its place.

An answer that is not yes or no! That in itself is of great interest to Dolan, whose remaining eyebrows shoot towards his hairline, and he looks over at Andelena to make sure she captured that. "Is he aware of all the entities that threaten him?" he asks, off the cuff and without looking at his script.

Oh, Andelena caught that, all right. Her surprise is a mirror of Dolan's, but she records it diligently on the page. Her lips mouth the words, 'Oh shit', but not a sound leaves them.

A quick response is again at hand. "No."

_Uh-oh._ Dolan sucks in a breath, but he makes a swift decision, without speaking, and consults the list again, glancing at the page where Andelena writes. "Is Jal'goroth returning to this plane through means of his own power?"

That answer knocks the breath out of Andelena for a moment. _He's hunted, too_, is the look in her steel-gray eyes, and she turns them down to the page to write the answer down from the improvised question, followed by the new one.

"No." Another simple response, but perhaps a slightly comforting one in this regard.

Dolan merely nods to that response, allowing Andelena to handle scribing duties. Instead he asks, "Does the entity responsible for Jal'goroth's return live in Alexandria?"

Okay. That's at least something placating. Jal'goroth isn't coming back by its own power. If someone stops the summoner...

Andelena writes it down. She braces for the answer to her question to be 'no'. Because deep in her heart of hearts... She's certain the entity lives in Selentia.

"Many entities are responsible." Which... is significantly _less_ comforting to hear.

The look that Dolan wears at that response might as well be painted across the walls of the temple for the ease with which it may be great. _*Fantastic.*_ He says nothing, though, only sighs. "Is Andelena's brother Seb being held prisoner?"

Andelena's face now resembles like she just smelled and tasted spoiled milk. That's not great news at all. That means there's probably a cult. Which her mother is probably part of.

The answer is recorded, followed by the next question. Here, Andelena turns her attention onto the servant. More than any other question--which are all important--this one means the most personally to her.

This time, to the surprise and dismay of those doing the questioning, there is in fact a slight delay to the response. "Yes."

"Is Jal'goroth the entity holding him?" This question is fairly snapped out of Dolan's lips, and he waits for nearly no time at all.

Andelena manages to record that answer through a trembling fist. She wants nothing more than to take the tool she's holding and stab it through the fiend that holds her baby brother hostage. But she is here, not there.

But she will be her brother's savior.

She writes the question. Then she looks at the servant again. If that's a yes--then Jal'goroth's days are numbered.

The answer - quick as it is - is perhaps then a surprise. "No."

Dolan presses his lips together at that response, thinking quickly. Servants of this nature are not unlimited, he knows, and the answers are not always clear. "Is Seb being held on this plane?" There's a cold, black fury rising in him, visible in his laser focus and the scowl he wears.

Not Jal'goroth. Something else. It almost doesn't matter to Andelena: someone, something, is going to die no matter the name of who is keeping her little brother captive. She records the answer, her hand still trembling from anger.

"Yes." An equally simple answer.

The answer does little to abate Dolan's fury, but it is a controlled thing. "Is Seb imprisoned as a result of his mother's actions?"

It's Mother. It has to be. That's the conviction inside of Andelena's heart even as she writes. She's wicked but not that wicked--and yet she _is_ that wicked all at once in Andelena's head. Not even her baby, her golden child, is safe.

That's okay. Andelena's mother is about to be very unsafe, too.

The response is immediate and confirms Andelena's thoughts. "Yes."

_Thought so._ That stone cold fury takes on a note of determination. "Has Andelena's mother struck a deal with an evil entity?"

Andelena's thoughts are an inner storm. She manages her role as a scribe only by the grace of her conviction to keep at it. Her face, her eyes, betray everything. It's always been her mother. It's always been Mother. The demons are just a tool. The demons have no interest in them once Mother's gone, do they? What a loving matriarch to try and rearrange the lioness of her house into a more docile cat by targeting everything she loved--

The question almost doesn't get recorded. Andelena already knows the answer. It has to be yes.

"Yes." It is unfortunately the entirely expected answer.

Dolan merely nods. It confirms what he had known for months now - now he just has to be able to prove it before a court of law. This will help. "Is the entity she has struck a deal with Jal'goroth, or another in Jal'goroth's service?"

Andelena keeps writing. She keeps writing because this is the information she needs to bring her mother to justice, to save her little brother from her clutches. To do what she's supposed to do as an older sister, because from the moment she looked down at his crib as a young girl--she knew she had to protect him. And she's failed, but there's still a chance to make good on that promise.

"Yes." Another simple, yet damning response.

"Can proof of this pact be found in Andelena's family mansion?" Dolan's questioning is inexorable, but with seething fury and a glint of triumph hidden beneath it.

It's like pouring oil for the flames to consume at this point. The answer is scrawled. Andelena has to keep herself from hissing out every curse word she can think of. The question follows quickly after.

This question seems again to take the servant a moment, but the answer is definitive and final. "No."

"Can Seb be found in the family mansion?" Andelena will need to write fast to keep up with Dolan's questions, at this point. The Corona is lasered in on his goal.

She's keeping up. She has to keep up. Andelena's matching the pace because the fury is what's driving her to do so. The answer and the question both.

"Yes." Zeke's form is ram-rod still, his body unresponsive as the voice echoes forth from his mouth.

Dolan, having seen this before, is unsurprised by Zeke's unresponsiveness. He knows, too, that when the servant is released, the sith-makar will need a minute and a large cup of tea. His own and Andelena's teacups sit untouched, for the moment, and he is well aware that another pot maye be called for. "Does Seb know how proof of this pact may be obtained?"

The mansion. That's a place they've been before. That's _hope_ along with the fury. Andelena records again eagerly and quickly.

"No." The response to the question is again slow in coming.

"Is Andelena's mother a member of a cult?" The next question comes from Dolan, more slowly and carefully.

Andelena records the question, because it's a good question. One that hopefully will lead to a productive answer. A lead.

"She offers aid to one." Another clarification rather than a direct answer.

That still helps! It's a lead, and Dolan's mind triggers back to a friend of whom they had learned. The name escapes him now, but instead, he turns his head to Andelena, lifting what remains of both eyebrows in silent question.

Andelena takes the question. It's the only thing on her mind now. The little baby with red hair in the crib, red hair like hers--red hair like their mother's. Neither of them asked to be born from her. Neither of them deserved this.

_Seb never deserved this. His only crime was loving me as an older sister._ The thought burns through Andelena. And yet she needs to know if their mother has truly committed the one crime that would cause Andelena to seek the highest penalty for the woman who gave birth to her.

It falls from her lips. "Is Seb being tortured by Mother?"

Again that moment's hesitation, and then an answer comes slowly drawn from Zeke's mouth. "Not yet." It is in a moment, both comforting, and horrifying. Is the near-future a known quantity? Or is the qualification born of some other knowledge? Impossible to know.

Either way Zeke takes a deep breath, his eyes opening and his body swaying slightly. For a moment his eyes are unfocused, and then he regains himself. He looks around the room briefly and then reaches his claw out unsteadily toward the tea he poured for himself earlier.

The final answer is - a lot to take in, but when Zeke sways, Dolan immediately strides over to him, still wearing that scowl of black fury. "Sit a minute, Zeke. I'll have Andelena's mother before the High Tribunal, see if I don't. Andelena's mother is the one responsible for the devil in the Temple."

The two words are on the page now.

Andelena stares at them like the death sentence that they are. Her expression is beyond fury. It's come back out the other side into something still, quiet, and sober. An acceptance.

"If I don't get to her first," she says. She looks to Dolan. "I don't believe for a moment that she'd be successfully convicted by the High Tribunal. She'll find a way. She'll either wriggle out by legal means or she'll be broken out before they hand out the sentence."

She puts away her pen. "This only stops when her head's on the floor. This injustice only ends when she's dead. Everything she's ever done needs to be answered for. And I know my Mother. She'll use every trick she's got, because she has plenty. She thinks she's above everything."

Andelena puts her hand on Deliverance's hilt. "But she's not above Deliverance."

"Thisss one heard." Zeke replies softly, but with some effort. He sits still at Dolan's words, but he looks at the tea with both regret and longing. He looks at Andelena. "Thisss one knowsss that there issss a dessire for vengeance, but thisss one cautionsss. Murder will only blacken your own sssoul Andelena."

Dolan immediately pours Zeke a fresh cup of tea and hands it to the sith-makar, in a way that suggests that that had been his intention. "I'm not after vengeance," he answers, although a short laugh disrupts his line of thought. He returns to his seat, bright humor lighting his grin. "Baby. Since when was it me telling you not to kill the bastard? He's probably right, though. We try His justice first, and if that doesn't suffice, then we'll see."

A sigh comes from the blade that Andelena's hand is so firmly on. "Andelena," Deliverance says in those maternal tones. "I know. You're hurting. You've been hurting for a very, very long time. And it's only natural you want to make it stop. But vengeance is not justice."

Andelena casts her gaze up to the ceiling. The next sound that leaves her is a sob hitched in her throat. "When does it end, then, Livvie?" she asks, tears glittering in those eyes that try to scrape the ceiling to reach past them into the heavens for the virtues she swore as a Sunguard. "When does it end, Bry? When does... all of this fucking pain--"

"Shhhh," Deliverance says--in only the placating way that a loving mother can, not the shushing of a woman who can't be bothered with her children's emotions. "Mourn for your younger self and the love that you never had. But know that the woman that stands here in the Knight's Temple? She does not murder. She delivers Justice. And she will be called upon to give the Compassion that her brother needs in the aftermath. For she is sworn to the Knight. And she heals pain. Her own included."

The words wash over Andelena and... She nods. She just nods. Then she walks to Dolan and embraces him. She needs him.

Zeke accepts the tea gratefully, but his eyes are largely on Andelena at the moment. He is grateful for Deliverance's words, and for Andelena's response to them. He drinks his tea like one parched from years in the desert; short but desperate sips. The cup of tea is gone all too soon just the same however. "Your weapon hasss the right of it, asss doesss Dolan. Keep their council well in your heart in thessse trying timesss. There hasss been no harm done to your kin yet, and if it isss; it will only give tesssstament againssst the one who doesss it."

Without hesitation, Dolan pulls Andelena close, heedless of the armor between them, heedless of his own limitations. He pulls her close and holds her against his shoulder, letting her cry for as long as she will. Zeke is now free to retrieve more tea at his leisure, with the Coronoa no longer in his way. "Some pain doesn't end, baby," he murmurs gently in her ear. "We're here to make sure that that's as little as possible, yeah? This one will. If we seek His justice, that just makes sure you aren't creating more pain without meaning to, yeah?"

"We have to think about Seb first. I think her maid's still here in the Temple. We'll get the name of that woman she is supposedly friends with. We dig up what we can, and we get Seb out of there. Then we go after her."

Andelena does exactly that--cry into Dolan's shoulder. The Sunguard leaning onto her Corona, expressing it in a way she very seldom does. "Yeah, babe," she murmurs between sobs. "I know. It's--It's the best way. The Knight's way."

Dolan's ideas cause her to look up from his shoulder. She nods emphatically, and she pulls away--only to kiss him on the lips for a long moment. Maybe a little uncomfortably long since Zeke's right there, but she pulls away and murmurs, "You, me, and the Knight." Tears still stream down her cheeks, but she smiles, just a little. "Let's go talk to the maid. Get our information. Get Seb."

"And do the Knight's work," Deliverance pipes up. Quite firm on that, too.

Zeke pours himself more tea as the two embrace, he means no rudeness by it, but rather tries to give them some manner of privacy as he can allow here in this small space. He sips his tea and looks at them. "Thisss one wissshesss you well in your endevorsss, if there isss any-thing further that thisss one can do; pleassse let thisss one know."

No rudeness is meant, and none taken. If anything, the kiss that Dolan and Andelena share is a greater rudeness, a display of affection that borders on the inappropriate, but when he draws away, he looks up at her with a brown eye filled to the brim with adoring concern. "You, me, and the Knight, baby. Never forget the Knight. He's the reason we're still both here, yeah?" Zeke is almost forgotten until he speaks up, and he turns his head only towards the sith-makar. "If there is anything we can do for _you_, say the word. Perhaps get out of your face and go find a room so that you can go back to sleep?" A grin that blends wickedness, sheepishness, and self-deprecating humor blooms across the scarred features.

Andelena looks embarrassed as she does, in fact, remember that she's here in Zeke's room kissing her man--albeit the sort of kiss that one only gives another person when they're just glad to be alive, when they _need_ the comfort of someone else. There have been worse kisses given as Zeke's barely turned his tail out of the door.

"Yeah, we've taken up enough time in your room," Andelena says bashfully. She goes to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Thank you for everything, Zeke. As always."

Sitting on the bed as he is there's little ability to shift his tail in amusement, but it does show in his green eyes. "There isss no need to be apologetic. Thisss one isss glad to be of assisssstance; and it isss good to sssee that you care for one another. Take care of one another. You will make good cihuaa." He nods to them at this. "When thisss one sseessss sssuch care, thisss one isss reminded of the good in thisss world. You walk in the Dragonfathersss ssstepsss. Does He not after all, care for His cihuaa, and stand by Her in all things?"

Dolan has no intention of letting go of Andelena right now, continuing to hold her close even as he regards Zeke. "Yeah. Better than I do." He returns back to look up at Andelena. "We'll see this through. She's threatening my family too, you know. Harassing them for money. We'll see a stop put to her horseshit, baby, yeah? And remember what Master Zein told me."

Andelena gives Dolan a _look_, followed by a grin. "Bullshit, you treat me better than any other man ever could," she says, and she kisses him on the cheek. "We'll do it together. And since you're able to wield your greatsword again--we get to put an end to it the way we're best at."

She looks to Zeke and smiles tenderly. "I'm only doing the best I can by my man," she says. "Because he is sure as shit the best thing to ever come into my life, besides the Knight. We stand together."

-End