There comes a time in a young woman's life when she must decide whether to sit still or take action. For Calli this decision came on a near-hourly basis. The tensions among her tribe and the Eyes were upsetting and confusing. She was not sure quite what to do about it. There had been talk of unity lately and of independence but it was all soaring over her blonde head.

So she decided to climb a tree.

The view that had been magnificent on the way up seemed slightly blurry on the way down. Calli wondered if she was going to die, as her hair flickered over her eyes and skyward, eyes watering as she approached terminal velocity. Her life scrolled behind her eyes and while it had been largely embarassing at times, it had also been quite fun. She had no regrets. She hoped Dorian and Hal weren't going to be too cut up about it. She began to shriek because it seemed to be the done thing in these situations.

A branch broke her fall. Then another. After that a few more. Her descent slowed and when she went crashing into the roof of a kint she only felt her shoulder dislocate as she rolled to redistribute the force. She didn't think she'd broken anything too important to performing. She'd been lucky the tree hadn't been that high.

"Owwww..." She whined pitifully. "Dze."

Starved. Wendy's stomach grumbled, although she'd had a big breakfast. She'd been trying to put off eating because she found that the food wicks ate was...delicious. It had all sorts of spices, and strange tastes. At first she'd gotten sick quite often, but now that her stomach was getting used to the new sensations her food offered Wendy found she was often ravenous. It amazed her that she could eat to her heart's content-- that in fact she wanted to eat until she couldn't move.

With this in mind, the passive had finally decided to stop reading her book and get out and make something, but was interrupted by a whistling noise from overhead. No, that wasn't it. It was a shriek. And then a crack, and a shriek, and a crack-- Wendy winced each time she heard another branch break. Especially when she realized it seemed to be coming from above. That's not a good noise... she thought to herself, running out of her caravan to find the source of the noise.

A moment later she was glad she'd left as a blond wick landed on the roof with a loud thump and moaned.

Wendy climbed on the wheel of the kint and looked over the roof, frowning, "Are you alright?" And then, because she couldn't quite resist the remark, "That was stupid of you."

Even so, Wendy climbed all the way up and peered down at Calli, "Is anything broken? Do you need help getting up?"

"Mean..." Calli said, winded from her fall.

She was in quite a lot of pain. It seemed to bloom like a flower, getting worse the longer she was there. Calli was just glad that a lifetime of physical work had left her with a formidable tolerance for pain.



Calli lay there for a while, trying to resist the urge to vomit. She ran through a mental itinerary of her aches and pains, pondering that there might be a few fractures here and there. She was not sure, she seemed usually resistant to breakages though she was not sure why.

"I think my shoulder is out of the socket..." She managed to wheeze, "I'm not sure I should get up just yet."

She opened one eye and looked at Wendy.

"Junta, I'm Calli." She said, raising one hand to wave weakly. "Have we met before?"

The blue hair looked familiar but Calli was fairly disoriented and not sure she was seeing things as they were. She was fairly sure that the waving rabbit on Wendy's shoulder was just Calli's blurring vision.

"No, don't move. Or talk. That's probably not good." Wendy snapped, concern written over her face. Calli's face was incredibly pale and she looked like she was in a lot of pain. "I-- I don't usually deal with people falling from the sky onto my house."

Shit, what did I used to do back in Brunhold whenever Pascual got messed up?! But that was never anything too serious... If it was we'd just get a teacher to heal them!

Once again, being disconnected with the mona had made her helpless.

Oh shut up, Wendy. When has that ever stopped you?

"Shit-- okay-- okay I should get help. No. First-- Um, stay here. Don't move, I'll be right back." She hopped off the top of the caravan and landed on her feet with some difficulty. It jarred her knees, but Wendy ignored the momentary pain as she entered her kint and found a bottle of alcohol she'd been hiding from Petra. Alcohol in hand, she clambered back up and looked down at the girl.

"Hey, stay conscious. Drink some of this stuff. I think it'll...help you with the pain or something. Or...get you drunk enough you'll forget." Hadn't she seen someone getting drunk before getting one of those tattoos? It was meant to help, right? "And try not to move too much. I gotta go again." She got up and almost fell backwards, steadying herself with a quick jerk of her arms. "Uhh...scream or something if you need help. I'mma go get my wick. She'll fix you probably."

Ehhh...probably!

Wendy clambered off the roof of her kint and tripped on her boots. "Clocking hell!" She spat, taking off the damned things and running to Petra's caravan, "Peeeeetraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Or Jerzy or somebody who knows how to do magic!!!"

She was surprisingly loud for being such a small woman.

Calli's unwounded arm raised slowly in the air, like a corpse hand from a grave.

"I can make sparklies with my miiiinnnddd!" She said, inhaling and squeaking the words out forcefully.

Rhob was, in fact, finally away from the cookfires, enjoying a relaxing walk with his brood of small children, when a loud voice pierced his thoughtful planning for dinner. Before he could snatch up grubby hands, unfortunately, all three of his little ones scrambled for the sound.

"What was that?"

"Maybe someone's hurt."

"Ooh."

With a frown at his lack of disciplinary talents, the green-haired wick followed suit, only to find himself staring at a blue-haired witch, several broken tree-branches, and what might have been a body on top of a kint. He blinked, gathering up the smallest child and giving a quick, stern look at his oldest to not attempt the rather inviting looking tree.

"Uh, hesta. Is ... did ... something happen?" The short, lanky wick had no problem pointing out the obvious. The toddler in his arms scrambled for his shoulders, sitting and peeking over her father's mohawk as if to get a better view of Calli on the roof of the kint.

"How can I help?"

Calli looked over, wondering if the world was going to stop spinning anytime soon. She saw a small child.

"I dun care how mush you need some time for youuuu..." She slurred, the effect of a branch smacking into her head now catching up with her. "I am no' mindin' yer bochi."

She tried to roll her head back over and found she could not. It hurt far too much.

"I want my Daoama summit." She whimpered.

"Oh gods." Rhob's eyes widened as he saw the poor girl on the roof of the kint. Turning to Wendy without another thought, he lifted the little girl off of his shoulders and shoved her gently into the passive's arms, "Here, hold Rennie for a tick, please. She won't bite, I promise." He managed a grin to the blue-haired girl before turning and climbing the kint.

"Mel, Kai, go find yer daoa. Hold hands this time, boch." He grunted, stopping next to Calli. The two older children were more afraid than interested now, and they scampered off without argument.

"Hey there, chip. I'm here t'help ya. Looks like y'took quite a fall there, eh?" She wasn't bleeding, he noted, which was a good sign. The green-haired wick did his best to look over the young witch, noting scrapes and bruises. Her limbs weren't in unusually painful positions, and he found that encouraging, "Does anythin' in particular hurt more'n'the rest of ya?"

The cook had no idea where to begin, and while he could tell Calli was a bit delirious, he hoped she could point him in the right direction without too much trouble.

Wendy had pointed wordlessly to the tree-- mostly because she was out of breath, before the man had shoved a child into her arms-- a child! and left to go fix the blond wick. Okay. Remember the rules of caring for children: Number one, don't drop the kid! Number two...don't...drop...the kid?! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH CHILDREN.

"Uhhhh..." She said uncertainly, looking at the small child, "I'm Venadi. Don't drool on me or anything." Wendy couldn't imagine anything more unpleasant than having to care for a child-- who was promptly slipping out of her arms-- while a burly man climbed on top of her roof.

The little girl squirmed and Wendy finally put her down, before jumping to grab the girl again. "Dirt isn't for eating!" she growled, still holding the child awkwardly as she headed over towards her kint.



"D'you hear that, girl? That's why you en't supposed to climb trees!" Wendy whispered to the younger girl, looking up and managing to hear the last question.

"Oy! She said her shoulder was out of her socket!" The child in her arms was struggling to climb her shoulders and Wendy wrestled with it helplessly, "No you can't go up there it'll not hold another soul-- not even one so small as you ahhrhrgh!"

Wendy's head snapped to the side as the child grabbed her hair.

((Yo, I'm not sure if this okay because I kinda modded the child a little bit. If it's not just send me a word.))

Hal was lost. Again. It seemed like every time he turned around, the colors and wickish things got him disoriented. He hadn't spent five consecutive minutes with Calli since arriving at the island, it seemed.

But he heard a voice out the corner of his ear. He whipped his head around, trying to hone in on the source. He spotted her, lying on the roof of a wagon under a tree, with two other wicks near her. He set off at a run.

"Leave her alone, you bas-" he was yelling, until he saw her dislocated shoulder. She was injured. "Calli! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

He shot his head up at the two wicks. A couple, he supposed, since the girl was holding a kid that looked like the man crouched over Calli. She felt human more than wick, and while she was definitely a witch from the neck-up, her garb left something to be desired, as far as wicks went.

"What did you do to her?!" He glared at the two of them before scrabbling up the side of the cart and kneeling next to the disoriented Calli.

Calli was starting to wonder why the bear was talking to her when she realised he was a man.

"I'ma circus perferma, I feel n' pain." She said, giggling a little. "Jus tug on my shoulder it's outta the so... so... keh..."



"Hes'a Hal!" Calli said cheerfully, coughing as she ran out of air again. "I fell fr'm a tree 'cause I wen' too higghhhh and it didn't like meee."



"He's gonna make me mind his bochi Hal!" Calli said, eyes big and worried. "They all make me 'n I dun wanna! I gotta real job now!"

Hal didn't understand Tek. Therefore, he didn't know what bochi meant. By extension, in his protective state, with the reference to occupation, he assumed the worst.

"He's gonna make you mind his what?!" He whipped his head around to the man, glaring with death in his eyes.

"I didn't do--" the boy pushed past her and clambered onto the kint, which alarmed Wendy quite a bit. It's going to collapse! Petra'll be SO MAD! She could even hear the wood creaking. "Augh you-- boy get the hell OFF MY HOUSE!" The child pulled on her hair and Wendy tugged at her little wrist, but by then it had started screaming and Wendy groaned. She put it on the ground, "No, no stop SCREAMING. AHHH! Stop it!"

The girl only screamed louder and Wendy clutched at her head, "Sorry! Sorry! Stop! Please! Okay my house is going to break and I need you to be quiet, please." But being reasonable obviously wasn't working either. Children didn't like civilized discourse! Wendy would have to go to get extreme.

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE EXTREME. I don't even like children!

Wendy looked down at what she was wearing and her eyes honed in on the pouch of stones. She unstrung it from her belt and rattled it at the child. It stopped it's wailing for a moment, looking at this new object with interest. Wendy shook the makeshift rattle again and the child reached for it. She made sure the laces were tied tightly before handing it to the child and then turning back to her kint.

Now she could get down to business. "Okay, get off my house. Right now." She climbed up on the wheel of the kint and grabbed Hal's ankle, "Don't make me drag you down. Scrubbing halls at Brunhold's given me muscles like you wouldn't believe, kid!" Wendy snapped, only realizing what she said a moment later and turning slightly pink because of it. Her humiliation made her all the angrier. Stupid boy making me lose my temper! He's got no right to make me say those things. And he's going to break my house! She thought rather irrationally.

"I don't care if you're her brother, husband, boyfriend or clocking concerned stranger you are getting off my house right now."

Hal didn't even look at Wendy when she yelled at him-- he was more concerned with whatever the man was trying to get his Calli to do against her will. And how the clock did she get hurt?!

But he did flinch as the child in her arms erupted in screams.



Hal reacted instantly to the contact, kicking out and unsheathing the small blade that hung around his neck. "Leave us alone, clock it!"



Hal flinched for a moment. She doesn't have any kind'a field... the realization struck him that she might not be human, but passive.



That's when he realized that he could hear wood creaking under his shifting weight. But he wasn't about to acquiesce so quickly, "Not till you explain what happened ta Calli!" He pointed his little dagger at the blue-and-black haired woman. He put an arm protectively over Calli's midsection, causing the creaking to increase.

"An' who are you, anyway?"

"Hal, I fink I'ma 'bout to break the kint. Iss nice to see you." She blinked blearily. "I tol' you, I fell outta tree. Tha tree is a bit ofa..."

Calli rattled off a chain of expletives that would have made a sailor blush. She managed to insult the trees sexual prowess, attractiveness and a few other qualities she didn't have a name for. She had learned most of the words from Taegan, although some had come from Hal as well.

"Don' I know you?" She repeated, having forgotten she'd asked before, looking at Wendy. "Are we rela'ed?"

Wendy's face turned from angry to surprised to furious. "Don't you dare!! Don't you dare make me come up there!"



Wendy half thought it was because of her tone of voice and her face softened. It helped to know other people were afraid of her.

"Look, if you'll just--"



The creaking alarmed her more than the knife. She didn't move for fear of having the entire thing collapse.



"NO, we are not related!" Wendy gasped, probably more shocked at the horridly outrageous bad words that were coming out of calli's mouth than by the suggestion, "My name's Venadi and if your friend Hal doesn't get his ass off my house I'm going to take that knife and do horrible things to him with it!" Another horrible creak caused Wendy to wince, she was in no position to bargain. Not to the kid with the little knife who could easily stab her in the eye from where he was.

"Please? Your friend will be fine with...this...man. He's going to heal her but the wood is old and if you stay up there any longer you'll all be hurt and my house will be destroyed."

She paused and looked the boy over, realizing for the first time he had no field. Her stomach churned a little and her mouth set, "I'm going to get off this wheel now, and you are going to put the knife away, and climb down, and then wait for Cassi to be healed. Please." She added that again for extra emphasis, and got off the wheel carefully.

So what if he's a passive? He was probably born and raised here. He'd have to be to make friends with that little wick.

And yet. Wendy glanced at the little girl and then jumped forward. Somehow, she'd managed to get the strings open and was in the process of putting stones in her mouth.

ohhh no! Wendy lunged and pulled the stone out of the little girl's fingers, quickly counting the ones that had been spilled until she was satisfied that there were sixteen. She put the stones in her pouch and tied it up again, this time making sure there were three knots before handing it to the child.

Things to know about babies number two: Don't give them little rocks to eat.

She heard a horrible groan from behind her and cringed.

((Wow, guys. This really took off ... I'm going to do my best to catch up here. ))

Rhob was only slightly overwhelmed by the appearance of Hal and all of the slightly belligerent posturing. He stood and scowled at the boy despite hardly being any taller,

"Look, kov, I ent sure wavin' that pointy thing'o'yers up here is such a good idea. It's fine that this chip's yer friend'n'all, but let's use our brainbox an' be smart 'bout things, ye chen? I'ma gonna be castin' a spell here to make things a little better for yer friend, so if yer gonna keep bein' the bull in the pen, can ye get down?" The green-haired wick spoke with the practiced ease of a father of too many children. He was not threatening, but instead carried an air of gentle persistence.

Without waiting for a response, he glanced down at the blue-haired witch struggling with his daughter, "Renie, boch, ye mind th'nice lady and da will be down in a tick. Ye don' want yer daoa hearin' y'ent been mindin', do ye?"

The toddler responded by a bit of blinking and a big shy smile.

The green-haired cook eyed Hal one more time without fear so much as concern before looking to Calli, "Well, chip, this ent gonna feel any better than it did on the way down. Epameo." The wick squatted down on the uneven, unsteady roof and leaned forward, placing one hand on the young witch's shoulder. He inhaled and closed his eyes, placing his other hand above her chest, on her collar bone.

Calli could feel a warmth, then a sharp biting pain spread from where the wick's hands touched her as he began to cast his healing spell. Everyone tasted something spicy. The pain washed over Calli's body, leaving a warmth in it's place that lingered for a few extra seconds. This was no simple spell, and when Rhob was finished he slid his hands away and sat down with a heavy sigh, despite sounds of protest from the broken kint roof.

The young witch could feel her shoulder was much better, though perhaps still tender. The spell may have knit her tendons painfully back into place and assuaged a few bruises and scrapes, but by the dull ache she could tell that she was not fully recovered.

Rhob eyed Hal with tired green eyes; the spell had taken a lot out of the tattooed cook, "We should get'er down, ye know. Ye friendly enough t'help me with that or what?"

Hal's head snapped from glaring at Wendy over to glare at the wick. He had a sour look for a moment, before sheathing the little blade. He scooched a little closer to Calli, which only managed to put more weight on the center of the roof. It creaked dangerously. He stopped stock still, which was a feat for his twitchy countenance. He watched as the man cast a spell on Calli, and had to stop himself from punching the guy for touching her. He tasted something with a kick, and then Calli's shoulder started looking a good deal better.



He glanced at him, then back at Calli. He would never be able to get her down on his own, so he might as well. He rose to one knee to help him help her. He felt a slight jolt and heard a loud crack! as a support seemed to snap.

Calli could feel that the bone was still out of where it was supposed to be but everything hurt less now. She had remained silent while the spell was cast, inhaling and exhaling, eyes wide.

"Thank you." she said at normal volume, sitting up.

She looked down and tried to gauge just how she was going to get off without breaking the kint. She placed her good hand on the side of the kint closest to Hal, legs straight and pointed in the opposite direction so her weight was more evenly distributed. The result was Calli in something like a plank position, facing the man that had healed her.

"I think it might be a good idea if I just jumped off or something... What do you think, Hal?" Her right arm was almost useless since it hadn't been pushed back into the joint yet.

"Uh," he said nervously. Since her backside was now toward him, he had a clear view of it. That and he was scared of falling through the roof now. He mentally shook himself, "Uh, normally I'd say 'yeah,' but I dunno if you c'n balance right with that shoulder the way it is."

In all honesty, he had every confidence in her ability (he had seen her leap off the second story roof of Ue's Smithy, for crying out loud), but he nearly had a heart attack every time she did something like that.

"Maybe if we're just careful an'..." He began a slow shuffle to the edge of the roof, hoping not to destroy any more beams in there...

"I don'think jumpin' down is in yer best interest, chip." Rhob looked at Calli sternly, a fatherly caution to his voice. He shifted his weight carefully, using his hands to distribute himself evenly on the roof of the kint, but he didn't stand.

"If'n we can find another body'r'two to catch ye, we might could get'cha down without further damagin' th'roof. I think."

The green-haired cook looked to Hal, "Can ye get down an' see if ye can find another coupl'a pairs of hands? I don't think yer friend's too heavy, so anyone'll do." Steadying himself, the wick moved to offer a counterbalance on the now-delicate roof beams, attempting to give Hal more support on his way off the kint to keep the thing together.

Wendy tensed up as she heard one of the supports snap and whirled around, staring up at the top of the cart.

"Be careful!" she called out nervously. "It's an old kint!"

Hal nodded and did a low, sprawling crab walk toward the edge, much to the roof's dismay.



Hal glowered at her, "We ent gonna break yer 'kint'."Bitch... I hope.

Hal nodded at the man and began shuffling slowly over the edge. He hoped Calli didn't try to backflip or roll or whatever off. He didn't see it ending well... Though, ever the optimist that he was, he never saw it ending well.

Once down, he set off at a run toward the crowd. He hopped up on a low wall and took a quick look around for someone helpful-looking. He thought he saw a pair of heads that might have been Dorian and Taegan and turned the other way. He took a grab at a passing pair of wicks, "Oi, my friend needs 'elp gettin' offa someone's kint, 'r whatever. Can ya gimme a hand?"

The two wicks were a young couple, very much distracted by each other ... at least until Hal snatched at their hands and surprised them with his panicked words.

The woman, who had orange hair and a big smile, managed to speak first, "H-Hesta. You need help?" She blinked, looking from the young man to the direction he pointed with the nod of his head.

The man, whose blond hair was long and in a braid, did not smile so much as look concerned and interrupted. He grunted an, "Oes," despite a bit of confusion, "Lead the way, brunno."

The pair, still startled, understood by Hal's sense of urgency that they were needed and followed him back to the kint. Rhob was still on the roof, and saw them approach. He looked to Calli, speaking in his calm, fatherly tone, "Well, chip, let's getcha down slowly. I'm gonna crawl a bit towards th'edge and give ye my hand. I know ye still need yer arm fixed up more, but we'll worry 'bout that on the ground, ye chen? It looks like yer friend found ye some help. They should be able to catch a chip as nimble as ye."

He slid towards the edge, hearing the wood creak and protest underneath him. He was thankful to be a smaller man, but it was obvious the kint was damaged. Rhob balanced precariously and offered his hand to Calli, glancing down to Hal and his new wick friends, "Ye'll have to get ready to catch a nice young chip. She should be easy for the three of ye."

He looked back to Calli, "Come on slowly, an' I'll help ye down."

Calli was starting to look grey again. Normally she could throw herself about for hours but healing had tired her and the muscles about her shoulder smarted.

She smiled at the nice kov.

"Alright, just be careful of my left shoulder, I stuffed it." She made a face of terrible concentration, shifting her left leg up and sideways so it was now next to her supporting arm. "I think that might work."

She bent her knees and rose up a little, so she could put her right hand on Rhob's shoulder. From there he could grasp her waist if he wanted to and lift her up.

"I'm sorry, I think I'm going to be sick after this." She said, in apology and as a warning.