08-26-05 1

Characters involved: Keita & Dosu.

Salamandastron: Infirmary

"Nngh... nngh..." Big breath, and a final, explosive, "Nngh!" No... Keita isn't gagged. She's exercising. Somehow the one-legged doe has managed to move to the edge of the bed, and her left leg is swung over the edge, footpaw resting firmly on the ground. Her exercising? Is trying, with the use of a crutch, to push herself up into a standing position. So far, from the sweat on her brow and the fact that she's still sitting, she has been unsuccessful.

A light tap can be heard at the door, nothing more.

Keita's breathing and that light tap are the only sounds in the room, which is devoid of hares save for a couple asleep in cots and one healer resting with a hat drawn over his eyes in the corner. Her ears swivel around to this foreign sound and a glance is given to the healer, who does not wake. Er. "Come... in?" She quickly stows the crutch at the foot of her bed, not wanting anyone to see her strange activities.

The main door slowly swings open and in walks Dosu. He slowly scans the room with tired eyes, finally stopping on Keita. His eyes widen slightly at the sight before slowly turning back into there regular hazzy state. "....I made haste from Taciturn as soon as I got word.... I'm so sorry for not being there to protect you...."

Keita's eyes light up briefly at the appearance of Dosu, but in her exhaustion she barely manages even to grin. "... Yeah, well, good t' see you too." With a gritting of teeth, she pushes herself up with her arms and moves back on the bed, 'til her back finds wall.

Dosu grins lightly as he slowly walks over to Keita's bed with drooping shoulders and paws hung limply at his sides, his massive sword is nowhere to be seen. "....Mind if I take a seat...?"

Keita shakes her head and gestures tiredly to the foot of her cot. "Nah, 'course not." She rests her head back, breathing out a sigh. "We won Halyard back. Guess ya heard about that too, though."

Dosu sighs lightly, giving a slight nod as he slowly eases himself down to sit at the foot of the cot. "..Yes.. I have heard... Im quite happy for you all..."

Keita's ears flick forward at the sigh, and she gives Dosu a quiet, thoughtful look. "Ya don't seem t' happy about it." Well, he doesn't seem very happy in general.

A faint grin creeps acrost Dosu's face. "...Don't get me wrong, I'm more than just happy for your victory.... But look at the loss you and all the others have taken...."

A faint grin finds its way into the doe's expression, and she shrugs nonchalantly. "What, this ole thing?" She jerks her head at her leg. "Gives me a chance t' catch up on m'readin'. That weasel did me a favah." Wink. "And, well... the othahs. Eh. They'll live, even if they do have t' miss their precious trainin' while they heal." No mention of the dead ones, of course.

Dosu chuckles lightly. "... Its good to know your minds come through all this unharmed.... Your as laid back as always, Keita..."

At Dosu's final words, the doe can't help but snigger. "Laid back. I didn't know ya had a sense o' humah, Dosu." She has been doing a good deal of laying back, after all. Eh heh. Heh.

Dosu chuckles lightly. "...Guess that makes two of us.... So, you able to make your way around yet....?"

Keita sobers slightly at the question, making a face. "No." She nods her head to the crutch just beyond him. "I've been tryin', though. Tired o' being drug around whenevah I need t' go someplace."

Dosu sighs lightly. "...I see... Well only time can heal this... You will adapt.... "

Keita gives an absent prod to her leg, her nose wrinkling at the considerable tenderness. "Aye... Well, t' be honest, it seems like it's takin' m' friends longah t' adapt than anythin'. Me... I'll be a'right. What's one less leg? Spend most o' my time sittin' on a stool behind a bar, aftah all."

Dosu smiles lightly as he turns back to Keita. "...Speaking of the bar, how is it...?"

Keita waves a paw absently and snorts. "Clean as a whistle. Ya'd nevah know a bunch o' scrawny hares 'n' assorted othahs spent a month'r more livin' in the one room."

Dosu chuckles lightly. "...With you tending to the place, I wouldn't dought it.... So is that bar the place you call home...?"

Keita dips her head in a content nod, as she always is when thinking of her tavern. "... Aye. I've livin' quartahs on the second floor, along with the guest rooms. In more normal times, m' staff generally lives on the premises, s'well."

Dosu grins lightly. "...I'm happy for you...."

Keita clasps her paws together behind her head, forming a makeshift pillow as she looks across at Dosu. "Yer still welcome t' stay on. Ya'd make a keen bouncah, I'm tellin' ya."

Dosu sighs lightly as he clenches a fist, cracking a few knuckles in the prosses. "...I .. don't know so much about that one, Keita... But its getting late... You need your rest aswell as I...". He lets out a light grunt as he lifts himself to his footpaws. "... But I'll find a place close by to stay for the time being..."

Keita eyes Dosu quietly for a moment, then in the end nods. "... A'right, Dosu. I wish I knew what went on in that head o' yers sometimes, but... a'right. They've guest dormitories here if ya want a quick place t' nap, but othah than that, yer welcome t' the tavern."

Dosu shrugs lightly as he pulls open the door. "... Maybe I'll just make camp in the forest not far from here... I always find it peacful in the forest...."

Keita chuckles, shaking her head as she waves Dosu on. "Yeah, yeah... off ya go, tree-huggah."

"...Until we meet again...", chuckles the marten as he slowly exits, closingthe door behind him.