There's Something in the Bread

There's more prior to this. I'll add it in soon. 

Ranol jumps at the recognition of his name, looking over at Frarin with wide blue eyes. "What?!" When his voice echoes he gazes around slowly, as if the walls of the canyon were mocking him. Which, in his mind, they are. He lowers his voice to a harsh whisper, "What?" Another quick glance around, and now there's a challenging look in the karl's eye as if he's daring the stone to echo back at him again.

[Thari(#31038)]
"Another?!" Thari whispers eagerly, leaning toward Frarin, but he reaches over and curls her hand closed. She looks up. Her eyes alight on Ranol but before she says a thing she silently passes the treasure back to Frarin's hand.

"Ranol!" she says scoldingly. "Your arm!" She starts forward, her ponies following after, then mutters to herself and passes the reins for her beasts to Frarin without so much as asking for his help.

Quickly she walks toward her cousin and reaches for his wrist. "Ranol. Ranol, look at me."

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin takes the ring back from Thari without a word and and slips it into his tunic pocket. As she hands him her reins without asking, he takes them again without a word, though he stares at them for moment. He brings his four ponies to a halt, coming towards Ranol and Thari now leading fully six of the sturdy little beasts.

Ranol backs off as Thari approaches, his eyes still wide. He drags Jopper along with him, the pony snuffing in irritation as his head is suddenly jerked in the opposite direction. "Why? So you can bind me up again like a mummy? No way, Thari!" Ah, there's that echo again. The dwarf hisses at the canyon. "Stop it!"

[Thari(#31038)]
"/Yes/ so I can bind you up again like a mummy!" Thari says with her own irritation. Her hand falls as he backs up and, for a moment, dappled sunlight shifts across Ranol's face. Her eyes glaze over as she watches him.

Thari blinks hard, and approaches Ranol again, reaching for him. "Hold still!"

[Frarin(#31050)] "Oh Durin," Frarin grumbles to himself. He comes towards Thari and Ranol, frowning at first the clan-karl, then Thari when her gaze becomes glassy. A hand is placed on Thari's shoulder as if to steady the healer, but he simultaneously reaches for Ranol's poor pony Jopper, to take the reins away from the guard.

Ranol squeezes his eyes tightly shut for a moment, then snaps them open wide again. 'No.'.." No." As if different languages will make his wishes more clear. " No no no. I will -not- hold still! Aren't you -listening-?" He backs up further as both dwarves approach him now, scowling fiercely. 'Back off!' Jopper's reins are released and the pony skitters away, rolling his eyes in agitation. Ranol reaches to place his hand on his sword sheath. 'No more getting ordered around. I'm taking a break from it!'

[<#31038>]
" I'm trying to take /care/ of you!" Thari hisses in the same secret tongue. She jumps forward and now reaches for his other wrist, his sword-hand as it touches his sheath. '/Look/ at me, Ranol, it's Thari! Your cousin!'

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin makes as if to takes Jopper's reins, but the pony skitters away and the silversmith is distracted by Ranol's reaching for his sword. "Ranol, we're trying to help. Stay your hand, cousin."

Ranol shakes his head, confused for a moment. Then the karl dances away from them again, yanking his arm away from Thari's reaching hand. "I know that! I know who you are, both of you! But I'm telling you that I'm fine and I don't need any help!" He hears the echo again and growls in frustration, "Augh!!" Clearly Ranol is not himself. He pulls the sword free of it's scabbard and looks around at the canyon walls again threateningly. "Stop! I warn you!" Bad trip.

[Thari(#31038)]
Ranol is a dwarf. And not some fat, wealthy, stay at home counting his wealth sort of dwarf, but a guard. There's a reason why many races respect an armed dwarf and apparently, even with her own mild drugging, Thari does too.

She steps back from Ranol, slightly closer to Frarin. "Ranol!" she says in an upset, overly-wounded tone, head wobbling a little. "Why would you speak to me so?"

[Frarin(#31050)] "Ranol," Frarin says very levelly, trying to pull Thari back a bit as she edges towards him. The silversmith is eyeing Ranol's drawn sword with a frown and a very serious stare. By now the three of them have been left somewhat behind the rest of the caravan. "Ranol, you are not yourself. Do you hear me? You are not yourself." His eyes flick to the walls as Ranol begins yelling at them. "Ranol, there is no one else here. Put your sword away, cousin. Put it away."

Ranol breaths heavily now, his hand clenching his sword tightly as his imagination exagerates the already warped perception he's experiencing. Is it two trolls with six monstrous horse-beasts behind them.. or is it Thari and Frarin, with a group of ponies? He holds the sword out wide, his blue eyes flicking around rapidly, the walls in particular giving him pause. Slowly he lowers the sword. He doesn't sheath it, but he's -thinking- about it.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's eyes keep straying from Ranol's sword-arm to his wounded shield-arm as if drawn there. She reaches for her cousin briefly but doesn't step toward him. "Ranol, please, you're hurting yourself." She looks over to Frarin, "He's /hurting/ himself. I'm going to need to bind his arm until he comes to his senses."

[Frarin(#31050)] "By the Maker," Frarin mutters to himself. "We must throw every ounce of food out if we cannot find the cause of all this." He is staring at Ranol still, but he murmurs to Thari. "I know he is hurting himself. I /know/. But he might hurt someone else too." Back to the clan-karl. "There we are, Ranol, just put your sword back in its sheath, all right?"

It's so .. SO slowly that he slides the sword back into the scabbard, as if every moment is amplified to ten times it's normal length. He constantly gazes around as he does this, never letting his eyes settle for more than a count of two. He lets go of the pommel when the sword is finally snug in it's sheath, and the clan-karl takes a few steps to the canyon wall to touch the hard stone. "Shhh.." He says, glancing back over to Frarin.

[Thari(#31038)]
The moment that Ranol releases the pommel Thari is after him again, several quick steps and her hand reaching for his shield-hand. She behaves as if feverish, driven toward this goal.

[Frarin(#31050)] "Thari!" Frarin is surprised when the healer is lunging after Ranol, especially with the wary, paranoid manner in which the clan-karl is now looking about them. He releases the reins of the two lines of ponies behind him, very likely expecting the worst sort of reaction from Ranol and prepared to shield Thari from her cousin if need be.

It was Frarin's calming voice, of all things, that was keeping him grounded. Thari rushes at him, grabbing for his arm and suddenly things get distorted again. Ranol yells in protest, trying to yank his arm away from the Thari-Troll, and swings at her with his good hand.

[Thari(#31038)]
The bright smack of flesh-on-flesh is loud in the echoing little canyon as Ranol's hand strikes Thari's cheek. Her face is knocked aside a bit her eyes go wide. She drops Ranol's wrist and backs away a step, groaning, "Oh, Durin's forge, I'm an idiot."

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin is immediately in action, one hand reaching to steady Thari while the other reaches to take a hold of the wrist of Ranol's offending hand. "Ranol!" the silversmith says harshly through clenched teeth, voice growling but level. "Ranol, get a hold of yourself!"

Ranol's hand is shaking. Frarin can likely feel it as he holds onto his wrist. The karl glares at the merchant with heavy suspicion for a long moment, then his anger begins to ebb away. Confusion takes over as the guard begins to regain some of his senses. "What's.. what's going on?"

[Thari(#31038)]
One of Thari's cheeks is deeper flushed than the other. Her eyes look a bit misty as they watch Ranol and wide. Her mouth opens and then shuts. At last she says, "I had to hit you to get you to come to your senses, cousin," in a vague, guilty sort of way. "I'm sorry. Are you unhurt?"

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin glances at Thari sharply when she responds to Ranol, but he nods stiffly once he looks back to the clan-karl. He does not release Ranol's wrist, but his grip relaxes somewhat and he starts to steer Ranol off of the road and towards a few stones to sit on. By this time the rest of the caravan has paused to look back at them, but expecting some family dispute, most have begun to simply take a break and water their ponies.

"Are you all right, cousin?" Frarin says levelly, steadily. "DO you remember what you have had to eat today?"

Ranol seems stable for the moment, and gazes at Thari in bewilderment until Frarin distracts him and has him sit down. "What I ate.. ? Some.. water. A bit of cheese. Some bread, and dried meat. I don't feel right." One of the ponies nickers and Ranol looks up sharply as it echoes. He's not through this all yet, unfortunately. "Frarin, why are you holding my wrist?"

[Thari(#31038)]
The pony's nicker seems to startle Thari, too, for her head jerks back at the sound. Her eyes blink, too, and two tears are released to roll over her cheeks. Her hands fly to her face and rub at the wetness while she shivers.

[Frarin(#31050)] "You were wandering all around, cousin," Frarin says, keeping up Thari's pretense. "I did not want you hurting yourself." He looks back at Thari and leaves off Ranol for a second to take a hold of the healer's hand and lead her towards a stone next to her cousin. "Thari, sit down. The both of you have whatever's going wrong in this company." He looks back at Ranol with a frown. "Cheese, bread, and dried meat. By the Maker, that could be anything."

Ranol scrubs his hand through his hair when Frarin releases him, his gaze wandering over to his cousin. "Thari.. What's wrong?" He asks suddenly, his voice heavy with concern.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari keeps hold of Frarin's hand after she is seated and buries her face in his palm, her own hands around his wrist. "I'm scared, Ranol," the usually-stalwart lady says into Frarin's fingers. "The lights are coming in my head. I'm losing my senses."

[Frarin(#31050)] "It will pass," Frarin assures Thari, kneeling on his good knee in front of the healer and Ranol. "I felt better this morning. It will pass." Several dwarves up ahead are glancing back now in curiosity and Frarin raises his gaze to look at them. "Listen, you two stay right here, all right? I am going to tell the others we should make camp for the rest of the day and set about disposing of our food and drinks, and setting traps for whatever game there is in this area. We cannot continue like this. Stay here, understand?" He looks between the two, gives Thari's hand a squeeze, then stands and quickly makes for the distant remainder of the caravan.

Ranol reaches over to pat Thari, oblivious to his behavior a few minutes ago. He's still jumpy, his eyes far shiftier than normal, but now that he's calmed down some his even temperment seems to be keeping his imagination in check again. "Okay, Frarin.. If you think that's best." He responds as the older dwarf moves away. The clan-karl reaches his hand up then to rub his shoulder, an ache beginning to settle.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's reaction is slow, but she reaches after Frarin. "Oh!" she sighs, her voice lowered for her cousin. "I'm so /tired/ of needing him and not being able to be with him yet. I wanted to sleep beside him so badly after he found me in the marshes." She rubs at her face and then whips her hands away to start shaking them hard as if there were insects on them.

Ranol suddenly realizes that his arm isn't in the sling, and when Thari is looking down at her hands, shaking them, he tries to sneak the sling back around his healing shoulder. "A bit longer, cousin.. a few more months." Ranol isn't sure what other reassurance he can offer. The echoes are still offending him and he's trying very hard to ignore them.

[Thari(#31038)]
"A few more months?" Thari repeats distractedly, shaking her hands harder. She looks a little horrified then finally clenches them into fists and sets them in her lap. She looks over at Ranol. "Your poor shoulder," she says mournfully.

"It'll be okay. It barely hurts. Don't worry about it." Has the bruise begun forming on her face yet? If it has, Ranol hasn't noticed it yet. He's still eying the walls of the canyon, rubbing at those sore muscles once more. "Frarin.. he says we're just sick.. Right? He's sure?"

[Thari(#31038)]
"Frarin knows," Thari says, uncurling a fist and scratching at her palm. "Frarin knows. He's very clever though sometimes I need to get him to pay attention." Her head lifts. She looks around worriedly. "Where is Frarin?"

"He said he wants us to stay here while he tells everyone to camp, since we're all getting sick again. Isn't that crazy? Dwarves never get sick." Ranol suddenly looks around in much the same manner that Thari just did. "Where's my pony?"

[Thari(#31038)]
"I don't know what to do for sickness because dwarves don't get sick," is Thari's only answer. She stands up, still scratching her palm. "Someone needs to break a bone or something because that I can do." She turns and looks down at Ranol. Her face crumples into sorrow. "You /hit/ me," she says.

Ranol looks back to her, watching as she stands. When she states that he hit her, the clan-karl stares at her with incomprehension for a long moment. He what?? He would never hit Thari! .. except, that.. he did! There's suddenly horror on Ranol's face as he remembers what happened, the twisted memories flooding back. "Oh Durin.. Oh.. Thari! I'm so sorry!!" He jumps up from his seat, still horrified as he gazes at her with all the guilt and shock in his being upon his face.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's eyes go wide and she gasps as Ranol suddenly sits up. She stumbles a half-step backwards and then falls into a hard seat upon the ground. Her hands slap upon the rocky earth. She looks up at Ranol with an equally shocked expression.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari's eyes go wide and she gasps as Ranol suddenly stands up. She stumbles a half-step backwards and then falls into a hard seat upon the ground. Her hands slap upon the rocky earth. She looks up at Ranol with an equally shocked expression.

Ranol backs off quickly, not about to push into her personal space after realizing what he's done. "Thari.. please. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking!" The shock is being replaced with misery, but the guilt is still very evident.

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari looks up at Ranol with those round eyes, looking a bit confused. She blinks again and another pair of tears escape from the corners of her eyes to roll toward her beard. "I don't understand!"

Ranol drags his hand through his beard, shaking his head in denial. "Thari. It was an accident.." No, that's not right. "I mean.. I didn't.. wasn't, thinking right." The clan-karl is having a hard time, struggling to concentrate past the emotional torment. "I'm so sorry."

[Frarin(#31050)] Frarin is huffing up the slope of the road again, limping lightly but with his gaze down at the ground. When he does look up, a...concerning sight meets his eyes. Thari is on the ground with what almost looks like tears glistening on her cheeks, and over her is standing Ranol, though admittedly he seems to be trying to stand back from Thari.

"Ranol?" Frarin's voice is level, but wary, as if afraid of spooking the clan-karl. His eyes flick to Thari. He has stopped about twenty feet from the two cousins. "Is...something the matter?"

[Thari(#31038)]
Thari closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then another. She sits up straighter and rubs her face with her hands. "Ranol, Ranol, I..."

Frarin speaks and Thari drops her hand, turning her face to look at him. She rolls unsteadily to her feet. "Frarin?" She gives him a smile.

Ranol looks over at Frarin, then back to Thari. He backs away further, but not with that same defensiveness he had earlier. This is more of a guilty, worried expression. "I'm so very sorry. I don't know what to say!" He says in a soft voice filled with horror at his own actions.