Title: Return from the Nighteye
Fandom: High Rollers: Aerois campaign
Rating: G
Length: 668 words
Content notes: SPOILERS for episode 32, Whispers of the Void (and previous episodes), set at the end of 32.
Author notes: Thought process on the prompt was shower -> rain -> storm, and was going to be more character study on different characters' reactions to storms until I watched episode 32 and... well. (skip) I cried so much about Quill, from the moment Mark went "she's not in shadows..." and I saw it coming to that damn final image of him and Sentry on the altar. I made my best guess at the spelling of place and god names, from Mark's Behind the Screen and reddit threads.
Summary: Thunder roars continuously above them, and Aila almost wants to go outside and roar back.

Aila glares out into the rising storm, watching as the first showers of rain turn into torrents, and the fierce winds sweep her attempted barriers away like twigs. Of course they did, what else was she expecting today? Lighting begins to fork down relentlessly, and in its cold light she spares a glance for the pitiful feathered body tucked behind her. At least he's safely out of these storms, she thinks, recalling his panicked cries for Sentry when the first one hit in Karkkulle, his gulp at the fresh pain when he remembered why she couldn't answer, how he clung to Aila’s arm instead. Well, Aila hopes he's out of the storms... if there are storms in Quill's afterlife, Aila might just have to go whack the gods.

Thunder roars continuously above them, and Aila almost wants to go outside and roar back. To scream at H'Esper, "Why didn't you save him? You told him he was your chosen, why weren't you there?" At Palador, "They were your people, didn't you see them? Why didn't you stop them?" At Kellara, "Why did you take them? They're ours, give them back." But she doesn't think they would hear her, and if anything happens to her now... there's no Sentry with her warm hands, to bring her back from a lightning strike again. There's no Quill to grumble about using up his magical energy, but still reach out and heal her. Skaldi could help perhaps, but. .. they have two bodies to carry already. Oriya can probably carry Quill, maybe even Lucius and Nova could, he's so light, all feathers and bird bones - but they can't carry Sentry, and they couldn't carry her. She has to stay alive, stay safe, for them.

She looks around at the others. Oriya is also staring out at the storm, probably used enough to these lands to know it's useless to try to sleep until it passes. She meets Aila's eyes, and gives her a sad smile - "I'm here, I'll stick with you, I'll help," it seems to say, and Aila nods back. If - when they've brought Sentry and Quill back to life, they'll have to help Oriya get her ship back, she thinks. They owe her that, for her willingness to stand by them. Next to Oriya, Nova's face is wet - Aila saw her peer out into the storm for a few moments, perhaps trying to work out her idea of using the storms to save Quill, but she knows it's not just rain. She knows Nova has been crying since they stopped for the night, and is crying still. And only hours earlier, she had finally been her cheerful self again, high-pitched and enthusiastic over a solved puzzle... Aila clenches her fist around the Howling Gale, lightning crackling down it in helpless anger. Lucius, meanwhile, is huddled up into a ball at the back of their meagre shelter, turned away from their dead friend. Aila can't see his face, but she’s sure he's awake, no-one could trance through this... At least his shoulders aren't shaking like they were back in the temple as he sobbed over Quill. He’s not complaining either, and Aila had never thought she would miss that.

A particularly strong gust of wind buffets them, making then grab for the rocky walls and each other. Aila throws an arm over Quill’s body, anchoring him in place with her weight. She's never hoped quite so much that 'Daddy' is all Lucius says he is, that he'll be able and willing to help them find a source of power for Quill's ritual. Because if he can't, or won't... If they have to choose... She can see both Sentry and Quill's horrified faces, if they brought back either of them at the cost of the other's chance... No, Aila refuses to go down that path of thought any further. They will save them both, if they have to scour every inch of Aerois for a way to do it, they will. She will.