Verana woke to a sudden shift in the boat, snapping her hand up to catch the wrist of whomever was reaching over her. She growled and opened her eyes, seeing a man, dark eyes and dark wings, crouched at her feet, watching her calmly. He was wearing the same light armour as the others had this spring, the same blades on his hips, but he was older. He froze as he met her eyes, allowing her to hold his arm, as if afraid that if he moved she would disappear or break.

"Nama Veranandein." He murmured softly, pulling his arm back as she released it.

The large man sat back onto one of the benches, watching her scramble onto her own, putting the small distance of her tiny boat between them. She braced against the awful wobbling of the boat from her movements, squinting in pain against the just rising sun.

"And you are?" her voice was rough with dehydration, her head still swimming from a combination of lack of food, whatever drugs she had breathed in, and the strain from her over use of power.

Despite the fact that the sky had begun to lighten, she was still no closer to smelling land again, only endless swaths of this salt water Wild. She felt lost, until she looked back into the calm features of the man in front of her. If he was here, she could find her way home.

"I am Pharos." He offered, smiling gently, reassuringly. "Though I know the name does not help you. I am the Sword of the Queen, father to your brother, Vasha... and we've been looking for you all night."

"Husband to the woman who gave birth to me?" She managed, wondering if the Vayans were like humans in that way, rubbing the heel of her hand to her forehead and letting out a soft noise of pain.

"You have drifted a fair way off course... if you feel well, I can carry you, your friends have a ship... but I'm afraid we've passed right by you in the dark." He offered, still gently, watching her for a moment before answering her question. "I never married your mother. We have always been friends and I was a good choice to father her son... and yes, I knew about you. And no, I did not want to let her give you away but the choice was not mine. I have regretted not fighting harder every day you've been gone. You had a way, as a baby, of looking right into a man's soul and hooking him... that's not gone away."

Verana offered a shrug and looked to her feet. She did not know this Pharos and was unsure how to process someone who had memories of her that she did not share. "I understand. What is Seen... it is necessary. I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't lived the way I had, and I wouldn't trade the Feysha in me for anything. I love my Island, my people... my father. " She was silent for a long moment, before looking up to him again, searching his face for something. "The hooks, or my ability to look into your soul?"

Pharos grinned widely, winking to her. "Both. Now come... you need food and water, and there are a lot of worried people still looking for you. Just beware, I have brought the boys with me and they've decided that you're their sister. And when a Vayan decides they're your kin, you have no hope of convincing them otherwise. They would follow you unarmed into a Rulin stronghold."

She stood unsteadily, frowning at him, there was that word again. "I've never seen a Rulin before."

"Winged like us, but they look a bit different and we've spent our last thousand years fighting them." He grinned and stood with her. When she nodded to him, Pharos helped her turn her around and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Then his wings spread and both of them were lifted effortlessly from the boat while he held her tightly to his chest. He made it seem so effortless as he banked and began flying across the glass-smooth surface of the calm ocean. "This is how all our children learn to fly... they learn how it's supposed to feel before we ever make them carry their own weight."

Verana found herself drifting to sleep once more as the wind brushed past her, carrying them as gently as a parent would carry a child. It was only when she heard the yells from familiar voices that she awoke, blinking against the bright sun just as Pharos was landing lightly on the deck of Oliver's ship. He held her for a moment, letting her get her feet under her and wake up before letting her go, as if testing to make sure she could stand.

He shifted to one side of her, close enough that she felt his half folded wings brush against hers and she had only a moment to glance at him before she was taken into a fierce hug by Sencha. He held her for a moment, taking in a slow breath, searching for anything wrong that she might possibly hide from the worried questions of a father. But she allowed him this, finding comfort in his affections, hugging him back and letting herself relax a bit more in the scent of his reassuring familiarity.

"You need rest. And food... and water." He growled, before he squeezed her one more time, and took a step back. "Where is your pain coming from?"

She glanced around the deck slowly seeing the sharp concern in faces both new and old, then looked at both Pharos and Sencha. She focused on them for the moment, letting out a shaky breath. "My head... I don't know what I breathed in that knocked me out, but it is clinging to my head... and my wings... they... I feel my heartbeat in them, I can barely move them... they had something tying them down... I think they're broken..."

She saw Sencha look to Pharos, who frowned for a long moment and shook his head. The man had not understood Clairvalan. Reyani stepped up beside Verana, motioning toward the cabin that led under the main deck. "There's a cabin downstairs... take her there.... I'll make sure you have what you need, and keep the rest of them out..." Reyani paused, offering a fierce, relieved smile to her. "Welcome back Verana..."

Then her friend spun toward the others, pulling out her fighting staff and using it to motion the others back, sending Human, Vayan and Feysha alike back-pedalling away from her. It allowed Sencha to lead Verana below decks to the cabin in question, followed closely by Pharos. When Sencha repeated what she had told him, in Vayan, Pharos directed her to lay down on her stomach and just relax before he pulled Sencha to the far side of the cabin. His voice low enough that Verana had to strain to hear it, even though the buzzing in her ears was less than it had been before she had been taken.

"They're not broken but they're probably seized. I'm going to have to stretch them out... and I'd prefer it be you helping me, but it's going to be painful... I can ask one of the boys, if you would like. It's necessary if she ever wants to fly again." Pharos' voice was different than when he had been talking to her, almost a command.

She heard a low, guttural growl from Sencha, before he responded. " You're lucky I'm letting you touch her."

"Yes." Pharos' responding growl sounded just as guttural, though there was wry amusement in it. "I'm lucky I know what I'm doing, and you know that you do not. You need me."

There was a stretch of silence and she could picture Sencha glaring at the other man.

Then Verana heard them move back to where she was, forcing herself to breathe deeply and relax as much as she could, though she was thankful when Sencha gave her a long strip of leather to bite down on.

There was a pause before she heard Pharos murmur. "Now, don't fight this, but your wings are going to have to open, whether they want to or not... you're only allowed to hit us once we're done."

Verana braced well as she could but there wasn't any way that she could have prepared for the feeling of them ripping her wings apart once they started. Logically, her brain knew that that wasn't what they were doing but it was what it felt like as they began forcing her limbs to move. Verana tried to remain relaxed, but before she passed out from pain, the last thing she remembered was Pharos pinning her with one knee.

She could smell the discomfort from both of them even as her vision went grey and the sounds of her own yells faded from her ears.