A Late-Night Offering

[Quill]

(Little note: Quill makes an offering, so a little mention of blood/her cutting her palm. Thought I would warn since I'm woozy abt blood myself lol)

Quill has rarely had nightmares at all since moving to Holdfast. When she awakes in a cold sweat on the inn floor, she can't completely remember the nightmares she's had tonight. Just flashes. More bloodshed. Snakes coiling around her legs, their scales scraping her flesh. The sharp ache of pressure, the sound of her own skull cracking. Screaming for salvation with no answer. Something happening to Amber. Something happening to Kondor. Something happening to town.

 Quill's pulse pounds in her ears. Her hands come up to hold her head like she's reminding herself her skull is still intact. She takes a deep breath, trying to calm the panic thudding in her chest. She pulls herself up off the inn floor. It's late—or early enough—now that there are few people left awake in the inn at this hour. She's thankful for that. The way people look at her lately is not something she takes pride in.

 She nicks an apple from the kitchen and slips out the door. The cold air is a little reassuring in her lungs. The town gate is empty like she knew it would be. She wishes for a moment that Kondor would return, then banishes the thought. It's a selfish thing to wish for. It's not safe for him here. Still. She doesn't know what to do about any of this. Kondor always seems to know more than she does. She has no doubt she could understand all of Saa's actions if he explained it to her.

She eats her apple, watching the treeline with disinterest. She wishes she could visit Saa's old grounds. Maybe she would be able to feel it if there was something still there. Something had to still be there. Town couldn't have lost Saa completely. The idea that Saa may not want to help them makes Quill's anxieties increase tenfold. On top of her worries, she would like to know at least one person wasn't upset with her, even if that "person" was technically more of a snake. She knows she's really screwed it up this time.

 Moving around with weapons is harder than it was before. It feels like few people want the Saa apprentice around them with a blade in her hands after Amber's near-sacrifice. Quill can't really blame them. Even if she had good intentions, she knows how it looks. Still, she has her dagger. She's not doing anything bad with it, she tells herself, so nobody needs to know she owns one.

 Quill kneels in the wet grass, making a face at the chill that seeps into her skin. The style of the dagger isn't one she's too familiar with. It's a throwing dagger, technically, and there's an odd sort of shape to the blade she's not used to. Still, she knows how to use a weapon. She draws the blade across her palm and it slips. It takes another two strikes before enough blood trickles to the ground in lazy droplets. ((3 units, Quill can only hit for 1 at a time with a throwing knife   )) She mumbles a quiet prayer to Saa. Another apology. A hesitant, humble plea to protect Holdfast in war or at the very least, her closest friends and family. She doesn't even know if Saa can hear her here, if they would get this offering. She doesn't really know how any of this works. Some "priestess" she is, but she hopes it means something. She hopes all of this means something.
Quill gets to her feet. The dagger is quickly hidden away in her layers of skirts. She presses her injury to her mouth to soothe the sting; she can already hear her medic friends cussing her out about possible infection, but she can't bring herself to care. With one last look towards the gate, she heads back inside.