A couple of assistants moved to... well assist, but were stopped by a gesture from Rainelle. Shifting her weight she moved to her knees before the woman that collapsed and lightly shook her while trying to get her attention with her words. In the few seconds it took to bring her back to reality an unknown amount of time passed in Terri's mind, a violent storm of emotions throwing her about with such force her body actually swayed between the shakes from Rainelle.

"Hey, is this boy's name Ethan?"

"Who is he?"

"Do you know Ethan?"

"What happened to Ethan?"

It wasn't until Rainelle had said Ethan's name a few times that Terri's gaze began to once again focus on her surroundings, her form flinching a bit as Terri came into focus before her. Her training suddenly kicking in as she reflectively pushed Rainelle back and away from her.

"Who?!"

She looked around while jumping to her feet and was about to draw her sword when her gaze once again fell upon Ethan. Freezing in place she turned to look to her right and saw that several people were standing around an injured Selena, though they were all frozen in place as they watched her with fearful expressions.

"The medical tent..."

Returning her attention back to the woman who was currently standing while patting some dust from her body she suddenly relaxed and dropped into a partial bow.

"My sincerest apologies for my rudeness. I was overcome by shock and conducted myself in a shameful manner."

If Rainelle hadn't seen the despair and complete mental collapse of the woman in front of her she would have been more upset at being thrown back like that. However, in her time as a healer she had seen many similar reactions and could see that it was a mistake.

"By me a drink sometime and I'll consider us even."

She finally said after exhaling a deep breath to center herself and looking over to the injured woman in armor.

"Okay, get her out of that armor stat."

Terri blinked a few times upon hearing the condition for her to earn the healer's forgiveness and smiled a bit despite herself. She then turned her gaze to those helping Selena and quickly explained the situation.

"She took an insect leg to the side..." She paused to take a shuttering breath before continuing.

"She was protecting me. I had grown impatient as the battle continued."

She spoke as she slowly made her way toward the table and while the armor plates were removed and tossed off to the side. Not even the clattering of metal upon metal caused her to flinch as she came to a stop by Selena's head, her pale face expressionless as her hair, wet with sweat, clung to her face and cheeks. Reaching out she traced the back of her fingers against her dearest friend's cheek and whispered with a quivering voice.

"Don't worry Selena, you will be free of my foolishness soon enough."

Turning back to the one she pushed she straightened while clearing the tears from her eyes with the back of her armored hand, the act smearing some monster blood across her face.

"My name is Terri, I am in charge of the Cloudcrest forces that answered Coppershear's call for aid. That young woman is my subordinate, and a dear friend."

If someone was to ask about this Terri's strange behavior, Rainelle would chalk it up to functioning shock, her mind having shut down enough that she didn't collapse again. The healer considered forcing the commander to sit down but decided against it when Terri moved toward the boy named Ethan.

"I'm nearly certain his name is Ethan, Ethan Kipley. He recently became an adventurer and was captured while investigating a kidnapping back in Cloudcrest. What happened to him?"

She turned back to Terri upon asking what happened to him, all the while she tried to keep her heart from tearing itself apart with enough force to kill her from the inside out. Rainelle had been looking down at Ethan while listening and lifted her face with a sympathetic expression.

"Greeting Terri. My name is Rainelle, I am with the Ravenspire forces. We found him like this after we descended the plateau wall. From what we have gathered he some how caught the attention of the entire swarm and then used himself as bait. At first we assumed somehow a small force had pulled it off, perhaps in the area for a different reason, but it soon became clear it could be no more than a few individuals. The area was thoroughly searched but we only found evidence of monsters and Ethan here."

As the woman spoke Terri slowly walked around the table before noticing that his leg wasn't bandaged like his arm. Her fingers, will sliding softly over the surface never actually moved to touch him, and Rainelle felt that the woman's gaze showed something more akin to sad devotion than anything else.

"Why the difference?" She asked after Rainelle had finished, motioning toward the arm and then leg. Rainelle moved to the side of the table opposite of where Terri stood, making sure she didn't get in the way of the healer still working on the boy.

"We don't know how but the leg was already gone and the wound some how cauterized. His arm, however, looked like it been fused with a monster at some point."

She stopped speaking for a moment before motioning to the covered limb in the back. One of the assistants moved to pull back the cover and Terri's eyes narrowed upon seeing its ugliness.

"We removed the arm after the fact out of fear for his well-being. We have no previous experience with such a situation and erred on the side of caution. He is suffering from Nel' Ina poisoning in addition to significant internal and external injuries though I feel he is no longer knocking death's door."

There was a commotion behind her at Selena's table as the young woman suddenly jolted awake and tried to sit up after the healers started working on her with their skills. Terri turned and quickly made her way across the tent and placed a hand Selena's shoulder, pushing her back down while shushing her.

"Commander!"

"Shh, it's okay Selena, I'm okay. You saved me. Thank you."

Her expression was one of apologetic sadness and tears were once again threatening to overwhelm her eyes. She sniffed a bit before shaking her head and lightly patting to top of Selena's head.

"Now get some rest. I'll need you watching my back again soon enough."

"Yes ma'am," Selena finally managed through gritted teeth, her jaw flexed from both emotional and physical pain as the healers continued to force her body to repair itself at an accelerated rate.

Smiling down Terri turned back to Rainelle and was about to ask another question when a low hum suddenly began to enter everyone's hearing. It sounded like a massive charge of bodies, or perhaps a constantly roll of thunder at a single level, but the ground wasn't shaking. Terri and Rainelle both looked around before their gaze shot to each other; were they under attack?

They both moved at the same time and rushed out the tent before looking around. Then their gaze was slowly drawn up and what they saw caused each woman's mouth to fall slack as they looked to the sky above Coppershear in astonishment.