A Heart so Cold

Isla take your medicine Isla raised her eyebrows as Archebold excused himself, and she shifted out of the way to give him access to the study - not that there was much to see, given that the fire and the candles were all out. Granted, from what she knew of Bloodfiends the darkness didn't trouble them, but as the former captain appraised her books and files and desk, Isla at least lit a couple of candles for herself. Blowing out the match, she glanced up as he spoke of her 'imperfections'. She felt a smile curl across her lips. "You speak as if I overcame some sort of trial by succeeding in my chosen arena," she said softly. "But I suppose you are right. I do take a certain amount of pride in my work. I have the skills to help people when there are no healers to save the day." Perhaps that term - save the day - was telling in some ways, but she didn't dwell on it. Lingering in the doorway as he seated himself upon her desk and persued her textbooks, Isla glanced over him. Like some eldritch creature lounging in the shadows, the healer realised with a start that she had never seen a Bloodfiend off the battlefield. She had assumed that they lived to fight, and yet here was a former Storm Guard captain, flicking through the pages of a book as studious as one of her fellow medics. His response was unexpected, since Isla had assumed he wouldn't answer at all. And to hear it fall so frankly from his lips... she frowned. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Not that I don't appreciate your candidness, but you confessed to hating my kind just a few breaths ago. Not that you... never mind." He couldn't do anything in a few breaths, given that he didn't breathe, really. "Then again, you say hated. Do you not, anymore?" She tilted her head. But it seemed that Isla was not the only one with requests to make. She caught herself taking a step without thinking about it, logic interfering and halting her progress across the room so she could study Archebold right back. No, she didn't think he would harm her - he was right, and if that was his aim he would have carried it out already. But quite how he was going to show her what he meant was beyond her. And it was that curiosity that took her ever closer into the spider's web. She paused before the desk, deciding that was quite close enough. "I do not live in constant fear of the world, though," she said. "Rather, I am at war with it. No... that isn't right. I am at constant war with death."