If there is magic here, it is contained in water.
Liffey stood in the water near their camp, watching the tendrils of black blood float away from her in the water. She scrubbed her arms and then dunked her head underneath the lake's surface, washing out her hair and rubbing the blood off of her face. She didn't know how she'd get the orc filth out of her robe, it had completely soaked her during the battle in Tharbad, and she though she might just have to throw it away.
When she finally came back to the shore of the lake, she sat down on a smooth rock that had been warmed in the sun, dressing in her spare clothes and lacing her boots back up. Finished dressing, she leaned over the water and dunked her vile-smelling robe into the water, rubbing it with the same cloth she'd just used on her face. She spent almost an hour just simply trying to clean all of the orc blood out of the fabric, until her fingers were red, sore, and pruny.
"I don't think there is any saving it," she told Sedryn, looking over her shoulder at him. She left it to dry beside her on the rock, resting her chin on her knees.
In her youth, Liffey's mother would tell her that whenever she was upset, she always returned to the water. She found it no matter where she was, emerged herself in the depths, and let it wash over her to bring her back to herself. She dipped her fingertips in the water, imagining that she saw her mother's face staring back up at her from her reflection. She turned then, showing her side to Sedryn, where the club had struck her. Liffey had been right, her ribs were not broken, but a large, ugly bruise was forming over her ribcage. She touched it delicately with her fingers and then returned to him and her medicine bag, where she pulled out a piece of willowbark to chew on.
She asked him about his dislike of Will while she spread a salve over her ribcage, chattering about the lone figure who had rescued them from Tharbad, before she finished and bandaged herself up. She had wanted to see to Aivilin's arrow wound but she was sure it had probably already been looked at by now. Liffey stood anyway, gathering her things and leaving her robe to dry on the rock, where she would check it tomorrow morning.
