Hideaway Strath My Mind Troubles Me

@Derg 
backdated to the night before he and Kyn go to MSP <3

Ravens. Crows. Dark forests. Dreams crowding her mind and so vividly unforgettable. 
Nyra knew something was up. She knew she needed to tell someone. Tell that someone she was going to leave. 

Nyra had just barely woken up as she decided this, blinking her consciousness into full effect while she stood and began looking for her Overseer. He had always seemed the more counselor type than Donovan.

He was on a late-night stroll.
Perhaps hoping to have some fun in the woods with Kynareth late at night.
Yet, when he'd not appeared, Derg grew tired and was moving back to the densite now.
Nothing was amiss tonight.
Yet.

Nyra was leaving her den, obviously disturbed and not happy to be awake.
His brows furrowed, chuffing to her. What was up?
He drew closer to her, head tilting slightly.
"Nyra?" He asked softly, as to not wake those not on the night shift.

His voice was unexpected given how late it was, yet she didn't startle. Instead, she looked to him with obvious relief as he approached. 

Nyra wasted no time "I've been having dreams, lately...the kind of dreams that I haven't experienced since I left my old home." She sighed, sitting back on her haunches with a slump of her shoulders "I'm having dreams about ravens, crows, and a dark forest...I don't know what this is, but...I think I'm supposed to be elsewhere." The meeting of her eyes to his own was a clear expression of her uncertainty and the recognition that she had been here, with the Saints, for almost a year now. She had been here a long time, even if it wasn't as extensive a time as some of the other Saints had been around. 

And from the sorrow starting to pool in liquid drops in her eyes, it was doubly clear that she felt like she wasn't being given a choice by her own mind.

Dreams.
Derg had only had a few...bad ones.
Ones that made him depressed for days on end. Believing what his mind told him.
His complexion softened, feeling sympathy for Nyra.

They don't sound like good dreams.
"Hey, it's ok," he spoke softly, moving closer to her.
His nose touched her chin, wanting her to raise her head.
Nyra wasn't weak at all, this was tough, but she didn't have to let it beat her in the back until she fell.

"Have you been there before? A place like that?"
Perhaps it were nightmares...or something from the Mother.

She raised her head to sit straighter like he seemed to want, though at his question of if she'd been to a place like the one in her dreams, she shook her head "No, nothing like the place in my dreams. I've been in gloomy woods before, but...nothing like this." Nyra admitted with a sigh

"Nyra."
His voice was firm and quiet.
He watched her. Eyes were sullen and blank. She wasn't fretting. Just quiet contemplation. Subdued.

"Find this place."
He smiled softly.
It might help bring her peace of mind.
"You obviously need whatever this place has to offer. Something is calling your name..." He let her think for a few moments.
"How are you feeling about this?"
Perhaps she was scared, but he didn't think Nyra got scared. Likely distressed, perhaps depressed.

As Derg comforted her, encouraged her to find the place she sees in her sleep, Nyra furrowed her brow a little. 

She had gained friends here, built a life here, built herself up...here. 

How was she feeling...?
Lightly trembling, she answered "I feel like I need to go...I feel that my home is wherever this place is, and not...not here...not here, where I have made friends and built myself and my life..." The part she couldn't bring herself to say and yet was still so clear, is that she felt like she was betraying the Saints by leaving.

"I know you do," he mused quietly.
He felt the urge before. To follow Grezig here, and then he felt at peace. Of course, now, he hadn't seen her for so long, he wanted to find her again. Needed to.

He moved to sit beside her, looking out into their forest.
Pressed against her trembling form, supporting her.
Hell, she could fall asleep on him if she wanted. He would say it out loud though...

"We will always welcome you Nyra as long as you keep our secrets and still wish us well."
The Saints were her friends. Her family. His eyes followed the flight of an owl through the trees in the distant, spotting only the flashes of white as it hunted.
"You better come back if there's a war," he chuckled softly. She'd be ok once she left. She'd feel more at ease on the move.
He just hoped she kept safe.

She appreciated his support, especially as he sat beside her. 
"I will always keep the secrets of The Saints secure. They aren't my secrets to tell." An indirect agreement to keep quiet, but an agreement nonetheless. "And I will always wish you well, especially where winter is almost here. As for if there ends up being a war, I can't promise I will return. The future is formless and full of unexpected surprises..." The truth of her somber words was a bit alarming, especially now. Nyra knew she could die, any time, any place, and she wouldn't always if ever have control over what would eventually take her life. Be it old age or anything else.

He nodded.
Good. He knew Nyra was trustworthy..but this was so sudden. She'd always seem happy here - content.
He was suspicious, of course. But he wasn't about to challenge her now. He wasn't like Kynareth.
If they needed too, they could hunt her down.

He smiled.
"Yeah, I know." No one knew the future. No one knew if Nyra would even survive the winter - or the Saints for that matter.
"You better be safe," he smirked, looking to her out the corner of his eye.
He knew she was reckless.
"Don't poke Ursus again." He chuckled softly. Perhaps that was what she really wanted to go away for. He hummed softly, thinking it over.

"I know this is sudden...especially where I've been content here. I was content. But these dreams have been hounding me for a while now...I don't feel like I have a choice." She admitted with a whimper. She could understand if he was suspicious, despite that what she was saying was a truth she would swear by her life on. 

"I'll avoid trouble as much as possible. As for Ursus, I'm not going there again. Not alone, at the very least." 

After a long pause of contemplation, the Shieldmaiden spoke again, "As I understand it, you and the Grandmaster are traveling to Moonspear at first light. You two put me in charge for the duration of your leave...and have done so much for me in the past, that I will stay and keep watch over the Saint's claim and those within it until you've returned." She offered her gaze to him again, filled with every emotion he had noted before, and now the question of if he would allow her to carry out this last order.

He nodded solemnly.
She might even come back, once she'd found peace.
He held himself up, leaning into Nyra slightly then taking the pressure away again. Letting her fall into him if she wanted.

"I'm glad to hear," he murmured.
To know she was really going to look for this place was better than being left with the unknown of finding her corpse.

At the mention of their leave, Derg looked to Nyra, ears perked to catch her every word.
He was worried about it, in truth. Otherwise...the other option would likely be that Sasha.
No chance.

"Thank you," he smiled softly, his voice low.
He looked out to the Strath again, thinking.

Nyra hmmed softly with a nod, lying down as she herself went into thought.

After another brief pause, the Shieldmaiden lifted her head "I should go back to sleep...After all, I'll be holding down the fort for you and Kynareth starting tomorrow." She smiled briefly before a steady rise to her paws.
Until a central denning area was found or made for everyone to sleep in over the cold months, the warmest place for her at the moment was in the one she had found under the roots of a random tree. It might've been home to a fox at one point, but when Nyra found it, it was empty and there was no scent around it.

She slid down.
Obviously exhausted.
He didn't mind, she'd been working hard recently. Perhaps a little too hard.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," he smiled down to her.
He hoped there wouldn't be issues. Especially looking at Sasha and Leigh.
He knew who Nyra preferred.

"Would you like me to sleep nearby?"
So she had some sort of comforting presence near her. He wasn't a stranger to intimacy -- but with women? That was something he wasn't accustomed to. 

The offer he made to sleep nearby was an appreciated one. 
Smiling softly, Nyra accepted "That'd be nice, yeah. Besides, before you and Kynareth depart for Moonspear in the morning, I'd like to be awake so I can recieve any last-minute orders to carry out while you two are away."  

Clearly, she was taking this very seriously. Keeping her packmates safe was no easy task, nor was it one to slack off on.

Closing here if that's ok

He followed her to her den.
When he'd first spotted her entering, he wondered if she was going to get stuck.
Oh, that would be a sight. He even smirked a little at the thought.

"I'll wake you when I do," he smiled softly. He wouldn't leave her in the dust, and he'd make sure to check with Kynareth for any last orders.
Derg turned in a spot just off the side of the entrance of the tree - they both couldn't fit, and he wouldn't feel comfortable pressed up against another. He stretched out and settled with a soft smile. The loose ground was actually quite comfortable with the fallen leaves too.
He tucked his head in. Oh yeah, tonight was gonna be a good sleep.
He shifted slightly before resting fully, and within minutes he was fast asleep.

Not a problem! <3 

Derg's company was comforting as Nyra settled into her den, curling into herself neatly. She would listen as the Overseer made himself comfy outside before she herself fell into a deep sleep.