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Shou curled up under the pile of fur and made herself small. Kalokin had let her think he was going to start mangling her as soon as he could, but truthfully? He wanted to let her sleep as long as possible while still letting her try and sleep through the worst of the physical changes. He made a thorough study of her entire body, from the tufted tips of her ears down to the pointed claws on her feet. He learned something new and fascinating about her every five minutes, but that only gave him further worry; she wasn't built anything like a Naga was. She was different from Khaesho in almost every conceivable way, and the idea that he had to find some balance between them was more than a little scary. Still, he owed it to her to do as good a job as possible, and he wasn't going to mess anything up because of an oversight. All things told, Shou got to sleep for a decent six hours before Kalokin set to work.

He was a master of subtlety, the only one of the four gods who even had a prayer of doing something like this without either killing the person involved or shutting down their body completely while they were at work, which effectively meant killing them and holding on to the soul until the body was altered. If he wanted her to sleep through the worst of it, he had to do all the most painful parts first; all things told, he would have started with the painful parts anyways, pain is always more manageable when the worst is already behind you. He had intended to make her fully cold blooded, so that she could withstand high temperatures without overheating, but as he studied her, he had to admit there were certain benefits to metabolizing food as heat instead of energy. He eventually decided to try and hybridize her metabolism to give her the best of both; energy efficiency in warm weather and heat metabolism in cold. It would be an experiment, but it would be no harder than turning her completely cold blooded. It would take a while, but hopefully Shou would stay asleep. He started with the major internal organs, changing almost everything about her so that she could live with a hybridized metabolism. It was complicated, and he soon lost himself in his work, forgetting everything else as he slaved over her body for long hours.

As his work progressed, Shou began to feel the side effects. Her body was wracked with shivers as if she had a fever despite the intense heat of the nest Khaesho had made. Her ears twitched almost violently, swiveling seemingly at random to track unheard noises. Soft whimpers escaped her as her dreams were plagued with aches and pains, as her body began the agonizing process of becoming something she wasn't yet. Khaesho woke when she started to thrash, tossing and turning in the midst of chaotic dreams. He wrapped his coils around her again, gently holding her down so she didn't hurt herself as he ran his claws through her hair. It had always seemed to comfort her before, and though he knew what she was going through was far too intense to be soothed by simple scritches, he was willing to do anything he could to try and make her comfortable. She was hot, burning with a softly spiraling fever as her body used its natural defense of overheating, trying to destroy the virus that it was sure was causing chaos inside of her. As Khaesho's claws sank through her mane though, creases in her face eased and she stopped thrashing quite so violently, once again becoming content to murmur in her sleep.

As he held her close, Khaesho realized that Kalokin had been uncharacteristically silent for... well, since Shou had woken up, to be truthful.

Hey, Kalokin. Something on your mind?

Yea... but It's immortal stuff, nothing you need to worry about. That, and I've been focusing on Shou for a while. I need to take a break anyways and let her adapt to what I've already done though.

Not like I've got anything better to do. Let's hear it, maybe I'll have some ideas to help.

Well, alright, I... actually, hold on a moment. Where did you put Shelandra's fangs?

Hm? They weren't real; wouldn't they have melted away when she did?

I... no, no they wouldn't. Anytime some part of us is bodily broken or town off in combat, the shock of that is actually enough to sever that part of our soul in the exact same way that a blessing needs to be severed. Did she ever reclaim them?

No, I don't think she did. What's that mean?

It means she wanted you to keep them; it's about the equivalent of her giving you a blessing. She reclaimed the temporary blessing you used to light me on fire though, which is good in my book. It means she wanted you to have a real, permanent blessing from her... She's blessed both of you now. You're lucky.

He pulled himself from Khaesho's mind, and the pale blue light resolved into a Blue Racer the size of a child.

"Wow Kalokin. Are you not feeling well or something?"

"Shut it, I need to leave half of my essence in Shou, remember?"

At the mention of her name, Khaesho cuddled a little closer to her.

"Yea, yea, just go get her fangs and get back here, I'd rather not have you gone long."

It took a good twenty minutes for him to make the round trip to the flooded cavern and back but it felt good for Kalokin to stretch himself out a little. On his return, though he tossed the gleaming copper fangs to Khaesho, where they dissolved into his scales on contact. That done, he immediately dove into Khaesho's mind.

Get up. We've got Company.

Shou half woke on some occasions, stirring and fluttering her eyes open - but it was never quite waking up. Her teeth ached, her jaw hurt, and her body throbbed from heat. The temperature of her fever spiked on occasion, but never so high that it put her in danger of overheating; it would take a lot to overheat her body now. Her ears were twitching just the slightest, and little whines escaped her as her jaw started to ache; her dreams were turbulent. Memories of the city, the Rattler that protected her. Memories of self-loathing and disgust. Memories of the pain in her soul, the love she had felt from Khaesho. It swirled around her and had her shivering.

Her dreams took a turn, and within her dreams, she inspected herself. Her soul inspected the city, and what it had become. The desert that had spread to be a part of her being. Something she had admitted she liked, and hadn't wanted to lose. What would happen to her? All she could do was sit in her mind and wait, aware of the pain in her body and in her spirit, her soul mending slowly. There was little effect she could have on the physical world, she knew, but it already felt like an eternity had passed.

During her introspection, she wondered where Kalokin was; she should have been able to feel him, and she could. She followed the feeling of his soul through the sand choked city, until she arrived at a bare circle that looked unfortunately familiar. Looking into the center of the ring, she saw a familiar black Rattlesnake, and she almost ran to him before the faintest waft of blood hit trickled past her nose. Dread pulled at her like a stone in her stomach, and she stopped herself, to watch the scene unfold before her.

Kalokin lay coiled in a tight cone as if protecting something, and his head cast around blindly, hissing at something only he could see. Blood painted his dark scales bright crimson, and it had begun to leak downwards, to stain the sand below. Ghostly stones and chunks of concrete appeared in midair as if thrown, striking him again and again. He did his best to bat them away with his hands, but he could not deflect every missile, and occasionally one won past his fast arms to strike his hide directly. When this happened, he hissed in pain and anger, and Shou thought she could faintly hear the roar of a bloodthirsty crowd...

Oh, oh no, no no no this can't be happening. It broke her heart when she saw the Rattler curled before her. He had told her that he had to relieve this - but she didn't think he would have to relive it inside of her. It broke her heart, as she stared. The scene was familiar, it was painful and she flinched at the sight of the stones and chunks. The ghostly crowd roaring in her ears. Perhaps she didn't have to see this - didn't have to watch... but she would.

He deserved to have her watch, to have her see what she had put him through. Accidental or not, she had done this to him; it was only right that she sit there, watching and bearing witness to the pain.

A wave of nausea slammed through her, and her perception of her soul twisted. When it passed, she was curled in a tight ball beneath Kalokin's coils. She blinked, and for a moment, she thought she saw the solid blue color of Kalokin's scales, but the moment passed, and he was dark rattlesnake again. He pulled his torso head inside his coils and embraced her where she lay.

"Shhh... don't worry my child. It is but a memory, nothing more. It cannot hurt you, and it will not hurt me for very long. It is my penance, my punishment for my crimes. If we must suffer though, at least we may suffer together. You remind me of my purpose, and your presence gives me strength. The worst is behind you... have no fear."

Even submerged within her own soul, she could not escape the pains of her body. She had slept through him changing her organs, so she wouldn't remember much of the gut churning nausea and disgust that had prompted; it also meant that she was almost certainly going to survive. The bad news was that he had moved on to altering her bone structure and composition, which hurt just as much as her organs, but in a different way; some might have said that the bones hurt worse, and it was all sharper for the fact that she was awake now. Every bone ached as if the slightest pressure would shatter it into a thousand pieces, and her jaw hurt as if someone had done exactly that. Her muscles were not just tired, they held a fatigue so great that she was physically unable to move. She wrapped her soul's arms around what was clearly Kalokin and whimpered into his shoulder.

Curled up under the coils of Kalokin she was confused as his scaled seemed to fade between Kalokin's blues and the black diamonds he'd worn when they first met. She did her best to wrap her arms around him, burying her face against his neck. Her tongue escaped in soft licks, reminiscent of those she had given him earlier.

"I'll be here, Kalokin, the whole time... I won't go anywhere." The ache of her body was prominent, even here, but she could focus on him, on what he was going through. She could focus on being a support to the god, as much as she was able.

"Thank you... once my penance is done, I might be able to somewhat shield you from the pain."

He shivered and hissed beneath the onslaught, but he ignored it, instead focusing on the wolf in his arms. Though they struggled with different pains, their suffering bound them, and they clutched each other in misery.

"It's okay... it's okay... I knew it wouldn't be easy... t-this is my penance too... for letting you get hurt, for letting a part of you die, for not noticing sooner." A trembling smile, and she buried her face against warm scales, holding tightly to the God whom she felt closer to in that moment than any before. He chuckled softly, clutching her tight.

"A part of me? For all intents and purposes, I did die that day... and the only way to heal is to suffer through the pain of each cut, one stone at a time. Healing for me hurts just as much as being wounded... but it makes me stronger for it."

"That's horrible..."

"It's life... if what I have can even be called life. I don't age, I don't sleep... I doubt there's anything in the world that can kill me permanently." It was a beautiful lie, beautifully told, especially because he knew -exactly- who and what had the potential to kill him. It was a very short list, and even then, it was improbable that anything would be able to take him down for good. They hadn't been able to in the past, and they wouldn't be able to now.

"That's... good to know, I guess... I'd hate to see anything bad happen to you."

Their conversation faded into silence as the pain intensified further for both of them, rendering words as more effort than they were worth. Shou's physical body shivered violently in the furs and a strangled whine escaped her as she felt her muscles burning. Not awake, not truly, she could feel the fever ravaging her form, and the heat dancing across her fur. The furs swaddled her, keeping her warm, but she wanted to shiver from chill despite that. It was strange, to be hot and cold all at once.

Sound sleep was not something that she would have for a while yet, but the exhausted and pained rest was better than none. Her sides were aching, agonized like she had the worst cramps of her life as her body struggled to reconcile these two completely different parts that wanted to be the whole of herself. It left her lungs burning like she had been running for hours. Her tail curled between her legs she curled onto her side, making herself as small as possible. There was a soft whine, and a shiver from her as she felt her ears twitch. She curled back, into Khaesho's embrace... but something was wrong. He wasn't there. Khaesho... was Khaesho okay..? She whimpered as she felt his absence acutely, but it was replaced by the soul deep sensation of Kalokin squeezing her fondly.

Do not worry Shou... you'll never be alone again. I swear that to you. Do not fear, my child... the worst of the pain is behind you. It became his mantra, whispered softly every time she flinched from the pain. It was true, but every time he spoke it, he couldn't help but think the second half, where she wouldn't hear it.

And the worst for me is still yet to come.

Whether it was her fault or not, she felt responsible. There was a soft whine escaping from her as she pressed against Kalokin. Hands stroked his scales, her hands trembling with the effort it took even this deep in her soul, wrapped in Kalokin's coils, it was hurting, but she clenched her teeth, refusing to complain or admit to the pain. Not when Kalokin was suffering so much worse, all over again.

There was a drag of her tongue along scales, licking away the blood as she saw it - much as she could. Moving was getting difficult as the pain locked up her muscles, but she did what she could to sooth Kalokin's tortured body.

From far away the echoes of noise reached her ears, but she only shivered and buried deeper in the furs - until even her face was hidden beneath them. Her skin was hot and she was panting as her fur seemed to catch and pull. It had her heaving, her lungs working overtime to try and bring in cool air. Her teeth were hurting, which was strange for her, but they pulled and ached all the same. Her maw parted as she whined softly and twisted in her sleep.

It certainly didn't feel like the worst was behind her, it felt like it was getting more terrible each moment - some new ache added to her multitude of others. It was enough to make her skin crawl, reminiscent of when he'd first forced his way through her veins. His words were what she focused on, a tremble of her hand and she stroked her fingers along his neck. Soft thanks whispered each time he spoke to her. Still she wanted to help, wanted to somehow make him hurt less. The tears that fell from her eyes splashed against his scales, and with every thanks followed a murmured "I'm Sorry" and "Forgive Me."

Then she heard something: a sharp, piercing screech that echoed through the rocks until it reached her. Blearily her eyes opened as her ears twitched violently. It was dark, and she couldn't quite see, but she heard the screaming. It sounded to her like it continued forever, as the walls returned the many times bounced and fragmented sound, echo layering upon echo. She gave a strangled whine and she struggled to rise, digging her way out of the nest Khaesho had built. Shou managed to push the furs from her body, and crawl a mere foot before her exhausted, and pained muscles gave out. Falling weakly to her belly, she whined again, panicked and afraid that Khaesho was in danger.

Something was happening, something was going on, and she couldn't see it... couldn't help. Blindly reaching forward, she tried again to get up. Her breathing heaved, and chills bit through her fur all the way to her bones, turning her into a shivering mass of fur and flesh. She felt intensely cold in a way she never had before, a deep, bone biting chill that screamed to her of pain and death. She felt cold the way only the cold blooded could. She wheezed for breath as she kept trying to move, even as her limbs stopped responding. Someone had screamed.

Shou was terribly stubborn. As she collapsed and struggled to breath, she closed her eyes. Exhaustion pulled at her, blackness tinting the edge of her vision, a darkness more complete than the darkness around her. She took a few slow, careful breaths, drawing on her training as a dancer, she controlled her breathing, the wheezing was easing off and she pushed herself back up on trembling limbs. She didn't move much further this time, and she yelped when she slipped on the furs and fell again.

The additional inches were lost as she wheezed, breath knocked out of her from the movement. Curled on her side, and could taste blood in her mouth, she'd managed to bite her tongue in that little stunt of hers. Blindly, she groped in front of her, and could barely breath past the agony that felt like it was constricting her lungs. Kalokin was whispering in her mind, too absorbed in his own suffering to really notice her movement; in his mind, his soul was still curled around hers beneath a torrential hail of stones.

Khaesho was alright, Kalokin had told her he was alright, but he wasn't here, and she whimpered softly. He had abandoned her. He didn't need her the way she needed him. Didn't want her at his side. She had to prove it to him, had to prove she was worth it. Her limbs were shaking as she pushed herself up, managing with painstaking slowness to get her arms under her. Gasping breath turned into pained pants before she struggled onto her knees. One... step at a... time...

An additional two feet had been conquered before she collapsed again - the blackness swirled over her vision, and she lost consciousness. There was a heavy shivering to her form as she curled up against the furs, and her body quivered violently. But what little energy she had managed to save in her short sleep, and the food Khaesho had fed her was lost in her little foray out, in her attempt to reach him, to do something.

What would you have done even if you managed to get there? Nothing, you're useless. Completely useless to him, to them... you don't deserve them.

Kalokin could feel her self-loathing welling up seemingly from nowhere, but was unable to do anything more than weakly whisper into her mind. His own trials were consuming him, and if he fell apart, he would have to start all over again. Truly helpless for one of the few times in his life, he watched as Shou pulled herself forwards with blind determination, forcing her way through the tunnels with muscles not yet meant for movement and bones not yet strong enough to support her weight.