...she faces up to what she's done

There was something wrong with the light. Teysa groaned, rolled over, and shielded her eyes with her arm. Too bright, that's what it was-- it seared her, left dancing purple spots in her vision even when she screwed her eyelids shut. Her mouth, too, felt wrong, dry and cottony. Worst of all was her head. There was a dull, clanging ache echoing around her temples-- not too painful yet, but building steadily and patiently. She wanted to go back to sleep, but her limbs were full of nervous energy. She twisted this way and that in an effort to get comfortable, and couldn't.

She tried opening her eyes again, just a tiny slit. She raised her fingers to block out most of the light. There, that was better. That worked. She could see she was in a small room, unfurnished but for a scattering of pillows across the floor. The light came from a pale white stone set in the ceiling that shed a throbbing glow: now brighter, now dimmer, like a heartbeat. From her vantage point Teysa could see a pair of bare legs moving around. They looked human, and she craned her neck to see their owner, wincing at the stabbing pain as she did so. It was a woman, nude but for a leather belt cinched around her midsection. Her one eye peered down at Teysa from a face as scarred as a blind butcher's thumb.

"You're awake," she said, her voice husky and melodic. "How does it feel?" Teysa groaned again and tried to make out what the woman was doing. She was half-turned away and doing something with her hands. Teysa opened her mouth to speak, grunted instead, then marshalled her words.

"Hurts," she managed. "Sore. Last night..."

She trailed off as unpleasant memories bubbled up. She had followed this woman and her tentacled companion back to this room, and then they had had more joystones, and then...

As though they had been awaiting their cue, her cunt and ass flared with pain. Both felt bruised and sore, and she could feel an ache deep inside herself. She could feel something sticky caked to her thighs and buttocks.

"Last night was really something," the woman agreed. "You don't look so good today. That's ok. I know what you need." She turned around and knelt before Teysa. In her hand was a small silver disc, about the size of a palm, bearing two straight white lines of powder. "Feather of the harpy that pecked you," the woman grinned. "Just to thing to pick yourself up."

Teysa propped herself up on one elbow. A sudden spasm of nausea cramped her stomach, and she fought to keep down her gorge. The powder in front of her looked so clean, so pure. Still...

"Can't..." she said. "Where's... Aliara?"

"Your half-elf friend?" the woman asked. She shrugged. "I saw her wandering around earlier. I think she was looking for you. She'll keep." She thrust the little silver disc under Teysa's nose. "Come on, just one. It'll put you back on your feet. Then you can go find your friend."

Right now, Teysa would have done just about anything to get rid of the pain and nausea. Maybe it was what she needed. She leaned in and sniffed, drawing up a line in one long inhalation.

She could feel it fizzing in her blood. The headache didn't disappear entirely, but it faded into the background, became ignorable. Teysa blinked twice and shook her head. Whoo! That did feel good.

"Now you can go look for your friend," the one-eyed woman said, smiling. She reached out a hand and cupped Teysa's right breast. Her thumb began to stroke the areola and her fingers squeezed gently. "Or, you can stay here with me for a while. What's your rush?"

Teysa's eyes glazed and she smiled faintly. There wasn't a rush, really. There was no rush at all.