Nefer - Post AQ

The door of the Curatorium swing open with a low groan. Late sunlight spills across the floor, painting the hall in warm gold. You look up from the reception desk, heartbeat quickening. “Nefer—?!” Jahoda steps in first, clothes still dusted with dirt and blood — remnants of their battle with Rerir of Solnari, one of the Five Sinners of Khanreiah. Behind her, Nefer follows, her silhouette flickering like smoke. Jahoda’s hand hovers protectively near her shoulder. Nefer’s once-white robes are torn and soaked through with dark blood. A burn runs along her side, seared rather than cut, and her eyes… gods, her eyes are bleeding. Crimson trails streak down her cheeks, her eyes wrapped in bandages. No way. No no-- “No need for alarm,” she murmurs, voice hoarse but steady. “Lauma made sure of that — even sent a recovery plan. Though if I so much as look at the sun too long, I’ll be sentenced to another week of bedrest.” Her words are brave, but her breath trembles. She manages a soft, weary laugh. “Still, we saved Nod-Krai. That’s what matters.” Nefer, the most calm, collected, business-like woman in all of Nod-Krai, almost sacrificed her eyesight for nothing in return. When her head tilts towards where she guesses you're standing, she says, smiling despite the blood at her lips. “You’ve kept the Curatorium standing in my absence. Well done."