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+--- Thread: [G] [C] [EVENT] 742.04.03 | Grim Thoughts and Grimmer Discoveries (/showthread.php?tid=5001)
742.04.03 | Grim Thoughts and Grimmer Discoveries - A'ryn - 03.Apr.21
The anguished, angry cry of another dragon going between at the loss of their rider had shaken her to her core. A blue. A’ryn couldn’t help her gaze wandering across the weyrling class, with a number of lovely little blues among them. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of them, and did her best to shove the feeling deep into her mind before Jenath could latch onto it.
The thoughts kept edging their way into her consciousness, though…how such things could happen and what exactly had happened, anyway? She couldn’t help her worry as it seemed the dragon riders were being targeted, somehow…she may have been busy, but she had still heard of the terrible things that had been happening across the continent…right down to an outright attempted murder of the Weyrwoman and another gold rider. The thought of how easy it would be to pick off the helpless, fragile dragonets flitted through her mind and Rudi chirruped in alarm. Shushing and soothing him, she reasoned that they weren’t a threat and therefore not a target. Jenath turned toward her, too, eyes whirling yellow with the anxiety she picked up from her bonded, and A’ryn did her best to bring up thoughts of love, reassurance, and adoration to quell the little green.
The day was then spent in even more study, no doubt trying to distract everyone from the loss of another dragon and rider, and she had welcomed the lessons with open arms and willing mind. Before long, things were almost back to normal. Or at least, some semblance of normalcy. Dragonets were being fed, then oiled, and they napped during the lessons of the weyrlingmaster while their lifemates tried to keep their mind on the topic at hand. With the stress of the day, though, the afternoon break was much appreciated. The redhead sprawled on the ground, staring up at the sky, watching the few, sparse clouds creep lazily past.
Jenath was crouched, prowling up to a rock and the bird perched atop it. The creature spotted the green, however, and took flight before Jenath could get very close. Her bubbly trilling morphed into an odd sort of whistle as she tried to match the sounds the bird made, and A’ryn couldn’t help but laugh, the morning’s sadness and worry beginning to lift in the bright afternoon sunshine.
Reluctantly, A’ryn climbed to her feet, trudging after her bonded, still marveling at just how much she hurt from the work of caring for a hatchling, even after how grueling her physical training as a Runner had been. “Don’t wander so far, the weyrlingmaster won’t be pleased and I’ll be the one hearing about it.”
The green didn’t even glance back as she bounded toward the bird’s new perch atop another pile of rocks.
“Just slow down before you trip over yourself again. The healer’s have their hands full as it is. No need to add to their load.” The green relented on that, slowing herself from the half-run to a light trot. The rock pile the bird had chosen as a perch was larger than it looked, and for a heartstopping moment, A’ryn couldn’t see Jenath as she bounced behind it. The happy warbling continued, though, and the redhead jogged to try and catch up to her dragon.
Then, a startled wave of confusion stopped her in her tracks, the cheerful noises Jenath had been making abruptly ceasing. Something was very, very wrong. Adrenaline flooded her veins and she closed the distance between herself and the rock pile in the span of three heartbeats, skidding around to the side where Jenath stood, head cocked to one side, eyes whirling in orange, yellow, and white as she stared at the body in the dirt, the bird long forgotten.
“DON’T MOVE.” The words were hard and authoritative, and A’ryn tried to project the feeling along with them. Obediently Jenath trembled slightly and froze, but the commanding, secure tone of her person at least did something to reassure her. “Don’t touch anything. I’m here. I’ve got you. You’re alright.” She shoved the thoughts of panic into the deepest depths of her mind, and reached out to Rudi to call him to her.
The brown, echoing the worry, panic and confusion of his human and her dragon, couldn’t bring himself to perch on the woman’s arm, and she wasn’t sure the flit was able to latch onto the image of L’gan that A’ryn tried to give him before he flitted between.
Blood stained the man’s tunic, and had seeped and soaked and stained the dirt. So much blood…The angle he was at put his injury on full display, too, his throat cut cleanly from one side to the other. A’ryn knew, without a doubt, that the man was dead. Calculating the risks and possibilities, she realized couldn’t leave, not even for a moment, or risk the killer coming back to clean up their mess if they knew the body had been found. There was one other way to get help, though…
“Jenath dear, I know we’ve been practicing being quiet, but I need you to forget that right now. I need you to be the exact opposite, and be as loud as you can be. Call for the weyrlingmaster pair. Now.” Granted, they were probably already trying to find them, but it wouldn’t hurt to speed them up a bit.
The mental shriek was deafening, accompanied by screaming hatchling roar, and it was clear she was one of Malvayth’s. Out of sheer instinct, the redhead covered her ears, and it wasn’t long before the area was swarming with dragons and riders, healers and the weyrlingmaster, and assistants were trying to keep the other young dragonets and their humans away. She repeated the event so many times she lost track, and the dead man was taken away while others combed the area for anything that might indicate what exactly had happened, how, and who may have been involved.
She and Jenath got shuffled off, and the rest was a blur, and somehow she found herself back in the weyrling barracks, seated in a chair while her green curled in a wallow. Mercifully, it seemed that they were given a space away from the main room, where they’d be allowed a little privacy after the events of the day. Jenath, usually so cheerful, was withdrawn and quiet. Rudi had found his way back to her, nuzzling and curling against her leg, cooing to try and console them all. After a while, Jenath drifted into a fitful sleep, and A’ryn let out a shaky breath before crawling into the cot and pulling the blanket over her head. It would be a long while before she’d sleep well again.