... Busted [Rhaedalyn]

The scream had been expected, even the physical reaction of an attack had been anticipated, but Z’ia hadn’t expected it to come from that particular side; he had indeed ended up leaning more to one side than the other, and Rhaedalyn’s reaction landed an elbow perfectly in Z’ia’s stomach, just below the breastbone and had the tiny bluerider winded. Huge green eyes welled with tears as he fought to get a breath in against the body’s desire, holding one hand up slightly when Rhaedalyn started fussing. He could feel Aveleth bouncing around anxiously on the other side of the trees, but everything was dulled in comparison to the burning sensation and the need to teach his lungs how to breathe again.

Z’ia? Z’ia! A-are you okay? Z’ia? a mew of distress came from the young blue as he continued to shift anxiously in the clearing, separated by the trees from his rider. Z’ia’s thoughts were choppy, and all Aveleth could really pick up was the radiating pain that felt like it was even coming from his chest, burning through his lungs. Was his rider dying? Had the pretty girl killed him? Aveleth gave a shriek, the idea running away on him, and his wings unfurled as he anxiously eyed off the edge of the trees, forgetting about Aradissicath in his anxiety. Z’ia! It was a screech of despair, but it was also a terrified creel for reassurance.

“I- I’m okay!” The words came out weak and garbled, but the emotion behind them was effective as Z’ia waved his hand at Rhaedalyn again, before wiping his face, removing the tears that had tracked down his face pitifully in reaction to her well-aimed attack. “I’m okay. Aveleth. Aveleth, I’m fine.” There was slight terror behind Z’ia’s words, as he fought to breathe, and to calm Aveleth down before the dragon responded to his dramatic train of thoughts by suiciding, convinced Z’ia was dead. Rhaedalyn’s hand was grabbed without much thought, and Z’ia took off through the trees back to where the dragons were, dragging Rhaedalyn along behind him.

The girl’s hand was dropped when Aveleth was spotted, Z’ia sprinting the last few feet to throw himself at his dragon’s nose, arms warping around it as he hugged Aveleth tightly. “I’m okay, see? See, I’m fine, Shhh,” he was crying, the power of Aveleth’s terror crushing him in the close proximity. The blue dragon’s eyes were white with terror, nostrils flared and entire blue body trembling from head to toe. “I’m so sorry, Kiddo. I’m sorry, it’s okay, see? Everything is fine, see? All good. Just me being silly. I’m so sorry. Shh, Kiddo. There you go. I’m fine! I promise, see. Are you okay? Hrmm? There you go,”  Z’ia’s murmuring baby talk slowly faded away as Aveleth calmed, his trembling not quite stopping though his eyes returned to murky colours that Z’ia found much more reassuring.

Until Aveleth reminded him of Rhaedalyn, and Z’ia turned, horrified, to search out the girl. He had picked up enough to know the girl would blame herself for everything. Releasing Aveleth’s nose, Z’ia took three steps towards the girl, holding one hand out desperately. “I’m so sorry, Rhaedalyn.” Desperate green eyes stared at the girl; he needed to win her back over, convince her it wasn’t her fault… something… Even though Z’ia was more than happy to blame the idiot woman and her stupid elbow, for everything (that had fucking hurt, never mind poor Aveleth’s terror!) but he was quite sure he didn’t want that idiot bronzerider giving him an earful.

Fucking women, couldn’t they not screw up anything?