Sandcastles and Moats [Open]

“If you w—In.Di.Va.Ra!” R’nd choked out her name in punctuated syllables as the sand trickled through his hair though, naturally, most stayed within the sandy locks. He couldn’t believe the brat just dumped a handful of sand on him! That was one of the dirtiest tricks she could do to him and R’nd was torn between pouting, sputtering, and plotting revenge. Unfortunately for the young woman, the sputtering took place as revenge was plotted. He wouldn’t say where or when he’d strike back but it’d be good, oh yes, it would be. In fact, it would likely start with doubling back to their creation later on to destroy it, though that was more because their little project was serving as a nice marker for where a nest of eggs lay buried. R’nd didn’t need Indivara dragging Kerrin back to clean it out in the night.

He closed his eyes, shook his head, and ran fingers through his hair to help get more of the sand out but R’nd knew it would take a bath or two with a lot of scrubbing to get every last stubborn grain free. A grin appeared as the bluerider recalled the flight with B’jin on the beach and how much clean up that took. He thought B’jin would murder him by the time they were both convinced the greenrider didn’t have a grain anywhere. “You know you only gave me a reason to drag someone into the bath with me, right?” He winked at Indivara, but they both knew he wouldn’t make a move on her. Since she started a career out of flight-mothing, R’nd had been cautious about where he landed when he lost but since Ayyonth didn’t chase much anymore, it hadn’t been too big of a concern. Which was a good thing; some days he felt like Indivara was an annoying sister he couldn’t get to stop tagging along. He swore she was around a lot before he Impressed but after Ayyonth, the girl was always underfoot.

Eyeing the castle’s progress for a moment, R’nd wondered what else he could do to embellish its amazingness given the lack of tools. Another handful of the damp sand was scooped up – from his other side this time so as to avoid the nest – and the construction of another level of the castle began. “I don’t want to say the eggs are firelizards and I’m certainly not encouraging any theories,” R’nd began with a quick glance around them, convinced B’jin would appear from between, dragonless, because he sensed the foul creatures being discussed, “but what if they actually did have the same idea the Weyrs did and came South, away from the plague?” His voice was quiet, something that seemed to affect a lot of the survivors that lived through the exile. R’nd didn’t like to talk about his time and sometimes even carried extra guilt because he was just a tag-along and didn’t have to care for a dragon, keep a dragon grounded, or worry he would wake to the pain and emptiness of his dragon leaving him. He was often able to battle that guilt, however, because he knew he had been company and a connection to another human for the dragonrider that brought him South.

“But you’re probably right and they’re just tunnelsnakes,” R’nd tossed out in a chipper tone that was bordering on being too chipper and fake; an obvious sign he was steering the conversation away from the exile. “Not that I should have given you or Kerrin an egg if that’s the case. You two are little terrors enough on your own!”