... Busted [Rhaedalyn]

Z’ia shook his head slightly, curls bouncing around his face, “no, I am sorry.” And he was, but not that he had upset Rhaedalyn, though the words were designed to reassure the woman in the process. No, he was sorry that his thoughtless actions had resulted in distressing his dragon so much that the poor creature had had a panic attack. Z’ia went out of his way to make sure Aveleth was never distressed by his actions, though he was not particularly good at it; Z’ia did not always think through what type of consequences his actions would have on his dragon. Despite the years they had been together, Z’ia still wasn’t used to Aveleth’s tender nature, and the way his poor blue could react to some things that Z’ia would never in his worst nightmares consider something to even think about, let alone be a trigger to such terrified panic.

“I was at fault; I am so sorry.” A concerned and distressed frown marred Z’ia’s usually carefree features, eyebrows pulled together over red-rimmed eye; he could feel the salty itch from the tear tracks left on his face because of the onslaught of Aveleth’s emotions. Green eyes studied Rhaedalyn and her clear distress – the stupid woman was clearly as delicate as his beautiful dragon. Z’ia would have tossed her aside in that moment and taken his dragon home, and away from so much trouble, if it weren’t for the blue’s whispery voice in the far recesses of his mind, with a terribly soft ‘you promised’ that carried all the weight of Aveleth’s sorrow on it.

Z’ia still had no idea how he was supposed to ‘save’ the girl before him, and at that particular moment he was far more inclined to throw her between and be rid of what was suddenly being viewed as a danger to his dragon. How under the Red Star did someone save a person they’d much rather destroy? What a terribly bizarre situation and Z’ia resisted the urge with great determination to turn and glare at his dragon. Instead, he gave Rhaedalyn’s hand a gentle tug to pull the girl down to the ground with him, his own legs folding under himself as he sat down. When he was seated, Z’ia flopped backwards, tugging on Rhaedalyn’s hand again to drag her down with him.

He did not look at her, but stared up at the sky with dark green eyes, watching the clouds shuffle absently across it, before the scene was blocked out by Aveleth’s rather large blue nose being shoved in Z’ia’s face. The young man blinked, before frowning at Aveleth good naturedly, though his voice was as whispery and shaky as Aveleth’s when he spoke. “You’re blocking the sky, Kiddo. Lay down.” The dragon seemed content to do that, cowering away from Aradissicath as he slunk over to the two humans, and carefully settled himself down lengthwise at Z’ia’s side. Aveleth didn’t need to be aware of Aradissicath’s disdain for his behaviour, to be feeling spectacularly self-conscious and terribly upset about everything, his eyes a distraught colour as his gaze switched rapidly from Z’ia to Rhaedalyn to Aradissicath’s toes  (he was much too afraid to look at her face) and back to Z’ia with great desperation.

Z’ia, for his part, took a deep, calming breath and then pointed to a cloud with the slightly shaking hand that was not still holding onto Rhaedalyn’s. “That one looks like a flower.” His voice was a low murmur. Such quiet and relaxing games were not in Z’ia’s usual rapport, but the bluerider had not been expecting Aveleth’s terror, and was having more than a little difficulty returning to himself; he was working quite hard not to puke.