LOG: Clutching At Straws
Date: Day, Month 9, Turn 23
Location: Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr
Synopsis: K'del's continued search for Nakasha takes him back to Fort, where Cadejoth flies with Chielyth.
Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr
This end of the bowl is grassy and serene with the pretty blue of the lake nearby as a draw for residents, riders and dragons alike. Since the earthslide collapsed in the spring of turn 23, a dramatic view of the mountain slopes that circle the Weyr has opened up beyond the lake.
The feeding grounds are fenced off to on the northeastern end of the lake, just a short walk from the weyrling barracks, the Weyrleader's complex, the hatching complex, living cavern, and infirmary.
Currently, areas of the bowl wall where the mud slid away are blocked off by barricades and scaffoldings where construction is taking place. The gardens are open once more, though a lot of work remains to bring them back to their former glory.
In the darkness glows glimmer from ledges and entries, lighting the walls of Fort like so many fireflies. A small green glides down from one of those ledges to land close to the eastern wall, where more lights limn her hide. She curves her neck and croons as a man comes out into the bowl from the hot springs, toweling his hair and offering her a crooked smile made even more lopsided by the uneven lighting.
It's late for it to be official business that brings High Reaches' Weyrleader to Fort - but whatever the reason for the visit, it's definitely not reliant on stealth. Cadejoth appears far above the weyr, a pale, bony figure in the darkened skies, letting the weyr know of his arrival with an unrestrained (and loud) bugle. It's coincidence that has his downwards circle despot him not far from the eastern wall-- and the green and her rider.
A bugle?! That catches Chielyth's attention easily enough, and once she's certain Kai is, in fact, Kai and not some clean imposter she returns Cadejoth's call with one of her own, as well as a flare of wings. /Even better/ when the bronze settles near her, for though a hand to her straps is enough anchor to keep her grounded, she's quick to welcome him with a bright sunshiney, << Hi! I'm Chielyth! >> "Hey," her rider seconds, polite enough though he peers through the darkness toward the newcomers. "Fort's duties t'...?"
<< Hi Chielyth! >> says Cadejoth, with a rattle of bones and chains, merry-- even outright overenthusiastic. << I'm Cadejoth. >> He extends his neck, peering, apparently, through the gloom, in order to get a better look at this bearer of cheerful greetings. His rider is more restrained, pausing for a moment after receipt of B'kaiv's greeting, before he returns it with a relatively formal, "High Reaches. And High Reaches' duties in return." The sound of clanking buckles follows, the rider unstrapping himself, and then, with a thud, presumably dismounting to the ground.
Chielyth's mental touch is bright enough, though the light is dim enough for even draconic eyes to have problems. << Hi Cadejoth! That was a really loud bugle. It was louder than I can do! >> She's small indeed, though wiggly, and as Kai takes his hand away she heads straight for Cadejoth: watch your feet, K'del. "Fort's duties t' High Reaches," B'kaiv repeats obediently, with a shake of his head for his green. He follows after, though his goal is K'del, and the mannerly crossing of palms. "B'kaiv, and that's Chielyth, and she's gonna be asking him he wants t' go flying if she ain't already."
K'del takes several steps away from Cadejoth on Chielyth's approach: even a green looming out of the dark is enough, it seems, for a person to want to take precautionary measures. Even a green as sunshiney as Chielyth. Shaking B'kaiv's hand, the bronzerider says, conversational, "K'del and Cadejoth-- reckon we might have met each other once before? Name's familiar. At any rate," he bobs his head towards the two dragons, "If she does, he'll be quick to accept. Never seen him turn down a good flight." << I'm lots bigger than you are, so of course I'm louder! But I bet yours could still be pretty loud. It's more fun being loud, I think. So people know you've arrived, right? >>
"I think so, sir," B'kaiv agrees, though a shrug suggests he's not sure just where or when. "You looking for somebody special?" His towel's draped over one shoulder now, his hand faintly damp as though he's recently departed the baths. He adds a sharply barked, "Hah!" and, looking past the taller man to the dragons, shakes his head again. "Shells, don't say that, or you ain't never gonna see him again." << Let's go flying! >> Chielyth suggests, hard on her slowpoke rider's heels. << Then you can come back again and bugle again!! >> But first, oh /first/ there must be zipzoomwoosh air under the wings, and upupup to catch the clouds, let's go!
The rapid departure of both Chielyth and his own bronze seems to surprise K'del, who spins on his heel to watch them, Cadejoth taking to the winds again as though he'd been deprived of such things for just about forever. His, << Okay! We'll fly and fly and fly for /ages/. >> And then there will be bugling! His rider watches, then shakes his head, turning back to B'kaiv with a shrug that seems to say 'well, what can you do?' "Don't mind them having their fun. And-- not anyone in particular, no. More that, well, my sister was a candidate here a few turns back. Was kind of hoping to see if any of her friends might've heard from her recently."
B'kaiv throws up a hand to shield his eyes but is otherwise resigned to the dragons' fun. "Told you," he says apropos of nothing save for poor neglected dragons who never ever get to use their wings. Once they're gone, once even Chielyth's exploratory bugle is lost to the night and the wind, he turns back to K'del and tips his head invitingly toward the caverns. "Oh yeah - I remember her, sorta. N- something, ain't it? That woulda been... shells. Probably Vanissa's clutch. I remember her 'cause there was th' two bronzerider's sisters. But something happened t' her, didn't it? She didn't Stand, or something?"
K'del makes a sound of low amusement for B'kaiv's 'told you', but otherwise makes no remark on it. After the dragons are gone, a quick bob of the head agrees to the greenrider's invitation, as he confirms, "Nakasha, right. Kash. She... was pregnant, and so didn't get to stand, no. She returned home after the baby was home, but..." He seems reluctant to continue, but, apparently, forces himself to continue. "She left my family a little over a turn ago. Keep hoping she's been in contact with /someone/. So here I am-- clutching at straws."
"I only seen her a few times," Kai offers apologetically. "But we can go see if one of th' others is around. Vanissa, Dashaya, one of them might'a heard. --You ain't got no idea where she is?" Which K'del already said, but maybe Kai misheard.
K'del's shrug is philosophical enough: it's much as he expected, probably. "Appreciate it," he tells the greenrider, firmly. "No, no idea whatsoever. It's like she vanished. Just walked out one morning and maybe ended up at a local gather and-- nothing since then. Get that she doesn't want to be found, but... a person worries, you know? Misses her."
B'kaiv heads for one of the lighted entrances, doing a piss-poor job of ditching the bronzerider. "Yeah," he agrees, non-committal, and, "Maybe." A few steps farther on he adds, all buck-up and stiff-upper-lip, "But she can take care of herself, yeah? It ain't like she's one of them Lady Holders as ain't never been outside without half a dozen people t' blow her nose."
K'del follows, perhaps half a pace behind B'kaiv, his hands shoved loosely into his pockets, his elbows slung low. "Course she can," he agrees, rather too quickly, too firmly. And, a few moments later, a little more reluctantly; "Mostly, anyway. She was in pretty poor shape-- emotionally, I mean. For a while. She's probably much better, now." Beat. "Definitely."
'Emotionally' brings the greenrider up short, if only for a step; when he resumes it's with a decidedly thoughtful frown. "Huh." A few steps later, "You probably don't want t' hear this, but... what if she don't want t' go back? 'Cause, you know, people don't sometimes." All terribly vague, and with little weight to his tone.
K'del cuts his own steps short, as B'kaiv does; it takes him a little longer to resume, his stride lengthening to catch him back up, his frown unconsciously echoing his companion's. "I--" he begins, followed soon after by, "Doesn't matter. Don't necessarily want her to go back, just want to know she's safe." He swallows, then adds, "And happy. Definitely happy. Imagine she probably is. Know she /wasn't/, at home. Have to be, right, to run away like that?"
B'kaiv isn't quite sure what to do with his hands: folding his arms doesn't work when he's walking, but merely letting them swing doesn't convey the necessary gravitas. He settles for loosely fisting them every few steps instead. "Safe." He glances sidelong and up; after a few more seconds he nods once. "Yeah. We can ask around, sure. Shells, we got riders on sweep every sharding day. They can keep a eye out too. Long as she's around Fort, any road."
K'del's smile is genuinely appreciative, albeit lazy enough to suit his continued drooped-elbow walk. "Appreciate it," he tells B'kaiv, firmly. "No idea where she might be, but keeping an eye out 'round here couldn't hurt. Fort's the only place other than home she's spent all that much time. And Tillek, but she'd never've gone there."
"Oh yeah?" Kai checks the skies but neither dragon has returned and K'del's sister isn't flapping about either (or if she is, she's out of range of the glows). "What's wrong with Tillek?"
While Kai checks the skies, K'del keeps his attention on the greenrider - perfectly at ease, of course. "Nothing in particular," is his prompt response. "'cept it's full of family, and also, I think, the father of her child, and if she'd been really keen on him she would've said who he was, and probably married him." Logic! "So I can't see her want to go there." Beat. And then; "Reckon they'll be a while longer." He's in no rush, though. Apparently.
'Full of family' gets another 'hah', this one understanding, before Kai slants his gaze back over toward K'del. "Maybe," can be tacked onto any part of the bronzerider's words that he wishes, though the, "Shells, no, she ain't coming back long as she got somebody t' fly with," has a pretty firm home. "You get th' chance some time, come back in th' afternoon and you can see what sort of wherry-brained flying he's doing. Probably," he adds cheerfully, "scare your hair white." A beat. "--Sir."
/That/ makes K'del laugh, cheerful, the thoughtfulness invoked by his sister abandoned for pure amusement, at least for the moment. "Remember watching Bennath teach him barrel rolls, once upon a time. If I can get through that... reckon I'd rather not be /aboard/, at least."
B'kaiv snorts again, quietly, and shakes his head. "That's a name I ain't heard for turns. Shells, though, she does things...." What sorts of things he doesn't--or can't--elucidate, though he skims one hand along the other arm, barely an inch away. "Straight at a rock, or a sharding tree. I got /real/ good at making straps, is all I'm gonna say." Another crooked smile sent sideways, and the greenrider sobers. "Chielyth says J'han's in th' 'caverns. I'll point him out t' you. Think he might'a known your sister."
There is a moment of solemness, a bob of the head, in recognition of Bennath and his rider, but the bronzerider doesn't linger on it. "Imagine you did," he agrees, though he's easily distracted by reference to J'han. "Really? Appreciate that. Thank you, B'kaiv."
"Ain't no problem," says Kai with another shrug as they approach the well-lit entrance. "Least I can do for Chielyth running off with your Cadejoth." Or Cadejoth running off with Chielyth: either-or. Inside J'han's easy to spot: he's the man their age already making his way for the pair with the clear intent to intercept. B'kaiv drops K'del a, "Clear skies," and a nod, another for J'han before he breaks away to leave the men to their talk.
Location: Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr
Synopsis: K'del's continued search for Nakasha takes him back to Fort, where Cadejoth flies with Chielyth.
Southern Bowl, Fort Weyr
This end of the bowl is grassy and serene with the pretty blue of the lake nearby as a draw for residents, riders and dragons alike. Since the earthslide collapsed in the spring of turn 23, a dramatic view of the mountain slopes that circle the Weyr has opened up beyond the lake.
The feeding grounds are fenced off to on the northeastern end of the lake, just a short walk from the weyrling barracks, the Weyrleader's complex, the hatching complex, living cavern, and infirmary.
Currently, areas of the bowl wall where the mud slid away are blocked off by barricades and scaffoldings where construction is taking place. The gardens are open once more, though a lot of work remains to bring them back to their former glory.
In the darkness glows glimmer from ledges and entries, lighting the walls of Fort like so many fireflies. A small green glides down from one of those ledges to land close to the eastern wall, where more lights limn her hide. She curves her neck and croons as a man comes out into the bowl from the hot springs, toweling his hair and offering her a crooked smile made even more lopsided by the uneven lighting.
It's late for it to be official business that brings High Reaches' Weyrleader to Fort - but whatever the reason for the visit, it's definitely not reliant on stealth. Cadejoth appears far above the weyr, a pale, bony figure in the darkened skies, letting the weyr know of his arrival with an unrestrained (and loud) bugle. It's coincidence that has his downwards circle despot him not far from the eastern wall-- and the green and her rider.
A bugle?! That catches Chielyth's attention easily enough, and once she's certain Kai is, in fact, Kai and not some clean imposter she returns Cadejoth's call with one of her own, as well as a flare of wings. /Even better/ when the bronze settles near her, for though a hand to her straps is enough anchor to keep her grounded, she's quick to welcome him with a bright sunshiney, << Hi! I'm Chielyth! >> "Hey," her rider seconds, polite enough though he peers through the darkness toward the newcomers. "Fort's duties t'...?"
<< Hi Chielyth! >> says Cadejoth, with a rattle of bones and chains, merry-- even outright overenthusiastic. << I'm Cadejoth. >> He extends his neck, peering, apparently, through the gloom, in order to get a better look at this bearer of cheerful greetings. His rider is more restrained, pausing for a moment after receipt of B'kaiv's greeting, before he returns it with a relatively formal, "High Reaches. And High Reaches' duties in return." The sound of clanking buckles follows, the rider unstrapping himself, and then, with a thud, presumably dismounting to the ground.
Chielyth's mental touch is bright enough, though the light is dim enough for even draconic eyes to have problems. << Hi Cadejoth! That was a really loud bugle. It was louder than I can do! >> She's small indeed, though wiggly, and as Kai takes his hand away she heads straight for Cadejoth: watch your feet, K'del. "Fort's duties t' High Reaches," B'kaiv repeats obediently, with a shake of his head for his green. He follows after, though his goal is K'del, and the mannerly crossing of palms. "B'kaiv, and that's Chielyth, and she's gonna be asking him he wants t' go flying if she ain't already."
K'del takes several steps away from Cadejoth on Chielyth's approach: even a green looming out of the dark is enough, it seems, for a person to want to take precautionary measures. Even a green as sunshiney as Chielyth. Shaking B'kaiv's hand, the bronzerider says, conversational, "K'del and Cadejoth-- reckon we might have met each other once before? Name's familiar. At any rate," he bobs his head towards the two dragons, "If she does, he'll be quick to accept. Never seen him turn down a good flight." << I'm lots bigger than you are, so of course I'm louder! But I bet yours could still be pretty loud. It's more fun being loud, I think. So people know you've arrived, right? >>
"I think so, sir," B'kaiv agrees, though a shrug suggests he's not sure just where or when. "You looking for somebody special?" His towel's draped over one shoulder now, his hand faintly damp as though he's recently departed the baths. He adds a sharply barked, "Hah!" and, looking past the taller man to the dragons, shakes his head again. "Shells, don't say that, or you ain't never gonna see him again." << Let's go flying! >> Chielyth suggests, hard on her slowpoke rider's heels. << Then you can come back again and bugle again!! >> But first, oh /first/ there must be zipzoomwoosh air under the wings, and upupup to catch the clouds, let's go!
The rapid departure of both Chielyth and his own bronze seems to surprise K'del, who spins on his heel to watch them, Cadejoth taking to the winds again as though he'd been deprived of such things for just about forever. His, << Okay! We'll fly and fly and fly for /ages/. >> And then there will be bugling! His rider watches, then shakes his head, turning back to B'kaiv with a shrug that seems to say 'well, what can you do?' "Don't mind them having their fun. And-- not anyone in particular, no. More that, well, my sister was a candidate here a few turns back. Was kind of hoping to see if any of her friends might've heard from her recently."
B'kaiv throws up a hand to shield his eyes but is otherwise resigned to the dragons' fun. "Told you," he says apropos of nothing save for poor neglected dragons who never ever get to use their wings. Once they're gone, once even Chielyth's exploratory bugle is lost to the night and the wind, he turns back to K'del and tips his head invitingly toward the caverns. "Oh yeah - I remember her, sorta. N- something, ain't it? That woulda been... shells. Probably Vanissa's clutch. I remember her 'cause there was th' two bronzerider's sisters. But something happened t' her, didn't it? She didn't Stand, or something?"
K'del makes a sound of low amusement for B'kaiv's 'told you', but otherwise makes no remark on it. After the dragons are gone, a quick bob of the head agrees to the greenrider's invitation, as he confirms, "Nakasha, right. Kash. She... was pregnant, and so didn't get to stand, no. She returned home after the baby was home, but..." He seems reluctant to continue, but, apparently, forces himself to continue. "She left my family a little over a turn ago. Keep hoping she's been in contact with /someone/. So here I am-- clutching at straws."
"I only seen her a few times," Kai offers apologetically. "But we can go see if one of th' others is around. Vanissa, Dashaya, one of them might'a heard. --You ain't got no idea where she is?" Which K'del already said, but maybe Kai misheard.
K'del's shrug is philosophical enough: it's much as he expected, probably. "Appreciate it," he tells the greenrider, firmly. "No, no idea whatsoever. It's like she vanished. Just walked out one morning and maybe ended up at a local gather and-- nothing since then. Get that she doesn't want to be found, but... a person worries, you know? Misses her."
B'kaiv heads for one of the lighted entrances, doing a piss-poor job of ditching the bronzerider. "Yeah," he agrees, non-committal, and, "Maybe." A few steps farther on he adds, all buck-up and stiff-upper-lip, "But she can take care of herself, yeah? It ain't like she's one of them Lady Holders as ain't never been outside without half a dozen people t' blow her nose."
K'del follows, perhaps half a pace behind B'kaiv, his hands shoved loosely into his pockets, his elbows slung low. "Course she can," he agrees, rather too quickly, too firmly. And, a few moments later, a little more reluctantly; "Mostly, anyway. She was in pretty poor shape-- emotionally, I mean. For a while. She's probably much better, now." Beat. "Definitely."
'Emotionally' brings the greenrider up short, if only for a step; when he resumes it's with a decidedly thoughtful frown. "Huh." A few steps later, "You probably don't want t' hear this, but... what if she don't want t' go back? 'Cause, you know, people don't sometimes." All terribly vague, and with little weight to his tone.
K'del cuts his own steps short, as B'kaiv does; it takes him a little longer to resume, his stride lengthening to catch him back up, his frown unconsciously echoing his companion's. "I--" he begins, followed soon after by, "Doesn't matter. Don't necessarily want her to go back, just want to know she's safe." He swallows, then adds, "And happy. Definitely happy. Imagine she probably is. Know she /wasn't/, at home. Have to be, right, to run away like that?"
B'kaiv isn't quite sure what to do with his hands: folding his arms doesn't work when he's walking, but merely letting them swing doesn't convey the necessary gravitas. He settles for loosely fisting them every few steps instead. "Safe." He glances sidelong and up; after a few more seconds he nods once. "Yeah. We can ask around, sure. Shells, we got riders on sweep every sharding day. They can keep a eye out too. Long as she's around Fort, any road."
K'del's smile is genuinely appreciative, albeit lazy enough to suit his continued drooped-elbow walk. "Appreciate it," he tells B'kaiv, firmly. "No idea where she might be, but keeping an eye out 'round here couldn't hurt. Fort's the only place other than home she's spent all that much time. And Tillek, but she'd never've gone there."
"Oh yeah?" Kai checks the skies but neither dragon has returned and K'del's sister isn't flapping about either (or if she is, she's out of range of the glows). "What's wrong with Tillek?"
While Kai checks the skies, K'del keeps his attention on the greenrider - perfectly at ease, of course. "Nothing in particular," is his prompt response. "'cept it's full of family, and also, I think, the father of her child, and if she'd been really keen on him she would've said who he was, and probably married him." Logic! "So I can't see her want to go there." Beat. And then; "Reckon they'll be a while longer." He's in no rush, though. Apparently.
'Full of family' gets another 'hah', this one understanding, before Kai slants his gaze back over toward K'del. "Maybe," can be tacked onto any part of the bronzerider's words that he wishes, though the, "Shells, no, she ain't coming back long as she got somebody t' fly with," has a pretty firm home. "You get th' chance some time, come back in th' afternoon and you can see what sort of wherry-brained flying he's doing. Probably," he adds cheerfully, "scare your hair white." A beat. "--Sir."
/That/ makes K'del laugh, cheerful, the thoughtfulness invoked by his sister abandoned for pure amusement, at least for the moment. "Remember watching Bennath teach him barrel rolls, once upon a time. If I can get through that... reckon I'd rather not be /aboard/, at least."
B'kaiv snorts again, quietly, and shakes his head. "That's a name I ain't heard for turns. Shells, though, she does things...." What sorts of things he doesn't--or can't--elucidate, though he skims one hand along the other arm, barely an inch away. "Straight at a rock, or a sharding tree. I got /real/ good at making straps, is all I'm gonna say." Another crooked smile sent sideways, and the greenrider sobers. "Chielyth says J'han's in th' 'caverns. I'll point him out t' you. Think he might'a known your sister."
There is a moment of solemness, a bob of the head, in recognition of Bennath and his rider, but the bronzerider doesn't linger on it. "Imagine you did," he agrees, though he's easily distracted by reference to J'han. "Really? Appreciate that. Thank you, B'kaiv."
"Ain't no problem," says Kai with another shrug as they approach the well-lit entrance. "Least I can do for Chielyth running off with your Cadejoth." Or Cadejoth running off with Chielyth: either-or. Inside J'han's easy to spot: he's the man their age already making his way for the pair with the clear intent to intercept. B'kaiv drops K'del a, "Clear skies," and a nod, another for J'han before he breaks away to leave the men to their talk.