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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 12, 2010 23:53:49 GMT -5
He’d arrived above Benden to find nothing but destruction. They circled the bowl but Toluth could hear no one. Ash rained down on them from nearby volcanic activity and he could see lava in the bottom of the weyr bowl below and smell a tang of sulfer.
He looked around to see the wind blowing west so they went east and everywhere they looked they saw devastation and smelled things burning. The girl behind him was almost hysterical again. He rolled his eyes.
“That’s not helping” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. Tonuth could not find Brath though he was getting a faint echo on Sivarith. “Sivarith is alive!” that meant that Sorelle was alive. She would know where his brother was.
They flew and flew toward the coast. The girl was down to a low whimper and hiding behind him. He was sorry for her but he wouldn’t be able to spend time coddling her as he would have in other circumstances.
He squinted trying to make out the horizon ahead and leaned into the wind. When they finally came down near to sunset they were on a beach. The beach held all sorts of evidence of the passage of many people and dragons. He was most excited by the evidence of dragons.
“The candidate runs”
He turned around and unbelievably the girl was running back inland. “What the… shards!” he said and started running after her. He was too old for this.
He went to jump over a fallen log and caught a toe tripping and falling on his face but what he didn’t see was the next piece of driftwood that knocked him senseless.
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Post by sorelle on Jul 13, 2010 15:55:07 GMT -5
Sivarith dropped quickly to the ground as they emerged from Between. Sorelle was shivering violently, her bare feet and face a purple-blue color, and she could barely feel the ground as she slipped from the back of the gold dragon. She walked closer to the lava flow, as close as she dared, knowing that she could be risking burns on the unfeeling flesh. Slowly, painfully, warmth spread into her frozen feet. She held out her hands, warming them, too, before placing them against her cheeks, lips, chin and nose. "Foolish," she muttered, angry at herself for forgetting one of the most basic precautions before going Between. In just the short time in nothingness, she had risked acute frostbite. However, the stinging pins and needles sensations told her the tissue had not died.
She stood and took a couple of tentative steps to the fallen body of a dragonrider. Removing his shoes from his dead feet, she then took a scarf from his neck and cut it the fabric in half with the aid of a sharp rock. Sorelle looked around at her home as she wrapped the scarf around her feet, then put on the oversized shoes. Sivarith tilted her head at the ex-weyrwoman. "Not a word," Sorelle said as she tromped along, trying not to trip.
"All gone," she whispered. Her hand rested on the knee of the Queen as she looked around at the devastation. Her eyes filled with tears, but they widened as she saw it. Her weyr. Part of it was exposed to the elements, a large part of the structure missing and crumbling. Yet...
"We need to get up there," she thought. Sivarith assumed the position and Sorelle climbed back up for the short flight to the weyr. The dragon's feet stumbled as the ground crumbled beneath them, but she eventually found a hold in the weyr. Sorelle hit the ground gently, afraid it would break apart under her light weight. After testing her footing, she dipped under the dragon's lowered head and began exploring. Picking up a large hide bag, she began adding items to it. Ancient records went in first, then her favorite gather clothing. Coughing occasionally from the ash, she continued her search, despite the fact that her leathers and hands were covered in the volcanic dust. She had to find it... it was there somewhere...
She cursed silently, pushing aside small rocks and singed fabric. A glimmer to the left caught her eye and she took in a breath, which started her coughing again. Kneeling down, she picked up the small object, then held it tight to her chest, clenched in a white-knuckled fist. After a few moments, she opened her hand and looked at the necklace. It was intricately carved and polished until it almost seemed like you could see through the hard surface. Placing it around her neck, she continued on with the packing. She was intent not to think about him. Not now. Besides, she would find him soon.
Sivarith had fallen asleep on her old stone bed amongst the rubble and Sorelle realized she hadn't seen the dragon sleep for... how long? She couldn't recall. Quietly, she soldiered on, picking through the alcove. Aside from the necklace and the clothes, she took little else of her own. The rest of the bag was filled with items that would benefit the Weyr. Records of threadfall, logs of the Lineage of Queens, the handwritten records of past weyrwomen through the ages. All irreplaceable and valuable.
A huge rumbling sound shook the weyr and Sivarith's great head jerked up. "Danger." Sorelle nodded, grabbing the bag and meeting the dragon at the precipice. She climbed up, then secured the bag as best she could. With a fluid movement, the Gold fell into a graceful glide from the weyr, floating above the lava pool and past the edge of the once-glorious settlement. They flew in silence. Sorelle's mind was in turmoil, while Sivarith was sorting a dragonmind that was troubled. "Tonuth." She called out to the Brown. "His is injured!" Sivarith increased her speed, using the thermals to increase it past her usual limits, until she saw the beach. She bugled a greeting to the Brown below and dropped down nearby.
Sorelle was on the ground quickly, after releasing the bag and letting it drop into the soft sand. She ran over to the fallen form of a man. A thin rivulet of blood trailed from his head, coagulating and coated with grains of sand. Gently, she turned him over and gasped. "N'lon," she said. She put her head to his chest and felt the rise and fall. He was alive. Her hands grasped his upper arms. "You're here. You're alive!" The resemblance between J'lor and his half-brother was striking, befuddling Sorelle into thinking that he was the embodiment of her lost love. This was no illusion in the lake; her hands on his arms assured her that he was real.
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 14, 2010 1:16:27 GMT -5
He heard Tonuth but it was like he was far away and there was a roaring in his ears and his head hurt. The voice of his lifemate kept at him telling him to wake up. He just wanted to sleep a little longer. The blackness claimed him.
“Jlormine, wake up, wake up. I hear you.” the rather plaintive voice of his brown came to him across their link.
“I hear you too, you don’t need to yell” but his head still hurt and he couldn’t seem to open his eyes it was too hard. Oh man it hurt. He made a huge effort and tried to turn on his back and promptly passed out again.
He had no idea how much time had passed when he heard her voice. She gently helped him turn over.
"N'lon," she said. "You're here. You're alive!" she was grasping his arms and he opened an eye to see honeyed hair and dark eyes. He shook his head slightly.
“Not N’lon,” he said and even that hurt. And then he got the other eye open. “Sorelle?”
“Sivarilths is here to help you lormine.”
His hands rose up to touch the back of her arms where she held him. He blinked at her.
“I don’t…” he paused a moment trying to get his thoughts to make sense. His eyebrows drew together and he looked at her rather puzzled “Why are you here?”
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Post by sorelle on Jul 14, 2010 10:34:33 GMT -5
“I don’t… Why are you here?”
"I went home," she said as she looked into his eyes, "but it is destroyed." Letting go of his arms, she reached up and turned his head slightly to the side so she could see his wound, "you need a healer, but you'll have to settle for me. Wait right here." She stood up in a spray of sand and tromped over to the bag. Pulling out the dress she had placed in there earlier, she tore a small section from the hem. It could easily be repaired later. Her hand patted Sivarith on the knee and then she ran over the rise of a dune, looking for the stream she had seen when they had landed. The oversized boots caused her to trip several times to and from the stream where she wet the fabric.
Approaching J'lor, she stumbled back down by his side. "Hold still, love," she said as she began wiping away the blood. The wound was small, and had already started to clot, so she sat back in the sand after cleaning him up. Sivarith came over and nosed at the bloody fabric. "Leave it," Sorelle admonished her. The big dragon shook her head sharply in annoyance and wandered back to Tonuth. "Mine is not well." She stretched her neck, feeling the pull of her skin. It had been some time since she had been oiled.
Sorelle began pulling off 'her' shoes, then began unwrapping her feet from the cloth that protected them and made them fit. Sitting cross-legged, she began examining the bottom of her foot. There were several burns from the lava field. "I've been looking for you," she said to J'lor. "R'enh said I would not find you, but he was wrong." Her hand reached over and stroked his thigh, "I have missed you, my heart."
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 14, 2010 11:57:23 GMT -5
"I went home, but it is destroyed."
He'd seen the after effects when his own home at High Reaches exploded in a massive eruption and hadn't expected Benden to be all that much better. As far as he knew High Reaches Weyr was completely destroyed.
"Yes" he answered, "I have no more home to return to either" She turned his head and he flinched at the movement.
"you need a healer, but you'll have to settle for me. Wait right here."
He groaned a little and his arm rose to the top of his head and fingers ran through his hair. He didn't remember feeling this bad in a very long time. When his fingers strayed a bit close to the egg on his head he winced and his fingers came away a little bloody. It wasn’t that big but shards it hurt. He tried to remember what had happened but he had only the vaguest recollection and couldn't really focus on how he'd gotten here. He looked around a bit blurry and saw Sorelle coming back from wherever she'd gone. He tried to sit up but got too dizzy and decided to lay there another minute.
"Hold still, love,"
"Sorelle?" he was a little puzzled by the endearment, certainly they were on friendly terms but he'd tried to keep his feelings completely to himself. As far as he knew the only other being on this planet who knew how he felt was Tonuth. He stayed as still as possible as she cleaned the wound only sucking a little air between his teeth. Sharding headache.
"Sivarith's is not well." and he couldn't help but hear the admiring tone in Tonuth's 'voice' when he spoke of the big gold. "Brath and his are no more and Sivariths won't give up looking for him."
The news that his brother was gone hit him like a sucker punch. N'lon had been the only one of his family left and he'd hoped to find him alive since the damage at Benden hadn't seemed quite as bad as High Reaches. N'lon had been the one to protect him when the other weyrbrats were looking for the little kid to beat up. He'd always loved and looked up to his big brother.
"I've been looking for you," she said to J'lor. "R'enh said I would not find you, but he was wrong."
He started to tell her that she hadn't really found what she'd sought but then her hand reached over and stroked his thigh, "I have missed you, my heart." His eyes widened and he grabbed her hand before it could go any further. He looked at her for a moment and at the feeling in her eyes he'd always longed to see but it wasn't really for him, it was for his brother. He was conflicted but brought her hand to his heart instead before he spoke.
"J'lor" he said then pushing himself up on one elbow and ignoring his head "Sorelle, I’m J'lor and that is Tonuth, not Brath." he said pointing to the big brown.
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Post by sorelle on Jul 14, 2010 12:51:36 GMT -5
He grabbed her hand and she smiled as he pressed it to his chest. "J'lor," she repeated, confused. "I haven't seen him. Isn't he at High Reaches?" Pulling her hand free, she leaned in and kissed him. "You look tired. Rest and I'll see if I can find us some food." She got up and dragged the bag over, then pulled out the dress, wadding it up into a ball. Pushing him by the shoulder, she made him lie back down, his head on the ball of fabric. Her eyes closed and, seconds later, Sivarith had returned to their side. Sorelle navigated the big dragon around, so that her bulk would shade J'lor. "Do not leave him," she said to the Gold.
Sorelle walked over the dunes again, this time getting better purchase on the soft sand with her bare feet instead of the clunky boots. There were clusters of berries here and there and Sorelle remembered the words of one of the Healers. "There are no poisonous multi-lobed berries on Pern." Picking large handfuls, oblivious to the scratches from the thorns, Sorelle soon had enough for the two of them. They would provide energy as well as liquid.
As she stood at the top of the dune, she looked down at the scene below. Brath and Sivarith. N'lon. The image filled her heart with happiness, and she ran down the dune, hair flying with abandon in the wind, until she came to a stop at J'lor's feet. "Hungry," she asked, her face radiant with delight.
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 15, 2010 1:32:05 GMT -5
"J'lor," she repeated, confused. "I haven't seen him. Isn't he at High Reaches?"
“No, I….” she stopped him with a kiss and he couldn’t help but kiss her back. Then she said something about food and his stomach growled. It occurred to him that he didn’t remember the last time he had eaten. She popped up and was gone to retrieve a bag and pulled out a gather dress that had to have cost a pretty mark. She balled it up and made him lie down using it as a pillow. He had to chuckle when she put Sivarith to guarding him as if his own weren’t already.
”Please offer our apologies to Sivarith” he asked Tonuth. Sorelle was a force of nature. He remembered a conversation with N’lon when his brother had called her a mighty midget. He smiled as he remembered just how much N’lon had loved this woman. She obviously had felt the same or she wouldn’t be so obsessed, his eyes closing as he drowsed.
Soon Tonuth told him she was returning and he opened his eyes to watch her run down the dunes, her hair a mass of flying curls. She looked as lovely now as she had the first time he’d seen her more than thirty turns ago.
"Hungry," she asked.
“Famished” he answered.
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Post by sorelle on Jul 18, 2010 14:51:09 GMT -5
“Famished”
"You always were a walking stomach," she said as she knelt down by his side. Sivarith's great head intruded, examining the berries. "Off," Sorelle laughed, "you already ate." She shoved at the dragon's neck until Sivarith flicked her head and turned away, examining something off in the horizon.
Sorelle's eyes followed the Gold's gaze, but didn't see anything. Shrugging, she knew Sivarith would warn if something were coming, so she returned her attention back to J'lor. She sat forward and checked his wound again, then settled into the sand next to him. Leaning her body against his, she draped her upper arm across his chest and wiped some flecks of sand off of his face, then let her fingers wander through his hair as her other hand reached up and held a berry in front of him. "Open wide," she said.
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 19, 2010 8:14:41 GMT -5
"You always were a walking stomach,"
He snorted. She saw him as N’lon that much was certain. The man had a hollow leg and a metabolism that kept him whipcord thin. Though why she’d confuse a brown with a bronze was beyond him. Perhaps her brain just couldn’t accept that they were gone. He was having his own troubles on that score. The face of the world was changed and too many were gone.
“Sivarith has told the others not to follow them. She is worried for hers.”
”Understandably,” he replied, but focused on that word ‘others’ there were other survivors!
She leaned in to check his wound again, and he watched her puzzled. Then she leaned across him. “Sorelle,” he said as her fingers went through his hair. “where are the others,” he asked. He seemed to be missing the last few days but he remember a great deal of fire and ash.
He had to remind himself, she thought he was N'lon the caress and the looks were not for him they were for his brother. He caught her hand.
"Open wide," he opened obediently.
“Where are the others” he repeated as he chewed the juicy berry.
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Post by sorelle on Jul 20, 2010 12:31:27 GMT -5
“Sorelle, where are the others?”
She ignored the question and put the berry into his mouth, looking at his handsome face.
“Where are the others”
Her traumatized mind began working overtime, dodging and weaving above reality until things were clear to her. She would not lose him again. The pain had been too much and she would rather go between than face the loss. Her hand was trembling slightly as she picked up another berry. The fruit was soft and she held it between two fingers in front of her face.
"There are no others," she said, squeezing the berry until it squashed, the juices running down her hand.
She licked the liquid from her wrist, her eyes meeting his.
"It's just you... and me."
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 20, 2010 18:10:37 GMT -5
He could see the distress on her face and was immediately sorry he had pressed her too hard too quickly but he was also a dragonrider who knew that thread was coming and it was coming soon.
They didn't have a lot of time to deal with her fantasy of N'lon, at least not if they were going to survive. They at least needed shelter.
She held a berry in her trembling fingers and he could see the shadows chasing themselves through her eyes. He imagined there probably were only a few but if Sivarith told them not to follow her that meant there were dragons… somewhere.
"There are no others, he knew as she licked the juice from her wrist that he was in over his head as he watched and her eyes met his.
"It's just you... and me."
He shook his head slightly and sat up on one elbow. His head pounded painfully but he grabbed her hand and sucked the crushed berry from her fingers. No people meant no candidates and no more dragon riders to fight the incoming Pass of thread. It doomed what was left of the world.
One thing was certain, he was caught between a rock and a hard place, with the love of his life which would be a good thing except he wasn't the love of hers, and she was out of her right mind.
"Sorelle, we have to find shelter soon."
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Post by sorelle on Jul 23, 2010 17:52:18 GMT -5
"Sorelle, we have to find shelter soon."
She looked up and saw the color of the sky and hurriedly she finished off half of the berries, handing the rest to him. "Rest," she said. "I'll see what I can find." She motioned for Sivarith to follow and she ignored the grumblings of a confused and tired dragon.
"Yours should go to the others," Sivarith communicated to Tonuth. Images were transferred of the lake at the new Weyr. Though the Queen was growing increasingly fond of the brown, she was linked heart and soul to Sorelle. Following behind the small woman, the dragon looked back at Tonuth, then grunted and turned her great head, eye color changing dramatically as she caught sight again of the ex-weyrwoman.
"There's a small crawlcave back here," Sorelle called out. "It's not much, but it might do for the night." She turned around and ran smack dab into Sivarith's head. "I thought I told you to watch over N'lon."
Sivarith twitched an eye ridge in agitation. "If I didn't love mine, I would eat her."
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 25, 2010 16:33:10 GMT -5
She checked the sky at his suggestion of shelter. It was still spring and cool at night. He had his flying leathers but Sorelle wasn’t that well protected.
"Rest," she said. "I'll see what I can find."
Whatever hers says, Sivarith showed me a picture of a new Weyr and there are others. More dragons are there. A golds assurance in that regard could be taken as truth… She says you should go to the others. His lifemate was worried and to tell the truth so was he I will not leave her here he said.
I would not leave Sivarith Jlormine, she has noticed me. J’lor chuckled “Well of course she’s noticed you, hers thinks we’re her weyrmates.” Not that I haven’t wished it on occasion he thought and this time it was the dragons turn to chuckle. “Yeah, laugh it up brownboy, if there were a single bronze around here she wouldn’t give you the time of day”
He looked up as he heard Sorelle returning "There's a small crawlcave back here," Sorelle called out. "It's not much, but it might do for the night."
He didn’t hear what was said but suddenly felt more laughter from the big brown. Then he focused on trying to get to his feet and navigate toward where ever this cave happened to be. This was gonna hurt.
He got on all fours but standing was a bit beyond his ability.
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Post by sorelle on Jul 25, 2010 17:04:51 GMT -5
"Stop stop," Sorelle demanded as she ran to J'lor's side, "you're going to hurt yourself further." She knelt down in the sand next to him, then snaked her body under his left arm. "Remind you of old times," she asked, a mischievous grin on her face. With a grunt, she pushed upward with her thighs and back until he was semi-upright, his left arm resting over her shoulders. A small laugh came from her, "that's the extent of my height," she said.
Sivarith was already sticking her head into the cave. "Cramped."
"Deal with it, dear," Sorelle said.
Sivareth withdrew her head and gazed in the direction of the awkward pair, then with a puff of frustrated air from her lungs, she entered the cave, claiming the prime spot. She had to keep her wings folded tight to her body, and her head down. With a loud plop, she settled onto the cold stone floor in a cloud of dust.
"We'd better hurry," Sorelle said, "before she stretches out.
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Post by J'lor and Tonuth on Jul 26, 2010 14:28:43 GMT -5
He knelt there for a moment as the vertigo threatened to bring up the few berries he'd managed to eat.
"Stop stop, you're going to hurt yourself further." she called as she came running toward him. Then suddenly she was moving under him and he bit his lip to refrain from comment when she said "Remind you of old time?" and grinned .
He'd always been happy in his brother good fortune no matter what it had cost him. That was the lot of a dragonrider and one of the reasons they so rarely fell in love. But that was just too much information,
She pushed up under his arm to support him with her tiny frame as best she could "that's the extent of my height," and they tottered toward the cave.
Take what she offers mine, encouraged Tonuth. "Wouldn't be right my friend, she was my brothers mate. She thinks she offers to N'lon not J'lor. Besides it would hurt my head too much" he said privately to his lifemate. The brown understood the pain his rider was feeling and didn't want him to get worse.
"We'd better hurry," Sorelle said, "before she stretches out.
As they hobbled into the cave Tonuth had stretched himself near the queen and he attempted to bow to Sivarith as was customary but that sent a spike of pain and vertigo through his head. He sank to one knee to catch his breath and found himself leaning hard on Sorelle.
"Sorry" he murmured and tried to take his weight off her. He crawled a bit closer to his lifemate and rested his back against the big browm. Then he closed his eyes and simply tried to regain his bearings.
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