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Post by Darvin on Aug 6, 2010 15:30:05 GMT -5
D'vin sat on the edge of the small lake at the edge of the bowl, clad only in linen shorts, the rest of his clothes sitting in a disorderly pile on the ground nearby. He was drying off after a long swim, taking a short break, and pondering whether or not to jump back into the cool, sparkling waters.
It'd been almost four months since he left Ista, a smoking, collapsed ruin. Four months since he and anyone he could gather fled. Four months since - He shook his head, and dove back into the water, the slight chill combating the cold that had slowly begun to spread into his limbs. He began doing laps back and forth across the small lake.
Finally, he drew himself back to shore, panting, and as he sat up on the warm rock, his skin was as beaded with sweat as with lake-water.
He stretched out, staring at the blue sky; The hazy shapes of dragons aloft, on patrol, or on their way to somewhere or another. He frowned, slightly, as he heard footsteps approaching, though he gave no other reaction.
Tag: Echo, Any
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Post by Lilia on Aug 9, 2010 1:57:18 GMT -5
Lilia walked across the bowl from her days classes back to her rooms on the other side. Renhick was off playing with his friends it was their normal ritual when she let the children loose from class. She knew he’d show up around dinner time. She took a few moments to go to the lake and sat there on a rock with her guitar. She spent many hours each day with the teaching ballads and giving the children their writing and reading lessons. This little patch of time was for herself. So she began to play, it was a faintly sad like her mood. A very old song that was taught to every student at Harper Hall from time immemorial as a way to evoke emotion in your listener. She played Blackbird. As she played and sang the tune trying not to disturb the man nearby; she kept her voice low singing mostly to herself and keeping time on the body of the instrument even as she plucked out the rhythm with her fingers. ”Blackbird singing in the dead of night • Take these broken wings and learn to fly • All your life • You were only waiting for this moment to arise...”Tag Any
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Post by Darvin on Aug 10, 2010 11:19:16 GMT -5
Darvin stared up at the sky for a long few minutes, before finally listing his head slightly, to turn and look back at Lilia. His lips were a thoughtful frown, though not an unpleasant sort of look. He recognized the song, though he couldn't quite recall its' name.
He thought about the past few weeks in particular. Life falling into a new rhythm. Less frantic, more... Of a different sort of frantic, he thought to himself.
Just as hurried, always in a rush... But now, without that awful keening. Most of those who would pass, had passed... And new life was hardening on the sands. Instead of rushing from one near-disaster to the next, his Candidates hurried from class to class. He was proud of their progress.
The few Weyrlings they had also came along in their training, rapidly making up for the time they had missed in lessons with practical experience in their various airborne treks across Pern.
Even the Holdfolk had found themselves places in the newly-restored Dragon Hold, while some chose to remain in the Weyr. Faith in the Weyr was peaking. The Holdfolk, previously coming to dislike the Weyr interference, were now working their hardest to offer proper gifts and tithes to the Riders, to whom they were immensely grateful.
Also came more dragons, and more people, discovered in their searches across the ruined Northern Continent.
All things considered, life was good. Lonely, quiet, unexciting... But good.
It is definitely a change of pace, he reflected, a little sourly.
Tag: Echo, Lilia
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Post by Echo and Anayeth on Aug 10, 2010 17:02:46 GMT -5
Echo was worrying. Chalarath was looking exceedingly clutch-heavy and, like she did every time time a Queen was ready to lay a clutch, Echo was worrying. She watched the Queen daily, on the offchance that she could see Chalarath. And, as the sole Dragonhealer, it sort of was her duty to worry. If something wrong happened to Chalarath during clutching, or sometime after and there was no Gold egg, then the Weyr would be doomed. That, that scared Echo more than the Hatching itself.
She even had nightmares about it.
But today Echo was trying not to worry. For what it was worth, she hadn't worried all morning. Now, though, the stubborn clenching stomach had returned, sort of like what she got when it was her time of the month, only Echo was graced with cramps only menially and only then the first day she started. Not like anyone would be asking about that anytime soon, but she had to liken the feeling to something, and that was about as close as she could get to describing the feeling.
So, instead of actively trying to worry, which she had been doing quite frequently now, Echo headed down to the Weyr Bowl. Luckily, now that everything had been dying down recently in the Infirmary, Echo now had more time to do the chores besotted to the Candidates. Sure, she still had Dragonhealing chores, but whatever would get her out of that infirmary would make her intimately much happier.
Echo made her way to the shore, and found D'vin, the Candidatemaster there. Slightly surprised by seeing him, Echo found herself padding toward him, almost unconsciously, as if her feet were telling her where to go. She stopped next to him and sat, but there was enough space in between them that it wasn't intimate, just friendly. A bit away, the MasterHarper was singing a sweet lullaby, and a smile alighted on Echo's lips. "It's a nice melody, isn't it, Candidatemaster?" Echo asked quietly, as if speaking any louder would disturb the peace.
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Post by Darvin on Aug 10, 2010 22:26:57 GMT -5
D'vin waited, a long moment, before opening his eyes. He smiled, briefly, but there wasn't much happiness behind it.
The weight of his thoughts was telling.
"It is," he nodded, slightly, in agreement. "This place is... Peaceful. The water's nice. Cold... But nice. The sunlight," he gestured up at the distant curve of the Weyr Bowl, over which the sun just barely broke, etching hard shadows at the deeper end of the water, and casting the shallows into crystal clarity with bright shafts of sunlight.
The wheeling shape of a high-flying dragon cast a brief, flitting shadow across the water.
"The Weyr is doing better than I expected," he began, quietly. "Much better. Which lines up with what I knew of R'enh... Even if he wasn't quite my kind of leader. Isn't." He shrugged. "But he's not doing too bad even so. Determined... Protective, definitely. Loyal to his Weyr." He shrugged again, in place of words. Inarticulate. "Not my kind of leader. I never really had to think about what kind of leader I wanted." He chuckled, softly. "It was always either K'vyt, or me... I never imagined not having a Weyr to lead, and I guess the lack of dragon kind of precludes me becoming Weyrleader."
He laughed, softly; It was a bitter sound. "I try not to think about that. I just do what good I can on the ground. Everyone's got to do their part... Even if it doesn't get me airborne half as often as I'd like." He shrugged yet again, this time philosophically.
"How are you, Healer?" He finally sat up, half-turning to address her, his chest, speckled with droplets of sweat and water, glistened in the sunlight, toned muscles visible beneath tanned skin, his white teeth bright against his smile.
"I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you, before, but I do recognize you. I'm D'vin, the Candidatemaster... But," he chuckled, "You knew that."
Tag: Echo, Any
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Post by Echo and Anayeth on Aug 11, 2010 0:09:53 GMT -5
Echo felt completely fine on waiting until D’vin stopped talking to respond. In fact, the brown-haired girl hadn’t heard him say much except yell at random candidates, at least not as much as he said now. The man talked about how he had expected the Weyr to run, and how he disliked R’enh’s leading skills. That alone brought a slight smile to Echo’s face, because D’vin was supposed to tell the Candidates much about leadership, and here he was disliking R’enh. But she said nothing, just kept that small smile on her face.
Suddenly, Echo noticed a change in D’vin. It hadn’t been a large one, since he had been slightly sour to begin with, but it was one big enough. ‘Everyone’s got to do their part…’ he said, and Echo shivered. She wondered what it was like to be a dragonless man. No, scratch that, she wondered what it was like to be a dragonless man (in her case woman) and living in a Weyr full of dragons and dragonriders and unable to ever talk to your other half ever again. It was just madness, and Echo wanted to know how D’vin lived like that. Echo’s smile dropped from her face.
“Oh, uhm,” Echo said, realizing that D’vin hadn’t actually met her before and that she knew him from ways that he could not have met her in the best of circumstances. “I’m so sorry for not introducing myself, Candidatemaster.” Echo blinked. How could she have forgotten?! “I’m Echo, Dragonhealer of the Weyr. Only Dragonhealer of the Weyr, it seems.” Usually there were at least three Dragonhealers, and this number did not include the Dragonhealers who rode dragons. But there were no Dragonhealers who rode dragons at Dragon Weyr, either, and sometimes Echo felt awfully alone. Maybe that’s how D’vin felt… but all the time.
“I’m fine, Candidatemaster,” Echo continued, having gotten past the needed formalities. She nodded toward him, a silent ‘thank you for asking how I was’ nod. Then she sighed, and her mind fled to Jorja, her mother. For some odd reason, whenever she thought of losing a dragon, she thought of her mother. Maybe it was because she lost her mother, her only real ‘loss’ as a person. Except Jorja wasn’t really a loss as much as something that was hindering was now gone. Still, the reason she became a Healer in the first place was not because of Oer, her MasterHealer father (contrary to popular belief), but because she wanted to get to know her mother more and wanted Jorja to stop hating her.
“Candidatemaster…?” Echo suddenly asked, turning to him so she could see his face, which was slightly cast in the shadows of mid-morning light. “Can I ask you a… uhm… question?”
Tag DARVIN!
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Post by Darvin on Aug 11, 2010 1:10:04 GMT -5
He smiled at her, softly, and gestured for her to speak. "Ask away. It's no problem... Sorry for rambling. My thoughts... Bouncing around my head for a while. Guess I felt the urge to spit them out. I'd chewed them over long enough."
He turned fully to face her, sitting cross-legged on the sun-warmed rock.
He was surprised, actually, that he had let so much out. His feelings, his opinions, and even a few things he hadn't quite realized he thought. His features, however, were serene, carefully controlled, save the almost whimsical smirk that caught his lips, twisting them up slightly at one corner, as he awaited her question.
Tag: Echo
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Post by Echo and Anayeth on Aug 11, 2010 1:35:44 GMT -5
Echo didn’t know how to phrase the question. She’d heard about dragonless men quite a lot. In fact, a whole part of training to become a Dragonhealer was learning about dragonless men (and more rarely women). She knew, in an offhanded way, what they must have felt like, but she’d never actually spoken to one of them. So she felt like she needed to word her questions accordingly, because if the questions were worded in any way off, D’vin might, well, Echo didn’t know how he would act. Dragonhealing training had bred into her the knowledge that each Dragonless acted differently.
So, as he turned to face her full-on, Echo’s mind flashed ever-quicker to Jorja. Mother hadn’t been there much, but she was still Echo’s mother. And losing her… Echo breathed a large breath. “D’vin, I don’t want to upset you with this question, but being a Dragonhealer has taught me something about… uhm, what you are.” She paused, and her fingers laced together. She momentarily dropped her eyes, something Echo rarely did and disliked doing because it showed that she was scared of something.
But she brought her head back up, almost stubbornly, and looked him in the eye. She did not waver in the slightest when she asked the question she had so carefully constructed in her mind. Unfortunately, ‘careful construction’ came out wrong as Echo sort of blurted out, “Why haven’t you changed your name back to its un-honorific state?” And then she realized that her careful construction had failed and she gasped as the realization of how stinging her question must have been hit her. ‘Oh, Faranth, please let him be okay with what I said!’
Tag Darvin
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Post by Darvin on Aug 11, 2010 2:12:52 GMT -5
He stiffened, as if struck, by the preface to her question. What I am?
Before he could speak, however, he was cut short by the earnest curiosity of her question. By the truth of it.
And by the fact that he'd never even thought about it, before.
"I," he stammered out, surprised, and briefly embarrassed at his sudden lack of words. His face flushed slightly, head dipping. He frowned intensely.
"It's... Been my name for nearly twice as long as I had the other." He shrugged, flushing further at his seemingly insufficient response.
"Why should I change it back? I still live in the Weyr... I... Don't rightly know what I'd do without it. Maybe I don't have a dragon anymore, but... What would people call me? I left that name behind thirty years ago. It wouldn't feel right, going back to it. It'd feel like he was... Gone, y'know?"
He shrugged, again, as if he couldn't put his mind to words.
He grunted, to punctuate his sentence, his brow furrowed.
His mouth finally closed, jaw set, as if fighting to free the words trapped in his throat.
Tag: Echo
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Post by Lilia on Aug 11, 2010 14:40:40 GMT -5
Lilia had finished her ballad and couldn’t help but overhear some of the conversation of the other two and the man’s judgment of R’enh’s leadership style rankled her a touch. Certainly she knew not everyone would be happy with Chalarath’s choice but personally she was. R’enh had been preparing for this job since he’d Impressed Mnoranth. She’d heard him talk about it often enough during their time together. She’d been his weyrmate for close to 4 years before she’d been sent to Ista as a journeyman harper.
She discounted his remarks to lack of knowledge of the man or maybe disagreement with his style. She knew her own opinion wouldn’t matter whatever she said. He was a former Bronze rider and probably a leadership mindset himself. So, she just shrugged mentally and moved on to another song. The sun was declining in the sky and soon she’d have to collect their dinner.
Her eyes opened wide and she turned away from the pair at the startling question of the young dragonhealer. She might be a candidate and the man’s answer was certainly revealing but the question was intimate in a way the girl couldn’t begin to realize. Tact certainly wasn’t her strong suit.
Lilia couldn’t help but strum her instrument several times before beginning a tried and true song intended to comfort the dragonman whos mate was lost to him.
The blackest night must end in dawn, The sun dispel the dreamer's fear: When shall my soul's bleak, hopeless pain Find solace in its darkening Weyr?
She transitioned into another minor chord and seamlessly began
Black, blacker, blackest, And cold beyond frozen things. Where is between when there is naught To Life but fragile dragon wings?
And finally the hopeful upbeat.
Dragonman, dragonman, Between thee and thine, Share me that glimpse of love Greater than mine.
Who wills, Can. Who tries, Does. Who loves, Lives.
She turned her eyes to the former bronze rider. She couldn’t begin to truly understand his loss. But she understood loss. She understood needs unfulfilled.
Tag Any
(OOC: These are all actually canon ballads from the Harper Hall)
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Post by Echo and Anayeth on Aug 11, 2010 16:31:56 GMT -5
Echo’s honest fault had broken something in D’vin, she saw it. It saddened her that she had done this to him, that she had dug deep in a hole that should not have been dug in. But her gaze remained strong as she looked at him. It was her fault he was acting this way, but he could have brushed the comment aside and not answered. Well, Echo didn’t think that he was that mean, and she certainly didn’t believe he’d just push off a topic so near to his heart like that. If there was anything she’d gleaned from the other Healers, it was that D’vin was a nice man, and tried to explain things. Well, okay, maybe the other Healers could have been wrong or something, but still.
“I understand,” Echo said quietly, remembering how her name came along. She smiled bitterly as her own memories captured her. “I was named Echo because I looked too much like my dead sister. She’d died before I was even born. I guess I just live with a name that’s become mine even if it wasn’t the one I was rightfully supposed to have.”
Echo looked at him, at his almost helplessness. “It can’t be the same as what you’ve been through, Candidatemaster, but it’s something no one else can suffer unless circumstances happened in nearly the same way.” She was calm as she spoke, as if to offset the Candidatemaster’s inability to articulate words to his liking. Her brown eyes were somber as they watched him, but the MasterHarper’s melody didn’t seem to fit. It had become a light and hope-filled tune, one Echo hadn’t heard in a long while.
Tag D'vin/Lilia
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Post by Darvin on Aug 12, 2010 2:34:44 GMT -5
He shrugged, his expression distant. A slight tremor went through him as the song finished, but he shook his head, as if shaking it off.
Tears stood, briefly, in his eyes; Just one in each, and no more.
"Maybe some day, I might, when all of this is long past.. Once I've dealt with my loss." He shrugged. "Maybe. But until then, I need every shred of self-control I've got just to keep going."
He narrowed his eyes, and growled out, "And no one needs to know that." He lifted a hand, and flicked away the tear on each cheek, his expression one of a mixture of impatience and gratitude.
He sighed, deeply, and eyed her quietly. "So, are you looking forward to your Stand?" He raised a brow, thoughtfully.
"And how do you feel about the Candidate classes, thus far?"
Tag: Echo
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Post by K'rill and Morisath on Aug 12, 2010 14:46:42 GMT -5
In the sky, six dragons, in perfect triangle formation, not a wingbeat out of place, surge into existence.
They wheel as one, perfectly coordinated, at a telepathic signal from the lithe, sandy-colored Brown at the lead. A Bronze holds Wingsecond position, just behind and to his left. The rest of the formation, two browns, and two blues, split, one brown just ahead of one blue on either side of the Bronze, and just behind. The five came in to land, and respectfully parted, forming a circle, in the center of which the lithe, powerful Brown landed.
Sitting atop the brown, in well-maintained leather riding gear, with an ornate saber slung across his lower back, and a jeweled knife set into the strap across his chest, he seemed very much an imposing Conqueror. As he removed his heavy leather jacket, the short sleeved shirt benath revealed lithe, muscular forearms, the left of which was marred with a very visible wound, mostly healed, but still a raw red at the center, paled with scar tissue, and edged in burnt skin.
His skin was darkly tanned, his eyes bright brown beneath his furrowed brow. He looked down at D'vin and Echo imperiously from dragonback, letting his gaze wander over to Lilia, briefly, thoughtfully, his eyes widening slightly as he noted her rank. He peered down, thoughtfully, for a moment, as if trying to remember where he recognized D'vin from.
Finally, he stood, and lowered himself from his dragon's back with casual ease, the brief climb showing to advantage his slender musculature.
He inclined his head to the Masterharper, Lilia, and then to Echo, and then, finally, to D'vin, with a mixture of respect, and thinly-veiled condescension.
"Hello, D'vin. It's been a few months." His tone was gracious, welcoming, charming, his words soft and smooth, each carefully spoken, and each resonating with the smirk that twisted his features into aloof handsomeness.
"And you, M'lady? I can't say I've the pleasure," he emphasized very slightly, addressing the Masterharper, curling the word around his tongue like a silk bow, "Of your acquaintance. Or yours, ma'am," he added, addressing Echo.
He bowed, deeply, and extended a hand before him, in a smooth, courtly gesture; One which seemed, somehow, not at all out of place with his behavior.
"I am K'rill, and that is my Morisath. Me and my Wing are of Ista."
He met eyes with Lilia, briefly, tilting his head back, slightly, as if to inspect her from a different perspective, and bowed his head to her, once more, with respect. "Masterharper," he acknowledged softly.
Tag: Any
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Post by Echo and Anayeth on Aug 13, 2010 21:30:40 GMT -5
“My Stand?” Echo asked, an echo of D’vin’s much more masculine voice. She quieted then and her eyes grew stern. Finally, she said, “I’m looking forward to it as much as any other Candidate. But I’ve also got to be wary, D’vin. If the hatchlings don’t hurt some human, they’ll probably hurt each other. You must know that I cannot help them until they’ve Impressed.” Echo was distressed then, “I fear that I will never be able to save the hatchlings if they never Impress… just disappear.”
D’vin’s next question did not come as much of a surprise to Echo, considering who D’vin was. “I do like them, I seriously do. But I know most of what you talk about. Maybe it’s only me, because I’ve been a Candidate for a while. You are a wonderful candidatemaster, don’t get me wrong.” She stopped, afraid she’d upset the man more than she already had.
Suddenly, though, a great wing of dragons appeared from between right over their heads. Not startled, Echo looked up, thankful for the change of topic, if any. A Brown seemed to be the leader of the flight, and Echo instantly found it strange. The Brownrider dismounted and inclined his head toward them all, even the MasterHarper, She blinked at him even as he strode forward and…
Wait. Echo was floored. No one in their right minds had ever called her ‘M’lady.’ Even those deluded people who’d had too much to drink never truly saw her as a ‘Lady’ of any kind, especially the kind he might have been referring to. Then Echo realized he was looking slightly past her to Lilia, and her breathing eased. Wow, that was a close call. The way he said ‘pleasure’ and how he was acquaintance himself with her (and Lilia)… he sounded like an oldie. Echo knew that first impressions were slightly misleading most of the time… but this time she was sure her first impression was spot-on.
“Well met… K’rill. I am Echo, Dragonhealer and Candidate.” She said, her second introduction of the day. Introductions had become scarce since the first couple sevendays, so this was a new record for her. She raised an eyebrow. “Ista? Isn’t that where you come from, D’vin?”
Yes, Echo paid attention when people were first introducing themselves and said where they were all from.
Tag Any
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Post by Lilia on Aug 14, 2010 1:59:55 GMT -5
She knew they heard because she could still hear them talking and then a small wing of dragons appeard in the sky and came sailing in near the dragonless Davin.
She slightly narrowed her eyes at the overdone greeting. That type of thing was the norm in holds but not typical of the Weyr in the least. She took in the sword and the dagger. She wasn't quite sure but those were the typical trappings of a Lord Holder. She'd seen drawing in the Harper Hall that depicted dragon men with such trappings but the records indicated they were gifts of grateful holders and craftsmen to show their thanks for 'Dangers Dragon Braved.' But from what she remembered that had happened during threadfall and they were not there quite yet.
He was at least polite but it seemed more of an affectation that a natural grace. She returned his polite nod. She wasn’t quite certain what to think of the smiling young man.
Tag Any
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