Logs:Death Ritual
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| RL Date: 28 August, 2013 |
| Who: H'kon |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: A ritual evolves, and then implodes. H'kon loses a sister, and then a day. |
| Where: Between; Tillek Hold; High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 22, Month 8, Turn 32 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: B'tal/Mentions, Haeron/Mentions, I'kris/Mentions, Iolene/Mentions, K'vas/Mentions, Kallia/Mentions, Kairek/Mentions, Madilla/Mentions, Naelli/Mentions |
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| Word came by firelizard. He did not know the creature, whose it was, but what - urgency - was clear even without Arekoth. H'kon read the note, hurried in a detached haze to set things in order with his new wingleader, with the rider who would see to his sweeps, with Madilla. --- The keens had long since faded from their ears, the trepidation of that first trip between had been overcome, but there were still many in the Weyr who could feel the emptiness where Tethueth and K'vas had been. Arekoth had welcomed the initial closer contact with the dragons; H'kon had not. But it was that necessary solitude that had brought on his reflection, and his reflection that had pulled up his curiosity, and that in turn, Arekoth's. It was not the first time after, that they tried it, nor the second, though they toyed with the idea together. But on the third, when Arekoth was more fully his again, when he'd better become master of the anxiety and excitement with each jump, then they reached out. It was a matter of compartmentalisation. The excitement and anxiety coming off the rest of the Weyr was hard to shut out, even for a man like H'kon. The new between point almost worked in their favour, in that respect, grounding him. He had to hold it solidly, analytically. It gave the energy of his own excitement - on account of the idea, and not of fear - a channel. It pressed the wondering to the back of his head, and kept the certainty fully present. Still, there was something disappointing in the detachment that was forced onto him when he relayed the call through Arekoth, and in how K'vas, came out hollow. There was also something disappointing in having received no answer in the black. --- They left immediately after, as they were. The firelizard was long since gone. Too long. Between was instantaneous, but still they were to Tillek too late. --- It should have been a harder thing, for B'tal. Arekoth and his clutchmates mourned Jeibeth more keenly. Even H'kon did not retreat fully into solitude at the outset. He did wait until a night when there was no alcohol flowing in the greenrider's memory. He did wait until he and Arekoth had a chance to focus in on themselves, more isolated from the other dragons and riders born with them. These were practical precautions. But it was distrust of his own assessment of his emotions, rather than the emotions themselves, that made H'kon force their return image into the forefront of his mind with an intensity to rival their first reach into the black. H'kon's heart beat harder when they saw the light again, though he was dismayed to think back, to think that it had not been caused by any expectation attached to the caution-heavy, B'tal that he'd pushed out. It was Arekoth's simultaneous « Jeibeith, » and the cacophony of two names mixed, entirely unexpected, that had sped the blood through his veins. But afterwards, with the setting sun spreading a warm glow to their ledge, it only seemed right that Arekoth should also have a farewell address, to go unanswered by fallen comrades. --- Arekoth was in the air forever, and then H'kon was on the ground longer. Too long. It was already done, she was already gone, and the rest... H'kon found himself restless, and unable to move. His mother spoke to him, his father spoke to him, his brother - when he arrived, later even than H'kon - spoke to him. H'kon found little to say. At the end, those he'd known as a boy came forward to see him, to take his hand, to murmur condolences. Then his mother embraced him, his father embraced him, and when his brother stepped forward, H'kon pushed him away. He found his dragon wanting to be away. When they broke into the air, H'kon gulped it as a drowning man pulled to the surface. --- The suspicion and confusion following Iolene's death had delayed their call, even after the certainty of ritual had overridden the division of the political and personal. In the end, there had almost been an eloquence to it: Iolene and Ysavaeth, I'kris and Svissath, made common by the distant solemnity with which H'kon gave forth their names. Perhaps neither of them were given the same peace that H'kon felt in the moment of the rite. But perhaps... --- H'kon pictured the image for Arekoth, High Reaches, home. He focused on it, with water threatening to cloud his vision from a dull ache at the edges of his eyes. In the end, she had not waited for him, anymore than he had for her. And there was still so much to say. It made no sense to do, practically. His sister was below, still, always. There would be no answer, as ever there wasn't. Their call would go unheeded. But still he sharpened the lines of the Weyr as he dug his nails into his gloves, into the straps around Arekoth's neck. The black was cold as ever when they dropped between. He held the image, reached for her name- and everything fell apart. It was all nothing, too much nothing, and his heart was screaming for Naelli, but he could not give the name, could scarcely hear it himself, and he could not see the Weyr, and he could not feel his dragon, and the cold was encroaching - too long! H'kon found Arekoth in the maelstrom. He scrambled for an image of the Weyr in his numbing mind, and his dragon seized upon it instantly. When they emerged from between above the Weyr, the watchdragon was both faintly relieved and faintly curious at establishing contact with them. (Again?) While Arekoth focused on the place, on the time, on the lost day, H'kon reached a gloved hand up to wipe frozen tears from the corners of his eyes. |
Comments
Madilla (K'del (talk)) left a comment on Wed, 28 Aug 2013 09:10:41 GMT.
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I love this. The ritual! Poor H'kon. Poor Arekoth. (Poor Naelli, too, I guess, but mostly H'kon.)
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