Logs:Called Away
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| RL Date: 26 January, 2014 |
| Who: Ali, B'rant |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: The day after Isyath's flight, B'rant wants to explain why he wasn't there. It's not good news. |
| Where: Ali's Weyr, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 26, Month 11, Turn 33 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: T'rev/Mentions |
| There might've been a lingering 'feel' of Rhenth's presence around from the day after Isyath's flight, but the big bronze has been keeping to himself, mostly, trying to salve himself over missing the gold's rising while also dealing with his rider's problems. Only when things both internal and external have calmed down a little more does Rhenth finally send a curl of wood smoke from within his towering forest over towards Isyath's stars, the curling and fragrant tendril cast against the gold's pristine sky like a perfect camping scene. A little concerned and solicitous, yet relaxed and firm, « Is yours awake, Isyath? B'rant would like to meet with her. » While he awaits an answer, the bronze can't help but cautiously touch his queen's mental aura with delicate forest creepers, trying to politely (but concernedly) suss out her emotional, physical, and mental states. Isyath sleeps late- which is not really such a surprise- and when she finally stirs its to return to her customary position in the skies high above Fort. It's only when darkness steals away the last of the day's thermals that she alights on her ledge. Her stars glitter dimly, awake but not at their most energetic, brightening to the touch of that wood smoke. « She is... » pictures are easier than words, so there's a flash of her rider, pacing back and forth in front of the hearth, likely not even aware she's doing it. « Yours should distract her. » Within Isyath's own thoughts are brilliant sparkles: an unfamiliar sense of some dark watcher, jangling chains - distant, and an overall a sense of contentment. Those unfamiliar chains, that watcher are both scrutinized by Rhenth, the usually mellow bronze growing a bit more protective... his creepers weaving a little around Isyath's form. Not encroaching, to be sure, but /there/, in the way ar spider's web might feel across a human hand. Well... as long as she's alright. « We come. » About two minutes later, the bronze is disgorging his rider onto Issy's ledge -- B'rant then moving from outer hanging to inner one, and clearing his throat politely to announce himself -- while Rhenth settles down in relaxed yet alert fashion beside the gold. If he's allowed, the dragon offers Isyath gentle touches with his muzzle along her neck and jaw, his eye whirling a speedy blue with hints of yellow now and again. « I'm sorry we weren't there for your Flight. » Deep regret touches his bass. « But B'rant's clutchsibling... er, his brother, is very ill. » There's a tiny flick of irritation at those creepers, though only once. For now, Isyath will tolerate it; she's feeling magnanimous, and content. Later, however, might be a different story. She doesn't seem nearly as bothered by Rhenth's presence, allowing the dragon to join her in her wallow with nary a complaint. « We flew far and fast, » she says, joy - and a rush of warmth and the memory suffusing her thoughts for a moment. She is not bothered by regret as he is. « You will fly with me tomorrow. » Command, not request, and not the same sort of 'flight', for all that. Inside, the hearth burns low: just enough to keep the chill off, which is perhaps why Ali's got a shawl wrapped around herself. The noise at the entrance appears to startle her; Isyath doesn't warn her, of course. "B'rant," she exhales, once she identifies him, with a little smile. "Come in. Would you- like some tea?" she starts towards the pot, whether he answers in the affirmative or not. Irritation isn't good: those creepers withdraw, though they remain in the background. Instead, Rhenth's campfire scent and tendrils of smoke weave patterns among Issy's stars, even as his trees wave a little in the breeze. « I shall. » is noted without hesitation, the paternal dragon eager to be close to the younger of 'his' two queens. He missed out, after all. For now, he's quite content to be physically near Isyath, curling with her and quietly sharing their 'campout'. As for B'rant, there's a halt of booted feet just as he's about to part those inner hangings, then a soft sigh and a carefully composed, "I guess Issy didn't pass it on that we were coming." Once he's stepping forward again into the weyr, the tired-looking young man bobs his head once to Ali's offer, then finds whatever piece of furniture looks likely, and tries to settle his butt onto it. "I'm very sorry we weren't there..." She likely knows for what. "We were called away the day before to Richland..." His home hold. "It was an emergency... one that kept us away until earlier today." Pleased, now that she has that assurance, Isyath rests her head on one of Rhenth's forepaws. "She's prone to that," Ali says, with a kind of forgiving fondness for her queen's tendencies. "Don't feel bad. Sit down," she instructs with a vague nod towards the couch, as she reaches for a pair of fresh tea cups, pouring carefully before she brings them over to the low table near the couch. Sitting next to him, her brow immediately furrows; there's certainly no sense of recrimination that he wasn't there- only concern: "Is everything okay? Your parents?" Wonderful! Rhenth rests his head right alongside Issy's, cheeks touching...his tail and haunch touching her form, as well. Familiar, but not pushing it. While the pair of dragons relax, B'rant's tensing up some as he leans back into couch. When the bronzer realizes this makes his shoulders hurt, he starts rotating them around to loosen muscles while watching Ali as she brews the tea. After accepting his own cup with a baritone, "Thank you..." gray eyes lift from the tea's surface in cup to the weyrwoman's own gaze, showing some modulated emotional pain within as well as deep concern. "No. My parents are okay." A pause for a blowing of breath across his drink and then a careful sip presages a low, "My brother isn't." By this point, B'rant's staring down into his drink again with a grim visage. "He fell off his runner...trying to make her run as fast as she could." A small clench at his cup quickly has him withdrawing such a fierce grip, the hot ceramic burning his hand a little. "He's in a coma, the Healer said. Hit his head...fractured both his legs in many places." Ali sits near the edge of the couch, in a posture that might look uncomfortable but is probably familiar for her. "Oh, B'rant. I'm so sorry to hear it." She reaches over to press fingers against his arm in sympathy. "Will they- do they think he'll come out of it?" she asks, quietly. Probably not even aware of it, she glances over at the empty cot stationed near the hearth; no sign of Iska- it makes her chew her own lip, so it's clear where her thoughts are for a moment before she fixes green eyes back on B'rant, expression sympathetic. B'rant's too caught up in his inner anguish to really notice the lack of an Iska, or even that cot. It's only Ali's voice that touches him right now, makes the bronzer reply tightly, "They think so. Hope so." More tea is sipped -- as if to loosen up his tight throat some -- before the towering rider can speak again. "But his left leg will never be the same. The Healers set what they could as best they could...but -- if survives -- he'll always have a limp." A sudden grit and grind of teeth heralds glassy eyes that the young man wills away. "I stayed with him and Yalana all the time...even when the Healers were setting his legs." B'rant's face pales at the memory, and his tea is clutched to steady himself. This time, it's not to the cot that Ali looks, but her cabinet, then with an exhale, "I'd offer you something stronger, but I'm afraid I don't really- keep anything to hand." So he'll have to settle for comforting pat of the dark-haired woman's fingers. "A limp is nothing that can't be gotten past. You can still hold well enough. And if he's anything like you," a knowing sort of smile, "He'll be stubborn enough to wake up soon. If you- if you need more time off, I could have a word with T'rev-?" she offers. A hand lifts, stays Ali from any potential, further draught-getting, miserable gray eyes lifting to her. "I plan on having a few after I leave here." Sounds like he has himself set up. A slow bob of head acknowledges the woman's words of his brother's limp, but in a low voice, the bronzer mutters, "It's not his ability to Hold...it's the personal effect." More tea helps him ease the pain in his throat. "Yalana and Trent -- they're the twins -- they've done nearly everything together since they were born; and enough of it was physically oriented. Riding runners, running, diving... They're even more mobile than I am." A faint, droopy hint of a smile touches the corners of his mouth like a ghost, then disappears again. "I... we're all concerned about how he'll handle this if... /when/ he wakes up." Those haunted eyes look down, over at Ali's patting hand, a numb nod offered to word of his family's tenacity, when her last words garner a sudden look of both anguish and anger. Once more his large hand tightens about the ceramic, and this time doesn't let go. It's only after some moments of trying to check a potential outburst that B'rant can finally grind out flatly, "There's no need. Thank you, Ali." A faint press of lips, but Ali doesn't protest- she can clearly see how distressed B'rant is. She's silent for the most part, playing the part of sympathetically listening ear. Even she can't fail to miss that look of anger, and it makes her flinch back for a moment in surprise at the suddenness of it. "Are you-" the words trail off, and she chews her lip. "I'm sure he won't- you should be with them," she finally says, after an apparent moment of internal debate about whether to continue. At Ali's flinch comes B'rant's lifting of one hand to her in order than he can try and grasp at one of her own hands, and squeeze it lightly. "Not /you/, Ali. It's not you." The rest of her words trigger off another blaze of eyes that soon enough fogs into misery, the young man finally leaning back into the couch again to sip long from his tea. After he's done, "I'm not welcome." It's flat, hard, cold. Releasing a sharp exhale, Ali lets her hand be caught, though she's mostly still once he does so. She stares at him blankly; the idea of not being welcome at home- even if it's a former home- is clearly a foreign one to the junior. "I don't- understand. Are they- because of- Rhenth?" she guesses, after a moment, with a furrow of brow and a flicker of her own anger. "Because of /us/..." is suddenly hissed out, B'rant's relative youth unable to let him hold this in anymore. "Because Rhenth made the twins think they could be riders...'cause his runner was Rhenth, in Trent's mind." The man's jaw bulges slightly in between spouted words, clenched in anger and grief. "/We/... /I/ encouraged them to foolishness, to impossible, unwanted dreams. /I/ stole a sound life from..." Suddenly, B'rant's snapping his mouth shut, while out beyond them, Rhenth is rumbling darkly, then crooning. "B'rant," comes Ali's cajoling voice, soft. "Look at me." His eyes both mist in misery and narrow in anger, but after some inner fighting to control himself, B'rant manages to stare at Ali, though he finally does unlock his grip from around that cup. Only once he's looking at her, does she speak. "It's not your fault," Ali says, simply, in a way that invites no argument. There's a furrow of brow that lingers in her own expression, a hint of anger, but she keeps her gaze fixed firmly on B'rant's, fingers pressing his in turn. "It was an accident. Accidents happen. Whether or not your brother wanted to be a rider- chances are he would've ridden the runner anyway. I won't have you blaming yourself. Understood?" Those cool stars burn away in response to that dark rumble, soothing. (To Rhenth from Isyath) He stays his words in order to hear Ali out, B'rant finally nodding, then blurting out low, "Part of me understands...agrees. But the other part... Ali, I didn't exactly discourage them from becoming riders. I just said that one never knew, just like with me." If it was anyone else besides B'rant, Rhenth would not have been so disruptive to Isyath. Still... he's unhappy about dispelling her tranquility...along with unhappy about his rider's misery and anger. At this time, it seems only right to take some relief in the soothing of his queen...for this will enable him to be calmer, and help his lifemate, in return. (To Isyath from Rhenth) "It's not exactly an untruth but-" Ali hesitates a moment, before admitting, "Our riders won't be flying near your hold on search. We've taken one heir away from your parents as is. And this life- it isn't for everyone. You- I know you struggled with it, too. Many holders do. But the real question is-" another hesitation, her gaze flickering past him towards where the their dragons are, then back, before she forges ahead: "Did you encourage them because you thought that was what was best for them? Or because you wanted them to be here, with you?" Instantly, B'rant blurts out, "But that's /unfair/ to them...to others in the Hold who might be rider material..." and then shuts his mouth again. Keep it in the family... even if your family has just shut you out. Ali's next questions have the bronzer looking into her eyes, balancing on some inner precipice that looks as if to consume him. And then he leans back from a stiff sit he didn't even know he'd been holding, muttering out mostly to himself, "Neither. Just wanted them to...to have a fair chance at something else. Like I got." "No," Ali disagrees, albeit mildly, "It's protecting your Hold's future. You don't think I'd love nothing more than to have brought my brothers that I loved, grew up with, were friends with- here? But if I had, my father would've had little help to keep the hold going. Even if-" she chews her lips. "If it's meant to be- there's always a chance they'll be Searched by another Weyr. But not by us- we can't survive without the support of our holds, both in tithe and in emotional support." There's a lengthy silence, then a large, loud siiiiigh from B'rant when Ali gives her spin on things, the bronzer seeming to deflate in on himself. After a time of silence comes his quiet, "They're furious, and frightened right now. Maybe after some time's passed..." Who knows. "I... I never knew just how...hemmed in, limited I was until Rhenth..." Exactly. Ali, too, is silent when he is, and when he signs, it earns a faint, if noticeable smile. With another pat to his hand, she pulls hers free in order to reach for her tea and take a slow sip. It's not until he finishes speaking that she murmurs, "But B'rant- that's how /you/ feel. It doesn't mean you need to 'free' everyone. I- even now, if Issy hadn't found me, I feel I would've been happy. My father was in negotiations to marry me off, and I would've been content. I never knew I wanted Isyath until she was in my life." The young man gives a faint twist of lips to that second patting of his own hand -- girls! -- and then lifts the remnants of his own tea for a large sip. It helps to clear his head. "I /know/, but still..." It just feels right to him. "Yeah... the same with me. I would've been more than fine with being Holder. But /now/...after all the time it took to..." adjust "...I can't even think of what it would've been like without Rhenth." And -- if the pleased croon from the bronze is any accurate measure of /his/ thoughts -- Rhenth couldn't imagine anyone else as his lifemate but B'rant. "They can't understand. And you can't force what you- you have now, on /them/. Especially when there's no guarantee there'll even be a dragon out there for them. I-" Ali grimaces. "My sister's determined to Impress. She's stood once here, and once at High Reaches. I think- she'll keep trying until she's too old, but I- worry that she'll be disappointed. I tried to discourage her but-" her expression clearly reads /family/, with all but a roll of her eyes. She leans forward far enough to set her tea down, though it doesn't quite hide the smile that the noise from his bronze earns: pleased and delighted for him. There's only a nod from B'rant at this point, the bronzer slowly unwinding as Ali's sure logic and easy manner soothes him. "I think I've heard a couple of isolated rumors about her at some point..." he mentions softly, then nodding again to his hostess before polishing off his tea. It's at this point that a half-grown, brown firelizard pops into being from chill Between just above the humans, chittering at his owner before B'rant coaxes the little twerp to his now-extended forearm. "Excuse me..." is murmured to Ali before long fingers work a little harder to get the tiny message cannister about the brown's lowermost neck open. Out pops a little, rolled up piece of hide, which gray eyes quickly scan after it's unrolled. A sudden look of vast joy and relief washes over the young man, who blurts up to Ali, "He's awake... as of a couple hours ago." Cue a quick frown. "My aunt sent the note...behind my parents' back." There's a grimace from Ali as B'rant acknowledges 'hearing rumors' about her sister; it's clear from her expression the junior doesn't want to know exactly what he's heard. The arrival of the firelizard earns a flicker of annoyance from Isyath, but at least she doesn't seek to drive the thing off, even if she radiates a sense of ownership of this space to the little creature. Ali's a little less rattled, though not by much, eyes tracking the creature until B'rant has him settled. She's silent until he speaks, and hers is an exhale of relief. "That's- fantastic, B'rant. You should- you should go, now. I doubt they'll refuse- they'll be so happy he's awake." The little brown knows he really isn't wanted around, and as soon as B'rant's done petting him for the message, the little blighter's popping back Between to find their weyr. Isyath's annoyance is hopefully tempered by Rhenth's reassurance, « A message delivery to B'rant. He's gone, now. » even as the bronze is getting up slowly, offering a parting stroke of his nose along the gold's shoulder. « Thank you, Isyath. » The male's bass is refreshed, relieved to some extent. Inside, B'rant doesn't describe any of those rumors, letting the subject drop with the arrival of the missive from his aunt. As he sets aside his empty cup, rubs at tired eyes, "Auntie said to wait until I heard from her again... soon. I'll not rock this damned boat any more than it has been, for the moment." If the determined look in B'rant's eyes means anything, then /later/, however... He's suddenly leaning to the side to try and wrap his long arms about Ali, and give her a near-bear hug, along with a firm kiss to her near cheek. "Thanks, Ali... for understanding. Being here." Beat, think. "Let's please keep this between us, okay? I mean, except for your...proscription. I know that'll have to be public." Sigh. "The rest is family stuff." As quickly as his tired body can, he's starting to rise. Grudgingly, Isyath relents- though she seems far more at ease once the little creature has gone entirely. There's also a bit of an unspoken complaint about Rhenth /moving/ (not to mention leaving her), that probably has her rider stepping in, if the fading of familiar pressure is anything to go back, sinking back into her wallow. While Ali seems surprised by the sudden hug, she doesn't resist, and wraps her arms around B'rant, patting his back reassuringly. "You're welcome, B'rant," she murmurs into his ear. After a pause, as she draws back, "You really should tell T'rev, you know. But- that's your choice, I won't share with him." She rises by habit as he does, to escort him out, her gaze flickering towards Rhenth as she reaches the passageway. "Get a good night's sleep," she murmurs, half suggestion, half order. Rhenth offers profuse and honest apologies to Isyath, nuzzling her a few more times before stepping away carefully to conduct his rider back home. He too would rather spend more time with the female...but there's a potential trip to make. Best leave now. "I'll think about it..." murmurs B'rant to Ali's words about informing T'rev. "I have all day tomorrow off, anyway. If I need more... then I'll /have/ to." Nose-wrinkle. "Give Issy my warm regards. I don't want to disturb her further; Rhenth says she's trying to sleep." For the first time on this 'trip.' the young man's actually smiling a little. "And thank you for the tea. If I don't get word within an hour, I'm going to drink a couple rounds, then plow my face into my bed. If anyone wants me, they'll have to wait until morning." A sloppy little salute is offered to Ali at her parting words -- along with a hint of a mocking little wave under his chin -- and soon enough bootsteps are fading back out to the ledge, leading to a faint, "Well, if you can get me an instant ride home, then you can stay. Sound fair?" Perhaps Rhenth might just indeed be spending a little more time with Issy... if he'll have her. |
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