Logs:Homeward Bound
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| RL Date: 28 April, 2014 |
| Who: R'hin, Bristia, Oriane |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr, Monaco Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: R'hin (and Savannah Wing) depart High Reaches to return home to Monaco Weyr. Not everything's been going smoothly at home in the meantime, however. |
| Where: High Reaches / Somewhere Remote / Monaco Weyr |
| When: Day 25, Month 8, Turn 34 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: M'kris/Mentions |
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| Savannah rose together over the Weyr, a full wing in formation. It made R'hin feel a mix of things: pride, regret, guilt. They made their presence felt, the dragon's voices -- both mental and physical -- lifting in a trumpeting chorus moments before they vanished between together as a wing for, perhaps, the last time, and with it, his feelings vanished. For the space of three heartbeats, anyway. Monaco's warmth was welcome after the cold of between, and after a signal from Leiventh, the formation broke apart and each dragon went their separate ways. It wouldn't do to remind the natives what a Turn together had done to mould them. « Feyzeth noticed, » Leiventh reported, distantly, making R'hin grimace as the bronze backwinged to a landing. R'hin walked into the open-aired hut he had left a Turn ago. It had been his for over two decades, yet it didn't feel like home -- less so since his stint at High Reaches Weyr. With familiar, measured steps, he found the liquor cabinet, pleased to find a bottle of single malt there. Maiga knew him well -- and would get tipped well next time he had a drink at the bar. The liquid warmed him as it went down, yet it didn't calm his mind. He found himself pacing back and forth, thoughts racing. A flash of blue at the edge of his vision made him whirl. How long had she been...? "Long enough," Bristia said, reading his expression and smirking at his surprised reaction. "Come on." "Where are we going?" "Home." The warmth of multiple minds flooded through Leiventh, and from him to R'hin, inciting a warmth so much greater than that of the air of Monaco. New voices joined in the flood, too -- A'gon's Druisath, E'nest's Zaltoth, others. It had been a Turn not wasted, after all. There were drinks, and welcomes, and later, in his tent, his inner circle remained. Even Priya's abrupt switch to business didn't much blunt his good mood, even if the words that followed did. "M'kar hasn't been the same since his weyrmate died. Everyone knows it, just as they know there's no chance his bronze will catch Evielth next time she rises." K'son frowned. "Then there's no hope for it. You have to have Leiventh catch her. You've done it before." "No. I won't be Weyrleader. But..." R'hin grimaced. "I won't let him be either." "R'hin," Bristia, ever the voice of reason, had a warning note in her tone, "M'kris will be watching you, closely as ever. You can't think a Turn's done much to blunt his feelings. It hasn't you." The greenrider harper ignored the look R'hin shot her, as he exhaled. "We'll have to make sure everyone keeps their distance. Especially the newer ones. It's too soon to drag them into it." A beat of silence. "At least until Evielth rises," R'hin added. "And what then?" Priya wondered. "Then, we do what we have to, to protect the Weyr." Tugging a hand through his hair, R'hin looked at Bristia. "Gather the brown and bronzeriders we have. We need to talk strategy." Oriane didn't waste any time, and nor did she allow him the luxury he'd adopted in High Reaches of sleeping in. It was not far past dawn when she summoned him, and though he took a detour past the kitchens, he decided it was too soon in his return to buck her authority. When he arrived in her weyr, he noticed first the absence of Evielth in her normal place in her wallow, and too, the drawn lines that had sprung up around his Weyrwoman's eyes. "Savannah was an experiment," Oriane said, with a blunt look, not bothering to invite him to sit. "I'm shuffling you back into the wings. M'kris has been antsy since news of your impending return surfaced, and I'd rather not take us back to the state we were in before you left." "All this on little old me?" R'hin took it on himself to settle on the arm of her couch, a hand touching his chest as he affected his most innocent expression. Oriane gave him a flat look, though whether for his making himself comfortable or his words wasn't clear. "Things have been... steady." "Even with M'kar?" The Weyrwoman sighed, genuine regret coloring her tone, "It couldn't come at a worse time. He was a good Weyrleader for me. For the Weyr." "Put me under M'kar. I'll help him, help cover it..." "Maybe if you were back two months ago. But it's too late for that. Everyone knows." Oriane looked at him steadily, "I can't ground Leiventh. But I don't want you to win." R'hin felt his face tightening. "M'kris?" "I don't want him to win, either. I would prefer an out Weyr dragon. Someone outside all these politics." Oriane hesitated, then, "Do you... have any suggestions?" He managed not to obviously exhale the relieved breath he was holding. "I can come up with a list of names. I can't guarantee they'll win her, but we can stack the deck for you." Oriane gave him a wry face at his choice of expression, but there was gratitude for all that. "Do this, and I'll consider your debt settled." His heart pounded, the reaction spurring him to movement, to a bow that was intended cover to his reaction. "As you wish." He left her there, head filling with names, with possibilities. This could work. Precisely a Turn to the day after the Monacoan wing Savannah arrived at High Reaches, the Weyr would've been woken at dawn by the trumpeting of a wing of dragons. Those who might've stumbled outside early morning of day 25 would have been greeted with a full wing of dragons rising in unison, trumpeting their farewell to the Weyr, before disappearing. It seems even at their farewell the Monacoan Wing (and perhaps R'hin specifically) was determined to make their departure felt. With the wing gone -- well -- a full wing minus two dragons, anyway, with the two "borrowed" greenriders Nita and Telavi left behind -- the Rider's Lounge might be a bit quieter for it's lack of weekly poker game, and certainly it might feel a bit quieter in their wake. Later that day, members of Polaris Wing begin appearing in the sky, welcomed home (or perhaps not so welcomed in some specific cases). It seems everyone has returned to their Weyrs, and everything is as it should be. |
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