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Post by Evadne on Jun 19, 2011 12:38:57 GMT -5
The healers weren't keen on allowing Lostris to leave the infirmary but there was no arguing with a woman whose primary weapon was silence. She had simply looked back at them as they listed all of the reasons she needed to stay, from the possibility of ruining the way they'd set her ankle to there maybe being bone shards traveling through her blood stream even now. Lostris privately suspected that that last reason was simply exasperation and exaggeration in equal measure; she'd never heard of anyone dying from traveling bone shards.
So she'd gazed at them, silent, and finally they'd thrown up their hands and given up. Most usually did. At least they were kind enough to give her a pair of canes before she'd left, and helped her bind her foot and ankle with a splint that would allow her to hobble about.
No sooner was she released, still smelling of the antiseptic infirmary, than she'd stumped her way towards the hatching sands. The beach, with its less than stable footing, was a challenge for the woman. She could feel sweat collecting at her nape, along her brow, between her breasts, and there was an ache all through her leg that was reminiscent of a nauseous stomach. Could an ankle feel nauseated? Lostris didn't know but it certainly felt that way.
It hurt. She ignored that.
Her destination was not the clutch but the area outside of it. Security had been strengthened here and she knew, from hearing other guards talk, that the roaming patrols had been reinforced since the theft of a good portion of the eggs. While she'd be no match if the escapees chose to return, unless they were dumb enough to get in range of her hatches, there was nothing wrong with her eyes.
She could sit, lowering herself to the ground with a grunt and a great deal of awkwardness, her splinted leg stretched out before her and the canes set beside. She could sit and she could watch and if anyone who shouldn't approached, she could raise the alarm. Twice now, the guard corp had been stymied by those they'd been supposed to keep imprisoned.
There wouldn't be a third time.
Lostris leaned back on her hand, squinted against the bright autumn sunlight and began her watch.
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Post by Spiffy on Jun 19, 2011 13:56:34 GMT -5
Patrol was finally over, and Sh'lon and Kitath had a few hours to spare before their next. After feeding both the dragon and the human, the pair made their way down to their now well established spot on the beach by the hatching sands. Sh'lon had brought his riding straps and oil, to give himself something to do while Kitath kept watch.
They'd been doing this for a while now, since the egg theft. Kitath insisted that she'd been neglectful, had done nothing to help, and so was now adamant that she would not let anything happen again. They had not been assigned to guard duty at the sands, she'd chosen to spend her free time there. And when Kitath put her mind to something neither queens nor her rider would dissuade her from her mission. And her mission was to protect. She'd even begun talking of them applying to L'vey for a job as his assistant, something that Shea would never have thought of on his own.
I want to protect these babies, Mine, as the eggs that they are now and the hatchlings they will become and the young dragons they will grow into. We are more than capable, and you will make a great assistant. Also, Faeth is most upset that one of her Weyrlings chose to leave, and one of our old class too. And we all worry for the remaining eggs. I am sure that she could use some help with the next clutch. Maybe with both of us we could prevent this happening again. And Faeth's has been in the market for an assistant for some time now.
Shea listened as Kitath talked, well used to her arguments by now. He could not help but agree with her, except for the bit about him being a great assistant. He could hardly run his own life without Kitath, how was he...
Oh pish, SheaMine! I believe in you, is not that enough? Besides, I will be there, you need not worry.[/color][/i]
She did have a point.
Stepping onto the area officially regarded as the hatching sands, Sh'lon automatically headed for their spot at the edge, Kitath greeting Semith and Willoth and whomever else was there, before settling down and giving the sands a sweeping gaze.
Shea, I believe there is someone over there you might like to see,[/color][/i] she said, gently nudging Sh'lon in the direction of a figure sitting further along the sand's edge. He turned his head to look, then dropped his riding straps and ran over to her. Kitath reluctantly picked her straps up out of the sand, gave them a little shake to get rid of the worst of it before draping them safely over her neck, out or harm's way.
"Lostris!" he called as he rushed over to meet her, skidding to a stop on his knees in the sand when he saw her canes.
"Oh my days, what's happened to you?! Are you alright?" he said in a gush, before fiercely embracing his sister. Letting her go, he asked again, "What happened?!"
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Post by Evadne on Jun 19, 2011 16:13:16 GMT -5
Lostris' only warning that she was about to be pounced as the pounding of feet. That was enough, of course. Everyone's nerves were still on edge. The look turned on her little brother was not that of a fond older sister but of a guard prepared to kick some serious ass if there were trouble brewing. It was a look designed to stop people in their tracks.
Naturally it had no effect on Shea. But then, she thought ruefully as his arms went around her, not much ever really did except for Shea himself.
It was awkward returning his embrace, stuck as she was. It took twisting at the waist and using only one arm to pin him close. But that one arm was strong and the pat she gave the young man's back was intended to be reassuring. See? Nothing wrong with her that a little time won't fix. Just ignore the canes. And the bulky splint. And the bruises dappling her face, the stiff and painful way that Lostris moves.
Other than all of that, she's terrific! Look, see, a smile. Her eyes were fond.
"Disagreement. I wanted a couple of prisoners to stay. They wanted to go." It was galling to have to confess, even in a roundabout way, to failure. Lostris' smile remained fixed though. She was hardly about to worry Shea more; he had enough on his plate. So she reached up to muss his hair instead in a blatant attempt to distract him from her physical state.
"Kitath keeping watch?"
She craned her head to look back towards the sands. There was approval in her quiet voice. If Shea had to give his normal, settled life for this one, matched to a dragon, he could have done far, far worse than the green.
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Post by Spiffy on Jun 21, 2011 13:48:39 GMT -5
Sh'lon was, of course, appalled by the news. "You got caught up in the breakout?! Oh but of course you did, you're a guard.So am I," he said in a small voice, remembering with guilt the way he had hidden, fairly terrified, in his Weyr at the time. And Lostris had been out here getting hurt by the prisoners? Oh, that made it even worse! He'd been hiding away and letting his sister get hurt when he and Kitath should have been out there protecting the weyr and the eggs and fighting alongside her and...
"Kitath keeping watch?"
Lostris's voice recalled him from his misery, distracting him for a second. But the, distracting Shea wasn't exactly tricky. And mentioning a dragon to it's rider was a pretty sure way of getting them onto the subject anyhow.
"Kitath? Yes, she's become rather fond of Semith lately. And ever since... well, you know, she's been coming here more and more. I think she feels guilty that we couldn't do anything to stop it. She's even talking about us applying to assist L'vey when the clutch hatched, teaching and all..." he trailed off, unsure again.
Kitath, on hearing her name, had looked up again, started walking over to the brother and sister pair. Sh'lon looked around, noticing this.
"She say's hi, b the way...
Greetings, sister of Mine, Kitath said, unexpectedly.
"Oh," Shea finished, unusued to Kitath actually going so far as to introduce herself to others directly. He supposed it was because Lostris was his sister, and that Kitath had said she liked Lostris, and probably also because Lostris didn't have another dragon for her to intrude on it's rider's mind. Yeah, maybe all of those things.
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Post by Evadne on Jun 22, 2011 8:30:18 GMT -5
This was why she was here. Because it hurt almost as much as her leg did, to see Shea unhappy and vulnerable. Lostris put a little more oomph in the thump she gave her brother's back. It was a gesture meant to get him to straighten it and adopt a stronger stance. That small voice was all wrong for him.
"Stop making that face," she instructed in a tone of voice that somehow managed to combine gentle with firm. "There's nothing wrong with me."
And then Kitath was approaching, which left Lostris having to hide how out of sorts she felt. Normally she'd rise and greet the green with something approaching formality. Here she was, stuck on the ground unless she felt like taking the time and effort to struggle up to her feet. Considering how awkward she looked while doing that, the guard chose to remain as she was.
Lostris' eyes shifted between the greenrider and his bond. "There's plenty of guilt to go around," she said quietly, of Shea's explanation. Just that for now, as she prepared to incline her head to Kitath and offer up a proper greeting.
Only to be preempted by the sound of that foreign voice within her mind. The woman's eyebrows crept up, her carefully cultivated expression shattered with mild surprise.
Well now. That was unexpected indeed.
Lostris glanced at Shea again, wondering at this unique event and how he might explain it, before finding a response for the green. "Greetings, Kitath." She paused. "It does me good, to see it's you standing watch." Another pause. "You're faster than me, at the moment."
Yes. Lostris made a joke. Don't everyone fall over.
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