Saving Family Pt 3

Writers: Miriah
Date Posted: 18th May 2016

Characters: Lanniya
Description: Lanniya rescues her family
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 15 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Pierka; Story is happening in Turn 3 realtime.; Pt 3 of 3

Lanniya

Anaeryth was exhausted as they reached a deserted area along the
shoreline; Lanniya could feel the ache in her right wing, accompanied
by a dull throbbing pain that caused Anaeryth to favor the wing. Her
landing was awkward, but she carried what she had rescued gently.
Lanniya was torn between checking on her dragon and checking on the
now silent people that had been carried to safety. Dragon came first.

Lanniya unstrapped and immediately climbed back to gently check the
wing joint. It wasn't swollen, but the muscle around her shoulder and
chest felt warm. At her touch, the hide jumped. "Oh no...Anaeryth, are
you alright?"

}: It burns. :{ Anaeryth admitted, her voice slightly pained. }: I
need to rest. :{

Guilt swelled in Lanniya as she examined the sore area; she hadn't
brought any numbweed and she should have! "I'm sorry, Anaeryth. I'm so
sorry. We should have timed it sooner before the storm or..."

}: I will be fine. :{ Anaeryth's confidence was not, perhaps, as
strong as it had been, but she still tried to soothe her rider. }: I
just need to rest. :{ She carefully laid down her burden. }: They are
breathing I think. Are they your sire and dam? :{ Settling back,
Anaeryth found a comfortable position and laid down, wing
half-extended.

Lanniya slid down, attention dragged from Anaeryth's wing strain. She
moved slowly, as if afraid to see the pair of people she had rescued.
She stopped, then started walking again, then hurried towards them.
She knelt, turning the man over and nearly sobbed. "Papa..." He was
unconscious, but he was breathing. She turned to the other, then
pushed the still wet reddish hair back. "Mama?" She too was breathing, but it sounded like she had inhaled some water and was raspy. Lanniya sat back and cried, covering her face, her hands shaking.

The shock of seeing them again was almost too much. Their faces, those
faces that she had thought never to see again and feared forgetting
were right there in front of her. And they were alive. _Alive!_
Relief now made her tears flow, relief and joy that she had succeeded.
She had saved them, despite everything! They were safe, they were
alive and they were right in front of her, even if they weren't awake.
She reached out to her mother's face and began touching it, sobbing
all the while in both joy and disbelief. Alive! Alive! She couldn't
help it, she lay her brow on her mother's dripping shoulder and tugged
her as close as she could come, unwilling to let go for another
moment. She grabbed at her father's shoulder, her fingers winding in
the soaked tunic as she tried to pull him closer too. Alive...

She didn't know how long she was there, curled up between her parents
as she tried to clutch them close and just cried. It wasn't until she
felt a hand petting her hair that she jerked upwards and stared down
at the barely open eyes of her mother. They were exhausted but so
bright blue; Lanniya almost broke into more relieved tears.

But the eyes became confused; the woman recognized her daughter, but
she looked so different. Older...and Lanniya could see the confused
and almost frightened gleam in her mother's eyes, even as she heard a
groan from her father. A shadow passed over all of them as Anaeryth's
curiosity brought her closer to the trio.

Unfortunately, neither her confused mother or her just waking father
were expecting a golden nose to be thrust at them so up close and
personal. Her mother shrieked in surprise and alarm, and her father
yelled, trying to weakly scramble back from the looming presence and
towards his frightened wife.

"It's okay! It's just Anaeryth! She won't hurt you!" Lanniya hurried
to try to calm them and felt both eyes swing back to her. Anaeryth
lifted her head quickly, a bit offended.

"Who are you?" The deep voice was confused as he looked over at her,
then at the dragon, then around at their surroundings, and then back
at her. He clutched at his wife, sheer confusion and uncertainty on
his face. He glanced around and paled, remember trying so hard to
reach his daughter in the waves, and then the shock of being yanked
away and up into the air. And then..the nothingness that had made him
blackout. "Pierkanya!" He began to look around frantically. Her mother
began to shake and looked around weakly herself, but still kept most
of her

Lanniya's face crumpled before she realized that she wasn't twelve
turns anymore. She'd grown and changed. "It's me...it's Lanniya." She
held up her hands. "She's going to be fine! I swear! She's okay!
Pierka's okay!" Her father's disbelief and alarm was evident even as
Lanniya tried to calm them both. "I'll take you to her, I promise, but
you have to listen to me and let me explain!"

"You're not my daughter. My daughter is twelve turns and she's with my
parents and she certainly doesn't have a gold dragon!" Her father
appeared close to panic, even as her mother stared at her with
widening eyes.

Lanniya felt her tears well up again. "It's me." Her voice cracked a
little. "Your other daughter is Pierkanya. And your parents are
Traders, Annileri and Yendon." Her lip trembled. "My favorite color is
dark green and for my seventh birthingday you got me a new dress with
embroidery along the hem. I wore it all the time until it fell apart.
You used to yell at me for getting on the caravan runners and riding
them too fast." She hurriedly wiped at her eyes. "I used to crawl into
bed with Pierkanya when I was little and I'd wet in the middle of the
night and get her so mad at me, but she never stopped me from coming
back the next night to cuddle." She looked at her father. "You sang
Moreta's ride to me every night for a month so I could sleep and one
time I left Mama's new leather shoes out and a canine chewed them to
ribbons and then I got in trouble." Her vision became blurry. "I put
crawlies in one of the driver's boots because he swatted at me and you
made me apologize....I.."

Shock was on their faces, but it was clear that the memories she was
reciting were fading the disbelief. "Lanniya?"

Her father was uncertain, but Lanniya lunged at them both, barely
caught in time and hugged them both to her. "Papa...I love you. I love
you both so much!"

"But..what...I.."

She hugged tighter, burying her face in her father's shoulder. "I'll
explain everything, but it's going to take some time and you're going
to have to believe me."

Last updated on the May 20th 2016

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Saving Family Pt 3