After the Fall

Writers: AmajoS, Ames, Avery, Devin, Estelle, Len, Miriah, Paula, Suzee, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th April 2019

Characters: L'keri, M'shan, A'chas, Jaylene, J'nne, T'lat, D'ale, Harki, Gelira, Ma'din, Z'kai, K'mai
Description: Cyan Wing mourns the loss of a wingmate
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 19 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Paetri, Rorela, J'kri

L'keri

Jaylene

D'ale

Ma'din

After the Fall, L'keri went through the motions of scrubbing the
firestone ash from Rhalith and seeing that his weary lifemate was oiled
and settled in his weyr to sleep, feeling exhausted and numb. He
couldn't quite process the fact that Paetri and Camilth were gone.
They'd only known each other for a few short sevendays, but they had
been wingmates, and she had seemed so vibrantly alive. He couldn't help
remembering...

He wasn't hungry, but he headed down to the dining cavern anyway, with
one purpose in mind. Healers or no healers, he was going to spend this
evening getting very, very drunk.

Collecting a couple of bottles from the kitchens, he headed over to a
table where a few other wingriders from Cyan were gathered. It looked as
though he wasn't the only one with that idea.

Though Ma'din hadn't known the greenrider well, he joined the wing as
they assembled at the table and drank from his own bottle. Any loss in
the wing was troublesome, reminding him of his own mortality, and
Faranth knew his little Rorela and Harki had liked the girl. She'd been
cute, he supposed, but far too shy for his tastes. While he didn't
particularly grieve her loss, it was a loss all the same. And a reason
to get drunk.

T'lat was feeling just a bit teary-eyed where he sat in the corner.
They hadn't been particularly close but they'd been friendly, and it
was hard to think he wouldn't see her again. He sniffed and took
another drink.

K'mai patted L'keri on the back and then went to sit next to T'lat. He
put an arm around the young rider. "You okay?"

"Hey K'mai," T'lat looked up at the taller man. "Not really," he said.
"But I will be."

M'shan brought more drinks with him and pulled himself a free seat to
join his wing mates, "A bad day," the young brownrider said with a
subdued tone.

A'chas hesitated a bit, not quite joining the growing crowd of Cyan
Wing riders at the table. He had grown used to mourning alone, but
this was different. This wasn't someone who'd suffered a long illness
finally succumbing after turns. This wasn't someone he had loved but
hadn't seen in turns either. This was a young woman and her dragon who
had been alive earlier that day and who had died facing the same
danger that they all did, alongside them, Fall after Fall. He decided
he didn't want to be alone to mourn his wingmate. Still, he wasn't
sure how to bridge that gap and stood on the edge of the group.

M'shan noticed him and pushed a free chair towards the older
brownrider. "Beer, wine or something stronger?" he asked.

"You can share with us," J'nne said, pointedly pushing the half-filled
wine bottle towards the pair. It was Jaylene's third bottle already
and judging by the way she was flopped down on the table, her face
buried in her arms, she wasn't going to be conscious much longer. He
brushed a few strands of hair wet from tears away from her face, just
enough to see if she was still awake. By the way she sighed he knew she was.

Jaylene knew she wasn't acting very wingthird-ish but really, how
could she act at all in a time like this? She just wanted to erase
those terrible last moments of Paetri's life from her mind but cruelly
it kept playing over and over.

Then D'ale, their Wingsecond for many turns, arrived with a large tray
of glasses carried by a drudge and a large bottle from his private
collection. The glasses were placed on the table and he began to pour.
When he'd splashed each with a finger depth of the potent brew, he set
down the bottle and lifted a glass. "To Paetri and Camilth a strong
and valiant pair."

T'lat reached for one of the glasses with tears in his eyes and held
it in the air while the others around him did the same. "To Paetri and
Camilth!"

Ma'din took a glass, but only halfway raised his. Valiant? He wanted
to laugh; cute as she had been, the girl had been stupid. Surely the
rest of the wing had seen it too, breaking from formation to try to go
to someone who was obviously gone, only to get threaded herself
because she wasn't thinking. Hardly valiant or brave. No, he decided,
as he tossed the drink back, pure stupid.

Another hand snaked past Ma'din to snag one of the remaining glasses
on the table. Harki stood behind the brownrider proudly wearing her
Azure Wing knots on her shoulder. She nodded at D'ale and shot back
the drink. "Whoo... Paetri was never much of a drinker. She would have
hated this stuff." She set the glass carefully on the table with a
small, sad smile on her face. "She usually drank cider."

Gelira was struggling with the loss. She and Paetri had learned as
weyrlings together and fought together these past Turns. Too many of
her own painful memories rose to the surface. The loss of her own
mother to Thread, and also Z'an. She took a glass and downed the drink
in one gulp even as she swiped at the tears that rolled quietly down
her cheeks.

J'nne leaned over to give her shoulder a squeeze. Since his sister was
all but passed out he felt the responsibility to act in her stead.
Even if he hadn't known the girl well, he knew the pain of losing a
loved one to Thread. First their father and then their eldest brother
had been lost to Thread. No wonder Jaylene had drunk herself into
numbness. More than a couple of tears fell down his cheeks.

A'chas took the offered chair and the offered bottle. "Thanks," he
said quietly. He poured himself a glass and sipped. When D'ale came
with his shot glasses, he took one of them too and toasted their lost
wing mate with him and T'lat and the others. It felt nice, well not
nice, but comforting. He looked around thinking that if nothing else,
Paetri and Camilth were getting a good send off.

"To Paetri and J'kri, they were such a cute couple," M'shan switched
his ale to the drink D'ale served and lifted his glass to the sky
before downing in one go. He reached to pat Jaylene's arm in a silent
gesture of comfort and understanding. M'shan had lost his share of
family to the Thread.

Ma'din hooked an arm around Harki as he observed the table with hooded
eyes. There was little grief in his eyes, but he stroked her back with
callused fingers. "A waste, really. Should've come back when she was
called."

Harki shrugged, even as she refilled her glass and raised it with the
others. Perhaps Ma'din was right. Paetri's death might have been
preventable if she'd loved J'kri a little less...

Z'kai had raised his mug of ale when the others did. He decided not to
engage with Ma'din's words. Instead, he handed Gelira a handkerchief
out of his pocket.

Gelira accepted both the gesture of comfort from J'nne and the
handkerchief from Z'kai. She smiled a sad smile of thanks. She, too,
lifted her glass to toast her two former weyrling-mates. It was a hard
loss, to lose two dragons and riders on the same day. She wiped at her
tears with a sniffle.

K'mai downed another drink. He'd seen a lot of loss, but it still
hurt. Maybe that was a good thing, that he hadn't become numb to the
death they faced all the time. Grief was a beast with teeth that
gnawed at his guts, the ache compounding as he remembered good friends
Thread had taken from him. The bluerider rubbed T'lat's shoulder,
trying to give the young rider a bit of comfort.

Harki sighed. She looked across the Dining Cavern to where Azure Wing
was holding a similar vigil for J'kri. Briefly she thought about
joining them, but the grief in the room suddenly felt suffocating.
Instead she leaned over to whisper in Ma'din's ear. "I'm tired of
being sad about J'kri and Paetri. How about you take me back to your
weyr and do something else for a while, hmm?"

T'lat smiled gratefully up at K'mai and laid his head on his shoulder,
"Thanks," he said. "I'm going to miss them."

D'ale swung his gitar up and in his usual style to lighten the mood in
the room began playing a bawdy song about a randy bluerider who slept
with anything on two legs. Soon there were smiles and clapping along
and calls for another verse.

Ma'din looked up at Harki and nodded grimly. The atmosphere, despite
D'ale's attempts wasn't to his liking. He rose, tossing back his final
drink, and slipped his arm around her waist. "Let's get out of here,
pet. I'll make sure you think about something else."

A'chas sat quietly, appreciating the efforts his friend was making to
lighten the mood, but not feeling it like some of the others obviously
were. He let the music and the clapping wash over him, but he didn't
clap along. He sighed, nursing his cup of wine and wondering if the
tragedy of this year was ever going to stop.

M'shan joined D'ale with his surprisingly good singing voice.

J'nne grimaced and checked on his sister again. Thankfully for Jaylene
she had passed out. He half listened to D'ale and M'shan but inside he
was cold.

L'keri refilled his glass and those of the riders nearest him before
taking a long swig. Already, he could feel the alcohol warming him
inside, suffusing his body with its comforting glow. He could do worse,
he thought, than follow their wingthird's example. The drinking and song
and the presence of his wingmates around him softened the harsh edges of
life as they always did, so that he could forget, for a short time, that
one more of them was gone.

Z'kai settled in to sip at his drink, listen to the music, and try to
take his mind of the grim realities of life in the Weyr. Their
wingmate was gone, but they remained. That would have to be enough.

Last updated on the April 16th 2019

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

After the Fall