The Weyrlings Will Remember
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Aaron, Avery, Corrin, Duskdog, Francesca, Halyonix, Heather, Iluva, Sia, Yvonne
Date Posted: 25th November 2024
Characters: K'lvin, Rasme, V'dryn, N'kayden, Ketlyn, H'taysh, R'bain, A'radess, L'rin, A'lin, J'nic, Casmari, J'cello, Kailis, Y'var
Description: The weyrlings are gathered by K'lvin immediately after RIyanth's death.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 2, day 7 of Turn 12
For a moment, K’lvin thought he was reliving history. He remembered the gut wrenching moment when River Bluff fell. He remembered the ear-splitting keen of the dragons when Vilarth perished. It felt like that all over again as the grief of the Weyrs’ dragons poured into the skies of Barrier Lake.
**The Weyrlings!** At only three months old they were impossibly young to be dealing with the sorrow of a dragon going /between/ but not just _any_ dragon, the senior queen, their mother!
}:Weyrlings. Report to the barracks. Immediately.:{ Xmrenth broke from his creening, turning his attention to the distraught, young dragons. }:Piketh!:{
The retired gold leaped from her ledge, soaring towards the barracks and the dragonets there.
}: What’s happening? What’s happening? Where did she go? Why did she go? Why can’t I hear her? Where did she go? :{ For once, none of Zhomoth’s questions had answers that V’dryn held. The blue was no longer a small thing -- he now loomed over V’dryn -- but he was still young in so many ways. Grief was one of those things that one could only learn firsthand, painfully.
As they were learning now.
“I do not know, Zhomoth, I do not know what happened,” V’dryn kept repeating as he led a gray-blue dragon towards the Barracks. What was supposed to be a celebration was now a funeral! V’dryn had been looking forward to dancing with Ketlyn and Kailis and now…
**Aberath! _Please_ calm down!** N’kayden was pleading, but his brown’s keening was so loud he could barely think. Aberath’s general panic and grief were all consuming.
}: We should follow her! I should be where she’s at!:{ Aberath cried, sending his rider coordinates to go /between/ after gold Riyanth.
**No, Aberath! Don’t leave me!**
}:Hold on, young one,:{ a different, older voice joined the fray. It was Piketh. }:Let’s not do anything rash. Come, come to the barracks.:{ Her golden voice cajoled.
Aberath hesitated, but his creening stopped. He realized for the first time N’kayden’s panic. }:It’s… it’s okay.:{ He butted his head against N’kayden’s torso. }:Let’s… let’s go to the barracks.:{
All Ketlyn could hear was wailing. Keening, both inside her head and out of it. She stumbled through the tables toward the door, half-drunk and trying her hardest to send reassuring thoughts to Varinth when she herself was terrified. Why had Riyanth gone /between/? What was going on? Dragons didn’t go /between/ for no reason, and not Riyanth, not so unexpectedly.
}:Oh no!:{ Selkirth moaned suddenly in H’taysh’s mind, even as she threw back her head to keen out loud. }:Oh no no no no!:{
**Baby?** H’taysh questioned, his dragon’s fear and panic hitting him suddenly right in the gut, the feeling somehow rising in pitch with each passing second like a discordant sound, setting his heart hammering. **What is it, what’s wrong?!**
}:Riyanth, Riyanth is gone! I don’t understand… why?:{
**Riyanth? I don’t… she’s what? I… It’s okay, I’m coming, baby…** He stammered an apology to his companions and rushed off towards the barracks. He had been having such a nice time, but that seemed like a distant memory all of a sudden. All he could think was that he had to get to Selkirth, he had to touch her and know she was okay, and that he would be okay, too.
R'bain had been dancing when it happened and he reeled back, clutching his head as the keening started. Brinolth was keening too. He felt a raw ache in his own throat as, in the barracks, the young blue cried out in alarm.
}: It's so _empty_, R’bain! It's not _right_! :{ Brinolth’s thoughts were a storm of confusion and rising panic as he picked up the grief in the air.
R'bain stumbled away from the dancefloor, his partner utterly forgotten as he fought his way towards his dragon. One thing dominated his lifemate's thoughts, and he could hardly believe it-- Riyanth? Gone?
In the Weyrbowl, A’radess was just helping Avrisa down Tarvanneth’s foreleg when he felt and saw and heard it all at once, the ear-rending, heart-wrenching, thought-destroying sound that practically ripped into his awareness. Instantly Tarvanneth’s eyes flooded with colors that just looked _wrong_, he was sure they were never supposed to look like that, and A’radess hoped he never saw them again, because all around them and all at once was the resounding echo of hundreds of dragons keening their grief.
“What’s going on?!” Avrisa wailed, lurching back as Tarvanneth reared up on his haunches. Suddenly dark wings were opening and smacking them both off balance. “Avi!”
A’radess’ blood had gone cold. He could feel what his bronze was trying to do, reaching with such effort to hold where Riyanth had been, trying to chase the lack of her to its end, to where she still _was_. It was all happening in his mind and right in front of him and he had no idea what to do, not when it just went on and on and nowhere all at once.
His sister’s panicked hands dug into his arm, pulled him back into the dark of the Weyrbowl. “It’s Riyanth. She’s gone /between/.” He told her, the words conjuring tiny slivers of light that caught on each of her tears. **Tarvanneth.** His arm coiled around her slim shoulders, steadying them both for a moment before firmly ushering her toward the lower caverns, to their parents, pretending he had some idea of what he was doing. **Tarvanneth.**
But Tarvanneth wasn't listening. He was pushing further, chasing nothing but grief, and fear, and confusion and A’radess did his best to send calm through their link, to remind him of where they were safe. **Tarvanneth. Come back to me.** he implored.
And just like that, with a low, sad croon, the raging fire inside burned down into its embers. }: But where is she? :{ The young bronze's voice was a puff of smoke against his mind.
“I don’t know. But we’re here, you and me.” He said soothingly, hands all over that soft muzzle, holding him far too tight. **Let’s get back to the barracks.**
“A’lin! Ketlyn! Kailis!” V’dryn shouted as he coaxed Zhomoth inside. Where were his friends? **Zhomoth, where are they? Speak to them.** The blue dragon let out a sad, sad sound but reached out towards his favorite clutchmates.
Hearing her name, Ketlyn raised her head and when V’dryn approached she grabbed his hand and pulled him next to her. He held on tightly while he listened for Zhomoth to talk to the others.
L’rin and A’lin had been saying farewell to family, their younger siblings giving final pats to Yasanth and Oberlith, when the horror and confusion had begun. The brothers had immediately looked at their keening dragons, then each other, eyes wide with fear. Luckily, A’lin had the presence of mind to tell them they should go back inside rather than walk home. Then, prompted by the dragonets, the four of them came together in a hug, as though physical touch could make everything else go away.
Chordath reached back to Zhomoth to assure him that she was still there, still alive. But she was seething. There was no greater injustice than an untimely death. But there was no one for her to excoriate. No one that she knew of, anyway.
}:Everyone remain calm,:{ Xmrenth’s brassy tone called out to the Weyrlings. He and gold Piketh both sat near the entrances of the Weyrling Barracks. Raileth placed herself behind the metallic dragons. While her voice did not have the same power as theirs, she and her rider would provide what comfort and support they could.
“Come on in, everyone,” K’lvin was calling, gesturing the Weyrlings to come closer to him. “I know your lifemates are confused, scared… sad. We all feel it, trust me. I don’t know all of the details of what’s happening, or what happened to Kapera and Riyanth, but what I need you to do is remain as calm and strong as possible for your lifemates. Reassure them of their safety and of your connection. You need to keep them grounded here. Piketh and Xmrenth will help.”
Casmari’s face was buried into the side of Sebiath’s stone-blue hide. He had a solitary wing around his rider. }:Why did she go, Cas? I don’t understand,:{ Sebiath’s normally serious tone was even more somber than usual.
**I don’t know, Seb. Maybe she was hurt? Maybe her rider is hurt? I’m sure she would have stayed if she could,** Casmari said, sending her lifemate feelings of reassurance.
J'cello hardly remembered what he'd been doing before racing back to the barracks, Bairelth's scream echoing in his mind and hovering in the air. Even now it took considerable effort for J'cello to keep her contained and him safe; she wanted to be close to him and she was no longer the small dragonet she used to be, and could hurt him and herself if she snuggled in too hard and smushed him. **I'm here, sweetheart.** He told her as he wrapped his arms around her little head, breathing in the scent of oil on her hide.
“Are we in danger?” Ketlyn’s teeth chattered, but she didn’t feel cold. If something so bad had happened that the senior queen had gone /between/ they needed to know so they could" what? Fight? Run? Varinth made small, sad sounds as she pressed her face into her rider’s side.
}:Kenirath’s says the Weyrwoman was attacked, but they have her attacker. There is no reason to assume that there was more than one person involved. Still, as a precaution, all Weyrlings should remain in the barracks.:{ Xmrenth reported to K’lvin.
K’lvin relayed the message exactly as he had received it to the Weyrlings. “Let’s get in the barracks. J’nic and I will both be here with you until we know more and until your lifemate’s feel more calm.” It was at a time like this that he was even more grateful than J’nic was also a mindhealer.
A’lin and Oberlith were happy to move into the safety of the barracks. The bluerider did his best to remain calm, but his thoughts kept going back to the horrible keening and the Weyrwoman. While he remained quiet, his brother did not.
“But, what happened?” L’rin asked loudly. The Weyr was supposed to be a safe space, especially for the Weyrwoman. Yasanth, who had calmed down in the company of others, became agitated again.
“Remain calm,” J’nic said, moving to stand closer to L’rin.
“I’ve been trying to remain calm since I Impressed!” He could not think about women, or his brother and friends Impressing blues or greens, or much of anything. And now the Weyrwoman was injured or dead and they were supposed to go sit in the barracks. Yasanth reared up, unsure of how to handle his rider’s emotions.
}:Everything will be ok:{ Raileth told Yasanth. In the meantime, J’nic acknowledged L’rin’s emotions while also moving him and the brown towards the barracks. L’rin was not exactly calm, but he controlled himself enough for the moment.
“We will make it through this,” V’dryn promised, to Zhomoth, to Ketlyn, to Kailis, to himself. To anyone listening.
R’bain was listening. V’dryn seemed calm. J’nic as well. None of the weyrlings seemed hurt at least, that was a comfort. Whatever was happening, the barracks was secure. He climbed up to join Brinolth on his couch. Nestling close he settled in to wait things out, together.
Y’var had spent the night balancing between wanting to enjoy the celebration and be a conscientious weyrling. He kept checking in with Qitanath to make sure everything was okay - the drink he had, the dance he had, the flirtatious kiss on the cheek with his friend Selyna who he’d had an on again off again flirtation with for Turns. He’d said goodbye to her and some other former River Bluff friends at the dragon departure points, and then went to head back to the barracks for curfew, but got delayed chatting to a few other people he knew.
Then Qitanath screamed in his mind. }:Riyanth! Riyanth is gone!:{ and he staggered, reeling from the loss and pain he felt. He hadn't been a dragonrider when Vilarth died. He remembered the draconic screams that were unique to a queen loss and he knew they shook the bones in the body but he hadn't felt them in his soul through his own lifemate, not like _this_. And now he was feeling it. How? How could one bear it?
He reached out blindly for support, found his hand making contact with an arm - gasped as he realized he'd stumbled into the Weyrsecond - received instructions kindly given to go back to the barracks from the bronzerider in question even as Qitanath relayed that Piketh told them the same. **I can do that. I can do that.**
He concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other to get back to the barracks, fortunately only a short distance away. Qitanath's mind was wailing agonized in his own, unable to understand how his mother was gone, how a queen was gone - but fortunately there was some support as Yvar's family's dragons reached out to him to say their riders were all right, to tell his rider that the family was fine, to support him.
When he made his way into the barracks, he immediately went to his couch and wrapped his arms around Qitanath, to tell his brown how they were safe, how it would be all right. He arrived in time to hear V'dryn's calm words. He scanned the barracks, thinking with his age and having survived other crises he'd better be a leader, and he put on the bravest face he could.
"The Weyrleadership is on this - I saw Weyrsecond K'ran running to handle it, and he got us through River Bluff. The goldriders are on it. They'll make sure we're okay. We just have to stay calm in here." If he said it confidently enough, he could get them to believe it. And himself to.
Last updated on the December 8th 2024