Cliff Climbing

Writers: Miriah, Suzee
Date Posted: 25th December 2013

Characters: Pierka, J'ackt
Description: Pierka encounters a sullen Jenackt
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 4, day 14 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Qorri, Sh'del, N'vanik

Pierka

J'ackt

Sitting very top of the weyrwalls, Jenackt curled his knees up and
picked up a stone. Resting his head on his knees, he flung the rock
viciously outward before searching for another. Pick up a stone, fling
it, the process was repeated again and again. It didn't matter that he
was visualizing certain people's heads as his targets; at least he
never missed.

"Hey," a feminine voice called from down the sea side of the cliff.
"There are weyrs down here you know."

"And?" He muttered darkly to himself. He picked up another rock and
flung it, just out of spite. It was childish, true, but for the
moment, it made him feel a little better. Then, just for more spite,
he picked up a handful of gravel, opened his hand over the edge of the
rim and let the gravel clink noisily over the cliff-face.

A green dragon rose up the cliff face with a young blond rider on her
back. "Really," she asked before flinging one of his rocks back at his
feet. She could have hit him if she'd wanted, after all she was an
expert at flinging whole sacks of firestone exactly where she wanted
them to go. "What is your problem?"

He looked up at her, scowled and kicked the stone away, letting it
clatter down the cliff face. He snorted, pushed strands of hair from
his face and then rested his brow on his knees. "Go...away."

"You first," she scowled down on the blond head. "I don't want any
more rocks pelting Liddith." His body language told her this was
probably something else. And since he wore candidate knots perhaps he
was upset by the recent hatching.

He lifted his head, his frown dark. He recognized her; she had watched
him spar with N'vanik. Probably one of his friends. He snorted again
and put his head back onto his knees. "Bugger off."

"What is your problem!" She couldn't believe this whole situation.
"How did you get up here anyway?"

Frustrated, he lifted his head and glared at her. "Right now, my
problem is riding a green dragon and won't leave me the blazes alone."
He stopped, looked around and shrugged. "I climbed. It was quiet up
here. Was."

"Right," she said, the single word dripping with sarcasm. "And we
wouldn't be here bugging you if you hadn't been tossing rocks into our
weyr. A simple 'sorry about that' could have fixed this whole problem.
Now get off this ridge and back down into the Weyrbowl before I go
find Qorri."

Rising with surprising grace, Jenackt lifted his chin and walked along
the edge of the cliff, shot the greenrider a piercing glare and a
gesture only the drunkest guard would issue and then stepped off. His
feet slid along a steep rocky incline, but he kept his balance
surprisingly well; he slid towards a abrupt dropoff, stopping himself
just before he pitched off by grabbing an outcropping. He swung off,
dangling by one arm until he swung his body from side to side and
flung himself towards another narrow ledge. "Riders." He snarled, then
made his voice nasal. "Get down. I'll tell Qorri." He landed on the
ledge and hugged the wall, his eyes flicking towards another
outcropping to gauge the distance.

Pierka's eyes popped open and a half smile quirked one corner of her
mouth. "Are you out of your tiny mind," she asked as she and Liddith
continued to follow him and hover near the cliff.

"It will be if you distract me." He snorted. "It'll be all over the
rocks and you'll get to be the one to tell N'vanik. Fun for you." He
exhaled, took a deep breath and jumped. He missed, hit the wall with a
grunt, began to slide down. Hands grasping wildly and feet scrabbling
for purchase, he was able to wedge his toes into a horizontal crack
while his hands latched onto miniscule handholds.

At a non verbal command Liddith positioned herself under the young man
clinging to the rock face. }:Does he try to fly?:{ she queried Pierka.

**I hope not but lets make sure we catch him if he falls again.**

"How about you climb on," she said holding a hand out to him. "Or I
could just have Liddith pluck you off the cliff. Either way you'll get
to the bowl without becoming bloody pulp in the process. You can beat
me up after we get down there."

He looked over his shoulder at the rider and his jaw set with stubborn
determination. "Don't bother." He glanced around and began to creep
his feet along the crack, his hands, now covered in multiple
scratches and gouges, found niches large enough to hang on to. "Don't
want your help." He glanced over his shoulder. "Besides, if I fell,
Sh'dell an Qorri might reward you. I'd not be missed." He grit his
teeth, eyeing a ledge to his right. If he could swing just enough by
the hand hold there... His brow knit as he let go with one hand and
stretched out his free hand. His fingers barely brushed it. He
frowned, unwedged a foot and braced it, preparing to jump again.

"This is stupid," she said under her breath. He was going to fall and
he might have a hard head but the rocks were harder and would win the
argument. She folded her arms and waited. They were still pretty high
up on the cliff face.**Catch him if he falls** They'd trained how to
grab a falling rider out of the air and greens were _very_ good at it.

Jenackt tensed and jumped. This time, he caught himself. He exhaled in
relief, lifted his chin to smirk at Pierka. Unfortunately, the ledge
he had landed on was not stable. Within only a few moments of his
weight settling on the stone, it shifted, pitched and then separated
from the cliff face. Jenackt lunged for something, anything to hold on
to, but the rock ledge dropped from his feet and he fell. "Wher sh..."

Pierka didn't have time to roll her eyes though she would have if
she'd been able. Instead her training kicked in and Liddith did some
kind of impossible flip to grab the falling kid in her talons. But in
that moment they were too close to the ground and before she could do
more than half-form the thought they were /between/ and a double
heartbeat later they emerged above the Star Stones and started to
circle toward the weyrbowl. Luckily, that one place the Dolphin Cove
Star Stones was their safe return spot. She'd rehearsed it more times
than she could count and reminded Liddith every week during drills. If
ever she was unable to give a proper picture, return to that exact
spot.

He didn't even have time to yelp as the green snatched him from
tumbling to the rocks below. Hanging in the greens grip, he went
still, still shivering from the cold of between. It was one thing to
be high up on a stone wall and to look down and quite another to hang
from talons. His hands gripped the greens arms tightly as his face
paled. "Okay, you proved your point."

Liddith backwinged as she touched down on the floor of the weyrbowl
then she released her prize with a satisfied bugle.

"Good job," Pierka told her and slid from her perch to look at the
candidate. "I never caught your name," she said.

Jenackt stumbled as he was released and righted himself quickly
enough. He looked down at his hands and grimaced at the numerous
jagged cuts and dirt ground into them. It was a lesson, he supposed,
for not being careful. He glanced upwards at the rider. "I didn't give
it."

"Right," she said as she walked over to him. "I knew that." Her
obviously swelling belly was made more prominent by her crossed arms.
"I was just giving you another chance to act like an adult." Her
eyebrow rose and head tilted. "You don't _have_ to be a jerk."

He was about to reply with a scathing comment but one look at the
swell of her stomach made the words die on his lips. He blinked,
looked at her and then back down to her belly. There was a flash of
memory of his own mother, heavily pregnant and constantly tired and he
immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry." His baritone was soft and
sincere. "My name is Jenackt."

"I'm Pierka," she said at the change in his attitude. "And your savior
is Liddith, not me."

He looked at the green, shifted on his feet and nodded. "Thanks." He
plucked a piece of gravel from a wound on his palm.

Liddith's eyes whirled a happy blue green at the young man. She was
proud of her stunt and had already received some praise from a nice
brown she'd been flirting with. }:Is it injured?:{

"Are you hurt?" Pierka leaned over to get a look at his hand. "Nothing
a little redwort and numbweed won't fix. You should have some in your
first aid kit." she smiled. "Need any help?

He shook his head and picked another sliver of stone out of a cut.
"I've had worse."

"Well you're just unfriendly to the extreme aren't you?" She snorted
and shook her head. "Wouldn't hurt to make friends while you have the
chance and a hand is offered. It's no fun to be all alone in the
world."

He blinked and looked up at her, his expression uncertain. He'd always
been pretty much alone. He shifted on his feet and glanced at his
hands. "I was just saying that I've had worse." Confused now, he
scratched his head, unwittingly getting streaks of blood in his hair.
"Why would you want to be my friend anyway?" He frowned. Women
confused him. First she got mad at him, then she had her dragon catch
him, now she wanted to be friendly?

"Why not? You're different from most of the people here and I'll bet
you've got different stories that would be worth a listen. What makes
you decide to climb to the top of the weyrbowl just to throw rocks?
These are all things I'd like to know. So, just thought I'd ask. Is
there anything you want to know about me?"

He just stared at her. The women of the weyr just seemed odd, but he
also knew that his experience with them was extremely limited. Shards,
even the men were odd. He scratched his head again and glanced up at
the cliff and then back down at her. "I was just thinking and it
seemed like the quietest place I guess." He looked at her and at her
abdomen and then back at her. "Uhm..." Shards, but he didn't really
know how to make conversation well. "Uh..you're pregnant?"

"Yeah," she said and her friendly smile faded slightly. "It was a
surprise.." while he had asked a simple question she didn't know how
much he really wanted to know. "You must be really good at climbing
to get up that high."

He shrugged and then pointed to another section of the wall where the
climb was obviously not that difficult. The rocks were spaced and
pocked within easy reach of each other, with wide ledges. "Not really.
I took the easy way up." He looked down at his hands and then shrugged
again. He couldn't help but glance at her stomach. "Didn't know you
was with child. I wouldn't have bothered you."

"Don't worry about it," she shrugged. "I'm just glad you didn't get hurt worse."

He echoed her shrug. "Like I said. Been hurt worse." He then eyed her.
"Shouldn't be doing all that fancy flying though. Might hurt the
child, right?"

"Not if I'm careful," she shrugged. "I was strapped in. Though I
shouldn't really /between/ too much."

He shifted on his feet. "Shouldn't have taken that chance. Not for me."

"Well," she dug a toe in the dirt. "I couldn't let you fall, not when
I kind of goaded you into it."

He finally grinned a little, the smile transforming his face from
sullen to near lovely. He was a striking young man, though he was not
aware of it. "Well, I guess we were both being stupid."

She smiled back at him not immune to the sun coming out from behind
the clouds when he smiled. But though he really was quite nice
looking, her heart was already engaged elsewhere so she didn't give
him more than a passing appreciation. "Yeah," she agreed. "You should
smile more often."

Last updated on the January 19th 2014

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Cliff Climbing