Trashed and Scattered

[Zero]

Smothering darkness, a cold so bitter it cut to your core and stole the very breath from your lungs, that all but consumed F’lons mind for what seemed like an eternity. Though before he could begin to contemplate if this neverending darkness was to be his death, his young Aphath broke through the bitterness of between with a piteous cry. The wounded dragon had misjudged her trip between from the battle and as a result the duo fell ten feet out of the air and tumbled through the tall grasses before eventually coming to a stop.

Having been thrown from her neck soon after crash landing, F’lon quickly scrambled to his feet with a groan and clutching at his bleeding arm, bolted to his companions side. Aphath! Are you alright?! The young amethyst whimpered once as she pulled herself up and gingerly tucked her wings close to her side. Don’t worry F’lonLoveMine, though I am certain that my wing may be broken… “I’m not surprised with that landing you just pulled off.” Sighing F’lon moved to get a better look at the wing in question and clenched his jaw as he saw the mangled and bloody mess.

“No flying then?” The skull-marked dragoness snorted in response. “Well…just my luck…” Pulling off his riding jacket he removed what remained of his flame seared shirt and wrapped up the joint the best he could under the circumstances. A distant roar caught his ear and he looked up in time to see a few different colored bodies still twisting in the air off in the distance. “Suppose you don’t know where we are either?” He received another huff and whine in response. C’mon then… With that he grabbed his jacket and the two set off, slowly, through the woods, hoping they were headed for civilization, no matter which side, if only for Aphath‘s sake. He wasn’t quite ready to ask Aphath if she knew whether Iliath had lasted through the battle or not…

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[Wish]

Head for the river Iliath. If we can get away we can figure out where the rebels are regrouping. Who sharing knew most of Pern was either scared of S'vrin and Ar'rex or scared period? Well it's not really anything new. Did Ulme and Palirath come at least with the Istans?

The green hissed as she shook her head, sore wings folding in as her acid green body sped toward the ground. At the last moment she snapped them open, biting back a roar at the pain. Easy! Except Iliath didn't care about being gentle with herself. She needed to get Hers away and that was all that mattered. Curving her neck around, the dragoness crooned finally and nuzzled Panille's body. "Im find Iliath. Really. Talk to me please?"

What do we do now Pan? The rider sighed in relief at hearing her dragon's voice. It was so comforting and familiar she wanted to cry. "I'm not entirely sure. I say find some caverns and stay low until we figure out a plan." Pushing her red hair behind her, Panille rubbed her neck. Her whole body was tired and she was surprised she could still stand. While her body was focused on the here an now though, her mind was racing as it went over every detail of the battle.

So many had been lost or injured. Faranth knew they had almost been among them, the claw marks on Iliath's flank was enough of a sign for that. Shells she hoped that F'lon was alright as well. Aphath wasn't just young, she was tiny. The ideas of what could have happened to her.....Someone is coming.

Panille didn't have much time to react; suddenly Iliath was in front of her and the green bared her fangs in a feral hiss. Instead of an enemy appearing through the undergrowth however, a very well known purple hide came into site followed by her rider. Jumping over Iliath's tail, Pan ran toward the amethyst rider. "Faranth I thought I'd lost you."

[Zero]

Each step left him grumbling and cursing as the duo crashed through the underbrush. Already it felt like they had been walking for ages, though to be fair once you got used to traveling a dragonback walking, anywhere, seemed to take forever. How’s your wing? I am fine stop worrying Mine. F’lon brushed some dirt and ash from his hair before sparing a sideways glance at his companion. “You need to work on your lying, you forget I can feel everything you do.” Aphath grew silent after that comment but F’lon could tell she was trying to block him out.

Maybe a cave, a nice little cave to hide out for a night or two would be perfect. It wouldn’t be nearly enough time for Aphath to heal but at least hopefully rest and gather enough strength to continue their grounded journey. It was this train of thought that he found himself lost in when they came across another grounded pair. The warning hiss was the first thing to alert him but by then the thief had already cleared the bushes and came face to face with an agitated green but before he could even think the words ‘I’m dead’ the greens rider was rushing towards him with a voice he knew all too well.

“Faranath’s sake, Panille! Creeping around the woods with your maneater of a dragon. Are you trying to give a man a heart attack?!” So maybe it wasn’t quite the reaction appropriate for such a setting but could you blame the man? There were lots of riders around nowadays that would love to see his dragon put down. Sighing lowly he took a breath to steady his racing heart before closing the remaining distance between them and wrapping her in a tight, one-armed, hug and wincing as he accidentally jerked his injured arm. “So did you crash-land too?” At that moment little bronze Ryuk popped in from between and promptly situated himself on F’lons head and tugged lightly at the dark hair, chittering madly and flaring his wings. Didn’t he know there were many damsels out there that needed to be saved?! There’s no time to waste! Then as if realizing there were three apparent damsels in front of him, the young flit seemed to calm down, if only slightly with an apologetic cheep to F’lon.

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[Wish]

Laughing Panille hugged F'lon back. "Well if it keeps me alive..." She let that one go, instead taking a quick survey of his and Aphath's injuries. "What's wrong with her wing....Faranth please say its not broken!" She went from the rider's arms to in front of the amethyst dragonet. Her hands stopped mid-way to touching her though, silently asking permission to touch the wing before even attempting to see the break herself.

"It's going to take a while to heal. Come on...there's got to be a cave somewhere around here." Moving back over to F'lon she raised one eye-brow. "Maybe we should get you fixed first? There's a creek nearby. Let's head there first, Iliath has a nasty gash that needs cleaning too." The green snorted but didn't say anything once Panille clamped down on her control. "No, you are not about to say you're fine. You're getting fixed up and that's that. Iliath, that means you too." She smirked as the green chortled a laugh as she understood the implied joke.

When they got there, whether it was through F'lon just agreeing or Pan pestering him enough or hey here's an idea maybe Iliath threatened him, Pan seated herself on a rock next to the water, motioning for the Weyrling to come join her. "So, what do you think is going on back with everyone else?"

[Zero]

“Unfortunately yes, we think it’s broken.” Scratching at his chin he eyed his purple dragoness as she attempted to scoot around Pan so she wouldn’t touch the aforementioned appendage. It was all in vain however as soon she felt a light pressure near the joint hidden by F’lons hastily tied shirt and growled lowly at the touch. Stop it, she’s only helping. You can help and not touch. Came the grumpy response.

Rolling his eyes, F’lon turned back to the other pair just in time to catch the words ’fixed up’. “Ah don’t worry about me, I’m fine it’s just a…a bruise, yeah.” Smiling weakly in an attempt to cover up that even weaker response the thief even dared to stretch his arms out over his head, trying to prove a point through a clenched jaw and swallowed hiss. Alas though it seemed, as usual, he wasn’t going to be winning this argument and with a sigh and a few muttered words stalked off through the forest as she led the way to the river.

Nearing the river Aphath was the first to step in, although she did whine a little as the chilled waters washed over the fresh cuts from their interesting landing. Take it easy. I’ll come look at your wing in a minute. F’lon watched his companion for a moment before dragging himself over to where Pan had parked herself on a rock and took a seat on the ground next to her, leaning with his good shoulder against her legs as he looked off into the distance. “I don’t know. They could either be cowering with their tails between their legs as Ar’rex and S’vrin sit on their self proclaimed thrones, or, since I know my cousin and his garnet would be the last to give into that, they’re planning a coup against those intruders.” With a half shrug he glanced back up at her. “Either way things are only going to get more interesting around here. Which begs the question…why were you two creeping around the forest anyways?”

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[Wish]

Iliath followed the younger dragoness into the water, flicking it up onto her back by using her tail. It was nice and cool, perhaps a bit sting-worthy, but still nice. Relax Aphath, everything is well. The green crooned softly to the amethyst, curling up in the shallow water and giving a sigh.

Panille smiled as F'lon leaned against her and talked. It was good to hear his voice. Delicately taking a look at his injured arm she scoffed at his attempts previously at hiding it. "Just a bruise huh?" Shaking her head the greenrider got to work fixing it best she could with limited supplies to work with.

When he asked the question she knew was coming, Panille froze. "Same as you. Trying to get away from the fighting. Though it's seemingly over now. Good thing since its getting dark." She was still tense but she avoided looking at him directly. She couldn't say why she really was here, he'd...well she didn't know what he would do.

Oh say it, be quiet or leave! Not in the mood for indecisive females....leave that to Avirith's. Panille recoiled from Iliath's outburst. No sense in keeping quiet now. "I can't go back....I can't. I don't know where the rebels are going either though. There was too much confusion when the image was sent. Until someone starts looking for left overs or until I figure out what to do I have to stay out here. Guess its good that I found you too. I doubt she'll get much help back home if....well if things are for the worst. I fear they are."

Despite her mind's protests, her body shivered at the thought of S'vrin and Ar'rex in charge. Ar'rex she could deal with, Tikrin she could deal with. One was a dimglow brown rider, the other was not, but she knew his games well enough. S'vrin however scared her senseless. She might have been able to stand up to him once, but that was backed up be very large and very angry dragons.

What, I'm not pissed off enough for you?!? At least that got her laughing.

[Zero]

Aphath grumbled at the larger greens words. Everything was most certainly not well. Mine is injured and stuck in the woods and I have no means to get him to safety. Flicking her tail once, the sore dragon eventually gave in and carefully settled down in the shallow waters, mimicking Iliaths movements. Now that she thought about it the water did feel kind of nice.

“Of course just a bruise.” He winced and tried batting her hands away, once, as she took a look. “Just a twisted, feels dislocated, bruise.” Despite the pain he managed to smile up at her. “Glad to see you two weren’t hurt…well besides the obvious that is.” Glancing over at the resting dragons he watched Ryuk for a moment pacing the shore, almost anxiously, as he ‘stood watch’ over the larger cousins. “Oh and for the record we didn’t try and get away from anything. We were rammed by a brown, could have been Ar’rex for all I know, but she felt her wing give and went between. I thought she panicked and we were lost because that felt like the longest trip ever but it turns out she does know what she’s doing half the time.” Aphath snorted from the water and tried splashing Hers with a flick from her tail.

“She needs a healer is what she needs and if Trelis is where we have to go then so be it. They’ll have to get through me first if they plan on laying an evil hand on her anyways.” His previous light and somewhat ‘trying to make light of the whole situation’ tone had begun to fade and even his jaw tightened as a scene played out in his minds eye. “That goes double for you too you know. I’d be more than happy to knock that self-righteous, ‘holier than thou’ bronzer down a peg or seven if he thinks even for a minute that he can get away with anything when it comes to you. ..” Bumping her legs with his shoulder he managed a light smile. "Not to mention I think Iliath might give him a run for his money too."

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[Wish]

It wasn't that Pan was reassured by the words coming from her green and F'lon, though they were certainly nice. The rider however knew most of S'vrin's higher ups than F'lon did, she had grown up with him. "You know how good I am at what I do? I learned most of that from him. He's smart, and he doesn't have a sense of right and wrong....not after....not after the incident. So many people don't know why he is like he is, I do. I was there."

She shook her head, leaning down so that she was looking at him. In an abrupt movement though, she wiggled out from behind him and sat down next to F'lon instead. "It was a hatching or two before Loraketh's first clutch. The Queen who hatched Mivinth, Maelath and Loraketh's mother, had layed her final clutch on the sands. Everyone was so pleased since it was a large one, and there was one giant egg that she protected fiercely. However, it wasn't a Gold egg. Everyone just assumed it held a Bronze."

Panille seemed to look off into space as she talked, relaying the entire hatching scene. "When it hatched, it was upset like most dragonets. It was an Obsidian, the first of the new colors...she....she mauled Sahille. S'vrin was devastated when she died afterward, we all were. She was my best friend." Pulling her knees up to her chest, Panille placed her chin on her legs and wrapped her arms around herself to keep the pose together. Nearby, Iliath crooned softly to her rider.

"Afterward, he was never the same...that's why he does all of this. We were like family; S'vrin, Tikrin, Sahille and I." Looking up at the amethystrider, she sighed. "You're right though, Aphath needs attention, but it's not a good idea to bring her to the Weyr. Maybe we can get someone we can trust to come to us instead? We'll think of something, we're two of the smartest riders Trelis has...or maybe I should say most innovative?" She laughed briefly, but it was strained.

"The thing is, there's more about the story. The reason why S'vrin was so upset over Sahille's death, the reason he despises all of the mutations, is because she was his little sister."

[Zero]

He fell silent as she began to speak and tell her tale. Any of his usual smart mouthed comments were forcibly swallowed and put off for a later time. Yes he wasn’t overly fond of the Istan bronzer but he could see from just one look that his typical brand of snaky remarks wouldn’t go down particularly well. So with his head bent and gaze focused on the ground he remained quiet as he listened to this brief tale of S’vrin.

As she spoke he realized he already knew some bits, such as it was now common knowledge that Ista hatched the first Obsidian and possibly set the stage for all the events happening right now. It wasn’t until she reached the end of her tale that the first signs of any reaction began to play across his face. “His sister…” F’lon repeated almost to himself as he played back everything he had just heard. Well now things almost made sense if in a sickly twisted sort of way.

“Loosing a sibling, I just couldn’t imagine…” Trailing off the thief instantly thought back on his own sibling and the handful of times F’lon nearly lost him and tried not to choke himself with too much sympathy for the other rider. “Either way it still doesn’t give the right to start a crusade against these different colored dragons.” Shaking his head he forced himself to his feet with a wince and clench of his teeth and walked over to where his Aphath was curled in the shallow water. She crooned softly as he approached.

“All hatchlings have the potential to maul. So what if it had been a bronze or even a gold? Would he have felt the same way? Or would the sharder now be on a mission to wipe out the dragons completely?” Tossing his riding jacket on a rock he waded out into the water to take a look at and clean his companions wound. “Though I suppose I can’t really talk, if anything were to happen to my son I don’t doubt the spree of insanity that I’d undertake..”

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[Wish]

It was not though, it was something different. S'vrin never has liked change, and it didn't help that his Bronze was the one who caught the Obsidian in her mating flight.

Panille nodded, agreeing silently with both F'lon and Iliath. "She's right, he was the one." The greenrider found herself yawning, exhausted suddenly. She knew there was more to tell, more to say to him, but that was a secret she would never say. Well, two things she would never say. Both having to do with her past. Instead, she moved to lean against the thief's shoulder. "So, maybe we can steal some supplies, that shouldn't be all that hard."

Her green eyes flickered up to him as he mentioned his son and she frowned. "Should we try to get him out of there? I don't think you'd want to leave him here where he could hurt, or worse, brainwashed into believing them all." She closed her eyes and tried to think of a world where everyone thought the way Ar'rex and S'vrin did. It only made her stomach feel like emptying its contents. Iliath's worried keen was enough to wake her out of that idea though. "I'm fine." The green crooned, still keeping an eye on her rider before nudging her up and to the river.

Allowing herself to be moved, Panille dipped into the water, shivering slightly at the cold, but using it to wipe away the sweat and blood, not to mention a good amount of dirt too. How could one get so messy when they were in the sky? Well, we were down here a bit remember. They crash landed though, and I'm sorry, but Aphath if you're wing is fine, then I'm a wher. Her voice was surprisingly gentle for her.

[Zero]

F’lon raised an eyebrow as she mentioned the mating flight. “Well I bet that didn’t go over too well the next morning…” Reaching his dragon he carefully unwound his shirt they had been using as a makeshift bandage and eyed the wound warily. It didn’t look good. Sighing he bent down and cleaned the torn shirt in the water as best he could before moving to wrap up the joint once again. It wasn’t much by any means but at least for now it would help keep out the majority of bacteria and keep infection down. I’ll get you some numbweed for the pain, just tough it out a little longer. The young amethyst grumbled and whined softly before resting her head on her forelegs.

Bending to clean his hands and try and get the majority of dirt off his face and out of his hair he threw a quick look her way the moment the word “steal” passed her lips. Instantly a devilish little smirk found itself tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I think you just made my day. Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get you out on a night to go acquiring with me? If I had known it would only take this I would have been begging her to fake it ages ago.” Grinning now he shot a playful wink her way.

Wading out of the river he tugged his riding jacket on and folded his arms across his chest to keep himself from shivering. At the mention of his son though, his previous smile faded and a half shrug rolled off his good shoulder as he looked off through the trees to where he thought Trelis stood. “Of course I’d like to take him with him and he’s still young enough to not understand what’s going on, so brainwashing is out of the question. Besides, my brother and mother are still there, I know they’ll look after him while I’m gone…” Dropping his gaze he kicked idly at muddy ground, lost in a moment of thought.

“I’ll come back for him though, once Aphath’s all healed I’ll be back.” Silently he tried to reassure himself that everything would work out in the end but for some reason he couldn’t shake this feeling of unease.

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[Wish]

Panille couldn't help it, she smiled for once at his comment. "Well, it's about time I get to see you actually steal something. You know, like without getting caught. Don't worry though hun, I'll give you a few pointers, I'll even hold your hand if you're scared." She smirked at him, goaded by Iliath's amused rumbles. Were they talking about getting supplies to help take care of themselves and their dragons? Yes, but that didn't mean that Pan would stop being Pan. Naturally, that meant she had to tease F'lon at some point.

"When do you want to leave for it? Tonight or sooner? I think Iliath can hunt something down maybe if she needs to eat, or if we do. I have a few arrows left too...and here I was thinking that I wouldn't actually need them during the battle. I wish I didn't." She shook her head, biting her lip as she pushed the memories back. They were fresh. It was hard. "Yeah, your son will be alright I'm sure. Someone will be here to take care of him. We'll get him back once Aphath is okay. You're not going in there alone, you'll need back up." She gave him what she hoped to be a reassuring smile.

That is if we can get in and back out. Iliath nudged her rider gently, tilting her bright green head as she sent a thought to Panille. Shaking her head though, the rider patted the green's neck. "Don't worry about it girl. I'll be fine, we both will be." Iliath didn't seem content with that, she certainly didn't want to stay behind but someone had to keep watch over the young amethyst. Come Aphath, let's find somewhere to stay the night. They'll need to be there too, even if they don't leave until later. She moved to gently nudge the dragonet's shoulder, sniffing carefully at the injured wing. Perhaps bandaging it with some of those herb things will be good too?

Panille frowned. "Probably, but I don't know much about herbs and healing. I know how to sew together a wound and how to bandage one, but that's just about it." She looked over at F'lon with a questioning look. Are we adding kidnapping onto our list of things to do? We'll need someone who knows what they're doing. Iliath's voice was as it had been, out for them all to hear. However, this time Pan wished the green had kept quiet. She tried to hide the wince at the term Iliath used, she really did.

[Zero]

Was she…was she mocking him? F’lon let his jaw drop slightly as he feigned a look of pure shock mixed with a dash of hurt. “Now that’s just not fair. I was a little rusty back then when your guard lizard caught me!” The thief shot a mock glare to both rider and dragon, who’s amused rumblings were hard to ignore. “But you know if you only wanted to hold my hand all you had to do was ask.” He threw a brief smile her way before patting the skull-marked snout that moved to nuzzle his side.

We’ll be back. Just try and stay out of trouble. Really they had to do this. It’s not like he was prepared to scrape out of a life in the wild, even if it would be only temporary. Not to mention he wasn’t a fan of sleeping in the dirt. “I say we leave now. Everyone should still be preoccupied with dealing with the numbers and injuries from the fight. Should be a piece of cake. We’ll grab a bit of everything, herbs, bandages, and whatnot and be out before anyone’s realized they left the back door open.”

F’lon frowned for a moment before raising a questioning eyebrow at Illiaths choice in words. “Kidnapping? No no. Where’d you get a silly idea like that?” Shaking his head the thief rubbed the back of his neck, seeming to almost consider the idea for a moment before quickly dismissing the thought with a small shake of his head. “No we don’t need to stoop to kidnapping. We’ll just put our heads together and we’ll be fine.”

So with his hands in his pockets he took a few steps into the trees before glancing back with a smirk and threw her a playful wink. “C’mon, lets go be bad guys.” What could go wrong, really?

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