Taking A Stroll.~

[Zane]

The pair had been walking about the bowl, enjoying one another's company-for the most part. Jedenath was complaining, like he always did, about how he didn't feel as if he had gained enough respect around Dalibor. Raksha reached up to place a hand upon her dragons hide comfortingly, And I have? We're in the same boat, really. As far as I'm concerned though, it doesn't much matter.

Jedenath swung his large head away from her, gazing out across the bowl to see what females he could spot. And you think chasing is the answer to everything-is that it? Trust me, she sent, having a hard time keeping a smirk off of her face, sleeping with people only ever brings you trouble.

Spare me the details. The girl shrugged a shoulder, chuckling. Her hand fell from her dragons side, both of her arms now swinging restlessly. I'm bored, she concluded. How's about we make things interesting around here? Her smirk was now full-blown, her excitement overflowing despite knowing that Jedenath would be unlikely to join her.

You're not a child, RakshaMine. Must you go off and act like one? He still had not bothered to look back to her, far too busy with scoping the bowl.

You're just lazy, is all. Glaring at the Viridian playfully, she left him to ponder over his future mate. A trio of flits burst from /between,/ crooning, and chirruping at Theirs. Raksha pivoted on her heel to face them all, her grin a mile wide.

"Rask, Sharra, Noehl." Her voice faltered a bit at the last. "Are you guys hungry?" The bronze, surprisingly the shyest of the group, dived onto the girls shoulder and burrowed underneath her hair. Giggling, Raksha reached over as best she could to pet him.

The black and his green daughter hovered about their bonded's head. Both were plump, and therefore, one could assume, exceedingly well fed.

[Sakoru]

Last move, Tigreath, I promise. Xiro'el ducked low over his dragon's neck as she exploded out of between and rocketed over the all-too-familiar Bowl. It was as if they had never left. There was the Rim, over which Tigreath arced and then spun back in a spectacular twirl.

We're home! the cyan cried, and dropped earthward. Her rider pressed himself to her neck, bracing for the inevitable moment when she'd snap her wings open feet from the ground and save them both from certain death. She'd done it hundreds of times -- thousands -- and they survived this time as any other. Exuberant as always, unfazed by anything at all, Tigreath opened her jaws wide and screamed to the sky. I'M HOME!

Xiro could have smacked her. Subtle, he remarked cuttingly, and the cyan crooned and flipped over in the air, playfully threatening to dump him off.

What are you gonna do, Mine? Huh? S'wicked, isn't it? We're back! I can see everybody again! Oh, look! There's Jedenath! Tigreath landed abruptly, sending up a spray of dirt as her talons ripped through the earth. She backwinged quickly, and impatiently extended a leg for Xiro'el to hop down if he would. Come on, come on, Mine, we haven't got all day. You're so sloooow! I could go faster hopping on my tail!

I don't know why I let you do anything, I really don't. Every single time, you pick the worst possible person to drop in on, Xiro'el grumbled, unimpressed. Descending from his dragon's neck, he briefly considered fleeing the scene and pretending that Tigreath had somehow wandered back here on all on her own, without him. It would certainly be easier than standing up and saying 'hello, Dalibor' once again. But that was exactly what he was here to do, now wasn't it?

As soon as he was off, Tigreath launched herself forth in a flurry of dust and left the cyanrider in the middle of the Bowl, feeling thoroughly abandoned. Xiro watched her go, and shook his head. She didn't go for Jedenath after all -- or so it seemed at first. She doubled back suddenly and shot straight for him, and even from here the rider could hear her gleeful bugle. Brilliant.

Attempting to brush some of the dust off himself, Xiro turned, his own pair of flits popping into existence over his head and, of course, barreling straight for Raksha's. Of course, they just wanted to play with other firelizards. They, unlike his dragon, were not malicious little half-hatched schemers who just wanted to get him in trouble. Xiro'el composed himself, and headed towards Raksha, steeling himself for the joy to inevitably fade from her face. That was the problem with just being dumped off by his dragon. Nobody got a chance to even hear that he'd arrived home. Spontaneous he might have been, but there were times when a certain amount of strategic planning could be in order.

Well, there she was, not all that far away. Xiro'el drew in a breath, stopped, and wished his dragon would run into the side of the Bowl for doing this so suddenly. "Hello, Raksha." He pushed himself to keep speaking, not wanting to endure the awkward pause that he was positive would come. "I apologize if I'm ruining your afternoon. My, ah, big blue idiot wouldn't let me wait before I came to call."

[Zane]

Well Raksha wasn't paying particular attention to anyone else about the bowl, other than her fair of flits, Jedenath was. The Viridian would've been able to spot Tigreath coming from a mile away, even if he hadn't been staring right at the cyan. She always gave herself away by making an unnecessary raucous as she went. The Viridian snarled as she came barreling towards him, the dragons guard instantly up. What was she doing here? What was her rider doing here? No, the Viridian would, most certainly, not stand for this.

Raksha could feel Jedenath's anger coming off of him in waves. Taken aback by his sudden emotions, the girl was distracted from her flit's by the call of Tigreath. Blue-green eyes reflected the composure she was struggling to maintain. Her time as a Wingsecond had been all about learning composure. She could surely be professional now-couldn't she?

Jedenath roared furiously at the cyan, a threat to stay back. She had no right to greet him in such a man. She was far form welcome in his presence. The Viridian's eyes whirred a fast red. Raksha moved quickly, hand flat on his hide. Jedenath, please. When she sounded ever so sincere, the dragon could hardly ignore her, and so he didn't. He settled, his teeth still bared. The dragons shoulders rolled uncomfortably.

"Xiro'el," Raksha greeted the cyanrider, hoping that she was succeeding in keeping the tone of her voice level. He looked about as disconcerted as she, and with good reason, as far as she was concerned. It had been some time since they'd seen each other-too much time. And, in that time, Raksha hadn't at all bothered to think of what she may or may not have felt for the young man. She'd, instead, busied herself building a stronger relationship with Jedenath.

Her expression was both cool, and calm. It was as if she had practiced for this moment. It was amazing how thoughts and feelings could just transfer back, after such a large measure of time, like they'd never left at all. The feelings that had transferred to Raksha, from before, were anger and uncertainty. Perhaps anger wasn't the best word even... disappointment. Yes, that. So much time had passed, and so Xiro'el was now, to her, an acquaintance.

Mine? he questioned, ready to back her, as he was longing to do anyhow. He received a short mental sigh in response. So, he waited impatiently.

"Get sent back?" she inquired with a slight tilt of her head. Her suggested curiosity was more out of the necessity of conversation than actual, genuine, curiosity. Jedenath was keeping a close eye on Tigreath, though Raksha would be foolish to think he wasn't keeping an eye on Xiro'el as well.

Not wanting to be rude, she figured it best not to comment on the fact that, yes, he was ruining her day. The viridianrider forced a smile, though it appeared as fake as it was.

Hands folded behind her back, the girl waited for a response of sorts. Her flit's had taken to mingling with His, or at least, Rask and Sharra had. Her little bronze was still hiding in her hair. The black and green dove and circled about, chirruping gleefully. Rask, ultimately, wanted to get back to eating. His little daughter was thinking along the same lines.

[Sakoru]

Tigreath squealed in displeasure when Jedenath roared at her, and she veered sharply away. You should be happy to see me! It's been ages! she snapped, clearly forgetting that he didn't actually enjoy her company. All the same, the cyan snorted and swooped off in a different direction, coming back for just one more playful pass at the viridian before she went off to land neatly on a ledge atop the Rim. She curled her tail around a protruding rock and perched there, surveying her current and former home with satisfaction. Grumpypants Jedenath would have to wait, if he was going to be so grouchy. She had better things to do than bother him right now. After all, he was stuck here forever to pester! She only got one first day back, right?

I'm going to kill you the second you come back, Xiro'el informed his dragon murderously, all the while offering Raksha an awkward expression that couldn't quite be called a smile. He didn't much want to be here either, and certainly not under such duress. The cyanrider flicked his gaze away, up to the Rim where Tigreath now sat, and quickly gathered his thoughts. Now that he was here, he might as well be civil, although 'friendly' somewhat escaped him in the present situation, especially with Raksha's obvious displeasure. She wasn't acting hostile, but that meant nothing. Raksha did not want him here any more than he wanted to be present.

"No," he replied simply. "I chose to come back. I'd planned to say hello to you, I admit -- but not quite like that. It was meant to be more, shall we say, eloquent. And less of a surprise, for both of us." He held back a sigh, making his strongest effort to look more composed than he actually was. Avsiran and Estrial circled Rask and Sharra, darting to and fro above Raksha's head. Xiro'el watched them for a moment, if only to escape the tension of the situation, and then returned his attention to the viridianrider.

Staying for a lengthy conversation was not much to his tastes, at present, and so Xiro presented Raksha with a slight bow and a wan smile. "I hope you're well, but I won't trouble you with having to pretend in my presence. If it's all right with you, my dear, I think I'd best be excusing myself and leaving you alone. I assure you, if I mean to drop by again you'll get some sort of warning and the ability to refuse. My apologies to you, and to Jedenath as well, if you'd be so kind as to let him know that from me." Xiro'el offered another small smile, and then backed away, turning to go. His firelizards both crooned to Raksha's, and then popped out of existence, presumably going in search of food or some other silly treasure. For Xiro's part, he had no intention of doing anything but extricating himself from this terribly embarrassing situation.

[Zane]

Is that really what she thought? Was the cyan so naïve that she didn’t realize that he too saw her as a traitorous beast? None of their kind had forgiven the cyan pair, not from what Jedenath could tell. And why should they? They’d dishonored and disgraced the Weyr when they’d been most needed. They’d both abandoned their duties to Dalibor, with little to no regard for anyone but themselves. Selfish beast-burden of a beast! Jedenath was still furious from the night prior. Raksha reached out, and honed in on the dragons anger. There she instilled thoughts of comfort, and calm.

When Tigreath had the nerve to double back around he snapped at her, and bellowed out another roar. She was not welcome here, and yet, here she was. Snorting, he flicked his tail out behind him in irritation. She would receive no welcome at the Weyr, no, most certainly she would not. She and her rider had both had a hand in sullying Raksha’s reputation in the eyes of several. Even though, neither he nor His had done a thing wrong.

Xiro’el’s words did little for Raksha, not in her present state of being. She still had a hold on Jedenath, who was eager to lay into the cyan pair further. Thankfully, he was beginning to deem it a waste of time, and breath. “Oh? Well, it’s nice to be thought of.” Her tone was sharp, cutting, and accusatory. It wasn’t like the girl. When Xiro’el’s gaze lifted to their flits, Raksha could feel a muscle in her face twitch. She was having a hard time of keeping a neutral expression.

All Raksha could do was listen, and try to let his words sink in. It was because of him that last night had been such a disaster. Though, it wasn’t to say it wouldn’t have been a disaster anyhow. She did her best to remind herself of that, that it wasn’t all Xiro’el’s fault. It’s not like he’d knowingly hurt anyone. It was all on Q’sis-he was the one to blame. His poor tan was nothing more than an object to be used.

Good riddance, the viridian huffed, reserving his parting comment for Raksha’s mind alone. He was glad that His seemed to agree, though she was gazing downwards with many feelings of guilt. Just as Jedenath went to intercept her forward movement, she shot out an arm to signal him to stop.

”Xiro, wait.” The name he was frequently called by those that knew him best left her mouth. Raksha wrapped both of her arms about herself, her lips no longer pursed, but rather, turned down to form a deep frown. ”I’ve made the mistake of taking Q’sis’ actions out on you. I apologize for that, I’m strictly at fault. The other night was just… a lot. I didn’t expect him to sic his dragon on me like that.” Jedenath snarled, not liking that Raksha had chosen to divulge so much information to the young man. It wasn’t his place to know. It was none of his business, whatsoever.

[Sakoru]

After Jedenath snapped at her, Tigreath tuned him out, disgruntled. Tigreath being, well, Tigreath, she didn't seem to understand the concept of others being upset with her for something that happened Turns ago. In fact, she wasn't even sure what Jedenath was accusing her of. He was just being a huge grump, just the same as he'd always been. The cyan settled into her perch on top of the Rim, curling her tail around her hinds and staunchly ignoring the cranky viridian. Well, wherrypoop on him too.

Already on his way out of the scene, Xiro'el quietly ignored Raksha's parting comment. He couldn't blame her for being bitter, really he couldn't, but that didn't mean that he wanted to stick around any longer to endure it. The cyanrider felt, at least right at this moment, that he'd had quite enough of feeling guilty in the past three Turns. There was no need to start it all up again the instant he got back, and so he was going to get himself out of here.

At least, that was what he thought. At the sound of his name, the cyanrider stopped and turned halfway around, eyeing Raksha with a cautious expression. "Yes?" His tone was guarded now, uncertain whether she planned to lay into him or not. As it happened, the latter was the case, and the ex-trader's brows knitted together as she spoke. Annoyed already, Xiro ran a hand through his dark hair, considering for a moment before he turned fully round.

"What, so that's what this is all about?" Several quick steps brought him back to Raksha, and the cyanrider's green eyes flickered with disapproval. "Sic his dragon on you? Do you mean he had Unath attack you?" While Xiro'el would have liked to believe that this was extremely unlikely, given that he had never known Unath to be inclined to deliberately hurt anyone at all, he could certainly see Q'sis threatening someone that way. "Well, then. What did he do? It seems he's once again harassing other people because of me, so what was his problem this time?"

[Zane]

At least the cyan had retreated. That was enough to placate the viridian. He was being harsh, yes, but he felt the need to be. If he wasn’t, then he’d be taken advantage of. The real issue was that the cyan didn’t seem to know a thing about responsibility. That was the fault of her rider, no doubt, whom had the intelligence of a flighty green. Sighing, as successfully as a dragon could sigh, Jedenath lay down on the stone where he stood. He was exhausted from dealing with half-wits these past couple of days. He still felt that Unath was lucky the earlier incident hadn’t been by any real fault of hers. Otherwise, he wasn’t sure what would’ve taken place.

Raksha could feel his irritation as Xiro responded next. He had every right to be guarded, seeing as she’d responded to him, at first, in a hostile manner. It wasn’t her right to judge, and she’d always liked that about herself… Liked that she didn’t bother to judge a person, that is. She wasn’t going to let Q’sis turn her into something she was assuredly not.

At first, the brunette felt as if he were perhaps hinting at her not telling the truth. Her own eyes blazed with the heat of the topic, her expression somber. ”If it weren’t for one of the Weyr’s reds…” and she trailed off, not wanting to really finish that sentence. She decided to assume that his questions had been rhetorical. She wouldn’t have said what she’d said if she hadn’t meant it-if it hadn’t been true.

Raksha rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. Just the mere thought of Q’sis riled her so. ”It wasn’t Unath’s fault, of course. Q’sis made her do it. As for what he did, it’s more what he said. As usual, seeing as his brains are very little, he decided that, somehow, I’ve conspired with you. Traitor, he called me.” At that she tapped a foot on the ground and shook her head, eyeing Jedenath. ”He’d sure know, wouldn’t he?” Sighing, her emotions were quickly settled by the knowledge that it was all over… for now.

”Either way, that’s not what this is about, Xiro. I just wanted to apologize for being silly, is all.” Reaching out, she punched his shoulder in a playful-manner. A smile overtook her features. Putting her own feelings aside, since she really did feel bad for blaming him, the girl asked: ”Sure you want to be back in such a crazy place as this?” Her tone was strictly teasing.

[Sakoru]

Raksha didn't finish her sentence, and so Xiro could only assume that she didn't want to continue the thought. He would think about that more, later, in order to figure out exactly what she'd meant, unless of course she chose to divulge on her own.

As it happened, he didn't need to think much about it. Clearly Unath had attacked Raksha, if under Q'sis' direction, and Xiro's eyes narrowed. Hearing the viridianrider's narrative, Xiro'el could find it nowhere within himself to be surprised. Somehow this seemed like exactly the kind of situation he would arrive home to. Of course he'd land bang in the middle of the tanrider's commotion. Memories flitted to mind of previous times when the cyanrider had incurred Q'sis' wrath, or some facet thereof. It did not please him to hear of that wrath being turned, very wrongfully, on Raksha.

"Traitor? I'm ashamed of him. That's my pet name!" A growing smirk twisted up one corner of the cyanrider's mouth, and he ran a hand through his hair. Clearly there was something of a meeting required here between him and the tanrider. Under his laughter, however, the cyanrider's heart thudded uncomfortably against his ribcage. That was one face he did not want to see again so soon.

Unease safely hidden behind mirth, Xiro flashed a wicked grin at Raksha and shook his head at her apology. "No, no, don't worry about it, my dear." He struck her shoulder in return -- not very hard, of course, but the blow was accompanied by a sweeping bow, the kind she had seen from him so often. When he straightened again, the cyanrider's expression was roguish, undented by her playful teasing although on the inside he cringed. No, he wished he could say, I don't want to be back at all, but I have things to do here.

Instead, however, he opted for the cheery answer he would rather give. "Sure. You know crazy suits me just fine," he remarked with a bright laugh. "How about you? Have you been here at Dalibor this whole time?"