We Could Have Stopped It? {Open}

[Boo]

{desc=RAYNA TANTRUM}

How could this have happened? Fists clenched, the woman stalked through the Weyrbowl walking circles in the dead of night. Her dragon was asleep mercifully but she was wide-awake as she had been since their whole lives had changed. A scowl set on her features as she walked thoroughly unseeing where exactly it was that she was walking. The woman could not help but wonder what would have happened had she contested the leadership. Perhaps she’d had a right to do so, perhaps she would have been able to stop this. Certainly, she would sooner murder Lord D’lios than take him to her bed so intense was her hatred of the man.

Rayna was convinced of one thing though. D’lios was behind their most recent misfortune. He had always been ambitious but to kill dragons was taking it too far. A fist slammed into the palm of her other hand as she turned once more to walk around the bowl. She had been deliberately keeping to the record room, fiercely writing and on occasion even managing to tear a hole through some of the hides a feat she’d not thought possible. Callistath had laid her clutch and she didn’t even have that to throw in the brown dragon’s face for he had fathered a large one indeed.

Folding her arms, she kicked at the dirt in the bowl scowl still cemented on her features. She could only hope that dressed as she was in linen clothes, without her ranking on her shoulder, people wouldn’t recognise her. All she saw were the watchwhers though and for some reason, she didn’t feel as though she was on show when they were around. Kalesk had clutched too… Rayna would not miss this hatching for the world. Oh, she wasn’t sure that she would necessarily enjoy the hatching simply because of that man but rather because Avalle would need her help. If she could offer it.

Rayna felt bitter, annoyed that she hadn’t seized an opportunity… Would this have happened if she had been leading? Thoughts drifted to Fajra… She wouldn’t have been able to contest the leadership at that time. Although in retrospect she could consider her own ambitions ultimately it was wrong. The Weyr had been suffering and to have two Junior Weyrwoman fighting would have thrown it into further turmoil. This did not relax her stance as her shoulders knotted, the woman quite tense.

Her pacing had ceased as she now stood, staring skyward arms still folded. She could hear movements of a handler somewhere behind her but ignored it. The bowl had been mostly deserted but she trusted the handlers. Audren had always done a good job with them… If they spoke of this it would be but a mere rumour amongst the Weyrfolk, utterly unverified.

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[Maggie]

Talin was used to the quiet grumbling in the back of her head. Task rarely ever spoke at all, even in her head, preferring to bombard her with feelings and images most of the time. He was usually a low, angry rumble in the back of her head giving a voice to all the violent feelings she usually tried to suppress. He was particularly angry when on patrol, trying to find any excuse to kill or maim something, which is why she was surprised by a moment of quiet surprise. A flash of images of a gold dragon and insignia flashed through her mind before the image solidified. She nodded.

"Enjoying the night air, Weyrwoman?" she asked politely. The Weyrwoman was angry, something Task was particularly pleased about for some reason. She wasn't too certain of the woman's name, although she did remember that she wasn't the rider of the gold on the sands who had been caught by the sleezy Lord Holder. How the man had ever gotten close enough to be chosen by a dragon was beyond her, but she was certain that the brown had been wrong in his choice. Dragons did not always have the smartest choice of partners, she had found.

Couineth's Task supplied. Talin wracked her memory for the rider's name. Gennesk's say Rayna. The blue seemed to have reached the end of his conversational limit. He crouched in the shadows, glaring at any who chose to come close to the entrance of the store room he was guarding. They weren't on regular patrol rotation yet, but Task refused to not have something to guard.

[Boo]

Although the voice seemed to come from nowhere in the dead silence of the night, it did not startle or surprise Rayna. The Weyrwoman turned instead and looked at the handler, spotting a blue wher. Her arms dropped to her sides, fists clenched slightly still but not as tightly. Although it was night and she felt calm she did need to control herself. It would not do to let all her thoughts be known. It was a struggle and one Rayna was afraid to say she was losing. Her frustration, hatred and annoyance for Lord D’lios was clouding her other judgements and she was fully convinced that the man was responsible for their most recent misfortune. This thought was difficult to squash.

So she merely nodded her head and chewed on her lip for a moment. She didn’t recognise the handler and in the darkness it was difficult to make out details anyway but she thought the woman was older. What was more, she did not recognise the voice, a problem she sought to rectify in that moment.
“I suppose so. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

The edge to her tone was unmistakable and perhaps she realised it for she relaxed her stance as much as she could and then spoke in a calmer tone.
“You’re on patrol?”
The relationship between a rider and a handler was something she thought crucial to the effective running of the Weyr. If the handlers couldn’t trust or didn’t like the riders then their problems would only be multiplied tenfold. What was more, she respected the choice handlers made to be forever tied to the darkness of night. She enjoyed the sun too much herself to make that kind of a sacrifice.

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[Maggie]

"I don't believe we have," Talin agreed, "but you do know my son. Bluerider G'lin of Anablymith." There was definite pride in her tone at her son's brand new title. "My name is Talin and lurking in the shadows over there is my own blue, Task." Unlike her former Weyrmate, she had no problem with riders as a whole, only certain individuals like the Lord Holder with delusions of grandeur.

She shook her head at the question. "Not officially, yet, no. We have not been assigned a formal patrol, yet, but Task refuses to be useless. We transferred here to be guards. Task knows how worried I've been about the poisonings that happened last Turn. My son was only a little Weyrling, I was very concerned." She gave Rayna a self depracating smile and shrug. "He is not the chattiest, but we're good at our job. He decided that he was guarding the entrance to the store room today and I saw no reason to dissuade him from it, it's too late at night for him to be terrifying innocent dragon candidates who have chores and wher handlers need to learn to not be afraid of a wher with a job."

[Boo]

”G’lin,” it took her a moment with her state of mind to remember and then she smiled, “Yes of course, he was one of the candidates who turned a corridor into a river.”
One of the candidates who’d been tasked to wash Couineth, the complaining gold dragon hadn’t been keen on that but it amused the Weyrwoman to no end. Of that group, most had Impressed save Letorin. In some ways it was sad that he was separated from some of his friends, with the rest of them Impressing in different hatchings but then it was also beneficial, he would have no short supply of friends to help him when he Impressed.

“Tiny Anablymith, of course.”
In her mind, this was how she characterised the dragons from that clutch. It certainly made it easier to remember which dragons were named what. Rayna turned her head to look into the darkness where she could see the dim outline of a blue wher. As Talin continued to speak, Rayna nodded her head, some of her former frustration returning to her.

“It’s good to have people so dedicated. Yes.”
The poisonings. She’d wanted to do something, anything. If she could just leave the Weyr on her own, she was certain she could find the culprits. Rayna folded her arms and looked away for a moment, thinking in silence.
“What would you do if you’d had the chance to stop something?”

How would this handler deal with the fact that she could, even now, prevent something worse occurring? Was it possible to even do anything at all now?

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[Maggie]

"I wear he gets all his trouble-making from Genner," she told the Weyrwoman with a grin. "That and his weird bonding vibes..." She shook her head in amusement. "Genner jokes that G'lin couldn't really choose between the whers he grew up with and dragons, so he got a nearly wher-sized dragon."

Task did seem to notice Rayna spotting him. Talin could feel the slow cogs whirring in her wher's brain. He was uncertain whether he wanted to sink deeper into the shadows or respectfully acknowledge the weyrwoman. She was bonded to a gold dragon and even though those were bossy and annoying, they were also in charge and Task respected that even if he didn't like it. His debating was cut short by an imperious wave from his handler. "Task, come and say hello," she ordered. He growled. He didn't at all like being forced to socialise. He took a reluctant step backwards to hide.

Then the woman spoke again and he could feel Talin's interest rise. He roused himself, stomping the few steps out of the shadows to growl loudly at her. He was standing at full atention, the stubby remains of his mangled wings sticking straight out in challenge. Task protect! He growled into her mind, his eyes whirling an eager green.

Talin patted his back in agreement. "Anything," she said seriously. "They put my only child in danger. They put my best friend in danger. They went against everything Task and I stand for. We will do anything to protect the dragons and whers on our territory." The blue growled in agreement. "We are at your disposal, Weyrwoman."

[Boo]

The way in which Talin spoke of her son brought a smile to Rayna’s face albeit an odd one. G’lin had been a part of the Sparkstarter’s class, Rayna recalled, those five few entrusted to the care of K’var. They were to join the Wings shortly, a development she rather looked forward to. It would be interesting to see how those dragons flew considering their odd genetic developments.

A little moment later the blue wher moved into the light and he was able to see him a little better. She’d noticed the shadowy presence of course but not been able to see the wher fully. He growled at her and Rayna calmed herself so as to not become alarmed. If she were to wake Couineth there would be no end to her whining. Oh and she would react very poorly indeed to a wher growling at her rider even if it was directed at someone else.

As the handler answered, Rayna turned her attention back to her, listening carefully to her words. So if she had the chance to change something, she should have done it. Should she have then challenged Avalle’s leadership claim? Would that have been in the interests of the Weyr or would it have merely put them at odds with one another that the whole Weyr might never be united.

“Of course,” she nodded thoughtfully, there were many who would sacrifice themselves for the Weyr. Many who had… “I do not doubt your integrity. It is difficult though when the path you could take could also be so wrong.”
How she wanted to go out and find the murderers herself. What she wouldn’t give to be able to leave the Weyr and enact her vengeance. Although she’d always been ambitious, she’d never realised just how restricted she would have been with her impression to Couineth.

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[Maggie]

Task was pleased. Task was very, very, very pleased. This was a nice, understanding Queen. One who knew how things should be done. She understood how important it was to guard, to do something. He butted her hand with his nose, one of his rare gestures of submissive affection.

"But what if it's right?" Talin asked mildly. "What if inaction is the worst thing to do and we are only letting them have more time to plan and regroup." She shook her head. "There are ways... There's always a way. I would not have transfered here at 50 Turns old leaving a good job that I love for the kind of place that makes my wher most miserable if I did not think that action needed to be taken. And I think that you feel that as well, Weyrwoman, if I may be so bold."

She shook her head. "Task and I have not been here long, we haven't had the time to prove ourselves to Audren. She does not doubt us, but she has handler's here that she's far more used to working with. It's been hard not being able to do much," she admitted.

[Boo]

Perhaps that was worse. If inaction caused more deaths and pain than the alternative she was just as culpable as the ones who poisoned the herdbeasts. Atenna had said the beasts had been force-fed. The actions had been wholly intentional but Dalibor had so many enemies. Fort, Renegades, Holdless even Western was doubted in her mind.

“That is admirable. I hope that one day I might be a lot like you.”
Though she was younger, she felt older, closer in age to the woman before her than some of the riders in her own class. Those people who had raised their dragons with her and transferred away, even those that remained. Samael she still saw every now and again… The tanrider had recently started a family with one of Rayna’s least favourite people… Then again, Thread had forced many of them to grow up swiftly in the past 6 turns.

Rayna waved the comment aside, taking it on board but not taking offence to her suggestion. It worried her some that it was so easy to tell but then, she wasn’t nearly as guarded as she should have been in this moment.
“Even if we lead the Weyr we do not have nearly as much experience as some. It would be foolish of me to say otherwise.”

“You have given me much to think about… I will see you around but I have to leave now before I have a very grumpy dragon insisting I sleep.”
With that, she bade farewell, resolve hardened and mind set. No more empty promises.

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