The Emptiness Before the Storm (Kila)

[kaya]

Restless footsteps resounded against the walls. The hall was empty, save for a lone weyrling and her little dragonet, but even by that token, the hall was empty. Teruth was eerily quiet and it was bothering Ryka. There had been death on a day of birth. Nontraditional death, disturbing in that the walls of predictability had been torn down. Now it was "anything goes", there was no history to keep dragons tearing into other dragons, no upheld tradition to keep the peace. Yet it was a strange place for Ryka, for she had always found change in her life, and it was usually drastic and extreme, for better or worse. Teruth had been the better, and this war had been the worse.

Overall, they knew relatively little. The Weyrleaders' child had been kidnapped by a rebel group, and upon the clash of those two groups the age old law, that dragons never fought dragons, was broken. Ryka stopped, slumped against the wall and sighed. Ridan wouldn't be awake for several more hours and she hadn't seen him since the Hatching day. Things had been chaos. Ryka bunched herself up and buried her head against her knees.

Mine... Teruth said softly, concerned.

I told you, I prefer Ryka, the weyrling corrected, taking up a meaningless subject to cover up the pressing one.

Yes, Ryka. ...but I worry for you. We are both here, quiet. Talk to me. the Orange insisted. Her eyes were alternating between whirling fast and slow, abruptly, as the dragonet was nothing but confused.

I'd rather not. Ryka hated...what did she hate? Everything. Everything and everyone who made life worse. Radical change had been her entire existence, hadn't it? Could anyone really thrive in stability? I just don't know what this means for us. That's what bothers me, Teruth. The mental link between them felt natural to Ryka. She had always been a person of thoughts, and the ability to merely think something to another, instead of bothering her ears with sound waves was appealing. Talking to Teruth...sounded different. The only thing she wasn't adjusted to was Teruth's name. She had already been used to talking to herself, and now herself had a second name.

If you would just talk to someone, try and know more about what was going on-- that would help you plan better, wouldn't it? Teruth asked, stretching out her head on the floor. She watched Ryka with the one eye that had her Rider in its view. Her Ryka, her strong, confidant Ryka...she could do anything. They just had to work harder, be stronger.

You're far too optimistic, Teruth.

The Orange chuckled before responding, in the manner that was becoming routine, No, Ryka. It is you who are too pessimistic.

[Kila]

Mine? Nothing. Nadya was still asleep. Nadysk raised his great Brown head from where he lay curled on the end of his bonded’s bed. It was approaching evening, but it was not late enough for her to be agreeably woken. He had already interrupted a particularly steamy romp between her and a Healer she had found roaming around in the tunnels, and while she had let it go easily enough, he didn’t want to make her grumpy by pressing his luck.

But he heard someone.

Getting to his feet carefully, he leapt off of Nadya’s bed, looking back with whirring eye full of concern to see if he had disturbed her. The Handler woman yawned slovenly and rolled over in her furs. Good- she was fine. Pushing the door open with his nose, he padded out and down the tunnels, listening to the miniscule noises that he had detected earlier. He was not disappointed. Picking up the sound of footsteps he moved carefully towards them. He didn’t think that whoever they belonged to posed a threat, but he felt compelled to check it out. With all the tension and funny business that had been going on lately, anything could happen.

Peeking around a corner, Nadysk was taken aback by what he found. People who wandered in the Lower Caverns were usually drunk, lost, or looking for trouble, but this was a young dragonett and Hers! What were they doing here? And why was the Weyrling girl so sad? Trying not to appear as threatening as his size made him, Nadysk rounded the corner and approached them. He sent reassuring feelings to Teruth and went straight up to Ryka, placing his big face near hers and snorting air on her gently. He nudged her arms so she would remove her face from them. His large, ugly-to-the-point-of-being-just-adorable face greeted her. Letting his tongue loll out he wagged his stubby tail, knowing he looked silly and hoping it might cheer the girl up. It was worth a try.

[kaya]

It isn't just the fighting, is it? Teruth asked. She was sure there was something else bothering Ryka. And little did Teruth know it, but when Ryka started worrying about one thing, she quickly began worrying about everything.

I don't want to talk. I just want company. Ryka pouted and released all the tension in her shoulders, letting them sink to her sides.

Aren't I company? Teruth continued, still rather confused. She had known Ryka would be complex, and she loved that about her Rider, but considering they had only shared minds and souls for a matter of days Teruth figured everything hadn't had time to settle down and sync up.

You are company, and yet you are also me. Teruth, don't you see how we are really just different reflections of the same person? or dragon? Ryka asked.

You are still more pessimistic, Teruth teased, but she was starting to see Ryka's point. Talking to me is not...dynamic company. You do not know what I will say, but you have an idea, better than just an idea, as you are me, and I am you.

Ryka sighed and closed her eyes again. She felt a relayed warmth from Teruth, but it also carried a tone of warning to be calm. As if 'nothing were the matter'. And Ryka appreciated that. She had always liked silence and feelings better than words. Just as she finished that thought Ryka felt a surge of warm air rush around her head. Teruth hadn't moved, Ryka knew that. Looking up slowly, Ryka was greeted by a rather goofy looking Brown wher. A half smile cracked onto her face and Ryka reached up habitually to give the wher a good hard scratch behind the eye.

"Hello there, handsome Brown," she said softly, blinking her eyes a few times to focus. "What brings you here?" Ryka asked, rubbing the hide behind his eye ridge. She hadn't seen whers on their own in the Lower Caverns. Did Handlers usually let their partners wander around on their own? Some whers had nasty territorial habits too... Not this wher, apparently. He was personable, like Karsk. The Brown wher from her past, which was one of the other haunting details that had been bothering Ryka. She missed Karu and Karsk, and yet she had no desire to make new friends. New friends only caused problems in the end. Shouldn't she be happy with Teruth? But unfortunately, Teruth was an Orange, and that meant people would certainly not be content to ignore her and leave Ryka be. "Sub-Queen", who had ever thought of such a thing?