Wash Away {Reky}

[purnip]

Staying indoors was no fun at all anymore. Rhysia felt the burden of cabin fever sink in after being ordered to stay at the Barracks. Raeterith was great company, but even the Green was starting to itch. It became apparent however that the young dragon required an oiling. Rhysia had brought some oil with her to the lake for the very purpose of doing so.

"Do you suppose the kid's alright?" Rhysia sounded genuinely concerned as she rubbed some oil on to Raeterith's hide. She had just given the dragon a bit of a rinse beforehand and was soaked from waist to toe. Rhysia didn't mind the water at all however. It was just water after all.

I do not know. If the child was harmed, I am sure we would have heard about it. The Green's voice was always soothing to hear, like the softest blanket across the mind. She was a welcomed relief. The girl stopped worrying so much and gazed up at the sky as she kept massaging on the oil.

"Well, I hope he's okay. I hate to think that someone the weyr trusted would do something this terrible, but it goes to show you that you can't trust everyone," she said with a sigh. She didn't want to believe it. Some of the people she met here so far were rather nice. Rhysia should have known better than to trust them so easily, but Paralee was very different. She didn't show a hint of bad intention. Of course, that's what'd hurt the most. If a great friend like that betrayed you. She thought of the object she had in her pocket that she was saving. It was something she made with the egg shards she took off the sands as well as the one Raeterith brought her. Rhysia had wondered about why she made it in the first place and who'd she end up giving it to.

You can trust me, Raeterith said rather firmly. As for the Bluerider you think so much about, she seems like a good person. I sense nothing of her past to indicate otherwise.

Rhysia's hands fell away from the Green as she thought. "But couldn't other dragons tell the same thing? Were they fooled by the traitors too?"

The Green looked to Rhysia in concern. We do not know the details of the situation that has transpired. We cannot cast assumptions on events we know little of. But worry not. No matter who might try to hurt you, I will not allow them to come near."

The girl smiled, returning to her task. She loved how dedicated Raeterith was to her, but sometimes she hoped that the Green wouldn't get hurt with her passionate creed to protect Rhysia from harm. Anyone else she could stand losing; she had just lost her mother before coming here and she managed to move on. If anything happened to Raeterith however...

[Reky]

Cleo hadn't been expecting such... excitement, when she moved to Dalibor. This was a bit of a shock to her, to say the least. The weyrleaders' child? Stolen? My! It was quite the move for some group of renegades to make. If she ever had children... Oh, it would be so awful if they went missing. The closest thing she had to a child was Andry. She couldn't imagine losing him. Cradled in her arms, the tubby brown firelizard was snoozing. If anything happened to him, she didn't know what she'd do. So, at least a little, she could relate to the weyrleaders' pain. She hoped it would all calm down soon. She had faith it would all turn out right. Her best wishes were right there with everyone of the weyr.

With the feast called off, she was a little disappointed. She loved a good party. However, she figured she wouldn't stay cooped up inside. She'd go to the lake, she decided. Yes. The lake would no doubt be a pretty thing. She could even find a few perfect stones, and skip them... Hopefully she wasn't too out of practice with skipping stones. Ah well, now that there was a lake very close by, she'd get top-notch at it again in no time.

Andry wasn't too happy when she moved him to a large flat rock. He had been sleeping nicely... Now he was awake. It didn't take him long to fall back asleep, though. Bending down, she went about searching through the stones on the shore, picking out the round and flattish ones. She shoved them all in the pockets of her coat. Feeling satisfyingly weighed down by them, she stepped out of her shoes and rolled up her trousers and then waded out into the water. She took one of the stones, felt it in her fingers, and warmed up to the stone-skipping position, and then let it fly.

It sunk into the lake with a rather plunky sound.

"Ugh," she sighed, straightening. She looked at the girl and the little green dragon not far from her. "That was awful, wasn't it? It was."

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[purnip]

"Hm?"

Rhysia had not seen or heard a thing other than her own thoughts circulating through her head, so she had not quite understood what was so awful.

Raeterith then informed her of the stone.

"Oh!" Rhysia straightened out and rubbed her oily hands off on her pants without much regard as to what sort of mess they left behind. She simply didn't like to leave that stuff on her mitts because it felt strange to have a layer of foreign substance just sitting on them. Once they were not as thickly coated, she gave a half-smile to the other girl who had spoken to her. There was only one sort of pasttime Rhysia could think of that involved stones and water. "I'm pretty bad at that myself. I can't even get one to skip once."

The Green didn't understand the premise of such an activity. What entertainment is provided by skipping a stone on the water's edge? Raeterith couldn't do it, surely. She didn't have the wrist for it. All four of her feet were firmly planted on the ground and that's where they ought to stay, or at least until she learned to fly. Her smallish wings would not be developed for flight until a little later than most Greens. A sad thought, really. She knew that Rhysia wanted to explore more and she wanted to help Hers achieve that. It was something else they could do together, and as she had said on the day of her hatching, she did not want to be far from Hers at all. Ever.

Rhysia glanced around her feet and found a stone, though it wasn't the more favorable flat and smooth type. She still picked it up, tossed it in the air and caught it a couple of times as if to test its weight, and then she flung it towards the water. It shot through the surface of the water with a similar plunk as Cleo's had. "Nope, no dice." Rhysia's half-smile became a full one. "But there's plenty more where that came from."

I believe I have been fully oiled, Raeterith declared, stretching herself out a bit. The itch is gone. Do tell me, MineRhysia, why do humans throw stones into the water?

"We try to skip them," Rhysia answered, looking to the Green. She picked up a few more stones that had been about them and then went to the water, only going in about knee-level water. She watched Cleo's stance to see if maybe she knew how to better get this done. "Have you skipped one before?"

[Reky]

"It's pretty tricky," Cleo nodded. She watched Rhysia find herself a stone and try skipping it herself, and gave her a consolation smile as it just sunk like hers had. Yes, it was definitely tricky. You had to flick your wrist just right, and the stone had to go through the air straight, without wobbling. The closer you were to the water's level when you threw it, the better. "Lots of time for practicing." Cleo giggled.

She saw Rhysia look to the green and speak. It was a little strange, not hearing the whole conversation! It must be lovely to have a dragon. Cleo herself probably would have never done well with one. It's not that she was a bad person, she just had doubts about. Plus, she was a healer. That's what she was always meant to be. A healer, not a dragonrider. She was immensely happy for the girl, though. Congratulations to her, for Impressing! And the little green was so cute, too.

"Yeah, I have," Cleo nodded. "Haven't done it in a while... I'm a little out-of-practice," she chuckled. "I used to do it lots, with all my sisters! Perdy, Elledi, Dee, Crelley, Ondi... Oh, and Deneo, but he usually just watched. Elledi was always the best at it." She grinned at Rhysia. "She's a dragonrider at Benden Weyr now! I met her dragon, once. Pink Theoth. She was so pretty! Your dragon's very pretty, too." Yeah, she was talkative. She couldn't help it. Still smiling wide, she bent her knees, loosened her wrist, held another stone in her fingers, and she whipped it out. This time, it managed a single messy skip before sinking.

"Whoo!" she beamed. "Making progress!"

[purnip]

Rhysia picked up out another stone from the crook of her arm and tried to skip it, but once again it went under just as promptly as the last one had. She frowned, just a bit, but it disappeared rather quickly; no need to get upset over a stone. Raeterith agreed with that logic. She remained out of the water, freshly oiled, and watched Hers partake in such a strange game with this pleasant stranger. The Green approved of Cleo. Honestly, she thought the Paralee girl was awfully energetic. She wondered how Rhysia was able to keep up.

"I tried to do it a long time ago, with my mom," she said, her gaze distant. She always lost her focus when she thought of her mother. She was the only person, for a long time, that understood her even remotely. There was L'am too, but she didn't like him very much. He used what he knew about people to his advantage. He never simply wants to make a friend. "She couldn't teach me how to do it, but she could skip it two times, sometimes three."

Rhysia tossed another stone, and this one sank just as well. She tried to change her wrist movement accordingly, but she wasn't getting it right away. It was then she heard the compliment. Looking up at Cleo she grinned broadly and gave a small nod of her head. "Thanks!" She turned to the Green on the shore and then looked to Cleo again. "Her name's Raeterith. She's everything to me and she knows it. I think just about every dragon is beautiful, but Rae's special to me." She gave a small shrug before she chucked another stone. "But that's the way it goes for any dragonrider." The stone met the same fate as the others, plummeting without so much as a skip.

She stopped throwing the stones for a moment and stood rather tall, her eyes fixed on the surface of the water. "Are you a dragonrider too?" Rhysia glanced over at Cleo curiously. She didn't see her at the Sands, but that didn't mean she couldn't be. She might have impressed earlier.

[Reky]

She watched Rhysia's stones go. Each one, not quite right enough to skip, but that was alright. It took practice, for sure! Cleo had years of it behind her. She just had to warm up to those skills again. Focusing, she threw another, but that one sunk. Huh. Maybe the skipping one was just a lucky throw. She shrugged; oh well! She'd get there eventually.

Her smile seemed perpetual, permanent, and very natural. She was smiling at everything Rhysia said. About her mother, about the skipping stones, about the lovely little green dragon over there. Raeterith, hey? That was a very nice name. She had to admit, she hadn't heard too many dragon names before, but some of the ones she had learned were a little clunky. Dugbrith... wasn't that one of them? It was a brown, she was sure, she'd met in Igen. Yes, a little too clunky for her taste. Raeterith sounded very nice, though.

"Raeterith," she giggled, looking back at the green. "Pleasure to meet you!" She gave a little curtsy, almost falling over, but she found her balance again. "Whoops!" She plucked another stone from her pocket, and put forth another unsuccessful throw.

"Me? A dragonrider?" Cleo shook her head. "Nope, not me. I'm a journeywoman healer, though." She seemed to glow with pride at that, giving a nod to enforce it. "I love it."

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[purnip]

This woman was alright, Rhysia thought to herself, but she still felt the need to be careful. She was actually feeling a little better since the feast, but a gloom settled over her that she couldn't completely whisk away. Now she felt like she was up to doing something again. This wasn't the time though. If she started showing Raeterith around and the kidnapper came back, she could end up causing more trouble than anything else. This would have to do for now, and besides, with Cleo here there was more of a strength in numbers thing going on. Not that...two people and a baby dragon could do much to stop a kidnapper who was able to steal the Weyrwoman's son. What would Rhysia do if he, she, or they came here for second helpings?

They would not dare. With Kalith on high alert, no one would risk getting caught by her or her children. We are safe, Raeterith reminded her bonded soothingly.

Rhysia smiled to herself. Yes, that was true. Nonetheless, she didn't want to give everyone more to worry about. She would start showing the Green around once everything has settled down. Then, they may even explore some place new. Then later classes will start and Raeterith will learn how to fly, and then they can go to places beyond the sea. The thought of returning to the mainland for a visit was embracing. Perhaps the two could go to the Southern Continent as well. That would be magical. She may even be able to show some of the people there the things she built with the stuff she found around here. She had to show some of that stuff to her friends here too.

She snapped back to attention when Cleo nearly fell over. "Are you alright?" she asked with concern. She looked fine. Raeterith bowed her head in greeting to the Healer, but like most dragons, she did not talk to other humans all that often. She still respected them, in her own dragonic way, but she didn't have much to say to Cleo yet.

"You're a Healer, huh?" Rhysia was holding a smooth stone in one of her hands, fondling it as she thought of how best to throw it. She smiled at the last comment. "I'm glad you do. I couldn't bear it. If I see someone hurt I start to get dizzy. If everyone reacted like that then we wouldn't nearly live all that long, would we?" She tossed the stone and this time it gave one sloppy skip before plummeting under the surface. "Ha! I did it!"

[Reky]

"Yep, I'm fine," Cleo smiled. She'd caught herself before she hit the ground, at least. Or, in this case, hit the water... Then she might hurt a bit, and be wet, but that was avoided. Quickly, she glanced back at the sleeping Andry on the shore. It wasn't that she expected him to up and leave, but it gave her comfort to know he was still snoozing there. He hadn't randomly disappeared, so, that was good. He was so lazy. Once upon a time, she'd tried to get him to exercise and do more than laze around (of his own accord), but that just turned out to be a big, failed attempt. She at least got him to do little tasks for her.

"It's a bit of an acquired taste," she admitted, chuckling once. "Some of the other apprentices... Shells, you could tell they weren't ever going to be very good at it! I wondered why they'd even started in the first place. Probably parents forcing them to, because Faranth... With stomachs like that it'd never have been their own choice." She clapped, grinning, at Rhysia's successful - if sloppy - skip. "There you go! But anyways, yeah, at least there are a bunch of us who can deal with it."

Good thing, that. She didn't like to think negatively, but she didn't like feeling useless. Especially in a situation like this, with the weyrleaders' child gone and renegades on the loose. She couldn't do anything! That is, not until someone got hurt. Then her job kicked in and she helped them get right as rain again. She hoped it'd end without people getting hurt, though. That would be far easier and far nicer. She couldn't really make any educated guesses, though. She didn't know what exactly the renegades were up to. She didn't know how they acted. She could definitely hope, though. Yes, she could hope.

Then, something hit her, which she hadn't done and probably should. Hands in her pockets with all the stones, she looked over at Rhysia and smiled wide, "I'm Cleo, by the way. The lazy thing over there is Andry." She jerked her head back in the brown flit's direction.

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[purnip]

The bed of earth underneath the lake's waters was slippery at best; Rhysia could understand why Cleo might have lost her footing. She felt herself sinking into the mud a little, so she started to wiggled her feet out of the ditches they buried themselves in. She didn't like the feeling of the gunky muck at the bottom of the lake, but it was better than going in there with shoes on. The first time she came around here she gave it a go, but when she came out her shoes were covered in mud. The dirt, once it dried, got all over her room. Luckily at the time she wasn't sharing it with anyone.

Raeterith didn't like the mud either. When Rhysia was bathing her to get all that 'post-hatching goop' off of her, the Green complained of the stuff once or twice with distaste. She sympathized with her dragon, since she had to work around the small creature. Fortunately Greens weren't all that big; it took her little time to properly wash and oil Raeterith. The Green was now passively watching her rider while lying on the grass, glancing up once and a while at night sky. Rhysia couldn't grasp what was on the Green's mind, but she could tell it was deep. Raeterith offered to explain, but she declined. It was just a mild curiosity. She didn't want to interrupt her dragon's thoughts.

She smiled though, when Cleo clapped for her victory over the stones. She didn't think she'd be able to skip one tonight. Truly, she was a novice in every sense of the word. "It's a very important job," Rhysia agreed. "And I'm glad there are people who can do it." She decided to leave her luck where it was at and she dropped the rest of her stone into the water. She only have about four left anyways. "I'm sort of scared...of Threadfall." She admit it, since the thought had been bothering her since the start of the feast. "And being a dragonrider, I'm going to have to fight it. Raeterith and I will be risking our lives...all the time, until we die." The thought was ghastly, but it was true. Thread was coming, and all riders took to the skies when it fell. Threadfall lasted many turns, more than the average lifespan of a Pernese man. Rhysia would see no more Threadless days when the first clump would fall.

Do not fret, my dear Mine. Our color is swift and our color is Thread's worst enemy. We will incinerate every strand and protect our riders and ourselves. The Green's eyes flashed with pride. She knew, somehow, how efficient Greens used to be during Threadfall. She was convinced they were just as superior at destroying it, despite all the new mutations.

It was a relief to hear that from her dragon. Rhysia felt the need to add it. "Rae tells me that she will protect me though. I'm sure if we pull through we can still look back and laugh. Or at least chuckle."

When Cleo introduced herself, Rhysia gave small bow. "I'm Rhysia. I'm one of the newbie Weyrlings." She glanced over at the shore, where sure enough a brown flit was resting on a rock. "Ah, he's cute! Why doesn't he join us?"

[Reky]

For once, there weren't that many words in Cleo's mouth. She just nodded in understanding. Threadfall was a scary thought, though admittedly one she hardly had to think on. She wasn't a dragonrider, and with good reason. She'd be shaking in her boots in the face of Thread, too. She knew it did nasty things. Ate everything. Hurt. Scarred. No, it wasn't a pleasant thought, but Pern dealt with it. The dragons dealt with it. That was their job, that's why they were here in the first place. She smiled, though. Good thing there were people brave enough to to do that job, too, or else the healers wouldn't have much of a job to do because everyone would be dying!

"I'm sure she will," Cleo offered a wide grin. "That's her job, isn't it? And yours and her job is to protect everyone else, hey? That's pretty neat. Good thing there's people brave enough to do that." She gave a wink. She still kept her own stones in her pockets, fingers clutching them loosely. So... Rhysia was her name, hey? That was a pretty name. Rhysia and Raeterith. Yeah, that had a nice ring. Definitely not a bad thing to go through life being able to introduce yourself as that! Cleo was an alright name. She'd been told it was pretty, but it wasn't anything... y'know... elegant or grand. Just Cleo. (It suited her just fine, though.)

"Oh, he's fast asleep," she chuckled. "Lazy thing. Hardly does anything... But he's real nice. Getting old, too, aren't you Andry?" She said the last bit louder, looking over her shoulder at him. He didn't so much as twitch. Smiling lazily she looked back at Rhysia. "Twelve Turns, he is. So we're pretty attached."

[purnip]

It was a good thing, wasn't it? Without dragonriders...well, from what Rhysia understood of the Harper's songs, Thread would doom the people of Pern to an existence of hiding within cold stone walls waiting to die. It got her to wonder how it all began in the first place. Were dragons always around to protect Pern from Thread? Before dragons...was there a Red Star that caused the Thread to devour a defenseless Pern? It didn't make a lot of sense to her, how the system came to be, but she knew how it was now and that was all that mattered. She glanced back at Raeterith for just a moment, remembering how often her Green would make a reference to the past as an important catalyst to the present and future. She must know that sometimes one simply has to face the present on instinct alone, when the past offers little answers.

The past is but a mortal record of events that no longer are. We seek to remember it in order to learn from the mistakes of others, as well as to provide insight to the success of the present. It does not offer all the answers any better than another man or dragon can, for it is at the moment, locked in memories and writings of mortal men.

And women, Rhysia reminded. She wondered how a creature as young as Rae would be so wise. She wasn't even born yesterday! She was born earlier today! Perhaps it was just common sense to their kind. She wanted to ask Raeterith more, but she had company for now. She'd probe the extent of her dragon's knowledge later. Her focus returned to the Healer.

Twelve turns was a long time, especially for Rhysia who was naught but sixteen. That would be most of her life right there. "Twelve is old? For firelizards?" She worried on that. She didn't have any of her own, but Suede felt like a friend of hers, despite being Impressed to L'am. Rhysia had concerns for him as if she were his bonded as well. She was always attached to her friends in this way. They were precious to her. Then another thought came to mind. Was there an 'old' for Raeterith as well? "What about for dragons? Do they...die before their riders? I mean...naturally?" She was rather worried about all this. She didn't want Raeterith to die before her. She couldn't live without her!

Silly Mine. I told you I would never leave you. Ever. The Green said this with a flick of her tail, but her eyes only betrayed kindness and devotion. Raeterith loved Rhysia deeply from the moment they had met. And so grim! You know our lives are beginning again, despite--

Suddenly she became tense and her eyes flashed orange and yellow; these colors expressed an anxiety of great proportions. They are fighting! Man and dragon, dragon and man! Fighting to the death! This message couldn't wait, despite the ironic sort of timing it possessed. Raeterith sensed a tensity in the air thicker than smoke and she could hardly believe what sort of figures were emerging. It was something any dragon could sense, after all, it was the breaking of one of Pern's oldest traditions. Dragons were fighting one another like the men that rode them. It was tragic and alarming all at once.

Rhysia jumped at the sudden change of tone in Raeterith's voice, then looking at Cleo in horror. The message was difficult to process and harder to stomach. It can't be. Dragons don't fight dragons, her mind shouted. But her Green hadn't lied about anything before and she didn't think Rae would ever jest like this. She was genuinely ruffled. "There's fighting! Raeterith says that man and dragon are fighting one another!" She couldn't believe it. It was impossible. She had to take those words to heed. She didn't know what to do, but every impulse screamed to have her make for Raeterith and get inside as quick as possible. She also did not want to leave her new friend here. If the fight got out of hand...

"Cleo! We should get inside! Things are going to get very ugly if Raeterith's right!" In the dim glow of the night, Rhysia only looked pale from her fear. Truly, she was shaken to the core. She didn't think that kidnapping a child would lead to this. Did the kidnappers...hurt Osro?

[Reky]

"Oh, no, no, it's not that old," she admitted, smiling. No, she'd seen much older lizards. They lasted until their Mines died, didn't they? And dragons, too. Especially dragons. "He just acts so old. Old and lazy and unmotivated! I just like to tease him," she winked. And then she put a reassuring hand on Rhysia's shoulders, laughing, "Oh, no, dragon's don't! She'll live just as long as you do!" That's what she'd heard, at least. That's what records said! They lived until their rider died, they did, unless they were killed... Oh, that was an awful thought. Very awful.

Awful as well, though, was the look that Raeterith adopted. Her eyes, her posture, the aura she exuded. Cleo immediately tensed as well. Andry, even, lifted his head and let out a questioning and worried noise, his own little eyes whirling. Oh, no, something was wrong... Something was very wrong, wasn't it? Her sinking heart's hunch was answered when Rhysia relayed the little green's distressed message.

Fighting! Oh, shells! Shells, shells, and more shells... Oh, no. Oh, no, this was not good at all, not good, and it wouldn't end well anymore. Not when there was fighting. She felt sick to her stomach. Very sick. Very worried. She agreed wholeheartedly with Rhysia's suggestion. They had to get inside, yes. Oh, shells and shards and flame... Oh, no!

The healer nodded sharply. Wading fast as she could back to shore, the water's resistance only making her heart thump faster, she made for her worried firelizard. She picked Andry up, clutching him, and slid feet into shoes. Chewing at her lip, she looked up - up at the Weyr, at the sky, for signs of fighting. Oh, shells... And then she ran for it, hoping that Rhysia and Raeterith were behind her. She'd stayed, but admittedly, she was scared half to death and she was a coward. Bravery? In Cleo? Since when?

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[purnip]

Rhysia began to waddle on out after Cleo, coming to Raeterith's aid as the little Green's eyes swirled with hot colors of fear and caution. Once she was out, dripping with water and her shoes tracking mud on the grass, she embraced her dragon lightly. "Come on Rae, we can get through this. Let's get inside and pray for the best," she whispered. Her words soothed the Green to a certain degree, and Rhysia had noticed that for the first time since she had Impressed, this time it was she that comforted Raeterith, not the other way around. It made sense when she thought about it; dragons never fought other dragons, until now. It was a shock to all dragonkind everywhere. Even Rhysia was quite scared and appalled that the thought. Fighting and war were human acts. Dragons always seemed like they were above humans in that sense. Rhysia respected their wise and peaceful manners. Now it was all falling apart. She thought of The Bandit, and what she would do. Her dragon would have never participated in a war. The Bandit would have been convincing both sides to stop.

But Rhysia was a Weyrling and she had Raeterith to take care of. She couldn't put herself in danger because as of now, it would a very selfish gesture. If something happened to her, Raeterith wouldn't be able to go on. The same could be said for her human. That Green was now her life. If someone took it, it was just as well as killing her instead.

She loosened the embrace and also looked to the sky for traces of fighting, keeping her ears open, but it was drearily quiet for such a horrid event. Whatever was going on, it was swift, deadly, and ominous. Placing a hand on Raeterith's nose, as she had done after she Impressed her, she lead the dragon towards the Weyr. Cleo was already inside without her, but that didn't offend the her. She would probably be needed soon, to tend to injuries, but no one would have ever imagined that an event such as this would provide her with work. Rhysia would wish Cleo well.

Once they made it inside, Rhysia turned to face Raeterith with her best composure. She had to stay strong. Though until recent she felt little attachment to the Weyr, things were different now. This was her home. Whether or not she was a little thief, she had respect for this place and its people, each to a varying degree of course. Cleo was now one of the special ones. "Rae, can you keep in touch with Cleo? I want to make sure she stays safe too. She's going to try to aid those who are hurt in combat."

The Green, in all her uneasiness, agreed to do so. I will do as you wish. She will have a very important task ahead of her. Hopefully the list of the injured would not be long.

Rhysia had an opportunity to return to the Barracks, but it was likely that she would be stuck there if she returned. When she had left earlier, she managed to squeeze out before one of the Dragonriders took post there to protect the Weyrlings. But where else should she go? It was safe at the Weyrling Barracks. And where was Cleo? Did she run ahead to the battlefield, or away from it?

[Reky]

Cleo, Andry clutched tightly to her chest, had made a beeline for the infirmary. She set the frazzled brown down on her desk, and sank into the chair. With fighting happening... it was only a matter of time before the injured came in. The dragonhealers would be needed to see to the dragons. She would most likely be the person in charge of tending the humans. She cupped her hands around her nose and mouth. It's alright, Cleo, she told herself. It'll be alright. Everything will turn out fine. See, this is just happening for a reason, right? It'll be fine. Oh, shells...

Shells, you wherry brain! she ran her hands through her hair, worriedly. You just left Rhysia and Raeterith behind! They'll be fine, though... They don't need to worry about where you went, Cleo, they barely know you. They'll be fine.

Moving on his own for once, Andry scooted over to her, letting out a little consolation chirp. He reached his neck out and touched his snout to her nose, and she smiled.

Rubbing his back, she said, "That's right, Andry. That's the spirit! It'll all be fine! Yep!"

Andry chirped again, and gave something akin to a lazy nod, leaning into her petting.

( OOC: You can leave it off here, or have Rhysia come find her. Whatever floats your boat, Purnip-dear. : D )

[purnip]

OoC: We can leave it off here. :3 I just wanted to have Rhys do something for a bit. Honestly my school workload is getting significant.