09.11 The Games Begin

[ricci]

Words continued, her voice loud yet soundless.

/Can't follow, can't follow, can't follow/ and then a stop. A very sudden stop, half way through the "t" in can't, as if such a thing were possible. A sharp laugh cut through, /Follow, follow, follow. Couldn't follow, could you, stupid thing, stupid thing, stupid thing. Stupid things DIE when they try to follow, try to follow.../ the mirth died just as quickly as it had started, though, and soon the Gold had returned to her endless litany. /Can't follow, can't follow, can't follow. Can't follow. Can't follow. Can't follow, follow, can't./

[danaphantom]

Tarisk's words still echoed in his head. Save the world... yes. She was just saving the world. All would be saved by the actions of one silly little Wher, protecting her new family, her Weyr...

He was in denial. He was also frozen, unmoving. A fleshy statue placed in the Weyrwoman's weyr. He only moved once the Redrider's hand touched his shoulder, the Wherhandler's breath coming in short bursts, almost as if he, too, had been poisoned. Tarisk had just gone to save the world...

"A wher..." he muttered, nearly silent. "She smelled a wher... she didn't know him."

Tarisk was just going to save the world.

But that was all shattered as Grenth continued her tirade. Death... can't follow.

"She's just trying to save the world."

[. s p o r e ♪]

Mairin could only gape at her sister as life ebbed steadily from the Weyrwoman's body. There was no mark on her that the young goldrider could see, no puncture or slit on her throat. And yet she was dying, as surely as Rukbat dawned each morning. All was still around them as Mairin pushed away everything except for Maai's prone form lying in front of her. Her lips pressed together tightly, and her hands clutched at her sister's cooling limbs. As Maai opened her mouth to speak, her younger sister leaned forward so she could hear her whispered words.

"There..." the Weyrwoman gasped. Mairin stared, speechless, at Maai's slackening face. "Wher. Southern."

Her sister was dying in front of her, and there wasn't anything that Mairin could do. Each breath that passed through the woman's lips was fainter than the one before it. It was too much for her.

"Maai!" she said. "Hold on, Maai! Grenth needs you! Solace needs you! We'll make Southern pay for what they did to you. Don't you want to see that? Don't you want to take them down? Wake up, Maai. Wake up!"

Mairin clutched the Weyrwoman's hands in a grip that would have been painful if she had still been able to feel them and curled over her elder sister's still form. Her body trembled with grief, but she wouldn't allow a sob to escape her throat. There would be justice for what was done tonight. If the guilty still remained within Solace they would be found, and they would pay for their crime. Turning, the young woman heard a shriek and saw a green wher disappear between. The wher did not reappear, leaving her handler stunned and speechless.

Oh yes, the guilty would be caught.

"Search the Weyr," she snapped at the gathered crowd. "Organize yourselves. No one is to leave under any circumstances until those responsible are found."

No dragon or wher will leave this Weyr. Now find the one who killed Grenth's!

The Senior Weyrqueen's mindless words washed over her, a constant reminder of the wrong that was done here tonight. It was the worst possible time for this to happen. Grenth's eggs were only a few sevendays from hatching; they had been discussing a Touching only that morning. Holding the event now would be impossible. Grenth was far too dangerous to approach now, and it would be sheer foolishness to allow candidates fresh from outside the Weyr near the precious eggs. There was no telling what any one of them might do.

"Oh Maai..."

Mairin leaned down and pressed her lips to her sister's cooling mouth. She didn't feel ready to lead a Weyr by herself. It felt impossible that Maai wasn't still in charge, making the important decisions. She didn't even know where to start. But there was one thing that Mairin could do, and she would give it the best of her ability. The threat to her Weyr needed to be rooted out and neutralized, by any means possible.

Sitting like a stone sentinel beside her sister's bed, Mairin thought of murderers, and wondered how they might be caught.

[lredd011]

Keeliah strained her ears to hear Tariv's mumbled reply. Her brows furrowing in empathy and concern, she nodded and once more placed a reassuring hand on the man's shoulder, though she knew he could not be reassured at this moment.

"Thank you, Tariv. Tarisk's sacrifice does not go unnoticed. She was so brave...what she did will not be in vain..." She did not continue knowing most of what she said would be lost by the former Wherhandler. But she felt as though he should be taken somewhere else and that he should not be alone in his current state. She scanned the crowd for a friend of Tariv's as Keeliah herself was not more than a mere acquaintance. Not that she was trying to pawn him off on someone else, but she felt that he might want to be with a more familiar person. What about that young Bluerider...oh, what was his name? {Z'marin of Blue Garanth, Mine.} Yes, that was him.

It was difficult to make sense of anything in the crowd at that particular moment, so she turned to Tariv again and addressed him slowly, like one might talk to a small child. She was not trying to be condescending, she just recognized he wasn't all there. And she didn't blame him. It is a dreadful thing to lose a Bonded. Something she would not wish upon then her worst enemy. Not that she really kept all that many enemies.

"Tariv," she said. "Can I take you to the dining hall? Get you a fresh cup of klah?"

It was then that Mairin appeared, barking orders. Keeliah, though not necessarily the typical leader type, sprung into the action the best way she could think to. She would do her part to try to make sense of all this chaos. She made it her mission to accomplish two things: one, to move Tariv to a different location, and two: get the Candidates back to the barracks. This was no place for the Candidates to be.

Though Keeliah's voice was on the softer side, she could make herself heard when she needed to.

"Candidates! Please make your way back to your barracks at this time. Your concern has been noted and you will be updated on what has taken place here tonight in due time. If you wish to contribute to the well-being of Solace Weyr, the best thing for you to do right now would be to be well-rested and energetic Candidates. I repeat, please return to your barracks! Should you need to talk to someone, please locate Candidate Master S'rus."

She hoped she was not stepping on S'rus's toes in saying all that. Keeliah then heard the heavy, warm breathing of Lilith. {Mine, Rekhath commands us. I must leave. You are right to stay with Tariv. For a Wher, Tarisk was good.}

And with that, the pale coral red dragon pushed off the edge of the weyr and took flight. She scanned Solace for the perpetrators that would not be found that night because they were already long gone. But what else was there to do?

[ricci]

S'rus had remained with the younger Candidates when the shit hit the fan. Some Candidates had immediately dashed off to assist the Weyrwoman, and S'rus wasn't going to tell them not to. Nevermind that some had dashed out even before he'd gotten into the Barracks themselves to bespeak the Candidates. He had immediately gotten to work comforting the scared 12 and 13 turn olds, some of which were really quite small. S'rus worried about those small ones. He had seen some smaller than them Impress in the past, and even younger on rare occasions when dragons decided that those among the Sands were not ideal. He maintained control even when one 13 turn old who was blossoming early fell asleep with her head in his lap after she had cried for ages in her worry. She was a sensitive thing, and S'rus was especially fond of her out of this class. He hoped desperately that she would Impress soon so that she would be out of sight and out of mind. But S'rus was not thinking much on this at the moment. Instead, he was watching as older Candidates who had not run to Maai's aide milled about sleepily.

/Her mind is broken,/ Finranth said, moments before Maai had died. And then the keening began for the deceased Weyrwoman, and Grenth's madness was set free upon the Weyr. The Candidates who had fallen asleep in chairs and the Candidate in his lap stirred with Grenth's acrid voice, and S'rus found himself absentmindedly running his fingers through her curly brown hair. He shivered, but didn't take note of why as he helped her up and then stood himself from the couch.

"Candidates, as you all can tell, we have lost our Weyrwoman. I ask those of you in this room to remain here in the barracks. The older to mind the younger, the younger to mind themselves. Understood?"

There were a few disgruntled sounds from the younger Candidates, but given the grim circumstances, this soon stopped. "I will join the others in searching for the intruder. But please, without a dragon or wher to verify your identity, it is safest for you to remain here. Those of you with fire-lizards, please have notes ready in case of forcible entry."

There was a stiffness to his speech, somehow practiced, yet compeltely unrehearsed. Intruders were a known threat, but they did not happen often. And they had never before succeeded. S'rus would have to live with not knowing what it was that was going on.

Finny, tell the other Candidates that they must return to the barracks. Tell them the same reasons I told the ones here for.

/Candidates, return immediately to your barracks. Without dragon or wher, some may not remember you. They might think you are the vile thing that came into this Weyr,/ the Bronze announced to the Candidates as S'rus picked out their names. The Bronze did not like communicating with Candidates, but he did not complain this time. Circumstances would not allow it.

"Right. Thank you for staying here. Caelen, I'm leaving you in charge. Finranth will check in regularly with you to make sure all is well here. I do not suggest that you all sleep at the moment; if you need rest, take turns. Caelen, I trust you can choose an adequate replacement should you need rest."

There was still that stilted manner to his speech. The Candidates would likely only be made more uncomfortable by this. S'rus was never completely fluid with his speech-patterns, but this was taking his normal level of awkward restraint to a whole new level. He nodded to his Candidates, turned, and left, stiff-backed from the Candidate's Barracks. He ultimately mounted Finny outside and they winged up to the heights.

Do you think he is still here?

/No./

S'rus glanced at his Bronze in between looking over the ground while avoiding flight, as many were flying now.

/Stupid this one is not, and stupid it would be to stay here. Were I a murderer, I would flee, too. But I am not a murderer; I am far too important to do such things./

S'rus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as a stress-headache began to blossom there. Finranth began to stalk the heights, crouched by the edge as they went, both of their eyes settled firmly on the ground, completely ignoring the sky overhead.