It's just combat reflexes... (Shoki)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

76.13.24 | Mid-morning | near Weyrbowl, moves to Aerie

Practice was over. K’rad gratefully replaced the sword on the table. Yeah, he understood it was important to use it, but it still bothered him. Carrying a sword meant that people knew you could fight, so they weren’t as likely to let…

Motion. Behind him and too close by far. Impact on his shoulder, someone shoving him. He knew what the next move could be, the shove left him open, exposed.

Defend!

Kel attacked. Ducking slightly, he spun into his attacker, knives already coming out. Voices shouted. They had no meaning to Kel. Others joined in attacking him. His off-hand knife was pulled out of his hand, stuck in a wound. Someone screamed. He was bleeding. Bleeding into his eyes, he couldn’t see…

A voice shouted, and Kel’s attackers stopped. Sprang back away from him. Someone else was approaching though.

Kel came up, striking towards the newcomer who was stalking towards him. If he forced the man back, his path of flight was clear. Screeching filled the air. The person stepped out. Before Kel could react, something slammed into the side of his head. Hard.

How dare…! Rip, tear,…

A roar split the air.

Kel, or K’rad as he was now called, blinked. He was on the ground, staring up at…

Oh shards.

Wingleader T’kar met the boy’s eyes for a second, than shifted his attention to the four others, a mix of guards and wherhandlers, before returning it to K’rad. K’rad swallowed. All four of the Wingleader’s firelizards were hissing, hovering over the man’s head. K’rad had no doubt that the only thing keeping them from launching a full scale retribution was the man’s silent command.

“This will not happen again,” T’kar growled. “When practice is over, it is over. We will discuss this further in two hours.” He gave them one last look over, leaving no question that he was disgusted with the lot of them, then turned and stalked off.

K’rad groaned mentally. Why, why, had this had to happen today? He didn’t even notice the others, his one-time opponents, leaving. His offside arm was clearly broken, he thought his ribs were probably cracked, and he had several cuts to his arms and chest, as well as the one above his eyes. He’d had worse. He’d see about patching himself up once the Wingleader was done assigning punishment, after whatever it was that had called him away was done.

We should… Belegurth started to snap. Fury still rolling in his mind.

No! Shut it Belegurth!

Footsteps. Approaching. Despite himself, K’rad looked up.

[Shoki]

Cyan had been planning on hanging out with Kel after practice. However, the person she found herself in front of was in no shape to merely hang out. She swallowed involuntarily when she saw him.

“Kel…” She took a couple steps forward, getting a better look. Not that she liked looking at her friend all banged up. However, she put her hands on her hips and got a little more fire in her eyes. “What are you still doing here? You should be getting fixed up!” Her expression was a mixture of concern and reproach. As to what happened, she might not know the details, but it was a fair guess that training had gone wrong. That was all she really needed to know. One of her hands reached for his head. “This is going to bleed a lot, you shouldn’t wait.” Her expression melted down to just concern, as she returned her hand to her side.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’rad’s breath caught. He started to lean away, but managed to stop himself. Cyan knew enough, and far more than enough, about him already. She didn’t need any more information, and even guesses from her were dangerous. Too much more would be… very bad for her. Very bad for her and her dragon. Unfortunately for his resolution, she proceeded to startle him quite badly with her next words.

Get it fixed up how? The thought skittered through his mind, and he even started to open his mouth to voice it, before a wordless blast from Belegurth recalled reality.

Trying to cover up his surprised reaction, he changed direction. “Ho… Why?” he asked. “It’s not nearly as bad as it looks.”

He pressed his good hand against the injury on his head, trying to stem the bleeding. He rather thought that the Healers would be likely to order him gone, and if they were anything like the ones at Igen Hold, they would proceed to report him a weakling. That would be the last thing he needed appearing on T’kar’s desk.

He assayed a smile. It came out a bit thin-lipped though.

[Shoki]

Cyan crossed her arms. She lived a long time with a very vocal healer’s apprentice, and so her opinion of healthcare might be a touch biased. So perhaps a bit of the shouty Lifewing rider had rubbed off on her.

“Because you are bleeding! In case you didn’t notice, I’m not a healer. You don’t have bandages either, so we go to the real healers.” She let out a sigh. “Getting hurt is no joke. ‘If you don’t get things fixed right, you might not be able to get back as good as before’. Come on.” She held out her hand. The quote was actually not from Cr’wean. She didn’t know exactly who it was from, but she seemed to remember that both of her father figures had said it. They had both been smart men, from her recollections of her father.

Zigbrieth, go call ahead for a healer.

Kiyosh?

Cr’wean’s off right now, find someone who is working.

Very well.

Cyan focused again. She wasn’t about to be distracted from her purpose.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’rad blinked a couple times. Cyan seemed completely convinced that going to the healers was the only thing to do. He didn’t really want to; the whole place reminded him of that terribly slow recovery from diving through the flames of that long ago fire, even leaving aside that the Healers might well report him. On the other hand… Cyan was his friend. She hadn’t turned him in over that accidental throw of his, and that had been when she was the victim. Given that, the Healers might not do anything.

With a quiet sigh, K’rad started to scramble to his feet. The motion made his ribs grate slightly, a sound accompanied by the feeling that red-hot knives were lancing through his flesh. His breath hissed, despite his best efforts to prevent it, but he was soon standing in front of Cyan, with another tight-lipped smile.

“See, not… all that bad,” he got out, good hand now pressing firmly against his ribs.

[Shoki]

To the Bluerider, Kel getting up was light nails on a chalkboard. It looked so bad she winced. She couldn’t return his tight lipped smile, merely looked concerned. But she motioned for him to come with, and headed to their destination.

They’ll be expecting you.

Thanks Zigbrieth

Ha. It was no trouble at all.

That was always his response when they were helping out. The Blue said it was best to do it like that, be remembered for doing it, but not act like it was a big thing. She really didn’t get the remembered bit but whatever. Still, it was soon enough that they reached their destination.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’rad fell into step half a stride behind and off Cyan’s right shoulder. Taking that stance was habit now, ingrained from spending afternoons and evenings guarding Artemis. He gritted his teeth behind lips that, though no longer smiling, still managed to conceal his state. Thin-lipped neutrality is still neutrality, after all.

As they drew nearer to the Aerie, K’rad slowed somewhat, his feet dragging in his reluctance to approach closer. He ground his teeth together, arguing both with the constant pain in his ribs and his left arm (which flared with every movement) and with his own dislike of the place.

Step.

His lungs burned, eyes tearing to an irritation he couldn’t get rid of.

Step.

People holding him down. Shouting. Something in his mouth. Bitter, but he couldn’t breathe… had to swallow.

Step.

Footsteps approaching.

“This is the last of the combatants, I presume?” The Healer stepped forward, towards the two riders.

K’rad looked up, even as a hand reached out towards him. Spinning, he struck out. Never again! He wasn’t going to be trapped!

[Shoki]

Cyan wasn’t aware of what was going on with Kel, she did make sure he was following her though. Which was fine. As the healer appeared, she mentally noted there were more people involved. Probably. She didn’t want to assume.

“I guess so? Kel-“ She turned and was interrupted by a sudden bout of chaos. Kel struck out against the hand that was reaching for him, which was not taken well. Obviously. Cyan was shocked, and took a step back. What was going on? It took a moment but she collected herself again and reached out for Kel’s shoulder. “Kel stop! They just want to get you better!”

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel whirled around as Cyan reached towards him, trying to bring his leg up in a kick towards…

“Cyan?” His voice cracked, like it had on that long ago day when he’d thrown her. His gaze darted all over her, searching, checking. He was gasping for breath, the aftermath of fight-energy slipping from him and leaving his injuries burning and stabbing with new intensity. He didn’t want to believe that he could have hit her, and breathed out with the relief of new life when he realized that she was unmarked.

“Cyan, I-” He swallowed, the words sticking in his throat. “I’m sorry, I… wasn’t thinking.” He glanced over towards the Healer. The man stepped forward, posture relaxed. What effort that might have cost him — and of certainty it cost him something, for he would probably have realized that Kel’s next blow would be to deliver a finishing blow — Kel was in no way able to know. Indeed, Kel was in no state to even consider that the man might not be as calm as he somehow managed to project.

The man took another step closer. “I think we might be able to make things easier if your friend could come with you,” the man said. Without waiting for Kel to respond, he turned slightly, so that Cyan was the focus of his attention.

“Would you be willing to stick around, Cyan?” he asked with a slight bow. “Give your friend Kel a known face.”

((He might know her as acquaintance, she's around the place so much with Cr'wean. If you like idea, make up name for him))

[Shoki]

Cyan flinched when Kel suddenly turned, but he was more worried than she was. She watched, concerned as Kel parsed through what he was doing and what was going on. He had lashed out almost instinctively so now that he could think he was dealing with what was going on. She didn’t know what was going on in his head, but he eventually vocalized an apology. To which Cyan shook her head.

“You don’t have to apologize to me.” He hadn’t really done anything to her. She did nod a little toward the healer. She hadn’t been hurt, just startled. That wasn’t a problem, not really. Still, it suggested perhaps there was someone else he might want to say sorry to? But she didn’t say it. A moment later Tainghin was focusing his attention on her, and she looked up at him as he spoke.

“Of course.” She broke into a smile. Best way to cheer everyone up was to be cheerful yourself. “We’ll follow you Tainghin. Right Kel?” She turned to her friend, with an encouraging smile. She had settled in her mind that Kel was skittish around healers in general. She didn’t know why, but it wasn’t unheard of. After all, she heard about such things hanging about the Aerie. Hopefully she could help in this case though.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Kel saw Cyan’s little nod, but the point of it missed him completely. Fortunately, the Healer had not seemed to notice, simply speaking to them and offering Cyan to come along.

Kel nodded to Cyan’s question. The Healer, Tainghin, smiled. “Well, in that case, if you would follow me…” Turning, he led the way towards the closest unoccupied room.

Kel glanced at Cyan, then followed her after the Healer. He still didn’t want to be here, but at least they weren’t dragging him off alone.

((Coming to a close I think... unless you have a direction to take it in))

[Shoki]

Kel seemed to have missed her point, but he seemed content to go now. Tainghin was happy enough to have them both come along so there was really only one thing to do. Cyan followed and kept pace up with Kel. To her, the Aerie was nice place, hopefully that would rub off on Kel later. For now she was happy that he was going to get patched up.

Maybe next time they hung out one or both of them would be uninjured and they could hang out normally.


((Let's congratulate ourselves on a finished thread methinks.))