Maybe you should have listened {Ghost/K'tar/open to healers}

[Simile]

Turnover 3077

The pregnancy had not been easy and chantrea had been grounded some time ago for her safety, her baby's and her dragon's safety. Her belly had become quite large in the past seven months... She was nearly full term. But not quite.

it was early morning and she had a craving for some red fruit. She was headed down towards the stares, her walk a bit of a waddle... She took the first few steps slowly. She felt something on her back - a hand. "Chantrea... You should have listened." Then a shove and she shrieked as she went down hi knew hot many steps, tumbling and landing hard.

{Chantrea!} Valhauth roared from sleep, fear radiatin from her. Her rider was in pain... And the little ones inside her was in pain - one more than the other. She could feel it. Chantrea was going into labor early. {healers! My rider needs you a the stairs to the dining hall!!}

Her rider was not calm she was barely holding it together.

{Viarth! Get yours to mine now!! She and te little ones are hurt!!}

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth’s head shot up, eyes whirling yellow with flecks of white. He was already uncoiling from his curled sleeping position before the full impact of Valhauth’s words registered.

K’tarMine! Chantrea is hurt, she needs you!

Fortunately for the situation, K’tar actually had not drunk too much, or even really all that much at all, the night before, so he was remarkably clear-headed as he jumped up onto Viarth’s back without even thinking about adding straps.

For his part, Viarth pushed out of the weyr and actually flew — not glided, but flew with powerful wingbeats — to the kitchen-ward side of the Bowl. His powerful backstroke nearly threw K’tar from his back, but the young man clung on with a grim determination, only to slide from Viarth’s back practically before the dragon had settled.

“Chantrea?” he called, running towards the dining hall. She was there, curled at the base of the stair. Something was wrong, even as he drew near her body practically jackknifed, as if she were doing a sit-up while laying on her side.

“Chantrea?” he asked, dropping to his knees beside her and reaching out to catch her shoulder.

[Simile]

Chantrea gasped in pain, grasping blindly for K'tar. "This can't happen now... It's too early..." She gasped in pain again, her body convulsing. "Sh-shoved.... I was.... P-pushed..." She tried to get out through the pain. No no no... This couldn't happen now... It wasn't time. She felt a deep anguish in her heart. She felt this would be bad. Her thoughts were chased away by another jolt of pain and she dug her finger's into K'tar as she held onto him. It hurt so bad.

{te little one... They are coming...} it should hve Ben joyous, but the dragoness's tone was laced with worry and fear.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

“It’ll be fine,” K’tar assured her. He bit his lip, trying to force himself to project calm, to be calm. He glanced up towards the top of the stairs, but there was no sign of anyone.

Viarth! Healers!

Viarth didn’t think. He reached for the first familiar LifeWing and called. Kiyosh! Please come, Chantrea-Mine’s-friend is hurt.

“The Healers are coming,” K’tar said, ignoring the pain from Chan’s nails. At least, he certainly hoped they were. “You’ll be fine.”

[Shoki]

[smear:993300]We are coming.[/smear:A0522D"] Kiyosh eyed her rider, who was just getting out of his shift. He looked at her and sighed.

“And?”

[smear:993300]We need backup.[/smear:A0522D"]

Cr’wean growled but turned on his heels to get help and supplies. Soon enough he and a small team were heading out, ready to do their work. They didn’t know what to expect, but would find out when they got there.

When they got there they were not pleased with what they found. They found K’tar and Chantrea, and immediately sprung into action. Cr’wean didn’t even have a chance to get in, before it was clear that other expertise was required. He got supplies to his associates before turning to K’tar.

“Do you know what happened?” Not angry, for once, just serious. And perhaps a little stressed. Natural after getting a bonus case after his shift was over.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar didn’t even manage to recall that he didn’t like Cr’wean all that much. “No sir. Viarth called and said she was hurt, she said…” K’tar’s voice trailed off and he gulped a swallow. This… it had to be because of the sharding guard lists. The one thing he hadn’t been able to provide.

“She said someone pushed her. Down the stairs.” He looked into the healer's eyes. He wanted to ask if she'd be ok, but he couldn't. What if Chan heard him?

[Shoki]

Cr’wean’s face blanked. A couple of the healers paused long enough to look up before returning to their hurried flurry of activity. However in the next moment Cr’wean’s hands had curled into fists and his voice was dripping with cold fury. “Who?” That’s all he said. Well, all he personally said.

However, his partner was using him to watch what was going on. Something Cr’wean didn’t know until a little too late. At the closest space to the inside, Kiyosh began hissing, loudly. The sparrow Lifewing next to her hopped to the side as she began puffing up, her talons scratching against stone. Someone has pushed a pregnant human, down stairs. The hissing got even louder. [smear:993300]Tell us.[/smear:A0522D"] Fury filled the lifewing, enraged at the act that had been committed. She was filled with the desire to follow the offender, a sure sign that doom was quick to follow. She positively seethed, and the little Twish next to her wanted to be nowhere near her right now.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar blinked, leaning back slightly in the face of Cr’wean’s sudden fury. “I don’t know,” he stated. “I looked up the stairs as soon as she told me, and no one was there.” He flinched a little, just from reaction to the hisses of the Lifewings. In that moment, he was acutely glad that he had never angered a Lifewing. Those talons looked sharp and the beaks… Of course, he had no objection to seeing whoever had done this subject to a little Lifewing-caused retribution.

[Simile]

"GAh!" Chantrea panted, one hand still holding its death grip on K'tar's arm. She was scared. She was in labor and the baby was coming and it was still way too early. She shook her head. Was her baby going to be okay?

[smear:3f3f3f]What about the little one? Mine's hatchling? Will they be okay?[/smear:d0c776] The dragon voiced Chantrea's fears for her. Chantrea couldn't voice anything right now. SHe was afraid and she had a gut feelign that they weren't going to make it. Usually dragons celebrated a human birth as much as they did their own kind... but today, there seemed to be so much fear involved.

Chantrea looked at K'tar, pain reflected in her face. "F-Family..." she whispered to him, knowing he would know what that meant before more pain coarsed through her body.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar swallowed. Chantrea was right, he did know what it meant, but how was he to go about saying it to these people? If he just told them it was some member of Chan’s family, than they’d almost certainly be unable to find whoever it was. If he gave them any more details, than… he stared at Chantrea, eyes wide not just with the present, but with the possible future. He could still hear her brother’s voice like yesterday, and there were other members of her family, though that brother and her mother were dead.

“… Come and get the woman you love... but know the moment you don't do as asked is the moment that she dies... we have someone inside already…”

He started to open his mouth, closed it again. If he said anything, anything at all, than he was breaking with those very first “requests”, written on a piece of paper attached to Viarth’s nose: Tell no one, give no hint…

Fear rose in him, battling the anger. Anger impelled him to speak, fear to keep silent. He shifted his weight from side to side, trying to settle his mind. Underneath it all though, was a quiet voice, a voice whispering that this had happened due to a failure that wasn’t even his fault. What if he failed again, again through no fault of his own?

I’ll just have to try harder, he realized. Because punishment for failure requires that I fail. If I open my mouth now… He wished, wished with everything he had, that there was someone he could talk to, but those he trusted, his friends, to talk to them would be to expose them, to turn them or even their families into hostages. He swallowed against a sudden recollection of maternal arms, of Holt’s mother hugging him. Holt would know what to do, even Jatheiron would know what to do, but… Jatheiron was almost certainly already being watched and to visit him might just result in his death, and Holt… he couldn’t do that to Holt, couldn’t involve his friend in this, knowing as he did that it just might lead to the other man’s death.

[Shoki]

Cr’wean didn’t get his answer. It was vexing, but he could throw himself into helping the other healers. They needed to move her to better places. So he helped move her onto a stretcher, and they could quickly move her to a more sanitary and easier to get to place. He didn’t like that he didn’t know who did this, but that could be arranged later.

His opinion was not echoed by his partner. She seethed, hissed and finally mad and ugly grunt of decision. Fine, they wanted to hurt humans? They had best prepare. And she was going to be gracious enough to give them a warning. She took off suddenly, taking to the sky. It took her no time at all, finding the correct height, then circling. It was the most natural of things to do. She began to broadcast, angrily to everyone she could possibly reach. She was essentially shouting as loud as she could in her dark, reedy mindvoice.

[smear:993300]LISTEN UP! Anonymity will not save you. Shadows cannot hide you. You have made a grave mistake and I shall see that you pay fully for it. You have hurt those that fallen under my care, and I have had enough. Beware joyous songs and pretty music, because I am coming, AND I AM THE ONE THEY CALL TO CLEAN UP THE DEAD.[/smear:A0522D"] It was nothing but truth. Not in the way they likely thought, or perhaps they did guess she was a vulture. It mattered little. She continued to hover over the weyr, looking for fear, for running. She might not know who they were, but she had made it her new mission to find them.

Cr’wean got a look from one of the other healers. Cr’wean really didn’t have a response. Kiyosh was the most stubborn creature alive when she wanted something. Apparently she had no problem getting yelled at later. Of course she didn’t. She was his Lifewing.

Despite the noisy Lifewing they got her moved to someplace better, and started treatment in full force. From here it was only a matter of time. Time and songs.

Songs without Kiyosh, because she was scavenging for human criminals.

[Simile]

Chantrea couldn't speak anymore. It hurt tooth and it was all she could do to keep herself calm. She registered that they were moving her, but she kept a death grip on K'tar's arm. She was in pain and she was afraid. She could hear Valhauth crooning softly. Her fire lizards found tier way to K'tar's body, clinging to him tightly. Their person was hurting and they could not help... But try began to hum.

It took time... But soon there was a baby... Stillborn. But it seemed things were not over yet as chantrea was still in labor. Now even Valhauth started to hum. It didn't take as long and a tiny little boy was born... This one living. His brother, however... Would not make it. Chantrea rested. Her mind was foggy. "Did... Did either... Make it?" Their being twins was a surprise. A big one... But only one survive and he was premature and small... He would likely have health problems for his life. Chantrea felt like crying... And she did start to quietly.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar perforce followed as the Healers moved Chantrea. She was still gripping tightly enough to his arm that, in some distant part of his mind that was capable of thinking of such things, he was certain he was going to have a bruise there on the morrow. Another almost idle thought flitted across his mind, briefly wondering if all women did this when giving birth.

Suddenly, he was covered in firelizards. Two Blues and a White. He recognized them, of course. Zigfried, Amp, and Almari all looked to Chantrea, though why they were finding it necessary to use him as a perch… He grimaced as Zigfried shifted, bringing to mind Rusty-Trash’s claws, but he didn’t push the little firelizard away.

He stayed by Chantrea as she labored to bring their children into the world. He stayed as much out of the Healer’s way as he could, though at one time he found himself directed to take a cloth covered rubber ball and rub her back “…and don’t stop even if it looks raw, trust me”. He rubbed, though he wanted to cry at the sight of the first, dead, infant. The other was alive, and K’tar hugged Chantrea with one arm, stroking her hair as she cried. He didn’t answer her though. He didn’t know if the second infant would live, and if it didn’t…

[Simile]

The healers took the infant, carefully examining him. He wasn't as strong as they would have likes, but he was fully formed and from what they could tell, he would survive. But he was tiny. Still nearly a month too early as he was. It was nearly a full hour. He hardly made a noise and they feared he would join his brother... But at a pinch to his toes he had decided he had enough and started wailing.

This was enough to make Chantrea start, trying to get up and go to him. Her instinct said to protect him. But she wa held back. A healer frowned a her. "You need to stay in bed... And we need to examine the boy." She swallowed, giving them a menacingly wilting look. The healer did not budge.

It seemed like another hour passed and a crying baby was brought to his mother and placed gently in her expectan arms. "He is premature with that comes a host of potential problems. Including a predisposition to sickness. Be extra careful and cautious with him. His skin is delicate as well. Never handle him roughly or without thought. He may have trouble eating, but we can work with you on that." Chan had reluctantly torn her eyes from the gray-blue ones of her baby to listen gravely and he swallowed bossing her head solemnly then opened her mouth and asked quietly, "what about out other child?"

The healer paused and shook his head. "The fall that you took that started your labor... He didn't survive te trauma or the birthing process.l chantrea bit her lip and started to cry again softly, carefully but securely holding her baby in her arms.