Sleeping anger, hidden evil (Cait)

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

3076.13.25 | Early Afternoon | T’kar’s weyr to Aerie

T’kar was checking and mending his tertiary flight straps. He’d already oiled them, and had already given the same detailed treatment to his primary and secondary straps. All of his paperwork was done, and those items that had needed a confirming signature had been taken to D’gan’s desk by means of firelizard. All of this he had completed as he watched the angle of Rukbat’s rays change with the advancing day. True to his word, when Dalonia had been asleep for four hours, he had attempted to awaken her. He hadn’t tried very hard though, she looked like she needed the rest, and it had now been nearer eight hours than seven.

Laying aside another strap, he reached for the next. He only had two straps in his to-do pile, and decided that he might as well have another go at waking Dalonia when he was done. He stretched, letting his gaze linger on her sleeping face. Her expression was so much softer than in wakefulness, and he found himself wishing that she’d let some of that show when she was awake.

As if she sensed his eyes on her, she stirred. T’kar sighed and set down the strap.

“Good afternoon,” he said, smiling. “I trust you enjoyed your sleep?”

[Cait]

Her body had taken advantage of the fact that she wasn't being constantly bombarded by distractions and completely shut down. Not even T'kar's moving around and making noise had stirred her which was unusual as typically she woke quite easily to any little sound. Maybe it was the combination of her subconscious knowing that T'kar and his dragon were there and her incredible exhaustion that had allowed her to sleep so soundly. As much grief as she gave the man and however much she claimed to loathe him, the truth was more along the lines that they had built some sort of strange relationship based on their mutual crankiness and something very close to but perhaps not quite trust. Certainly Dalonia would never call it that, but since she'd taken a knife for him and after Ancalanath had protected her that day and what had happened after...it was an unspoken understanding that no matter how much either one raged or growled or hissed and scratched, they were safe.

Safe from the world if not entirely from one another.

It was only after her body had gotten what it deemed a necessary amount of sleep that she finally began to stir here or there at the sound of someone moving around. At first she faded in and out and would only shift a foot or a hand or turn her head. But eventually she became more wakeful and aware that she was not in her bed, or her room for that matter. Rolling onto her back and sending Pest toppling over, she stretched and slipped her hand under the pillow, her fingers brushing the hilt of her dagger reassuringly. As she stretched, various joints popped and she let out a soft groan as T'kar spoke. Arching her back, she winced slightly as it popped and then relaxed back into the softness.

"Mmmm, what do you mean afternoon?" She was still drowsy and relaxed, her prickly demeanor hadn't been put into place yet. Opening her eyes, she glanced towards the light that slanted through the room. It took her a moment to orient herself and remember what side of the weyr she was on and what sort of angle the light would come through. She let out a half-hearted growl and rolled onto her side to give the dragonrider a less than amused look. "Why didn't you wake me?" Still she wasn't nearly as snarly and growly as she usually was.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar couldn’t keep away the smile that lifted his lips every time he glanced at the sleeping Dalonia. She was so cute when she was asleep. The smile was still there as he watched her gradually wake up, stretching out in response to his voice.

“I tried,” he said, answering her second question, since the first was almost certainly rhetorical. “You didn’t even respond, just lay there. I was going to try again in a few minutes, actually.”

Pointing to a tray by the bed, he continued: “There’s food, and water if you want any.”

He stood up, stretching out his own spine and twisting his shoulders from side to side to help work out kinks. Casually, he leaned against the wall. He’d already eaten, but they weren’t going anywhere until Dalonia had too, whether or not Dalonia remembered that part of his oath. Somehow, he suspected that wouldn’t be much of a problem, given how long she’d slept.

[Cait]

Dalonia didn't look like she believed T'kar, but either being fully rested agreed with her or she was still half asleep. Either way she simply grunted and rubbed at her eyes. In fact, the wherhandler almost didn't want to get up but she had duties to attend to, a wher to care for and a dragonrider to destroy. A busy day and she'd gotten a late start. Still, she made no move to even sit up and yawned as she stretched again. Then there was mention of food and her stomach gurggled. Finally having proper incentive to as least sit up, Dalonia threw back the covers and shifted until she was seated with crossed legs at the edge of the bed before reaching over and dragging the tray into her lap.

"You better not have left to go see that grub worm." She growled, even as her eyes lit up at the sight of a proper meal. With the odd hours she kept as a wherhandler and all the responsibilities that she took on, it was not surprising that she rarely had time for a proper meal. In fact, she was lucky if she managed to get in a swallow of cold klah and a greasy meatroll or two. The food was cold but she didn't care, she tore into it like a woman starved though with enough manners not to seem like a complete savage.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar supposed he should be grateful that Dalonia had managed to retain any manners at all. Certainly from the single-minded focus that she was applying to her food he was more than willing to surmise that she’d not been getting enough to eat.

“No, I haven’t left to go see ‘that grub worm’,” T’kar replied. “I swore I wouldn’t, remember.” The second part was unnecessary, but he had to do something to relieve the irritation. Why couldn’t the woman just accept that his sworn word was good? He didn’t say anything else, just occupied himself with rubbing Star’s head while the little Crimson lay sprawled on his left arm.

As soon as Dalonia was done eating, a feat that took far less time than it should have, T’kar tossed her pants to her and then leaned back against the wall, attention steadfastly fixed on his firelizard, thoughts safely anchored on how he was going to deal with K’rad.

[Cait]

As much as she already trusted T'kar there would always be a lack of complete trust. She had quite a few reasons not to complete trust anyone. T'kar had met two of them, or very nearly had. Not to mention the suspicion and distrust of dragonrider that had been force fed to her throughout her childhood. He couldn't know it but the fact that she'd even been able to sleep in his presence was a minor miracle and to some extent she did trust his word. But gaining the complete trust of Dalonia Jindarex was like laying siege to a highly fortified stronghold. He'd have to smash his way through her walls with each instance of being true to his word.

Wrinkling her nose at his obviously wounded pride, Dalonia rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him in a surprising display of something close to playfulness. For reasons that Dalonia wasn't sure of or maybe not even aware of, she wasn't nearly as on edge as she usually was. The miracle of sleep and a good meal, apparently.

When she'd finished and set the tray aside, T'kar tossed her trousers at her and catching them, Dalonia slipped out of bed to get dressed again. This time she noticed the way his eyes were fixed stubbornly on his little crimson brat and couldn't help but smirk. Tucking in her tunic, she tied the laces of her pants and then armed herself once more, her movements fluid and methodical. Once she'd retrieved the blade from under the pillow, she put on her boots and approached T'kar. "You shy or somethin'?"

The growl was gradually coming back to her voice but there was a distinct hint of playfulness as well that was echoed by the softer expression on her face. "If yer done blushing, we have somewhere to be."

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Absolutely insufferable woman! Infuriating too!

Ancalanath snorted.

T’kar looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Not really,” he answered with a grin. “You’re right about us having somewhere to be though, so I suppose I’ll have to let you go on believing that.”

Turning, he pulled open the door and glanced at Dalonia, clearly inviting her through it. It wouldn’t take that long to reach the Aerie, after all.

Sure enough, it didn’t take very long to make it to the Aerie, and they were soon being led to K’rad’s room, though the Healers had had what seemed like a slightly nervous conversation before leading them there. T’kar wondered idly what that was all about.

[Cait]

Whatever effects a good night's sleep had on Dalonia seemed to be lingering as she crossed the room with a faint smirk. Though, when he opened the door it seemed that her usual paranoid tendencies were not entirely forgotten. Out of habit alone, she turned to the side, her back away from T'kar and slipped out the door, shifting so that her back was promptly to the wall as she glanced to either side down the corridor. It was like night and day almost; the relaxed state she'd been in faded in the wake of alert tension and once T'kar joined her, her hand came to rest on he sword's hilt.

Before long, with the pace they adopted, they had reached the Aerie and when they were stalled by a suspicious, hushed conversation between healers, Dalonia's expression went from neutral to not amused. Pale eyes narrowed and her jaw clenched as she glared holes in the back of the healer's head who was leading them, supposedly to K'rad.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Footsteps approaching. Multiple people, something like at least three of them at least. K’rad opened his eyes to slits and cautiously looked around. He was still in the bed in the infirmary, there wasn’t anyone in here with him… the footsteps paused, right outside the door.

Grimacing, K’rad tried to push himself up into a straighter position. He was not going to face whoever this was whie the next best thing to flat on his back. No sooner had he started trying to push himself up, in walked Wingleader T’kar, followed by Wherhandler Dalonia.

“I was just wondering what if you could be good enough to tell me what, exactly, happened after practice yesterday.” T’kar said, catching and holding K’rad’s hazel eyes with his own amber ones as he walked through the door.

K’rad couldn’t help the glance that slid over to Dalonia. He’d have preferred it if she wasn’t there, but he somehow doubted that vocalizing that desire would do any good. Time to break out the dice.

“I don’t really remember…” K’rad let his voice trail off. It was, scrictly speaking, not exactly a lie. He didn’t remember everything that had happened once the fight started, not really. “I was putting my stuff away, someone shoved me, and then we were fighting.” He swallowed. “I didn’t even notice the new guy in the fight was you until after I’d started that attack.”

“Did it occur to you that drawing steel might not be the appropriate response to getting shoved?” T’kar querried, leaning casually against the dresser.

See, they have no interest in being fair! They listen to the others’ testimony first and only the others’ testimony!

“I…” K’rad let his voice trail off again. “It felt like the set-up for an attack,” he said, carefully studying the blankets.

[Cait]

Dalonia's expression leveled out once the door was open and she was inwardly pleased with T'kar's tactic of issuing a rather serious question before they'd even entered the room fully. This was not a social visit and it certainly wasn't a get well visit. The dragonrider's directness momentarily appeased her need to strike an even more intimidating pose than she naturally did. She noticed the glance that the wingrider cast in her direction and a muscle in her jaw twitched. Let him be uncomfortable with her presence.

Her eyes narrowed as the man claimed not to remember what had happened. Her lip curled slightly and she let out a low growl but surprisingly didn't interject as T'kar spoke. Honestly, if it had just been a squabble between the men she would've just let T'kar deal with it. She would've disciplined her lot and not given a second though to K'rad. Hell, she probably would've drawn steel if someone had shoved her unexpectedly as well. But she wouldn't have attacked blindly in the situation that was described and the man attack T'kar had put it well outside the realm of understanding.

Dalonia's rather remarkable control snapped and she snarled as she pressed past T'kar. "Then ya shoulda appraise th' situation, not blindly attacked, ya stupid little twit!"

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

T’kar had to literally bite his tongue. Shard it all, he’d told Dalonia not to say anything. Unfortunately, showing division in the top ranks was never acceptable, and she had a point. Not that it couldn’t have been phrased a little better, but it wasn’t a bad point. Maybe she’d just been tired still when she first woke up. That could explain her unusual behavior upon arising.

Kel’s eyes flashed. Sure, sure, she was right about appraising the situation. He knew that, but sometimes there wasn’t time to appraise the situation. He opened his mouth… On the other hand, he could tell that they were probably determined to be unfair, so it wouldn’t do any good to protest. Careful, or you’ll give it all away! he snapped at himself, closing his mouth slowly, the words unsaid.

“Dalonia, just because someone forgets something does not make them stupid,” T’kar said with extreme neutrality. “K’rad, I find it interesting that though we were practicing sword fighting and you were not wearing a belt knife, you pulled knives in this fight. I would really like to know why you didn’t remove them before practice started, the way you did your belt knife.” T’kar didn’t even bother specifying that all the participants had been required to set their personal weapons on separate side tables. He suspected K’rad recalled that just fine without assistance.

Kel tried to curl in on himself slightly, trying to make himself look more harmless. It didn’t work, T’kar simply raised an eyebrow and waited. “I was in a hurry to get out onto the practice ground,” Kel admitted finally.

“Where were you carrying them, arm-sheaths?”

K’rad nodded.

“They come off before next weapons practice. So do any others that you might happen to be carrying. In the meantime, you can devote some thought to the necessity of determining an attacks threat level before responding to it, while helping in the kitchen for the next couple sevendays.”

Kel winced. He hated working in the kitchen. Which, he guessed, was pretty much the whole idea. “Yes sir,” he mumbled.

[Cait]

Whether she realized that she'd placed herself between K'rad and T'kar or not, Dalonia didn't budge even as he spoke over her shoulder. Her lip curled again and she muttered under her breath. "Attackin' yer wingleader does." As T'kar continued to talk, Dalonia seemed to settle a bit though her hand remained resting on the hilt of her sword. It was no wonder that one of the whispered nicknames that had surfaced for the woman was The Guard Dog.

For anyone who had seen her in action with the former Weyrleader it was an easy enough analogy. It was like she was built to fight and protect, just like the dog they called her. The few people that had seen the pair of them along with Dalosk with the whole kidnapped Weyrling fiasco might even call her rabid. Certainly she wasn't at all soft and maybe it was a good thing. She served her purpose at the weyr and if she was a bit too prickly. It was probably better if there was a bit of hype around her. If she was more shadow than substance it was easier to keep people on their toes and those toes on the line.

Honestly if the man hadn't gone after T'kar she might have even been impressed by his taking on four guards and very nearly managing to hold his own. But he had so she was not amused.