Sweeping the Ashes

Writers: Aaron, Heather
Date Posted: 5th March 2019

Characters: S'kand, Saidrene, Pavan, Meysa
Description: Saidrene leads S'kand on his first sweepride at Dolphin Cove.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 10, day 1 of Turn 9

Saidrene

S'kand was more than pleased to have been assigned a sweep. Some might have considered it boring work, but it was a great chance for him to reacquaint himself with the territory he would be protecting.

All kitted out, he and Jagobroth landed where he was to meet his wingmate partner, Saidrene.

"Fair skies," he greeted her once they had both arrived. She was a young one. Looked to be roundabout the age he was when he Impressed Jagobroth. Not much shorter than he was himself, but obviously a great deal smaller by comparison. He smiled, hoping to avoid intimidating her with his permascowl.

"Well met," she greeted the bronzerider with an easy smile. Saidrene enjoyed sweepriding, perhaps it was the Searchrider in her, but she liked to visit different places and see new people- even if they weren't all nice. She hadn't worked with S'kand before and knew him only from wingdrills and practices.

S'kand was happy to see that Saidrene did not seem ill at ease in his company. It was far easier for him to be at ease in hers now that they were riding sweep instead of drilling for Fall. He did not have to force himself to avoid imagining how he was going to react to seeing her in mortal danger if they were only riding sweep.

"This is my first sweep for Dolphin Cove," he said. "Without objection, I'll follow your lead for the route." He doubted K'ran would have paired them together if Saidrene were not already familiar with it.

}:You can follow me,:{ Ashareth said flirtatiously to the bronze.

Saidrene chuckled at her lifemate, knowing how pleasing it was for her to be showing a bronze around the territory. "Let's get in the air then. Hopefully we'll spot something interesting while we're in the air."

Jagobroth was ready to hunt. Not for food, of course, but for... irregularities. Being so focused as he was, he barely noticed the flirtation. Or perhaps noticed it not at all.

}:I will stay close by,:{ he said as S'kand mounted up. If it was all the same to S'kand, he preferred an uneventful sweep.

"On your mark," he called to Saidrene.

Ashareth was not put off in the least, but leapt into the air with a graceful spring. Catching the air beneath her wingsails, the green gave powerful, downward strokes, taking the them up quickly to a pleasant altitude. One high enough to enjoy, yet low enough for the riders to pick out any flags or irregularities on the ground.

The first big of the flight was uneventful, leading them out over the beautifully lush Dolphin Cove territory, but a quarter of the way toward Emerald Falls the evidence of a wildfire began to show itself in the charred remains of tree stumps and the brown withering of tall grasses and crops. It looked as though the crops belonged to a medium sized cothold, too small to be a minor hold, yet large enough to have sown several acres of crops, that now looked ravished.

Saidrene gestured to S'kand before Ashareth began a swift descent to what seemed to be the main structure, which was the only structure left standing.

So much for an uneventful sweep. As soon as Jagobroth landed near as was safe to the structure, S'kand unclipped his straps and dismounted, his hand resting on his belt knife. There was no reason to assume that this had been done purposefully. It was probably carelessness. But better to keep Saidrene safe than to be sorry if holdless scoundrels were still nearby.

He quickly moved to put himself between the hold and Saidrene.

**Keep watch for anyone approaching from the rear,** he said to Jagobroth, who positioned himself to keep Ashareth between him and S'kand and watched diligently.

S'kand walked swiftly toward the hold, scanning his entire field of vision as he moved.

Saidrene cocked an eyebrow at the man's cautious behavior. What did he think would happen? she wondered.

"Hello, dragonriders on sweep," she called.

The door to the structure swung open with a loud creak, and a man came out, covered in soot, face smeared with sweat and ash. Behind him children peeked out, and above their heads she could see a woman's pair of eyes.

"If only you had arrived sooner," the man said, hand on his hips, eyes casting about at the burned clumps of flax.

"My apologies, we were just on sweep and saw the remains of the fire. What happened?"

"Storm rolled through early this morning, lightning hit one of the barns, went up lickety-split." The farmer snapped his fingers. "Wind got up and blew the fire straight through the fields. We saved what we could but...." His shoulders were hunched, from exhaustion, Saidrene bet.

S'kand relaxed, his hand going back to his side.

"Everyone is safe?" he asked, more concerned about loss of life than loss of the crops. Crops would grow back. Children never would.

"Yes, they were all in the main house while we were trying to save the crops. My hands are all inside trying to cool off and get something in their bellies. I do have a couple of men that have some pretty serious burns that could use medical attention."

"I could head back to the Weyr and bring a healer," Saidrene offered.

"I would be much obliged." The man seemed to suddenly remember his manners. "Forgive me, my name is Pavan," he stuck his hand out at the greenrider.

"Saidrene of green Ashareth, well met." She looked over at her companion, "I'll just be back in a moment?"

S'kand nodded to Saidrene. "Thank you," he said to her. To Pavan, he extended his hand and introduced himself. "I'm S'kand, and this is Jagobroth. I'm sorry we were too late." He wanted to give assurances that the Weyr and Emerald Falls would both ensure that the family and their workers would be taken care of until they were back on their feet, but he was new and had no authority of his own. He did not want to make promises he could not keep.

"We'll make sure the Hold and the Weyr know what's happened here. If you need to speak to the Lord Holder in person, I can take you there. For now, how can we help while we're here?"

Saidrene left the two men conversing as she vaulted back up onto Ashareth's neckridge. She clipped herself into the straps quickly just before the green sprang back into the skies. It only took them a moment to get high enough to safely /between/. The trip took less than a single heartbeat, since they were still close to the Weyr, and then they were in the Weyrbowl.

When Saidrene and Ashareth appeared back over the farm, Meysa, the healer who had been on-call, was seated in front of Saidrene, taking in the dragon ride with a serene smile.

While she had been gone, Saidrene noticed that S'kand had been assisting the farmer and some of his hands, who were now moving to salvage pieces of wood that might be repurposed.

"Pavan, I will leave Meysa with you, she is a journeywoman healer. We need to travel the rest of our sweep route, and then on the way back I'll swing back and get her. If there's anything you can think of that we could get you from the Weyr or Emerald Falls while we're gone, make a list and we'll collect that too."

Pavan swiped the hat off his head and wiped his brow, "Thank you both kindly."

"Best of luck to you, Pavan," said S'kand, brushing his hands off on his trousers. It seemed almost insensitive to wish him fair skies after the storm took away this much. He regretted that he could not stay until the work was finished, but they had other duties to attend to.

S'kand made no effort to hide his scowl now.

"Shall we continue?" he asked Saidrene.

Wind whipped her braid across her shoulder, "On to the next one."

Last updated on the March 11th 2019

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Sweeping the Ashes