On the Sidelines

Writers: Aaron, Avery, Devin
Date Posted: 25th April 2024
Series: Bad Meat!

Characters: V'rel, T'lin, A'vel, Brennault
Description: The group watches the Hatching and the chaos caused by the poisoning.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 17 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: R'ayl, N'vanik, Y'gel, I'rad

T'lin

Brennault

The weather was overcast, a storm having passed through that morning
and leaving clouds lingering. Humming of the dragons began slowly, and
then began to echoed around the Weyr, drawing its people's attention
and sending them to make their preparations. Some people were
transporters, going to pick up their assigned people. Others started
the Feast preparations. And others just got to find seats in the
Hatching Caverns.

V'rel and Rymeth landed on their weyrledge and he ran inside to look
for the hatching clothes he'd set out, a blue shirt dyed as close as
he could make it to match Rymeth's midnight blue hide with bright blue
embroidery on the sleeves, paired with tight trousers that flattered
his legs. He wasn't sure if T'lin had beat him there or not.

T'lin came out of the sleeping chamber still fastening his clothes. "I
have transport duty." He gave V'rel a quick kiss and then headed for
the ledge. "I'll find you in the Stands!"

"I'll see you there and save our seats," V'rel said with a smile. He'd
gotten off transport duty, so he was lucky to be able to change into
nice clothes and save a seat. **Rymeth, look out for Calaroth and
Tsogath's riders to come back,** he said.

----

Meanwhile, A'vel remembered his promise to Brennault, and had Tsogath
reach out for Marvel to find out if the runner had made it to the
weyr, was at the station, or was on the road. He'd get his friend and
then get changed.

Marvel sent an image to Tsogath of Brennault in his father's station
common room along with images of a muddy road and feelings of
frustration and regret at not having left sooner.

Tsogath sent back to Marvel the image of A'vel in fancy clothes and
A'vel at the station, trying to communicate to the flit what she
wanted his rider to do. A'vel strapped Tsogath up with room for a
guest and then they leapt into the sky, dodging other dragons who were
also going for passenger work and going /between/. It was a relief to
appear at the runner station where it was calm.

He slid down and rushed into the station, waving at the faces he
recognized inside. "Hi there. I'm here to pick up Brennault," he said.

Brennault picked up enough on what A'vel meant to get ready for him to
arrive, but since he no longer maintained a residence at the station,
he had none of his dressy clothes there. As such, Cerault leant him
dress clothes of his own. When A'vel greeted those present, Brennault
left the steel he brought back from Barrier Lake to give to Lorican in
his father's quarters and came down the stairs in his father's Gather
best.

"Hey," he said and waved. "Thanks for coming to pick me up. It's been
a wild day."

One of the regulars at the station tavern whistled.

A'vel was briefly quiet when he saw Brennault's look, thinking that he
looked very handsome. "Glad you were here and able to be picked up,"
he said when he had a moment to figure out how his tongue worked. To
the other regulars, he said, "We'll tell you all about it when it's
done!"

"Can't wait to hear it," Cerault waved. "You boys have fun!"

"I'm really, _really_ almost done with all of the trading and
traveling now. It's been a long... well, I'm not sure what you call an
extra long day when you outfly the sun, but ‘day’ will have to do."
Brennault smiled at A'vel. He liked it when people looked at him like
that.

"That sounds exhausting." A'vel led Brennault out to Tsogath, who was
already obligingly kneeling. "Need a hand up or are you all
experienced now?"

"I'd never turn down a hand up!" Brennault smiled and scritched
Tsogath. The moment he thought he was experienced enough to climb up
the way the riders did, he would fall and break his leg. "Thank you
for coming to get me, lovely," he said to the green.

"She's always happy to pick you up," A'vel relayed, giving Brennault a
boost up Tsogath's side so he could scramble into the seat. He
followed Brennault up, and sat behind the runner, clicked them in, and
wrapped his arms around Brennault.

"Up we go," he said, before signaling his green to leap up into the
air, ascend into the sky, and slip /between/. They emerged in the
crowded air of Dolphin Cove. Perhaps Brennault had never seen a Weyr's
sky this busy, with what seemed like half the draconic population in
the sky at once, coming in and going out to bring passengers. Tsogath
dove down surprisngly fast to put down on A'vel's weyrledge.

"Sorry about that descent, she didn't want to get knocked into," he
apologized, sliding down and holding out his hands for an assist to
Brennault. "I have to get changed myself, and we can walk down, it'll
be less busy."

"No worries," Brennault smiled and gratefully accepted A'vel's help to
get down. While Brennault was not terribly tall himself, he was taller
than A'vel, and when he reached the ground, he stepped close and
smiled down at him. "Thanks. Do you want me to come up with you, or
should I wait down here?"

"Oh, you can wait here on the ledge and we can walk down, it's not far
through the halls." A'vel ducked into his weyr and slipped into the
sleeping area, pulling out his Gather and Hatching best outfit. It was
a loose-fitting tunic in a light cream color, and had embroidered
scrollwork going down the sleeves that was a green color like
Tsogath's hide. The laces that held it together were Harper blue, and
he had a light blue undershirt under it. He switched from riding
leather pants and boots to sandals and linen pants that flowed, and
rapidly combed his touseled blonde hair.

Then he came back out and smiled at Brennault. "I look okay?"

Brennault returned the smile warmly, his face lighting up as he saw A'vel.

"You look wonderful," he said. "Absolutely perfect, actually."

"Let's go see the Hatching, then," he said, taking Brennault's hand
and escorting them to the stairs.

Tsogath checked in with the other dragons, and then he said, "Hey,
V'rel saved us a seat."

"Perfect!" said Brennault. "Let's not keep them waiting." He happily
followed, holding A'vel's hand.

----

The Hatching Cavern was filling quickly. The Candidates hadn't
appeared on the Sands yet, but weyrlingstaff members were arriving to
carry meat for the newly-Hatched, and there were Healers and other
support on the sidelines as well. In the Stands, weyr residents
alerted by the humming came in to find good seats and dragonriders
came escorting their attendees from the holds and halls. Without
anyone to go pick up, V'rel's job was to find enough room for four
regularly-ranked people.

His foot got trod on by a heavyset man wearing the knots of Topaz
Seahold. "Move out the way, I have to see my son!" the man shouted.
V'rel shook his head in a mixture of irritation and amusement. The
Candidates weren't out yet, the man didn't need to rush. But he
resolved to pay attention to where he was going, and find a spot maybe
less full of anxious parents.

There! A patch of seats higher up which wasn't full yet. He liked
being higher up to get a whole view of the Sands. He sat down
lengthwise across it to block it off, and grinned at another couple of
folk approaching. "For my family, but you can flank us," he said to
them.

Shards, but the Stands filled up fast. V'rel was listening to the
humming rising and beginning to wonder if the others were coming or
not when he saw A'vel come in with Brennault. "Hey there," he said,
moving his legs to give them room.

"Hey, yourself," Brennault grinned and sat down between V'rel and
A'vel. "Good to see you."

T'lin dropped off his passengers -- the wide-eyed parents of a
Candidate -- and headed up the stairs, scanning for his weyrmate. When
he spotted V'rel he waved and headed over to the row.

V'rel shifted over to make room for T'lin to sit, then he cuddled into
his weyrmate. "How'd the dropoff go?"

Brennault was rather pleased to be squeezed in among the lot of them
and rather excited to watch the Hatching besides. He turned to listen
to T'lin's tale.

"It went well. Glad I made it before the first egg cracked," T'lin
said. "For their sake and mine!"

“At least we’re all here, despite having to do all of our pickups,”
A’vel said. His hand itched to reach out and take Brennault’s. He
thought maybe he could, during the excitement of it all, if something
big happened. Instead, he started picking at the hem of his shirt.

“Do you need something to fidget with?” V’rel asked him.

A’vel blushed. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

The bluerider pulled something out of a pocket and handed it over. It
was thin yarn braided together into a long flat shape. “I make these
for myself. Or for people. Sometimes I give them as gifts - T’lin and
Dessa have a set I made. But sometimes I’ll just start braiding one
and unbraiding it for something to do with my hands. Go ahead, pick at
it.” He quickly undid the end and unraveled it partway so A’vel could
see.

A’vel looked down at it and thought he could see how this worked - and
it would keep his hands busy. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” V’rel said. “Now who wants to make some last-minute bets
before the Impressions start?”

"A blue first!" T'lin said with a laugh. Of course he was biased.

"That's a great sign!" V'rel agreed.

"Do any of you know anyone on the sands well?" A'vel asked.

"Minniki and Lairel are still Standing," T'lin said, naming two of his
and V'rel's friends. "And that little fellow there helped wash
Calaroth." He pointed out Furayl. "I like him."

}:I like him too. He glows bright even among the others,:{ Calaroth said.

"Well, you're right about that," said V'rel as he watched the first
few Impressions happened. He cheered as Lairel was one of the first to
walk off the Sands with a dragon. "Look at her go!"

"Calaroth is gloating about Furayl Impressing." T'lin had a wide smile
as his gaze darted across the Sands, trying to follow the action.

Suddenly dragons cried out in distress. Had one of the hatchlings
failed to Impress? Calaroth's agitated voice filled his mind. }:The
meat has been poisoned! Little ones, you must not eat!:{

"Poisoned?" The blood drained from T'lin's face.

"Poison?" Brennault pressed. He felt as though he had to do something,
help somehow. But how? What had even happened? What could he do?
"Where? What?"

Marvel cheeped in distress and scurried inside Brennault's shirt.

"Ach! Shhhite, Marvel, you're scratching me to shreds!" Brennault
could hardly ask ‘What's gotten into you?’ right after someone had
mentioned poison.

He showed images of baby dragons eating their usual meat and then
images of them lying on the ground, pale and lifeless. It was easy to
understand what had happened, but did that mean it was already too
late?

"Oh. Oh, no." He stroked the little bronze's head, trying to comfort
him. There was no keening yet. That was a good sign, at least.

A'vel shuddered and was suddenly extremely pale. He gripped
Brennault's hand. "The meat of the hatchlings was poisoned. At least
one is sick. I hope only one."

"They're going to have to get them fresh meat. Clean meat. And
quickly, before the dragonets become too weak without food to eat the
new meat."

The Weyrleader's bronze, eyes whirling red, suddenly took off, causing
gasps from the crowd.

T'lin frowned, his eyes unfocused. "Cal says he's getting fresh meat.
Crackdust, _what's_ going on?" Then his eyes widened and he grabbed
V'rel's arm. "He says Delorth is sick!" No, not sweet little Furayl!

"Is there anything we can do?" Brennault doubted it, but he could not
help but want to help anyway.

"No. The best we can do is stay calm and stay out the way. They're
going to cancel everything. The feast, the events. Send people home.
Don't know if more infiltrators will be in the way. Us dragonriders
will likely be assigned to take people home, possibly in set orders
and rotations," V'rel said, a hint of his father's authority slipping
into his tone.

A'vel looked at Brennault, Harper mind calculating. "Whenever you get
back, well...people trust runner stories. Anything you could say, the
cowardice of the poisoner, the risk to the heroic dragons.."

T'lin was trying to get more information out of Calaroth, but
everything was confusing. The Hatching was still going on and he
missed several Impressions. Of course they couldn't stop that, the
dragonets needed to find lifemates. "The Weyrdragonhealer is working
on Delorth. I think he was the only one that got poisoned." He
certainly hoped so!

"Poisoner... I'll do my best to tell the story," said Brennault. "I
can't believe anyone would try to kill a baby dragon..." It was
baffling that anyone would want to kill a dragon at all, let alone one
freshly hatched.

A'vel squeezed Brennault's hand. "Someone sick in the head, I guess."

V'rel took a deep breath. "Let's just see if anyone else we know Impresses."

The last few Impressions were made. "Oh! Irradis!" A moment of
happiness burst through T'lin's confusion and fear. "They're all
safely Impressed at least."

}:Delorth is okay. They got the bad meat out,:{ Calaroth said. }:He
has gone with his to the infirmary.:{

"Delorth is okay!" T'lin turned and hugged his weyrmate.

"They're all going to be fine!" V'rel kissed T'lin's cheek jubilantly.

"Good for Irradis," said A'vel.

"Shards I hope they figure out what happened," T'lin said as the crowd
began to shuffle around uncertainly.

"They will," said Brennault. "They'll get to the bottom of everything."

Last updated on the April 26th 2024

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