A Bit of a Fall

Writers: Anna, Rochelle
Date Posted: 3rd December 2006

Characters: Kirranna, D'rue
Description: Kirra takes a spill after D'rue misjudges his throw of the bag of firestone.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 13 of Turn 4

Kirra wiped her brow. They had spent a long time practicing wing formations, and now the Weyrlings were throwing bags of firestone. She had been trying her hardest to be safe, her pregnancy was far enough along now that her stomach visably stuck out. So her throws weren't as hard as they could have been, and sometimes bags slipped through her hands when they came too fast and she didn't want to strain herself trying to catch them.

She was seriously considering asking to be excused when the bag knocked her shoulder unbalancing her already unsteady self, making her fall. She didn't fall hard, but it wasn't a soft fall either. She tried to unconciously land on her side, letting her body land in a roll from her hip to her shoulder, her hands instinctively around her rounding belly.
Her breath was pushed out of her momentarily with an "Oof" before she made a quick intake to recover the precious air she needed.

}:Kirra! Are you okay?:{ Toanith roared worriedly in her little dragonette way. She had been laying in the sun with the other young dragons while their lifemates threw firestone, but was now hurrying over to the young woman curled up on the ground.

Kirra did her best to calm her mind, **Yes Toanith, I just fell over. I'm okay. I'll be fine.**

D'rue was mortified. He'd been nervous about throwing firestone to the other weyrling -it seemed wrong to expect a pregnant woman to catch them.
Then he had discovered they were heavy enough that _he_ was having problems, and had thrown that last bag too hard!

"Are you all right?" He asked anxiously, unsure of whether to be more worried about the young woman or the green dragonet that was hurrying toward her.

Kirra nodded, "I think so..." she uncurled herself and pushed herself up onto her elbows. She looked at the little green approaching, **Toanith, calm down.**

The little green stopped next her rider, looked her over to make sure there were no visible hurts and then turned to the weyrling that had thrown the bag. }:He hurt you! He could have hurt your little one inside!:{ the green's eyes swirled with anger at D'rue.

Kirra crawled as quickly as she could to her little green. She threw her arms around the dragonette's neck, holding her back. **Calm down Toanith!** she changed her tome to that of calm assurance, **I'm fine, see?** the weyrling pulled her green's head around so that the swirling eyes looked into her's. **See, I'm fine.**

The green clearly calmed down, Kirra rubbed her eye ridges to keep the little gragon distracted, "I'm sorry, she's particularly deffensive of me." she pat her dragon's head and gestured for her to go lay down with the other young dragons.

A weyrling staff assistant hurried over to the two weyrlings, Kirra still on the ground. "Are you okay?" the greenrider asked the fallen weyrling.

Kirra nodded, "I think so," she smiled weakly.

The weyrling staff assistant raised her eyebrow, "Well, I think you should go visit the infirmary, just in case. I guess you won't be participating in the firestone throwing drills any more."

Kirra sighed in acceptance, "Okay." The Weyrling staff assistant gestured for D'rue help Kirra up.

"Take Kirra to the infirmary and then report back here D'rue."

D'rue nodded as he gingerly helped Kirra to her feet, sparing an anxious glance over at Wisarth. The little brown was asleep in the sun, completely unperturbed by his rider's anxiety. D'rue felt his heart soften at the sight of his lifemate. Never had he dreamed... He turned back to Kirranna.

"I am sincerely sorry for that." He apologized. "I'm not used to the weight, and I'm afraid I overcompensated. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Kirra nodded in understanding, "I'm not quite used to this weight," she put a hand on her stomach, "I probably wouldn't have fallen if I wasn't already so unbalanced as it is." She put a hand on one of his arms as they started off. She winced slightly as she felt a sharp pain run through the side of her hip that had hit the ground.

"Are you sure you're all right?" He asked with concern. Automatically, he adjusted his stance so that she could lean on him if she needed to, and so that he could catch her if necessary. He was suddenly grateful to his early training in hold diplomacy -his mind was whirling, and he wasn't quite sure what he should be doing. After all, it was his fault she'd been hurt.

Kirra leaned into him, his strength supporting hers for a moment as she regained her balance. "Yes, I think I just banged up the side of my hip is all. It'll just be a little painful, then a bruise, then a bad memory."
She tried to smile reassuringly, but wasn't quite sure it was convincing.

"I'll have to have someone make sure the baby is okay." she thought aloud as she made her way gingerly up one of the many flights of stairs that would get them to the infirmary. She didn't think anything was wrong but she thought it would be a good idea to check any way. She didn't consider the fact that she had just said it though to the person that felt guilty for her falling over.

**Shards!** D'rue swallowed. If he'd hurt her baby... "I'm so sorry." He repeated, not sure what else he should be saying. He'd knocked her over, left her with bruises, and possibly hurt her baby... "I hope the baby's all right." He said worriedly. "I... can't tell you how sorry I am for that. I guess... weaving didn't build my strength any, did it?" He nearly kicked himself. He was rambling, shardit!

Kirra smiled at his apologies patting his arm that her hand was on, "Honestly D'rue, I think I'm okay. And I'm pretty sure that nothing happened to the baby. I was just talking to myself, I didn't mean to make you worry." she smiled more at his nervous rambling. She made a show of feeling his biceps as she held onto him for support, "No...I think you're perfectly strong," she scrunched her nose good humorly, "It's just your aim we need to work on."

He smiled faintly. "Perhaps you're right." He agreed, shoving his anxious embarrassment to the side. He'd made enough of a fool of himself... He ran through several topics of conversation, dismissed asking who the father was as too rude, and settled on weyrlinghood as a safe topic. "Did you think you'd Impress?"

Kirra looked at him, "Well I was pretty confident." she decided the weaver wasn't a horrid gossip, "My Weyrmate, the father of my baby," she put her hand on her stomach, "Z'al, his dragon Nyinth sired the clutch. I guess it was silly but I felt a sort of special connection with the eggs in a way, even if it _was_ vicariously." she smiled as she remembered, "I was the first candidate to get to see the eggs. I remember having this maternal connection with the queen, both of us waiting for our children to be born." she shrugged, "I don't know, I just felt optimistic." She came back from her reverie, "What about you, did you think you'd Impress?"

**Z'al? Weyrmated to the rider who's dragon who _sired_ the clutch?**
D'rue blinked in surprise, and fervently hoped that Kirra was okay or he was certain someone would have his hide. But he did't let it show as he answered. "No, I didn't dare hope. I've..." He hesitated, then continued with something a little different than he'd intended. "...never really had that kind of luck to expect it."

Kirra frowned a moment, "Well that's silly, your luck seems fine to me. I mean look at what happened today." she was completely serious, she wouldn't have gotten to get to know D'rue as well as she had with out the fall. She had always thought she needed more friends and he seemed like a trustworthy person, if not a little jumpy.

"I'm not sure I would call knocking you over good luck." He admitted. "It seems more like bad luck to me. Even Wisarth..." He smiled softly to himself. He always seemed to do that when he thought of his lifemate now... "I had a horrible hangover when I Impressed, and once we got out of the hatching cavern I had to explain headaches to him." No need to go further into the details...

Kirra smiled at his responce, "I call it good luck," she looked at him, "cuz I got a chance to get to know you. I've always wanted more friends."
Even pregnant, Kirra was still beautiful, so the bright smile she gave him was just as gorgeous as it had always been. "Try to explain being pregnant to a dragonette."

He smiled. "That could be quite the challenge." He admitted, wondering how you _would_ try to explain that... "And friends are a good thing to have.
But I don't believe being knocked down is necessarily the best way to get to know someone." In the hold or the hall, it would have led to an apology at best, and animosity at worst. But... "Are you weyrbred?"

The young woman shook her head, "Nope, but I grew up at the Dolphin Hall, so I was pretty close by, much more open minded there than at other halls."

He nodded in understanding. "That seems like it would be an advantage here." He admitted politely. "I was holdbred before apprenticing to the weavers, and it has been... interesting."

Kirra smiled and nodded, "I bet it has. I'm sure if I was back at your hall I'd be shunned imensely for having a child at my age, _and_ out of wedlock." she shook her head recalling her father's reaction to her news.
Her hip was feeling a bit better so she walked a bit easier as they drew closer to the infirmary. "Of course I don't think there _would_ be any female apprentices at the hall, right?" she wasn't sure if the weaver hall was as closed minded as some of the other halls.

D'rue shook his head slightly, more to shake out disturbing images than to answer her question. "No, there aren't." He admitted. Most of the women on the staff were fairly competant at weaving, and some were really good, but they weren't allowed to apprentice. It was unthinkable -he'd never really thought about it until he came to the weyr. He felt vaguely guilty about that now, but he didn't want to say anything. "Emerald Falls generally discourages that sort of thing."

"Mmhm" Kirra murmered in understanding. It wasn't the first time Kirra heard of people who Impressed from very conservative halls or holds and had an odd time adjusting. "Well, if you ever need any tips on how to deal with the oddities of the Weyr just let me know." she smiled brightly to show her sincerety of the invitation and that she was also being kinda silly.

They were entering the last hall that led to the infirmary and Kirra was quite confident that she would be leaving it shortly after entering, just becasue she felt sure that she was alright. It was better to be safe than sorry though.

D'rue recognized the hallway, and tried not to think about the last time he'd been down it. He had no intentions of ever getting food poisoning again if he could help it... "Thank you. I may take you up on that offer."
He admitted. "The weyr is just so..." There was no diplomatic way to put it. "...strange."

Kirra smiled at his word choice, "Yes, I bet it is." They reached the infirmary at that and Kirra entered with a sure stride, even if she winced slightly sometimes. She saw an apprentice and got her attention, "Excuse me but could you check if Healer Coriat is here? It's an urgent matter.
Tell him Kirranna is asking for him."

The apprentice ran off with the message and promptly returned, "Healer Coriat is in his office and currently does not have an appointment. He says that if it's urgent you can, of course, come in." the apprentice smiled at the two weyrlings before turning away to attend to someone else.

Kirra looked a D'rue and patted his arm, "If you wouldn't mind walking me to the healer I'd appreciate it. I think I'll be okay from there."

He inclined his head, a gesture he made just a shade less formal than a bow, trying to recover his manners -and his dignity. One of the apprentices was frowning at him as if they remembered him. He hoped it wasn't the one who'd had to clean out his bucket... "Of course, Lady Kirra."

Kirra rolled her eyes and smiled, "None of that D'rue, we're friends now remember?" She let go of his arm as they came to the office door, "Go tend to your dragonette, and if you wouldn't mind keeping an eye on my Toanith, I'd very much appreciate it. You don't need to hover over her, but if you could just make sure she doesn't get into any trouble, that would be great." she winked and smiled.

He wondered how he was supposed to watch Toanith if the little green still remembered to be upset with him, then decided not to dwell on it. So far it seemed as if the dragonettes got into whatever trouble they felt like unless their lifemates told them otherwise, but..."I'll do my best."

Last updated on the December 7th 2006

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A Bit of a Fall