Water please

Writers: April, Eimi
Date Posted: 19th September 2005

Characters: Z'al, Karaleigh
Description: Z'al wakes and is helped and visited by Karaleigh.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 7, day 5 of Turn 3

Z'al had awoken thirsty. his throat was parched and he was having a bit of trouble getting attention. He grimaced at his own croaking voice and then grunted and grunted a bit more as his frown hurt his scoring on his cheek. "Excuse me, " He finely croaked out.

"What do you need, brownrider?" a voice gently asked.

"Water please." He managed. His jaw was a bit soar, but that was to be expected his friend had informed him. The left side of his face had seen better days. He knew he had been in the infirmary for a while. To long by his own reckoning.

"Of course," Karaleigh as she poured a glass from the pitcher kept at his bedside. "Can you sit up, or do you need a straw?"

"I'll try," He tried to and ended up unable to. His face felt a bit warm and hurt more than it had before. "Straw." He closed his eyes a bit. Joziah had been sure he was healing well. If that was the case why did his face hurt so.

The harper slipped a straw into the cup and held it close enough for the rider to get into his mouth. "Don't worry. You'll be up and about before you know it."

He sipped and tried a nod. It didn't work to well and he ended up wincing in pain. "Thank you. I'm Z'al by the way. Rider if brown Nyinth."

"I'm Karaleigh, journeyman harper," she said with a sympathetic smile. "I'm the one who teaches the children to sing their ballads very badly."

"My sisters speak of you. Ada loves to be in there. She has a lovely voice." He smiled. His sisters had been spending a lot of time in the infirmary with him.

Karaleigh was surprised and a bit touched. "Ada is your sister? So I suppose that would make Leeda your sister as well?"

"Yes, she is, I hope they are good for you. Don't let them give you any lip." He smiled as best he could.

"I don't think they _could_," Karaleigh said with a fond smile. "They are both much too sweet for that."

"That's good. Ada loves singing. She wants to be a harper, though she wouldn't admit it." He loved to hear her voice. absently he reached up to scratch his left check and met with the bandages that wrapped that side of his face. He made a sharp intake of breath as the slight pressure brought pain to it.

"Itches, does it?" she asked sympathetically. "You might not want to scratch at it. It would only scar more. I'm sure the healers can give you something to relieve that."

"It just hurts more today then it did yesterday. I will have my healer friend check it." He sighed a bit. "What do you think of Ada?"

Kaaleigh honestly like the girl. Though she had a mischievous gleam in her eye, Ada always tried her best. "She's very smart. She'll be graduating soon. I think she'll have no problem finding a craft."

"Good. She wants to continue in the harper craft. Do you think she would be able to? She really wants to." He wanted her to follow at least one of her dreams. "Leeda just wants to be a rider like Kiada and me."

"Oh, I think so," Karaleigh said with a bright smile. She had a feeling that girl could do anything if she put her whole heart into it. "Do you think she wants to specialize in vocals? Or in general?"

"I think she enjoys the singing most." He answered with a slow small smile.

"Well, certainly she can find someone who would be happy to train her voice. Not to say that her voice isn't already nice, but vocal training would take it to a whole new level."

"Yes it would. And it will be good to have something other than fishermen and dragonriders in the family."

"That is the first complaint I've heard about life on the sea. It would not have suited you?"

"My father said I always had my head in the clouds." He chuckled, and then groaned at the pain in the scoring on his chest.

"Do you want me to get the healer, Z'al?" she asked worriedly. Karaleigh had be come all to familiar with the look of pain on a person's since the fatal Fall.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps you'd better. I 'm not sure, but I think I may need checked." he took a slight breath.

"All right, I will go find one." Karaleigh gave the brownrider a light pat on his shoulder. "Don't worry, this is only temporary. You will be better before you know it." With that, she left him to find a healer to relieve his pain.

Last updated on the September 20th 2005

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Water please