DCW: Part of the Sea

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 26th May 2007

Characters: Ylisahn, N'com
Description: N'com finds Ylisahn sitting on the stairs watching the water.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 19 of Turn 4
Notes: Ylisahn's Storm 08 - Water breaches sandbagging

Could of died.

Ylisahn didn't know who had said it but it had been bandied around above
her on the stairs a few times since she scrambled out of the flood.
Most ridiculously she wanted to correct the grammar. Could _have_ died,
she wanted to say, but did it matter? The meaning was there and it was
true. She and Narrala could have died.

Drowning in the dark vastness of the dining cavern would have been one
thing - and it was the only thought she could face - but there had been
the possibility they might be swept with the water as it ...

As her thoughts skittered away from that terror she thought about it a
different way, wondering how far the water had gone. Rushing
dragonlength after dragonlength through the corridors and caverns that
led off from the dining cavern. The kitchens, then the food storerooms.
She imagined them half full of water.

Tian's cooler unit up on its inadequate blocks of stone.

Perhaps the door seals on the cooler had prevented water getting in
there, but she wasn't sure now. She hadn't been prepared for so much
water. Not in her wildest imaginings.

"It _is_ high here, isn't it?" A bluerider tromped down the steps,
shaking his head, his mouth slack in surprise at what he viewed. "I
wasn't expecting. . . don't think anyone was expecting."

"I wasn't," Ylisahn said, her voice shaking. "We've never had this much
water in here." Never so much that people had to swim around the dark
dining cavern in amongst tables and storm wrack and who knew what else.

He sank down to sit on the stairs near her, staring down at the dark
water. "Has the water level gone down at all?"

"No. Just stopped rushing so fast." She added, almost to herself: "I
can't believe there's so much water in the _world._"

"It definitely is more than I've ever seen indoors," he agreed. "Though
from my peeks outside, it's too windy and wet to see where land ends and
sea begins."

"I think this is part of the sea, now. Like the caves around the
coast." That saddened her. This was their _home._ What if it the water
never retreated?

"So this is like an extremely high tide. Hopefully the water level will
go down soon." He squinted toward the water, something darker upon it.
"What..." His voice trailed off as his mind registered what it was seeing.

Ylisahn leapt to her feet, for a moment not certain whether she was
going to run away from or toward the eerie sight in ragged patch of
glowlight on the water below them.

The light of the glows fell on the slack face of a woman, eyes wide open
and oblivious to the water splashing over them.

"Nothing to be done," the bluerider spoke softly, knowing as he said
them that the words were probably unnecessary. "Later... recovery of
the remains will come later."

The body was gone, pushed past the lighted area by the movement of water
and Ylisahn found herself crouched down on the stairs, sobbing wildly,
not sure what it was that was making her cry. Her inability to recover
the body? That there was a body? Her own experiences in the water ...
the fact that it could have her body bobbing around in the flood
waters? The loss of the lower caverns - that had only so recently
become her domain - to the waters. Her fear that she hadn't done enough
to prepare.

He did not know the woman - she looked familiar, but at the moment he
could not recognize where he had seen this wet and bedraggled woman.
What he did recognize was her pain, a pain that he could feel deep down
inside, though he had not given himself over to it. That pain, that
shared pain, guided his actions. He put his arms around her and pulled
her to him, holding her close and gently caressing her hair. He did not
tell her that all would be fine, because right now he could not bring
himself to believe that. However, he could hold her and hope that he
could comfort her in some way - and feel that he was not the only live
person remaining as he did so.

When the wave of sobbing eased, Ylisahn found herself in the arms of the
man who had been on the stairs beside her. "I'm sorry. I didn't -" She
pulled away a little and sniffed. "I have a handkerchief somewhere,"
she said, trying to find the pocket in her trousers, finding that very
practical task easier to fix upon than anything else.

"If you find it, it'll be too wet to use." He pinched the shoulder of
her garment between his fingers. "Were you actually in the water?"

"Y-yes." Ylisahn sniffed again, straightening up a little and wiping the
tears from one eye and then the other. "We swam. Narrala and I. When
-" she nodded at the water in the patch of glowlight, "- that came in."

The bluerider stared at the water below them, not as swift as before but
still rushing past and hitting against walls and barriers. "That? You
swam through that?" He shoved aside the thought of what could have
happened, his wonder that she had managed to find a place to clutch on
in relative safety. "Did your friend make it?"

"Yes." They had reason to be thankful. She took a deep breath and held
onto that thought. "Yes, she did." She eased out of the man's arms. "I
suppose I'd better get on with - with everything."

"Not yet. Before you do anything else, you'll need some dry clothes.
Where's your weyr?"

Ylisahn glanced at the water. "Down there."

"As are the storerooms." He rose and held out a hand to her. "Well, my
weyr isn't under water, so for now we'll see what we can find there
that's drier than what you're wearing now."

The bedraggled, tear-stained Headwoman took his hand and got to her
feet. "That sounds nice," she admitted in a small voice, grateful for
the offer and hoping that getting rid of the wet clothing would get rid
of the memories, even if just for a while.
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Last updated on the May 27th 2007

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DCW: Part of the Sea