On the Wing

Writers: Chelle, Mirren
Date Posted: 4th July 2012

Characters: Chupsin, Alivya, X'cor
Description: They leave for their trip.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 9, day 4 of Turn 6

Sitting in the courtyard of the Hold, the big blue was waiting
patiently as a few people scuttled around him, packing his harness
with things. Bornath thought he was being quite patient since he had
long since become bored with this. }:Are we going now?:{

**Just a little bit** X'cor got the last carisak attached carefully to
the harness before turning to the travelers. He gave Chupsin a small
smile. "Allright healer, we're square. Mam-do you need help getting
up?" Turning to Alivya, he was quite respectful.

Alivya didn't hear at first, she was too distracted by the sight of an
actual dragon up this close! He was huge! "Oh... Yes please..." She
didn't know how she'd get on, even with help!

"Allright, he's going to put his leg here. You'll use that and the
straps to climb up. You sit behind the second neck ridge there see?"
Pointing it out, X'cor moved behind her. "I'll be right behind you to
catch you if you slip."

"Will I hurt him, by stepping on him?" Alivya asked, looking very
unsure. The last thing she wanted was to hurt any creature, especially
a dragon!

"Oh no ma'am. His hide is quite thick. He won't even hardly feel it."
She was small anyway, the dragonrider thought to himself.

Well, if the rider said so... Alivya stepped where he'd told her to,
although she teetered on the way up. The next thing she knew, she was
sitting on the back of an actual dragon!

X'cor smiled and came up beside her to help her get strapped in. Then
the rider came down to let the healer get himself up there. After
Chupsin was suitably behind Alivya, he got him strapped and took his
own spot. When they were all ready, the blue opened his wings and took
off, climbing to an optimum height. This trip had to be flown
straight. Smiling because he could guess at the reason, X'cor had
agreed. He owed Chupsin big-time anyway, so he wasn't going to tell
anyone.

Alivya was excited until the very moment they left the ground. From
that moment she was completely terrified. The higher they went, the
more scared she was. She was glad that she managed not to give in to
the urge to scream, but she did dissolve into tears. She screwed her
eyes shut, but she
grabbed Chupsin's hand, hung on tight and cried silently.

With as much noise as the wind made, Chupsin couldn't hear his bride's
crying. He did wrap his arms around her, though, pulling her into him.
It was cold with the wind, though they were dressed for it and it
wasn't as bad as /between/. The blue was also a lot faster than a
larger dragon would have been.

She leaned into him, hanging on for dear life. She didn't even dare to
take her hands off him to dash her tears away. She just screwed her
eyes shut and hoped it would soon be over. She also berated herself
for being so scared that she was wasting this chance. She'd always
wanted to
ride on a dragon and here she was- too terrified to care.

Flying straight took longer than a jump /between/ ever did, though.
Smiling as he felt her lean back into him, the healer continued to
provide her comfort. With the rocking motion of the flight, though, he
was beginning to find himself drowsy, despite the cold wind that bit
at his face outside the jacket hood.

There was no way she was going to sleep, but there was something else
she might do. "I don't feel so good," she called out over her
shoulder. She put a hand over her mouth. She didn't even want to think
about how humiliating vomiting on the dragon would be!

A confused look came over his face then he put two and two together.
With the movement and her pregnancy-Ah shells! Leaning up so that his
voice was in her ear, he spoke calmly. "Close your eyes. Breath
normally. Try to think about something soothing like the flowers in
our windowsill."

She closed her eyes tight and tried to breathe, but she felt worse.
The wind kept on taking her breath, making it harder still.

"Put your head down into your chest if you need to and your hands up
over your head," he said thinking of the women he'd seen with vertigo.
Of course he didn't have anything to dull her nausea where he could
just grab it.

She put her head down but she wasn't going to let go to put her arms
up! It made her feel a little better but not as good as getting off
the dragon would!

Thinking hard to anyone who would listen that he hoped he could get
through this ride without his wife throwing up onto the dragon and
possibly himself, Chupsin started to massage Alivya's back. Maybe if
she had something else to think about it would get her mind off of
feeling ill.

That actually did help. She managed to close her eyes, although she
couldn't forget how high up she was. She just wanted it to end!

Unfortunately for them, a straight flight was quite longer than a
flight with a /between/ jump. When they did finally circle to land,
though, Chupsin was quite glad of it. When the blue stopped moving, he
whispered in Alivya's ear. "We're here."

"Really?" She opened her eyes and looked around. The ground was
suddenly much closer. "Thank Faranth," she breathed.

"Do you need to sit for a moment before you get down?" He didn't know
if he trusted her just yet to be allright. X'cor had already
dismounted and saw the look from the healer before unpacking their
things.

"N...n...no, I just want to get off!" Alivya said, trying not to get
too visibly anxious. She never wanted to so much as see another
dragon, much less ride one ever again!

"Allright let me get down first and I'll help you." He sincerely hoped
the dragon hadn't heard her. The blue's feelings might be hurt and
then where would they be? Moving downward, he turned and put his arms
up to help her.

She nodded and hung on just as tightly as if they were still in the
sky. She could still fall off after all!

"Come on. I'll catch you." Thank Faranth she was nowhere near being
overly large yet. Chupsin was not prepared to try and catch a
seriously pregnant woman like this.

She gulped and swung one leg over. Taking a deep breath, she slid
down, reaching out with her hands to grab into him.

"There you go." Letting her get her bearings, it was a moment before
he released her. "I'll take care of the baggage. Do whatever you need
to though don't stay outside too long." The mountain air was fresh,
but it was certainly quite cool up where they were. The scenery was
amazing, however. Chupsin admired it for a moment as he waited to see
what she was going to do.

She nodded and with as much dignity as she could muster, disappeared
into the trees to bring up her breakfast.

Giving a shrug and a smile to X'cor, the healer started to bring
everything inside. He needed to inventory their supplies and get a
fire going quickly. "Thanks-we're square. See you in a sevenday."

Last updated on the July 17th 2012

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

On the Wing