Tragic News is Delievered

Writers: Miriah, Ames
Date Posted: 1st July 2014

Characters: D'hol, Gelira, K'tar (NPC)
Description: Gelira gets news of Z'an's death.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 17 of Turn 7

D'hol

If there was anything else that D'hol could have been doing instead of
sitting and waiting for the young woman, he would be. Shards, he'd
rather have a meaningful conversation with N'vanik rather than be here
right at this moment. He sat, waiting for the assistant weyrling
master to arrive with Gelira so he could bring her the news of her
child's father. He knew little about her, other than what Z'an had
told him before he had breathed his last. He exhaled slowly, his
muscles tight with the anticipatory strain.

Gelira had been surprised with K'tar had come to get her from classes
for an urgent matter. Frowning as she followed the the weyrling staff
assistant, she fretted as to what might be an issue. She knew it
wasn't Charayoth. She would have known if something was amiss with her
own dragon. It couldn't be her father. Buddy would have come to tell
her if something was wrong with Y'gel. Buddy had been busy with his
new firelizard friend and hadn't been around much anyhow.

Waddling after K'tar, Gelira wanted to press him for information, but
when she had tried, he'd just pressed his lips together and shook his
head. Whatever it was it was serious. Running her hand along her
belly, she felt the babe move. That alone reassured her for the
moment. The babe would arrive soon. The healers felt it could happen
anytime now, but they had estimated another two sevendays.

When the door opened, Gelira waddled into the room, casting her eyes
around until they landed on a man she didn't quite recognize.
Frowning, she found herself more confused than ever.

K'tar gestured towards a chair. "Please sit Gelira. This is D'hol.
Wingleader from Dolphin Cove."

"Dolphin Cove?" She queried, her heart starting to beat faster. Had
something happened to Z'an? Why else would someone from Dolphin Cove
come to see her. Was he sick? Hurt? She wouldn't be able to travel to
him now and if he couldn't travel he might miss the birth of his
child. She turned worried and questioning eyes to the man sitting
across from her.

D'hol turned to her and glanced at her swollen abdomen before returning
his eyes back to her face. She was younger than he expected. Pressing his
lips tightly for a moment, he took a breath and began. There was no easy
way to go about doing this somber duty. "Weyrling Gelira, I'm afraid I have
some bad news to deliver. Yesterday during Fall, Z'an and Vicarth were
severely injured." He reached over and took her hand, opening it to press
a set of brown knots into her palm. "They did not survive. Before Z'an passed,
he asked that his belongings be brought to you to use as you saw fit to
help raise your babe."

She simply blinked at him, then stared down at the knots that were now
pressing into her hand. She looked back up at him, her mouth moving
but not making a sound. "Wha...what? You mean he's gone? For real?"
She couldn't take in what he was saying. It was too surreal. She
blinked and looked down at the knots in her hand again. "No." She
shook her head back and forth and pressed the knots back at D'hol.
"Tell Z'an this isn't funny. Give these back to him." She was trying
to make D'hol take the knots back from her even as tears started to
fall from her eyes.

D'hol's jaw twitched at the denial, but he took her hand and pressed her
fingers around the knots. "He's gone. This isn't a joke or a prank, I don't
think even Z'an would have gone this far. And you don't either. These, "
he pushed her hand back towards her, "are yours or your babe's. I brought
his things with me. K'tar here says he can keep them in storage until
you have a weyr of your own." He removed his hand from his. "We all
felt his loss."

"I..I," Gelira fumbled for words. She'd known that Z'an wouldn't have
done such a cruel trick, but she didn't want to accept that what this
rider told her was the truth.

Pulling her hand back she stared down at the knots that laid in her
palm. It was then that the tears truly fell. Quietly at first, but
then with more force until they turned into sobs. She drew the knots
up to her face as though holding them there would allow her to see
Z'an standing before her again.

Choking on her sobs, she was lost in a sea of memories, ignoring the
two men around her for some time.

K'tar, meanwhile, had his own dragon closely monitoring Charayoth. The
little green was confused and uncertain as she couldn't understand
what her rider was going through and couldn't reach her the way she
normally could. Thankfully K'tar's dragon was able to keep the little
green calm enough to not do anything rash until they could assist the
young weyrling through this ordeal.

She looked up at D'hol finally, and stated. "Tell me exactly what
happened. I want to know. I _need_ to know." Her red-rimmed eyes, now
puffy from her tears stared almost unseeing into his eyes.

His lips thinned as he considered her request. Z'an's death hadn't
been a pleasant
one and she was taking the news hard enough. But, if she knew how he
died, perhaps
the girl would accept it better. "Vicarth had caught a blue that had
been Threaded badly.
When they /betweened/ back to the wings, they came out in a clump of
thread." His jaw
twitched. He'd not seen in personally, but several dragons had and had
shared the images
with Yumath. "Vicarth had it wrapped around him and some of the
strands severed Z'an's straps.
He fell and Vicarth was too injured. He /betweened/. A green rider
caught Z'an, but he fell
badly." He took a slow breath wondering how much to tell and how much
detail. "His spine
was broken."

He looked at Gelira and then spoke softly. "After the Fall, he had to
be sedated. The Healers
told him that he would never feel below the waist, would never walk
again and would
need intense care. With the loss of Vicarth, he asked me for mercy and
I gave it." He
didn't feel any regret or shame over his actions, but hoped now that
this girl had Impressed,
she would understand why Z'an would not have wanted to live. "But
before he did, he spoke
to me of you."

Her hand flew to her mouth as a gasping sob escaped her. Z'an had
lived _after_ the loss of Vicarth. Such a fate worse than death to a
dragonrider. Her eyes closed as she listened to the gruesome details.
Tears continued to fall, leaving trails along her face. She manged to
hold most of her sobs at bay while D'hol spoke. She knew they would
come, hard and steady later. She could hold on just a bit longer. She
could. It was taking almost all her strength to do so, but she was
managing for now.

So many questions. So much left unsaid. She fixated on a few things
from D'hol's words. Through gritted teeth she managed to hoarsely ask,
"What happened to the blue they tried to help?" She knew it was
probably the last question anyone would have expected, but it was
something she felt she _had_ to know.

"C'don and Rimentath will heal eventually. Rimentath was badly
injured, but he'll live to fly again after a couple of months in the
infirmary. Z'an saved their lives."

That news brought a new wave of tears. It was what she had hoped to
hear, but hearing it just brought home the pain of her loss all that
much harder. Z'an was a hero, but in doing so, he'd lost his life. Her
hand slid to her abdomen. She would tell their child just how much of
a hero Z'an had been in the last moment's of his life.

"Tha...thank you," Gelira manged through her tears. "I needed to know that."

She intended to ask further questions when she paused and leaned
forward. Her hand seemed to press against her very pregnant belly as
she let out a gasp and breath. Gelira's eyes, wet with tears still
streaming down her face, opened in shock at the sensations she was
feeling.

Last updated on the July 5th 2014

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Tragic News is Delievered