Post by Zen on Jul 13, 2021 3:38:18 GMT -5
In response to Claiming the Crown
A’zael was in his office when Fath’s attention was suddenly and completely taken in a way only flights ever affected the bronze, and if Fath was going to chase then…. He stood quickly, reaching into his bond with his dragon to figure out which gold was rising, which goldrider would shortly be Mavros’s new Weyrwoman, for it couldn’t be Zalmaranth, could it? She had risen predictably so far, and it was too early for her. Fath was winging his way up from their weyr as Sularenth began blooding. Sularenth. A’zael groaned in the back of his throat as he hurried from his weyr and toward the one that Melana and Srunae shared. He could only hope that perhaps Melana’s disdain for him might actually help him out and keep her dragon from letting Fath catch her. It really dawned on him that he might have a real chance to escape being Weyrleader as he stepped into Melana’s weyr, but Fath’s lust was infecting him quickly and there was little more time to think about such trivial matters when there was a gold to chase.
Sularenth finally took to the air and Fath followed after her in a pack of several males, but Fath had eyes only for Sularenth, the other males mattered not. However, before the chase had gone far a roar echoed, furious, and A’zael came back to himself for a moment as both dragon and rider were startled. Someone was screaming. Through Fath he saw her, Zalmaranth, and it was like his blood had turned to ice. No, no…. He closed his eyes, watching through Fath, feeling helpless. They couldn’t lose two golds. Should he try to press Fath to intervene? But that could very well get his dragon killed as well.
The golds collided as the males scattered to avoid their wrath, and A’zael could only try his best not to get caught up in Fath’s panic. No, he didn’t think Fath would make much headway if he tried to get the bronze to separate the golds, and they’d need help from the other bronzes, and who was in any state for such coordination right now? He cursed in frustration, but mercifully the fight didn’t last long. Suddenly Zalmaranth was falling. He nearly tried to send Fath to catch her, but then the gold was gone and a keening erupted around the Weyr, reverberating through the caverns. Zalmaranth was dead.
Fath hovered, sad, confused, still wanting Sularenth. It was too much. A’zael stumbled back a step just as Gamath swooped in to claim the wounded gold, and Fath left the two in a somber mood. It was probably the first time after Fath had failed in a chase that A’zael had no desire to find a partner to satisfy any lingering lust. There was nothing lingering. Only the reality that Zalmaranth was dead, they’d lost a gold, and… Karredy. He was the first to leave the weyr, not even registering the change in leadership that had just occurred. He headed for Karredy’s weyr in long strides, not quite running, but only just.
He didn’t stop to knock, and in fact the door was already open. He pushed inside and heard someone sobbing, assuming it would be Karredy, after having lost her dragon. He was hardly expecting to find her sister Gisellaine there, cradling the younger woman’s body near the weyr ledge. He stood there for a moment, trying to make sense of it. Had Karredy fainted? “Gisellaine…?”
The greenrider’s head snapped back to look at him, tears streaming down her face as she could barely form coherent words through her sobs, “She’s gone… Zal… and she… collapsed… she’s not… breathing… A’zael!” She sobbed his name like a desperate sort of plea, as though he might be able to save her, to bring her back.
He may not have wanted Karredy as Mavros’s Weyrwoman anymore, but that didn’t mean he’d wanted this. Before he could respond, Alinara rushed into the room, spotting A’zael first, “Gamath asked me to come I-” the woman stopped beside him as she noticed Gisellaine with Karredy’s body.
“She’s… not breathing,” A’zael murmured, parroting what Gisellaine had told him, feeling in a daze as he looked over at the woman.
Alinara didn’t waste anymore time with him, hurrying forward and coaxing Karredy from her sister’s arms, checking her pulse, and sitting back for a moment in silence at what she found while the greenrider begged the healer woman to help her sister. Right, Alinara was a healer. No wonder she'd been asked to come. Her words were soft as she reached over to take the other woman’s hands gently in her own, “I’m so sorry, Gisellaine.” This only served to make the greenrider’s sobbing more hysterical and A’zael felt like he was intruding, slowly backing away until he turned and headed from the weyr, trusting Alinara to do… whatever ought to be done right now. He sure as shells didn’t know.
Closing the door to the weyr behind him, he stood there, leaning back against it, trying to process the chaos that had just happened. The rest of the Weyr would be too… wouldn’t they? It started to dawn on him as well that he was no longer Weyrleader. Who had caught Sularenth? Right. Gamath.
Gamath.
He breathed a soft sigh of relief that at least the new Weyrleader was B’rax. He would know how to handle this. He would… be preoccupied with Melana right now. With another, far less relieved sigh, he pushed away from the door. Karredy was dead, their new weyrleaders were in the process of… consummating their new positions, and he was… he could still do something, until B’rax was able to take over properly. Numbly, he made his way back to his weyr, where he found Srunae already waiting for him. Giving her a weak a smile, he pulled her into his arms, thankful it hadn’t been Danovelith that had risen, Danovelith that had been drawn into a fight with Zalmaranth, Danovelith that he was pretty sure would have lost to the much larger gold. “I’m… going to need your help,” he told her softly as he prepared to give the Weyr the news about Karredy in B’rax’s stead.
