Homecoming: Aleda & G'tet; P'nset & Rosie

[Omnia Munda]

OOC: If everyone goes along we'll start with G'tet, Aleda and J'fel; then do Rosie, P'nset and J'fel if Pan comes around. M'sella and J'fel will go in separate scene. Hope this is equally confusing for everyone. XD


The picture they'd been given of Telgar Weyr burst into color and motion as Sarjenth, Josteth and Kalpeth emerged from the black between into the crisp morning sky. A sleek green, her minted hide limned with silver like a cloud against the rising sun, was soaring from a former perch high on the wall of the bowl toward her ledge below. As she stretched out her paws to alight, her slender rider tugged off a rider's cap to let long hair fly free.

The watchdragon was already sending up the word of the arrivals. Three they were, two browns and a green, with five riders between them: Aleda and G'tet on Kalpeth, P'nset and the blinking, dumbfounded Rosie on Sarjenth, and the Igenite M'sella astride Josteth. Although there were still dragons missing, there was joy enough in the watchpair's greeting: the man raised his arms in a hearty two-handed wave, while his blue conveyed great happiness to have home at least some fraction of the group who had been missing so long.

It was inevitable, of course; as soon as the watchdragon laid eyes and mind upon them, this was certain to happen. Land and send your riders to the council room. Kalpeth, yours first. Whether Jordeth's calm command meant her rider particularly, or both of the people that were astride her, he did not specify. Sarjenth, have yours get his bearings and join us in a third of an hour.

He was measuring the situation even as he emerged from his weyr to the low weyrleader's ledge, the better to eye the dragons who arrived. And you, he sent to Josteth, the words ripe with unpicked curiosity. Welcome to Telgar Weyr. Mine would see yours alone, in an hour's time. The guest weyrs are yours to choose from until then.

Within, J'fel did up buttons on his shirt, slipped on a jacket against the bitter chill of an autumn morn. The sky smelled like snow these days, and every morning the white had crept farther down the high peaks of the mountains that rose majestic north of the Weyr. Four months, he thought, and smiled a sad smile, for Jordeth had told him indeed that only two they expected had returned - and a stranger with them. Ugh. Just what I need, another Weyr involved.

He left his weyr for the council room, hoping that at least what small part of his party had returned came bearing news of their companions - and answers. He grew tired of holding the holds and halls at bay, but worse was the strain within his weyr's own walls. Within the council room he paused, turning his back to the long, polished table, and looked up at the great portrait of the Weyrleader M'tani that hung there.

Telgar's cursed with hard decisions, thought the boy weyrleader, then turned around to meet his prodigal riders and their new companions.

[Invisible]

G’tet slid off Kalpeth quickly and then held his hand out for Aleda. As he did so Kalpeth relayed the message from Jordeth. “Ahh. And we’re summoned by J’fel. Not even a chance to wash up or visit family. Duty calls.” As soon as Aleda was off he undid straps releasing supplies to be picked up by someone else and sent Kalpeth to the feeding ground. I am starving! She told G’tet and then left him to find the weyrleader on his own.

There were a few welcomes for her from other dragons but she ignored them in favor of Josteth telling the brown Come! We’ll eat. You must be hungry too. He was clearly her prize to be showed off until she forgot all about him. G’tet chuckled and shook his head. “Poor guy won’t know what hit him and by the time he does it’ll be too late cause she’ll have forgotten all about him.” He looked to Aleda as he spoke and finally pulled his mind from Kalpeth’s to really study the Caminar woman. “You doing ok, Aleda?”

[Alsivor]

Taking G'tet's hand, Aleda swung off of Kalpeth and stumbled just a little as she hit the ground. She gave the greenrider a grateful smile for the supporting hand. "As it has for the last few days," she said with her customary humor at least, intact, though she felt strangely heavy, fatigued.

Aleda squeezed G'tet's hand gently. "And she'll be sweet to him again just like it was the first time," the sabedoria said with a little chuckle and tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. "I feel as if I could sleep for a week, to be honest, G'tet," she admitted and slipped her fingers from his, only to slide them along his arm to tuck her hand in around his elbow in friendly fashion. "Let's go get this chat with J'fel over with, shall we?"

[Invisible]

There was something different in the air and G’tet couldn’t make sense of it until a cold breeze whirled around the bowl and past him. Shivering he stopped and looked around. “Is it- How long?” They had been gone a day. Day and a half? The events at the hold had moved quickly and it had only been a day. But why did it feel like fall?

Without thinking he used the hand on his arm to pull Aleda closer to him as he looked around again. “Why is it so cold? It was still summer when we left. What in Faranth’s name is going on?” He was moving again, this time faster and willing to drag Aleda along if she did not elect to keep up. “We were only gone a day,” he told himself more than the Caminar he was with.

[Alsivor]

The shift in the weather struck Aleda at the same time and she sniffed the air, stood up a little straighter, turned to look up at the towering peaks of the mountains where snow lay heavy and thick, then across the Bowl seeking out the Caminar encampment. Her dark eyes returned to G'tet, thoughtful. "Only a few days, no? But the snow ..." her brows furrowed deeply and she leaned in against the greenrider mindless of propriety.

About the same time he started to move on, she tugged at his arm and turned her feet towards the meeting place. "We need to talk to J'fel," she said firmly, spine straightening once more, chin lifting. They needed answers, to sort out what had happened while they were gone, what had /changed/.

[Invisible]

“He better not keep us long,” G’tet nearly growled. Nearly only because unlike his twin he was quite fond of the weyrleader and his handsome, charming ways. “I need to check on Genet. Faranth knows what trouble she got into- If anything happened to her he’ll be sorry.” He echoed the words she’d said so many times since he’d disappeared before the hatching. Kal? I’m eating. The green was currently snout deep in herdbeast and not prepared to be done but she let her rider distract her with conversation at least.

Ask Gimmath or Brarth to ask their riders if Genet’s ok. I’m eating she repeated as she tore a haunch off the deceased beast and chewed noisily. Kal! G’tet repeated more firmly. Fine. But I am eating.

Meanwhile G’tet and Aleda hurried across the bowl to make their way to the council chamber. If he was nearly jogging by now he just had to hope Aleda felt the same concern he did. Truth was the greenrider didn’t care what had changed so long as Genet was ok. She had better be ok.

[Alsivor]

"I -- hope not either, even though there may be much to discuss," Aleda murmured looking towards the rapidly approaching entrance to the council room. "My family as well, everything feels odd, doesn't it, G'tet?" she finally said with a little sigh and her hand slipped down from his arm, fingers seeking to thread between his.

And on they went at a slightly faster pace, Aleda oblivious to the exchange between rider and dragon though her eyes kept skipping back towards the hulking shapes of wagons huddled against the base of the Bowl wall.

[Invisible]

There was a thrill that ran through G’tet when his fingers were laced with Aleda’s. He wondered idly if she had a brother who might be- Well, he thought probably not and was going to have to be content with her. After all her only real downside was that she was a woman and he could look past that. He gave her hand a squeeze as they walked. “It’ll be fine, Aleda. Your family is still here as is mine. We’ll meet with J’fel and then be on our way.”

It would be that simple. Really. He skipped a step looking forward to being done with this and seeing his sister. He also looked forward to seeing J’fel. Just watching the man was a superficial pleasure he saw no reason to deny himself. They left the bowl and made their way to the council chamber. He let go of Aleda to salute J’fel and then took her hand again to show her to a seat so he might sit next to her. He did not sit until J'fel would tell him to, but the lady had earned her seat.

Speaking of ladies he prodded at Kalpeth, but she put him off.

[Alsivor]

Aleda's fingers tightened briefly on G'tet's and she lifted her other hand to tuck her hair back absently. They were after all, going to see the Weyrleader even if she wasn't really all that keen on attracting his eye again. "Yes, it seems they're still here," the sabedoria answered the greenrider a little distractedly then quieted down as they pushed into the council chamber.

Inside, she bobbed a curtsey to the Weyrleader and smiled warmly at G'tet as he handed her down into that seat. "Thank you, G'tet," she said properly, then looked over towards J'fel expectantly.

[Omnia Munda]

"P'nset and his companion will be with us shortly," said J'fel by way of greeting, then unfolded an arm elbow-bent to welcome Aleda and G'tet to the council table's many chairs. "I'm glad to see you both at last, but I hope you'll forgive me if I take a pass on the hugs and back-slapping."

He seemed grimmer than before, though perhaps that was only the invisible shadow that M'tani's likeness behind him cast over the room.

"Brandy, water, wine?" Leaving the rider and Caminar to pick chairs if they wanted them, the weyrleader upturned glasses atop the console table beneath the great portrait. "I need to know about your new companions, especially the rider. I also need to know what you've discovered and why only a few of you have returned. Did Th'ane send a message?"

He paused, hand resting liesurely atop the cork of the wine bottle, to turn and regard Aleda and G'tet over his shoulder. His blinking was slow and guileless, but not remotely coy or sparkling. The time gone had made the boy older - though it was not yet clear whether it was just the time gone since summer, or the time gone since the era of M'tani and Moreta.

[Alsivor]

Aleda accepted the Weyrleader's words about P'nset easily enough though she did wonder at how fractured their party had become. He brows lifted at the implication of hugging and backslapping being expected and tucked her chair in, leaned her elbows on the table. "Brandy, thank you." She could not, however really answer his questions about M'sella and left this to G'tet. "I don't know about Th'ane, Weyrleader," she answered succinctly. "We were separated." And for the first time since they'd left the docks, Aleda started to worry.

[Invisible]

The greenrider was studying the weyrleader as if he sensed there were something different. Not their J’fel he finally decided and did not let it worry him overly much right now. A report was asked for and one would be given once he’d seated himself beside Aleda. “Sir,” he began with a somewhat apologetic look. “I believe M’sella came back because when we were given our return point Kalpeth inadvertently showed it to him as well. And then invited him along as well. A flight of fancy, but I do not see why he could not be an asset.” He just shrugged as Kalpeth’s flights of fancy were well known. Nothing for him to worry about.

“The other is Rosie who worked in a seaside tavern until showing us the way home.” G’tet glanced at Aleda as he hated to seem as if he was speaking for all, but he thought it best to get it all out at once and let her fill in the blanks as needed. “Who bears a striking resemblance to S’gur who is- I do not know where. I wonder if she is not his missing sister although she is much older than-“ Time travel. What a headache so he let it pass with just a thoughtful, “If it is her then I believe the Caminar are off the hook unless they’ve some mysterious way to bounce back in time.”

G’tet spoke as if J’fel knew when they had been since it was J’fel that sent them. There was a note of triumph in his voice as he says, “We did it, sir. Just as you said. Stopped Moreta’s plague before it could happen. The Windtoss never sailed for the Southern Continent and brought back no beast to kill weyrs and holds.” They were heroes! "Th'ane was with me only a short while, sir. I broke from the others to see what I might learn on my own. I've not seen him since we arrived at the hold when- Sir? When is it now? It was summer when we left. We were only gone a day."

[neopanther]

(A very late reply to Jordeth =3))

Between broke. And the breaking yielded a fine barrel of sensation. The sight, he saw a weyr, a weyr he knew well. The place he had learned to call home. The smell. He knew it was mainly the smell of damp ground, mud, and dragons, but it smelt like no other weyr. He could hear dragons, humming and growling here and there, the watch dragons, to whom Sarjenth buggled loudly. Everything about it said he was home. It had felt so very long.

Heard Jordeth. Sarjenth relayed such information to his bonded, and they banked slowly away from the group, taking Rosie with them.

[Omnia Munda]

Aleda got a long look for her reply about the absent wingleader. A long and grim look, one of distant and lingering curiousity. J'fel remained like this clear until G'tet's willing rush of explanations came to naming S'gur, and then the greenrider who had returned had the weyrleader's measured gaze all unto himself.

It was a lot to take in, but J'fel bid himself be up to the task. Each element was catalogued, tagged, and filed. A brownrider who evidently didn't know how to get to Telgar. A relative of S'gur's, perhaps a missing sister. And Moreta's plague - well, that tripped up the weyrleader's filing system somewhat.

"You I-beg-your-pardon'd Moreta's plague?" The flippant reply was off of his tongue, a tongue sharpened by his months in office, before J'fel could rein it back. He made the best of it, arching a dark brow and allowing the sharp glitter of doubt flicker bright in his deep eyes.

And then, belatedly, as though he realized he'd just erred: "The Windtoss?" Like such a thing was unknown to him; like it had barely ever existed, and been by history forgot.

J'fel waved a hand in impatient failure to understand, brushing away a headache begging its way through the door of his left temple. "Brandy," he said, nodding as he poured half again as much as was decent into a glass, then turned and offered it to Aleda. "Your turn," he told her. "In your own words, please." It would buy him some time to try to draw connections between a single missing child returned and an ancient plague - and, he wryly dared to hope, make such drawing unnecessary.

[Alsivor]

Taller than average brandy, accepted with two hands by Aleda and the sabedoria promptly brought the stuff up to her lips and drank deeply. She shot J'fel a brow-raised look and some of her customary verve crept back in as she swallowed another mouthful of the liquor, sat back in her chair.

"We arrived just as the sun was going down above Igen SeaHold, sir. There was Thread in the skies and the dragonriders of that time were fighting it. Kalpeth wanted to fight, but G'tet kept her from doing so and we landed. Riders from the Pass took us into the hold to speak. I believe G'tet stepped aside as we went inside, I was a little -- overwhelmed at the time." A concession not easily made by Aleda, but honestly at least.

"Once within, we spoke with the riders who were there, and Weyrleader M'tani was called from Telgar. He questioned us and bid us go about our business. I missed something somewhere, the dragons speaking I guess and we were called down to the docks where G'tet had found the ship that brought the plague." She takes a deep breath before going on.

"Kalpeth sunk the ship, sir. And then the young woman that G'tet speaks of joined us and we regrouped to return home. I had thought Th'ane would be with us and I am surprised that he has not returned."