A moment of peace? (open)

[Kisha-Ra]

If it was possible for a dragon to look at something right between its eyes, that would have been exactly what Ylonth was doing, but he couldn’t quite seem to focus on the green firelizard clinging to him. Does this creature never cease making noise, even in sleep?[/color] the blue dragon asked plaintively. He didn’t feel he got enough time to just relax with his rider, and the screaming firelizard clinging to his face was making things harder. Unfortunately Ylonth was afraid that if he tried to shake her off he’d end up with a firelizard in the eye.

‘Not that I know of.’ R’fuin answered, verbally, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to dispel his growing headache. A headache that he was absolutely certain stemmed from his newest pet. ‘Even Flirt’s sick of her. Irra is, without doubt, the worst thing anyone has ever bought for me.’ Irritation was, in fact, so very annoying that not only had R’fuin decided to mention Imp’s amorous conquests to Darya at every available opportunity, he’d also decided to buy Darya something awful as soon as he thought of something bad enough, and to temporarily give his neighbours and his other pets a break by taking Irra out with him. Not that he had a choice on that score. ‘Irra. IRRA! Get off Ylonth’s face.’

Irritation promptly squealed and threw herself into a series of mad loops around R’fuin. Oh how very nice of hers! He was yelling at her! Wasn’t that just special? R’fuin just flailed at the firelizard, trusting her to either get herself out the way or, more than likely given her flying skill, go nose over tail into something. Nose over tail it was, right into R’fuin’s shirt, where she clung, silent for a moment, and stared up at him. ‘Now why exactly did you want to come down here Ylonth?’ R’fuin asked, tearing his gaze away from the huge eyes of his firelizard and resolutely not looking down, turns of dealing with a firelizard, a salamandyr, and a feline on top of his dragon had given R’fuin a tendency to speak aloud whenever he was in Ylonth’s direct presence, which made him look a little odd, but there was no one out here to see, or hear.

Yolonth stretched his back legs out behind him and made a thoughtful noise. Well I would have liked to get away from that Irritation, but she seems bound and determined to follow us wherever we go.[/color] the dragon admitted freely with a huff that clearly said he was resigned to not being able to avoid her. So I suppose we can’t relax together unless I eat her.[/color] A small rumble showed Ylonth was joking, mostly. The dragon wriggled uncomfortably in the sand for a moment. Well I might like to find a pretty for Phremath.[/color] He admitted. I haven’t seen her for a while.[/color]

R’fuin just laughed, prompting Irra to leap off him and fly around in chaotic patterns. You mean you want to find something you hope will gain you a little more favour with her. Even his mental tone was laced with laughter. You great blue fool, you know how greens are.

I know how I am too, but I still like her, even if she never chooses me again.[/color] The dragon replied steadfastly.

[Requiem]

Out. Not amused, was the small-winged, grey-green baby mandyr. Not amused at all. She preferred to have her feet planted firmly on the ground, not on some slippery rock with the water sheeting past. Pacing forward in a stalk, she leapt to the next rock, keeping as close to Hers as she possibly could without taking an untimely dunk in the river. Her too-short forelimbs tucked into her chest, her tail swept out for balance, and the next leap she made had her scrambling to gain purchase with an irritated hiss. Mine, out now, she insisted more firmly. Phremath, slinking along the riverbank with a Lust curled up placidly on her snout (and counting the little blemishes there that she hadn't known she had, the pest) arched her neck and nudged at the mind of Hers gently. She's quite distressed, KaliMine. Maybe next time we should leave her with Baoth's little? We tried this time.

Fury made another leap...that fell short, plunging with a surprised squeak toward the water. Lust glanced up and tapped Phremath lightly with a claw. Stupidbaby fishing go, BigMouth. Phremath had already snapped out her neck, mouth closing around Fury while being careful not to squish or swallow her. The tiny green thrashed, her forepaws curling as far as they could around Phre's teeth as she hissed venomously. Down. Down! Downdowndown! Torn between amusement and concern at the stressed little one, Phremath's eyes focused on Hers. Mine? Lust didn't bother with the questioning. His slavepets needed a firm paw, yes. Couldn't figure out what to do on their own. Oh the headaches of being king. ScreecherGreen drown self, much stupid is. Come, LoveMine.

The woman swam toward the bank, waiting until the last moment to stand when her freedom of movement would disappear in lieu of the crippling injury to her hip. The long nightshirt was thick enough not to be see-through, though that did little for the clinging. Not that she expected to meet anyone out here. That was, in fact, rather the point. Her dark eyes narrowed on her arrogant bronze, the male pointedly ignoring her while grooming his claws. Fury, on the other hand, was still throwing a fit, attempting to bash through the toothy prison that held her captive. Hisses and whines intermingled. Catching up her hair, she wrung it out in her hands. "It's safe to let her down now, Phremath." The dragon complied, Fury skittering out and pausing to hiss at the big one before throwing herself at Kalierre's feet, tail curling around her big toe possessively as she scanned the surroundings for anything that might want to hurt Hers.

Kalierre rubbed at her temple, accepting the cane Phremath offered her with a silent thanks. "You're going to have to let me swim, little one. Only way I can keep from turning into a fat old dragonhealing blob." Fat fine. Safe. The woman eyed the little one in silence. Fat fine. Fury insisted again, stubborn. Phremath rumbled softly. She's worse than the Lust, KaliMine. He's at least content to have you in sight. "Hopefully she'll grow out of it." No. Worse? Not bad. Shut BigMouth, speak less. Stupids all directions in, he lamented dramatically. Breathe same air, make LustKing stupid, then what do? World explode.

Kalierre couldn't help it; she broke into laughter.

[Kisha-Ra]

‘So come on, what did you have in mind, fool dragon?’ R’fuin pushed for further details, it clear Ylonth was attached to his little ploy, as well as his green friend. The pale dragon made a shrugging gesture with one wing. I don’t know, something shiny maybe, females like that sort of thing don’t they? Maybe I could find something and you could make it into the sort of shiny human females like to wear.[/color] Ylonth suggested enthusiastically, flicking at Irra with one wing as she passed him by.

‘I don’t think my jewellery making skills are exactly up to par Ylonth.’ R’fuin answered with amusement. ‘It takes skill to make the good things, the best I could do is put a few things on a string. Anyway, you have to find something first.’ R’fuin walked past his slightly crestfallen looking dragon at a slow meandering pace, it wasn’t like he had anywhere to be anytime soon, he might as well relax. As much as was possible with Irritation along anyway, R’fuin thought wryly as his firelizard splatted into his back and chattered happily to him. Oh Irra loved him, wasn’t that special?

Well I have to find something first anyway.[/color] Ylonth answered, moving purposefully off into the water. There were always interesting things hidden down there. Then I can decide what to do with it.[/color] The blue dragon’s course meandered a great deal as his attention was caught by this or that, but nothing really special caught his eye yet.

All of a sudden Irra flitted off, leaving R’fuin torn between relief that the green was gone for a moment and worry about what she was getting into. Irra, naturally had no such worries, she zipped over to the source of all the excitement, chirping loudly all the way. Oooooh biiiig… The firelizard orbited Phremath’s head a few times before Lust caught her attention, by being shiny. With a chatter Irritation made a controlled crash landing on a bigish rock, where she stopped and looked up at Lust silently for a change, with her absolutely huge eyes. Look what she found everyone! The green sent out images of various views around Phremath’s head, and Lust of course.

It’s Phremath![/color] Naturally Ylonth recognised the green at once, or at least he did once Irra gave him a view that wasn’t just a giant eye. Don’t tell her I was looking for shinies, I haven’t found anything good yet, and I want it to be a surprise.[/color] With that request the blue kicked off into deeper water. R’fuin sighed and trudged after his dragon, it wasn’t that he didn’t think Phremath was cute, in fact he was total agreement with Ylonth on that issue, Phremath was utterly adorable. It was just that with Phremath came a certain prickly dragonhealer, one that R’fuin tended to avoid whenever possible, to the point of never actually getting ill so he could avoid the infirmary.

Ignoring how far behind him his rider was trailing Ylonth curved gracefully towards Phremath and put his feet down. Hello Phremath, you’re looking beautiful again today. I hope this means you and yours are well? I did bring R’fuin down here somewhere, but I think Irritation is embarrassing him.[/color] As if that was his cue R’fuin came into view, gave Kalierre an absentminded nod of greeting and grabbed his firelizard up in one hand, resisting the urge to squeeze her as Irra chirped shrilly enough to make him wince.

[Requiem]

Kalierre's laughter faded at the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar firelizard - and a noisy one, at that - hellbent on giving Phremath a halo out of displaced air. Lust's eyes slitted, though it had less to do with protesting the flyer's presence, and more with the rather explosive reaction of their newest mental leech. (Yes, of course Lust considered himself to be equal to His, and the other mindmates lesser. So their leech.)

'Way. Go 'way, she snarled, though Fury did not leave her place by the dragonhealer and likely wouldn't. Phremath was under her protection, yes, but not at the expense of Hers. Her tail whipped back and forth in clear agitation.

Lust, choosing to ignore the little green baby, continued to regard the staring firelizard contemplatively. Big eyes have. Creepy is. She's not. I think she's adorable. BigMouth think all adorable. Think big nasties adorable, too, 'till eat. Then maybe not think adorable. Still much dead. Even if you were right, Lustling, I doubt the little firelizard is going to eat me. Maybe will. Creepy eyes. Not right.

"You're all giving me a headache," Kalierre interjected, having caught up the bag dangling from the single strap around Phremath's neck and wriggling into the pants she'd brought. She glanced over at the sound of a massive amount of water being displaced, eyeing Ylonth for a long moment before returning to the task of braiding the heavy weight of hair on her head while Fury maintained her steady hiss at the firelizard.

Phremath's greeting was far more friendly. (Kalierre wasn't in the habit of talking to dragons, given that, if they did choose to speak to her in return, she was unable to hear them.) The green ducked her head in embarrassment, her wings fluttering, but her eyes betrayed her pleasure at the compliment all too clearly. Afternoon, Ylonth. You are always too sweet. Yes, we are doing quite well, even though the new little is trying to eat anything that comes near Mine. Why is Yours embarrassed to be irritated? It is nothing to be ashamed about.

It didn't surprise the dragonhealer to see R'fuin - or that the unknown firelizard turned out to be his. Kalierre waved in return, bending to prod at Fury with one finger. "Remember our discussion about friends? No attacking his bootlaces." Friend? Fury questioned skeptically, still puffed up as big as she could get. "Close enough." The woman straightened, fingers still deftly twisting her hair into a plait. "No need to keep your distance, R'fuin. Fury's the only of us who bites, and she'll only attack your boots. Despite Lust's insistance that your flit is an unnatural creature from the shadow-world." Creepy it is, Lust agreed, still watching the firelizard suspiciously.

[Kisha-Ra]

Ylonth’s eyes picked up a multitude of brighter sparkles for a moment, he always did find Phremath’s mannerisms endearing. It was such fun to lavish those well deserved compliments on her and watch her flutter. Oh I don’t think so, but maybe I am. It doesn’t matter, it’s easy to be sweet to such a lovely dragon as yourself Phremath.[/color] Ylonth’s words were not quite as suave as they had been in his mind, although he was very fond of greens the large blue lacked a polished flirting skill. He had to rely on finding greens that didn’t mind clumsy jumbled compliments to flirt with.

The blue dipped his muzzle solemnly, he knew all too much about the trouble of having new pets appear, though he was currently ignoring Irra as best he could. Even though Ylonth liked most firelizards and salamandyrs, after the amount of exposure to Irra he’d had the blue was finding it hard to recall exactly what her endearing traits were. Oh no, Irritation is whet he decided to call the little green. Or Irra for short.[/color] Ylonth indicated the firelizard with his muzzle. Unfortunately she is well named.[/color] He added as Irra shrilled a greeting to R’fuin, who actually looked like he was considering crushing the firelizard.

R’fuin looked down at the green in his hand, and realised with some dread that soon Irritation was going to be too big to hold in one hand. ‘Well to be honest, I think Lust may be right. Nothing natural can be this small and this loud, and she does look creepy.’ Very creepy, R’fuin thought, looking at the scrap of green salamandyr by Kalierre’s foot so he could avoid looking at his own pet. ‘I’d just as soon as leave her behind, but that’s not really possible. Unless she’s sleeping, and she hardly seems to sleep.’ He added ruefully. Worst gift ever.

R’fuin, if you wander off I’m never going to forgive you.[/color] Ylonth’s voice warned firmly, though the blue dragon didn’t take his attention off Phremath for a moment. R’fuin sent a wave of annoyance to the dragon, who naturally paid him no mind, considering all the (two) other times he’d really had any contact with Kalierre hadn’t been under ideal circumstances this probably wasn’t going to be a comfortable encounter. ‘Dare I even ask you what Lust thinks of your new, boot attacking salamandyr?’ He enquired, leaning on the rock he’d snatched Irra off of and selecting a hopefully neutral subject. He had a feeling it would be rather obvious he was staying at Ylonth’s whim anyway.

[Requiem]

At this point, the telltale pink of mild embarrassment had tinted the blue in her eyes, turning it to something akin to a soft purple, and her head angled in such a way that most of her face was hidden while she regarded Ylonth with a certain shyness. Phremath did not have the best of memories, truly, and it always seemed to catch her off-guard when another dragon complimented her appearance. She flew, and she was no longer ashamed of her half-wings, but the green still was aware that they were a...deformity. Some of the other Selenitas dragons projected that opinion only too well. She and Checkoth were not normal, but that was okay with her. She just didn't expect compliments. I forgot how prettily my Ylonth speaks, she commented quietly.

Aww, but she seems so adorable! You should have seen her staring at the Lust with such fasci-fasi-fashination. Wow, but that word had been hard to take from Hers! Her head turned to watch the green. And she definitely seems to love Yours. Maybe a little loud and exciteable. She flies so fast that I am almost jealous, Phremath concluded cheerfully. Of course, it was normal for firelizards to fly really fast, so she wasn't really jealous, though it seemed like it would be fun to move so quickly. Why are you and Yours out in the trees today, Ylonth? Mine came to go swimming.

Her braid finished, Kalierre let the thick plait fall against her back, leaning upon her cane with a certain weariness after her struggle upriver. It was one of the only ways she could exercise and train up her body, swimming. While it didn't eliminate all her problems with her hip, it even allowed her to use that to some extent beyond walking around with the aid of a cane. And she was noticing that she could go a little longer now without it...five or six steps instead of two. Every little bit was a help. "Hm. Probably has mandyr blood." Most unkind is, L'rineeater, Lust hissed. 'Mandyrs no more. Brother mother mate, make freaks. No frill, walk two-legs, much strange. Freaks. "As always, thank you for your opinion, little monster." Not that she necessarily disagreed with him...the inbreeding seemed to be producing an entirely different line of salamandyrs altogether. Perhaps different enough to require a different name.

Fury hissed loudly. Boots die first. You next. Kalierre squinted down at her upright green for a moment. "Going to eat him from the ground up, are you?" Ground up. Yesssss. "Only if he attacks me." The little one ducked her head in pure aggressive fashion, tail whipping. Oh, she was certain this stupid would try something stupid soon, and then she'd get him! Yes she would. "He doesn't seem to mind her at all, oddly enough." Is good guard canine. See strange, bark, hiss, puff. All know there. Good alarm, good entertainment. Lust approve, the male agreed loftily.

[Kisha-Ra]

There was a distinctly smug look to Ylonth as Phremath’s eyes changed shade slowly. Maybe that was a better turned compliment than he thought. He hoped it was, Phremath needed such compliments, just because she was so adorable, and pretty of course. I’ll have to come and spend more time with you then, so I can practice complimenting you.[/color] Ylonth half joked, he’d love to spend more time with Phremath, but he didn’t need to practice complimenting her. That was easy as long as he could get the words out in the right order.

Ylonth had to admit that one, the firelizard certainly did seem to find Lust utterly fascinating, so much so that Irra actually remembered the existence of the bronze enough to keep looking at him. She likes shiny things, and salamandyrs seem to catch her interest a great deal.[/color] He commented, looking at the green flitter more closely, well, she was cute, from the back at least. R’fuin thinks maybe she’ll grow out of being so loud.[/color] Or at least R’fuin had expressed that hope many times.

You do fly fast.[/color] Ylonth objected immediately, then thought about the statement some more, what Phremath did wasn’t exactly flying, but it was fast. Well you move fast in the air anyway, and you run very fast indeed. You must be the fastest runner in the Weyr.[/color] That had to be true, not many dragons developed much of a running ability, Ylonth himself always looked sort of clumsy when he was on the ground but he’d never minded when he was chasing after Phremath. Oh do you swim with her too?[/color] The blue was distracted into wondering how fast Phremath could swim. R’fuin wanted to get Irritation away from his neighbours before she drove them mad with her noise.[/color] Ylonth didn’t mention why he wanted to come outside, he hadn’t found anything pretty for Phremath so there was no point in mentioning his shiny search.

Oddly enough that had never occurred to R’fuin, even though his other firelizard was a salamandyr cross. Like Flirt, Irritation had a very long serpentine tail and longer than normal legs. ‘I guess so, she does look sort of like Flirt and he’s a cross.’ R’fuin shrugged, he couldn’t help feeling Lust might be right, he was certainly losing track of which gold salamandyrs had firelizard blood and which didn’t.

R’fuin chuckled a little at the fierce green salamandyr. ‘I think a whole boot would keep you occupied for a while little one. I may be safe for a while.’ Irra took the oppoutunity to wriggle free and fly around R’fuin’s head chirping. See? She could cheer for hers, he was bound to be better than the green salamandyrs human. Oooh was that a bug? The firelizard zipped off and landed a way off to stalk some kind of brightly coloured insect with all the stealth of a stack of falling pans. ‘You wouldn’t like a loud firelizard to go with her would you Lust?’ R’fuin inquired, amused by the bronze’s opinions. Trick had been full of opinions like that the bluerider recalled a little sadly.

[Requiem]

Practice? By now her eyes had definitely colored very pink. You are already far too good at it, though! I don‘t know if you‘d want to play with me, Ylonth. We are up at night now. Mine says she and Checkoth‘s should not be working at the same time, and it‘s very sad because everyone is sleeping. I don‘t get to see Checkoth or Feyrianth much at all anymore. No one to chase the flutter byes with. Then, catching herself, she quickly added, But it‘s okay! Really! Sometimes whers will keep me company, and Ismaroth is nice. Ish. Not as playful as her other friends were, at times, but she’d get him to play with her eventually she was certain.

Her wing wasn’t large enough to hide her entire head, but it did manage to cover one side of her face relatively well as she peered out at Ylonth. Oh, but she didn’t fly very fast! She just…fell…fast. Very good at falling, was Phremath, and finding ways not to go splat when she did so, because going splat was most definitely a painful sort of state. She didn’t have to experience that one for herself to know it was true. Was it bad that she didn’t want to correct him on that? Hearing him say she flew fast made her so very much wish it were true, and if he believed it, at least in his mind it was. Which was…better than nothing? It is fun to run, she stated lightly, the one uncovered eye going even pinker, if at all possible.

He was here because of His and the noisy (but cute) flit, was he? Phremath considered his question. Well, yes, I think I must. Sometimes. I like water, she ventured slowly. The green did not remember what happened yesterday, making it difficult to say for certain. Today I didn‘t, though, because the Fury might fall and salamandyrs do not swim so well, most of them. After a moment, she questioned, You swim, don‘t you? We could swim together since I didn‘t get to with Mine.

Unsurprised that R’fuin seemed far more interested in conversing with her salamandyrs than their human, Kalierre settled on a rock nearby, bouncing her foot lightly over her knee. Fury, though, was momentarily distracted by the man. Never stop. Take long. Still die, the female concluded definitively. She had no doubt that she could protect Hers even from this giant. In fact, she had to do so. Still rigid in her vigilance, she watched R’fuin warily. Just make one wrong move…

Lust, on the other hand, had a nice good memory, and more than one reason to approve of the bluerider. (Even if that reason happened to be the one that made it so awkward for the two humans in the first place.) Crossing his forelimbs sagely, he made a show of considering the offer. No can make yummy eggs for eats, he mused aloud, in a tone that stated that was clearly a drawback. Fliers annoying, buzz around, make noises and steal shinies. Too much trouble, Lust thinks. But perhaps make deal can. What helping human give Lust, if take ‘nnoyance away?

[Kisha-Ra]

Ylonth let out a soft rumble. Perhaps I don’t need to practice, but I do enjoy complimenting you,[/color] The blue mused. Oh but I like to play with you Phremath.[/color] Ylonth objected immediately. We can still play at night, just not too loudly.[/color] For some reason the blue didn’t quite comprehend making too much noise after the sun went down was a bad thing. I’m sure you’ll get Ismaroth to play with you too[/color] He added, seeing no reason why any dragon would not want to play with such a charming green as Phremath.

Ylonth’s head dipped curiously to one side as Phremath lifted a wing in front of her face, and the blue suddenly took note of the pink shades of her visible eye. Was it possible that he’d overdone it a bit on the compliments? It was hard not to compliment Phremath when she was so cute, and became even more adorable when she was flustered. In an attempt no embarrass the green further Ylonth simply made a sound of agreement rather than forming a proper reply. It was fun to run around, sometimes, he just wasn’t very good at it.

Ylonth saw nothing odd in Phremath’s inability to recall whether she went swimming or not, he had a half formed assumption that she, for some reason, did not use her rider’s mind as the same kind of advanced reference system for everything that ever happened as he did. I like to swim.[/color] He said, rather than comment on Fury, who seemed a well named little beast, in the same way that Irritation was well named. And I would love to swim with you.[/color]

R’fuin chuckled softly at Fury’s determined reply. ‘Alright then little one.’ He agreed cheerfully, though the salamandyr seemed utterly serious about eating him, he was probably going to get his boot savaged soon.

Now Lust was far the kind of salamandyr he liked, even though the bronze was clearly the lord of all he surveyed in his own mind. R’fuin could tolerate that, Lust was amusing, and probably one of the most sensible salamandyrs he’d met. ‘I can’t argue with that summary.’ He admitted, the bronze had Irra down very well indeed. ‘I don’t think I could get her to stay with you anyway, clearly the fascination with you being shiny has worn off.’

R’fuin realised there was someone around here he hadn’t been talking to and looked up sheepishly at Kalierre. ‘Sorry, I tend to get on with salamandyrs better than humans sometimes. I’m probably subconsciously pining for Trick or some other nonsense like that.’ At this point R’fuin would normally have changed the subject, however he had absolutely no idea what Kalierre would even be interested in talking about. The things Ylonth got him into sometimes…

[Requiem]

Pleased she was, that Ylonth wanted to play with her even though it would be dark and he should be sleeping, but Phremath wasn't sure that he'd want to do it so much after the first couple of nights. Dragons weren't meant for the black hours. In all truthfulness, Phremath only stayed up perhaps half the time that Hers did, using the ledge or one of the empty stalls to sleep. But she would not voice these doubts, no, not when keeping silent might give her a playmate for a few nights. Phremath almost felt guilty. Almost. He professed to enjoying her company, though, so she couldn't feel too bad, even if she suspected that he would tire of her soon enough.

The small green took his response as an invitation, and in the space of a moment she'd slipped into the water near the pale blue, circling him playfully where he still stood in the shallows as she brushed along his flanks. I don't know if you'll be able to keep up with me, though, Ylonth, she uttered teasingly, her tail trailing along his flank as she suddenly leapt forward and into the deeper part of the river, her body undulating sinuously with the pull of the current. I will meet you back at the Weyr, KaliMine, the green called back to Hers, pausing just long enough in her swim to kick a small splash of water back at Ylonth.

The woman nodded in response to that, a flicker of amusement in her eyes as Lust launched from the green's head with a hiss before he could answer R'fuin. Bad bigmouth throne, warn next time! he called after the dragon, a faint croon that sounded vaguely apologetic echoing from further down the river in response. Bigmouth forget Lust king, the bronze muttered, half to himself. Remind later, Lust will, make Bigmouth sorry, not forget again. He landed on Kalierre's shoulder, both woman and mandyr for the moment ignoring their company as she flicked his small snout lightly. "Hush, you. Phremath didn't mean anything by it, as you well know." He puffed up as if to argue for a moment, then apparently thought better of it. His eyes returned to R'fuin and he made a show of settling himself as if he hadn't been ruffled at all. Good, more pestlies annoy Lust, he responded sagely. LoveMine no 'llowed more pestlies. Hear, LoveMine? No. More. "Yes, yes, of course oh mighty King." As if she wanted more minds tugging on her constantly.

Fury had returned to Kalierre and taken up her guard position on the dragonhealer's boot, her tail wrapped as far around the woman's ankle as she could manage. For now, she was silent but for the occasional growl when she didn't like the way the bluerider's weight shifted. The greenrider finally had silence enough to remember what R'fuin had said, and her response was dry, though it wasn't unfriendly for all that. "I prefer to leave the subconscious to the mindhealers." And to not speak of lost mindmates - a sore topic if ever there was one. The siege was turns ago now. Two, three? Long enough for the bitterness to fade...Kalierre wasn't near so angry a woman as she'd been when last R'fuin had extended contact with her. Though, to be fair, she was never in the best of moods after one of Phremath's Flights; pain tended to make a woman cranky. "They're distracting. I should know. No need for apologies." A small smile touched her lips. "You're looking well, R'fuin. I'm beginning to feel old though, I must admit, with all the fresh new faces everywhere and none of the old. Tch. And here you are looking like you haven't aged a day." Boyish man, R'fuin. Kalierre might have been cute or girlish once, for the space of a few turns, but her features were all woman and she looked her age. The long face was pretty enough if you ignored the scars, though handsome might be a better term; even in repose and touched with amusement, there was a strength to the set of her jaw that would never seem young.