Every Healer Needs to Bathe (Kysseh)

[reqqy]

It won't be much longer, Kalierre told her Phremath encouragingly. The green spent her nights wakeful when Hers had the late shifts - which was quite often nowadays - and was getting cranky. Which said a lot. The young dragon with the stunted wings was almost never cranky. This is the time everyone is waking up. Can't it wait until after we sleep? The dragonhealer sighed. She looked down at the tunic she'd just pulled up and over her head. Blood colored it dark brown - dried blood. Hours of work had resulted in the loss of a young boy who'd managed to fall down the cliff side. Kalierre hated such failures. Recognized that they were bound to happen. She was tired, but she needed the bath, if only to remove the blood and some of the memory that accompanied it.

I'm afraid it can't be helped. Lust's still quiet? He's here. Lounging about and doing nothing. As usual. The woman continued to slip out of her clothing, neatly folding it to set aside for later...though the thought of putting the bloodied fabric back on was rather distasteful. Thank you. I know you want to sleep. You can - I'll wait, Phremath interjected quickly. After Kalierre had passed out from exhaustion midstep a few months ago, the green had absolutely refused to sleep unless she had Hers at her side. The greenrider couldn't quite dredge up annoyance in response to that. Phremath's concern struck her as endearing - if unfounded. It was quite unlikely that anything like that would happen again.

Standing on the edge of the communal bathing pool (at this hour, there weren't any to share it with) Kalierre ran her fingers idly through her hair before stepping into the water. She sunk down into the warmth with a quiet sigh. Soon enough, the woman was scrubbing her skin, scrubbing her hair, and generally washing away some of the day's fatigue. It was relaxing. Phremath, despite her intentions, succumbed to her own exhaustion, and Kalierre found herself in quiet solitude. It was...pleasant.

It was also the first time in awhile that she'd truly allowed herself to feel. Uu'n's distance stung, but not enough to actually wound her, and she wondered, idly, what he and Adith were up to. Savitri - one of her apprentices - was now a goldrider. Normally that would have been cause for concern. This particular apprentice, however, was not someone likely to attempt to shirk her duties simply because of Impression. Nor did she seem like someone who would fight Kali's authority within the infirmary. Thus, Kalierre could be genuinely glad for her.

As for S'rei? She didn't know what to think. Once, she'd loved him, but that was many turns ago. Watching Laurie and Laurie's family struggling with all of that - harboring the man for a time before Shmee decided to take that upon herself - the dragonhealer found it was just as much a confusing mix of emotions as it had always been.

Her gaze drifted down to bared wrist, to the nasty slash that literally ran all the way down her forearm. Perhaps, had she not taken that wound, not allowed herself to completely slice through the muscle in that arm in order to kill the assailant who otherwise would have tortured her when she was pinned to the tree during the weyrling massacre, perhaps then she might have saved the boy's life. In quiet contemplation, Kali attempted to stave off the guilt. And failed. The subtleties of a knife were no longer hers to command with the same precision of before. Now, with each failure, she would always wonder...

Dunking her head beneath the surface of the pool, she came up, flinging water droplets behind her. Weariness weighed on her eyelids. Before long, she found herself sitting upright as darkness encroached. Unsafe, to fall asleep in the water. Unsafe. Kali couldn't bring herself to care. A few seconds passed, and she slept.

[kysseh]

//I do not see why you need to go so far to bathe. There is a bathing pool here.// Dohulth remarked sleepily into the back of his rider's mind. The brown dragon was sprawled out on his half of the weyrledge, taking up nearly every bit of available space.

I share it with a greenrider that I don't even know, and frankly, I'd rather go steam myself into tastiness without anyone yelling for me to get out so they can use it. K'von pointed out, though he knew the dragon would retain little at this time of night. He rubbed a bit as his eyes as he made his way into the communal bathing rooms, the steam settling pleasantly all over his body. Don't wait up. I might be awhile.

The brown was unsatisfied but settled down to go back to sleep, leaving His to search for an unoccupied pool to sit and mull in for a long while. It had not been a particularly difficult day, but K'von found himself unable to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw an almost instant replay of the one horrific dragonback combat he had participated in, and it disturbed him beyond any reasonable extent. He shuddered slightly at the thought, running a hand nervously through his already-messy hair. Shards, but his mind was a wreck at times.

He belatedly noticed that he was not alone and froze in mid-movement, seeing one other person soaking themselves on the opposite side. Instinctively, his eyes went for the details, and he almost grinned at the realization that the other person was female, the delight of someone to talk to and offer a distraction fading under the sight of two important details: that the folded clothes had blood on them and that said female was asleep in a precarious position in the water. Both details made him frown slightly, even as he set down his bag of clean clothes, sweetsand, and towel. He could not just leave her to sleep like that, not when she could so easily slip underwater. Then again, he knew how necessary sleep was on occasion, so he just watched her for a brief moment, debating.

After she had not so much as twitched, he moved around the outside of the pool and knelt beside it, not bothering to not look. She was female, after all, and he was only a poor weak-willed man. What would any straight man do in his shoes?! A brief second of hesitation later, he extended his hand to rest it on her shoulder, not caring if it got wet, and shook her very gently.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you to not sleep in water? You could drown," he quipped lightly, in the hopes that she would not turn around and smack the living daylights out of him. He would not have been nearly so cautious if he knew her, but this was one female that he was not even remotely familiar with. Caution was often best when dealing with strange women.

[reqqy]

Both Phremath and Kalierre slept the sleep of the truly exhausted. The dragonhealer - the veteran healer and unofficial head of the infirmary - also had her Phremath and a wingleader to answer to. Every spare moment was spent seeing to the health of the Weyr as a whole and working with her loving, beautiful but somewhat handicapped mindmate to attempt to develop their Betweening method to a point where they could work within a wing formation. It was taxing work, too, on both of them, as many jumps in quick succession could wear down even the most experienced dragonpair mentally. Only Kalierre's self-discipline and Phremath's eagerness made the idea of using this in Threadfall even a possibility.

They slept the dreamless sleep of the exhausted.

Even so, Kalierre revealed her past the moment the hand fell on her shoulder, jolting instantly awake. Her hand came up to capture his. Not a gesture of friendliness. It was a simple method of keeping him off-balance, such that she could do whatever she needed to in order to neutralize him, and the flash of dark eyes made clear that intent as they darted up to his face.

Phremath, ever-sensitive to any surge of emotion from Kalierre - the healer was generally pretty even-tempered, after all - also came awake. Her voice lifted in an angry cry, a howl that likely would have put wolves to shame. Adith's gift. It was not so very long ago when Benden riders had attempted to exterminate all of the weyrling class that Kalierre and Phremath had been a part of, and that fear was still strong in the green.KaliMine! The woman's surprise and wariness was already ebbing. You'll wake the Weyr, she chided gently. Then, He just startled me. It's okay, Phremath. You need to sleep. You fell asleep again, didn't you? Accusation. There's someone here now, so I believe I'm safe. Phremath.

The green reluctantly acquiesced. Phremath knew that Kalierre thought she hid her thoughts and concerns well, but the young dragon was aware of how concerned Kali had become about jumping Between as much as they did, particularly after the unfortunate incident when Salenth mistakenly ended up in another time. This was the prevailing reason behind Kali's insistance that Phremath not stay up for her.

With a sheepish smile, the woman released the man's hand. He looked - vaguely familiar. As if she'd seen him before but he wasn't a major part of her life. "Drown? I'd have to be drugged," she replied, her tone mildly teasing - and distinctly sleepy now that she no longer saw him as a threat. A flush colored her skin a faint pink. Kalierre wasn't afraid of nudity, per se - she was a healer, after all - but this man wasn't half-bad from what she could see and she was suddenly distinctly aware that the upper portion of her torso was out of the water...and apparently it was cold where the air touched her skin.

The woman sunk lower in the water, trying to make it look natural. "Odd time to be bathing, in the middle of the night. You're not one of mine, so you couldn't have come off the late shift at the infirmary," Kalierre commented, to bring the attention off her temporary embarrassment, if nothing else. Then she realized that she should probably introduce herself. Yes. That was the normal thing to do.

"I'm Kalierre, Phremath's rider." She didn't bother to mention the rest. One thing about being the only dragonhealer at Selenitas: most people, especially riders, knew her by reputation if nothing else. Shards, she'd been among the dragonhealer ranks at Benden for full on seven turns, such that even transfers had likely heard of her. The woman paused. "If you planned on bathing - why else would you be here?" A nervous chuckle followed that statement. "I wouldn't mind the company."

Nevermind that she was probably wrinkly from soaking in the water for who knew how long. The fact that the brownrider flustered her was enough to make her stubborn streak rise up and insist that she make herself immune to such feelings by exposing herself to them. Besides, the water felt good on tired muscles, and she was in no hurry to leave. Nor to rise from the meager concealment that the water offered her.

[kysseh]

K'von was appropriately startled by the woman's response, and he jerked back a bit, eyes wide. He had been expecting sleepy mumbling or a twitch, so the sudden seizing of his wrist caught him slightly off guard. His other hand instinctively went for his absent belt-knife, though it froze halfway upon realizing the ridiculous of a nude, bathing woman being armed. This was not Benden, despite the obvious intent to neutralize the threat of him that showed clearly in her eyes. Picking up a mental chant that this was not his former home weyr and that she would not hurt him, he waited patiently despite his initial reaction, waiting for her to make the first move.

Alerted by the sudden draconic cry, Dohulth came abruptly awake and to his feet, shaking his gray brown head. //Mine!// he called, instinctively reaching for K'von's mind and sensing the brownrider's surprise. The man's surprise and then cautious calm made the dragon restless, but he was more concerned with the source of such a cry. Was there a dragon injured?! Benden was not attacking; he saw no wings in the air overhead.

I'm fine, Dohulth. Nothing wrong. Just accidentally scared a very pretty woman. K'von replied to his dragon with a self-remonstrating chuckle aloud. This eased the brown's worry, enough that the dragon let out a rumble of amusement that K'von could sense through their mental bond. //You are shameless.// the man was told before the brown began to settle back down again, though the brownrider knew his dragon would still stay awake. Male stubbornness, and all that.

Grinning broadly as she released his hand, K'von quickly took back possession of the appendage. "Better safe than sorry. Besides, I'm not very skilled at resuscitation," he admitted, relieved by the light note of teasing in her voice. Oh, good... he did not have to worry about retribution, then. Her flush only encouraged him to look her over, not at all displeased by what he saw, a gentle pout forming as she slipped lower into the water. Shardit. He had been enjoying that view!

Ahh, so she was a healer! That would certainly explain the blood that had so concerned him. "Nah, I just like bathing at odd hours. Good for the spirit," he said lightly, no wanting to delve too deeply into detail. Satisfied that she was safely awake, the brownrider stood and moved to retrieve his bag from the opposite side of the pool, bringing it back to the side of the pool on which she was seated. She had not chased him off, so he was not about to pass up the opportunity for company. It was far superior to sitting alone with his thoughts and overthinking. "And Wherryface was keeping me awake."

//Was not. You had the dreams first.//

He was in the middle of pulling off his shirt when she introduced herself, and in his eagerness to get the garment off so he could see her better and introduce himself, he somehow managed to get it stuck somehow on his head. //Nicely done, Mine.// Dohulth teased him lightly, alert now that K'von's thoughts were not nearly so broody as before. The brownrider gave a silent curse and finally tugged the garment off, a few pieces clicking into place. "Ahhh... so you're the head of the infirmary? The dragonhealer, right? I've been warned to not land me or Wherryface in your care," he said cheekily as he not-so-neatly folded his shirt and tossed it aside, toeing off his boots a moment after. "K'von, Dohulth's rider. I'm afraid that's it. No other special titles."

Her nervous chuckle made him grin, and he left his clothes in a neat pile, dropping his little bag of sweetsand on the edge of the pool before sliding in with a blissful sigh. "Thank you. I planned on it anyway," he said without a bit of bashfulness, settling down a few feet away from her to give her a decent amount of personal space. If her blush was anything to go by, she would not appreciate him being so brazen as to sit right next to her for a better view. Angering a healer was never, ever wise. He was a bit smarter than that.

//You think you are smarter.//

The brownrider let out an audible snort as Dohulth put in his two cents. "Pathetically old, leafbrained, clumsy excuse for a wher," he grumbled under his breath at the dragon's teasing, only belatedly realizing that there still was someone else present. He cringed, flushing a bit. "Sorry. Wherryface can't keep his mouth shut-" //When are you going to learn that I can /still/ hear your thoughts, even when you speak aloud?// "-as usual."

[reqqy]

Kalierre found that she had been staring at his face - or, rather, his lips - when he spoke of not being good at resuscitation. Phremath was decidedly more curious than tired at this point. What are you doing? Taking a bath, Phremath. You already did that, the green stated matter-of-factly. And you feel funny. Not haha funny. Weird. Yes, weird, she concluded cheerfully, proud of herself for finding the word she was looking for. She'd always been fairly easy to appease.

Mmm. How so? The healer wasn't fully paying attention to her mindmate at the moment, and it was reflected in the distracted air couching her words. This brownrider was decidedly strange. Good for the spirit? Sleep was good for the spirit. She envied him the luxury of being able to throw that away for a simple bath. "Oh, I'm sure it's not his fault. First rule of dragonhealing: Always blame the rider." Her lips curved in a playful grin. She must be out of her mind. I don't know. Warm weird?

Kali jumped slightly, having forgotten that she and Phremath were actually in the midst of a conversation. A thought flicked through her head. It would be so easy to say that the tingles starting at the base of her scalp were the result of Phremath...But the green was way past due. She also had stunted wings, and while they could manage a surprisingly effective manner of flight through making short Between jumps, without Kali to stabilize her, Phremath was effectively landbound. The dragonhealer had always assumed that this was why her mindmate had never Risen. Something in her genetic make-up must have recognized that flight was impossible.

Because of the drift of her thoughts, she almost didn't notice the man's difficulty with his shirt. Unfortunately for him, almost was simply almost. Kalierre hid a laugh behind her hand, but her eyes betrayed her. Not that he could see them. Shards, but he was well-built. She very carefully looked up at his face as soon as he'd managed to extract himself from the garment, not wishing to give away the fact that she'd been looking him over.

Smiling, just a touch of bashfulness chased the open friendliness about her face. Hard not to like a jokester who couldn't get his own clothes off...Whoa, where was that going? "Well, you're lucky, K'von. Attach a title to your name and suddenly you have the work of two men." Kalierre wrinkled her nose in distaste. "This is the second time I've managed to fall asleep in a less than ideal place. And don't let Master Swarzen hear you say I head up the infirmary; he'd throw a fit." Swarzen might have one foot in the grave - and he certainly didn't frequent his own infirmary - but no simple journeyman would ever be acknowlegded as the authority on healing within a weyr.

I want a bath, Phremath announced plaintively. Kali blinked. What? I haven't had a bath in ages. It's too dark to do that now, hun. Uhoh. Phremath was about to get difficult. She could just tell. You have time to take a bath yourself, but not to give me one? I wouldn't be able to see you in this lighting. Please, sweetheart...we can do it sometime tomorrow between wingtraining and my shift. Okay? Phremath subsided, but just a little. My hide itches, the green complained, softly. Kalierre rolled her eyes.

Luckily for the dragonhealer, the conversation had distracted her from K'von's entrance into the pool, and she didn't have to play the subtle avoidance game with her eyes. Still, she was aware of him, and quietly crossed her legs beneath the surface. The woman laughed outright at his mutterings. "Well, you do insist on calling him wherrybrain, apparently. That would be enough to have Phremath riding me, I'm sure." Though there was still a hint of flush to her cheeks, the dragonhealer's gentle smile and demeanor was easy enough. Maybe it was just sleep flush? Ha! Kalierre had never been good at lying to herself.

"Soooo," she began, having run out of things to say in the face of what seemed to be an uncharacteristic silence - from what she'd seen of K'von so far, anyway. Then an earlier comment resurfaced. "I would be very curious to know who it was that said you and Dohulth should avoid me." Her eyes narrowed, tone taking on a mock-serious taint. "Little apprentices should know their place. Unless, of course, you plan on harboring the offender, in which case I'm afraid you'll have to be punished as well." Her expression was just as cheeky as his had been moments ago.

She'd forgotten how much fun it was just to banter with someone; all this work was really sapping the fun out of life. You're just dull, Phremath commented cheerily, having apparently already forgotten the 'bath' conversation. And you had best behave, or I won't go flying with you. This provoked some genuine dismay. Phremath couldn't Between without Kali. No fair!

[kysseh]

K'von resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her, knowing full well how juvenile it was. Sometimes a situation called for immaturity, but this was not one of them. Thus, the brownrider just settled for mock-glaring at her. "Of course you take his side. Did he charm you into that?" he asked, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. It would not be beyond Dohulth to flirt with a human female, even though he was just asking Kalierre to continue the playful banter. His brown dragon was disinterested in golds in that sense, and very few greens ever caught the small brown's attention. Fickle little thing.

//I have Chased and Flown greens. None of Theirs would make good weyrmates for you, though.// Dohulth remarked. //They were too pretty or too stupid.//

K'von opted to not respond to that. If he did not respond, perhaps Dohulth would give up on that vein of thinking. He caught sight of the quick flick of her eyes toward his face, arching an eyebrow. Had she been looking him over? That thought gave him a thrill, almost as much as the bit of bashfulness in her expression. Ah ha! She had been looking. "Yes, well, I think I'll keep with just my work for now," he chuckled. Like he needed more to worry about, with all that was stuffed into his mind. Her expression was amusing to him. Poor thing.... to be working until this hour of the night. "All right, all right, not a word. Haven't even met the man."

As he settled himself in comfortably, he noticed her roll her eyes. "Was that for me or for Phremath?" he asked curiously, not missing the fact that she crossed her legs under the water. Shards, he was attracted to her, but he was not going to just jump her! Not without an invitation, at least. Her laughter was a relief to him, as it meant he was not making her too nervous. "He calls me Fat One quite frequently. We tease each other. And it is his fault I'm awake. I could've slept most of the night." //I woke you up from a nightmare.// "... Most of the night," K'von insisted, though his insistence was directed at the dragon on his distant weyrledge.

He ducked his head underwater to wet his hair, sighing happily as he resurfaced to mess up the already-tousled mop of a hairstyle. Her comment startled him, and his eyes went wide. "Hmm? Oh, I never said we should avoid you. Just that we should avoid landing in your infirmary." He gave her a rebellious sort of look, which was softened by the fact that he could scarcely keep a grin off his face. "We're too far past weyrlinghood to be lectured about injuries." Her expression only made him like her more, and he managed to assume a look of innocence. "Honestly, I don't know who it was. Really... it was something heard through friend of a friend and..." he trailed off, waving a hand above the water's surface.

It suddenly came to him that his back itched. He briefly debated ignoring it but decided that while he was in the water and soaking, he might as well get clean. "Actually, I was talking to one of the other Benden transfers, who knows our new little goldrider, who informed her that you didn't seem to put up with nonsense. The way she said it implied that somebody as reckless as me would be ragged on for being stupid enough to land myself there," he said ruefully, very used to be snarked out for his normally-laidback approach to life. He took a handful of sweetsand and awkwardly reached around to rub it across his back, sighing happily as it relieved the itch of the scars, there. Yes, much better!

[reqqy]

Kalierre had briefly considered answering K'von's question about the rolling of her eyes, but elected to just let him wonder instead, a mischievous glint coming to her gaze. The awkwardness was beginning to pass. Though she still kept her legs crossed - more a matter of keeping her mind from wandering to things she really shouldn't be thinking about a near-stranger than ought else - the woman leaned back against the edge of the pool, propping herself up on her elbows. Dark blonde hair, half-damp but quickly drying, spilled over her shoulders and along the lip, curling slightly at the ends.

"Fat one?" she questioned, not quite able to keep the incredulity from her voice despite herself. Her eyes flicked away. Kali did manage to keep the heat from her face this time, but just barely. She must still be half-asleep, to make a slip like that. Now, Kalierre had more curves than the average female dragonrider, and sometimes found herself self-conscious of that fact, even though she really didn't have much in the way of excess fat. None, really, except where women were supposed to have it.

Luckily, K'von's conversation quickly had her relaxing again. She raised a brow, sniffing meaningfully. "Well, of course I don't want you landing in my infirmary. Besides, men only fall in one of two categories. They either play the 'tough man' and refuse to see a healer until they're fairly collapsing, or they're in my halls every few minutes with a new scratch." Kalierre wrinkled her nose. "And people think women are the weaker sex. I can't believe some of the pansies that walk through my doors sometimes." Part of her northern upbringing was leaking out of her at that point. Kali had always been rather disdainful toward men whose masculinity could be in question. She didn't need them to be violent or anything ridiculous like that, but moaning about a splinter? Definite turn-off.

"Too far past weyrlinghood? Hun, if you're acting like an utter fool, you'll be treated like one," she returned severely, struggling with her own grin. Of course this was more or less proving his point...but she couldn't be bothered to care. Too much fun. You're with Dohulth's? Phremath interjected, tentatively. Yes. Something wrong? The green's presence in her mind seemed suddenly reluctant. No. No. I just...wondered... Odd.

"Aha! Savitri!" A maliciously conniving glint transformed her features into something else entirely. Now, what should she...That's when Kalierre promptly was drawn out of the conversation, her eyes fixating on K'von's back as her healer's blood took over. Leaning forward, she ran her fingers down the scars for a moment, viewing them with a critical eye. "You haven't been massaging these enough," the woman said quietly, standing and brushing his hand away. "The skin will tighten if you don't. Though it's good work on the part of the healer. Benden, you said? Figures." Anger leeched into her voice. "They waste so many lives there. If I could..."

Despite the passion in her quiet tones, her hands were gentle as she began to knead the scar tissue beneath her palms. Forgotten was the fact that she'd been enjoying a pleasant round of teasing with this man, that they were bathing together in the pool...or, not truly forgotten, but now those facts were negligible. Healing was as much a part of Kalierre as her left arm. The gentle ministrations continued, and now she was noticing the muscles in his back, and it surprised her. She rarely thought of such things when something medical had caught her attention.

Are you absolutely sure you're not proddy? Phremath knew what Kali meant. They'd talked enough for her to know at least that much, but of course she'd never experienced it before if she was experiencing it now. How should I know? You're blaming everything on me lately. That silenced the woman for a moment. I'm not blaming you, hun. This is just...abnormal behavior. On both ends. I'm not abnormal! Phremath... But the young green had already retreated inside herself. Kali was a bit dismayed. Her mindmate never acted like this, and why was she suddenly so sensitive?

The movement of Kalierre's hands stilled in the face of her concern.

[kysseh]

If asked, K'von could honestly say that he was not subtly staring at the skin that Kalierre had bared.... or the hair. No, he was fairly overtly staring, intently enough that he had a momentary pause in scrubbing before resuming the awkward bathing of his back. It was infuriating, really. The same broad shoulders that gave him strength also made it sharding near impossible to reach the middle of his own back, and he felt he probably looked rather comical. If he was watching himself, he would certainly be laughing. Shard it all!

His attention to her face was resumed at her tone, and he let out a snicker, continuing to his gentle motions across his back. "Ahhh, women are weaker physically, but men are sharding idiots. I know this, and I fully accept and embrace this... though there are rare exceptions to that rule," he admitted, thinking of a few female greenriders from back home, one of whom who had come to Selenitas. No, that one was not weak by any means. "If I ever end up under your care, you can be certain I won't be playing the tough guy. If I hurt, I want it fixed," he said meaningfully. "I can tolerate pain, but I don't like it."

This time, he just gave in to the urge and stuck his tongue out at her, grinning like an idiot almost immediately afterward. He could not help it. "Point taken, mother." When women used those lecturing tones, the impulse to be impudent had to be followed through. Such opportunities for fun and teasing were not to be wasted. Her exclamation made him chuckle. "Yes, her. I met her once, thanks to Aliscia and her green bundle of claws." Dohulth, don't you /ever/ even consider Flying Tanith, by the way! //I do not have a death wish.// Good! "Sensible girl. She very matter-of-factly told me that if I acted as childish around your infirmary, you'd probably swat me upside the head," he said, making a poor mimicry of the healer-turned-weyrling's blunt speech. "Or worse."

The skin and muscles of his back twitched as he felt unfamiliar, gentle fingers tracing the many old and new scars on his back, and he craned his neck around to look back at her. That was unexpected, and he felt Dohulth's curiosity stirring in the back of his mind at his bonded's sudden alertness. "Err, kind of in an awkward spot to massage, and Dohulth's feet aren't suited to it." //Haha.// the brown told his rider, loud enough for Kali to hear and in perfect imitation of K'von's sarcastic tone. "Benden healers, yes. The freshest ones weren't treated, though," he admitted quietly, surprised by the angry undertones to her voice. Angry at him? No, angry at Benden. Another casualty of Benden arrogance, then. He should have been able to peg that earlier on.

He very nearly jumped when he felt her brush his hand away and replace it with her own. He did shiver once, though, shifting his shoulders a bit. "Don't feel like you have to," he said, trying to keep his tone light despite the fact that his voice nearly broke in the middle. Shardit, but he'd gone through adolescence Turns ago! So why did he feel like a gawky teen again? //Because you're attracted to her. You Flew the weyrling before, but that was because of the Flight. This is not.// Dohulth quietly clarified.

Her hands stilled, and he worried for a moment that he had offended her. His social skills were just a tad on the rusty side after a Turn of no contact, and his return to weyrlife had been... tumultuous, at best. "Kalierre?" he inquired, turning his head to look at her, dark eyes slightly widened with curiosity.

[reqqy]

Exceptions? Kalierre regarded him askance. Oh, she could take down a man his size with relative ease - unless he was a fighter - in which case she often won, but not without difficulty. Thus the reason for the single most obvious scar from elbow to wrist. Another crossed her back, but it had nearly faded. Before Selenitas? She'd never suffered an attack, though that was through careful planning. The dragonhealer had been particularly good at picking northern 'protectors' to give herself to that other men would be unwilling to cross. An odd sort of safety measure, but necessary at Benden Weyr if you didn't have a male family member lurking about. Healers, too, were trained in combat at Benden, though not officially. Dragonhealers especially were invaluable, and they didn't want to lose them through lack of knowledge on how to defend one's self. Kalierre had always been a quick study. Always.

"And I'd get it fixed, of course. Though I might just let one of my apprentices do it. They need the practice."

Blinking at the protruding tongue, she couldn't help but laugh. What, was he a weyrbrat again? Her nose wrinkled. "Aliscia?" Then she remembered. "Oh, yes. The candidatemaster. Too aggressive for my tastes. Phremath's absolutely terrified of Tanith." Chuckling, she echoed his words again. She was doing that a lot lately, wasn't she? "Worse? I doubt I'd cut out your spleen or break a finger or anything. Though who knows. Might just tie you down to a cot and leave you there for awhile." Or maybe just the tying down part. The thought made her smile, though of course she didn't say it aloud. Those sort of thoughts tended to make men antsy. Poor things. They were rather missing out, weren't they? Not that she minded the situation reversed...

Kalierre found his commentary amusing, however she was distracted by the wounds that hadn't healed as well as she would have liked. She also didn't hear Dohulth. Couldn't. Once, she'd been able to speak to all dragons, and they all spoke to her, but she'd managed to break that part of her mind somehow during the weyrling massacre. Now, not even a broadcasting dragon could penetrate the barrier of her mind. Only Phremath's voice sounded in her head. At first, it had saddened her, but Kali found that things were far more peaceful this way. If less convenient. It had been one of her greatest assets as a
dragonhealer.

She noted that K'von seemed to have subsided at her touch. Kali might have cared if she hadn't been worried for Phremath. "It's okay," she responded, softly. "I want to." Needed to. She'd never been particularly good at letting something go that needed to be done. Yes, she was helping him wash his back, but her true concern was working some suppleness into that scar tissue before it became irreversable. "And you should really come and let someone help you with these a couple of times a week. Limited mobility isn't good for a dragonrider."

Phremath. Talk to me, please. Don't do this. Too late. The green was definitely there, definitely heard her. Sullen anger was more than clear in their bond. If the dragon had been a different sort of dragon, it wouldn't have worried Kalierre, but there wasn't a sweeter green in all the weyr. She was almost always happy, with an indomitable spirit and caring heart. Silence.

Kali blinked, eyes widening as she realized that K'von was staring at her over his shoulder. Her face immediately flushed, and she looked away. All of these things together suddenly made her fully aware of how close - and unclothed - they were. Her jaw tightened. That shouldn't matter, should it? "I'm fine. Really. Phremath's just acting...strange." She couldn't quite keep the worry from her tone, though she did resume work on his back, trying to ignore the effect his eyes were leaving on her skin. She felt as if every hair was standing up. Not out of discomfort, but rather from a wave of electricity that seemed to blanket her skin.

[kysseh]

While he had faith in the apprentices under her tutelage, K'von found himself realizing that he would be far more contented with Kalierre treating his wounds. "I saw what Savitri did for the bronzerider after he got a faceful of angry mother flit. Personally, though, I'd rather go to the master for help," he said, giving her a mischievous grin. No, he was not sucking up to her. Not at all! He was just looking out for his own best interests, or so he would have liked to tell himself.

Her laughter incited his, and he could not help but be amused at his own childishness. "Couldn't pass up the chance," he told her cheerfully, watching her face at her query. She did not know who- oh, yes, she did. "Yes, that one. Tanith is.... well, let's just say that Dohulth and I agreed that Dohulth would never Fly her. Ever." His amusement faded slightly, his tone taking on a different, sadder note to it. "Don't be too harsh on her, though... on either of them. They've lost two weyrmates, and Aliscia lost a child. She Impressed a few Turns before I did, and she always was kind to me. After the second weyrmate was gone, though, I didn't see her much except from a distance... not until she and Tanith came here. I'm grateful to not carry half the scars they do." He always felt cowardly when facing the green and her rider. He had run away. They had stayed and then defected after they could not take it. "Can't say that I blame Phremath for being scared of Tanith, though. She's death in the air," he admitted readily, a note of cheer coming back into his voice. Even the mild-mannered Dohulth made a frequent show of avoiding the green when he could, though Tanith's attempts to start a fight with the brown were always unsuccessful. "Tanith was raised to fight, and she's sharding good at it. Glad we have her on our side."

He tried to glare down at her from his greater height, succeeding only in grinning like a fool. "Tie me down, hmm? Don't you know weyrmen can't be tied down?" he said innocently, pleased with his own double entendre. Dohulth offered up a sudden query, and he abruptly stopped to listen. //I spoke for her to hear, but she did not answer to you? She can not hear me, I don't think. I spoke loudly enough.// The curiosity in the brown's tone made K'von wonder, but he ultimately decided that perhaps Kalierre had meant to ignore the brown's statement. Don't worry about it. She seems a bit distracted here. he told his dragon, immediately regretting it for the wave of amusement that washed over him from the dragon. Sharding dimglow of -

Her soft statement touched him, and he waited under her patient and gentle touch, sighing softly at the feel of it. She was good, very good, and he smiled back at her. "Well, I appreciate it," he said, rolling his shoulders back a bit. "Mobility hasn't been much of a problem so far. They just tend to itch and feel a little tight on occasion." He wanted to make a suggestion that she help him with it, but he opted to not push his luck. He did not want those hands moving off his back any time soon. It'd been far too long.

When she flushed and averted her eyes, K'von was instantly curious and interested. She would not be embarrassed now, of all times, would she? Her admission caught his attention, and he tilted his head to one side. "Ohh. Not jealous of me taking your time, is she? Or gone proddy?" he suggested with a little guilt in his tone at the first option. The man had little desire to take her from her bonded, but the worry in her tone made him think that he was. "If she needs you, go to her. I'll be fine. Where is she?" he inquired, touching on his dragon's mind to see if the brown would keep a wary eye out for the young green.

He need not have asked twice, for Dohulth immediately stirred himself to his feet, whirling eyes looking over the nearby weyrledges to see if this Phremath was somewhere nearby. He knew her by reputation alone, with her small wings, and he thought he might have seen her once. It was harder to see in the darkness with so many slumbering dragon bodies on their ledges, though, but the brown kept looking, partially extending his broad wings in case he needed to take to the air to investigate.

[reqqy]

Despite K'von's words, Kalierre had a hard time being kind to Aliscia and Tanith in her mind. Maybe if she met them when she had time to actually get to know the pair...But anyone who frightened Phremath as badly as Tanith did would never be easily accepted by the dragonhealer. She nodded, though, to show she understood.

Kalierre showed genuine surprise at K'von's first suggestion. "I doubt it. I spend most of my time with people in the infirmary, and she's never had a problem with it before. She's actually quite social, and will talk to most anyone if they just show a little interest in her, so Phremath's rarely bored." It was the second suggestion that made her frown deeper. Why would he think that? Was Kali acting like a rider with a proddy green? No, no. That was just the usual response, especially from riders of male colors. If a female dragon is acting strangely, she must be proddy. It was almost amusing.

Almost.

But the idea did have some merit. What if Phremath was just a supremely slow bloomer? The group of weyrlings after theirs were currently experiencing Flights - she had the poor boy greenriders in her infirmary to prove it, as most didn't seem to want to try a coupling before their Flight, and it left them woefully torn - so it seemed rather unlikely generally. But. Yes, but. Phremath wasn't exactly your average dragon, and Kalierre had been willing to believe that the green simply wouldn't rise at all. What was to say that her mutated genetic code wouldn't cause her to rise significantly later than her clutchmates, instead?

Then the concern from before returned full-force. How could Phremath Rise? She couldn't get lift under those stunted wings of hers! Kalierre hoped she wouldn't try, but if instinct took over, the green might very well end up hurting herself in the process.

"I don't know," the dragonhealer stated truthfully. "It's been several months since all her clutchmates' maiden Flights. I just thought that part of her mutation was a lack of the ability to Rise. It actually was a relief, because I was worried about what she might have done under Flightlust. She really can't fly without Betweening, and she can't Between without me guiding her." Kalierre was clearly worried.

Phremath, on the other hand, was already bouncing back from the perceived slight - Kali's cruel reminder that she was abnormal and couldn't fly. Of course Hers didn't mean it! It was just a mistake. Had to be. The green paced on her weyrledge, her wings fluttering in that nervous habit she had. Suddenly, Phremath desperately wanted Adith. Where was he? Why didn't he talk to her anymore?! The young green let out a sorrowful howl, the notes careening up the scale until the cry was purely haunting. Yet, still, Adith didn't return her call.

Kali sighed. "She's all right. And you're probably right; her emotions are all over the place. Now she's gone from sullen to lonely for the blind blue that she gets along with." The dragonhealer didn't mention Adith's name, nor Uu'n's. Phremath's lonesomeness was effecting her strangely, though in its stead she found herself rather upset at Uu'n. Kalierre immediately pushed it aside as a false emotion, and she found that a calm was quickly stealing over her.

Do you want me to come to you, love? It's all right. I think I'll go to sleep now. The green paused. You didn't really mean I was abnormal because of my wings, did you? Oh, Phremath! Is that what you thought? Of course not! You're just acting strangely, love. That's all. Her darling green sounded so vulnerable and young again. But she truly was calming down. Kalierre's worries still dashed through her head, though.

She smiled weakly at K'von. "Ummm...I forget what it was we were talking about." Sheepish look in her dark eyes. Then her gaze fell back on her hands. "Oh, right. Of course you can always have Dohulth tell my Phremath if you're in need of me." She offered that to all the dragonriders she knew, but that didn't change the fact that she wouldn't mind seeing more of the brownrider - hopefully not in dire straits, though. "And I'm not kidding about coming to the infirmary, or at least getting someone to massage the dead tissue. It won't dissolve if you don't, and you'll be more than just occasionally stiff."

Kalierre suddenly laughed. Now that she believed Phremath was proddy, she wasn't nearly as bothered by the surge of mental images that were coming to her. It was like she was a teenager all over again. No. Like she was listening to teenage boys. Her mind had never been so dirty as to find a double meaning in completely innocent words.

[kysseh]

Her silence bothered him, mostly because he was afraid that he said something wrong. K'von turned enough to watch her face, eyes dark and a bit troubled at her unease. He could scarcely blame her for being concerned; when one's mindmate was troubled, it tended to spill over into the rider quite a bit.

When she finally spoke, he was relieved and concerned at once, reaching around with a large hand to tug very gently on a lock of her hair near her face. "Dragons tend to find a way around their oddities. Maybe she'll Run instead, like whers do. Or, maybe she'll never Rise." He picked up a thread of thought from Dohulth and smiled broadly, proud of his mindmate even if it was a gesture of useless generosity. "Dohulth says that if he could, he'd donate the extra bit of his wingspan to her," he added, smiling down at the dragonhealer. He felt sorry for Kalierre... and for Phremath. It was a difficult situation to be in, surely, but they would find a way around it. This woman seemed quite intelligent enough to pull it off.

Dohulth heard the mournful cry and spotted the source, a few weyrledges down from his own. He let out a soft croon of his own and unfurled his wings, dropping off the edge of his ledge and gliding out straight before making a sharp wheel around and upward, circling up above with one watchful eye trained on the younger dragon. //You are Phremath? May I come join you?// he asked politely, crooning again to the smaller beast. With His so well and truly occupied, Dohulth wanted some company of his own to talk with, and the sad-sounding green was a good place to start.

"Pfft. Just like a female: fickle and difficult to please," K'von said teasingly, patting her arm. "Dohulth has gone to investigate. I think he's looking for someone to talk to." //Better than listening to you think thoughts of Flight about Phremath's.// Dohulth retorted. K'von flushed deeply at his dragon's bluntness. He was not repeating that aloud. "That's all right. I sometimes do that in mid-conver-- ... err... what?" he joked, managing such a clueless expression that he knew he must look like a complete dimglow. He was hoping to make her laugh, make her smile seem more genuine. That would be difficult to do with her so worried about her mindmate, but he was a persistent sort of man. It came with Turns of putting up with a teasing dragon; patience and persistence always won in the end.

He made a face at the thought of coming to the infirmary on a regular basis. He did not mind being massaged, but it was preferable when the hands were attached to a beautiful and nude woman... rather like this one, in fact. "I survived a Turn with the freshest of them. The rest were all treated by healers before I left Benden. They'll get worse?" he inquired, grimacing at the thought. Yes, that was all he needed: more festering old wounds.

Her laughter startled K'von, though he was in no position to argue with the sudden change in mood. He was sure he must look completely bewildered as to the source of her amusement, but he shrugged his shoulders lightly. The brownrider reached around to tug the same lock of hair again, sending the muscles across his back and shoulders rippling in a way that delighted him. Shards, but being fit was a blessing. "Are you going to share, or must I stay pitifully unamused?" he asked, grinning a bit at her.

[reqqy]

She blinked, feeling the tug on her scalp and mildly surprised to find that K'von was on the other end of that. But then, why not? Her hands were massaging his back, which was arguably more intrusive than his playing with her hair. Of course, she was a healer, and that's what she did. Over-analyzing again. It wasn't unpleasant, so why was she dwelling on it? And his words were genuinely reassuring. It was nothing she hadn't thought before, but hearing the words from his lips somehow reinforced it. "Given a choice, I'm sure she'd run. It's just the matter of instincts that worries me." Still, Kalierre was noticeably less agitated.

Her darling green also had lost some of her agitation, though it could be argued that she was merely weary. She certainly started quite nicely when Dohulth spoke to her. Phremath had seen him before, though she'd never really spoken to him. The green was about to say that he probably couldn't find room - she had a green's weyrledge, after all - but then she noted that he was rather small for a brown. Phremath had wanted Adith just a moment ago. She considered. She didn't really know Dohulth. But, if Adith did come, having another dragon on her weyrledge pleased her. He should have come when she called!

You really are acting strangely.[/i][/b] I don't understand why he won't talk to me anymore, Mine. But Dohulth is better than being alone, and I might enjoy it. The green silently moved over, clearly indicating by her body language that Dohulth was welcome. Young, even hide glittered dully in the faint lighting, her wings fluttering slowly, almost leisurely. He offered you his extra wingspan, if it were possible to give it. Phremath decided to respond to Dohulth directly. They are beautiful wings, she commented, a touch of sadness in her tone. But even if I could, I wouldn't want to take them from you. They suit you.

Currently, Kalierre was again finding herself amused by K'von's antics. Was he always this playful? Or just with her? Perhaps more telling, which answer did she prefer? The dragonhealer shunted that thought aside. This was not something she was about to consider just an hour after being woken up in the bathing pool by the man. Albeit they were standing about naked...Although she didn't find anything altogether unusual about that, being a healer and having lived in Weyrs for quite awhile now, even if she wasn't weyrbred. It was only odd that she noticed tonight.

"Don't give me that face," she chided gently, using the same tone of voice she might have used with a sick child. "I know it doesn't seem like a big deal now. But here..." Reaching out, she ran just her fingertip along one of the more troublesome scars. "It's raised. There should be a change in texture, but not the blood clot underneath." At the last statement, she pressed in with two fingers, rolling the clotted blood just a little, to illustrate her point. "It constantly irritates the tissue, which causes swelling, which in turns strains the tissue more. A vicious cycle. And it will end with the tissues and muscles along the scar being less flexible as time goes on."

Kalierre's laugh bubbled to a stop as he caught her hair again, her attention caught by the movement of the arm. It didn't matter that she could name every muscle involved in that movement - the effect was still captivating. A sudden urge to..."I doubt you'll remain unamused for long," the woman returned impishly. "But I can share something with you." Shard her and her healer's concerns.

Guiding his hand to the scar she'd been tracing before, she turned her back to him, offering a look at the single slash ranging from shoulder to hip. It was hardly visible, but still noticeable, when all was said and done. "Feel it, and you'll see the difference. My wound isn't yet even a turn old. It's not raised at all, see?" Okay, so it wasn't entirely innocent. Kalierre could have offered him her mark of the slash along her forearm. But the scar on her back was the one that ended at the line of her hips...

You're absolutely hopeless. I'm almost ashamed to claim you.[/size]

[kysseh]

Instincts were tricky things; K'von granted her that. Still, he liked to think that the dragons had enough sense to know when they could not get airborne. But then again... the dragons needed the humans to be sure that they could not overeat. It was hard to say. He could certainly sense Dohulth's curiosity in the little green, and he was reassured that Phremath was in good claws for the moment. Kalierre seemed a bit less concerned for the moment, a little less distressed, and that comforted him too.

Dohulth crooned happily and folded his wings to dive, alighting carefully on the ledge near the green. There was not much space, but his weyrledge was really no bigger, and he was small enough. He folded his overlarge wings against his back, tilting his head over to one side to watch her. She was a lovely little thing; he could see that even in the darkness. Her sadness was apparent, and the brown wished even more fervently that he could donate some of his wingspan to her. //Thank you. They used to not suit me very well. They were so big that when I was a weyrling, I was very clumsy. I was always tripping over them and getting them stuck in places.// he replied, his tone faintly rueful. It had been an adventure learning how to maneuver the things. //I was fully grown before I figured out how to work them properly.//

K'von tried to not react as she traced one of his scars, but his back arched of its own accord. He inhaled deeply, trying to keep himself from overreacting. Her words seemed a lot of background noise, and it took work for his very focused male brain to process everything she had said. When she pressed against one of the more irksome spots, it was even more difficult, and he groaned softly. He gave his head a vicious shake in an attempt to clear his head. She was talking to him; he needed to listen! "So, in short, I need to go get myself properly treated?" he managed, trying to not focus on the fact that he was being touched.

Her mischievous smile alerted him to something new coming up, and he grinned broadly. "Ohhh, sharing? And what do- oh." He felt the raised scar on his back as her hand guided his to it, though his eyes were locked on the lovely back offered for his view. He could see the scar she spoke about, and he instinctively left his own scar to trace the pad of one calloused finger down the line of it. No, it wasn't raised, but it did feel rather nice beneath his fingertip, especially when he traced it all the way down to her hip. He briefly wondered if she was trying to tempt him. If so, she could count that as a success.

"No, not raised. But still a different feel to it," he admitted, his voice just a tad breathless. Not thinking about the beautiful naked woman in front of me. Not being tempted to touch her. Oops, too late... he thought ruefully as his other hand came up to rest on the back of her shoulder. Shards. "Just testing what the rest feels like," he said quickly. His hand was in a safe spot, not close to anywhere naughty.

[reqqy]

Phremath, who was never particularly comfortable around larger dragons, found that Dohulth was not so big as to be intimidating to her. Or maybe it was the crooning. Hard to tell. Still, she was on the smaller side of average for a green, and often felt even smaller because a good deal of a dragon's size could be found in his wings. It was also true, though, that because of her particular handicap she tended to admire wings in general, and dragons who knew how to use the gift they were granted in particular. If she had wings that could work properly, she'd be a much better flier than most of these deadglows that didn't take their ability seriously!

At any rate, the young green found herself relaxing around him. His chosen words might have been a tad indelicate, though. Any problem with large wings was better than having no wings at all, wasn't it? Yet she found that she listened to him with no rancor. After all, he clearly didn't mean it to be nasty, and the mental image was actually rather funny. But you don't strike me as at all clumsy. Your wings must have grown first! The cheerfulness was quickly returning to the green. Phremath had rarely been ill-tempered since she first hatched, and it was rarer still that the foul mood would last for very long. I would like to see what it's like, if only once, but you can only deal with what you're given, yes? Surprisingly, there wasn't a touch of envy or rue in her words.

Had her fingers lingered longer than perhaps they should have? Had her touch been lighter, more intimate than the coldly clinical healer's touch that she so often employed? Kalierre had always been gentle, but she was certainly capable of touching a man in a way that wouldn't inspire the sort of movements and sounds she'd drawn out of K'von. Yet she couldn't feel bad. Just...couldn't... Even when he summarized her words, obviously having missed most of them, she only experienced the briefest stab of guilt. She could always explain again later. Yes, later. "More or less. Just remember that it's important."

The woman held herself in utter stillness as K'von's hand traced down her back, her eyes half-closing. He wouldn't catch her wriggling or gasping. That would remove some of the advantage she'd gained. When did she start thinking this way? Normally, she would have been more disturbed, but right now she was simply enjoying the light touch. How could such large hands move so gently? It seemed almost impossible. Before she could stop herself, she'd taken a single step back, forcing a more solid contact for the brief moment it would take him to adjust.

That's when his hand fell on her shoulder and she realized that she really, really shouldn't be doing this. She'd heard him. Kalierre knew herself. If she pursued this course of action, the night would end pleasantly enough for both of them, but it would be something of a lie. She'd participated in plenty of lies at Benden, but those were with men she had no real attraction to, aside from how they could be useful to her. As long as she was fairly certain that these emotions could be coming from Phremath's pre-Flight proddiness, she was doing K'von a disservice by responding to him.

Kalierre turned, taking the hand that had fallen on her shoulder and grasping it lightly between both of her own. Her eyes met his apologetically. "I'm sorry, K'von. That was...unfair of me." One hand let go of his to gently touch his face. "If after Phremath Rises -" Funny how she was now referring to that as if it were a fact. "- things..." Then she shook her head, laughing at herself. "I want to be just myself. Is that all right?"