Winding Tunnels (A'emi

[dragon]

Sometimes, it was just too cold to be outside. Today was one of those days. There was a harsh, biting wind blowing, and it was coming in just at the right angle to catch the canyon and go gusting through like a thing possessed. Not an idea day to go walking around in the canyon afoot, or worse, be on the water. Or even flying for that matter. It was absolutely atrocious outside.

So, it was that L'nu found himself all bundled up into his borrowed coat that was layered over the top of his own coat, hands crammed into his pockets with his shoulders crammed up around his ears. It was cold!

But a body had to go to the hall if they wanted to eat. Roomservice just wasn't gettable, not even when you had a gold flitter who supposedly was supposed to be capable of fetching stuff. So, as any young lad can be, L'nu was starving. As usual. Sandy mop of hair hiding his eyes due to the way his head was thrown forward, he trudged down the halls.

There was only one problem ... he was lost. And he didn't even know it yet. With no clue where he was, and only a vague idea where he was going, L'nu just walked wherever the winding tunnels took him. For once he was by himself, even in his own head. Paglieth was sleeping the cold off, and Rose was who-knew-where. Not with him, and that was a relief. The gold never shut up.

Looking up for a moment to make sure he wasn't fixing to walk into a wall, L'nu tucked his chin into his chest again and kept walking. Goodness, but the Weyr seemed a whole lot longer, when you were traversing it by tunnel instead of by boat!

[Avu]

He wasn’t even looking up.

The green firelizard slid silently out of between a distance behind L’nu, mischief painting itself in hues of bright blue across her eyes, and then quietly flew after the boy, gliding carefully. No noise, must not make noise…she twisted her wings, curving upwards to hover behind the boy’s head. A quiet coo, right at L’nu’s left ear, almost flirty and laced through with the green’s delight, before she snapped between, expecting the boy to turn and look for the source of the sound. She reappeared in the shadows at the ceiling, letting the darkness cloak her – well, almost. The pale green skeleton that decorated her body and the bright starbursts around her eyes were definitely visible, but she lingered only a moment.

Then she went between yet again, this time reappearing directly in front of L’nu’s face with a loud shriek, vivid amusement still bright in her eyes before she glided up over his head, chattering cheerfully down at him pleasantly. Had she scared him? Even just a little? Should’ve seen his face, it’d been so funny. The green’s gleeful commentary was emphasized by a series of quick loops, carrying her gradually towards the ceiling.

“ – Darkling!”

She chirped in response, twisting to glide back to Hers, flashing him the images of her most recent trick: That boy, that one there, wasn’t it funny…

A’emi blinked at the green, a half-smirk flashing across his face as she swept in to land gracefully on his shoulder, rubbing her head against his jaw in a blatant display of affection before she cooed at L’nu. Tell Hers how scaaary she was. The greenrider in question snorted in dry amusement as Darkling licked his ear, practically humming in delight as he sped up towards L’nu. He hadn’t actually been intending to go the same path the kid was, but his firelizard had kind of just tried to scare the kid, so he might as well…accompany him. To make sure it didn’t happen again, of course. Totally innocent.

Right, Kyrahth said scornfully in his mind. Darkling was less than a few days old and the rivalry between the two greens was already spectacular, albeit rather one-sided, since the firelizard just found Kyrahth terribly amusing instead of being an actual enemy.

Hush, you, A’emi replied, and then ran the last few steps to L’nu’s side, tilting his head to peer at the boy’s face. “Did she scare you?” he asked bluntly, one hand rising to indicate Darkling, who cooed innocently and fluttered one wing. “You’d be a lot cuter if you didn’t look like a skeleton,” A’emi informed her absently, and earned another innocent croon.

[dragon]

The swish of wings through the air and the light cooing sound that went with it was totally ignored by L'nu. Mostly because he was used to having a flitter around all the time. One that never let him have a moment's peace, at that. If he'd not been distracted by the cold and his empty belly, he might have been interested to note that it was not a raucous call that had blasted into his ear. Which in turn would have piqued some interest. But as it was ... all he noted was that a flitter had cooed at him.

He barely saw her at all when she dived at his face, through the sandy mop of hair hanging there. But he did stop suddenly, and back peddaled a few steps to try and keep from colliding with the green ... thing. He wasn't sure if it was a flitter or not. Lifting his head and pulling one hand from his pocket to shove his hair out of his face, he blinked up at Darkling as she ascended.

Surprised, startled, but scared? No. As mischievous as she was, she wasn't Rose. L'nu looked up at her for a moment until a scolding call from further up the hall caught his attention. Turning that way, L'nu looked over his shoulder at A'emi scolding the flitter. He had no clue who A'emi was, or who the little green flit was. But at least someone was trying to teach her some kind of manners. Maybe he'd succeed better than he had, with Rose. She sure seemed affectionate enough, loving all over the lad like that.

"Startled, maybe." L'nu admitted. "Scare? No." Clearly this lad hadn't met Rose yet. He stuffed his hand back into his pocket again, hunching his shoulders to try and warm his ears up again. "How far is it to the hall?" He asked, as his stomach gave an audible grumble. Before chasing it with yet another question. "What's her name?"

[Avu]

Maybe?

Darkling chirped in protest to that. Surely there wasn’t any maybe about it. He was just in denial, clearly. He’d sure backed away fast enough. A’emi tapped one finger absently against her muzzle, and the green quieted obediently, eyes whirling in blatant curiosity now; she laced her tail around A’emi’s neck, forepaws braced against his chest as she peered at L’nu. Hmm. Well, if he wouldn’t admit that she’d startled him, then she’d just have to make him scream like a girl the next time she got an opportunity, even if he wasn’t fun enough to actively seek out.

“The Hall,” A’emi echoed, and then raised one eyebrow. “Kid, you couldn’t be further away if you tried, you’re going in the wrong direction.” The lie came easily, confidently. The greenrider tipped his head back in the direction they’d come from, Darkling emphasizing his words with a hopeful twitter; food? “Well. Not entirely the wrong direction, you’re kind of…parallel to it,” and A’emi absently gestured with his hands to illustrate. “I don’t even know where you’re going to end up. But hey, I was actually heading to the Main Hall. C’mon?” He grinned brightly, turning and gesturing for L’nu to follow.

And technically, it was the way to the Main Hall. It was…just the roundabout way. Nothing wrong with taking the scenic route, was there?

“Her name’s Darkling,” he added over his shoulder. “Would’ve named her Bones but Kyrahth…uh, convinced me otherwise.” Something along the lines of making sure ‘the freak’ lived up to her name by breaking her bones for her. Cheerful as ever, Kyrahth. She’d decided that ‘Darkling’ meant that she had to eat the firelizard (it was dark in her stomach, wasn’t it?) but fortunately, Darkling’s reflexes were good enough that she’d avoided that the few times Kyrahth had attempted it. “But yeah, Impressed her like, what, two, three days ago? It was an interesting Hatching.”

The fact that there’d been a fight and a M’kai to entertain him? Just added bonuses, really. A’emi still hadn’t caught up with M’kai yet after the Hatching, though – in retrospect, he found it terribly amusing that he’d nearly kneed the bluerider in the groin because of Darkling, but he was hardly going to tell him that. Or anybody, probably.

The firelizard in question left his shoulder in a quick flurry of wings, sweeping instead to L’nu’s shoulder. She chirped pleasantly at him, licking his jaw playfully. They were going to the Main Hall with this one, apparently, and there was food there – surely he’d share with her if she made nice. The green’s tail slipped loosely around his neck, just enough to anchor her, Darkling careful not to let her claws prick skin (she never really meant to hurt anybody) as she nuzzled L’nu’s jaw again, light and affectionate. Hello, hello, human hatchling, hadn’t he enjoyed her prank?~

[dragon]

L'nu's eyes grew at the news that he was going the wrong way to get to the main hall. He looked the way he had been going, then at A'emi again, before looking the way that A'emi gestured. Nevermind there was a whole lot of stone between him and where he wanted to be. "Ummmmm." He remarked, really confused now. He'd been only vaguely sure of where he'd been going to begin with, and now he was totally confused. Had he completely lost his bearings in these tunnels? "Okay." He said, not sounding entirely certain.

"I'm ... I'm not used to traveling the tunnels." He said, making an effort to explain himself. "It's just ... so cold outside." He poked his hands further into his pockets with a baleful look on his face. He certainly wasn't used to cold. He was used to working where it was hotter than summers. Back at home, anyway. Before he'd impressed. What with the firing ovens always running nearby, needing tending and watching, while the potters worked away on the next pieces.

"Oh! She's that young?" L'nu asked, with a nod. That explained why she was so small. But then, most flitters looked small to him. Came from living with a Gold all the time. Who tended to like to stay in his face. "Got some interesting markings." He commented, then wished he could stuff his foot in his mouth when A'emi said something about her being marked like bones. Oops. Um ... say something that wouldn't be construed as an insult maybe? "Darkling is a pretty name." he said ... and he thought it was true, too. Darkling had a nice ring to it, he thought. "I ... I kind of avoided the hatching." He confessed. One Rose was enough ... that and he didn't want to get caught with something in his pocket that wasn't supposed to be there.

That was one good thing about the cold ... it kept his hands in his pockets and out of everybody's things!

L'nu turned and trotted after A'emi, grateful that the other lad was willing to help him, and get him to where he was going, too. "Thanks." He said, happily. "I don't know if I'd ever have found my way out, if I managed to get myself that badly lost!" That, and he was happy to know that there were a few nice people around. Instead of just snorting at him, calling him stupid, and leaving him to rot in a lower hall. That was just ... so awkward.

His step faltered as A'emi's flitter came to his shoulder and got comfy there, loving on his face. After having her act so raucously and trying to scare him like that, it was the last thing he'd expected from the young green. "Oh, hello." He said, companionably, before casting a glance at A'emi to see if it was alright that she'd done that. Some people were rather possessive of their mindmates, he knew. "Can ... can I pet her?"

Of course, having a little warm body wrapped around his neck was always welcome!

[Avu]

“It’s okay,” A’emi replied, and shrugged loosely. “Everyone gets lost.” And it was kind of a labyrinth down there, if you didn’t know where you were aiming for. Although that also kind of depended on how long someone had been there – he’d been a Turn and he didn’t get lost, had sketched out a mental map in his head. Oh well. The kid was just unlucky, probably, to be tossed to him – a toy for his brief amusement. Unfortunately, part of that meant he had to coax a reason out of the kid, some kind of excuse for toying with him. Leading him on a wide circle around the Main Hall was fine, but it wasn’t the kind of game he wanted.

Talk of the Hatching earned L’nu a faintly amused grin, A’emi falling back to keep in step with the weyrlingrider. His head tilted to one side, examining Darkling’s position, and he quirked a quick smile again. “Wasn’t aiming to Impress. I was lured down to the Hatching, see, and then there were…” He hesitated on the word, settled delicately on, “Distractions.” Lured down by a retreating Elysia, distracted by J’ash and K’lir’s little cat-fight and by a M’kai. All in all, probably worth it. He liked Darkling, anyway.

His grin turned a little fake at the kid’s naïve thank-you, dark amusement flickering through his eyes. A shrug, the greenrider not replying immediately. Didn’t seem necessary anyway – he looked pretty distracted by Darkling. A’emi hooked his thumbs through the belt loop in his pants, fingers curling against his hips, his left positioned innocently just over the hilt of his belt knife. Just in case he got an excuse or something unexpectedly, although A’emi was figuring he’d be waiting a while – the kid was so very innocent.

Why wait, Kyrahth crooned in his mind, a silky whisper, He would be just like Craivaruth’s; helpless, screaming, sobbing probably…trying to fight back anyway. They all do, don’t they?

Temptress, A’emi replied, and left it at that before he could actually get too tempted, instead flickering a friendly smile at L’nu. “Go ahead, she loves the attention. Which is probably why she likes to jump out at people, too, come to that. Negative attention’s still attention or whatever the mind-healers like to say, right?” A flick of his fingers, brief and dismissive; A’emi was used to Kyrahth, who could more than take care of herself – Darkling could, too, probably. Certainly the firelizard was good at going between to achieve her own ends.

For her part, Darkling chirped, cheerful and bright, leaning forward to lick L’nu’s jaw again; pet her, pet her. Yes, she was very much trying to get into L’nu’s good graces, and the quick, light rub of her head against the kid’s face proved that. He had no treats on him now, but later…when they reached the Main Hall (if they did, A’emi amended quietly) he would, and he would share if he liked her, no?

[dragon]

Everyone got lost. L'nu didn't know if that was a true statement or if A'emi was just trying to make him feel better about it. Either way, L'nu was grateful. Even if he couldn't imagine someone like ... say .. the Weyrwoman, or the Headwoman (she was scary!) getting lost in the tunnels of their own Weyr. L'nu had always preferred traveling outside, where he could see where he was and where everything else was, free to go in any direction he chose at any time. Caves ... they bothered him. Not quite claustrophobic. Scratching on Darkling's head and neck amiably, L'nu thought the flitter was quite nice indeed. Especially since he had permission to go ahead and pamper her desires.

If only Rose could be so nice! If Rose had been this nice, he might well have hung onto all her babies instead of trying to get rid of them all! Nice flitters were nice, and L'nu liked nice flitters. Why did his have to be such a pest? L'nu made little cooing noises at Darkling as he scratched on her, entirely amused by her as he walked. When he looked at A'emi breifly, he couldn't help but grin, eyes sparkling happily.

It never even occurred to him that A'emi might even be contemplating whetting his knife on him. Not even the slightest hint of concern. A'emi, in his estimation, was a very nice person, and he had a very nice little green flitter! "Aw, but I can't see her getting negative attention. Not being this friendly!" He protested gently, rubbing a fingertip between her eyes. "Huh? You're not a bad little flitter are you?"

L'nu was, however, careful to keep up with the older lad, not wanting to lose his guide now that he had one. Keeping up was easy enough to do. Young L'nu might be, but he was not short. Getting taller at a rather absurd rate, L'nu was starting to get the all elbows-and-knees approach to life. "How long did it take you to figure out the tunnels? Did you travel them often, or not?" He asked, out of curiosity.

[Avu]

Hadn’t taken the kid very long to fall in love with Darkling, anyway, A’emi noted with detached amusement, glancing sideways at L’nu. Darkling was positively soaking in the attention, fluting sweetly at L’nu, tail coiling around his neck as she leaned into his hand, rubbing her head against his fingers. He brushed against her mind, light and warning; be ready – and earned a brief flicker of a glance, acknowledgement, but little more before she went back to nuzzling against L’nu, doing her best to live up to what he saw as her being sweet. Clearly he’d forgotten about her attempt to scare him, too.

“Most people,” A’emi commented playfully, “shriek and flail around and panic when a firelizard pops out at them randomly. So yes, negative attention, since they get embarrassed afterwards.” A loose shrug, the greenrider catching L’nu by the elbow lightly in order to steer him around a corner without just cutting right in front of the younger male. His hand returned to his belt shortly after, fingers curling around the hilt of the knife lightly.

Clearly there was guidance needed; even A’emi didn’t like to randomly pounce people without any kind of foreshadowing. That was just such a…boring approach. “Eh. Can’t give you an exact date, but Kyr’s moods are about as volatile as a hurricane, so short of being like, pitched off her back mid-air, I’ve had to take the tunnels a few times. I just like, semi-placed you, by the way,” he added, apropos of exactly nothing, “You’re a Weyrlingrider, aren’t you? One of Millieth’s?”

He wouldn’t have even known that (though it was a good thing he did, he thought) except for his recent, rather random interest in the Weyrlings in question – namely, whether or not M’kai would flail at him if he shot them with paint-ball arrows and called it ‘training’ – which it would be. Honest. A’emi hadn’t even been at Selenitas for Millieth’s Hatching, so he was just kind of…going off of memory. Fortunately, his was fairly good.

Darkling offered a low flute next to L’nu’s ear, mischievously flashing him an image of Kyrahth, mouth agape and teeth snapping forward – at her, so from her perspective, quite scary indeed. That was the meaaaan green.

[dragon]

L'nu grinned, and scratched on Darkling as he walked. He didn't even protest when A'emi steered him around an obstacle. He just ... didn't get upset like some people did. Not over things like that, anyway. "Some people," He answered, "Don't live with Rose." he pointed out. "Rose is always flying into my face and screaming ... or ordering me around, or biting me ... or worse. I was scared people were going to be mad at me for somehow stealing her, when I got her. Y'know? Now, I'm beginning to think I had it all wrong. She's a ... um." Better not start bad mouthing her. One never knew when she'd appear, hear, and then really get mad. "She's a Gold." He settled, lamely.

"I ... I really don't know, actually." L'nu answered. "I don't know if I'm still a Weyrling, or if I failed my class, or if I graduated ... or anything. I guess it's as good an approximation as any." He shrugged. "But yeah ... I think that was Pag's momma." He held up both hands and wiggled the thumbs. "Millie is the one that throws the wonky dragons, right? Pag's got extra thumbs." And the talons to go with them, too.

He flashed A'emi a grin, scratched on Darkling a few more times, and then looked around. Not that it told him much. It all looked like more tunnel. "Sooooooo ... where are we? Cause ... y'know. I'm lost." he remarked. "And how in the world do you tell? Are there markers somewhere that tell you where you are?"

[Avu]

Who was a Rose?

A’emi got that it was a pet of some sort, probably female because what kind of male would be named Rose? But past that, he had absolutely no idea. Flying. Probably a firelizard, then, since he didn’t think the little worm-things that Kyrahth somehow managed to hate even more than firelizards could fly. She sounded pretty obnoxious, though. For lack of a better word. He grinned as the kid finished. Gold firelizard, then. “Golds will be golds,” he quipped lightly, and crinkled his nose in a playful grin; he had absolutely no love for anything vaguely shiny and gold. Or bronze, for that matter. Guh, no. Useless, all of them. Except for spawning. But, still.

It didn’t particularly help that he considered most of the gold and bronze riders to be useless, too. Specifically, A’emi had been rather distressed that some Candidate had Impressed bronze – bronze toys were no fun. At all.

“Extra thumbs,” he echoed, and tilted his head, considering. “That could be useful, I guess.” He supposed. Depended on how much they could be moved around and all, of course. A’emi didn’t particularly mind mutations in themselves – mostly he minded the fact that Benden had been dumb enough to cause them to begin with. But his distaste for Benden was another story entirely. “How’s Selenitas Weyrling training?” he inquired casually – there was no emphasis on ‘Selenitas,’ of course (he wouldn’t be that obvious), but it still said enough – he wasn’t Southern.

“Like,” A’emi clarified, swiping one hand through the air in a vague gesture that mimicked the slash of a sword, “They teach you fighting and stuff, or was it just like, Thread procedures and dragon care?” Personally, A’emi didn’t think either of the latter was particularly useful – Thread procedures became all too simple after aerial battle was taught; dragon care should’ve been covered in the first months before the dragons even started to fly. So, why not fighting? Still, it’d be nice to know whether or not the kid had half a clue about how to defend himself.

Which he thought highly unlikely. But hey. Benefit of doubt, and all that.

Scare him, Kyrahth crooned in his mind, silk and sibilance. Scare him and /leave/ him; he’s lost, he says…see if he makes it out on his own.

“At the moment,” A’emi went on evenly, ignoring Kyrahth, “We’re about…like, okay.” He raised his hands, indicating with a closed fist, “Say this is the Main Hall, and there are,” the other hand wiggled in mock-intricate patterns around the first, “tunnels and all around it, right? We’re like…here,” and his hand closed. “But it’s like, you don’t really memorize markings or whatever, it’s just…like, second left, third right, stuff like that. And after awhile it’s just…you just know?”

[dragon]

L'nu grinned back for a bit, scratching on Darkling a bit more before stuffing his hands back in his pockets. Mostly to see if he had a scrap of jerky sneaking around in the crannies. Probably not ... cause if he'd had any scrap of food he'd probably have eaten it himself by now. Cause he was really starting to feel like the rumbly grumblies were gonna start. Foooooood. Boys and food, always went together well. Well ... one inside the other anyway. Not finding anything but lint in his pockets, he flicked his fingers to be rid of the fluff.

"Training?" He asked, indeed noting the mention of the Weyr specifically. Leading L'nu to think that maybe A'emi had had his training at a different Weyr. "It's alright, I guess. I don't have, um ... much to compare it to. Really. It's ... well ... training. We have started out doing basic dragon care and all that, when the dragons were real little. But once we started being able to fly, they've been throwing all kinds of stuff at us. Wing formations, flaming, thread types, how to flame those, how to co ordinate as a wing, what to do if a leader disappears indefinitely, how to avoid getting hurt in an attack ... all that stuff. I imagine they'll start teaching the dragons how to fight once we're in a real wing. Or something. I really don't know what they're planning, you know. I just try to catch up and try to make Paglieth make sense."

Sometimes the weird spats of backwards talk the blue had were most confusing. L'nu litterally had to second guess everything he said ... was the statement forwards or backwards? Others would blithely call it a tendency to unconsciously lie all the time. But L'nu knew better. Paglieth wasn't lying. He just had a problem with words. And getting them in the wrong order, using the wrong ones.

Sometimes. Which was the real kicker. When was it not messed up?

L'nu couldn't help but just stare at A'emi, at the notion of what it was like to try and navigate the halls. He seemed to wither after a moment. "I'll never figure it out." He noted. Just ... had to know? Or one would just ... eventually know? Like magic? L'nu rather didn't think things worked that way. And if there were no real markings ... it was no wonder he'd gotten lost!!

[Avu]

He listened attentively to the description of their training, because he was interested. He was; how the Weyrling training went was fairly informative on the Weyr in general. His training hadn’t just been focusing on things like dragon care, after all; Kyrahth had graduated as one of the best in fighting from their clutch. No waiting before they were taught. But the South would be Southern. A’emi nodded his head amiably, and then grinned at the boy’s depression. Sure he’d figure it out – it wasn’t hard after a while.

But that was beside the point. He whispered a mental warning to Darkling a second before she moved, the green vanishing between from L’nu’s shoulder immediately on his order. Meanwhile, the long curved dirk at his belt made its appearance, flashing into the greenrider’s hand; one foot snapped out, curving around L’nu’s ankle and jerking hard to pull the boy off balance. A’emi didn’t let him fall, though, immediately pressing his advantage, shoving L’nu against the wall and pressing his own body against the kid’s to prevent movement. One leg slid between the boy’s, the steel coming to rest casually along L’nu’s collarbone. His free hand curled around L’nu’s wrists, crossing them at his chest and pressing, just hard enough to hurt.

“Selenitas training leaves much to be desired,” he noted cheerfully. A’emi had missed the thrill of killing, but this wasn’t going to be near that – he’d always known that, from the beginning, and Darkling’s reappearance, the green’s bright mischievous trill, told very obviously of that – Darkling had never been inclined to really hurt anyone and she wouldn’t have been nearly so happy if A’emi had actually intended damage. He tilted his head, smiling playfully at L’nu. “Don’t teach you how to defend yourself properly, don’t teach you how to not get lost…what else haven’t they taught you…?”

Make him beg, Kyrahth whispered, dark temptation dripping like silk and honey from her voice – A’emi imagined his two greens as the angel and devil on either side of his shoulders, albeit an angel with a perverse sense of humor and a devil with a twisted vulnerability to the right pressure. Darkling trilled low in his ear, her weight settling warm and comfortable along his neck, and the green peered curiously at L’nu. Looked funny like this, he did. Had they scared him yet?


[[So power-playing. This post has it. ;o; Sorryyy but I didn’t know how else to make it work? If you need it changed or clarified or anything, just jab me. ily muchly<3]]

[dragon]

L'nu blinked in surprise when Darkling suddenly tore away and vanished. Getting attacked was the last thing he'd been expecting and just about the only thing he managed throughout the whole thing was to inhale sharply. But he didn't yell or squeal or anything of the sort. He huffed some of that air back out upon his back impacting stone, but he just stared at A'emi with some very wide, alarmed eyes.

Still, he did not yell. Why, was anyone's guess, especially given that when encountered with a stick-wielding Quintrell, he'd done a whole lot of it. It was clear the wheels were turning in his head, though, even as he realized he was worse than dead. It didn't matter what he did, he was so dead. "Um." He licked his lips nervously. "I don't know?" He offered, pretty sure that was the wrong answer.

But there was one thing he did know; A'emi was not going to get away with murdering him. Because he could feel Paglieth moving, awakened from his slumber by the shock. The blue, while he could not get into the tunnels to rescue his rider, could do something else potentially more useful: tell someone.

Ioth! the young blue called, with enough alarm and urgency to merit some attention from the weyrling-leading blue. Ioth, mine is in peril! Kyrahth's is fixing to murder mine in the tunnels![/color]

Why did he tell the weyrling master? Well ... it was the most senior pair that Paglieth knew. Oddly enough, while quite alarmed and afraid that he and his were fixing to perish, even Paglieth was not panicked. There was nothing he could do besides raise the alarm. Otherwise, all he could do was sit tensed up on the very tip edge of his ledge. Some of that calculating calm was what was keeping L'nu from squealing and flailing, it was for sure.

But he was definitely scared. There was no denying it. Both of them were.

Rose, on the other hand, was anything but scared. She was pissed. Appearing in the hall from between, the gold flitter screamed as she dove at A'emi. She ordered Darkling away with never a second thought to the tiny flitter, knowing that the young green could not do anything but comply with the orders. A flash later and the mature gold was in A'emi's face, jaws locked on his left eyelid as her talons dug toward his other eye, wings beating at his ears and hind feet raking downward at his bottom lip and drawing blood from the gums there.

[Ember]

The mottled blue dragon was trying to perfect a new technique while flying when he received Paglieth's alert. The move failed and he settled clumsily on the ground as his eyes flared a brilliant yellow. Iskierka...? Paglieth says Kyrahth's is trying to kill His. ...Is he not just lying? You know he does that. She felt the negative from her blue and threw on her coat and was out the door of her office as quick as was possible. Ioth informed her of the whereabouts and she tsked loudly.

Troublesome students, always getting into bothersome situations. That L'nu was a friend of J'ash didn't go past her notice. She couldn't figure out why A'emi would be interested in killing one of her students though. No matter what L'nu had done or said to the greenrider she didn't think that ex-Fortian was randomly violent enough to kill a kid. If he'd been caught doing soemthing he shouldn't have he ought to have known to make the kill quick so as to not attract the dragon's attention. Once that was done, the dragon could easily call reinforcements.

Oh well, it didn't really matter what A'emi was up to. Iskierka was duty-bound to try and stop the death of her students. Failing in her duty would only bring her more trouble. She gave instructions for L'nu through the dragons as she ran in the tunnels, searching rather hopelessly for L'nu. Ioth relayed the instructions to Paglieth carefully. Iskierka says try to get Yours not to panic and to talk to Kyrahth's. Just keep talking and distracting him. Also, it's preferable if he talks loudly so that Iskierka might hear his voice.

[Avu]

He laughed softly at L’nu’s response, low and amused. The kid sure sounded scared. A’emi’s gaze dropped to the line of his throat, the stiletto pressed against skin just enough to be felt. He offered a low hmm sound in the back of his throat, drew the blade contemplatively up from the collarbone, let the steel grate over L’nu’s neck to settle just below his chin. No other words, anymore, really; he was just playing and how tempting it was to see him bleed…stain the silver stiletto with dark slick red and let it drip, see if he tried to scream then.

Far too tempting.

A’emi had just started to pull back when Rose made her appearance; Darkling vanishing off of his shoulder like a ghost at the order – albeit an extremely furious and sulky ghost. The little green’s sense of justice had been thrown off; Hers hadn’t hurt the other human, so why was he being hurt!

The greenrider was not entirely worried, though. A firelizard was a firelizard, and little more. He quelled the instinct to just slit L’nu’s throat there and then – it’d get rid of the gold, wouldn’t it? His head jerked back and sideways to avoid the attack to his eyes, which closed on instinct, earning a set of scratches along his cheekbone but certainly nothing blinding. The taste of blood in his mouth went ignored – if anything, it was just part of the game. He might’ve actually been a little disappointed if he hadn’t been met with some resistance.

His grip on the stiletto changed, other hand flashing up to the pressure point on L’nu’s shoulder, and A’emi pressed hard, accompanying it with his heel to the weyrlingrider’s instep. The stiletto, meanwhile, was aimed at Rose’s head, hilt-first; as much as he’d like to cut her out of the air, he was sure it wouldn’t be approved. It was followed by the blade twirling around towards her wing, though; he didn’t necessarily have to kill her to incapacitate her. And a slashed wing would heal – Kyrahth was proof enough of that.

Remove yourself, the green said, voice dripping acid, directly to Rose. Hypocritical, she might be, but she did not approve of Hers being hurt over a prank. Besides, if the little gold worm thought she had the right to order Darkling away, then why shouldn’t Kyrahth make her leave? Learn to tell when Yours is truly in danger and when he is not. If A’emi wished to hurt him, his blood would already have left its stains on the stone. If he is hurt now, it is entirely due to your presence.