Pernese Expedition [J'on & Rinagth]

[Shiny]

The glows on the blanket of night were fading. Quickly, but so smoothly that one would not notice their passing until it was too late. The death of stars; a reminder of the passage of time. Even the unfathomable beauties of the cosmos had limited quantities of it. Humans had so much less. A fraction of a star's twitch - to live, to experience, to feel, to understand. Deemed unfair, and very unappreciated. Mortals. Too engrossed in killing each other to understand the true value of sentience.

But it was these very acts of war that had made a particular mortal aware of the relativity of time and life. Engagement with death throughout the turns finally sinking in after the bloodbath of the Dragon War. And the thoughts of what there was to lose... So much, now.

Ten turns ago, he had nothing. Now, he had everything.

A huge smile erupted on the face of the Dragonrider sailing below the fading stars. What a lucky man he was. Luckiest man to have ever existed.

The blue and green dragon that had just appeared from thin air began a gentle descent - more gentle as of late than he had ever been. Calmness personified by the death of the night, the birthing of the day. The silence of the thin atmosphere at this altitude. The dragon, a natural vigilante and berserker, for once completely satisfied. And all because his rider was truly happy.

Silently arriving upon the weyrledge of his lover, J'ash gave a glance around for Rinagth before invading the weyr. The Bluerider had specifically instructed Craivaruth not to enlighten the Green - who would most likely be asleep - of their arrival, although she would probably have been alerted by the Watchdragons. It would also be highly improbable for J'on to be awake at this hour. Only the odd-hour shift-workers would be about.

The Bluerider had made his way through the darkness of the weyr with footsteps so mute, he could have glided. Over there; his love. His fiancé. J'ash bent and took a moment to observe that translucently freckle-dusted face in its slumbering state. The few words spoken were smooth and barely louder than a whisper; dream-like. "J'on." The back of J'ash's fingers feathered in a caress of the Greenrider's cheek. After another silent moment of delicate touch, the long-haired man muttered again. "J'on. Please wake up. I have something to show you."

The Bluerider carefully leaned down to place a light kiss on the exposed side of J'on's face, then silently darted to the weyrledge in a graceful flurry. He allowed a few moments for J'on to wake by taking his time tethering himself to Craivaruth.

The Blue crooned a deep, soft note at the Green, the sound as peaceful as it was rare, coming from him. Good morning, lovely. Even his vocabulary had shifted, perhaps just for the moment. J'ash has requested the presence of you and Yours at this Northern location. The Blue channeled a fleeting image to Rinagth.

Trust me.

And the Bluepair were gone into air within seconds, as if they had never been there at all.

[Kisha-Ra]

The soft edged eddies of dreams floated around J’on’s weyr, or perhaps around the conjoined minds of the young man and his green dragon. Whichever it was the dream stuff promised contentment and warmth in endless measure for all their days, a gift freely given and which man and dragon accepted as their due.

With the dream stuff swirling round about the weyr the only open set of eyes to heed the gentle arrival of the bicoloured dragon on the ledge were those of Flash the salamandyr, a creature immune to the soft seduction of peace. The powder blue beast’s eyes flashed a dangerous red for a moment and he flared the ring of barbed spines about his neck once just to express his objection to the presence of extra people in his place.

Deeper into the shadowed room a human voice made an incoherent murmur of discontent and the sound of a person stirring restlessly, still caught up in sleep. Indeed the greenrider was half convinced that the brush of long hair against his face, the touch of fingertips, the breath of a whisper were all part of his dreams. It was only when the voice of the man of his dreams came again that J’on opened brown eyes, and blinked at the already retreating figure.

Odd, he mused in the detached way of the semi sleeping; J’ash wasn’t normally one for walking away after so brief a time… Puzzled by this strangeness J’on sat up and shook the dream wisps away from him, looking after the retreating bluerider.

Rinagth was better at mornings than her rider, admittedly not by much, but she at least managed to stir herself from her all out sideways flop sleeping position to a dignified curled pose when Craivaruth addressed her. Partially because she wasn’t sure if the other dragon was mocking her with his choice of words, however she chose not to ask, not wanting to set the usually volatile blue off before the sun had even made it above the horizon. We will be there. Eventually. that last word was added after a look at J’on. The green rose and stretched herself out, suddenly excited by this little mystery, and began niggling J’on out of bed, into washing, dressing, and all those other things that humans had to do before they were ready to go.

‘Rina, where are we going?’ The greenrider asked his dragon some time later, when all the dream fragments had been banished by the waking world. The green dragon merely shifted slighty, checking that her rider was in place before she kicked away from the ledge. Here.[/color] she replied as they vanished from one sky to appear in another, over the landscape Craivarth had shown her.

[Shiny]

The first rays of Rukbat welcomed the dual-coloured dragon and his rider from between as they appeared in the location of the rendezvous. Slightly closer to the northern pole than Inverness Weyr, the location consisted of a vast sea of mountains and cliffs. Thawed water was spraying forcefully through the landscape from some unseen source of water, continuing the eon-long process of natural erosion - the very way most of these valleys had formed. Most of the stars had faded by now, and sunlight was slowly illuminating the landscape.

The vast sea of sharp ridges below them never failed to take J'ash's breath away. Spring had sprung since the last time he had came here; the icecaps were a quarter the size that he had remembered them. Still, frost and ribbons of snow were strewn about the cliffs and waterfalls, hinting that winter had not yet finished ravishing the landscape.

Frigid air felt sharp in J'ash's lungs as he breathed in deeply; it smelled fresh and cold. There wasn't much oxygen at the altitude the pair had betweened into, causing something of a suffocation-induced high to occur to the Bluerider. Craivaruth stayed stagnant for a while, waiting for their Green reflection to appear from nothingness. Moments passed in utter silence, the water streaming far below soundless due to sheer distance. Gently circling, Craivaruth fought to keep his mind active against the sleepiness induced by the deficit in oxygen, feeling as sedated as the human sitting upon his back.

J'ash was staring in a hazed fashion at the large puffs of condensation spewing into the air every time he exhaled, feeling more mesmerized with the phenomenon than he normally would be. The shuddering caused by the cold temperature that was wracking his body went completely unnoticed.

Craivaruth crooned affectionately at the familiar cracking sound of between. Theeere is my lovely. The Blue hummed, twisting in the air next to her. J'ash looked to catch a glimpse of J'on, but couldn't focus enough on the moving figure. Took you long enough, we could have suffocated and it would have been alllll your fault~ What strange words he was uttering; indeed, the Bluepair had been up there far too long and were due for some much needed breathable air. Welcome to the place halfway between Inverness and the North Pole. Beautiful, isn't it? The sun was hitting the highest mountain peak, creating such an iridescent glow that it was hard to avert one's eyes.

Race you. The Blue pumped his wings a few times to orient himself correctly and then simply plummeted in a calculated, tight-twisting spiral - the 'leap of faith' that the Bluepair seemed so fond of doing. J'ash didn't much notice the lurch of his guts at the sudden acceleration towards the ground, but instead burst into a huge grin as his eyesight wavered black. The moment was over after just a few seconds, and Craivaruth pulled out of the dive. J'ash's bowed his head for a few seconds, fighting against passing out. Masochist. That was dangerous. But fun, J'ash's face said with that silly grin that seemed determined to stay put. Rendezvous on the peak of the glowing rock, the Blue projected, speeding his way towards it.

[Kisha-Ra]

Sun and the fading ghosts of stars made Rinagth’s hide flash with golden lights as her flight muscles flexed and sent her sinuous body into a lazy curve so that her rider might admire this place from above, which was so clearly the way it was supposed to be appreciated. Poor ground creeping humans would never see this, J’on was soooo lucky to have such a splendid dragon to ride. Rinagth silently managed to convey the idea that she was doing J’on a massive favour by bringing him, at the instruction of Craivaruth, to a freezing, oxygen deficient altitude at the crack of dawn. The greenrider huddled in his jacket and sniffed to express his opinion of Rinagth’s splendour.

Craivaruth got a touch of the evil eye while Rina tried again to decide if he was mocking her. Don’t know what you’re talking about, the air is fine here.[/color] And indeed it was if you’d arrived less than a minute ago. Beautiful is! Beautiful most. The unexpected response came from Flash, whose head could just be spotted poking out of J’on’s collar. The unusual pleasure in the salamandyr’s reversed words was clear, and he eyed the expanses of running, falling and pooling water with utter glee. Rinagth didn’t bother with words, she just folded her wings and plunged downward after Craivaruth, her awareness of the world around her sharpened as she allowed gravity to take control, tiny movements directing her path moment by moment as the ground loomed up on her until she was forced to bring her hind quarters down and flare her wings out again.

J’on clutched convulsively at the neck ridge in front of him as the world plummeted away and the wind forced his eyes closed, he leaned lower over his green’s neck, although it would have no effect on her movements, in response to her suddenly analytical thoughts. When he was finally able to open his eyes and breathe normally again he jammed a heel into his dragon’s shoulder. Isn’t it a bit to early in the morning to be a daredevil? He inquired acidly, although he was grinning. At least he was feeling more awake now. Nothing like a freezing morning and a dive down what seemed to be mountainside to make you realise you really were glad to be alive…

Whether it was being more awake or just being glad he’s survived another of Rinagth’s urges to show off, J’on found himself better able to appreciate the view now that he was moving through it at a more sedate pace. Rinagth snorted in response to that thought and reminded him that she’d tried to show him when they first arrived. J’on ignored her, he’d had a long time to practice after all, and continued to gaze around him, resolving to ask J’;ash how he’d found this spot when they had a chance to talk.