Lost Island - Misty Falls
The jungle opens to a wide clearing that reveals a high, broad lip of rock over which water cascades in a thin sheet falling into a clear, wide pool that appears deep enough for swimming. The sound of the drops hitting the surface of the pool is musical and soothing to the ears. Almost level banks are thickly-carpeted with rich emerald moss shaded by giant ferns that cluster in graceful arcs, perpetually be-jeweled with beads from the mist given off by the falls.
Behind the falls there appears to be a ledge that allows one to pass behind the sheet of water and remain dry. The path skirts the clearing and continues on up towards the peak.
There's a tranquility to the sleepy tropical day with nothing but the insects and birds singing, the soft rush of the falls making a steady music in the background. The air is warm now, but not overly so. There's a gentle breeze and deep shade from the sun, which has been up for several hours now. It's enough to lull exhausted sleeping folks who were up all night and engaging in rigorous exercise into a deep sleep, no? At least Thea is sound asleep and unmoving there by the burnt-out coals of that firepit, cushioned by the thick moss and curled in the blankets. Even the soft cough she does now and then isn't enough to disturb her dreamless and exhausted slumber.
Mmmm. Sleep. Yes, the day has made good for that given the circumstances of the evening before. D'had too is deep asleep. Or at least he was. Beginning to stir with the light that filters through the tree branches above. He coughs deeply, turning and draping an arm back across Thea's waist and shifting to bury his face in her hair.
D'had's stirring beside her is by now so familiar a thing that it doesn't wake Thea, but she does snuggle into that with an intelligible murmur followed by a deep sigh, which draws a cough or two before her deep and even breathing resumes. Shifting her hip on the moss-bed, she finds a more comfortable position for it and drifts deeper into somnolence. Below on the beach, three dragons curled in the sand sleep off their busy night, baking in the hot sand.
D'had's lips curl in slight smile for her murmurs, finally lifting his head to leave a light kiss on her cheek before shifts to slowly get to his feet. He was planning on standing up, which he does, but there's more ache there than he expected there to be. A cringe and a few choice words muttered as he makes it up and then bends to pull the blanket more fully over the weyrwoman's shoulders.
Dark lashes flicker on the pale curve of Thea's cheek when D'had's lips touch it and she mutters to herself as that blanket is pulled over her, although she doesn't wake. It's a few minutes more before she rolls closer to where he should be and the warmth she seeks but doesn't find changes the pattern of her sleep. It's not evident right away. A twitch of a brow, the beginning of unease in soft sounds muffled in the back of her throat, a fine beading of perspiration that creates a sheen on her forehead and what is now a restless slumber.
D'had moves about camp quietly as he's able, not wanting to wake either N'shen or Thea. He pulls some more wood from the pile off to the side and sets it into the ring of stones to rekidle the fire. Then he's off to the pool to fill the kettle in order to brew fresh klah. It’s not until he's on his way back to the fire, and thus where he's left Thea, that he recognizes her restlessness. Leaving the pot on the stones around the fire he reaches over to her, fingers brushing hair out of her face.
Perhaps it's the fingers touching her face, or perhaps something else. With a strangled cry, Thea reaches a hand to pat frantically at the empty spot beside her and a breath later her eyes flutter open, sweep the jungle's canopy overhead with the same confusion they blinked at the stars on the beach in the dark hours of early morning. Disoriented, she casts her gaze closer to hand and finds him there, the green in her eyes shadowed and fear-haunted. She isn't trying to keep her voice down, but sleep-furred and salt-burned it is little more than a whisper of disbelief, "Donn?" Arms open to him.
D'had jumps to move closer to her side at that cry. The frantic actions of hers causing him to move quickly. "I'm here," he tries to sooth her, pulling her to him and into his lap. A hand sweeps through her hair again. "It's okay," he tries to assure. A kiss to her forehead. "Its okay. Was just a dream."
Thea's arms wrap around him and she buries her face in D'had's shoulder as she curls into him. Her heart is beating much too quickly against his chest. Muffled from underneath her hair, "I- you didn't drown then." Relief, then puzzlement, "The…wave?" She lifts her head to peer at him in some confusion.
"Just a bad dream," D'had assures, holding her close. He rests his cheek against the top of her head, one hand on her back comforting. "We're all here. We're all okay. It was just a bad dream." Real, but it doesn't need to be anything more than a dream now.
Rather than soothe her, this assurance further confuses Thea and she stirs, a rising agitation in her that is palpable, felt by the restless movements of her head on his shoulder. When she's more awake, she'll recall fully what happened, but for now on some subconscious level, she knows something doesn't match up. "But I thought…"
D'had winces, tight muscles not liking the way he shifts his arm. "You thought what?" he asks, a hint of a smile forming in hopes of easing her agitation in the matter. "That I drowned?" He's trying to be lighthearted about it, joke about it even. Maybe that can make what happened less real somehow.
"Yes. No- I don't know?" More confusion on Thea's part. "There was a wave…" she starts lowly, then catching the smile in his voice, she lifts her head from his shoulder to give him a suspicious look, "What's so funny?" Because see, she isn't laughing. Her forehead wrinkles slightly, "I dreamed?" Unsure, then more firmly, "Yes, I dreamed a wave washed you away but left me alone on the beach-" She chokes, and down goes her head back on his shoulder with a thud while her arms tighten fiercely. Whispered, "Stop laughing. It was too real."
Who's laughing? D'had wasn't. Not quite anyway. Trying to lighten the mood, yes, but now that she's telling him to stop he can't help but chuckle. "Oh sweetheart," he tries, hugging her as her arms tighten. "Not so tight though. Hmm?" he asks. He's still sore after all. "I'm still here, ain't I?"
Which annoys Thea no end having just had a nightmare that was too real. She loosens her arms immediately, but otherwise doesn't move. From underneath her hair there's a rebellious growl and then silence. Fine, tease her then. She's… sulking?
"What's wrong babe?" D'had asks, leaning back ever so slightly to peer down at her. He said something wrong and he knows it. "What'd I do?" What can he do to make her better? "I'm here. You're here. It's all good. Right."
"It wasn't funny." Huff. All he'll see is that dark tumble of hair, likely stiff and still sandy from the churned seawater they took their fateful little dip in last night. Thea stays put when he looks down, although she can feel the shift and likely knows very well he's looking at her. "Yeeeees." He's here. It's all good? "Nnnnno."
"Never said that," D'had replies. "I ain't laughin' about it. I just don't know what's wrong." And if he doesn't know that, he can't fix it. And that makes him feel helpless. He doesn't say anything more, though that hand on her back remains, gently trying to calm her.
"You sounded amused," Thea points out and of course she doesn't know why he did, "and then you chuckled." Which sounded like him laughing? With her head still upon his shoulder and from within the tent of hair, she mutters, "You know how it feels when you dream-" She knows he has nightmares too sometimes. She's more awake now though, and his words about it all being a dream conflict with what she thinks she's remembering. "I was sure there was a wave."
D'had ahhs, nodding slowly. Fingers run lightly through her hair and he nods. That he does know. Yes. Even if he doesn't really want to admit it, or talk about that. "There was," he admits about her suspicions of the wave. "But it doesn't matter now."
Memory comes rushing in and for a full minute after he speaks, Thea sits there on his lap, motionless. It doesn't matter now. Unsure why he's saying that, she draws a breath to say something, thinks the better of it and instead says nothing at all. She makes no move to leave his lap, so he'll have to dump her off if he's wanting to go. There is a quiet resigned sigh from her and a palpable withdrawal into herself.
D'had is quiet for much of that time that she's thinking. Perhaps realizing she's doing just that. He rests his cheek back against her head, no protest on his part to the fact she's still on his lap. The silence lasts a bit longer before he lifts his head to try and peer down at her again. "Babe?" he questions, trying to draw her attention up to him. "You okay?" She's not normally like this.
Listlessly, "I'm fine." Oh Thea knows he's trying to get her to look up at him, but her head remains on his shoulder while silence stretches to be filled in with the rush of water over stones and the beat of drops hitting the surface of the pool. Finally she lifts her head and looks at him, but the normally clear-eyed gaze is dull when it meets his dark eyes. It's like she's not trying anymore to see into him. "Like you said, it doesn't matter." The pool draws her and there is where her eyes drift, but it's doubtful she's really seeing it.
"Come on," D'had starts, the arm that's not around behind her lifting to hook fingers under her chin before she looks at him. "This isn't like you…" It’s that dullness that he sees that bothers him the most though.
From the pool back to D'had's eyes shift Thea's and when they do the same lifeless expression is there. Her expression is blank when she replies woodenly, "It doesn't matter." There's no expectation of a response from him or any sort of questioning note as the words he'd used are spoken by her.
"It does," D'had protests. Unlike him, perhaps. Yes, he'd say it doesn't matter and try to avoid it all, but that's him, not her. Her saying that is like… well he can't even comprehend it really. "You don't look at me like that. Not for nothing. Just tell me." Almost pleading her to talk with him, which just goes to show how worried about her he is.
There is a void behind the green eyes that focus on his with a kind of patient obedience. There's no overt determination to avoid anything, no spark no… anything. He prompts her to tell him, so she does while staring into his eyes as if looking into forever and not finding it there. Slowly, numbly she repeats, "The wave doesn't matter."
In D'had's dark eyes is nothing but worry for her and that vancantness of her expression. "No," he agrees with a shake of his head, "It doesn't matter, but you. You do. You matter." And the fact that she's so withdrawn… that bothers him.
There's no argument from Thea, her gaze doesn't waver from his, though the change in her eyes is a subtle retreat yet further inside, leaving her empty. "What the first wave didn't take, the second came back for. I've lost you twice." Maybe he'll make sense of this, if not he'll have to dig for once because from the look of her, she's not going to be able to explain it. She has all the look of a person in shock.
D'had sighs, blowing out a breath. He's not getting anywhere like this. There's some understanding of her comment, but some of it is lost on him. He shakes his head, "I'm still here babe," he assures. "Haven't lost me, certainly not twice." That she's going to have to explain. Eyes close and he wraps arms tighter around her, aiming to pull her close again. Dropping chin to chest there might just be the glimmer of a tear in the corner of his eye.
Thea is unresisting when he pulls her in and being that her eyes are affixed on his when they close, she catches the sparkle of light in the corner of his eye with a sort of dazed awareness just before she hooks her chin over his shoulder. Her body is limp in his arms, hands in her lap and for a time there's no breaking of the silence that follows D'had's statement. Finally, softly near his ear Thea says, "I lost the man who could dare to risk letting me know him with the first one and with the second…" Her voice falters as if to say it aloud would shatter the landscape her eyes barely see anyway, "I lost the one who cared. Because the wave wasn't all that happened last night. And it matters." Or it did until he said it didn't.
D'had is still somewhat confused by that concept. He licks his lips, head still down. A sigh. "I'm still here babe. And you know I care about you." She knows that. Right? He turns his head, lifting his chin to press a kiss to her temple.
Eyes close after that kiss to her temple and from underneath her dark lashes tears begin to tumble down her cheeks onto the back of his shoulder. Tiredly, "Yes, I know. You just don't want to… talk about things that bother you." Which sums up her metaphorical ramblings in the scant sort of way he's used to conversing in. And ought to alert him as to the nature to her crushed withdrawal.
D'had ahs, some sort of understanding coming with those simple, non-metaphorical, words. "Ain't nothin' to talk about Thea, I'm just glad you're still… here." Alive the word he might have been looking for, but that one he doesn't say. Saying it means he's acknowledging that something might have happened. Then again that might be what she's getting at.
Thea flinches at those first five words, pained. Of course he will say that. She doesn't reply to the rest of his comment, simply lifts her chin from his shoulder slowly and turns her head away towards that safe waterfall pool. Alive isn't a word Thea would use to describe herself at the moment anyway.
No. That's perhaps not the best word either. But she isn't dead, and that's what he's getting at. "Smile for me?" he asks, a pleading sort of sound to his voice. Please. It’s a simple request. "We can talk," he relents a few moments later. "About whatever you want. Just don't…" Don't do this to him.
That pleading note in his voice draws Thea back from her contemplation of the clear water and it is with greater difficulty she focuses on his face. He should be able to tell she's not pulling something on him nor doing this on purpose. Blinking in a somewhat dazed fashion at his request, a few moments pass while a faint frown flickers across her brow and then her eyes lift to meet his with an unfocused sort of look. "I can't," she tells him with a vague regret at letting him down. She points to the pool then and says, "There." She uses his shoulders to push herself up from his lap, attention on the pool rather than his face and starts walking towards it slowly.
D'had sighs, a sad sort of look turned down to her when she does finally meet his gaze. Did he do something? Can he fix it? How? There are plenty of questions, but few answers. That last word of hers has him blinking however, turning to follow where she points with his eyes. "What is it?" he inquires, slowly moving to his feet after she leaves his lap. A cringe as he tries to stand up from the ground, and then he's following her.
There's no ire on Thea's face when she turns back to see if he's coming. Having had her back to him, she misses that awkward way he regains his feet. She turns back to the pool while waiting for him to catch up and when he's almost there, she nods to the pool with a chin and notes soberly, "There are no waves here." And promptly steps into the cold water, clothes and all, walking from ankle-deep water to knee-deep with small, steady steps and looks like she's just going to keep right on.
"No," D'had agrees, somewhat confused by the comment. "There's no waves here.." Confusion clear in his words. He pauses by the pool's edge, watching as she steps in. "Babe?" he questions more firmly as she steps out past ankle deep. "Baby, talk to me," he tries again, stepping in after her, reaching for her hand.
Thea makes it out to her knees before she feels the touch of his hand. In those brief few moments she seems to have forgotten he was there for she startles, turns her head and blinks at him with a bit of a blank look. "Oh! Yes. There are no waves in here," she repeats before turning and stepping out deeper. Her expression is serene as the light from the luminescent water flickers in her eyes, she murmurs, "There's nothing left for the waves to take." Probably makes no sense at all.
Which is just what D'had says next. "You're not making any sense." That said as he grabs hold of her arm. He's not planning on letting her go any further if he has anything to say about it. "Look, lets head back to the fire and get you dried off. We'll get things packed up and head back to the weyr. If you didn't want to be here just say it."
"I want to be here," Thea tells him, confused herself by that statement. "Come," she beckons to the deeper water. "There are no waves here." Her reaction to having her arm grabbed is unusual for her - she tries to pull away, but doesn't make any progress with that iron grip on her arm. Silent tears begin to trail down her face as she is thwarted from her odd goal. It's a tug-of-war…
"Thea!" D'had says her name sharply. Maybe that will snap her out of this strange behavior. "I -know- there ain't no waves." He can see that. He's not blind. He's not holding so tight as to try and hurt her, but he is trying to contain her, keep her from wading out any further. "/What/ is your problem?"
They're tears of frustration, apparently, for Thea isn't complaining about the hold he has on her arm. Hearing her name spoken so does snap her out of whatever confused state she was in. She stops trying to pull away, turns towards him and when her eyes meet his, the vacant look is gone from hers only to be replaced with grief. The tears continue to trickle down her cheeks as she stares at him but all she can do is say his name, "Donn." Takes a ragged breath and adds, "I can't lose you." And the fear in her voice is too real to mean a swimming accident.
"You're not going to," D'had replies, trying to pull her to him. If she won't come to him, he'll go to her, but either way a hand lifts to her cheek, thumb wiping away the tears on that side and then the other. "But I'm not going to lose you either." The look in his eyes is one he's trying to hide, fear of just that, loosing her. It might be easy to hide the look from his face, but eyes are much more difficult.
Thea will meet him halfway, hands lift to brace herself on his chest as the uneven bottom of that pool underfoot catches her off-balance. "I just don't want-" Her fingers curl into his shirt. Watch out! She's good at reading eyes, Donn and hers are searching his with a gaze that wavers ever so slightly between his two as his thumbs are stoking her cheeks. Busted! "How do you know that?"
"Because I won't let it happen," D'had replies. He sounds sure of it, but at the same time there's doubt. He can't fix everything, he can't always be there to save her. "But you need to tell me if something's wrong." He's not a mind reader. Then again, that's a double edged sword in that he won't do the same.
Thea believes him, but her intent gaze remains searching his. "I will. I always do." Puzzled as to why he feels he even needs to say it. It's her turn to plead and her eyes join forces with her voice, as she does so, "I just don't want what happened to make it harder than it has been for you to talk to me." Because she -really- doesn't need that. Plaintive, "Don't leave me lonely, Donn. And don't let the wave take what little bit you will say away?" Because in her mind that's what the first one did to him.
D'had leans to rest his forehead on her shoulder. "Anything," he relents in a breath. Just don't leave him. "I'm sorry babe, I just didn't want to hurt you." He didn't want to remember it, not voluntarily. He relives it often enough in his dreams.
Thea's fingers loosen their grip on his shirt as her hands slide around her weyrmate, one of them cradles the back of his head to her shoulder while her chin hooks over his. "You keep saying sorry; I'm not mad. I just… don't shut me out? That's the only thing you can do to hurt me." Well, there might be a few other things, but she trusts him. She thinks to reassure him, "I won't let it happen either." Her arms tighten just a bit as she says it - she will fight to keep from letting anything happen to her so as not to leave him that way. Silence descends in which the nearby falls fills with it's sound, perhaps the proximity makes it so much more noticeable that Thea blinks at the water they're standing in with startled puzzlement, "What are we doing in the pool?"
"I'll try," D'had agrees with a nod that's likely more felt than seen. A slight smile goes unseen when her hold on him tightens and he gives her a light squeeze of a hug in return. That question has him lifting his head however, leaning back to search her face. "You're the one who walked out here…" She doesn't know why they're there? And she says he shouldn't worry.
Thea returns D'had's look with her formerly clear-eyed gaze, albeit a little bemused. There's a headshake of amazement as she looks down at her legs and soaked trous, "I did? I…don't remember that." Back to him, "There are no waves here." And then she continues, "You won't worry about the twins swimming here." She's also pulling his head down to press lips to his in an attempt to reassure him for that look on his face.
"Yeah… you did," D'had replies, "And that's what you were saying. There's no waves?" Which still has him confused. "Not.." he starts to say, but then there's her lips on his and he lets it go, returning her kiss.
When their lips part, Thea mulls over what he was saying. "Ohhh!" Something clicks in Thea's mind. "The last thing I remember is thinking the wave - it's like a symbol for everything we can't control, Donn. You see? And uncertainty is something we should face together. Not something that doesn't matter." And if that doesn't make any sense, well, she's a woman. He can put it down to that. "I can't explain what happened after, but we can ask the healers, okay?" Then there's another glance down. "I don't know about you? But I can't feel my feet.”
"Okay…" D'had replies slowly, not quite sure if he understands that or not. A nod then, "Sure," he agrees to the healer. And really, its a good thing she suggested it cause he might have insisted on it anyway. "Right," he adds then, "Should get outta the water." Because cold water, that'd make sense why she can't feel her feet. "Lets get you warmed up.. again. Hmm?" He tosses a wink towards her as he turns, offering a hand to her as he steps to lead the way back to the fire.