Xanadu Weyr - Forest
In sharp contrast to the treeless, carefully manicured look of the main clearing, the forest is full of trees, and maintains most of its natural look. Wild flowers grow in their seasons, bordering the road leading from the main clearing as weaves its way between the stands of trees - wide enough for traffic of all types, even draconic. Leading off are several smaller, less worn trails, which branch outwards, making their way to private residences and other attractions - the theater for example. The road, though, continues on eastward, to the feeding grounds and the mine, and beyond that, to the coastal road out of Xanadu's territory.
Amongst the normal weyrs scattered amongst the trees, there is one that is undergoing construction. A large, four-sided structure is protruding, supported by thick wood beams, bearing a ledge, and four large clock faces. It towers over the trees, creating quite a sight for arriving riders.
What better to do on a foggy, icky day than go off on a long hike in the woods? It seems Tali has convinced one of the candidates that she deserves a day off and has switched days with…well, likely her holder friend, the quiet girl. Or maybe she's just shirking. Who really knows, but the girl paces along the edge of the forest all the same. Oddly enough, there is a small brownish puppy chasing her around and barking up a storm — she's ignoring it, in favor of eyeing the forest warily. The fog is dense and almost cuttable, certainly you could swim in it! It's hard to detect a time of the day, but by the fact that it's chilled, it's probably pretty early in the morning still. Everything is dark and dim, and it's hard to see more than a few dozen feet in any direction. Perfect day for a walk in the woods, right?
Having managed to score a lucky day off from chores, Rogawani had left the barracks early in hopes of getting out to tend to his runner and get in some exercising, only to be met with a thick wall of fog. Not about to let something as silly as fog get in his way, the boy had wandered out into the mire trying to find his way to the stables. Unfortunately, he gets a bit side-tracked and misses the turn to the stables completely. "Let's see, should be around here somewhere." He mumbles to himself, not realizing that there might be others out in the fog, too. It's eerie, the way the winds blow around, his mind playing tricks and forming ghostly images that get swept away all too quickly. "Aah." He jumps back, surprised when a dark form appears in front of him. Then, he reaches out and touches his hand to the bark of a tree. "Trees? Shard it, went too far." He turns, looking around and trying to find the right path back.
Cenlia is out in the forest, garden toolbelt and all. She's dirt-smeared and has grass stains on her knees, and a cloth pack over one shoulder. Bits of greenery are sticking out of the pack, as well as the handle of a medium-sized hand shovel. Having finished with her chores in the kitchen early, she's been able to take the part of the day to go gather samples for something or other. Two of her four firelizards are with her, midnight-dark Rogue and goldeny-bronze Charmer are perched on her shoulders, the flits peering about curiously. The girl seems to have gotten caught by the fog, though it's the yapping pup and the 'Aah' that have her raising an eyebrow and calling a, "Hey," with a chuckle. She moves slowly and carefully in the direction of the sounds, stumbling a little on a tree root. Charmer chitters a bit.
Yap, yap, yap! Rrrr! The pup bounds off into the fog at some foreign scent, and ends up nearly running right into Ro', then tumbling off at a high pace on back to yapyapyap at Cen. "Eep! You stop that!" Tali commands in a harried voice. "You, you —" Aaand she gives up. The puppy is ignoring her anyways. "Cen? That you?" The girl raises her voice, then squints at the second shape, further out? Or is it closer? "W-who's there?" If her voice shakes a little, can you blame her? *Somebody*'s been listening to all those rumors about folks getting kidnapped. Yap! Yap yap! The girl sighs.
Just as Rogawani is about to take a step forward, the yapping sound in the distance comes closer and he nearly ends up tripping over the pup that bounds into his path. Sidestepping quickly, he loses his balance slightly and ends up catching himself against the tree again. "Easy there." He calls out, his voice sounding as if it were both amused, and wary. That's when the other voices start filtering through the haze. "Tali?" He calls out, squinting into the swirling mist as if trying to make out something other than the random shapes his mind conjures up there. He steps a few paces away from the tree, out into the fog that closes in around him. Cursing under his breath, he taps lightly at the green bulge under his jacket. "Kia, can you find Tali?" He asks the lizard, who yawns and looks at him as if he'd interrupted a perfectly good nap. However, she seems to obey, and pops between, emerging a bit away from the girl and squacking into the fog before winging down, trying to find purchase on the girl's head. Cupping his hand over his mouth, the boy calls. "Who else is here?" His foot catches a stone, sending it clattering eerily forward.
Cenlia acks when the puppy bounds up to her, the gardener making shooing motions with her hands. It's not very effective, though, just causing the fog to swirl. Rogue hisses at the baby canine from her shoulder, while Charmer croons as if trying to make friends with it. Cen moves close to Tali with a, "Yeah-" and then breaking off to peer over in Ro's direction, her eyes squinting to see. At the question of who else is there, Cenlia smirks and calls back, "A gardener with a shovel!" Though she does not pull out the shovel from her pack, instead grinning as she recognizes the voice.
Riyontali scowls at the puppy as he pads to sit by her side and give her the 'look what a good puppy /I/ am' look. "Wretch. Go back to Ikemir. Toldja not to follow me." The girl groans, then glances off into the fog as she hears her name. "Ro?" It's like some demented game of marco-polo; the fog is thick and dreary, and it's almost impossible to see things clearly more than a dozen feet away — at two or three dozen, they become mere shapes in the fog. Needless to say, it's almost impossible to guess as to what time it is, but it's possibly morning, cool and damp with the slightest of breezes. "Shovel!" The girl barks a startled laugh as first the little green firelizard lands on her head, then Cen declares she's armed with a shovel. "Oh — Kia? That you?" It's hard to see on top of her head, but there are enough flailing firelizard-parts to get the point. "Over here!" Helpful. Really. The fog seems to dampen voices and echoes don't exaclty work right, making it hard to detect where they're coming from. "Cen, you be sure to hit anybody you see with that shovel." Is she joking? Well…maybe.
The green firelizard squacks again, and then tries to crane her head forward to get a look at Tali's face. A split second later, she's winging back into the foggy air, vanishing in a swirl of white mist around her. Rogawani raises one arm, allowing the lizard to settle on it after re-appearing at his side. "Yes, that's it, can you show me the way." At first, Kialio just preens under one of her wings, looking bored, but she seems to get the jist of it. "Yeah, it's me." He raises his voice to carry into the distance. "Trying to get this sharding firelizard to show me the way." The green raises her head, and her eyes lid over halfway before she takes to the air, dancing through the fog off towards Tali and Cenlia. "Shovel?" He catches the last word, and then barks a laugh as he starts to follow the little green swiming in and out of his vision. "Hey Cenlia, think your shovel will do much good against this fog?"
"Dun't ever go anywhere without a shovel," Cen smirks and chuckles. It's probably a good thing that her mischievous grin and that glint in her eyes is obscured by the fog. "Will do," the gardener adds, with atilt of her head to Tali, reaching up to pull the shovel from her pack. Charmer does his usual crooon at the people-shapes in the fog, and at the green flit, though he and Rogue remain on Cenlia's shoulders. The girl calls over to Rogawani, "Not unless it's made of dirt," though she does experimantally swing the shovel in the air in front of her. It doesn't do much good. Swirl the fog around, maybe.
There's the sound of twigs cracking underfoot, wet foliage thrashing. Something is a-stir nearby. A muttered curse or two tells it is neither dragon nor beast as Thea emerges from the fog just in time to duck a shovel-swing. There's a garbled, "Ackghh!" as she staggers back, arms a-flail. "What on Pern are you trying to do?" Not angry, just total confusion in her tone as she blinks at the shovel-wielding Cenlia. She's heard other voices, peers into the murk to see if she can spot them. "Haven't seen a fog this thick since Kate…" She leaves that unfinished. Instead, "What are you guys doing out in this?" Her tone implies that any sane person would not be. Though what it says about her…
Riyontali peers into the fog, though smartly stays right where she is. "Wish I had something I could light on fire…though I dunno if it'd burn…" Wrinkling her nose with distaste, the girl fans the fog in front of her face, sighing. The departing firelizard is watched with a snicker and snort, as she rocks back on her heels, scowling into the dreary morning. "Prob'ly smart." Half-shouts Tali with a laugh for Cenlia. "Almost wish you could dig it! Or even walk on it, I'd kill for not feeling like I'm gonna drown with breath — eep!" Curses? Muttered words that it's likely best that she didn't hear, then a question that she /can/. "..Thea?" Well, hopefully it's Thea, at least, since she answers in a slightly strained voice. "I'm goin' for a walk. Need, um. Fresh air." Right, like she can get anything of the sort. "Figured I'd try and look for mushrooms too while I was out it, so…forest. Need to go in there. Fog doesn't so much bother me, even if, erm," She can still only see vague shapes. "It's a little hard to see in. You okay, Ro?" Pause. "Cen, don't hit Thea with it!" Obviously, that would be a bad idea!
As Rogawani follows the green lizard through the fog, other shapes become more apparant. Drawing closer to the sounds of voices, he becomes visible at first only as a gray shape, and then more-so as the distance closes. "Thea?" He blinks a bit, trying to clear the swirling from his vision and rubs at one eye. "Hey guys." He offers, having missed the shovel-swinging, luckily. Raising one hand in greeting, the boy looks around as if he were just a little bit lost. "Um, I was heading for the stables. Rider hadn't been exercised in a few days." The looming shapes of nearby trees, however, cause him to look back at the others. "I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Where are we anyways?" The green firelizard wings around and lands on his shoulder, preening again now that her task is complete.
"Ack- shards!" goes a startled Cenlia, as she jumps back as well. Nearly beaning a goldrider was /not/ what she'd expected. "Where'd you come from?" the gardener girl blurts, and then more sheepishly adds, "Y'alright?" She wisely lowers the shovel. Charmer's crooning redoubles at Thea's entrance, the bronze firelizard leaning off Cen's shoulder and streetching his neck out into the fog in the goldrider's general direction. "I, uh, was- mushrooms?" Cen's interest is obviousin her voice, as she turns in Tali's direction, "Saw a bunch of 'em thataw-" there's a pause, "Somewhere 'round here." Another pause, and then, "Figure we're somewhere in the forest. Was lookin' for the clock tower but…" she trails off, her shrug causing both firelizards on her shoulders to chitter.
"Can you see the mushrooms well enough to do that?" There's incredulity in Thea's voice as she replies to Riyontali, "Just be sure to collect the edible ones." Otherwise she'll be in a fog of a totally different sort. And here's Rogawani talking about runner-riding in the fog. "Shards you people are determined to endanger yourselves today." Both Rogawani's and Cenlia's questions get answered with the same words, "The forest." Then a chuckle follows, "My weyr's out here."
Ah! People! Tali scampers for the shapes, followed by the loudly yapping puppy. "Umm," Pause. Affirmative: There are trees. "Yes. Forest. I don't really know where I am though." Her shoulders heave up in a quick shrug. "Don't mind too much. Gotta run into somebody sometime. Or I can send Dol back for help." Or, you know, get kidnapped by the resident nutjob who seems to haunt these here parts. The girl blinks at the faces of the trio, odd in the fog, which swirls faintly about. "I've no idea whatsoever where the stables are. Or, um. Anything else, really. It'll burn off, surely." Shrug, once more! Then she's squinting around, and heaving a sigh. "I don't think it's any good at all to look for 'em right now…thought it might be nice, they always liked the fog back at home, but…" Thea is given a wry smile. "Well, I've only ever picked one bad one…and it wasn't *that* bad." Thankfully, she doesn't elaborate, only wrinkles her nose. "Not determined to get hurt. Just didn't want to be cooped up in the barracks." At least she sounds sincere? Still, she doesn't look real intent upon looking for those mushrooms. Is that nervousness?
"Clock tower…" Rogawani looks around, as if trying to find the tall shape anywhere in the drifting mists, but his eyes just can't seem to get very far. Instinctively, he draws closer to the others, his feet moving almost of their own accord as his hands tuck into his pockets. "I can't make heads or tails of where we are, either. I didn't think to grab a compass. I wasn't going that far…" His eyes shift towards Thea, and the boy raises one eyebrow before smirking at her. "Oh come on, Thea, you know me better than that." He rolls his eyes. "I was going to let him out into the paddock to run aroud. It's not as if I'm allowed to leave the weyr, anyways." Momentarily, his face looks worried at that particular rule, but then again… if Thea was lost with them, no one could lay too much blame, right? "Better lost together than lost separate, though. Right?" He offers, trying to show a small supportive smile towards the two girls, before shrugging at Thea.
"Wish I'd picked some when I saw 'em," Cen says to Tali, "Weren't the bad kind." She's quiet a moment, and then Cenlia asks idly, "Dun suppose dragon fire could burn off fog…" The gardener girl doesn't sound too nervous as she peers at the others' faces through the fog, although she doesn't stow her shovel, either. "Dunno exactly where we are. Lost track awhile back." Cenlia's nod to Tali might be obscured by the thick vapours, the gardener girl saying, "Figure we could send a flit back, yeah. Got Mizzle an' Trouble in the gardens somewheres, but Charmer here's trained alright." Rogue, also on her shoulder, makes a grumbly sound and sticks his head under her chin. He's trained too! Cenlia, though, eyes the approaching Rogawani, saying, "Yeah, ain't as fun bein' lost alone." This time, Charmer's the one to make grumbly noises. She wasn't alone! Not really. But Cen's asking Thea, "Dun suppose Seryth could make some noise? If your weyr's somewhere 'round here, could find our way back thataway."
Thea just snickers at the trio. "Might burn off in a day or two. They can last longer." She half-grins at Rogawani, "No runner rides on the foggy beach today then, huh?" She does appear to give serious consideration to Cenlia's question before teasing, "Uh no, I doubt it. Too much fog and not enough firestone. Not enough dragons to do it, either. Unless they massed from all the Weyrs." For a moment she is silent, then a faint warble sounds. Seryth's. Unfortunately, she is answered by echoing cries from several different directions.
Riyontali doesn't even have any sort of direction on the clock tower idea glancing about with a disparaging snort. She, too, seems perfectly content to stand a little closer to the others, glancing nervously at every snap of a twig. "Compass. That would've been smart." Agreed wistfully, then a snort and wince. "I think we're still in the Weyr. Maybe? Definitely better lost together though. For sure." Cen gets a wistful smile and a nod. "Well, maybe I'll find 'em soon, yeah? If you see any, make note of 'em, I was gonna see if they wanted to do mushrooms with steak. Mmmm." The girl makes a happy face, and then squints, eyes widening a little. The idea of a Weyrfull of dragons all flaming at the same time is clearly…well, she looks more delighted than terrified, but you never know. Then she grins at Thea, and snickers quietly, eyes alight. "Hey, now, you never know. Might be fun." She almost cackles. The fog is thick around them; they're in the forest, and /were/ near to the meadow, or at least Tali was, but who knows where she is now. She certainly doesn't. It's morning, maybe, and kind of cool — and now there are dragons warbling all around? Tali giggles. "Oops. Sad that it's too big a job though. That'd be…kinda cool. Never seen a dragon do that before."
The puppy starts yapping once more, and then bounds off into the fog. He's barking at something, but what isn't obvious — and he's not paid attention to by the girl who he seems to be following.
There is the sound of cracking twigs and then a sudden explitive as Morlanol comes, quite literally, rolling into the middle of the group. His flits materializing above him from /between/. He coughs once then looks around, "Oh, hi guys… I think I just tripped over a canine…"
"I didn't see any mushrooms, but I wasn't looking either." Rogawani raises one arm and rubs at the back of his neck, seeming a little sheepish for having gotten this far off the trail to the stables. Still, his expression lightens a bit as he shoots a teasing smile towards Thea. "No, I've sworn off runner rides on the beach. Goldriders tend to get themselves in trouble when that happens." He laughs, sending the mist swirling around him. "It might be neat to see the dragons flame, though. I've only ever seen it from the ground during the spring games." The dragon warbling causes his head to lift, and then turn as he tries to find the source of the various sounds. "So… which one was Seryth?" He has to ask, not being able to recognise the sound with the dark blanket of fog in between. The puppy yapping draws his attention down, and the boy blinks as Morlanol appears out of the fog. "Oh, hey Morl. Did you see which way it went?" He asks, glancing towards Tali. "I didn't know you had a dog?"
"Would be neat, though. Whole buncha dragons all at once," Cenlia grins at Thea. The girl tilts her head to listen, but all the warbling has her shaking her head. Charmer, of course, starts crooning his little 'lizardy heart out. Cenlia sighs, and prods the bronze on her shoulder, earning an undignified squawk out of Charmer. She nods again to Tali, saying, "Was hoping sometime to go with Satoris into the mine. Master Denna an' I were talkin' about stuff that'd grow down there. If it's wet enough, could get mushrooms. Should come with us." The puppy running off gets a curious look from Cenlia, but she's not complaining. Morlanol's sudden entrance, however, has Cenlia raising that shovel. And then lowering it again. No reason to loom over the poor miner while wielding a shovel. "Hey," Cen takes another step back, "Y'alright?"
"Actually it would be rather warm, I think," Thea quips back at Riyontali with a grin. "Would toast our forest, too." Morlanol rolls into their midst and she blinks down at him, "You finally fell for Cenlia, I see." That shovel the gardener has lifted gets a raised eyebrow. "She's all set to bean you, though, so no kissing attempts this time." She winks at Morlanol, before laughing outright at Rogawani's comment. "Only when irritating Weyrseconds are present," she points out. Listening to the different dragon sounds for a moment or two, she points, "Off thata way."
Riyontali glances between Thea and Ro with a lifted eyebrow and a grin. "Do I even wanna know?" Her grin is positively terrible, but it fades into a wistful smile after a moment. "It'd be pretty cool to see 'em flame —" Blink. Her foot draws back, ready to kick the apparent attacker, right up until the point that it resolves itself as Morlanol. "Shells!" The girl squeaks. "Um. Hi." Blink. Then she glares off into the forest after the puppy, and sighs. "Ain't shardin' my puppy. Or. Isn't." Her expression borders on…shame? Irritation? A little of both. "Um — he was sent. I got the Dragonhealer to take one of 'em, and the shardin' trader who brought me up to take the other, but he shardin' followed me…" She sighs, and is (happily, as far as she's concerned) distracted by Cenlia. There's a bright look and her eyes go from wide to narrowed quickly. "Ooooh. That sounds like it would be a good place for 'em. I wonder how many could grow…" She pauses to shoot Thea a raspberry. "Oh, /really/?" The girl laughs. "Well…yeah. Maybe burning down the forest wouldn't be so good."
The puppy, meanwhile, seems to be causing trouble. There are yaps, then a few fiesty growl-yaps, and — a scream? Why yes. It even cracks at the end. /Then/ the puppy whines. Where is it? And what on Pern did it do?
Morlanol gives a sheepish grin as he starts to stand, "I think I'll live." He gives Thea an inexplicable look when she says he 'fell' for Cenlia, "I won' kiss her 'less she asks, Thea. An' I thin' th' dog wen' off in th' gen'ral direction I came from." He looks around at all of them, then asks, "So, any of *you* know where we are?"
Rogawani leans over towards Tali, speaking in a lower voice, although with everyone crowded closer together, it carries easily enough. "Tried to teach Thea how to ride, but she got spooked by our bronzeriding Weyrsecond and then spooked the runner." He chuckles to himself, remembering having to play 'hero' on that particular day. "Haven't been able to get her up on one since. 'course having Kav get brained by one probably didn't help that either." There is a momentary flick of his eye towards Morlanol, and then he's looking back out into the fog. He seems to ignore the whole bit about Cenlia being kissed, having given his warnings to the miner long ago on that affair. "Maybe we ought to head to Thea's we-" He cuts himself off when the scream carries, and the puppy's whine. He joins the miner in the curse department, muttering under his breath slightly. "Great. Just sharding great." He sighs to himself, "Guess we get to play the great fog puppy rescue?" He looks towards the others, eyebrows lifting.
"Probably not." Thea answers to Riyontali with a rueful laugh, only to roll her eyes at Rogawani's so helpful recounting of the tale. "Helped along by a gallomping giant black of a runner." Her eyes have a thoughtful look to them when the messenger mentions Enkavir, "Why is it always black runners?" She shakes her head, then answers Morlanol's question, "Path to my weyr is right behind me." Though she seems to have veered off it just a bit at the last moment, if the leaf stuck in her hair is any indication. Canines and screams, lovely. "I think I'll go get some glows." She turns and steps back to that path in a swirl of fog.
Cenlia smirks and grins at Thea, saying jokingly, "Dun need a shovel 't knock the kid over." Though she gives her shovel a pat anyway. She eyes Morlanol for a moment, "Somewhere in the forest," and glancing back at Thea, "Guess we're following you." And then she tacks on with a grumble, "Runners on the beach ain't ever a good idea." She's about to reply to Tali when there's that scream, and Cenlia frowns, saying, "Shardin' animals." She peers off into the fog, but mutters to Rogawani, "Ya wanna go rescue a canine?" She makes a face, though Charmer lets out a chirp and peers in the direction the canine went.
Riyontali eyes Ro, then tries, tries — and fails — not to giggle. "Oh…my." The tale gets a sheepish look. "Well, shells. Er — wow." The 'brained' part gets a wince so fierce it's almost comical. "Had my head grazed by one once. Was stupid. He kicked, and shells! I bout lost my hair!" And, you know, skull. That too. A gance back at Morlanol and rueful shake her her head comes next. "No shardin' idea…shells'n shards!" The scream /does/ get a reaction out of her, she dives behind Ro like a pansy girl and looks like she's about to send Cenlia out on point with the shovel of doom when her brain catches up to her. Cue a bounce back, and a scowl into the brush. "I'm goin' to sharding strangle that trader, not watching 'is shardin' dogs…" Growl growl growl grumble, and she's blinking woefully after Thea as she heads off. "She's the only one who has a dragon big enough to squish whatever might've done that…" The girl mumbles, then sighs and straightens her shoulders, glancing at Cen with a sheepish grin. "I don't wanna leave 'im out there all by himself, I guess…" Sigh. And without much more thought, and a lot more like her normal self, she marches off into the fog. Maybe Seryth will notice if they all get kidnapped anyways?
From the direction the puppy went in, whines. But not just that — twigs snap and something hisses sharply. The puppy whines again.
Morlanol grins sheepishly as the story of Enkavir's injury is alluded to then belatedly reacts to the scream, both of his lizards tensing. He mutters quietly, seeming less than enthused about the idea as he does so, "Um… yeah, we shouldn' leave 'im ou' there on 'is own…."
"Was it on my list of plans for the day? No, not really. Can you just sit here and listen to that, though?" Rogawani asks of Cenlia, lifting an eyebrow and looking at her incredulously as another whimper pierces the air. "Anyone who doesn't want to risk life and limb going after a lost puppy, I think Thea's weyr is that way." He points in the direction the weyrwoman had just gone, not wanting to drag anyone else off into the fog if they don't have to. He offers a small smile towards Tali as she jumps behind him. "Hey, no worries. You've got a bodyguard." He laughs and thumps himself on the chest just once. When she seems to regain her bravery and head off, Ro' is just a step or two behind, not wanting the girl to get too far out of his sight. However, his hand does flick down to his belt-knife, which he pulls from its leather binding, holding it out in one hand carefully as he walks in the direction of the whimpers.
Cenlia takes a step after Thea as the goldie disappears, but then Tali is marching off after the canine. Cen hesitates, rolling her eyes and saying, "'Least wait for the glows." But too late, the goldie has disappeared - where'd she go? More importantly, where was that path again? Cenlia frowns, hefting her shovel while Rogue and Charmer peer off in the direction of the hissing and whining. Cenlia glances sideways at Morlanol, and then at Rogawani, the girl saying flatly, "Better some shardin' animal than one of /us/." The hissing gets more consideration as she mutters, "That's either some grumpy flit or a tunnelsnake."
Jessamin stumbles along the path, squinting through the pea-soup mess that surrounds Xanadu; even her composure is ruffled enough to elicit the occasional curse as she either stubs her toe on a hidden root, or stumbles over a rock in her path. Her firelizards creel worriedly, and stay very close to her.
Riyontali doesn't wait for poor Cenlia, or Morlanol — but does toss a thankful grin back at Ro as he follows. "C'mon!" The girl calls, apparently trying to sound entreating. "S'not so bad, I bet, probably just a firelizard's got him by the ear, but if you get lost, I ain't gonna be able to find you again, I bet!" Still, she pushes on. "Thanks." Is, though, murmured back at Ro. "This doesn't really seem like a good idea." And yet she keeps on marching? Bright. It is somewhere around morning and the fog is thick enough to cut, and somewhere in the forest. There are puppies (or /something/) screaming, and Ro and Tali have marched off to find what it is, while, sensibly maybe, Cenlia and Morlanol seem to have decided to hang back a bit perhaps.
The hissing has an oddly familiar sound to it. It sounds almost like…somebody shushing? The puppy doesn't seem to care either way, though, and just keeps on whining.
Morlanol follows Tali to almost certain doom, his flits craning their heads to try to see through the fog while he seems to be trying only to not trip. He doesn't go too far, though, not wanting to leave Cen behind and alone. He'd been alone in the fog and knew how unpleasant it was.
While waiting for glows might have been the smart thing to do, Rogawani still keeps on going into the fog. "Probably a tunnelsnake, with my luck." He laughs wryly, mostly to himself, grip tightening on his knife as he follows, only shooting one look over his shoulder to see Morlanol following, and the shape that was Cenlia further back. When he turns back towards Tali, the boy just smirks. "Probably should have thought of that earlier." He teases her playfully, and then shrugs his shoulders. "Blame it on childish stupidity. Come on, let's go." As they draw closer to the sound, Ro's tension eases just a little, realizing inwardly that it doesn't -sound- like a tunnelsnake. Maybe he's been spared by the hand of fate for one day? More sounds join the fray, firelizards? "Kia, can you check it out?" He asks of the green lizard, who seems ever more presently annoyed as her human perch keeps moving and asking her to do things. With a chirp, she takes wing, gliding off through the fog in Jessamin's direction.
Jessamin stops in her tracks, hearing some familiar voices through the fog. She leans against a nearby tree, erring on the side of caution and remaining where she is for the moment. Madder perches on her left shoulder, Turquoise on her right, and Stitch stretches his wings, hovering close by. All three trill worriedly, sounding anything -but- like tunnel snakes. As Jess squints through the fog, she hrrrms. "What the….?" With Kialio winging her way out of the oppressively thick mess, it is as if an emerald ghost is emerging from the netherworld. She jumps back, thumping her head against the tree behind her with a loud yelp. Her flits take to wing, haranguing the green who -dared- frighten -their- charge.
Cenlia's firelizards start crooning when they hear Jessamin's creeling flits, and Cen tilts her head to try to find the direction of the newest sound. But seeing the others head off, the girl rolls her eyes and starts to follow, though not in any hurry, grumbling about, "sharding nuisance animals," and moving slowly, watching her footing and keeping one hand out in case of low branches. However, Jessamin's yelp has Cenlia changing course to follow that sound instead, calling out a, "Hey, y'alright?"
Riyontali doesn't seem to notice much, now; she's steeled herself and is marching ahead at a good clip. Jessamin isn't even seen or heard, and Kia being sent out to see any potential threat not really noticed. The girl slows as she catches sight of a tail in the fog, moving into a half-crouch and kind of creeping forward at the speed of cold molasses. However, there's a slight bend in the path to the tree that half of the puppy is behind — and once she has an angle that's a little better, there is…a bare foot. In the path. Of course, Tali screams. To her credit, it's quick and she clamps a hand on it before she can scare anybody else nearby into hysterics. "Shells and shards — you didn't KILL somebody, did you, puppy? Oh, shells…" Now she scrambles forth at an alarming rate. "Oi! Oi! Are you okay?"
What she encounters is not, exactly, a normal sight for somebody lost in the woods. The girl is dressed in stained and dirty clothing, and has the look of somebody very, very hungry about her. She's muddy and gross, and her eyes go as wide as dinnerplates when she sees somebody. And then, she faints cold. "Shardit!"
Morlanol's ears twitch at the scream, and he takes off in that direction as well, brushing past Roga as he goes. He skids to a stop beside Tali and just stares, somewhat dumbfounded. While his 'lizards cheep inquisitively, Morl himself just manages a quiet, "Huh?"
The green firelizard hisses at the others swirling about her, darting quickly between them before taking wing up onto the branch of a high tree where she flares her wings out. "Just Jessamin, Cenlia's got that taken care of." He mutters to himself, catching the glimpse from his alarmed lizard's mind. He's broken from that thought, quite quickly, by the sound of Tali screaming up ahead. "Tali?!" Alarm finds a way into his voice as he follows quickly, his knife held upward as he comes around the tree with Morlanol already a half-step ahead of him. "What in Faranth's name…" He trails off, looking at the disheveled form of the girl. His mind searches for a moment or two, and then the knifed hand drops. "Keiva?" He asks, blinking in surprise, only to see the girl faint. "Oh, lovely. What is it about renegades and fog."
Jessamin groans softly, rubbing the back of her head; her flits alternate between haranguing the little green firelizard-ghost, and creeling worriedly as they hover about Jess. She looks up, hearing Cenlia call out. "Cen? That you? Just cracked my head a little… sharding little green came out of nowhere!" There's a little more grumbling, and an irritated sigh. "All I wanted to do was get my chore for the day taken care of. You'd think I would know my way to the runner stables by now!" Embarrassment laces her tone as well as irritation, not usual for the normally serene seamstress.
Cenlia comes within sight of Jessamin, the gardener lowering that shovel she's wielding and kneeling down to take a look at Jessamin's head. "Yeah," and Cenlia grins a bit, "Think Ro was too. Ended up he-" Tali's scream has Cenlia glancing up sharply, the gardener girl muttering a swear under her breath. But it's Rogawani's mention of renegades that has Cenlia's head snapping back in the direction of the other candidates. Charmer leaps off her shoulder and zooms off into the fog, finding his way straight to Tali and the others, the bronze firelizard hissing and landing in the nearest tree, and chittering worriedly as he peers down at the scene. Cenlia just makes a face, asking Jess, "Can ya walk alright?" The girl hefts the shovel again, frowning into the fog.
Jessamin grimaces and nods, wincing slightly as she touches the back of her head. Thankfully, when she brings her hand back around, there is no sign of blood. "I think so. But I'll feel better getting this looked at in the infirmary before something -else- happens." She, too, looks over as the scream resounds through the fog—perhaps a little more sharply than is wise. "Gaaah… what was -that-?!"
Riyontali throws an apologetic look over her shoulder, but quickly goes back to staring at the little girl blankly, dumfounded. "Who — I haven't seen her and she looks /horrible/…r-renegades?" And suddenly any bravado fades and she kind of gapes at the sky as there is a rush of wings in a nearby clearing. Fog eddies around an old rider, who scowls at the gathering. "Screams in the shardin' forest, and what is this now? You, girl!" Tali jumps to attention. "Yessir?" Squeaked. "Get on. I will not have a bunch of you little scoundrels running amok around my cottage…and what's this?" He sighs at the girl on the ground, but after a moment his eyes widen — "Faranth's toenails! Where did *you* come from? I'd better get that one to…somebody." And up the girl goes, slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You…however shardin' many, you stay here. O'rze will be out to fetch you soon, if Rhilaoth can find her way in this shardin' fog. Stay!" The old man barks, and before he can ask anything else, he's got the girl and is frog-marching Tali before him onto the apparently-waiting dragon. Hopefully Rhilaoth /does/ find her way out there! Tali dares a glance back at the others, wide-eyed. Hopefully she's not being kidnapped? "Bye!" Mouthed wearily, before the fog swallows them.
Now Morl looks really confused. A moment before he'd been looking over Tali's shoulder at a collapsed girl, the next, they were both gone adragonback. He gawps at the place where they were, then turns to gawp at Rogawani just before Cenlia comes out of the foliage. He blinks twice, his flits uncharacteristically silent, "Wha-… Wha' was tha'?"
"Her… she's Keiva. One of the kids who disappeared with…" Rogawani's voice cuts off as dragon wings begin to swirl the fog about them, casting it away for a moment from the group gathered around the unconsious girl. Everything that comes next happens so quickly that the boy's mouth doesn't have time to close from being slack-jawed. He blinks, "Tali." Watching as she leaves with a strange mingled expression in his eyes. "Stupid, sharding renegades." The boy says once the dragonrider is gone, thrusting his dagger back into it's sheath a bit harder than necessary. When other shapes move towards them in the momentary lift of fog from dragon wings. "Cen, Jess, over here." He calls out, trying to draw them to the spot that he's been instructed to 'stay' at, then tries to explain once everyone is within ear-shot. "That was one of the girls they found from Kefai's group. The psycho renegade. She left when… when Kate disappeared. I think." He doesn't sound too sure about it. "But that was her. Shells." He seems at a loss for what to say.
"They went off to save some shardin' canine," Cenlia tells Jessamin, the gardener girl making a face. She moves off in their direction, slowly, shovel ready, but the rider appearing and Tali and the unconscious girl being dragged off have Cen frowning and shaking her head. Cenlia listens to Rogawani's explanation, and the the girl snorts, "What the shards is she doin' /here/?" And then something seems to occur to her, and Cenlia says, "Hey, she'd prolly know where Kate was." Cenlia glances over her shoulder, muttering, "I'm gonna go find Thea." And with that, Charmer returns to Cen's shoulder as the girl heads off into the fog without waiting.
Jessamin pulls herself up to her feet, leaning against the tree for a moment. She nearly stumbles again as a -much- bigger ghost whisks the fallen girl and Tali away. "Shards…" She stumbles towards Rogawani's voice, following it to a safer spot to wait. Her expression is a mix of worry and a bit of pain, as she rubs the back of her head from time to time. "Now who's going to groom those runners, I was supposed to have been there a while ago…."
Morlanol still looks more than a tidge dazed by the events, but nods when Jess mentions the runners, even if he can't quite hide his glee at the fact that he won't be getting there, "I won' be able t' groom neither, aw shards." His explitive is less than sincere. More seriously he mutters, "More ren'gades? Why'd they leave her b'hin'?"
"Cen, wait…" Rogawani lifts a hand, but it's too late. The ex-gardener's form is already vanishing into the fog. He closes his eyes, as if trying to focus his own attention and then opens them again to look apologetically at Jessamin. "Sorry that my firelizard startled you. I didn't mean for you to be hurt." He admits, his sincerity hard to doubt. There is a sound above, a flapping of great wings. "That's probably our ride." He looks up, the force of the wings blowing back some of the fog to reveal a green dragon coming in to land. "I wouldn't worry about the chores, though. They can't exactly fault us for not being able find the sharding place." There is a faint bit of amusement in his voice, but it's tempered by the confusion of what just happened. As the dragon lands, the rider motions to them, "Come on, we'll get you back to the weyr." Rogawani can only shrug to Morlanol. "Who knows."
Jessamin nods slowly, allowing the others to climb a-dragonback first. She does smile for a moment, when her own turn comes to climb aboard—though distracted momentarily by Rogawani. "It's alright. Fog plays tricks on you like that, you know?" She smiles reassuringly at the young man, before letting the rider help her astride the waiting green. "Shards, I don't know about any of you, but I can hardly wait for Impression!"
Morlanol climbs adragonback with some help from the rider, then helps the others up as best he can. When Jess mentions impression, he nods, "I can' wait fer th' hatchin'. I c'n only dream of 'pression."
The yelping of the puppy down at his feet reminds Rogawani to bend down and scoop up the canine, tucking him into his riding jacket so that the little one doesn't get as frightened from the dragon he's about to get hauled up on to. His jacket wiggles. "Yeah, it does play tricks on you." He admits, looking at the swirling mist threatening to engulf them yet again. It takes him a bit longer to get up on the dragon, going at it one-armed, but he makes it up, and just chuckles. "Yeah, I can't wait for the hatching… either way, it's better than all this waiting." "Hold on." The rider's voice comes back to them, then, and with a jolt, the dragon takes off into the skies, winging them back towards the weyr.