Xanadu Weyr – Beach
The unerring range of subdued white rises and falls in a multitude of sandy dunes, creating an endless amount of tiny valleys constantly demolished and rebuilt by the frequent arrival or departure of a dragon. Smoothing out as it slopes gently to the edge of the deep blue water, the sand darkens and a shell here and there stands out for children to collect. The beach itself is set along a low cliff - the height lessoning as one heads eastwards, blocking a portion of the beach from direct access.
The wide wide stretch of water opens up to the east, the far distant shore way beyond the horizon and the beach curves ever so slowly round to east and west, distant arms of land embracing the wind-ruffled Caspian Lake. East leads up to the mouth of the Rubicon River, where the protecting cliff is merely an arms length higher then the sand, and beyond that, a winding road leading out of Xanadu's territory. Westwards, the beach narrows as the cliff swings out, leaving a path wide enough for dragons in single file before cutting in to the sheltered cove designated the Weyrling Beach. However, cut in the cliff face to the north are a variety of rough, wide staircases, providing access to the clearing and to the meadow.
It is a dark, overcast, murky sort of mid-winder evening at Xanadu. There's a raw wind blowing off of the lake, but thankfully the temperature is not as cold as it has been lately - perhaps it's a temporary thaw. Restless waves crash on the beach, their voice blends with the wind's song creating a dissonant symphony that might set the teeth on edge if one were in the mood for a restful evening. This evening, though, Thea isn't in the mood for serenity. She is here, sitting on a small sandy hummock of beachgrass, legs drawn up, arms clasped about them as she faces the teeth of the wind and although dressed in flying leathers and boots, her head is uncovered, her dark hair blowing wild. Eyes of ice green fix on the churned horizon, her lips moving soundlessly as if she is talking to someone, every now and then a tear slides down her cheek, unheeded. Seryth is curled nearby, close enough to break the wind's buffeting just a bit.
K'ael came to the Xanadu beach for one purpose: to go fishing! After commandeering a boat from someplace he spent the day out on the water drinking beer and relaxing. He'd even caught a couple of fish! But now the wind was picking up, so the bronzer's returned the boat and heads up the beach with his two fish. Azaeth has kept himself busy in the meantime. The bronze usually frowns on idle activities like fishing, but he could smell a proddy gold nearby, and so didn't complain too much. K'ael is dressed in a pair of shorts and a hoodie type of zip-up sweatshirt. His leathers were tucked away on Azaeth in case it started raining. The bronzer spots a lonely figure up the beach, and transfers the few bottles of beer left to the hand holding the bucket with the fish in it. Then he gives her a wave. "Hey there!"
Thea doesn't notice K'ael or Azaeth approaching, in fact most traffic, although sparse on such a disagreeable sort of day, passes the goldrider by unheeded. Most seem to recognize by the set of her shoulders and the look on her face that she needs some time alone. The voice she apparently thinks is directed towards some other person, not her, so she doesn't answer, doesn't look. Seryth is deeply asleep, so there is no response to the bronze from her. Those footsteps in the sand seem to be coming closer, though and she looks up briefly, unsmiling. "Hi." Her gaze goes back out to the lake. Perhaps she's hoping he'll take the hint and leave her alone.
K'ael has never been the brightest bulb in the pack. Especially when it comes to 'taking the hint'. The bronzer was known for putting his foot in his mouth, especially around girls. He turns his head to the side and flashes her a dimply smile. "You must be Thea. I can't remember if we've met or not." He looks around, then clears his throat. "I… am gonna make a fire in the sand. Over there." He points to an area down the beach maybe fifty feet. "And I'm going to cook my fish. I'd like some company, but if you wanna be alone that's cool. If not… Feel free to join me… over there." Azaeth has already laid down in the sand 'over there'. K'ael pauses for a moment to see if Thea is going to respond to his offer.
A confused frown forms on Thea's face, it's getting too dim to see clearly so she can't see the knot, if he’s wearing one. "How…do you know who I am?" Her wooden tone shows a genuine puzzlement, but there's no interest there. She doesn't even look at the spot where he points to, her head remains turned in his direction waiting for an answer. The wind whips long strands of her hair across her face, but she makes no movement to brush it out of the way.
K'ael grins to her. His knot is non-decript anyways. Just a general rider knot for Ierne these days. "I think we've met at least once before." Still no indication about who he is, though if she really wants to know she'll just have to get a good look at his dragon. "Anyways. I'm heading over there now to gather up some wood for the fire. Hopefully I can get something going with this wind." He bows to her politely, then heads over to put his things down and start collecting some of the dried driftwood to build a fire with.
Since there is no introduction, and Thea can't really get a good look at that bronze, not that she's ever seen K'ael's dragon before, the weyrwoman merely shrugs. He could be any of the untold many bronzes of Pern visiting the beach. "Luck with that." It's not a grouchy-sounding but there's really not much of anything else in her voice either. As he moves off she remains where she is and for all intents and purposes, forgets he's there. She does scoot a little closer to Seryth though and curls up against the gold's side, leaning her head against the warmth of her lifemate. For a long time she just watches the waves, losing herself in her thoughts only speaking once to ask the wind, "Where are you?"
Well, it is probably true that Thea hasn't ever seen Azaeth, but he did stick out like a sore thumb. Mostly because he was a giant, smaller than Seryth by less than two meters. K'ael busies himself tending to the fire, counting on Azaeth's body to shield it from the wind. After a few minutes of squatting down besides the wood, he'd able to get something going. After getting the fish cut and gutted and cleaned, he puts them over the flame on two spicks. The bronzer is silent for the most part, until suddenly he jumps up flapping one arm around and screaming. "AAAA help! I'm on fire!" And, by the looks of it, that arm that he's flapping is in fact, on fire.
Thea isn't so despondent that she can't hear screaming, but she is really more annoyed that alarmed. She leans forward bracing one hand and a knee on the sand, leans out around Seryth to see what the source of the screaming is only to see the jumping, arm flapping bronzer with his arm ablaze. "Flaming ovines!" She spits that epithet out with a growl as she's moving. She gets her feet under her, sprints over towards the fire, stripping her leather jacket off as she runs, "Stop moving you idiot!" She raises her voice to be heard above the wind and as she draws near, she kicks his feet out from under him, shoves him to the ground, drapes her jacket over the flaming…area and pummels the jacket with the palms of her hands. For a minute she's got to catch her breath, then she rasps, "Haven't you ever heard of stop, drop and roll?" She glares her ire at him.
No no, flaming bronzers! K'ael of course, doesn't stop moving. At least not until his feet are knocked out from under him. The tower of chiseled muscle goes crashing to the sand with an oof, and the bronzer is too dazed for a moment to respond. When he finally gets his senses back, Thea is patting down his 'arm' with her coat and he grins at her. "Stop drop and roll? What's that?" Okay, he was patronizing her now. "Anyways, I'm not really on fire, see?" He pulls his 'arm' from under her, revealing a charcoaled branch sticking out the end of his sweatshirt. "I just wanted to get your attention, honestly. Hi." Azaeth looks… nonplussed. Or maybe he was just too distracted by Seryth to be that interested in his rider's pranks.
Thea fixes the bronzer with a stare, more of a glare, really. "You shardin' idiot!" She grits it out from between clenched teeth, yanks her jacket off his arm, pushes herself up and away from the man, turns on her heel and stalks back to Seryth. She was grouchy before, now she's seething. She doesn't turn around, answer or respond to anything behind her, she just walks around the other side of the still-sleeping Seryth and plunks back on the sand where she used to be. One fist punches the sand in front of her. "Why?" She asks in quiet fury, "Just why?" But she really isn't asking the question of that bronzerider over there. She curls back up against her lifemate.
K'ael blinks a bit to Thea, but can't help chuckling a bit. "Er, sorry. I couldn't help myself. You looked lonely." Apparently, even after everything that's happened to him, K'ael was still in good spirits. Actually being fired was more like a vacation for him. When else would he get to take a whole day to fish? He follows after her after quickly turning the fish. "Aw, come on Thea. At least tell me what you're thinking about. Then I'll leave you alone." Maybe.
Thea looks up from the sand, not happy to find she's been followed. It's pretty clear she's fighting to control her temper as she answers, "I can't help how I look." At least it's not a scream or anything - her voice is even-toned, quiet, but intense. She doesn't answer his question as her icy green eyes impale the man. Instead she half-growls, "Look. Who are you? And what do you want?" She remains curled beside Seryth, not in a fearful sort of way, just because it is her connection with…something.
K'ael blinks at her response. "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I was just saying…" Even under the heated stare K'ael remains calm. His voice is smooth and soft, still relaxed. "I'm K'ael." He admits. "Azaeth's rider. I'm a friend of D'son's." But no mention of him being the ex-weyrleader at Ista. He's assuming Thea would know that. At the 'what does he want' question, he just shrugs. "Just to talk, I guess. You're not the only one who's lonely. Anyways, I'm sorry, about the fire thing. If you don't want to talk, that's fine… But sometimes it helps?" That's really the only plea K'ael can muster, before he turns to head off over there, again.
Thea's voice has lost a bit of that edge, but none of that suspicion, "I didn't say I was lonely." But then, she didn't have to did she? "Weyr's fulla people." But not the one she really wants. Likely few strangers to the Weyr would know that. "K'ael." The weyrwoman blinks her surprise, "Uh, Xanadu's greetings to Ista and her queens." It comes out forced, but the traditional greeting is there nonetheless. She stays by Seryth.
K'ael shrugs to her. "Are you saying you're not, then?" Because the bronzer has a feeling that would be a lie. "I guess that's true." About the weyr being full of people. K'ael knew that just because the weyr was full of people didn't mean anything. You can feel isolated no matter where you are." When she greets him formally he stops and shakes his head at her. "I'm not at Ista anymore. I'm just a rider, like anyone else."
Sigam has no real excuse for being out this evening. He's supposed to be working, but a distracted mind makes mistakes, and that's something a Dragonhealer can ill afford, even when making simple data entries. Boredom with his dormitory's four walls finds him pacing the beach, stopping occasionally to pocket an interesting shell or stone, which doesn't seem to please his blue firelizard any. The little beast chitters admonishment from his position curled about Sigam's, but even Calelir seems a little halfhearted in the attempt. "Shh. I'm not bothering you that much." They may, however, be bothering the pair of figures and their dragon on the beach, the Dragonhealer realizes as he draws closer. Sigam begins to arc wide, giving them space, but Calelir seems to have spied a friend. With a pleased churr, he is off, fluttering into the grass to a halt before waddling awkwardly towards Seryth. Sheepishly almost, Sigam follows. "Sorry, hope I'm not interrupting." Though, judging from the fact that they were conversing, he obviously is. "I just… Calelir, come on, they're trying to talk." He gets a mere sneeze by way of reply.
Thea's tone is irate once more, "I didn't say either way. I get tired of bronzers landing on the beach assuming I'm lonely and need to spill it to a stranger." The sentence ends on a growl. She isn't privy to K'ael's thoughts, so she has no idea what's going on there. To his comment about Ista, she just says, "Oh." Little Calelir comes fluttering in just then, distracting Thea from the narrowed-eyed look she's giving the poor bronzer. The voice draws her eyes and it's a bit of relief mingled with sorrow that she gives Sigam. Her voice however remains stony, "Actually -he- was trying to talk. I? Not so much." Seryth feels the tickle of wings and stirs.
K'ael frowns at Thea. "Sorry. I just thought I'd offer. No need to bite my head off, just tell me to go away." He sighs a bit, watching the little blue flutter in to greet Seryth. The bronzer shakes his head to Sigam. "I was just leaving. I've got some fish over the fire over there. They'll need tending to, and eating, if you're interested more than enough for two." He nods to the dragonhealer, then heads off back towards the fire that his bronze Azaeth is curled around.
Sigam's uncertainty is visible as they continue to verbally spar, brow knitted, but he returns Thea's mixed-emotional expression with a small smile. "I see," the Dragonhealer says, gaze flicking to the 'he' in question. K'ael seems familiar somehow, but Sigam sees so many faces in a day that it is quick to be written off. "I ate recently, but I appreciate the offer. Thank you." He drops to ground slowly, regarding the rider's bronze and the fire for a moment, but eventually he peeks back over at Thea. "Not feeling any better?" he asks cautiously. Calelir, meanwhile, perks at the great gold's stirring. The blue cheeps, barely resisting the urge to flip his wings and leap up onto her nose. Anyone else would have been bedding for the sneaky Cloak of Mist, but he seems to hold a bit more respect for Seryth.
Thea opens her mouth to make some caustic reply to K'ael but Seryth rouses then, lifts her head and heaves herself to her feet in one fluid motion, jostling Thea and tipping the weyrwoman flat on her back into the sand. The queen doesn't even seem to notice that she was a backrest for her Rider, misses little Calelir too, but she does notice the bronze curled up nearby. While her Rider is irate, the gold is just the opposite, she hums an invitation and leaps into the air, flying low over the treetops towards the feeding pens. Thea raises herself up on her elbows just watches her go with a dumb look on her face. "What is with her-?" It's a night and day change in her demeanor all the grouch gone but left in it's wake total confusion. She turns her head towards the men at the fire, "Why did she do that?"
It's likely that K'ael and Sigam have run into each other at some point. The bronzer has spent a bit of time at the healer hall trying to get the best healers out to the weyrs for this reason or that. Notably the Western fires as of late. The bronzer nods to him. "Sure. I got a few brews, too. If you'd rather have a drink?" Not that there's much time to answer. As Seryth gets up, so does Azaeth. K'ael doesn't even notice at first, tending to the fish that were over the flames, nearly smoked by now. When he does notice that his dragon is up, he blinks. "No! Noo!" There's a feeble grab onto Azaeth's tail as he rights himself to take off, but the bronzer can't hold him back. "Azaeth!" There's a bit of grumbling from the bronzer, and he flops down into the sand to eat.
F'yr is wandering down the beach, hands in pockets to keep them warm in the cold Xanadu weather. But the sight of familiar faces and the shining hides of dragons seems to catch her attention, making a line for them. "Hey, Mike," she calls out in greeting, right before he does a familiar tail-dart for the bronze. And the brownrider starts scrubbing her face and groaning. "Oh. Shells," she mumbles, starting to back away instead.
X'hil is out for a jog, on his own, when Seryth takes off. His first thought is relief, because Kinseth is nowhere to be seen, the dragon having been out by the feeding grounds for most of the day, but he's quickly brought to a halt by a familiar bronze form flying in overhead. "Of /course/." he mutters to himself, then shakes his head, and continues on his way, slightly faster than before. Must run, must run, must run. Unfortunately, he doesn't bother to deviate from his intended path, which brings him right past the fire on the beach. In fact, as he approaches, he's actually slowing down.
"Now that," Sigam says in a near-groan, "I would certainly partake of, if you're willing to sha…re." Eyes narrowed slightly, more out of puzzlement than irritation, the Dragonhealer considers the gold dragon as she rises to her feet. Calelir seems just as confused, head tilting to one side and then the other, but seems to know something Thea does not as he trots casually back to his owner's side. "Uh…" Suddenly, a walk on the beach seems like the worst idea in the world, as first Seryth, then Azaeth take off, followed closely by another blur of bronze in the air. A sinking feeling settles into the pit of his stomach, and suddenly, Sigam isn't in the least bit thirsty. "Actually, maybe that isn't such a good thing," he murmurs to K'ael, pushing himself to his feet. New voices distracts him from making a hasty exit anywhere but here, and it's a slight wince that he offers to F'yr, then X'hil. "Hi." Wincewincewince.
Thea pushes herself up off the sand, flickers a glance towards F'yr and X'hil, still confused. "Hi?" She does a bit of a double-take when she sees X'hil and there's a might guilty look on her face as he slows down. First time for everything. She notices all Sigam's wincing, another puzzlement there and since he's the resident dragonhealer-behavior-expert, she asks again, "Why did she do that?" K'ael gets a rather strange look, "You always try to stop your bronze from eating when he's hungry?" Okay, someone's not remembering lessons or has her mind elsewhere… Thea steps towards the fire, clearly expecting -someone- anyone? to explain, but there's obviously interference coming from the direction of the feeding grounds, for she pauses to glare in that direction, hissing aloud (obviously to Seryth) "What………party?"
K'ael spots F'yr approaching and gives her a wave. "Yo." Is all he manages to get out. He's looking rather grumpy about the whole thing. That goldrider was mean to him! He just sits there, eating his fish in front of the fire, not so much as a greeting is given to X'hil. K'ael only has three beers left, and they're not very cold, since they were put in ice this morning, which as since thawed out and then turned warm. Even though Sigam turns down his offer, he pops all three of them open and leaves two of them for people to take. Likely not F'yr, since she never drank anymore, but maybe X'hil and Thea if they were interested. "My good liquor went up." With Azaeth, he means. Then he peers at Thea. "Haven't you ever been proddy before?"
F'yr's eyes, surprisingly, settle on Sigam as she gives the non-rider a look up and down from between her fingers. "Hi yourself. I think you've been stuck in the wrong spot right now, haven't you?" she mumbles towards him with another one of those wandered-into-wrong-place groan. Somewhere out in the meadow is an equally grumpier groan from her other half, watching the dragons as they move to the pens. "Well this is a bit awk—" she cuts herself off as she frowns at Thea, tilting her head towards her. "I thought she said she's had a clutch before," is noted to K'ael, brows furrowing in confusion as she looks from one rider to the other, and finally her blue eyes are cast down towards the bottles, licking her lips at the thought of it.
X'hil comes to a stop finally, but for the moment he's peering up at the sky. "And I thought /my/ timing was bad." he mutters under his breath, then shakes his head. Well, isn't /this/ a fine turn of events. He lowers his gaze finally, glancing at the folks gathered nearby. Sigam gets a brief /look/, lingering slightly on the dragonhealer's nose, before the weyrsecond responds. "Hello." It's a perfectly pleasant greeting. The tone is slightly cold, though that may just be because he's a little distracted at the moment. X'hil frowns at Thea, then groans. "Shards. The infirmary… You've never…" he breaks off, and frowns. "She's rising, Thea. Seryth is rising to mate." he says simply, trying oh so carefully to keep a calm tone. K'ael's offer of beer is actually very tempting, enough to pull his attention that-a-way, though X'hil has been sober for months now. "/One/ can't hurt, surely?" he mutters to himself, stepping over towards the other bronzerider, and the beers. He doesn't actually take one yet though, after all, he's not /supposed/ to. To F'yr, well, X'hil doesn't say much, though he does wince a little at the mention of the previous clutch, reminding him of the previous /flight/, and the awkward location. "There… was. One. Kinseth caught."
Sigam, for all points and purposes, looks like a fish out of water, mouth alternately opening and closing as he fights to find the words for Thea's… predicament. Finally, he seems to settle for cold professionalism, face calming down and body stance altering as he says, "She was glowing, Thea." A quick glance is given to K'ael, and a perhaps a nod to X'hil when the man offers further explanation before he can get to it. The touch of frost on the bronzer's voice is lost on the Dragonhealer, who has shifted his attention sideways to F'yr. "I could say the same for you," he quips dryly, but he seems to be of the mind that, if the grounded brownrider is here, he would be too. At least until cautioned otherwise. "I've heard about that," he says quietly in response to the discussion of the previous flight and clutch, and dark eyes glance almost warily back to Thea. "Do you need anything? Medical-wise, I mean." Tip~toe~ through the tulips.
Thea shoots K'ael a look of total confusion. Like someone just said the moon is sky-blue pink or something. "Proddy? Yeah, I -think- so? I must have been, once? I don't remember it though." Her brow wrinkles, she's really trying. F'yr's question has her nodding, "She did, one clutch." Then X'hil speaks and she's just saying a small, "Oh." Oh, so many expressions cross her face! Not upset about it being a Flight, there's almost a casual shrug about that. "So that's why yesterday…" her eyes flicker to X'hil apologetically and there's a muttered, "Oh shards." Overhead several dragons streak up into the late night sky and out over the lake, lost into the dark clouds. Sigam's speaking and Thea just shakes her head, "Medical-wise?" She'll be getting back to him on that one, for sure. She takes a step back from the group, flashing a look towards the forest. "Not my cottage. Not going there! It was ours." For some reason -that- causes tears to overflow.
K'ael looks to F'yr and lifts his shoulders. "No clue." Really, he wasn't sure if Thea had been through a flight or not. But X'hil at least clears it up for them. The beers just sit there. Calling to everyone. 'Drink me… Drink meee!' Which is what K'ael is doing to his own, and will be doing to the others if no one decides to take them up. A brow is raised to Sigam's offer of medical assistance. "Er… what?" He turns to Thea, just as confused. "You don't… remember?" He waves at her to stop the waterworks. "There's got to be a guest weyr around here someplace. We don't have to go to your cottage." The bronzer throws what's left of the fish into the fire, and stands up. He'll let it go out on it's own, if they're about to leave.
Seeing that none of the others were going to be stealing the drinks, F'yr does a grab for one before someone finally relents. She's got every right to be needing a drink, though probably not as much as the bronzeriders and the goldrider. She still leaves one there, of course. "X'hil?" she asks the unfamiliar bronzerider there, momentarily curious. "You say hi to a friend, you get in the middle of…" Fy shakes her head to Sigam. "You're right though. Best to just… waander back away. Ugh. Sharding queens," she mumbles to him, shaking her head to clear it as she starts backing away herself, in the opposite direction that Thea would be going. A sloow escape for the brownrider, just in case.
X'hil is trying to be calm, he really is. There's a wince as yesterday is mentioned, and he says, "It, it's okay. The, er, crossbow, it wasn't loaded. You were… It wasn't your fault." he says, frowning slightly. He siiidles backwards towards the beers after F'yr grabs one, and yoinks the other one, taking a swig before he can really consider what he's doing. Just /one/ can't hurt, right? Right? "I… Right." He nods as K'ael suggests guest weyrs. "And there are empty weyrs all over." Or there's always /his/ weyr. Not that he says that out loud, that's just Kinseth's ego talking. He frowns at F'yr. "I didn't 'get in the middle' of anything, /Kinseth/ did. I was just out for a jog!" And the calm is slipping now, his tone becoming more strained as he tries to keep control.
"Never mind," Sigam murmurs to Thea, doing a bit of inching in the other direction himself. "You'll figure it out. If you need anything… tomorrow… you know where to find me." That obviously wasn't what he was going to say - the confused and vexed look on his face says that plainly enough. "Right," the Dragonhealer says towards F'yr, but the rest of her words have him bristling around the edges. "Will you just /quit/ talking about goldriders like that? Especially when you're talking about /her/." The snarl is enough of a red flag to have Sigam shaking his head, whirling on a heel and stalking away without so much as a farewell before he gets himself into any more trouble. "Cal." The blue gives all present a rather pleasant look before scooting after his human, flapping hard to catch up with long, agitated strides.
The strong winds blowing across the lake bring faint sounds from high above. Thea ignores them, but gives K'ael a glare at his callous hand-wave to stop crying. She looks vastly relieved at the mention of a guest weyr She swipes at her face, refusing to explain what it is she doesn't remember about proddy, the effects of the flight is working in her as her eyes begin to lose focus. She's not really listening to X'hil's explanations or forgiveness. F'yr's words are lost on her as well. She just continues to back away. Sigam's snarl has her shooting him a look of total confusion and entreaty, but her friend is gone.
K'ael has completely tuned everyone else out. What a rude bronzer he is! Normally he's not this rude, really. But he's feeling ravenous, and already frustrated from the little scuffle between Thea and himself earlier. As the flight ends, the beer he's holding is tossed aside. He runs towards Thea, picking her up over his shoulder like a sack of tubers! Then… they're gone. K'ael is in good shape for a reason! And apparently that reason is to whisk proddy weyrwomen off to guest weyrs after flights.
F'yr shakes her head quickly to X'hil. "I was talking 'bout myself, saying hi, and… nevermind. If you're X'hil, I got a mark on you. Go get her, man," she says in passing as she backs away from the bronzeriders. With their focus on Thea, anyway, she's free to start making some space between them and herself. Her blue eyes widen in confusion at Sigam before she winces and watches as he stalks away with a look of pity. With one last glance back to the riders getting full into the swing of the flight, she finally turns around and heads away. No use saying farewells if they won't be heard. She follows in the direction Sigam went, whether it is after the young man or not. Either way she's swigging away at her beer as she leaves.
X'hil looks a little shocked by Sigam's departure, but he doesn't spare much thought for it. F'yr's mark on him makes him smile, smugly, though it quickly falls, and there's a glance in the general direction of the flight, followed by a grimace. Kinseth lost? Kinseth isn't supposed to /lose/?! Ego comes to the fore when he's as closely linked with the egotistic bronze as he is right now. "Sharding… wherry… shard-blasted… /tunnelsnake/…" he's cursing under his breath, most of the lengthy stream going unheard. And then he seems to remember where he is, and he looks quite sheepish. The bottle is drained, and he continues on his jog. Though it's really more of a run, now. The direction? Anywhere but here.
The color ebbs from Thea’s face, leaving behind a pallor, her eyes slide shut, legs just beginning to fold as she is on her way to the ground when K’ael grabs her and roughly throws her over his shoulder. As if this weren’t enough to bring her ‘round, the jerky steps he takes carrying her while running certainly does. Her eyes fly open and a half-scream, half growl of pure anger issues from her throat as she fights the arms grasping her, but there is really no matching their strengths. Flailing arms and legs are likely the last thing anyone sees of the pair as they disappear in whatever direction K’ael has headed.