On The Ship

[dragonfire]

The first couple days on the ship had been unpleasant, with Brogan battling seasickness and only rising from bed to feed Cath. After a while, though, she had earned her "sea legs" and now she felt well enough to wander around the ship. Cath was beside her as she walked along the deck. She was glad she had Cath to keep her company, because this trip might have been boring otherwise. There was nothing to do on the ship. Then again, boredom was the least of her troubles.

Are we almost there?[/color] Cath asked, standing up on her hind legs to look over the side. Brogan watched her closely, in case she lost her balance.

I don't know, Cath, she admitted. With no land in sight, she had no idea how far they were from the North or even what direction they were going in. She sighed and rested her head in her hands, gazing out at the seemingly endless sea.

[maiwolf]

Noeln was dragonless. Maybe it was his shock, or maybe it was just his being, but he neither needed to get up and walk around, or throw up. The listless rocking of the boat did not affect him. His stomach did not affect him. Not even the waves as they crashed upon the ship affected him. The dragonless man could usually be found sitting on the side of the ship, his back supported by the gangline (err... the netting on the side of the ship), so he could not fall. He stared into darkness, into a life without a dragon.

Blue Raya chirped encouragingly at him. But he did not listen, could not listen. Would not listen. Raya fished whenever he needed food, and generally spent the time sulking. But once or twice he had peeked at the little green dragon and her rider that had accompanied the two. Or, rather, that the two had accompanied. Raya watched now, eyes whirling, as the small green tried to peer over the side of the ship. Was she hungry?

Raya had just the idea for her! The little blue flitter took to the air and jumped between, ended up over the water, and looked, his eyes scanning expertly. There! Raya dove, and came up, soaking wet, with a good-sized fish in his small but powerful claws. He chirped, and flew over to Cath. He sent an image of Cath, and then an image of the fish. He clearly wanted the green to take it from him.

Noeln looked up, hardly noticing anything in the haze of his thoughts. But he did notice the flash of green. Pandorath had caught a green once... but only once. The green's rider had been male, and Noeln disliked male to male sexuality. But Pandorath was gone, now. And Noeln was on a ship. Unsteadily, the man stood and dropped off the side of the ship, landing with a bang. He strode unsteadily over to Brogan.

"Nice dragon." He said gruffly, unfeelingly. He had lost all feeling for anything, even his life, or Raya's life.

[dragonfire]

The blue's sudden appearance startled Brogan out of her thoughts. She smiled, cheered by the sight of the fire lizard playing in the water. Her own bronze Valor blinked out of between and hovered above Raya, wondering what the blue was doing.

Cath, of course, was always hungry. She understood immediately what the blue wanted her to do. With a croon of appreciation, she gingerly took the fish from Raya's claws and gulped it down. Her eyes whirling a happy blue-green. It's yummy![/color] she declared. Thank you, Raya![/color] With the two fire lizards the only draconic company on the ship, Cath had come to like them as friends, and she wasn't as annoyed by flitts as some dragons had been to known to be.

"What a great idea!" Brogan exclaimed, grinning at Raya. Valor dove down to the water, wanting to try fishing himself. It looked fun!

She turned around when she heard the thump of Noeln landing on the deck. Brogan felt a little awkward around the dragonless man. She didn't know how he felt about her, having Impressed at the same time he lost his dragon. But she wanted to help, and he seemed remarkably sane for a dragonless person, so he must have some will to live. She smiled gently at him. "Thanks, she is. Raya had a really good idea about fishing. Did he think of it himself?"

[maiwolf]

Raya watched patiently as the green took and ate the food. And he was so happy by her praise that he swirled in midair, and dove into the water again. The fish deeper were harder to catch, but oh so much better when eating them. Raya knew that from experience, Noeln had taught him to do that to keep his former dragon, Pandorath, full. Raya spied one, and dove further, caught it, and then, in one fluid movement, spun back around and flew back up through the water with his wriggling catch.

He handed the other fish to Cath, his eyes whirling wildly, pronouncing that he was happy. He chirped, and flitted right over to Noeln. He was happy! Why was His not?

Noeln didn’t have the strength to push Raya away. Instead, he stood there as Raya flitted around him, twittering happily. Noeln’s eyes were fixed on Cath. “She’s very pretty.” Maybe if it would have been a blue here now instead of a green, then Noeln would have gone crazy. Instead, the sight of a dragon, just one dragon, was comforting. Noeln absently turned his eyes upward, toward the new rider. “No,” He said. Simple answer.

It needed explaining. “P-P-he was always hungry.” He shrugged. All dragonets were when first born. “I taught Raya to fish because a herdbeast didn’t quite fill his hunger, and two herdbeasts usually did. This was before he grew bigger.” Ah, the memories. Without asking, Noeln dropped to the ground, and inspected the green. He inspected her head to tail, and that brought back memories, too. But his dragon had been blue, not green. “She’s getting itchy spots.” He said simply, and pointed to a spot underneath Cath’s wing. “It’s perfectly normal.”

Noeln didn’t know how a dragonless man should act. As it was, he didn’t know if his acting was how people thought one should act. He was depressed, yes, he felt like something’d been torn away from him, yes, but he was perfectly fine around Cath. It was as if Cath were Pandorath’s reincarnation. “Wait here.” As if they could go anywhere. He retreated to the hold, that dank and smelly place, and came back up only a moment later—Raya still circling around his head—with a jar of salve. “First lesson in Weyrling training. You must always oil your dragon. Her hide won’t turn out good if it gets all patchy.” He handed her the oil, “Go on, oil her.”

[dragonfire]

Cath gobbled up the second fish, then a third that Valor delivered. Her eyes reflected Raya's whirling orbs, swirling with blue and green. Brogan grinned, sharing her dragon's happiness. She was glad that Cath still had her moments of joy even though she was isolated on the ship. She was scared of their arrival in the North, but also looking forward to it just so Cath could be with other dragons again.

"Thank you! She is, isn't she?" She said when Noeln commented on how pretty Cath was. To Brogan, no dragon could be more beautiful, not even her gold sister. Cath subtly struck a pose, enjoying the attention. He likes me![/color]

Of course he does, Cath, Brogan told the green. Her smile faded when Noeln talked about his dragon. The man couldn't even make himself say Pandorath's name. Still, Brogan knew it could be much worse. Most riders couldn't even bear to live after their dragon died.

Cath tilted her head to look at the spot Noeln pointed out. I am really itchy,[/color] she admitted. Brogan took the jar, glad that someone knew what they were doing. "Thanks, Noeln. I think it will really help me to have a former rider on the ship. The other weyrlings must be having lessons by now..." she trailed off, feeling bitter at the mention of her former home. She belonged with them, not abandoned here. Sighing, she opened the jar of oil and started to smooth it over Cath's dry hide.

[maiwolf]

Noeln watched as the new Weyrling put the oil on Cath’s hide. He pointed to a lumpy spot that the girl had probably missed, this being her first time and all. “You want the oil spread evenly across the hide, which means there can be no lumpy spots. It’s not bad if there are lumpy spots, but we dragonriders try to avoid lumps.” He roamed over to the side of the boat and leaned against it.

Cath was okay for a dragon. For all that she was a pretty hatchling, Noeln could tell she would be extremely pretty when she was full-grown. And she was green, very good for Noeln. A blue would have killed him. A blue would have tortured him. Long before now, Noeln probably would have surrendered himself to the sea. But this was a green, a whole different dragon with a whole different gender. He was … well, he couldn’t say fine, but he was okay being with her.

It was Raya that he couldn’t stand. The darned blue fire-lizard was just that: blue. He reminded Noeln too much of Pandorath it wasn’t funny. If he could choose to give the fire-lizard up, he would, but, alas, the little blue was stuck to Noeln. Noeln swished Raya away from him saying, “Go get more food.” Raya, happily, plunged back into the ocean.

Noeln gestured vaguely to Cath and her rider, “Life’s gotta suck now, huh? You’ve known everything in the South, and now you are being deported. Gone to the North.” Noeln eyed the new rider. So weird, it was, to be with a new rider without his dragon. It was all Pandorath’s fault! He knew better than to attack a Bronze!