Let's Not Freeze, Shall We? (Levona's re-search)

[virenn]

Levona spurred the runner down the hill, each step taking her further away from the Weyr she was calling “home”. Really, while she understood the need for the dragonriders to be at the Weyr at all times, and for the Candidates and Weyrfolk to do their part and help out with chores and duties, was it really necessary to send her all the way to the WeaverCraftHall for more supplies?

Certainly a dragonrider could have gotten the job done faster! All they had to do was blink between; she had to travel for a good sevenday just to get there, and another sevenday to get back. Not only that, but there was no telling if she could make it without dying. At the very least, the weather did clear up a little...

And then the thought hit her, like a wall of stone. Why hadn’t the headwoman sent a messenger flitt to the hall instead? They would receive the message that the Weyr needed supplies, and then they would send the supplies back. It would have been perfect, really.

By Faranth, things never seem to make sense, now do they?

Rayne, tired of flying, settled down on the saddle of the runner while Lothar took a spot on Levona’s shoulder, allowing his body to be covered by her hair. At least she wasn’t alone on the road—if anything, she could at least send one of the fire lizards back to the Weyr with the message that she got lost, or frozen.

Shards! It was freezing! Why did they have to send her out?!

[dragonfire]

Faralith had begun chatting with her rider when they took off, and she continued the monologue when they blinked out of between as if there had been no interrupted. Oh, a Search means a clutch and a clutch means cute little babies! I just love babies, don't you, L'rel?[/color] she sighed wistfully.

Er...yes, love. Try to concentrate now. His eyes swept the ground, searching for any Northerner who might see them and alert the Weyr. The place seemed barren, probably due to the chilly weather. L'rel shivered and tugged his jacket closer. How did the Northerners put up with this? No wonder they were so uncivilized! Fly low, Faralith. I don't want anyone to see us.

The green obeyed, flying a few dragonlengths above the ground. Suddenly a figure appeared in the distance, but before L'rel could start worrying, Faralith crooned happily. A girl! A candidate! Let's take her![/color] To her, this was a fun game, like tag or hide-and-seek. Faralith flew closer, ready to swoop down, but L'rel stopped her. Wait, she's got flitts! What if they call for help?

Little friends, do not worry. I'm a friend, coming to take your pet to a better place,[/color] Faralith relayed to the flitts soothingly. Then she dropped out of the sky, landing in front of the runnerbeast and cutting off its path.

[virenn]

When Levona looked up in the sky and caught sight of a green speck off in the distance, she felt the corners of her mouth twitch up in a smile. It had to be a dragonrider; if it was, they would be able to take her directly to the WeaverCraftHall if she asked. No one would leave someone outside to travel—during the coldest time in the year, no less—for sevendays.

When the speck in the sky got closer, and Levona glanced upon the colors that it wore, her mind began to race. No Northern rider ever wore those colors! She bit her bottom lip as she urged the runner to race forward. Why would a Southern dragon be in the North, of all places?

Then, almost as quickly as she spotted it, the Green fell directly in front of her. Levona tugged as hard as she could on the reigns of the runner, causing it to rear up. Rayne immediately left her perch on the saddle to investigate the much larger Green, while Lothar pressed his bronze body against her neck and poked his head out from under her hair, wanting to stay warm. Both flitters were surprisingly calm, and Levona soon understood that the Southern Dragon had to have something to do with it.

She considered turning the runner around and dashing back in the direction they came from, but Levona knew that the move would do nothing to help her. The dragon and her rider could easily catch her.

Shards!

Glaring at the rider, she said, “Who are you and why do you dare trespass on Northern lands?”

[dragonfire]

Faralith snorted at the runner as it reared up. They were such funny, panicky creatures! Too bad she couldn't talk sense into it as she had with the firelizards.

L'rel's response to the girl's glare was an amiable smile. He jumped down from Faralith's back, putting him in a somewhat more vulnerable position, but he doubted the candidate could do much when he had a dragon behind him. "I am L'rel, and this is Faralith. We come on Search, and I would suggest that you agree to come with us," he said cheerfully. "It's a lot warmer in the South, I promise. All you have to do is get off the runner and follow me."

[virenn]

A Southerner on Northern lands for a Search? Was he stupid? Levona snorted, “Do us all a favor and go get flamed. I'm not going South!” Okay, perhaps that wasn’t exactly the best thing to say, but this man was nuts. If he actually thought that she was going to go with him, then he was wrong.

Getting off of that dumb cothold and going to the Northern Weyr had been an accomplishment! By the egg of Faranth, if he wanted her to go with him, he was going to have one hard time.

She tugged on the reigns of her runner, hoping to make it turn tail and run, but the frightened creature wouldn’t move.

She had three options, and none seemed to be particularly good. First, she could go with the man. Second, she could sling insults at him and continue urging the runner forward. And, finally, she could jump off and make a mad dash out of there.

The first option was no good—that was just stupid. She was a Northerner, and no Northerner would be openly accepted into Southern territories. Her second option was not much better; the man could probably grab her faster than she could get the runner to move… The third was, well, dumb, but what more could she do?

“Go eat Thread, dimglow,” she spat out. Unfortunately, she could not think of a better insult (out of all the things she could have said, did it have to be Thread? The stuff was gone!) so that would have to do for now. Sliding out of the saddle of the runner, she fell into the snow, and pulled herself up as quickly as she could. Shards, how was she going to get her way out of this one?

[dragonfire]

L'rel crossed his arms and leaned against his dragon, a teasing smile on his face. This was more amusing than he had expected. It was clear that the runnerbeast was too scared to run, and the candidate wouldn't be able to run away with a dragon chasing after her. He gave a little chuckle at the "get flamed" comment. Finally she flopped off the beast and let herself fall into the snow.

Ugh. Snow. Who invented the stuff? It was so gross! L'rel shivered as a chilly breeze cut through his jacket, which was still too thin for the North. He felt impatience creeping up. It wasn't like he had really expected her to just blithely go along with his plan, but that would have been nice. All right, one more try before I carry her.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either way you're coming to the South." L'rel held out his hand in entreaty. "Look, I'm almost a foot taller than you and I bet I'm stronger. Wouldn't you rather come on your own two feet?"

[virenn]

Once she pulled herself up out of the snow, Levona turned around, so that she would not have her back to the man.

It was official; he was crazy. Now he wanted her to just go with him and be marked as a traitor! “I’m an official Northern Candidate,” she spat out, “they will notice I’m missing. I bet the Weyr wouldn’t take too kindly to your kidnapping of their Candidates!”

Sure, the entire Weyr might not know she was missing, but at least there was a person or two who would know that she was gone… And sure, while the Weyr might not invade the South for a Candidate that was missing, it was still a decent threat.

“You’re gonna have to catch me first, Greenrider,” she told him, “because I’m not going with you.” With that, she turned back around and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She was not going to let that dimglow take her South!

[dragonfire]

Did he really have to do this? L'rel stared after the petite girl for a couple of seconds. He had to admit that she had spirit, and he kind of wished he didn't have to chase her down, but getting candidates for Southern was more important than whether or not he liked a person.

He ran after her, and when he was close enough, he threw himself into a football-style tackle and went to grab her around the waist, hopefully pulling her down to the ground with him.

Faralith watched all this with amusement. Poor girl...[/color]

[virenn]

By the time Levona started running, she expected that L’rel would get back on his green and have the dragon drop in front of her again, in which case she’d turn back around and run in a different direction. The girl was not expecting the man to actually chase her. But chase he did, and once Levona glanced over her shoulder to see what he was going to do, and saw him running, she urged her legs faster.

As she ran, she kept stealing glances over her shoulder, though she knew that it would have been smarter to keep running without looking. Every time she did, she noticed that L’rel inched his way closer and closer to her, and once she looked back again and noticed him right on her tail, she cursed his height. She kept running, until she felt his strong arms grab at her waist, attempting to pull her down.

Levona fell, face-first into the snow thanks to that shards-for-brains Greenrider; what an infuriating man! When her body collided with the snow, it left Levona momentarily dazed, until her two flitters landed in front of her. Both of them nudged her face with their small heads, squeaking in encouragement.

She lifted her head up out of the snow, and attempted to wiggle out of L’rel’s grasp. “Let me go,” she hissed. “Let me go and let me get my job done! I’m not going South! Get it through your thick wherry-brain!” At this point, she was grasping at the ground, trying to pull her way out of his grip while she thrashed her body around. The man’s safety was of no concern to her; as long as she got out, then she didn’t care what happened to him.

The two flitters, on the other hand, were confused as to why theirs was being so silly; it was cold, and there was no need to run around like a wherry without a head! The dragon seemed to be so nice! She spoke to the two of them, and if the dragon was nice, shouldn’t the rider be nice as well?

[dragonfire]

His aim was true; the candidate tumbled to the ground, face-first. He hoped she wasn't hurt, but then she shouldn't have run in the first place. The fall knocked the wind out of him and he was gasping as he started to sit up. As the girl thrashed, an elbow caught him square in the nose.

"Shards!" He cried, jerking back and putting a hand up to his nose, still keeping Levona in place with his knee. His hand came away bloody. "Okay, that's it." Standing up, he scooped Levona up, holding her tightly. He carried her threshold-style and made a sprint for his dragon, almost tripping a couple of times, but he managed to make it. Faralith, be ready!

Staggering, he stepped up onto Faralith's outstretched forearm and shoved the girl onto the green's back, assuming that she would grab on and steady herself rather than let herself fall several feet to the ground and risk being injured so she could run away again.

((Er...sorry if this is godmoding. Let me know if you have a problem. ^^))

[virenn]

When Levona felt her elbow connect with something, she grinned. Her satisfaction of fighting back had elevated when she heard L’rel curse and pull back a little, though he still kept his grip. She thought that she was going to win the battle; that L’rel was going to give up at any moment and leave her in the snow.

But was life ever that simple? No, it’s never that simple!

When Levona felt L’rel grab and pick her up, her eyes widened and she squeaked in surprise. This wasn’t a Search! It was a kidnapping! She tried to wiggle a little, hoping to get out of his grasp, but she was surprised to realize that he was holding her pretty tightly. Shards, shards, shards, she repeated to herself, angry at herself that she somehow got the attention of some wherry-brain dimglow Southern Searchrider.

She continued her wiggling (thrashing was not smart at the moment, she realized, especially since they would both go spiraling to the ground) until L’rel almost tripped.

Levona’s automatic reaction to the jerking in L’rel’s stride as he almost tripped was to throw her arms around his neck and push her weight against him, as if it would help him stay upright. Shards, this man was so dead when he let her go! She was going to murder him!

When the Greenrider pushed her up on the beautiful dragon, Levona grabbed at a neck spike without thinking. The two flitters, glad that theirs finally got on the dragon, flew up to her, taking a perch on Faralith’s neck, squeaking in delight. It took Levona a moment to get over the shock of L’rel’s rash move, but once she finally snapped out of it, and realized where she was, she knew that she was doomed. He was going to take her, and no one was going to know what happened to her.

“Shards!” She yelled, which was the start of a long string of curses that erupted from the girl’s mouth.

((Don’t change a thing! It was perfect. XDD I was cracking up as I read it; I loved it.))

[dragonfire]

L'rel gave an oof when he was jabbed in the side, but he recovered quickly and swung up onto Faralith's back, behind the girl, putting an arm around her waist to keep her there. He held his other arm up to his face, pressing his sleeve against his bleeding nose. He raised an eyebrow at the string of curses that flowed from her mouth, not used to hearing a "proper lady" swear so much. "A bit of a potty mouth, aren't you?"

Faralith crooned at the flitts, wishing that her rider had some of his own. Maybe at the next flitt hatching...Faralith, don't get distracted. Let's go! L'rel said, eager to be back in the South. Faralith obliged, lifting her wings and jumping into the air.

"Ever been between?" L'rel asked the candidate, voice slightly muffled against his sleeve. "Just count to three, and please don't wet your pants." Faralith hovered at a good distance, and at her rider's silent command, blinked into the emptiness.

One...two... "Three." They reappeared above Southern's weyrbowl. Isiloth, we have a candidate for you![/color]

[virenn]

Potty mouth? Psh! The string of swearing that erupted from her mouth were really nothing when compared to what she could yell out. L’rel would be in for a huge surprise if he thought that was bad. She would have cursed louder when she felt the man throw his arm around her waist, but she would rather deal with him instead of falling to the ground.

At the crooning from their new friend, Lothar and Rayne automatically squeaked back, and would have flew up to the Faralith’s face to rub their head against hers if not for the look that theirs shot them. Either Levona really didn’t want them to leave her, or she did not want them near the Green… Lothar, listening to his, jumped from the green onto her shoulder; it was cold, and he would hide in her hair again. Rayne cooed from her spot, but did not move.

When L’rel asked if she ever went between, and warned her not to wet her pants, she could have screamed all over again. How dare he even suggest that she would be afraid of a small trip between?!

As soon as the dragon reappeared from the darkness, and Levona felt the sun’s rays against her skin, she quieted up. As angry as she was, she had to admit that the sun was nice… Rayne shot up into the sky, stretching her wings. Lothar, more cautious about the unfamiliar area, took a spot in the sky close to Faralith, circling his.