H'lee, as a brownrider and a fairly junior wingrider (even though he and Seeth had been bonded for five years), was assigned to shuttling some lesser holdfolk up to the Weyr for the Hatching.  He normally didn't resent this duty since his passengers were often the women of the households and he could flirt with the unattached ones, but it seemed that someone had caught onto his scheme: he was the highest-ranking rider in the group sent to these out-of-the-way holds and therefore, he was responsible for transporting the local lords and their (very attached) ladies.

After several hours of transporting these folks (only five trips, but having to wait for everyone to get ready, do the proper introductions, sort out who would be flying with whom, and then off-load their passengers and get them directed to the Sands), he was ready for a break.  He had just decided to go see if his "little sister" (as he thought of her) was getting into her Candidate robes and was ready to go stand on the Sands when Seeth rumbled in surprise.  They hatch! and he scrambled back into his seat so Seeth could find a perch on one of the dragon ledges overlooking the Sands.

Unfortunately, the ledge that Seeth managed to squeeze his bulk onto (there were definitely other downsides to being a junior wingrider!) had a great view...of the Candidates' backs.  H'lee couldn't tell if Silvara was among them or not.  He thought about asking Seeth to check, but decided that it was probably better not to; his cousin had been under a lot of strain the last few days and having yet another dragon intrude on her privacy would probably cause her to start crying.

Silvara had been looking at the white robe for the better part of a candle mark knowing the eggs would hatch today. She still could not figure out what had possessed the Weyrleader and others to make her a candidate. Yes she was a HAD... sort of but still. She loved the dragons but she also knew that she would never be a good queen rider and thankfully she doubted any Gold even newly hatched would bond with her but that still left the greens.

She knew H’lee wanted to her stand on the sands and become a rider like him and she did love him dearly like an elder brother but she did wish he would realize that she preferred to not be noticed. It was hard enough to be ignored with being so far along in her Healer training and Smith work as well. Since walking the tables in healers to journey woman and the entire trying to sort out her smith rank. She was glad that the Masters had understood her reasoning of wanting to stay an apprentice in the smith craft even with her knack for fine small metal work.

Reaching out she finally grabbed the dratted robe and pulled it on still feeling a slight dread at this. She had enough issue with some of the male candidates heckling her as it was though she never let on especially when H’lee was around not wanting to add to his burdens. She hated feeling like a burden to him. She quickly shook her head to clear it and headed out into the halls heading towards the Weyr bowl hoping to get some fresh air before the eggs hatched.

Once outside she could feel the change in the air and knew that the eggs were about to hatch. Gritting her teeth she turned to head towards the hatching sands unaware that a few of the candidates that felt she was being given special treatment had spotted her and decided to hinder her.

The feel of hands on her arms from behind caused Silv to start and then struggle to get free even as her gift made it clear they intended to try and lock her into one of the store rooms so she could not stand on the sands. They managed to man handle her into the closet and put some large boxes in front of it before running for the sands. The one thing they had forgotten was that she did a lot of smith metal moving and so was strong enough to push door and boxes open just enough to get her slender form through and out. It still took a good few minutes to get free but at least she would not be there when they came back to try and taunt her over missing the hatching.

She could feel the first eggs breaking open and the new bonds forming on the sands even as she jogged in that direction hoping to watch from the shadows and hopefully stay out of her tormentors line of sight. Reaching the sands she slipped into the shadows and edged farther onto the sands where she could watch but was still mostly hidden in shadows.

H'lee frowned as he saw a group of five Candidates run onto the Sands at the last possible moment before the eggs started hatching.  He recognized the one blonde-haired girl and boy; although H'lee didn't have any of the mental abilities his cousin did, he had cultivated spies among the other riders and the Weyrfolk and knew that there were a handful of Candidates who had been harassing Silv.  The way the group huddled together and seemed to be laughing at some private joke and glancing back toward one of the exits made him suspicious and he started to ask Seeth to check on Silv when the first egg split asunder and spilled a handsome bronze onto the Sands, and then he had no thought except for the ecstasy of Impression.

Clutches these days were small and few between.  With Thread no longer a threat, the dragons' biological imperative to reproduce was diminished.  There were only nine eggs this time, and bets were four greens, two blues, and two browns (or one brown and one bronze); the ninth egg was undersized, even for a green, and the queen had placed it somewhat off to the side of the rest of the clutch, so it was suspected to be a dud.  The appearance of the bronze supported the second scenario.  If the rest of the clutch turned out the way H'lee expected, then he was set to collect a few marks from the bets he'd placed with his wingmates.

Unexpectedly, however, the smallest egg was rocking along with the rest; apparently, not a dud.  H'lee and Seeth ended up focusing on this egg as it shuddered and rolled under the dragonet's fierce attempts to break free.  As a dragonhealer apprentice, part of his job had been to monitor the health of the queen and the apparent health of the eggs.  His mentor had made a point of showing him the small egg and explaining the various probable reasons for its size, and had also referenced the white dragon, Ruth, who had died 200 years before.  H'lee and the other Apprentice dragonhealer had been instructed to research Ruth, so they were intimately familiar with genetic throwbacks; H'lee had been the only one in his wing to think the egg might hatch, and he'd bet on it being a green.

H'lee's focus shifted momentarily to take in the other eggs and their Impressions and he noticed, with some disgust, that the blonde-haired boy had Impressed the bronze and the girl had gotten a green.  They were trying to navigate around the other Candidates and dragonets to get to the exit when the smallest egg finally burst, disgorging a very small, pale-winged blue dragon.  H'lee groaned; he'd just lost his bet.  The bronze hatchling hissed at the tiny blue, which had hatched only a few feet away, and a piece of egg shell had flown toward him (it had missed, but still had startled the larger dragonet).  The bronze's hesitation to his at his brother had caused his green sister to trod on his tail, however, which caused a larger squabble and the bronze whipped around to snap at the green.

H'lee started to shift to direct Seeth to let him down when the two blondes separated their dragons and apologized profusely to each other.  Unfortunately, it appeared that the two were between the blue, who had now righted himself, and his target Candidate; the blue staggered forward, creeling with hunger and confusion.  Wings dragging behind him, he was trying to navigate between his clutchsiblings and managed to jab the bronze's already-injured tail.  The boy looked at what had caused his dragon to squall this time and even from this distance, H'lee could see the look of distaste on his face.  He could almost hear the boy's thoughts (since it was also clearly reflected on the faces of many other riders around him):  What a runt!  It shouldn't have even hatched!  Even H'lee himself felt that way, though perhaps to a lesser extent.

What happened next shouldn't have been a surprise, but none of the riders who were dancing attendance on the hatchlings and their new riders nor any of the riders observing expected it: the bronze snarled and twisted in his rider's grasp and lunged at the much smaller blue.  The boy received a nasty slash across his foot as he was flung aside and the girl and her green shrieked in fear and scrambled to get away from the brothers.  It was only a few split seconds before the adults reacted, but to H'lee, on a perch across the Sands from the pair, it seemed like minutes before he and Seeth launched from the ledge (to the irritation of their neighbors) and glided across the sands to help T'lon and his bronze separate the pair, hopefully before any irreparable damage was done to either.

Silvara had slowly edge her way along the way getting closer to the eggs. She noted that the Small runt egg which had been the only one she had been willing to touch was rocking indicating that it was trying to hatch. She hoped that the little dragon inside was able to break free and find a bonded of it's own. Her eyes shifted towards where her tormentors were and noted that the gruesome twosome of blonds had gotten a bronze and a green, the two being the leaders for the rest of the little band of troublemakers.

She hoped they would be off the sands quickly since she did not want to come out of the shadows and have them see her here. Then her eyes went wide in surprise as the little egg hatched sending egg shards all over the place and nearly hitting the boy's bronze. She grimaced at the sharp emotions that came with the minor fight between bronze and green even as her eyes staid with the little blue. She found him adorable and wished she could go to him and give him a hug.

::Mine... why are you way over there... I am Warrelith... and I am hunger!::

At first Silv did not realize that the words were for her thinking she was picking up someone else's bonding. Then it dawned on her that he little blue was looking right at her and was finally righting himself to try and head her way, only problem being his sibs who were in the way. She realized what was about to happen second before the little blue stepped on his brothers bronze tail and she started to run towards the blue knowing this was not going to end well.

She was almost there when the bronze launched himself at Warrelith. Silv cried out both with voice and mind for the dragons not to fight even as she reached the pair. Warrelith already had several cuts along his front right side tho nothing to deep or likely to mark him for life. Silv dove in to protect her dragon quickly getting Warrelith away but not before getting racked across the back by those same claws. Warrelith's confused voice in the back of her mind an oddly comforting presence even with all the pain from the injured and the darker emotions she was getting from the gruesome twosome behind her.

::My chest hurts... Why is he attacking... !!!MINE!!!::

Her gift knocked the attacking Bronze on his rump ending the fight even as she knelt near Warrelith trying to ignore the pain in her back and reassure her new friend.

::Shhh... It will be ok Warrelith... we will get you food soon and have those cuts looked at in no time...::

She looked up seeing that some of the full dragon riders were already on their way and hoping that due to that the gruesome twosome would not try anything else. Not with important people there to catch them being little monsters. She did not notice the fact that most of the candidate robe was now red instead of white. Focusing on Warrelith also helped her ignore the fact that a lot of people were there and watching all of this happen.

Seeth's body and wings briefly blocked H'lee's view of the fighting weyrlings, so he didn't notice Silvara until he was on the ground and Seeth had interposed himself between the green and the blue (and T'lon's Roth had done the same between the bronze and the blue).  T'lon was a journeyman dragonhealer and, as a bronzerider, had quickly taken charge of the bronze weyrling, leaving H'lee to handle the blue.

For one long moment, he didn't understand why Silvara was cuddling the blue.  "Silv, get away from him, let him find his rider!"  He thought she'd run out to try to stop the fight (well, she had, but not out of the goodness of her heart).  Seeth's behavior, curling his neck around the pair and holding a wing over them and hissing at the other weyrling dragons started to break through the numb barrier that refused to accept the bond between a blue weyrling and a girl!

He was reaching down to pull Silv away when Seeth's mental howling finally penetrated.  He Impressed HER!

Finally, his brain started working again and he properly processed the scene before him: the blue wasn't creeling because he couldn't find his rider, but because he had and he was hurt and hungry and Silvara was hurt and...SILVARA WAS HURT!

He swore vehemently.  Seeth, tell them to get a healer, Silvara's hurt! he said, passing an image of Roth and T'lon along.  And you let the healer through when they get here, he scolded the big brown gently.

"Shardit, sis, only you would jump in between two fighting dragons without a full-grown dragon to back you up," he grumbled.

I might need your help to get him to hold still for this, he told his own dragon.  But let me see if I can get through to them first.

One advantage of Seeth's protective posture was that it put his healing kit within relatively convenient reach, and he retrieved it before turning back to the pair.  "Here, lemme see those cuts," he said aloud, trying to figure out the best way to get at the gashes without actually interposing himself between the blue and Silvara (and without making either of them move too much).  "Silv, what's his name?"

Silvara felt a wave of relief when Seeth landed and curled around them cutting off the other weyrligs. She was glad it was him even as she caught H'lee's voice telling her to move away from the blue to let him find his rider. Shifting to the side to look at him and rolling her eyes even as she felt lances of pain up her back. She was glad tho as she saw it dawn on his face that Warrelith was bonded to HER. She could hear his words to Seeth and the communications going between the dragons including the surprise and shock of the little blue picking her tho the queen seemed rather pleased.

H'lee's physical words made her focus on him as she shifted more knowing he could help Warrelith's cuts and wanting them taken care of right now. She leaned a little against Seeth for support even as she answered H'lee.

"His name is Warrelith and they are not too deep... He is mostly worried about me and hopes the Healer you asked for will show up soon. He will be still while you clean his cuts up."

She smiled softly even as she lightly rubbed her blue's eye ridges making him croon slightly, wanting to keep him calmish while her brother worked on his hurts. It also helpted her ignore the pain in her back and the loudness of all the voices both physical and mental she was getting as she was starting to feel a little light headed.

The healers finally arrived and after he postured a little to get his point across, Seeth let them in. Grumbling about riders and their cavalier attitudes toward injuries, the senior healer ordered the other one to go fetch a stretcher before pointing at Silvara and telling her, peremptorily, to sit down before she fell down.

Meanwhile, H'lee first knelt, then shifted to a cross-legged position. Without a doubt, Warrelith was the smallest dragon he'd ever worked on, only about the size of one of the largest herding canines (compared to even the smallest of his siblings, which were easily the size of a small horse). Sitting down like he was put his chest at a lower level than H'lee was used to, but that cross-legged was more comfortable than kneeling, although he couldn't say that any position on the hot Hatching Sands was truly "comfortable." He gave the injuries a thorough examination while waiting for the healers to do the same for Silv; it'd be easier to clean and stitch them outside in the Weyrbowl than in here on the Sands, provided they weren't deep enough to cause him trouble getting outside.

Although H'lee's probing probably distressed the little dragonet, he was remarkably well-behaved. Of course, he realized, that's probably because SILVARA is his rider and she's keeping him that way. "Good thing dragon hide is so tough, little fella," he told Warrelith. "We'll just wash those out with some water when we get outside and maybe put on a little numbweed."

He stood up, slinging his healing pack over his shoulder and looking to the healers to see what was going on with Silvara. The junior healer had returned with another healer and a stretcher and the senior healer was trying to get Silv to lie down on her stomach on it. It was plain to H'lee that she would NOT be able to give Warrelith his first meal, bath, and oiling on her own. Staying out of the way but addressing Silvara, he said, "If he'll come with me, I'll take Warrelith on out and start getting him fed while they finish up with you. Seeth can give you guys some privacy," he added, since it seemed apparent that they were going to have to cut Silv out of the white Candidate robe in order to deal with her injuries.

When the healer arrived she did as she was told without a peep of resistance since she knew that the blood loss was affecting her. She sank to the sands not minding their heat at all right now as she tried to stay awake. She continued to send to Warrelith helping keep him calm and relaxed with what H'lee was doing.

::Mine... why is he poking me... ow... are you going to be ok... please be okay...::

Silv smiled at Warrelith softly to reassure him even as she shifted to lie on the litter pulling the ties on the robe open and glad she had worn breeches under the silly robe.

::I will be okay Warrelith... just follow H'lee and do what he tells you. He's my brother so he will make sure you're safe and sound just like these healers will do for me...::

She closed her eyes as she could feel the healers cutting the blood soaked robe off and muttering about how deep the cuts were but at least she was lucky that it did not look like she would lose any mobility because of this. They lifted the litter to head off the hatching sands, keeping Seeth's bulk between them and the watchers in the gallery. They wanted to get her back to the infirmary but were unsure if it was wise with her dragonet also being hurt as well knowing it was mostly her will that was keeping the little dragon from making a large ruckus like the Bronze had been till he had been taken off the sand and his rider had been unhurt. For the healers it was a testament to the power of her gifts that things were so calm and all the training she had already been thought with it.

Now that the healers had Silvara under control and, judging by the pleading, hungry, frightened look her dragon was directing at H'lee, she'd instructed Warrelith to follow H'lee, the older rider looked down at his cousin as she closed her eyes. "Okay, Seeth and I can handle him from here, you need to stop exerting yourself and let the healers get you cleaned up. We'll stay with Warrelith until we get sleeping arrangements sorted out."

Injuries, even severe ones, during a Hatching were not uncommon. In fact, it was almost surprising if one of the Candidates wasn't outright killed during the event, usually through desperation, carelessness, or outright fear on the part of the victim. However, Warrelith didn't need to know that. H'lee looked down at the blue, who was anxiously watching the healers lifting the stretcher with his rider on it, and rubbed the dragonet's head gently. "Don't you worry about her. We've never lost a newly Impressed rider. She might be hurt, but she'll pull through."

Seeth uncurled from around the group and furled his wings, finally taking a moment to look at the tiny blue by his feet. H'lee chuckled at the slightly alarmed feeling he picked up from his dragon. If I'm not careful, I could inhale him! He's so tiny!

"He's not THAT tiny, Seeth! Now, if he were a firelizard, that'd be a different story." Turning back to the blue, he said, "Now, c'mon, Warrelith, let's get you outside," he pointed toward the Weyrbowl exit (which also happened to be the same direction that the healers were going, seeing as it would be easier to carry a litter through a big open space, however crowded, than the narrow, twisting passageways that led to the infirmary through the Lower Caverns), "and we'll get you fed and cleaned up while they get Silvara stitched up, then we'll go find her and get you settled down."

He took a couple of steps toward the exit and beckoned the little dragon to follow him. Seeth, meanwhile, held still for the moment; he'd give them an escort outside.

Just then, T'lon jogged over, giving the healers and their patient a quick look as he approached. "Everything okay over here?" he asked. The bronze rider had recently been promoted to the most junior of assistant weyrlingmaster positions on top of his normal duties as a Wingleader. H'lee scowled at his friend's incautious approach.

"Could be better, but not too bad. Just got to get Warrelith outside and fed, bathed, and oiled, then I'll take him down to the infirmary to be with Silv."

"So Silvara DID Impress!" the bronze rider practically shouted as he clapped his best friend on the shoulder. "Let me guess, a gree--" Just at that moment, T'lon caught sight of the tiny blue and practically choked on his words. "Oh," was all he said, and H'lee sensed the uncertainty and borderline disgust at the dragonet's size and color.

"Now don't you go acting like that around Silvara, or me, either," H'lee warned. "Remember that she'll pick up on those feelings. Besides, a blue makes a certain amount of sense for her: she prefers girls to boys anyway."

T'lon cleared his throat self-consciously and nodded brusquely. "Well, most everyone else is fed and bathed, so I'll help you out with this fellow. What's his name?"

"Warrelith. You hear that, fella? T'lon here's going to help me get you fed and cleaned up so we can get you down to the infirmary faster." Seeth rumbled and, had he been a human, would have rolled his eyes.

Silvara just smiled at H’lee’s words and relaxed some and just enjoying the feel of the bond she now shared with Warrelith. She did work on putting her shields into some sort of order to get all the other voices to stay out, thankfully they kept the humans out but not the dragons which she was all right with as she found their voices soothing even if a little excited about the new little blue Warrelith.

Warrelith hummed slightly watching the Healers take Silvara away but felt her calmness and went with it knowing that she felt everything was going to be all right. He looked up as Seeth uncurled and shook his head a little at the brown's words and giving a slight grin at H’lee’s reply. He moved to walk along side H’lee feeling it would get them off the hot sands and some place cooler sooner. In turn would lead to food, the pain in his chest going away and returning to his bonded side sooner which was all good with him.

Tilting his head as another Rider headed his way he found himself wondering if the Human was a little deaf or maybe had hit his head when he seemed to totally miss H’lee’s words about his name. He felt a flare of annoyance at T’lon’s reaction to his size wanting to huff about size not being everything. He was glad at H’lees words as his bonded's brother stood up for him and his rider. At T’lons next words though he was really starting to think this man must have some kind of brain injury to be that stupid.

::Is he always this daft? Can we go now? My chest still stings and I want to return to Mine’s side soon.::

H'lee coughed in surprise when Warrelith spoke to him. Although dragons could talk to each others' riders if they chose, it wasn't something that they did often. It didn't help that the dragon was being extremely blunt about T'lon's poor attention to detail, which made H'lee want to laugh. "He's still learning," he replied drily, which was such a vague statement that T'lon took it to be said to him regarding the young dragonet.

"Alright, Warrelith, c'mon. T'lon, buddy, you want to go get some meat set up for him? We'll be right behind you."

H'lee walked slowly next to the blue, helping him keep his wings out from underfoot so he wouldn't injure himself. Once they got outside, he had Seeth watch over them and T'lon started feeding Warrelith while the brownrider worked on his cuts. When H'lee hesitated and started to ask T'lon if he wanted to take over the medical treatment, T'lon replied, "You need the practice, you do it."

H'lee pulled a sponge out of the water basket and gently mopped the blue's chest. Once he'd verified that he'd gotten all the sand out of the cuts, he started on the rest of the dragonet's hide, removing the last of the egg goop and shell crumbles that were stuck to him. By this point, the basket that T'lon was feeding Warrelith from was nearly empty. "I'll oil him if you want to put numbweed on that and start covering it," T'lon said.

So H'lee pulled out two jars. He opened one and rubbed some of the contents over his hands: an astringent-smelling, red-colored compound. Then he scooped a glob of something foul-smelling out of the second jar and daubed on the cuts. "I know it smells bad, but it'll make your chest feel better," H'lee explained. After that, he carefully rubbed in some oil around the edges of the cuts before taking some pads out of his pack and pressing them gently over the cuts. Then he pulled a roll of adhesive and taped the edges of the pads down.

Then he dedicated his attention to helping spread oil over Warrelith's hide. They were done in almost no time and after staring at each other for a moment, they started laughing. Before they confused or upset Warrelith, though, H'lee explained, "It takes me an hour to oil Seeth, I'd forgotten how little hide new hatchlings have!"

Grinning down at the no-doubt sleepy blue, he continued, "Alright, let's go find where they stashed your rider so you can take a nap." Seeth, did they put her down in the infirmary? Seeth rumbled his assent. "To the infirmary, then. It's over that way," he pointed. "You up to walking all that way?"

Warrelith nodded at H’lee’s words and moved along with him for the most part ignoring T’lon as it would make things less confusing. He moved with care getting better at keeping his wings up with H’lee’s help as they soon moved off the over warm sands and over to where food and what he knew from Silvara were the medical supplies that would be used on him to make his chest better.

As H’lee started to wash his chest he dug is claws into the soil so he would not do anything he was not meant to while also eating the meat that was being fed to him. He was glad for the meat as it was helping to make his tummy calm down. He was fascinated as he watched H’lee put the red stuff on his hands then get the smelly stuff out bearing his teeth a little wishing to wrinkle his nose against the bad scent. He accepted H’lees words and relaxed more as the Numbweed sap did was it was supposed to do like it was doing for Silv in the infirmary.

Tilting his head at the laughing he nodded his head at the words looking over at Seeth and admitting that yes there was a lot less of him to oil compared to the fully grown dragon. With a soft creel sound he nodded his head at H’lee’s words of going to where his Bonded was.

Silvara meanwhile had been taken to the infirmary even as they kept pressure on her back to steam the blood loss. She was only partly awake now but not wanting to zonk out one Warrelith yet. She was glad that he was doing so well even as she felt the Healers get to work on her back having a fair idea of what they were doing. It was a little odd being on the other side of this procedure for a change but she just tried to remain relaxed to make their job as easy as possible.

She sighed in relief when her own coating of Numbweed was applied making it easier to continue to reassure Warrelith and listen to the healers around her. Once they were done stitching and binding her back she was given some meat, cheese, and bread to eat while staying mostly on her stomach. They were going to keep her at least overnight but moved her to an area where her dragon would also be comfy near her cot. She fought to stay awake wanting to ask H’lee if he would help her with Warrelith till her back was healed and she could do it herself.

H'lee was a little surprised at the extremely, well, human expressions that Warrelith made. It normally took dragonets months, if not years, to grasp the human methods of non-verbal communication, and even then they rarely mimicked it. But then, it had been two centuries since the last throwback had been Hatched and H'lee couldn't remember any references to Ruth's behaviors; not to mention, there'd only been one other female bluerider in the last quarter millennium, and never, to H'lee's knowledge, a rider with the strength and variety of psychic talents that Silvara had. Lessa, their mutual 9-times-over great-grandmother, had been unusually talented for her era, and the mutation that had given that august woman her abilities had been passed down through the generations, growing stronger in every female of the bloodline to Silvara. In all honesty, H'lee was glad that it seemed to only manifest (or at least, manifest strongly) in the women; he certainly didn't want any of that himself, especially not after what he'd watched his "little sister" go through.

He figured by now, the healers would likely be trying to get Silvara to drink some fellis, and H'lee wanted to make sure that she and Warrelith had some time together first (and that the blue had time to drift off to sleep before his rider passed out). "Alright, then, c'mon," he told the dragonet and started off toward the infirmary, moving slowly. "T'lon, save me a seat and a skin of wine, would you?" he asked as the bronzerider washed his hands.

Unfortunately, he was forced to take a bit of a roundabout route since there were gaggles of bystanders scattered across the Bowl, celebrating like Hatchings were going out of style (which, H'lee realized sadly, they were; only two-thirds as many attendees this time as the last time, which had only been four months ago). He got some very strange looks, peculiar and pitying, as he led the blue around, and some of the older riders evidenced outright disgust at "the runt." The more he saw, the angrier he got, though he clamped down on the feelings as best he could.

He was relieved when they finally reached the infirmary and the healers told him which dragon chamber they'd put her in. The healers, at least, didn't seem put off by Warrelith's size, but the curiosity they exhibited was almost as bad, though H'lee understood its source; even though they weren't dragonhealers, the opportunity to examine a genetic throwback of any species didn't come around very often.

He led the dragonet into the infirmary room which included a couch for injured dragons (at least they'd chosen one that was built for smaller greens so it wasn't quite as gigantically oversized for the blue!) and they easily spotted Silvara, sprawled on her stomach and trying to eat. H'lee took a deep breath and tried to suppress the irritation he was feeling toward the rest of the Weyr before he stepped into the room, instead taking a moment to hold open the door for the dragonet. "Hey, sis, feeling better?" he asked when he finally entered.

Warrelith was unaware of how human his reactions were since he was just doing things he could see his bonded had done. He had ended up seeing many of her memories while the Healers were patching her up and she listened to them and kept fully linked with him. He was finding it interesting but he was hoping they would get to sleep soon so they could both heal. He also picked up the negative emotions around him, while not understanding them, but finding that his bonded was unhappy about them. So he tried to reassure her as they made their way closer to her location.

::Mine don’t worry about them. I may be small now but I will get big and I will be the best dragon EVER!::

That got a shaky laugh from Silv on her medical bed even as she worked on eating a little more so her body had more to work with to replace the blood she had lost. As much attention as this was going to bring to her life that she did not want, she was happy to have Warrelith in her life. He felt like a balm on her soul and she would find a way to deal with this, just as she had her gifts.

When she saw Warrelith and H’lee enter the room she was in she smiled slightly dazedly at them. She was very glad that it was H’lee helping her dragon rather than some of the others.

“Hey there… Ya a little… They want me to drink the Fellis but I wanted to see you both before I zonked out till tomorrow. Also wanted to ask if you could help the next few days till the Healers clear me for… rigorous activity.”

"Good. Let's get Warrelith settled in on the couch and I'll move your bed over next to him, then I want you to drink that fellis!" He smiled faintly at her request to help her with Warrelith. "I will be happy to, but that will be up to the Weyrlingmaster and my Wingleader, T'lon. I'll make sure to ask when I see them this evening," he said firmly.

Part of him was a bit aggravated about the whole situation, particularly Silv's injuries, which put her down here in the infirmary away from the celebration that was meant to welcome her to the ranks of dragonriders. The other weyrlings would be greeted and welcomed by the Weyrleaders, but unless they deigned to trek down to the infirmary, Silvara and Warrelith would not be. Not to mention, if anyone did come down, they'd probably be there more out of curiosity about Warrelith than to welcome him. He was beginning to rethink his decision to catch up with T'lon for some celebrations when the door opened and two tall figures entered: the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman (who also happened to be the clutch's parents' riders).

"The healers told us you wouldn't be able to join in the feast, but we wanted to actually see you," the Weyrleader said with somewhat forced cheerfulness.

"Seeth did a marvelous job of hiding you on the Sands," the Weyrwoman added drily with a stern look at H'lee, who had the grace to blush. "And I'm afraid we didn't catch your dragonet's name." The last was was directed at Silvara.

H'lee almost pointed out that their dragons would have already known his name, but then he realized that they were being polite. The Weyrleader's interest in Warrelith - that morbid curiosity that H'lee realized, irritably, was going to be poignant for several days or even weeks - was thinly veiled. The Weyrwoman did a better job of concealing it, focusing instead on Silvara instead of Warrelith. "The healers said they got you stitched up. How bad is it?"

Silvara just smiled at H’lee softly rolling her eyes. She could feel his annoyance at how the others were reacting and his desire that she be up with the others but she was actually happy NOT to be up there with everyone staring at her and Warrelith. There would be a lot of that soon enough as it was. She started when she felt and then saw the Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman come to the room she was in. She smiled a little for them even if all she wanted was to sleep now.

“His name is Warrelith. Ya all stitched up but they said I would have to stay down for a couple of days to let it heal right but if I do I won’t have any mobility issues in my back at all. A lovely set of claw marks but otherwise fine. Thankfully the cuts were not deep and did not hit the spin at all so all will be good.”

She answered the Weyrwoman having always liked her even if she had wished they had been willing to not make her stand on the sands originaly. She would never trade Warrelith for anything in the world now that he was in her life and she was overjoyed that he was a he as it were. She just hoped that these would be the only visitors tonight as she was close to just falling asleep on them all right then as it was.

Warrelith just watched from his spot on the dragon couch and wished that everyone would go away so he and his bonded could sleep now. He hoped that the leaders would have H’lee be to one to help his bonded with him finding that his bonded would be more relaxed with her brother helping then any of the others but he kept that to himself and just curled up on the couch as close to his bonded as he could get wanting to be near while they slept.

H'lee tried to make himself somewhat invisible while the Weyrleaders were in the room, stepping over to the counter that served the small kitchenette in the infirmary weyr to make sure that there was hide oil readily accessible. He didn't want to leave Silv alone with them, and he definitely wanted to make sure she drank the fellis.

After a little more small talk and getting their look at Warrelith ("Good proportions, even if he's undersized"), the Weyrleaders left. H'lee picked up the goblet of wine with the fellis in it and carried it over to Silv. "Better try to drink this lying down or the healers'll have my head," he smiled.

Silvara was glad when the weyrleaders left and smiled as H'lee came over with the cup of wine mixed with fellis. She nodded at his words and carefully shifted to a point where she could drink the cups content without spilling on herself or straining her back. Handing the goblet back she yawned hugely and shifted to a more comfy spot on the bed ready to sleep.

"Thank you brother... see you in the morning?"

Her words were growing fainter now that she was no longer fighting her exhaustion and the wine she had just consumed. Her eyes drifting over to look at Warrelith who had curled into a ball of blue and was all ready partly asleep. It had been a very eventful day. Hopefully the next would be quiet.

He smiled and nodded as Silv drifted off.  He touched Warrelith's shoulder after checking the clock.  "Someone, maybe I, will bring some food for you again when the short hand on that clock is straight down and the long hand is straight up.  Silvara will probably sleep until after the sun comes up tomorrow morning."

Once he was sure they'd both fallen asleep, he headed back out to the celebration taking place out in the Bowl.  He paused to check with Seeth on where T'lon had set up: clear across the Bowl by the Hatching Grounds.  He paused by one of the tables and picked up some food to munch on while heading over to T'lon's table.  As he put together a plate full of finger foods, he noticed the two blondes and their cronies huddled together off to one side, disturbingly close to the infirmary.  He groaned.

Tell him that I'm not going to be joining him.  I think those new weyrlings might be up to something, he told Seeth, reluctantly.

A few moments later, Seeth replied, He said he'll find you and bring some wine.

He spotted an empty table and flagged down a couple of drudges to help him move it to a somewhat more secluded spot directly between the celebrations and the infirmary.  He grabbed a couple of chairs and flung himself down in one.  It had been an emotionally trying day and he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.  He jumped when two wineskins thumped down on the table and T'lon dropped into the other chair.

He looked over at T'lon.  "So, Silvara's going to be out of commission for a few days, maybe as much as a week, I'd guess, from what the healers have said.  She'll need someone to help her feed, bathe, and oil Warrelith until they clear her for those duties."  He paused to gulp down some wine.

"Good thing I brought the cheap stuff first," T'lon said facetiously.  "Good Benden red should be savored, not slurped."

H'lee rolled his eyes.  "Then you'd be highly offended that they used good Benden red to dose Silv with fellis," he replied.  "She ought to be out until after dawn tomorrow.  Warrelith's going to need feeding."

"I take it you'd like to volunteer?" T'lon said, a little icily.

H'lee held up his hands.  "She asked me.  I told her it was up to you and the Weyrlingmaster.  I'll understand, and I think she will, too, if you don't want me and Seeth to help out.  It's personal for us; we may only be second cousins, but we've never had any other family interested in our well-being, we're all the other has had for years.  At least, until Seeth came along.  But there are things that dragons can't do for us humans, no offense, big guy," he added, glancing up at the lump on the heights that he knew was the brown.  The wave of affection was answer enough.  "Besides, it'd only be for a couple of weeks, then she'll be off to the Academy."

"Well, it's less up to me than it is to the Weyrleader.  He'll have to pick a new Wingleader, since I'll be joining the Weyrlingmaster at the Academy."

H'lee blinked.  He hadn't really thought about that.  He knew that the Weyrlingmaster had tapped T'lon when he came in for the Hatching, but he hadn't really considered what that meant.  "Oh.  Right."

T'lon laughed at the look on his face.  "Don't worry, man, like you said, it's not for about a fortnight.  You'll have time to get used to the idea."

H'lee sipped at the wine some more, thinking rapidly.  "I think you may have picked up on this, but I hadn't said anything to anyone directly.  There's a group of Candidates - well, some of them are weyrlings now, I missed half of the Impressions, so I'm not sure about the rest - that have been harassing Silv.  From what I gather, they think she's been getting special treatment and is a teacher's pet because she gets so much one-on-one time with the healers and smiths, and the fact that she walked the tables at 16.  You and I, and the other people who matter, know she earned that early promotion, but those kids have been on the verge of getting pretty nasty in their pranks and torments for her.  Impressing a throwback, and a male dragon to boot, isn't going to improve matters anyway.  She's been pretty quiet about her...preferences...but I think these kids may have guessed about it, and a male dragon pretty much proves it.  He may prove to be neuter like Ruth, but he's still blue and, well, you saw when you were oiling him, he has all the parts he needs.

"Anyway, maybe I'm just being over-protective, but I want to ask you to keep an eye out for her, would you?"

T'lon joviality had faded while he listened to the somewhat confused explosion of words.  H'lee wasn't given to long conversations, so when he said more than two sentences in a row, and that was a measure of how strongly the brownrider felt.  T'lon nodded solemnly when his friend finished.  "You can count on me, old friend.  You're not the only one who noticed, the Headwoman already gave me an earful about the troublemakers.  Four of the five of them Impressed, by the way; the two blondes you already know about, but their red-headed friend Impressed the brown and the black-haired kid got one of the other blues.  The sandy-haired boy struck out this time."

They both ate and drank in companionable silence for a while, nodding and waving to folks they knew and exchanging some pleasantries here and there.  Finally, T'lon rose.  "I'll go talk to N'del about this and your offer to help out while she's incapacitated.  Why don't you go grab a cot and crash in her room?  You look like you're about to fall asleep in that chair."

H'lee smiled weakly.  "I think I might just do that," the last couple of words were garbled by a huge yawn.  And he did that, putting the cot right next to the door so no one could get in without waking him up, and after checking on Silvara and Warrelith, he collapsed on it.

Warrelith woke several hours latter muzzily as his tummy made it clear it was time to eat again. Slowly he uncurled from his ball to look around the room checking on his rider first making sure she was doing all right before looking at the clock H'lee had pointed out before. His eyes then caught sight of the man sleeping on a cot near one of the doors.

Slowly getting up and stretching Warrel made his way off the dragon couch and towards where H'lee was sleeping till a sound caught his ears. It was some sort of whispering sound from beyond the door that H'lee was sleeping next to. He could not quite pin down what was being said but he did not like the feel of it so he quickly moved to H'lee's cot and reared up to put his front on the bed lightly nosing the man.

::Hey... wake up... there's something outside the room...::

He sent softly not wanting to wake his bonded but keeping his head tilted to listen to what was beyond the door.

Although H'lee had expected to be awakened by Warrelith when he got hungry, he'd been expecting hungry creels, not a close-up-and-personal view of a dragon nose and a mental prod.  He squawked and rolled over (away from Warrelith) and off the edge of the cot, landing with a thump and finally starting to remember where he was.

"Hnnmmfwa?" he said.  He wasn't quite thinking clearly and what Warrelith had said hadn't sunk in (nor was he hearing the sounds from outside, which were faint to his ears, although he probably could have heard them if he wasn't being so noisy himself).  He spotted the clock and grunted.  "Right.  You'll be wanting dinner."  He got to his feet and pulled open the door.

Once the door was open, the sounds Warrelith had heard became clearer and H'lee frowned, stepping outside to look around while leaving the door open.  He saw the lights on up at the barn where the other weyrlings would be feeding their dragons, and there were plenty of celebrations still going on up at the other end of the Bowl, but the sounds were from somewhere closer than that.

Warreltih blinked when H’lee squacked and then rolled off the edge of the cot and ended up on the floor. He snorted slightly as it was kind of funny but he wanted to get back to the sounds beyond the door issue. Watching H’lee he chose to let the man sort himself out and hear the sounds before trying again to state his concern. Thankfully he noted H’lee frown as he stepped outside so left it at that moving back over to where Silvara lay asleep.

He fully trusted H’lee to take care of whatever was going on in the hall and bring back food for him. This trust came from his bonded who fully trusted H’lee as one of only a handful of humans she actually trusted and felt safe with. She had never told H’lee that but it was the truth and so if his bonded trusted him Warrel would to.

In a room a little farther down the weyr bowl wall in another of the healing rooms Learyam the sandy haired boy sat curled in a ball muttering and crying softly to himself. He had been kicked out of the group after being beaten up for having not gotten a dragon while the favored Silvara had gotten one. Silvara’s may have been a runt but he was still a dragon. He had not seen the healers yet not wanting anyone to know his shame.

He had a few minor cuts on his arms but was mostly just bruised from the beating. Part of him wanted to fight back but he was not strong enough to take the others on and going after Silvara would not get him back in the group and he was not low enough to try and do anything while she was hurt anyways. The others might but not him. He was a follower not a leader. He felt lost and alone.
((Sounds good to me!))

H'lee was torn between investigating the muffled noises and getting food for Warrelith. A gentle mental nudge proved that Seeth had dozed off, so he would be no help unless H'lee wanted to wake him. Heaving a sigh, he decided to get the food first. If it was just one of the Candidates who failed to Impress this time crying out their disappointment, they wouldn't appreciate him barging in. If whoever it was was still there after Warrelith had been fed, he'd investigate.

"Shards, I'd forgotten how long a walk this is," he grumbled as he trudged down the Bowl to the butchering barn where the other weyrlings were feeding their dragons.

"There you are, I was going to come down with a bucket if you didn't turn up," T'lon said when his friend entered. "You didn't bring him with you?"

H'lee shrugged. "He made it pretty clear that he wasn't going to leave Silv. So I'll take some back."

He felt more awake as he strode back to the infirmary weyrs. He thought he could still hear the sounds from two weyrs down as he walked past, but the bucket was squeaking, so he wasn't entirely sure. So instead, he focused on feeding Warrelith without getting his fingers nipped. Afterward, he set the bucket back outside where either someone else would collect it later or he'd take it back up to the barn when it was time for Warrelith's nighttime feeding.

After setting the bucket down, he stood still and listened. He could still hear something, so he eased down to the infirmary chamber where it sounded like the noise was coming from and listened for a few moments to decide what it was he was hearing. There was one sound that was strongly reminiscent of a sniffle. For a moment, he hesitated, wondering what he was about to get himself into (not for the first time that day), then he pushed the edge of the door farther open and let light from Belior, which had just crested the edge of the Bowl, spill inside. "Someone in here?" he called softly.

Learyam jerked slightly when he heard H'lee call out in the room he was hiding in. He had hoped no one would find him here since most were partying or heading to bed now. He tried to stay silent but he could not stop his sniffles or the slight sound of pain as he shifted an bumped one of his larger bruises against the bed he had been sitting behind. He realized it was no use so he peeked over the bed at the Brown rider feeling even lower since he had seen H'lee taking care of Silvara earlier and knew they were family in some way.

"... I am..."

He could think of nothing else to say while he fought to not start crying again in-front of the brown rider. Bad enough that he does not impress, then gets beaten up by the people he thought were his friend now only to be found crying like the weakling he was by the kinsman of the candidate turned weyrling that his group always picked on. It seemed his day was just doomed to keep getting worse it seemed.

H'lee couldn't quite tell who it was since the light only reached as far as the dragon couch, but he heard the voice. Of course, there weren't any glows in the empty room; those would only be brought in if someone actually needed the room. He stepped farther into the room and peered in the direction of the voice and the bit of movement he'd caught out of the corner of his eye. "Who is that?" he asked.

He could still hear sniffling and was fairly certain he'd heard a grunt of pain, though he couldn't say for certain. "You looking for the healers? You'd want to go to the main infirmary, these are just empty weyrs..." he trailed off, still trying to get a good look at whoever was in the room.