Unexpected (Ise

[Marnark]

The place was empty, but yet wasn't. There were things here ... mostly just the usual things. Things that people generally didn't take when they left. The important things were gone, naturally. The important things to a Rider anyway. Things like riding leathers, straps, jackets ... as far as she was aware D'ero didn't really have much in the way of personal items. Barring his innumerable carvings. But why would he take those North with him? He wouldn't, that was plain, simple, and logical.

Jarshan was surprised at herself. Not that she missed D'ero, as much as she had initially resisted his wiggling closer to her. She'd long ago come to accept that things with him were different. She'd even come to expect and accept that she'd miss him when he left.

What she hadn't expected was just how much she missed him ... and even more odd was that she found herself here. Naraja was sprawled out near the door, but Jarshan stood in D'ero's empty weyr, wishing it wasn't.

He had gone home, taken his precious dragon with him. She didn't know whether to be sad that he was gone, or mad because a sharding dragon had gone and ruined things - as they typically did. She never really had liked dragons much at all, much less their riders. However, she found it hard to be irritated with Horuth. And it was impossible to be irritated with D'ero.

Really, she understood the drive to go forth and find the means to protect one's home ... and then return home. It was the same thing she had done, almost. She had trained her life away, become part of the Dragon Shield. She was a protector. The only difference was she guarded the Weyr and all of the Holds, instead of just her home Hold. As it were.

Letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, she walked quietly over toward his furs and sat down on the edge of them as she contemplated the rest of the open space. So big, empty ... and cold. As if mocking her for her stupidity. Stupidity in having allowed herself to care so much for a singular individual to have it ... actually hurt when they left.

She was Shield, this shouldn't happen. She shouldn't have let it happen. But here she was, missing D'ero. Picking her feet up one by one she propped them on the edge of the bed, wrapping her arms around her knees as she tried to see her way clear.

She should be training, or better yet hunting down holdless. Instead, she was sitting here, moping like a starstruck teenager. Heaving a sigh, Jarshan leaned forward and rested her chin on her crossed forearms, contemplating the carvings that she could see on the far wall.

The idiot was good with a knife so long as the target was inanimate, it seemed. But he was her idiot ... and he'd got away.

No one had ever got away from her before. Never. Not foe, not friend. Maybe that was why she wasn't sure how to deal with this sudden and abrupt absence. Some part of her was sad that she hadn't been around when he'd left ... though part of that had been intentional. She hadn't wanted a goodbye.

[Ise]

The trip North had been… something. D’ero had yet to decide if it had been good or bad. He had gone there, seen some of what he needed to see and now he just wanted to go to his weyr and sleep. No, that was wrong, he wanted to find Jarshan, bring her to his weyr and then sleep. He just wanted to be around someone he cared for and trusted. Mostly he just didn’t want to be isolated right now. He wanted to be with her.

He came out of Between with the rest of his wing but quickly split away from them as he did a loop around Refuge, paying close attention to the training grounds where Jarshan had a habit of spending most of her time. None of the figures there were her’s, even from a distance he could see that. D’ero gave a silent command to head to their weyr, it was close and it would give him a chance to change before he made his way down to the lower caverns to see if Jarshan was in her own room. Unless something unexpected had come up, D’ero knew that Jarshan wasn’t out of the Weyr doing a patrol for the Dragon Shield.

Hourth landed on the ledge to their weyr long enough for D’ero to jump off before he went to the feeding grounds. He watched Horuth glide down to the ground for a moment before he turned and walked into his weyr, coming to a dead stop as he saw Jarshan in there. A look of worry crossed his face as he walked over to her, instantly picking up that something was bothering Jarshan. All he wanted to do was run over to her, hold her, and promise to hold down whatever jackass had upset her while she beat the hell out of them.

Instead he settled for sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her.
“What happened?”
The idea that he was the one who had upset her never crossed his mind. He had been gone for most of the day and they hadn’t had an argument before he had left with A’lez. Nor had he done anything in the North that would have gotten him in trouble. His first thought was that the Holdless had done something, maybe attacked a Shield patrol or something. The Weyr was too quiet for it to be something major.

D’ero was just grateful for the distraction that Jarshan provided. If something had happened to Jarshan he could at least try to fix it, or at least offer her support. He disliked feeling helpless and that was all the North did to him. He was helpless to make any real difference there, no matter what he did. At least in the Weyr he felt useful in some small way.

[Marnark]

Jarshan was more than accustomed to the sounds of rushing air, especially when she was this high up. Even from within the weyr itself, the sounds of dragons flying around, landing, taking off. It was normal. She didn't pay the newest rush of air any mind at all ... until it gusted in and around her as the dragon in question landed. Attention snatched, she was quite shocked to recognized the brown beast that was dropping his rider off on the ledge.

Well, this was decidedly awkward. Jarshan dropped one foot to the floor but didn't get up from where she was perched, watching instead as D'ero seemed to stare off into the bowl after his dragon for a moment.

Maaaaan ... if she was here to off him, he'd so be dead before he even knew she was here. He seriously needed training!

But that professional thought was swept aside in a jiffy when D'ero did turn and see her. It took her a moment to wrap her mind around it actually. He'd come back. Why? Why was he back? Granted, she was thrilled that he was... more than she ought to be really. But it felt good. But why was he back?

Jarshan held her silence as he walked over and sat down, leaning over to rest against his side as he wrapped an arm around her. That felt good to.

But ... what happened? That was a sharding odd question to ask. No hellos or anything. Maybe he wasn't staying?

"Nothing happened. Not here anyway. That's a question I ought to be asking you, actually. What happened?" Jarshan answered, slipping her own arm around behind his back. Was there nothing left of the North, mayhap? Nothing left to stay and protect, then? That was a sad thought ... but while he did look unsettled, it didn't look like a sudden realization of his whole family being dead unsettled.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask. But, part of being a skilled interrogator wasn't just in knowing which questions to ask. But also in knowing which ones not to ask. A few of hers shouldn't be asked ... or at least should be re-thought lest he get some really funny ideas from them. Ideas she didn't want to plant seeds to.

[Ise]

D’ero gave Jarshan a concerned look, not fully believing that nothing had happened. Something had upset her but if she wasn’t ready to speak of it yet he would let it drop for the moment.
“We went to Keroon, spoke to the Lord Holder and his wife. I’m sure they were disappointed to learn that we have our own set of problems down here too. At least they know their son is alive, I’m sure that’s a relief to them.”
A slight frown crossed his face and he gave Jarshan a squeeze.
“I don’t know what happened to my family though. There was no one there. No one in the village at all. I know someone is dead. But I don’t know who. And that probably happened before Thread started falling. There was a grave. I doubt much time was spent digging graves once Thread started falling.”
He was not yet ready to assume his whole family was dead yet. Oh he knew there was a very good chance of it but for a little while longer he could trick himself into believing that some of his relatives were still alive.

“So what brought you to my room? Not that I’m complaining, I was going to change and go looking for you anyways.”
As fast as Jarshan could be, D’ero could almost guarantee that she had been here before they had come out of Between over the Weyr. She wouldn’t have had time to get up here if she had been in her room or out in the bowl when they had appeared.
“And if you want to talk about what was bothering you, I’m all ears…”
He wasn’t going to push it, or at least he wasn’t going to try and push it, but he didn’t want Jarshan to think that he was uninterested in what was wrong with her or that what was going on in the North was the only thing in his head.

D’ero thought about getting up to change but quickly decided that he didn’t feel like being that far away from Jarshan. He settled for loosening his grip on her and pulling off what riding leathers he could before he returned to almost clinging to Jarshan. It was a manly sort of clinging though, mostly just making sure that she couldn’t get away from him. He clearly did not feel like being alone right now.

[Marnark]

Jarshan tilted her head to one side as she listened to his very brief recount of his trip to Keroon. And then just as silently as he mentioned his home. Abandoned and empty. Mayhap that was why he was back? No one left to find, guard, protect. "Those who get hit by thread don't leave much to be buried." Jarshan pointed out gently. "I am sad to hear that your family was missing." She returned his squeeze in kind, knowing that D'ero was definitely the type to be bothered by that loss. As cold as she could sometimes be, she couldn't be that cold ... especially not to D'ero. She wanted to comfort him, even though she knew that she could not.

But ... what had brought her here? Jarshan didn't answer at first. Finally, she shrugged slightly and leaned into him after he'd finished shedding some of his heavier garments. "I honestly didn't think I'd ever see you again. I thought you were going North to stay." She admitted. "After I finished with today's activities, I just ... found myself here. I was about to leave again when you turned up." That aside, she was glad that he was back. Even if it was a very selfish thing. She was glad he was back, and very glad that he was here, and so willing to sit here and hold her.

She liked this. Being in his arms, feeling the warmth of him against her. Knowing that he was there when just so recently he hadn't been. When just so recently she'd believed he never would be again. Sometimes it distressed her greatly to realize how close she'd gotten to D'ero. The weaknesses that he brought out in her. But other times she was just .... content. Content to feel needed, wanted, loved. She didn't want to give that up, despite all the reasons why it could, should be wrong.

With more activity going on in the room, Naraja padded in from the doorway all the way past the two and out onto the ledge. Stretching out there on the sun-warmed rock, the great feline perked her whiskers as she watched all the miniature-looking people scurry back and forth. Occasionally she batted a paw at what she saw in a slow scooping motion. Clearly understanding it was all out of reach, but also unable to resist the urge.

Jarshan watched the feline for a moment before looking up at D'ero. "Will you be going back again, to locate your folks?" It was a reasonable assumption to make, after all. He didn't know they were dead for sure. Any sane person would.

[Ise]

“No, which means that whoever died must have died before Threadfall started. I doubt anyone would risk digging a grave when they didn’t know when Thread might come again. And so far I’m hoping they’re only missing. Keroon was full of refugees, I’m hoping maybe they’re there.”
He leaned against Jarshan, she wasn’t his family but having her here was comforting.

The brown rider blinked with confusion. Stay? Why would he stay in the North? He could understand staying there for a few days but for good? The thought had never even crossed his mind. He pulled back from her slightly, trying to tell if she was actually serious about that. Shaking his head a little, D’ero leaned in, dipping Jarshan back as he gave her a long kiss.
“This is my home.”
He bit his lip, thinking of saying more before he settled for just holding her tighter. It wasn’t the Weyr that he thought of as home, the Weyr was just a thing of stone. It was Jarshan that made the place special to him.

D’ero watched Naraja cross his weyr and make herself comfortable on Horuth’s ledge. He gave his dragon a little warning about the feline being there and watched her try to go after the miniature people and dragons that were far out of her reach.
“If A’lez takes me North again then I’ll keep looking around for them. But I’ll always come back here. And you’ll always be the first person I look for.
He feared he was going to get too sappy for her taste if he kept talking. So he settled instead for giving her another kiss.

[Marnark]

Jarshan had no idea what a Hold in the North was like. She'd heard the old stories of course, but that was never anything to be taken seriously. If they were anything like Southern Holds (though she imagined they were a lot stuffier if they were really and truly semi underground and in rock - Southern Holds tended to be airy with lots of windows, it was too hot to have them any other way), and packed with refugees as well, she could only imagine the tall order that it was to find anyone in that.

Getting a kiss wasn't something Jarshan had been looking for, much less one of that caliber. Surprised but pleasantly so, she couldn't help but return the gesture. To hear him say that this was his home, with such sincerity was an even more surprising treat. Jarshan couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face.

"If he takes you North again ... given that he's done it once, I don't see why he wouldn't." Jarshan pointed out. "Maybe I'll go with you, see if I can't find your wayward kin for you." Though she'd have to use something a lot gentler than her usual methods of information-extraction ... But if D'ero was going to keep coming back after his forays into the North, she was willing to help. She didn't have a blind eye to family ... family had helped her get where she was today.

When D'ero came down for the second kiss, Jarshan was a bit more prepared for it. With her foot braced on the edge of the bed it was quite easy for her to rise to meet him. Once she locked lips with him she twisted around and shoved him back and down onto his own furs as she settled atop him. A little bit of settling comfortably, and she stilled as she smiled down at him. Reaching up she ran her fingers through his hair. "How come I keep getting the feeling you keep getting on the verge of saying something, and then don't?"

[Ise]

“While I hope that A’lez will continue to include me on the trips North, I try not to assume too much. But I hope you’ll be able to come with us sooner or later. Though I wish you could see the North when it wasn’t being ravaged by Thread. Things were prettier then. Or at least less dead looking.”
Seeing his home destroyed by Thread was depressing but it was still something he wanted to show Jarshan. And if she thought she could help look for the rest of his family, that only made the thought more tempting.
“And I’d appreciate any extra eyes and ears looking for my family. Thank you.”
Even if she never did get the chance to go with them, just the offer to help him meant a lot.

D’ero was only half surprised when Jarshan flipped him down onto his bed. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist as she made herself comfortable on him. Blah of course she would have noticed that he kept almost saying things.
“Because you’re observant and I keep almost saying something and then stopping myself. I’m trying not to get too sappy on you right now. I need a harper or someone with better word skills to tell me what to say before I get too sentimental on you.”
He chuckled a bit, trying to make light of the situation. It wasn’t anything vital that he was keeping quiet on, just sentimental emotional stuff that neither were all that good with.

“Maybe I’ll tell you later. Or just forget about it. Going North was nice but I’m just glad that I can come back here and have time with you. You are much prettier then anyone in the North, and far more fun to be around.”
D’ero grinned a bit and shook his head as Jarshan played with his hair.
“I should just stop talking for the night, otherwise I’m just going to keep blathering on about you. And sooner or later you’ll either get tired of hearing it or I’ll say something dumb.”

[Marnark]

Jarshan was quiet a moment, and then shrugged. "You and I could always go anyway, the rest of the Weyr aside. It's not like you haven't been there already. You know the way, you led them there. Did you not?" She pointed out, choosing to ignore the political ramifications a move like that might have. She never really had been one for politics or playing nice. She always had done what she sharding well pleased, and that was that thank you very much. No one really got in her way.

A smile spread across her face as his arms settled around her. It was a feeling she liked, that one. But then, D'ero was talented at generating feelings that she liked. It was unnatural ... and part of why he'd managed to successfully get her attention the way he had despite all her initial unexpressed protests to the contrary. Resting her forehead against his, Jarshan contemplated his eyes for a moment as she chewed over what he'd said.

Sentimental she could understand. He was unusually so for a male. Sentimental was also something she wasn't, particular, despite being female. It was interesting to note that he had not only noticed that, but tried to accommodate for it. But yet ... the statement also had her curious. What was he busting at the seams to say but felt he shouldn't? One thing she did have in spades was a massive curiosity bone. "You could always just try the no-nonsense, straight-forward method, and just come out and say whatever the shells is bugging you." She offered. Now that she knew there was something there, she was going to scratch at it until she figured it out. It was too itchy a thing to not get scratched!

His statements about her being prettier or more fun earned him a pft, however. "You're biased, that's all. No one else would think of such a thing, much less say it." But ... despite her obligatory protest to such a statement, it still earned a smile out of her. He was just too good at the whole making her feel good about being around him. It was like she was getting addicted to a potent drug, when it came to him.

Jarshan laughed at his self proclamation at the possibility of saying something dumb, and kissed him after he stopped flapping his jaw. "Maybe." She answered obliquely. "Or maybe I can find something for you to do, since you're back so conveniently."

[Ise]

"I'd run away with you to the North in a heartbeat if I could. Not that you would want to stay there for very long. But I'd rather not piss off the Weyrleader when he's trusted me this much. If he decides to stop taking me then... well I'll come up with some other idea. That you'll probably shoot down for not being planned out well enough."
Ah Jarshan was great for that, she could rip an idea to shreds and give him half a dozen ideas on why it wouldn't work and how he could make it better.

D’ero chuckled a little and shook his head when Jarshan told him to just spit out what he was keeping bottled up.
“Nothing is bugging me. I’m just being a silly Northern. Maaaybe I’ll tell you later. Maybe. Unless I forget of course.”
He could not hide the devilish little grin that rose to his lips. Ohh he knew this was just going to annoy her now. Just the hint of some kind of secret would bother Jarshan until she found out what it was. And that only made it more fun to keep to himself.

“I’m sure there are plenty of others who think you’re beautiful. They’re just too scared to say it. You’d probably punch them for saying something like that. And I might get just a little jealous if other people are trying to woo you.”
He wasn’t worried about anyone actually trying to do that. He was fairly sure Jarshan would make it clear she wasn’t interested. And if she didn’t, well he was getting some training from her and in most cases his size was enough to scare other people off.

The brown rider returned the kiss and let out a happy little sigh. It was nice being able to come back to the Weyr and find Jarshan so easily. Especially since she seemed so happy to see him back.
“I’m open to any ideas you have. I have a few ideas of my own but I’m sure you can guess what they are.”

[Marnark]

Jarshan pulled a very strange face at D'ero. "I didn't say move there. I said go look for your folks. I wouldn't move to the North anyway." She pointed out. "I doubt it would take us long to find them. People really aren't that hard to track down, so long as you have a basic description that goes beyond two arms, two legs and maybe a head to go by. Having a name to attach to said body usually helps great loads too. People love to talk, it's listening that's a learned trick. A lot of things get said and most people don't even realize." Jarshan nodded a little before her thoughts started to run down a different track.

She just gave him a look when he insisted that he wasn't thinking anything to be spitting out. Then she shrugged it off with little concern. "Okay." came the nonchalant answer. She knew he'd been thinking something, if he hadn't her ability to read him was wayyyy off, and would need remedying. Otherwise ... she suspected he had already forgot what it was and was now bluffing hard to cover his ass for it. Either way it apparently wasn't very important. If it had been, he either would have said it, or wouldn't have forgot it. "Being a silly Northern lad is a default state for you it seems." She remarked in such a deadpan fashion that it could only be teasing. For if she had been meaning it to insult, it would have been quite obvious ... beyond the fact that she wasn't usually given to insulting D'ero anymore. Just teasing him mercilessly.

"Punch them?" Jarshan repeated thoughtfully. "Hm. I dunno about that. I tend to be a bit more creative than raw force, usually." She marched her fingers up his throat a few beats before removing her hand. "I admit there have been a few, here and there. I still find it funny that you'd be jealous." From a purely animalistic point of view she could understand it completely of course. Which she supposed was the base force that drove most human beings, even if they claimed to being part of a higher set than animals. The same instincts drove them to do pretty much the same things. The only difference, that she could tell, was that people got bored. That was when they did things that weren't instinct driven.

But selecting a potential mate? That was pure instinct, every time. Even if some people's instincts were crosswired (like some greenriders about the place), it still functioned.

Jarshan took a split second to decide what to do with such a statement as D'ero had just laid upon her ears. She could take this one of two ways, and she was just as inclined to do both. It was quite a toss up really, so she opted for the one that she knew he didn't mean. Just to make him squirm. She sometimes got altogether too much enjoyment out of making him squirm. "Really? You're thinking so too? Alright. Hop to, then. I'll go get the dirks." Jarshan agreed before moving to get off of him and go find the wooden sparring equipment she'd been more or less beating him black and blue with over the last few weeks.