Painful Awakenings (Nayza)

[HG]

He was enveloped in a shroud of never ending blackness. He heard nothing, saw nothing and felt nothing. Pain was not an issue at all. Not until he saw light and then the shattering realities that came with it. He had bled profusely so much so that he had lost consciousness. He might have died except the Healers here were trained to deal with dragon wounds. When he had had some more numbweed salve applied to his thigh, he felt an instant relief of the pain. His brown eyes grew wider and a sigh of relief escaped his dry, chapped lips. He turned his head to the right and saw no one. He turned his head to the left and there was Nayza.

Rhodri tried to sit up but his healer, pushed him back down and shook his head no. Apparently he needed to rest more. Well, he would rest for a while but as soon as they were not watching he was going to get a closer look at his childhood friend. Thank the Golden Egg she was alive at least. He began to fall asleep again, drifting in and out of dreams until he woke up, the room was dark, some still warm food lay beside him on a tray. At the smell he sat up a little and began to eat some of what was brought to him. He never remembered being that hungry in his entire life.

When he was sure no one was there, they had gone to the Feast, he sat up more and scooted to the edge of his bed. Then he put weight on the legs. He nearly doubled over in pain. Keeping his mouth shut was excruciatingly hard but it had to be done. Looked like he was going to have to limp over to her to save the thigh any undo amounts of pain. He shuffle limped to her bed. Looking down on her, he gently nudged her arm. They hadn’t left her food. Maybe she had not been conscious yet. He would never forgive himself if she died or worse was left crippled and unable to cope with the reality she would never be able to ride.

No he could not live with himself if something like that was going to happen. He would have to go home and give up this dream of riding because he would feel horrible riding a dragon when she was unable to. Nudging her a second time, he whispered, “Nayza. Nayza. Wake up.” Please, wake up!

[♥Rizu-Chan♥]

Nayzarette
Northerner Candidate

Blinding lights, blurry motions and muffled voices. The faint sting of pain constantly jabbing her off in the distance was present as well, but it was all so jumbled up and confusing.

Then complete darkness, only to be followed once again by the same confusing parade of before.

The cycle had repeated itself a couple of times, the young wounded candidate drifting in and out of consciousness as the Healers worked on healing her wound; she had been very lucky the claws had missed her lungs, saved only by the scratched yet somehow unbroken collar bone. More than that it had been her quick reaction what had avoided it broke, having attempted to shove the Queen off from her and thus spared it from some of the direct weight.

Her arm too wasn’t in as bad of a condition as they had first feared. While the gushes had been lung they had, fortunately, not been deep enough to cause permanent damage. So long as the girl did not exert them and took proper care her right arm would heal correctly—all scarring aside of course. No, what had almost killed her had been the huge amount of blood lost; had they been a tiny bit slower in getting her to the Infirmary from the cavern’s sands there was no doubt she might have not pulled through at all.

She was lucky to be alive, and still breathing, even if she didn’t realized it yet.

Only when they had been sure the girl was stable enough to not die had the Healers given her a generous dose of fellis juice; now that they had managed to stabilize her they would need to work on closing all those wounds—a patient that wasn’t jerking and moving around without consciously realizing it was preferred to avoid any mistakes on both their parts. This was why she was still fast asleep while Rhodri had woken up later in the evening; and why no food had been left besides the girl. The nurses had expected her to sleep the night away.

”Naaay... zaaa... ”

She could barely make heads of tails of the distant voice calling out, invading the peaceful darkness she was currently wrapped around. Part of her wanted to ignore it, to remain in that peaceful state longer; but it was the faint familiarity of the voice that sparked the tiniest of curiosity. Eager to understand why it was so familiar her subconscious begun to stir, finally managing to wake up her consciousness in the process.

”Nayza.”

That was... yes, that was her name. Someone was calling out her name. A familiar voice, a voice she knew so well. She could feel something brush up against her left side, bumping into her softly; nudging her arm carefully and pulling her mind into awareness.

”Wake up.”
”R-rhodriii..?”

She blinked a few times, her eyes trying to adjust to the darkness of the room as well as to make heads and tails of her mind. She felt so dizzy, everything was a mess in her memories still, and for a moment Nayzarette wasn’t even sure of where she was and why. It wasn’t until the girl stirred, attempting to move her right arm to shift herself into an upright position in her bed, that the pitches of squeals got caught up in her throat.

By Faranth’s golden egg shell, that had sharding hurt!

Finally remembering why she was in the Infirmary the brunette mumbled some inaudible curse or another as her brain did the favor if finally filling the blank spots. She had been mauled on the sands by the newest gold, though the newborn dragonet was certainly not to be blamed; it had all just been a simple accident. Still, shards, her arm and shoulder hurt so badly; she almost swore they had been set ablaze right there and then for a couple of moments. Finally however the muscles seemed to relax once more, the sudden intense pain dwindling down to a more bearable reminder in the back of her mind as the leftover fellis still in her system did its work.

”Sorry Rhodri.”

She had made him worry, shards she’d probably had spooked him to death she was sure. The look in his eyes told everything even if he had yet to say a word, and the brunette swallowed in guilt at the thought. He too had been injured in the sands; she he shouldn’t have had to deal with this at the same time. It should be her looking after him now, making sure he was alright and had anything he needed, not injured Rhodri having to look after her as if she was a child.

Shards and tunnelsnakes, she was such a horrible friend to put him through all this.

[HG]

“Thank Faranth’s Golden Egg.” Was the response to his name as he let relief fill his soul and body to the core. “You are conscious, finally. If you didn’t wake up I’m not sure what would have happened.” Although he had a pretty good idea; People who didn’t wake up could not eat or drink and therefore died. The finality of death was no longer a complete enigma. He knew what it looked like to be near death, now that he had seen it. But she was not dead and would not die any time soon, not while he was around to keep her from such a horrible fate.

“Why should you be sorry? I’m the one who said we’d be fine and that we would Impress this time around.” He admonished while taking her hand in his own to reassure her. Besides he had not been all that successful in avoiding damages himself. Rhodri had to admit, being thrown from a runner was nothing like being mauled by a dragon. He’d take the one over the other any day.

He was not crying or acting upset. Instead calm had come over him and washed away all the panic and fear. He was watching her as she came to grips with what had happened. She was relaxing slowly though whether it was from the medication or her realization of what was going on around her sinking in, he was unsure. “Are you in much pain?” Rhodri’s question would hopefully illicit an honest answer. He didn’t want her to pretend to be strong for his sake. Shells, he was in more pain than he thought he would be and she had been dealt a much worse injury.

Looking down at his bandaged thigh for just a moment, he realized he would have to go back to his own cot soon. He could feel the stitching coming loose from his moving and putting weight on the leg. “We can talk for a while if you are up for it but I better get back to my cot. I wouldn’t want the healers to come in and catch me like this.” They were already going to be aware that he had moved around more than he should have because of the stitches.

[♥Rizu-Chan♥]

Nayzarette
Northerner Candidate

”Oh come now, you know I’m tougher than that. It takes more than a newly hatched Queen to drag me down, Rhodri!”The tones of her words were said in jest and light humor, trying to turn a bad situation into something slightly funny so as not to end up with too much of a sour memory in the future. To his inquiry about her apology the girl shook her head slightly. ”Maybe so Rhodri, but I was the one that always dreamed of dragons. I’m the one that convinced you to go through with all of this when we got the chance to be Searched.”

She couldn’t help it, she felt responsible for it all. And shards, how many time had they been told to be careful, that newborns could be clumsy and therefore cause injuries, sometimes even lethal, due to a simple stumble. She should have really known better and Nayza herself knew it; she would not be letting herself out of this easy.

“Are you in much pain?”
”Honestly I want to say I’ve been worst – but really no runner fall ever hurt this much. But I’m okay Rhodri, I swear. What about you, your leg feeling alright?”

Just like he knew he needed to get back to his cot for proper rest Nayzarette could also come to the same conclusion, smiling to her friend before she pointed in the direction of the cot not far away. ”We can speak, yes, I would love that; but only if you go back there and rest too. I will not have you ending up with an improperly healed thigh because you were keeping me company. Besides, we’re not far away and the others are gone for the feast probably – I doubt they will mind loud voices in the Infirmary this time.”

[HG]

He really wanted to chuckle with her on the matter but he found that his mirth left for a while when he realized how close both of them had come to death. He was not worried about it now though. She was awake and not in copious amounts of pain or she wouldn’t be able to stand talking to him at this moment. “Who said I needed much convincing? My life was prearranged back home. Here I’m free to choose my own life. Why would you think you made up my mind for me?” He had a mind of his own after all and he was more than capable of making life altering decisions for himself, even if he balked at the big changes in life. Even if he thought she needed a chaperone that alone would not have been enough for him to leave his entire life behind to come here where his future was a mystery.

Rhodri’s reaction probably was not what she was expecting. He could not allow her to go on thinking his injuries were his fault. They were not. They were his own fault. He chose to Stand, he chose to believe the dragonet was coming towards him when it was obvious to almost everyone else he was Impressing to someone behind Rhodri. Dragonets were clumsy and next time he would be much better prepared to get out of the way. He considered his injuries a minor setback. He’d be riding runners again in no time. Soon after that he would be healthy enough to Stand for the next clutch and there he could very well Impress to his life-mate.

“It is quite painful but nothing that cannot be managed. Sometime resting it and then gradually working up to walking normally, then riding runners… I’ll be in ship shape in no time at all. You are the one who took the beating out there.” He said as he shuffle-limped back to his empty cot. Using his arms to pull his butt onto the cot, he then grabbed his legs and pulled them up together onto the bed. The pain caused him to wince bit not to cry or scream out.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight.” He said, as he pulled the coarse blanket up to his shoulders. “I hope the others are enjoying the Feast.” Although he was perplexed by the dragonet’s choices, he knew better than to question them even if he was from the North. He had learned well that a dragon always knows who his rider is. “I wonder which Queen will rise next…” Which led to thoughts of clutch sizes and opportunities to become a rider, which had become more and more appealing to him since his arrival at the Weyr.

[♥Rizu-Chan♥]

Nayzarette
Northerner Candidate

”Well I do remember a certain grumpy somebody that’s never liked change much... Here I almost thought you liked prearranged things Rhodri.” Her words were playful and teasing, those of a lifetime friend looking to playfully jab their best friend softly on the side. Not too soft so they noticed, but not too hard to make them uncomfortable or angry. ”I am glad you’re here with me though—well, not here here of course...”

She listened as he spoke about his own injury, catching the faint wince as he shifted his legs back on the bed, but Nayza knew better than to comment about it. And he was right, he’d be up and about in no time soon enough; and so would she as well. This was just another lesson in life for them to grow and become stronger and better from it.

”You’d think they’d left us some fellis laced drinks or something lying around in case we woke up, huh? Guess even the healers must have been pretty excited about this Hatching.”

It was odd really, while spirits had also been high during and after Issarith’s clutch the Northerner was almost sure ti hadn’t been quite as... energetic as this time around. She couldn’t put her finger on it as to why, but for some reason it felt as if a large part of the Weyr as a whole seemed even more excited about this Hatching than the last. She wondered in they would feel even more excited for the next, and which of the three Queens would rise then.

A faint smile touched her lips at the thought of the ruling female dragons of Pern, and in no way did Nayza fault young Kiiroth for her injuries. Neither did the experience made her feel more wary of them but the full opposite, for some strange reason she felt even more attracted to those golden beauties than before.

Really, maybe she was a masochist or something. A silent mental chuckle escaped her at that thought; she always did enjoy challenges, and impressing a Gold seemed like the ultimate challenge of a lifetime.

[HG]

Rhodri thought back to the day they were Searched together. He had been so unready to leave for the Beastcrafthall. Being a Journeyman meant travelling away from your family. Now he was farther from home than he had ever dreamed to be and he found that it was not has horrible as he had assumed. “Yeah, who would have guessed we would end up at the Weyr. I miss the things I knew I would but I don’t feel like missing them is enough to keep me there.” He smiled at her, “I’m glad too. I think it makes the place less daunting.” He agreed.

His own thoughts were that they would both be Standing again soon. When that happened there would be no reason they would not be prepared this time. It would take Nayza longer. “Too bad we cannot be there to enjoy the good food. Why is the infirmary food always so stale and unpalatable?” He asked but the question was more rhetorical. Rhodri laughed, “Oh I doubt a single one of them had a thought for anything but having some fun. You should have heard the chatter.” Some of the women here were so promiscuous and had no trouble talking about men the way men talked about women back home. It was strange hearing it from the other side. The culture shock at the Weyr would be something he was sure would take him longer to get used to than Nayza.

He turned his head to look over at his friend, she had a smile on her face which intrigued him. His curiousity piqued he watched her as she lost herself in her own thoughts. Whatever it was she was thinking it had to be pleasant. Rhodri was not someone who had to constantly talk to people. He saw enough from body language to know she was happy in her thoughts. He had plenty to occupy his mind. His failure for one although he would not allow his inability to Impress ruin his future. The dragons might not want him but he did have a place here.

There were a couple runners he was training that were going to have to go back to square one with the break he would have to take. It kind of sucked in that way. He did not like to interrupt training and he hated when other people tried to train for him. He preferred his way. There was one filly in particular that he was growing fond of. He hoped the others wouldn’t lay one finger on her. She was going to be something if he had a say in things. He was only an apprentice still, though he really did not mind being an apprentice. He did mind when people did not listen to what he was saying and did things their way.

Another look at Nayza and he had to ask, “What are you thinking about that has you smiling like that?”