Promises to keep (Smara

[Marnark]

It had been about six days since Prontin had hurt her ankle in the hallway, falling over that canine. Six days of being stuck on her rump was a long time ... made longer by her being in her dark prison. Her world was only as big as she could reach with her hands. But he couldn't really justify going to bother her sooner than that either.

Not only was he having greater difficulty than he'd anticipated just to find the spare time he needed, but well ... barring the fact that he was a Healer and she was wounded ... it was kind of awkward for any fellow to go bothering any gal. He needed to give her time to heal before he could write it off as a Healer visit. Especially since it wasn't exactly a life threatening injury that had her in critical condition.

And... he had to keep reminding himself he was going to keep her mentally healthy while her physical healed. Not because ... of ... other things he couldn't explain. Sharding dragon made things so awkward.

But today, it was morning yet, and he was finally on his way. In yet another bag was a fresh supply of salves for her ankle as well as a supply of soft cloths to wrap it with. Coming up to the door he'd seen her too after she had finished sitting outside six days ago, he knocked on it. Firm enough to be clearly heard inside, but not so hard as to sound like he was knocking the door down pounding on it.

Flitting around him, Imp snapped between to reappear on the other side. Trilling a greeting chirp, he twirled around the room before finding a spot to land atop the most handy surface.

[Lady Smara]

Her days had begun to blend together without being able to walk along her normal routine in the Lower Caverns. Time marked by her being moved the short distance from her own small room to the similarly small living area provided for the resident Harper and his family. Her mother did her best to bring her meals throughout the day, but often times she became busy and the food that was brought was cold by the time it got to her.

Even so, Prontin was determined to keep herself busy and her mind occupied. As it was, her mind had certainly stayed occupied, though not on the topic she had originally hoped for. The large rider, R’gar, seemed to be constantly on her mind as she drew the bow across the strings of her violin. At first she had done good to practice the songs she knew by heart, but soon her music began to wander. Her father had commented once, asking if she was making a new song. Prontin would simply shrug her shoulders and respond that she didn’t know yet.

The feel of his warm body was still somehow fresh in her mind, painted by the smell of the dragon oil and the infirmary. Even his voice added depth to the picture she was drawing of him in her head. It was that deep voice she focused on now as she let the bow bounce in short, low notes. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture him in the sunlight as her music played, a light flutter of notes as she imagined little Imp in the picture as well.

Lost in her music, she nearly missed the knock at the door. Pausing with her violin and bow poised in playing position, she listened for a moment trying to verify that she had heard anything at all. With her mother currently in the kitchens and her father busy with a class, she was alone in the room. It was the trilling of a flit, however, that broke the silence and brought a smile to her lips.

“Imp?” she asked tenitivly, finally bring down her violin and bow. Deciding that if the flit was in the room, she should empty her hands in case he chose to land on her – she would be devastated if he accidentally harmed the strings of her instrument. Taking great care to set both pieces down on a small table next to her chair, she turned back toward the flit and the door.

[Marnark]

Imp bounced across the table, all four feet hitting at once for every jump. Bonk-bonk-bonk. Patter-patter. Scooting around the instrument that she was setting down on the table so very carefully, Imp leaned out past the edge of the table and butted his head against the backside of one of those hands that were being so careful. A chirp and a trill, and Imp bounced down into her lap.

Skirts were such bothersome things. Made laps look bigger than they really were, and a whole lot smoother. The nice thing about skirts was they prevented overeager flitters from tumbling all the way to the floor when the cloth proved to not be supported after all. Picking himself up from the heap he'd managed to make of himself, Imp trilled again.

That was his name! That was his name!! Imp bounced his snout off of her stomach a few times, wings flaring slightly as he tried to stay balanced. He was hoping she had a treat or something, even though he hadn't known her to have a treat before. Sometimes he was lucky~~

Outside the door, R'gar waited, listening. He was not as good at that as Prontin was, naturally, but surely there would be something to hear if someone had been in there when he'd knocked. But there was no answer that he could detect. Maybe she wasn't in there? Maybe someone else had helped her out to somewhere. While that was an entirely good thing, it left him at something of an awkward loss to what to do with himself now. Leave the bag by the door? Go hunt her down? He wasn't sure.

No. Leaving the bag by the door was a bad idea. She'd never see it, and if it was left in the doorway she may well trip over it and break the other ankle. It would just have to wait until he could actually give the medicines to her.

Having heard no answer, he decided that she wasn't in there after all. She had said something about her father being a Harper ... the Weyrharper, if he recalled correctly. Maybe the fellow had moved her somewhere. Morning was clearly a bad time to do this. He would try again later, in the evening maybe. But not so late that everyone would be asleep ...

Shardit, he should have asked what was a good time. Not that he'd told her that he was going to be coming by either. He hadn't wanted to build any anticipation of getting out if he had actually managed to completely fail in getting time to move her out of the room.

And she had no dragon to have Apolloth bespeak. Not that he wanted to drag the brown lout in on this. He was much more at ease knowing that the dragon's attention was currently elsewhere and not goading him about something.

[Lady Smara]

Listening to the little flit move across the wooden table toward her, she held still until she felt the bump of his head against her hand. Smiling, she went to pet him only to find his plan was to jump into her lap. Scrambling in attempts to catch the flit she could not see, she managed to bring him back up to her legs where he began bumping against her stomach. It tickled and she laughed, both hands caressing the eager little flit.

“Calm down Imp.” She said with a smile as she continued to caress him with both hands. That smile faded, however, when she realized that imp was in the room with her alone. It seemed strange that the flit would come to visit her without R’gar – after all, didn’t most fire lizards tend to stay with their owners?

“Hello?” she called out, a little louder this time. When no answer came, she frowned deeper and gently picked up the fire lizard and set him back on the table. “Is R’gar outside, Imp?” she asked, more to herself than actually to the fire lizard. Moving carefully, she gingerly stood on her good foot, holding her other lightly off the ground.

Both hands on the table that lined the wall between her chair and the door, she took the two hops it took to make it to the door handle with great care, her hands never leaving the wood of the table. Reaching out, she let her fingers slide across the stone until one hand came to rest on the door handle. Trying not to catch herself off balance, she carefully opened it a little bit. “Hello?” she asked, her voice a little softer this time, but no wood barred the sound of her voice.

[Marnark]

R'gar was about to walk away again when he heard something from inside. He wasn't sure what he was hearing ... maybe it was only Imp crashing around. He hated that Imp would do things like intrude on people's spaces like that ... and he couldn't even in good conscience go get the beast. For a moment he hesitated, listening.

But there was nothing. Maybe he had imagined it?

Imp trotted down the length of the table that Prontin was hopping her way down. Every time she stopped or paused, he hurried over and rubbed his head on her wrists. Maybe it would be interpreted as encouraging the girl that it was all good, she was doing fine, but he was really just being a greedy little runt. If she wasn't going to pet him, he was going to pet him for her!

R'gar had just turned to go ahead and leave when the door cracked open. Surprised, he turned back. "Hello, Prontin." He greeted. Something else almost fell out of his mouth but he managed to stop it.

She was on her feet ... answering the door. She shouldn't be on her feet, but he had knocked on it, prompting her to do just that. So ... he opted to not point out that she shouldn't be standing. At least she didn't appear to be putting any weight on that ankle.

"I brought you some more salve." R'gar said, instead. "And ... something else too." Behind her, Imp cheeped and leapt into flight again, doing crazy circles just over head height inside the room. Clearly, he was excited about something, and couldn't calm down.

[Lady Smara]

Prontin had found Imp rather encouraging with his antics and she had a wide smile on her face by the time she had reached the door. Barely keeping in her mirth at the little thing, she had pulled open the door and at R’gar’s answer, she found her head tilting upwards in attempt to look at his face where his deep voice was coming from. She recognized it instantly and was glad to find Imp was not without supervision. She wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to return him and stay off her foot. Hopping from her chair to the door was one thing – across the Weyr would not have worked.

“Hello Rider R’gar.” Turning back to the table she still held with one hand, she took hold of it with both and hopped two steps back from the door so he had room. “You can come in.” It took a moment for his other words to register.

“And something else?” she repeated, her own curiosity getting the better of her. Taking the time to finish getting back to her seat, she sat back down next to her violin. “I do need more salve, but you didn’t need to bring me anything else.” Prontin was not use to people beyond her parents bringing her anything and even then it was usually just a plate of food at meal times so she didn’t burn herself trying to get it alone.

Feeling the wind from Imp’s wing’s up above, she put a protective hand on her violin even as she turned her face upwards. Her smile faultered a moment as she struggled to understand what the creature might be up to above her. “What… What’s going on?” she asked, uncertainty clearly heard in her voice with a hesitation of fear.

[Marnark]

R'gar stepped in through the door as she backed away and invited him in. But he didn't go much farther than a few steps inside the door. Opening the bag he carried, he lifted out the pair of jars and set them on the table's surface, a substantial distance from the edge to prevent them from getting accidentally knocked to the floor.

He looked over at her as she started getting worried, and asked what was going on. "It's just Imp being a twerp." R'gar reassured her, swatting at the flitter on his next pass by where R'gar was standing. The blow never landed, as Imp merely popped between. Where he went, was anyone's guess. But R'gar was pretty sure he'd be back soon.

"Well ... I figured this was better than the alternative actually." R'gar said, lifting the last item from the bag and stepping toward where she was guarding her instrument. He had known that she was the daughter of a Harper - she'd said as much. So it didn't surprise him to see an instrument in the room. But the way she was guarding it struck him as more possessive-protective than simply protective. For a moment he wondered if she could play it too. But that was something for a later moment. "Here." He lifted one of her hands from the instrument-guarding and placed the item in it.

It was a small wooden carving of a runner. Only he'd whittled the mane and tail off of it and replaced it with actual mane hairs glued into holes bored into the wood itself. "Do you know what this is a representation of?" he asked.

[Lady Smara]

The sudden stillness in the air confused her, but it also allowed her to focus on what R’gar was doing. Listening to him rustle around some sort of material, she felt his hand take hers and she let him guide it to the wooden figure he placed there. While she could feel that it was wood, it was also smooth with no chance of slivers being caught in her skin from caressing it.
Feeling the shape of it carefully, she found the hair that had been glued into the holes and she played with the texture of them as well. It was easy to tell it was not human hair like her own, but it was also not the hair from the canines or small tunnel felines people have let her pet before. Frowning, she brought it up to her nose to sniff the item before shaking her head in answer.
“No…” she said carefully, her fingers still feeling the neck of the creature and the shape of its head. “It is a creature… with four legs and a long head, but it’s not shaped like Imp, so it is not a firelizard or a dragon… I think.” She had heard, after all, that the fire lizards were miniature replicas of the giants she lived with all her life and have never seen.
“And the hair doesn’t feel like a canine’s.” she finally added, her fingers again wandering to the tail and mane that had been glued to the doll.



((Sorry I've let myself fall out of practice again darlin...))

[Marnark]

It was interesting, very interesting, to watch her features change as she fingered the object. Going over it and going over it again. Exploring the item with her fingers. R'nar realized that it probably wasn't exactly a decent thing, to be so fascinated by someone so handicapped. But he couldn't help it. The healer in him was not only curious, but fascinated to see how she compensated for it and functioned despite it.

It didn't surprise him one bit when she confessed to not knowing what it was. She was so terribly sheltered... no wonder no one had let her any where near a Runner before. "It's a wooden representation of a Runner." He supplied. "Mammalian, and furred all over. The long hairy bits are the mane and tail, it's a different kind of hair from the fur." R'nar let her finger it for a few more moments, before lifting it from her curious fingers and setting it down on the table. "I have a real one just outside if you want to meet it." He offered, taking one of her hands in an offer to guide her there.

Imp reappeared again with a cold snap of air that followed him from between, fluttering to a landing on R'nar's shoulder. Offering a timid coo, he nuzzled R'nar's ear with his snout. Maybe placating the man would allow him to stay? Yes yes?!

[Lady Smara]

“I’ve heard of Runners.” She said carefully as he took the wooden runner from her fingers. “But I was not aware of what they looked like. People ride them like dragons… but it does not have any wings?” Finding her long fingers caught up in his large, calloused hand, she stood and accepted the offer to guide her.

“The runner… is it friendly?” she asked, finding herself excited and a little intimidated at the same time. Having never met one up until now, she was not sure what to expect. Many of the canines and felines in the lower caverns were friendly to a point, but often times they seemed to decide she had done something wrong or they would grow uneasy around her. If a runner was large enough to ride on, she imagined it would need to be far larger than the little doll she had held – maybe even as large as R’gar or larger. That thought in itself gave the blind woman a reason to be a little intimidated.

Even through the intimidation, however, she was still excited. The child that never got to explore the world bounced inside her chest.

Feeling the cold air that came with the little flit from between, Prontin held still and fought the urge to lift her hands above her face to protect herself. Someday she might get use to the little creature seemingly popping in and out of existence in her little world, but for the moment she hoped desperately that the creature was not about to hit her. Listening as his wings settled and the creature coo’ed, she relaxed a little bit.

[Marnark]

R'nar almost nodded, before he remembered himself. She couldn't see a nod, it was a useless gesture. "They are similar to the crude representation I showed you, yes. But no, they don't have wings. They are ground transport only. Or muscle, as the case might be. Some of them are used to pull things around. They're so much stronger than we are, after all." He told her, matteroffact, not realizing that she had no idea how big the various types of runner were. "But mostly people don't ride the draftrunners. Only the lighter, smaller ones. The drafts are a bit, well ... they're not graceful, and it's a long ways to fall." Some of that was irrelevant, but oh well. It was something to say.

He could tell she was excited, but not whether it was a good excited or not. "It is, actually. I found the friendliest runner I could get my hands on for you. I figured you'd want to touch it all over, so I made sure it was completely okay with being fondled everywhere." R'nar assured her, resting one hand on Imp to try and still him. Whether she was apprehensive about the runner or not, she was worried about the flitter. "It's alright, Imp's not flying around." He assured her.

The trip to outside wasn't a terribly long one if a body knew the right tunnels to take. And he'd positioned the runner directly outside, tied to a rail that was normally used to tie teams to while wagons were unloaded into the tunnels. R'nar took her over to where the runner was, and took her hand to offer it as greeting to the animal.

A soft whuffling, and the runner rested its whiskered snout in her hand, wiggling its top lip against her palm in an interested request for a treat. R'nar stayed close, just in case. He was pretty sure this one wasn't going to spook for much of anything, but one never knew. He also wanted to be there just in case it was Prontin that spooked.

[Lady Smara]

A long ways to fall? she wanted to ask inquisitively, but found herself too fascinated by his words that she did not want to interrupt. Instead she listened carefully, finding a little reassurance in the fact that he had taken pains to find a friendly one. While some people may have normally blushed when he made the comment of her wanting to touch it all over – it seemed so natural to her she didn’t give it a second thought; because she DID want to see it in her own way of seeing.

Relaxing as much as her excited and nervous body would let her at the comment that Imp was no longer flying, she followed R’gar with only a slight limp from her foot. She was still trying to baby it and while it hurt a little still it was perfectly bearable now for which she was relieved. It would be wonderful to escape the temporary prision of her room once more – though her world would only grow to the length of the lower caverns.

There was a chance R’gar might still visit her, and maybe offer to take her outside more than just today and it was something she thought would be wonderful. So far he had been so kind to her, though she slightly feared it might be out of pity for her ankle. Would he forget about her when it was all healed? She liked to hope not, but she never let that hope grow too much – better to be prepared than disappointed. He had a life to live – and a much larger and important one than herself. He was, after all both a Healer AND a dragonrider. She couldn’t think of a more important combination.

Finding herself outside in the sun, she tipped her head toward the warmth for a moment. The moment was brief, however, as she suddenly felt a warm velvet item placed in her hand. Jumping slightly when the warm hair came out, Prontin’s sightless eyes opened wide. She was not sure what she was feeling, but the velvet moved across the palm of her hand and even as her mouth fell open at the touch, it turned upwards into a smile.

“It tickles…” she said softly, lifting her other hand to find the creature. Finding a long object covered in light furr, she slowly brought her hand down to where her other one was being caressed by the velvet. Carefully her mind painted a picture of the muzzle of the horse as she felt along each side and gently around the nostrels. “It’s… It’s so soft R’gar.” She said, the smile still wide upon her lips.

Carefully and gently she let her hands travel up its head, finding and carefully avoiding the eyes until she found its mane and ears. She played with them gently even as the runner blew the warm air into her face and lipped at her own clothing. She was too fascinated to be concerned, however, as she began to run her hands down one side of its neck. It is so big! she thought, suddenly finding her world tipping as the creature nudged her begging for a friendly treat.

[Marnark]

The look of wonder and amazement on her face was spectacular as she fondled the runner's nostrils and head. It was almost like bringing a new, fascinating toy to a young child. It was both a sad and happy experience for R'gar. Sad in that she was how old, and had never met a runner before? But happy in that he had expanded her world just that much more, today. The poor girl. A small chuckle escaped him as he rested a hand on the runner's forehead gently, offering it a small treat to keep it from shoving her around too much. "Yes, Runners are very soft. The little wooden representations just don't do them justice." He agreed, staying with her as she moved down the length of the runner slowly, keeping one big hand planted on the animal's side. It was tied, so it wasn't going to go far. But it was to both keep it from stepping sideways into her, and also to reassure it while she ran her hands all over the place. Not that it seemed to need the reassurance.

Runners were a lot like canines, after all. So long as it wasn't a spooky one, it absolutely adored attention, and it didn't matter what you were doing either. He waited and watched with infinite patience as she went over every inch of the animal with her fingers, finding everything there was to find. Hooves, chestnuts, swirling fur, mane and tail, the shape, everything was there to be found by the patient creature. When she had gone over every inch of the runner, R'gar stepped up next to her. "Hold on." he warned, before taking her by her waist and lifting her up to set her on the runner's back. Once she was up there, he guided her legs and feet to where they should ideally be on the runner's bare sides. He did not move away, aware that this was probably the very first time she had been out of contact with the ground. So he stayed right beside her, one hand on her thigh reassuring her that everything was still okay.

Though now her world was warm, furry, breathed, and moved occasionally as the runner did purely natural things like shake its head to berid itself of small flying insects. "Hold on here." R'gar suggested, guiding her hands to the mane in front of her with his free hand. "You can't pull it out, doesn't matter what you do. So hold on tight if you need to. Don't squeeze the runner with your legs, that is the command to move." he cautioned. "How do you feel?"

[Lady Smara]

Prontin had not been sure what to expect as she felt R’gar’s large hands wrap around her waist and she felt the ground leave her feet. She had let her hands come off the Runner and hold onto his lightly as she wondered what on pern he was doing with her. When she found the warm, breathing creature beneath her rump, her eyes grew wide even though she could not see.

As she sat upon the horse straddling it, her long skirt was forced to move up from her ankles to her thigh, baring her legs. The warmth and fur touching her smooth legs, was also a whole new sensation and taking his words of advice she tried her hardest to keep her legs light on the creature. She would surely fall if it moved!

Taking hold of the mane, she found that it did offer her a little bit of stabilization and reassurance along with R’gar’s hand on what little bit of her thigh was still covered. With the creature constantly making small movements beneath her, she thought it must look as if she were taking forever to find her balance. Finally she did though, and she realized from her new vantage point she could feel every movement of the creature as if it was a new extension of herself.

The turn of the Runner’s head, the shake of its mane; even the quiver it sent through its rump. She could feel each one and how the rest of its muscles responded to allow it to do each of these tasks. It was an amazing new world simply sitting on the Runner’s back.

“I feel… I feel everything.” She answered honestly and in simple awe. “I can feel it breath. I can feel it turn its head by the way his muscles move. Why does it keep sending shivers through its back? Is that because I am sitting on it? I am not hurting it here am I?” Unable to see the fly’s on the runners rump to realize it was simply shaking them off, it was reasonable to think she might be hurting the creature and while it seemed very sturdy beneath her, she did not want to harm something that was being painted to be so beautiful in her mind.

[Marnark]

She felt everything. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sounded pretty good. Helpfully, she explained a little bit, and then he realized that she was connecting to the runner through its own motions. Shards she was quick. R'gar was willing to bet that with a little practice she would be able to ride bareback all by herself anywhere she cared to go. With the runner being her eyes. Interesting.

"No, you're not hurting her. She's shaking flies out of her ears when that happens." R'gar answered, patting the runner's neck. "Would you like to go somewhere? I found a place I think you'd enjoy a lot." R'gar offered. He really wanted to take her there, but he didn't want to immerse her in too much new stuff too fast all in the same day if she didn't want to.

Though, that location was the entire reason why he'd gone and found her a runner. She couldn't walk, so he found a way to get her new legs and sound feet. And hey ... eyes too. After a fashion. A way to reopen her world.