Trespassing (Open)

[HG]

The rain would not stop. She had continued throughout the night in the hopes that eventually she would find a place to stay where the ground would be dry. Despite the thick foliage the leaves were unable to hold the water from the massive downpour. The river, which she had been following, was flooded. She began to wonder if this was a worse idea than staying home. Although without the rain her journey thus far would have been pleasant. As her foot was sucked once more into the thick mud, she groaned as the struggle began to pull it back out and move forward. Laure decided to move away from the river.

She was exhausted by the time the rain stopped. It was daytime, she could tell from the places where light streamed down through gaps in the canopy. There wasn't a dry place to be found to rest. Instead Laure made the decision to climb up one of the trees. The bark might be wet but it was better than lying in mud. The river had been her best shot at surviving but she was not entirely helpless out in the wild. It was several days more of traveling, half starved as much of what she would normally find on the ground had been swept away by flooding before she slackened her pace.

Laure was in feline territory now. She heard them at night and could not sleep. There was a desire to see one that mixed with a desire to go completely unnoticed. Laure had only seen them when they were brought to camp dead and for eating. Their pelts were used to clothe the members who killed the beast. Her father himself had one that made up his own clothing. Hunters were almost more privileged than those who fought. Seeing one alive would be interesting albeit dangerous.

She found with each passing day her strength failing her. Death would come eventually if she did not find more edible food. Her feet were aching, she could feel her muscles contract with pain upon every step. Laure had no idea where she was. Nor did it much matter, she supposed. Dark eyes scanned around her, shadows beneath them admitting to the outside world what she could not admit to herself. Sleeping was necessary to her survival almost as much as food and water, though water was not hard to come buy. The burning in her stomach was harder to ignore than her aching head, itchy eyes or even the yawning that followed.

An entire sevenday of traveling and she still felt just as lost as she had before. She wandered on, more and more confused as time passed but no less free. This was what it took to live by her own rules. It was for this reason that people never left the safety of their homes. The Holdless once scattered and leaderless had found a place to call home, gather together and become strong. The cotholds were the same way as was the Weyr. Strength in numbers as they called it. Laure was alone, in a dangerous jungle clinging and fighting for the life she so desperately wanted.

Where had leaving gotten her? Somewhere in the middle of the jungle around giant spotted felines, half starved, with mud stained all the way to her waist. Her feet were so caked by the mud that she was certain they grew two sizes. There was even some dried onto her face. She did not remove it as it was keeping the bugs from biting her. Who knew that mud could be such a help? Now she did. Her feet were padded and her skin protected. Although she was certain she looked a mess. Sighing deeply she decided after several candlemarks (or so she assumed) of walking, to take a break.

The boulder she sat on was neither cold nor warm but was covered in places by a film of green moss. Not much sunlight came through here. Her gaunt form easily fit on top of the large rock. After a moment she let her eyes close and she listened to the sounds coming from the forest. A bird's song, the rustle of leaves as a small animal nuzzled around. The next sound she heard was not that of a small animal and her eyes shot open. Before she had time to react someone's voice reached her ears.

[Ise]

“Why am I out here again?”
Becase I thought it would be a good idea for you to be a little more useful around the Weyr.[/i]
“…this is punishment for making you do flights isn’t it.”
Zeuth only chuckled softly in B’ren’s mind and the young man let out a sigh as he continued to tromp through the trees. Though the rain had stopped, he was still soaking wet from all the bushes and other plant growth he had walked through. The rains had been bad lately, causing the near by rivers to flood and turning the ground into mud. Even days after the rains had stopped, everything was still soaked and messy. And with so many new people coming to the Weyr, volunteers had been asked to go out and look to make sure no one had been swept off the hard packed dirt that had made up the road and been lost in the forest.

Zeuth had decided that it would be good for them to help out. Volunteering would help make them look better, and with a little luck they might be able to help out a pretty girl who might impress the gold dragon. B’ren had been hooked at the idea of being able to recues hot girls. Of course he thought he would be flying around on Zeuth and spotting people from the air. It wasn’t until they had left the Weyr that Zeuth told him he would be walking on the ground with other volunteers.

So here he was, Bronze rider of Refuge, Wing rider of… well they hadn’t said what wing he would be part of yet, but still! He was important! Sort of! He shouldn’t be stumbling around in the forest, getting wet and muddy and putting himself at risk for a feline attack.
Oh hush, you’re fine. Your whining will scare away any felines and the mud will wash off.[/i]
“There are better ways to get back at me. Ways that won’t put my life at risk you know.”

B’ren knew he was just being a big baby now. There were half a dozen other people in the forest around him, all close enough to hear him if he yelled. Shield members had been mixed into the groups as well, in case they did happen to run across a wild feline or even worse, the Holdless.

“You realize this isn’t going to help you right? That you’re still going to do flights and we’re still going to work on getting your speed up there. I know you can out last everyone but it’d be nice if you weren’t always last…”
With no one else around, B’ren preferred talking out loud to his dragon. Aside from the dripping of water, the forest around him was perfectly silent which seemed so eerie to the former weyrbrat. It was so easy to forget what he was suppose to be doing that he almost walked right past the rock that Laure had been resting on. He paused though and back tracked to look at the rock again and noticed muddy prints along one side of it before he looked up and took a few steps back as he realized there was someone on the rock.
“Oh shards! I actually found someone!”

[HG]

Wide eyed she stood staring at the man in front of her. Laure was not even cognizant of whether her mouth hung open or not. She was like a wild animal caught in a situation there was no way out of. As they say, fight or flight. After looking him over for a few seconds, she decided running would be her best option but had she the strength for it? Oh char it! Laure took off full speed from the boulder running the opposite direction from the young and handsome man. Her dark hair was a mass of knots and tangles. The jungle was fine for people who had what they needed but for a person who had nothing except what she was wearing, the jungle had become quite perilous.

In the time it took her to react she was certain he had caught on. She would just have to outlast him. Since he was better fed, stronger being male and seemed to be in peak physical appearance she rather doubted she’d be able to outrun him long. Hopefully he would lose interest. The mud swallowed her feet in places where the water had collected on the jungle floor. Her knees were aching, her arms burned from scratches as branch after branch of growth swiped her.

Running it turned out was no small feat and even worse for her. I can keep going, she told herself. Fooling herself was not as easy as she had hoped. If he did catch up to her, would it be worse to be caught or to be left to die in the jungles? Depended on who he was, she supposed. People were not to be trusted on the whole. From what she knew of most people they were after their own desires and dreams and cared little for the people they crushed on their way to them.

“I cannot go any further…” She said to herself. Admitting her weakness was hard. That she had little strength left at all now was a very bad thing. Felines could come and kill her, or this man could. In the end did it really matter? She was going to die either way. Death was not an option for her. She would just have to try to keep going. With every agonizing step she slowed, until her trembling legs could take no more and she collapsed.

[Ise]

You what?
“I actually found- hey, hey! Wait! Oh shards noooo stop running!”
The girl, yes he was pretty sure she was a girl though it was still hard to tell with how quickly she had moved and how muddy she was, had freaked out as soon as she had seen him and taken off running. Great, he had found one of their missing candidates and had scared her into running. Someone was going to have his hide if he didn’t manage to catch her and bring her back to the Weyr safely.

So B’ren took off after her. She was easy to follow at least, he either caught glimpse of her between the trees or could follow the prints her feet left in the mud. Though he was in better shape, he was slow to catch up to her. With each step his boots got stuck in the mud and threatened to pop off if he tried going to fast. Though it was frustrating, the girl didn’t seem to be moving very quickly after that initial dash. He kept his pace equal with the girl’s, not waiting to scare her any more then he already had until she suddenly collapsed. He ran and dropped down to one knee, skidding in the mud until he came to a stop next to her.

The girl had clearly seen better days. She was covered in mud and scratches and didn’t look like she had eaten or slept in the past week. Other then that she didn’t look too bad, nothing a little rest and good care wouldn’t be able to fix.
“Whoa hey calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.”
B’ren kept his voice soft and calm, hoping that it would put the girl at ease and not make her run off again. He glanced around them, looking and listening for any of the other volunteers that were out here.
“Zeuth, let them know I found one of the candidates.”
He gave the girl an easy going smile before taking another look around.
“Soo are you going to be able to walk? We’re not too far from the Weyr but we are in feline territory. And I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like being a cat treat today. Plus, once we get you to the Weyr you can get some food in you and a nice hot bath. And I can have a change of clothes.”

[HG]

Laure groaned inwardly at her fall. Her breathing was staggered and at times she gasped for breath to come back into her lungs. Wretched body was failing on her. Within seconds the young man was next to her and he seemed less likely to kill her than the jungle was now. Her dark eyes watched him as he spoke, not believing for a second that he was entirely good.

She heard him say some things though which piqued her interest. Zeuth, Candidate, Weyr. Zeuth must be his dragon? They could not be near Haven so, she must have walked toward Refuge without knowing it. This was brilliant! Her plan had actually worked. Nodding, she commented, "The felines are more bold right now too." All of this rain had given them plenty of opportunity to hunt and fish and drink plenty of water. They were strong and healthy. Unlike herself.

He must care a great deal about his clothes if he were that worried about getting clean. Strange for someone wandering about a jungle to be concerned about their apparrell. Obviously she was going to have to get rid of her clothes entirely. The Weyr should have something for her to put on. Food and a bath did sound nice though sleep was on her mind more than either.

"Are we very near to Refuge?" Laure asked, hoping it would not be very far. Thinking about what she was and was not capable of she addd, "I may need to lean on you at some point." As she finished talking her breathing began to even out. Standing was a difficult task to set before her. However she never backed down from a challenge just because it was hard, just because she might fail.

Straining and convincing every muscle in her legs that she must get up finally worked. First one trembling leg was underneath of her then another. It took her a couple of minutes but she was up and steady. Looking to the young man who had found her she said, "Lead the way dragonrider."

[Ise]

“Yeah, and I don’t feel like testing my luck with a feline. There are enough other people out here right now that I’m not too worried about them but still…”
The young man shrugged a bit and kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of felines or anything else in the woods. He didn’t need his new candidate to get eaten by some beast in the forest, how was he suppose to be a hero if he didn’t actually come home with the girl?

“We’re not too far, depends on how well you can walk. Twenty minutes if we can keep up a good pace.”
He took a step back as the girl rose to her feet. She looked like she was having a hard enough time just getting up, the thought of her walking back to the Weyr in this kind of shaped almost seemed out of the question.
“Lean on me all you want, and if you get too tired for that I’ll carry you. I don’t want you to strain yourself any more then you already have.”
While B’ren wasn’t going to pick the girl up without her permission, he did feel the need to put an arm around her, even if it forced him to hunch down a bit to slip his arm under hers and help keep her steady.
“And call me B’ren, sounds a lot better then ‘dragon rider’”
Annnd if she knew his name then people wouldn’t be able to say he was making up the whole rescue. He was going to have to tell Zaylee all about his heroics tonight…

[HG]

There were people out here? Where? She had not seen or heard a single soul except for this dragonrider. "Why are so many people out in the middle of the jungle?" Laure thought out loud. Well seeing as he brought it up, he would know the answer. Hopefully this was not something that was routine or the Holdless would have a hard time attacking this Weyr unnoticed.

She knew why they had attacked Haven first. The weyr was easier to get to and did not have as large a defense system as Refuge, this including their rather special unit, known to her and the other Holdless as the Shield.

Raising an eyebrow at his keep a good pace answer, she nodded. There was no trying, only doing. She had to get to the Weyr. It was her only hope for a good meal, bath and much needed rest. Laure felt the warm arm come around her back and under her own. Then she took a few experimental steps. She could certainly do this with his help although she felt awful for having to need someone so soon after declaring her independence by leaving home.

"I think we can make it there like this. No need to strain yourself on my behalf." She had gotten herself into this mess and although she appreciated the help she sort of resented her own weakness at the same time. Twenty minutes would be a long trek if she did not keep her all too inquisitive mind busy. Luckily talk of dragons and riders was a rather interesting topic for the Holdless runaway.

"B'ren. And your dragon's name is Zeuth?" She had no idea what color dragon he had nor did it matter much to her. However she did like to treat people with the respect they deserved. "My name is Laure." She added with a half smile. "Must be nice living at the Weyr with a dragon who calls you their own. I've never even seen a dragon up close before and rarely even from a distance."

[Ise]

“Huh? Oh well after the rains we realized we were missing some of the groups of candidates that were suppose to have shown up. We thought it might be a good idea to go looking for them. We you traveling with anyone else? Or was it just you?”
It seemed a little odd to the bronze rider that the girl was traveling alone. But she wasn’t one of the real young candidates and maybe she had come from the near by cotholds. They could always question her a little better once she had gotten some food and rest.

“If you get too tired just say the word. You aren’t going to wear me out and I’m more worried about you straining yourself too much.”
Though the girl looked terrible she seemed to be ok after she had taken those first few steps. The healers were probably going to yell at him for letting her walk all the way back but he could understand why she’d want to make it to the Weyr on her own two feet. Having to be carried would just come off as being weak, which probably wasn’t the first impression she wanted to give the Weyr, especially since she was probably hoping to Impress the gold dragon.

“Yep, B’ren and Zeuth. And don’t mind what you hear at the Weyr, all the bad stuff about us is made up. But it’s nice to meet you Laure.”
B’ren had to think of a moment about her comment before he shrugged a little.
“I’ve never lived anywhere but the Weyr so I can’t say much. I never got to see most of the dragons up close until I was older, which was probably good. Dragons are big and I was a trouble maker. You’re bound to start seeing dragons up close though, I’m pretty sure they did a lesson on that stuff for the candidates. And if they don’t just come find me and I’ll be able to show you one of the biggest dragons in the Weyr.”

[HG]

She stared at the ground before them, trying to think of a way to still be honest but be taken to the Weyr. Candidates travelling to the Weyr would seem like a good cover until she got to the Weyr and they knew no one had Searched her. In the end it would only be a matter of time. Honesty was the better policy, according to how she felt about life. "I was alone but I'm not a Candidate." Perhaps omitting the truth was just as bad as pretending to be something she was not. However, she was not prepared to tell him she was Holdless. That would be a mistake she would soon regret.

Laure was not going to speak about her weariness. The Weyr was not much different than the Holdless in feeling that only the strong were revered. The strongest at the Weyr were the dragonriders and at Refuge one must also consider the Shield as being strong. Tired she may be but she was not going to admit weakness when she had not even made it to the Weyr yet. She could do anything she set her mind to do, Laure thought to herself, ignoring her headache and the fuzziness of her vision.

"From what I know, reputations are often false." Besides she disliked gossip and would hardly take what someone said about someone else as true. People were known to exagerate and also judge harshly. "I'm sure you've plenty of good being said about you as well." The nice thing about not being near anyone she knew was she was going to start from scratch.

Dragons were a good topic for her. She could dream about them here without persecution. "I'm sure everyone at the Weyr wants one even more because they live with them and help provide for them and their riders. It is a great honor to be one of the remaining Dragonriders of Pern." There were responsibilities to go with this honor. Laure would not mind them so long as she bonded to her life mate and was free from all the Holdless forever. She did not hate the people, she just never understood their hate for dragons. Because dragons fascinated her.

[Ise]

Hearing that the girl wasn’t a candidate surprised B’ren but he didn’t let it slow him down. He wasn’t sure what someone would be doing out in the forests around the Weyr if they weren’t a candidate. Unless she was from one of the nearby cotholds and had just gotten that lost. Regardless of where she was from or how she had ended up here, she still needed help and a chance to recover and the Weyr would be the best place for it.
“Well at least that means I don’t have to come back out here hoping that I walk into more people.”

B’ren felt like telling Laure that his reputation of being the best looking bronze rider was totally true. Along with how he was just the best rider over all. He could just feel the dirty look that Zeuth gave him at the thought so he kept his ego inflating comments to himself.
“Oh I’m pretty sure people say some good stuff about me. Others are just jealous. Not that I can blame them, I was blessed with good looks, quick wit and happened to Impress the biggest bronze dragon. Not everyone can be as lucky as me.”
Ok, so he had to indulge his ego just a little bit.

“Yeah, it’s a huge honor to be a dragon rider. Though I wish it was for more then just our dwindling numbers. But I always wanted to be one just to show that I could be more then some lowly drudge in the caverns. Not that there’s anything wrong with those who don’t Impress and help out the Weyr in other ways, my whole foster family does that, but I’ve got slightly higher goals then just being the best table washer in the Weyr.”
He never took his luck in Impressing Zeuth, nor his rank as a dragon rider for granted but he had adjusted his future goals to be bigger and better. Charm the pants off the lucky girl who Impressed the gold dragon, become a wingleader during the next few turns, work his way up to Weyrleader a few turns after that… or heck if the clutches continued to be so big he might even purpose the creation of a third Weyr, maybe even in the North if things went well there. He might not even have to fight for leadership then.

Letting himself daydream a bit, he walked in silence. He took a few glances at Laure before he came to a stop.
“The Weyr is just a few minutes away. Take a minute to catch your breath and rest up, I’m sure you’d like to be able to walk to the Weyr on your own two feet instead of having to limp around with my help.”
B’ren leaned back against a tree, whipping sweet and water off his brow with the back of his hand. He pulled a small bladder of water off his belt, taking a sip before he held it out for her.
“Just say the word when you’re ready to go again.”

[HG]

Good thing he was not one to pry too deep into her life before he found her or she would have had to be specific. Laure could be easy now without worrying about being found out. It was clear to her that he was not concerned about her being Holdless. Perhaps she was lucky to run into a young dragonrider and not a Shield member for that reason. "Very true. I have not seen anyone around except for you. So I doubt anyone is nearby where you came across me."

Oh Faranth, what an ego. She shouldn't be so surprised by it. Men had a tendancy towards self love that she often found repulsive among the Holdless. While B'ren might have a point that he thought what people said about him were true, she found his statement impressive and unimpressive at the same time. She was impressed that he had impressed a Bronze with the attitude he had about himself. Laure knew next to nothing about dragons but she had always envisioned Bronzeriders being more humble because their dragons were so great already. "Apparently not." If she was lucky she would be perfectly healthy sooner than later.

"I heard about Haven Weyr." She said, eyes downcast. "I was very sorry to hear of the losses of the Queens, among many others." Dwindling numbers were not helped by that well planned and coordinated attempt made by the Holdless. She was not proud of anything the Holdless did, even if her family helped particpate. The whole lot of them made her sick to her stomach. Killing innocent people for a cause never made much sense to her logical brain. Despite growing up around it all, Laure never really fed into the cause and was tired of living with people who were so different from herself.

Now she was getting closer to the Weyr, she felt less and less worthy of being there. Refuge needed to stay safe until she was courageous enough to tell the people of the Weyr the truth and what the environment of growing up Holdless was like. "I'm sure that Refuge is better prepared than Haven. The Dragon Shield is said to be intimidating." Although from meeting B'ren she couldn't see many people from the Weyr intimidating her. Then again he did seem to be the charming, handsome, doesn't work at anything type so maybe he was one of the not so scary types. There were bound to be some tough people here.

"Alright though sitting will make it harder to get up." So she stood, leaning on a tree's trunk. Resting would be easier when she had made it to the Weyr. "Thank you, for your help B'ren." Laure grew silently contemplative then. Looking up into the dense canopy of the trees, she decided this was a good thing. Her coming to the Weyr needed to happen. She might even have something to contribute here. After a few minutes, she looked back to eyelevel with the rider. "I'm ready."

[Ise]

"Well I'm not surprised you haven't seen anyone. Someone could be five feet away from you and you'd never know it if they're quiet. Makes those Shield guys really freaky when they just pop out of no where and start talking to you. They'll probably be pretty surprised that we even found someone out here. I don't think they expected us to have any luck but agreed to help out just to give them something to do."
The idea that Laure was a Holdless had entered his mind but didn't stay there for long. Why would the Holdless send one little girl out with no supplies to Refuge? It didn't make much sense to him. And what could she do against the Weyr? Plus, it wasn't like everyone who wandered and got lost in the woods would be a Holdless.

The reminder of Haven made B'ren shake his head. He had grown up with the dragons, the thought of anyone wanting to kill them like that had never made sense to him. But the Holdless had a thing against dragons and their riders. But the Holdless had done more then just kill dragons and riders when they attacked Haven, they had killed anyone they had seen.
"Yea, it was pretty terrible. We've got some candidates from Haven as well now so I hope they end up Impressing, if nothing else it would help out the moral of the Weyr as they pull themselves back together. But the Holdless aren't going to be able to do that at Refuge now, the Shield is upping their security just in case."
The Shield were good at what they did, the best of the best. Even B'ren knew better then to screw around with most of them. It seemed that part of the requirements to join the Shield were to not have a sense of humor.

"Might be a little harder to get up but you look like you could use a little rest, starting to look a little too pale there. And anyone else would have done what I did. We're suppose to help people out after all."
He gave her as long as she needed to rest, waiting until Laure was ready to ask Zeuth to make sure that one of the healers was around when they got there. Even though she looked like she just needed a good nights sleep and a hot meal, he wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything else wrong with her.
"Alright, it'll only be a few minutes and a healer and probably a few others will be there to meet us. They'll probably just take you on down to the infirmary and let you rest up there while they make sure that you're ok."
He walked over next to her, making sure he was close enough to help her out if she needed it before he started trekking the last few minutes to the Weyr.

[HG]

The Shield sounded even more impressive coming from B'ren. They were quite skilled and were bored enough to help look for some lost Candidates. She wondered if they trained often and how hard. Might be nice to befriend some of them, although as B'ren mentioned them it sounded as if they were not the most sociable people at the Weyr. Well she had good timing to be found so close to the Weyr when they were out searching for people.

"I'm certain that Haven will come back stronger. You can't attack people and not expect them to grow stronger and wiser." She added with a hardness in her voice that suggested she too grew back stronger. The wiser part might be debatable though. "I would think that the Holdless would take their time before attacking another Weyr. They would probably send out someone to do some recon before they even thought of a plan..." She paused thinking perhaps she said too much. "I mean thats what I would do if I were them." Good cover, she thought to herself.

Seperating herself from the tree she leaned on, she began to take steady yet slow steps forward. Laure knew she could make it to the Weyr. A few minutes left of her arduous journey and then she would be packed off to the infirmary and dealt with by the Healers. Where she was from Healers were not like the costumary crafthall types. They were more like medicine women. They knew things about herbs and rememdies passed down by family but there were many things they could not cure. Some of what they did was more like witchcraft then healing.

"Lead on then B'ren, the sooner we get to the Weyr, the sooner I can actually rest." And he could boast about finding a lost woman and rescuing her. Eventually someone else would have found her most likely but if she had been out there another day or two, who knew what would have happened to her. She might even have been found dead.

[Ise]

"With enough time Haven will be fine. They're getting more guards trained and have borrowed a few of our Shield members to help improve their training. They also have one of our golds who, with a little luck, will rise in the next turn or so."
Yes, with time Haven would recover. But who knew if they would get that time. Thread was coming, the Holdless were coming, and the Northerners still whined about their war coming. He didn't think any of those things were going to stop just to let Heaven regain its strength. Of course there was no reason to be so dour to Laure, she had already gone through enough.

"Who knows what the Holdless are doing. I'd be nice if we could do some recon of our own, but I don't think the Shield have come close to finding their camp yet. How do you keep that many people hidden? I mean I know the forest is a big place but even after the raid they couldn't track the Holdless back to their main camp."
He could only hope that Laure had the right idea and that the Holdless wouldn't do more then send a few spies to see what was going on. The last thing they needed was for them to try and attack Haven while it was rebuilding or Refuge while it had a clutch on the sands.
"I doubt they'll attack Refuge any time soon at least. If they tried to do that with eggs on the sands, I'm pretty sure the dragons would be more then willing to change their diet and take care of the Holdless that way. All of them start to get a little antsy with eggs down, and super violent if there's a threat to them."
Or so some of the records he had come across said. He would almost pity any poor Holdless who came to Refuge looking to do harm to their eggs, Aeriath and Neinoth would rip them apart and the rest of the dragons would go after whatever was left.

B'ren lead the way to the Weyr, picking through the growth at a slow enough pace that Laure would be able to keep up. At least the trees had started to thin out a little, making it easier to walk. Soon even open ground could be seen between the trees and beyond that the massive structure that was Refuge Weyr. The relative silence of the forest started to give way to the sounds of the Weyr; the bugling of dragons, the hundreds of heardbeast that were kept for dragon and person, even the playful shrieks of weyrbrats could be heard. All the sounds of home to B'ren, including the scolding voice of Headwoman Emera.

"Beleren! How could you let this poor girl walk all the way here? She looks half starved and you couldn't help her?"
The elder women stalked over to them, one of the healers following along behind her. She gave B'ren a stern look before turning a much kinder gaze on Laure and gently wiping some of the muck off her face.
"You poor thing, you look ready to fall over and yet here you are, still carrying on. Lets get you inside now, you can rest up and then we'll see about getting you a change of clothes so you can clean up."
Emera gave B'ren one more stern look before she started to lead Laure to the Weyr as the healer asked her questions.

[HG]

Laure went quiet as he spoke of Haven. There were so many things she wanted to say but could not. Why should she feel so guilty for something when she had not even been there to committ the crime. Inside she had never supported them but on the outside she had had to support them or die. Death was something she was not ready for. The Weyr would never be able to find the Holdless. Riverton was smart probably a genius level intelligence driven to insanity by his thirst for dead dragons.

"If only it were that simple." Laure said under her breath for she was trying to concentrate on keeping herself steady and walking strong. "I would not want to be on the bad side of a dragon." She said with a grimace but continued as she could. Finally arriving at what was Refuge Weyr she stood wide eyed taking in the scene before her. That was until she heard the very forceful voice of the woman she would come to learn was the Headwoman of Refuge, Emera.

Nodding at the woman's questions she thought she must look like a bewildered stray animal instead of a cognizant, communicative human. As Emera began to lead her to the Weyr, Laure chanced a glance back at B'ren. In that moment she winked to him and smiled an almost too knowing smile. A smile a cat might have after eating the mouse. She had made it to Refuge Weyr, on her own two feet and still going strong.