<P> Silent Words (Exalla & Chrysicai)

[Dizzy_Kat]

Hard was not an appropriate descriptor for the last few days. Neither was traumatizing, chaotic, facinating, horrifying, depressing, or lonely. Of the multitude of words she could think of there was no one individual to describe the events that had befallen her and her lifemate.

At this point though, her mind was so exhausted trying to catalog everything that had happened since she found herself here that she felt nothing could really surprise her. Half the time, she held to an almost comforting thought that this entire world was some sort of fantastical dream her mind was creating as she slowly suffocated in the dark cold of between. Those types of thoughts troubled Miath and Cai would wall them off from the sensitive dragon. She was Cai's only link back to reality and sanity after all. The one being she could not survive without.

Driven by the need to have a task, Cai had set out this morning with Miath at her side in search of supplies. How she might obtain them, she wasn't sure but surviving on one set of clothing and what recognizable food she could pluck from the trees or ground was not cutting it for her. Miath was getting hungry as well not to mention her hide was suffering for the lack of oiling and brushing.

Back on Pern, Cai had never been shy about talking to strangers or making demands... but how could she even know who, or what, was sentient or even friendly around here?! Some beings she had seen were straight nightmare fuel and until given evidence to the contrary, were to be avoided at all costs. Those few she might have exchanged words with so far had been of the distinctly 'human' looking variety.

~At least the sun is warm~ Miath thrummed, trying to ignore the itching of her hide. Cai just leaned against the crimson as they walked through the streets surrounding the pantheon. The architecture here was so vastly different from anything she had experienced at home. It was one of the few things so far in her mental 'positives' list. That and the sun. Both rider and dragon had developed a deep need for sunlight in the past couple turns. At first, after the return of the sky, Cai even found herself fearing the dark where she never had before.  

[SkieBorne]

Exalla was eating, or rather Aumvos was awkwardly puppeting her body so that it would eat. The Andalite's sanity had cracked from the constant exposure to the Goddess of Sound in her mind and the former dancer had taken to periods of mental 'silence' in an effort to escape Aumvos' presence. It never worked, really, and the poor female was left always distracted or even more irritated then an Andalite normally was in her lucid periods.

For her part, Aumvos tried to keep her volume down but there was only so much she could do - she could not dampen her nature completely, nor was she going to hold back from regaining her strength. Exalla had taken her gem on knowing what it did to mortals and now the flesh was rightfully hers, the soul the fuel for her fire. If Exalla disliked this, then the Andalite was doomed to a miserable end and Aumvos was content to it.

However, until such a time as she no longer needed to fuel the body in which she was currently trapped, Sound was taking pains to make sure it remained whole and healthy even if her control was as of yet lacking. Thus, Exalla stepped stiffly among the grasses surrounding the Pantheon, pressing her hooves into the greenery to absorb the sustenance that oozed forth.

Her stalk eyes scanned the area as she did so and when a primal surge of fear raced through Exalla's near comatose mind, Aumvos took note. A giant... creature with teeth and fangs and wings and a human atop it were approaching. It was a predator, that much was clear, and the dragon's speech echoed in her mind, at odds with the fiersome creature.

<> Communicating without sound was extremely uncomfortable for Aumvos and she planned to have a mouth at the earliest opportunity. Sure, Exalla could make noise but it wasn't as... satisfying as a voice or orifice.  

[Dizzy_Kat]

Miath froze, her eyes whirling at great speed, glowing both green and yellow as the voice caressed her mind. A thrill of hope and fear that another of her kind might be nearby, despite the foreign quality of the voice. It had been days since she'd heard another dragon, her memory was so faulty that it may as well have been decades to the company-starved crimson. Miath! I am Miath! She broadcasted as 'loud' as she could. Mine is Cai and we are from.... Trine! I am Miath of Trine Weyr! Already even the name of their home was difficult for her to recall.

Cai's brows furrowed in alarm. Miath! Who are you talking to?!She hissed, sharp grey eyes scanning the ground around them while her dragon searched the skies. She had never had any luck trying to break the dragon from spilling everything she knew the moment she started talking. Secrets were non-existent around her bondmate. It was frusterating, but Cai had adapted long ago.

Miath hummed in confused anxiety. Mine wishes to know who you are?  

[SkieBorne]

The Andalite shuffled at the force of the telepathic greeting, receiving far more information then she would have liked and it stirred Exalla. Aumvos shoved the mortal down, flexing enough to make her wince back into her corner and walked in a slow circle, eye stalks as well as main eyes scanning, tail swaying.

<> Aumvos repeated thoughtfully, though the names had no familiar ring in Exalla's mind. The volume did not matter to Sound, though, and she whuffed, <> The Andalite pressed a hand to her chest, tail arched proudly, <> There was a command there as Exalla's gaze levelled on the human. Their reactions were full of fear and mistrust, on edge as if they expected an attack... Aumvos would rather they not attack the Andalite.

<> She directed to Cai, her voice foreign and confident in the woman's mind, <>  

[Dizzy_Kat]

Both sets of eyes obeyed the command and met the... eyes? Were those eyes? of the being before them. A tingle of fear trickled down Cai's spine. It had spoken as a dragon did, yet clearly was not. They are... Miath struggled in making sense of their introduction, the words complete nonsense in her limited understanding. She was perfectly ready to accept the use of a plural pronoun, but their actual names had her lost. ... the sons of Mesaumvos and Exalla.

They? Cai could only see one before her and she highly doubted that this creature was bonded to a dragon out of sight. I do not care who his parents are, I want to know who he is! Cai was as yet unaware that Aumvos could hear her perfectly.

"Mindspeech... Miath can hear my thoughts and I hers. It is how we communicate. It is common among riders." And Wherhandlers possibly. Cai had never taken the time to ask one how exactly their beasts cared to exchange pleasantries. Firelizard communication was... primitive at best. Not what Cai would call speech at least. Her response was defensive, but lacked hostility. She did not dismount from Miath's back though. As they were, they could escape before the creature even thought of attacking.  

[SkieBorne]

Exalla nodded, though the instinctual fear kept her body rigid, the tail at the ready, as she approached. She walked like a dear, graceful and flowing but oddly contrasted with the environment. <> The andalite stood before the dragon and though her physical signs showed fear and uncertainty in the way her fine fur puffed and the tail twitched, the voice was calm, separate from the body.

<> She gestured to the dragon, <> The questions played forth swiftly as the tone shifted and Exalla took hold, Aumvos' presence shifted to the back to buzz irately at the interruption. The body relaxed a bit as the voice seemed to better match. > Exalla made no excuses for Aumvos, she knew Aumvos would make no excuses for her. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as Sound dialed up the background noise to try to regain control - she didn't like being wrested from the wheel so easily.  

[Dizzy_Kat]

Miath lowered her head, bending her legs to lay her bulk gently on the ground. If they were to be talking a while she wanted to be comfortable. Her fear of Aumvos had faded much quicker than that of her riders. She didn't know or understand the danger that twitching tail posed. Miath had begun to separate the two voices, assigning each the distinction of being an individual even though she had yet to name either. Andalites are like dragons then? Are they our kin as the whers and flits are said to be? Her eyes had taken on a mostly green shade now, the thread of yellow a thin detail flashing only occasionally.

I doubt that Miath darling... Cai huffed, her cheeks turning pink as she realized that unlike another dragon talking to her, this being had heard her as well. The violation of her privacy only intensified Cai's feelings of unease. The change of tone, and flood of questions were hard for the young woman to resist responding too, as tempted as she was to tell Miath to take them far away and shaff the consequences.

"Miath is a dragon. She is intelligent." Not exactly. "Dragons make plenty of noise. It's usually hard to shut them up, or at least Miath. They only use... mindspeech with each other and their riders though. Generally they won't talk to another human." Ok sure, this was not a human, but Cai shot Miath a look as if to remind the dragon of that fact. Miath only thrummed, happy to be having a conversation.

"What does Mine mean...?" Cai's brows furrowed. "It's... I am Hers and she is Mine. It's part of our bond as dragon and rider... We're connected. It's difficult to explain." Cai found herself surprised by that. It was just accepted as common knowledge. She'd never thought of explaining it. She'd never lived outside of the weyrs, or the healer's hall where dragons were common. Surprise and confusion led where they always did with her to irritation and a need to regain some sense of control. "You talk as if there are two of you. Where is the other?"  

[SkieBorne]

Exalla scoffed at the comment of kinship, her Andalite pride making it impossible for to consider such a thing. <> She pawed the ground, digging a hoof into it as a horse who is iritated might do.

<> Her attention shifted to the dragon, testing her intelligence, <> The concept of magic was foreign to Exalla still but some individuals employed physics to astonishingly precise degrees and called it magic.

<> She inhaled curiously, <> Exalla's eyes were twitching more now from the difficulty of concentration as she placed a hand on her chest, indicating the growth of very inorganic crystals from her chest. <>  

[Dizzy_Kat]

Now things were getting complicated. Complicated and interesting. "A war." Cai hazarded a guess. If she was an Andalite the Yerks must be another family, or clan, or pack or flight or faranth knew what these creatures called themselves. She understood war though, as much as she wished she didn't. A war had cost her her home, had torn the lives of many apart and in her mind was the catalyst for everything that followed in the turns since. Yes, it had led her to Impressing Miath, something she found very trying and troubling, but would never trade or wish away. Miath was something that couldn't not exist. It didn't matter what thrice-betweened land she found herself in. Miath HAD to be there.

Nor could Cai imagine a world where dragons didn't exist at all. That she had seen none (at least nothing that SHE would call a dragon!) had only meant that there were none right here. But if there were no dragons... was there no Thread? That would be a thought for later. She couldn't focus on that right now. "There are thousands of dragons where we come from. They are vital to our survival."

Miath tilted her head back and forth, thinking for a moment. My coordinates? I could come back to here. I do not know anywhere to go. I cannot reach home... She glanced up at Cai and there was a wordless query and exchange. I have never ridden a ship. We don't now what magic is. She concluded.

"We travel by flight, or we go between." Cai's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward from her saddle on Miath's back, trying to get a closer look at the andalite's chest. "Is it a parasite?" There were small insects that had larval stages on Pern... all sorts of crawlies and trundlebugs were known to eat various parasites, as much as they were hated themselves, they were useful. "Does it need removal?" Not that Cai was in any position to preform such an operation, not having access to a Hall or any medical supplies, let alone the knowledge of how to preform such a task. Surgery was reserved for masters. She was a general healer at best, fit to serve for most common situations in a Weyr or Hold.

Removal of a parasite or growth of that size was not currently in her skillset. Not that she had let a lack of experience hold her back from trying in the past.  

[SkieBorne]

Exalla nodded, <> She didn't elaborate, however, as the weight of the words implied far greater struggle and responsibility then fighting over territory or resources.

At the admission of neccessity, the andalite stepped closer, one set of eyes fixed on the dragonflesh before her, one stalk eye watching Miath's head and the other remained fixed on Cai, <> Such a strange pairing.

No return home... Exalla could understand that. Her ship wasn't functioning well enough for anything resembling long term or long distance travel. She missed her people so very much, they made far more sense then the ragabonds that populated this area. Her gaze turned distant as she considered if her people would recognize her at all now that she had the god gem. They might consider her an invalid.

And no ship or magic? Exalla tilted her head, <> Flight, she understood well.

A laugh filled Cai and Miath's mind temporarily, <> There was a smugness to that statement.  

[Dizzy_Kat]

Cai didn't press the topic of war. It was not something she wished to discuss either. Instead she cast a thoughtful look at Miath. She'd never considered the nature of their bond before. Technically dragons were probably parasitic; they required humans to live, but not the other way around until Impression was made. Yet, she couldn't say that both parties didn't benefit from the bond even if it was purely emotional. "We're not fused. Not in body anyways. We're only connected mentally. As in, dragons can't survive without a human parter to Impress. Then, were I to die Miath would as well, and in turn most rider's who lose their dragons choose to follow them into death. Dragons fight Thread. If there were no dragons, Thread would devour everything on our planet."

"Maybe it's similar to your condition. Except we have separate bodies." The closest she had felt to being one being with Miath was during her flights... in particular those experienced just before the sky disappeared back home. It was not a feeling Cai found comfortable. Turns of riding still had yet to open the young woman up to physical intimacy. "As for between. It is the place between here and there. Dragons can travel through it to get to any location they can accurately visualize within the space of three coughs. At least, that had always been the case before. As Miath said... she can't get us back home."

"None of that made sense." Cai pinched her lips together. She'd heard the word god uttered around but no such concept existed on Pern. Maybe like an egg shell though, the 'god' was in the crystal in a larval stage but like dragons in their shells it could communicate. Though it seemed much more aware and powerful at the process than she had assumed baby dragons to be. That it was fused with the andalite's body was alarming though. "So it is a parasite, and you were infected willingly?" Gross. "Our healers are quite well adapted to treating the various ailments and injuries we encounter on Pern." Her clipped tones were accompanied by a flash of orange in Miath's eyes and a low murmur from the crimson dragon.

Mine is skilled in saving lives. She defended her rider, neither female liking the smug assumption of superiority from the creature before them.  

[SkieBorne]

<> Exalla seemed to consider this as Sound buzzed in her mind, crashing against the curiousity that kept Exalla going. The andalite could function when she clung to discovery, Aumvos lacked the strength yet to maintain control. <> If such a thing existed then... it was possible the Yerks would try to take it over and wield it against the cosmos. Another thing to report about.

She sighed. If the Dragons stood in the way... Exalla lifted a hand to hover before the great red beast's leg, <> The many fingered hand pressed lightly against the skin and a trancelike moment passed between Miath and Exalla as the andalite absorbed a portion of the pernese dragon. <>

She snorted. <> The rumble ad shift in eye colour spooked the andalite and she backed away, tail arching high and at the ready.

<> She was glad she had acquired the dragon's DNA. None of her morphs were quite so large... and the she wasn't sure the venomous ones would act soon enough given Miath's mass.