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D'lin grimly stood at Plexith's shoulder, he had managed to scavenge up a bit of leather and now stood engrossed in repairing a small part of Plexith's harness. It was a difficult task with his head still painfully pounding and he was certainly favoring his right leg as he moved around - but there was hardly time to sit around and wait for such things to heal and he couldn't go back and fight without fixing the harness.

And he was going back. He'd failed in that first fight to keep the others safe and even to lend a good bit of support to his people, the ugly bruises and red wounds he had seen on those returning were like knife wounds to his own gut. Vicious ,twisting knife wounds.

'if you pull that leather any harder your going to have to find a whole new piece to replace the replacement..' Plexith chastised him and D'lin realized that he had been yanking on the strap rather viciously in response to his own emotional turmoil. "Sorry Plexith" He apologized, patting the bronze hide. "Afraid my thoughts were getting the better of me"

'Perhaps you should rest more, your head still hurts' The bronze suggested lightly. 'I'm afraid it's going to hurt for a while Plexith - and there's not enough time to rest until it stops. We'll loose the Weyr if we don't keep fighting..' He responded, bespeaking the bronze this time in case anyone happened to be walking close by - it wouldn't do to demoralize the fighters they had left with comments like that.

'We will not loose' The bronze replied back, turning his head to gently chuff at his riders hair.

'Cepheith and her's have returned' Plexith told his rider and it wasn't until the bronze relayed that information that D'lin realized they hadn't been in the meadow all along - shards, perhaps his head had been rattled more then he thought, or the pounding headache he still had was distracting him.

When the gold landed D'lin turned away from his repairs, inwardly wincing when he saw how tired and sore the goldrider was. Just another reminder of the horrors this revolt was visiting upon them..and his own failure in that first attack.
"I'm alright" He assured her, walking over and trying in vain to keep from favoring his wounded leg as best as he could "A little sore but nothing that won't heal in time, just a sore head and a sore leg...but what about you? I'm sorry I wasn't able to help more" He apologized, looking her over now that he was closer for signs of any serious injuries.

While his rider spoke with Cepheith's, Plexith turned his attention to the gold, crooning softly in concern when she hissed in pain. "I am fine..mine says he will be fine but I can feel his hurts.' The bronze admitted with a slight bit of worry 'He says we will continue to fight, there are not enough riders and dragons for him to sit and heal properly. What of yours...and yourself?"

"Well maybe a few other things ache too" D'lin admitted - like his ribs, but nothing that he was going to let stop him and he said as much to the women before him "Plexith? He's more bark then bite most of the time, I'd be more worried if he wasn't giving me a hard time" He responded with a fond look at his dragon. There had been a few moments during the last fight where he thought perhaps he might not have the chance to look upon his bronze again, that he was here to do so was something that D'lin was extremely grateful for.

Turning his attention back to Narisa he contemplated his response - it was annoying her knew from his own past to be constantly treated differently, told you must behave a certain way because of what you were and what you had to do - and while there was some truth to it, D'lin didn't like to point it out when he could help it and so rather then give her a long speech about how she had to protect herself and stay safe because the Weyr could very well need her and her gold in the near future when they pulled through this he merely said "Good - I don't want to loose any more friends in this, Plexith has told me some of the riders have turned to the Wher's side..and some of my wingrider's are still missing"

When she brushed off his apology he was grateful but it didn't help his guilt over the whole matter any either - perhaps they should have taken things a bit slower in the onset, figured out what they were facing before rushing in to fight...but then the Whers and their handlers would have gotten a larger foothold on the Weyr. It was a loose, loose situation really. "Your right, we've already worked through our next plan and while I hate to do it..we have to split our forces..S'kor and Scarath are going to lead an attack to try and retake or protect the infirmary..we need the supplies and.." He didn't really feel the need to say that Abigail was still there and could very well need their help so he just let that thought trail off . "I'm taking a group towards the main path to try and cut off their movements...and N'mol the Benden bronzerider is going to attack the mess hall..we're hoping that by retaking key points in the Weyr we'll be able to drive them back"

'You and yours are strong as well..you fought well in the battle, the Whers did not know what hit them' Plexith complimented the gold, chuffing at her softly as she nudged him. He was glad that she was alright - sore..like everyone but alright and in the long run that was the important thing. Wounds healed, pain faded..but he wasn't sure what would happen if they lost their home. 'Mine does the same - it is hard for humans - being in charge of things. They do not handle it nearly so well as we dragons do'

As if it wasn't enough for Plexith to be having Cepheith's attention all to himself - but for her rider to compliment not only him but his? It was enough to make the bronze's ego swell enormously and he arched his bronze neck and preened under the combined attentions. 'You see..they know quality when they see it' The bronze told D'lin proudly.

'Of course Plexith' D'lin responded knowing full well that anything but agreement would be utterly pointless at the moment. Besides..Plexith was a good steady bronze so the remarks were not off the mark. "We'll do what we can to keep that faith" D'lin promised Narisa and it wasn't a remark he made lightly, although he had to shake his head slightly at the comment about turncoat riders.

"This whole fight is completely unnecessary - If the Whers were so unhappy, why not just leave and set up their own place to live? I doubt anyone would have stopped them - this bloodshed and destruction it's just...I don't really know to be honest, but I certainly don't like it, no one trained us to go to war and I have no idea what we are going to do afterwards, we can't keep dragons as prisoners, I suppose we could chain up rogue Whers but given the numbers we've seen that will be a massive and ugly effort." Thoughts on the future of course were a bit preemptive at the moment and he sighed slightly "I suppose those will be problems for later - first things first, we retake the Weyr"

It was her emotional response to his plan that drew D'lin's attention and he paused, tactical thinking slipping away as he sought to comfort someone who was obviously hurting. Did he know Narisa well? Not really...much to his chagrin he'd had not gotten to know her as much as he would have liked fearing that doing so would only be seen as another bronze rider pursuing gold - something that while D'lin knew was his reality given Plexith's ambitions, wasn't something that he wanted to be known for. He didn't want Narisa to believe that he became friends with her for that sake alone and hadn't really known how to go about it in any other fashion...which ironically had led him to not getting to know her at all. But the fact that she was here and hurting now was enough to wipe such thoughts and worries from his mind and without really thinking about it he reached out to take her hands briefly and squeeze them in reassurance. "We'll get her back, she has Brakiath...her gold won't let anything happen to her" He assured her in a confident tone, seeking to allay her fears to some degree.

Releasing her hands he considered her request carefully, N'mol he knew had been adamant about keeping the Benden gold and her rider out of the fight - D'lin knew the wisdom of this but as a person was loathe to tell someone not to fight for their home. He doubted that Narisa and Cepheith would listen anyways - and they had a right to fight as much as anyone did, they had proven themselves in the battle earlier and he wasn't about to try and restrict them now. It wasn't his right to try and do so anyways.

"We are planning to drive the Whers and their handlers to the beach, N'mol has sent the Benden queen there to wait for them - I think he hopes that will keep her out of the fighting but I don't think that will be the case, I have a feeling it will be a nasty fight...two golds on the beach would be a good surprise. However I'm not going to try and stop you from fighting elsewhere if you prefer"

Plexith rumbled proudly 'Let the Whers try and deal with that, wretched creatures, daring to fight dragons' Really he didn't know what the beasts were thinking - told by their handlers or no, the act was completely mad to his bronzen mind. 'Mine does not desire to lead, does not realize that he is best suited for it - we will make them see in time that their fears are unfounded' He told the gold confidently, quite sure that both Cepheith and he had chosen theirs wisely. 'Mine too is worried about the safety of yours, but we shall both keep ours safe'

D'lin's lips quirked in a slight smile at the gold's comment, rolling his eyes slightly as Plexith - predictably - rumbled his agreement "If only we were as wise and all knowing as our dragons" The man remarked in wry tone, casting his eyes up at the towering dragons with a fond look. It was hard to believe that once upon a time he had lived without the beasts, he couldn't imagine such a fate now.

"I don't know if we'll ever know the why, I don't even know if it's important anymore - as infuriating as it is we might not ever know but we have to respond just the same, regardless of their reasoning - banning the traitor dragons is a more merciful end them some would put to them" Even if they had some sort of misled good intentions the riders couldn't just step aside and let this go unanswered, no they needed the Weyrs for the dragons and Pern needed the dragons to fight Thread...thread - blast in all of this he had nearly forgotten about that particular thread...how were they to fight thread with so many wounded dragons already, his face blanched slightly but he shook the thought away - there was no point in burdening Narisa with such news when there was nothing they could do about it. They would figure that out when they had to.

He wasn't sure if his efforts to ease her fears had worked or if he's just managed to make her uncomfortable. He could only hope that she took the gesture as he had intended it - and when she looked back at him with trust he thought that she had. "The beach - tactically I need you there, I'll need the golds strength at the end of the path and I can't spare enough of the others to make up for what one gold is capable of doing"

'And each other' Plexith agreed, dipping his head slightly and giving Cepheith a mock sorrowful look over her chastisement. The bronze was far to proud to keep this guise up for long however and pulled himself up again moment's later.

"Mercy is not a bad thing to be known for" D'lin assured Narisa with a smile. He'd much rather take a smart and merciful goldrider over one with a more tyrannical mindset any day."Riders are adaptable - I'm sure they would be able to find a place to settle...and they wouldn't be able to cause any more trouble for the Weyr either. It's a good solution - the best I think we have at our disposal"

He was glad to that Narisa didn't decide to argue with him about the plan at the beach. It was the best plan he had and he needed every piece in place to make sure that it worked out. "Good..I'll have Plexith alert Cepheith when we are close so they you can be ready and from which direction to expect them. We shouldn't be to far behind - so there will only be a brief window when the Queens shall be fighting without back up - we'll be right behind them"b Glancing up at the gold when she made her declaration he gave her a smile before looking back to Narisa "I know I can count on you...but take care of yourself out there. Don't take any risks you don't have to, I don't want to loose any more riders to this madness"

'I will run them straight into your jaws' Plexith boasted to the gold 'And you shall show them the error of their ways'