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 Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:07 pm
It was enough to make Daenerys cry, but she was too parched for tears. In the harsh empty sky above there had been flyers just a moment earlier. There had been three of them, wind soquili with wide feathered wings. Daenerys would have flown up to meet them, but her wings were as dry as cracked leather. She and Nicoletta had shouted instead, but the travelers did not hear. They had flown by and left her and her friend dying in the desert.
Daenerys' dragons, her children, were only little better. She had always suspected that dragons needed less water than most creatures and now had proof of it. They had still cavorted in the air long after Daenerys and Nicoletta were too weary and thirsty to do anything beyond plod onwards. Now though, even they were flagging. She could feel their hot bodies pressed against her scales beneath her wings where they sheltered against the sun. She had experienced a moment of terror when Rhaegal had slipped off her earlier that day, for a moment lying limp in the sand before squawking indignantly and reclaiming his perch. They still lived yet, and would likely outlive her in this hostile environment. That brought some comfort, but little.
"Perhaps this is a sign that there is a herd nearby," she said, her voice scratchy. "If we go in the direction that they flew in, we may find them once more." It was a hopeful sentiment that she did not feel. They were undeniably lost, and she could imagine no herd surviving where there was no water.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:14 pm
"It is as good a plan as any," agreed Nicoletta, no more optimistic than the princess. "We should have," she trailed off into silence, not even knowing what she meant to say. There had been more and more moments of that sort of confusion lately. She found herself growing ever more often lost in feverish thoughts that followed no logic or sense. If she was starting to go mad, then death couldn't be far. The thought of dying in the desert had terrified her at first, but now it barely provoked any emotional reaction. She would have stopped to consider this... if she hadn't been too focused just on putting one hoof in front of the other.
She shook her mane, hoping to dispel some of the heat that clung to it. It fell back onto her neck just as hot as before, the dark color sucking sunlight in greedily and making her light-headed from heat.
"We should have never left your brother," said Nicoletta, finally completing the thought she had abandoned earlier. Still, as she said it, even then she wasn't certain what she had meant. At the time, it had seemed that they had little choice but to flee from the cruel Viserys and try to find their own way, but she wondered now if that had really been the case. Even before that, there was Rhaegar. It was so long ago that he had left Daenerys and her other brother behind in the keeping of Nicoletta's family. Maybe it was him that they should have never left the side of instead.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:19 pm
Assuming her companion spoke of Viserys, Daenerys' mouth twisted bitterly. "He meant to kill us." Their guides had certainly been convinced of Viserys' murderous intent, fleeing and leaving the two mares with him before they too had to run. Even then, Viserys' moods did not always last long. That was an uncertain death, rather than the unavoidable death they faced if they could not find water soon. Maybe Nicoletta was right and they should have stayed there and faced his wrath, but it was too late now.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 4:24 pm
Nicoletta had no words to answer Daenerys with. It was too painful to bother speaking with her parched tongue even if she had something to respond with. Besides, how could she be expected to think of anything to say when the rocks were flying at her face like that?
... Oh.
As it turned out, the rocks weren't flying at her face, she was falling towards them. Nicoletta's legs buckled beneath her and she collapsed to the rocky ground. She gave a small strangled cry of pain and then a longer whimper. Her mind sprung back to the rolling green hills of her home, the home that was so far away now. It didn't seem like she would ever see her home again.
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Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 4:30 pm
 Roarke had not wanted to come to the desert, it was too dry for his liking, but his family had requested it of him. One of his cousins, of some degree of removal, had just come of age and for some reason had decided that the desert was the place to be. So he had been loaded down, with a lot of assistance, with some sort of clay water jugs. The humans had made them and the rope that they had tied about the necks and eventually around Roarke himself. That had been quite a load to bear alone especially once they were full of water and then had come the large clay bowl. That had been set on a cord around his neck. It beat into his legs awkwardly as he moved.
In the end he had been glad for the cumbersome supplies. After weeks of oasis hoping, he and his cousin had finally made it to an oasis where his cousin decided to stay. There Roarke had all of his jugs refilled so he could set back out. The return trip seemed to go more slowly and Roarke wasn't sure if it was the lack of conversation or if he had somehow managed to get himself a bit lost. A trio of winged soquili soared over his head. Roarke tried calling up to them but he could tell that his voice didn't reach, they were too far. Roarke huffed and continued placing one foot in front of the other. He still had plenty of water left, when Roarke ran out of that then he could start worrying.
Or perhaps he would have to worry a bit sooner. Not far from him he could see a pair of soquili in the sand. That wasn't worrying. The worrying part was that one of them had just dropped to the ground. "Hey!" He called, suddenly surging forward paying not attention to how his load was beating into his sides or how the sloshing water in the jugs was causing him to wobble back and forth slightly. "Are you alright?" His rumbling voice was concerned and urgent with the key thought in his head being simply "please don't be dead."
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:53 am
Heedless of the unappreciative squawks of her dragons, Daenerys immediately spread her wings when she saw Nicoletta fall, shading her with one and fanning her with the other. She did this almost simultaneously to the appearance of the stallion, and then suddenly stared at him with wide eyes. It was another soquili! One that didn't look to be dying of thirst, so possibly knew his way around and...
"Is that water?" asked Daenerys in a rasping plea. She would have kissed the hooves of a skinwalker if it meant getting a drink. She was torn between frantic joy and frantic worry. Nicoletta was still collapsed on the ground and hadn't moved since she had fallen. "She is not dead, I think. She just... we haven't had water in so long." Nicoletta was her only friend in this strange and unknown land. If she died... Daenerys forced back that thought, not wanting to become overwhelmed by emotion just when they might be saved.
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Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:50 pm
It didn't take Roarke long to reach the two but once he arrived at their sides he froze. Something was crawling on the winged mare. Three somethings actually. What were they? They almost looked like... He was uncertain if he had interrupted his own train of thought or if it had been the rasping of the white mare. He could here the dryness in each word cracking like a bare lake bed. It was enough to make him wince slightly as he answered, "Yes, yes it's water. Here!"
Moving as quickly as he could without spilling anything Roarke got the bowl off of his neck, over his horns, and onto the ground so he could tip water from one of his jugs into it. He nudged it towards the conscious mare before turning his attentions to the one on the ground. "What are you doing out here without any supplies?" He wondered aloud as he moved to block out the sun with his rather impressive bulk. His size had always been something of a mystery to his family but it certainly came in handy. Putting her in shadow was only going to do so much for the mare if she was so dehydrated, unfortunately. He wondered if he should tip another jug over her. If it didn't work it would be something of a waste of water though.
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:17 pm
Water! Daenerys hadn't seen anything so beautiful in her life. Instead of answering her savior's questions she plunged her face down into the amazing liquid. She sucked up the water greedily, guilty that she drank while Nicoletta lay collapsed on the ground, but not able to stop her desperate instincts.
It took a moment for her to pull herself away from the bowl and answer, precious water dripping from her chin. "We were abandoned," she said simply. "We thought we traveled in the right direction, but-" A flicker of movement made her pause. It was Nicoletta! Nicoletta was stirring!
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 12:20 pm
Nicoletta hazily came back to awareness. It looked like she was shaded by a big silver rock. That was nice. As her eyes opened wider and focused she realized it wasn't a rock at all. It was a soquili. In confusion, she wondered where the stranger had come from and if he meant them well. Her wonderings were cut short when she realized what the sloshing sound and Daenerys' wet mouth meant.
"Water!" She rolled onto her belly and awkwardly began trying to get her legs properly oriented under her.
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2013 6:57 pm
"Abandoned?" Roarke could feel himself stiffen as he repeated the word angrily. He only knew of one kind of person that would abandon others in such a harsh environment and that kind was one that could (and often did) destroy everything that he and his family strove to protect. Those people made him feel sick. A second voice brought his attention down to the mare that he was shading. She was awake but she also seemed to be trying to stand.
"Wait, please." He said moving away from her and back to the bowl so that he could push it to the fallen mare. If she exerted herself too much so soon after regaining consciousness he feared that she would only slip away again. "Here, drink as much as you want. I have enough." At least he hoped he did. He'd had enough for two well hydrated stallions but he had known roughly where he was then and now there were two dehydrated mares and three strange things to account for. Would what he had be enough? He didn't even know what the strange creatures were. They looked like large lizards. Large lizards with bat wings. Did they need a lot of water?
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:30 am
"Yes, abandoned." She could feel her strength returning and with it, her anger. She didn't know whether Viserys had fared any better than they had in the desert, but she would not weep for him if he had died. If not for his temper, they may have been safely in the green lands beyond the desert by now. Viserys was family... but Daenerys was tired of using that explanation to excuse his actions. Nothing they could do would help him now. He had just as good a chance in surviving in the desert as he had left them with.
"We owe our lives to you," she told their savior. "If I had something other than my gratitude I would gladly give it to you, but..." She trailed off, eying the gold cuffs that she wore. Every other reminder of her family was long since sold, but she still carried these with her.
In the midst of her ponderings, her children suddenly realized there was water about. With a small cry, Drogon lifted himself off her back. It only took him one wingbeat to take him to the water bowl along with Nicoletta, and soon her other two children had joined him.
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:33 am
Nicoletta didn't even hear Roarke and Daenerys talking to each other. Her entire world was focused on the bowl of water the stallion had set down in front of her. She was almost brought to tears by the first sip and maybe would have even cried with relief if she hadn't been so dehydrated to begin with. She drank long and deep from the bowl, feeling the coolness and weight settling in her middle.
When the dragons came to join her she was glad enough to ignore them. Their small serpentine heads took up little space, and all four of them shared the bounty together. She was used to Dany's dragons but not accustomed to being this close. She could feel the heat radiating from the dragons' skin, a strange counterpoint to the cool of the water.
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:47 am
Roarke's attention was drawn away from the mare's winged companions as she started speaking of reward. He caught her glancing at the gold and quickly shook his head. "Your gratitude is-" He stopped sharply in the middle of his sentence as the black one jumped (or perhaps flew was the more appropriate term) off the mare and down to the water. It was a combination of being startled and completely held in awe at the sight of it that made him lose his thoughts for the moment. There was just something spectacular and fantastic about it. "I'm happy with just the thanks." He finally concluded after the others had settled at the water bowl as well. "Life is more important than possessions." He quoted, something he had been told a few times as a child whenever he felt jealousy brew over things others had that he did not. It was to remind him that his duty came before his desires, though in retrospect it was rather poor phrasing.
"Though...if you wanted, could you tell me what they are?" He tried to look away from the trio of winged ones at the water to meet the mare's eyes again but he couldn't quite manage it. "I've never seen anything like them."
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 2:36 pm
Dany surprised herself with how grateful she felt to the stallion declining her jewelry. She had so very few possessions that all that she had was dear to her now. Truly, this stallion must have been sent by the gods themselves to see them to safety. For all that he had given them, telling him about her children was a small reward.
"They are dragons, my children, and perhaps the only true dragons left in this world." Proud, she admired how the blazing sun lit up the colors in their scales, making them look like brilliant jewels. "They are the symbol of my family." Belatedly, she realized she hadn't yet introduced herself.
"I am Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of King Aerys Targaryen." King Aerys who had been cut down by one of those sworn to protect him. "My friend is Nicoletta, and she has been a companion to me since before either of us had ever even seen a desert."
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Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 2:38 pm
"It is a pleasure to meet you," said Nicoletta hoarsely from where she still lay on the ground. She felt much better now, but still didn't trust herself to stand. She sat with her head raised from the ground while the dragons quenched their thirst in the water. It was strange, but their savior looked almost like a dragon himself.
Nicoletta squinted against the sun as she examined him. He almost looked like he could be related to the Targaryens himself. He had the same characteristic four horns swept back, and the scaling running down his body to a tufted tail tip. Hazily, she wondered what the odds were of finding a relation of Dany's in the middle of the desert.
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