[SRP] Moving Day (R'bin, Huarangith, and Reya)

[Princess_Feylin]

As Huarangith reappeared from the cold of between, R’bin shivered. Although he had been born and raised in Rivercrest, they had not appeared directly over his childhood home. The dragonrider pair had wanted to do so, but as it turned out, R’bin had no memories of his home from above, and it was too dangerous to try to give Huarangith a memory of home from the ground. If anything had changed, or if someone happened to be standing where Huarangith appeared, bad things could happen. Not to mention, they might accidentally end up somewhen else, which was absolutely not the goal. Instead, they arrived in the usual place for dragons arriving to Rivercrest and flew from there to R’bin’s childhood home.

Below, Huarangith could hear the excited exclamations as he flew overhead. He knew that his ruddy underside, seen from below, could be confusing, although at present he was probably too high up to be seen as anything beyond a silhouette. That was rapidly changing, though, as he and R’bin zeroed in on the stead where R’bin had grown up. It would be a tight squeeze, landing there, Huarangith observed, but he was almost certain he could do it. Getting aloft again might be more of a challenge, considering the mighty downdraft his wings would produce, but that was definitely more of a problem for Future Huarangith.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Despite growing up there, and having moved back to her parents’ home in recent turns, Reya had not found that she’d had a great deal to pack. She had never been an especially sentimental person, and was reluctant to cause her brother and his dragon to make multiple trips just to transport things which probably wouldn’t fit into his weyr at the Weyr anyway. It helped that she’d been ridding herself of possessions since R’bin agreed to bring her and Eridan to live with him at the Weyr. She had sold as many as she was able, and those she could not get marks for she traded for goods or services which would benefit her parents after her departure. Doing so had left her better off than she could ever remember being, which was a heady feeling.

Eridan struggled to free his hand from her grip as he shouted a shrill greeting to his uncle and his uncle’s dragon. With his free hand he waved furiously. Reya kept her grip firm. Her son was a slippery four-turn-old boy, and entirely too accustomed to doing as he pleased, courtesy of her parents’ minimal supervisory style of childcare. She did not want him to be inadvertently crushed by Huarangith, who was clearly working very hard to maneuver himself into the limited space in front of her home. The matter of crushing became more perilous when the dragonrider pair momentarily vanished and then reappeared on the ground, the brown quickly folding himself into the smallest dragon he could make himself.  

[Princess_Feylin]

“Reya! Eridan!” R’bin called down to his sister and nephew while Huarangith underscored his greeting with a warm rumble. “Where are Mum and Da?”

As if summoned, his parents emerged from the house, dragging sturdy canvas sacks stuffed with what seemed mostly to be soft materials. His father carried one in each hand, and his mother a single sack in both hands. R’bin noticed that Reya had a satchel slung across her chest, in which he assumed she had her most valuable or breakable possessions, and Eridan wore a double-strapped pack on his back with a stuffed toy thrusting out of the top.

Before R’bin could dismount, Eridan finally broke free of Reya’s hand and flung himself toward Huarangith, only to draw up short and stare in wide-eyed wonder at the comparatively enormous beast, easily the largest living thing he had ever seen. R’bin took advantage of his distraction to unbuckle his riding harness and slide down Huarangith’s leg to dispense hugs and greetings. He scooped up his nephew on the way over to his sister and parents, astonished at how much the boy had grown since the last time he’d seen him, several turns ago.

“Is this everything?” he asked, eyeing the three large sacks. Surely it couldn’t be everything. Didn’t women usually need more things than that? And children were supposed to require heaps and heaps of things. It seemed his frantic cleaning of his weyr might have been for naught - everything might have fit if he’d left it as it was.

It wouldn’t have, Huarangith pointed out. It’s good that you cleaned. It will make your sister feel better about having her child there.  

[Princess_Feylin]

“I didn’t know how much space you’d have,” Reya explained after returning her brother’s hug and reclaiming her son. She managed not to sound accusing, even though that was often how her tone came across. “It’s mostly clothing. I figured that would be the most troublesome for you to get at the Weyr.”

She hadn’t yet thanked her brother. She should. It was just that she really hated that she was in a position where she had to rely on him - or anyone, really - for such a huge favor. Her mouth opened as she prepared to do so, but at the last minute she shied away from it and crouched down beside Eridan instead.

“Isn’t Uncle R’bin’s dragon handsome?” she asked her son, pointing toward Huarangith. She’d gone back through the letters her brother had send just after Impressing the dragon to make sure of the name. Since dragons don’t write, she had no idea how R’bin had settled on the spelling, but he certainly hadn’t given any thought to how easy it would be to pronounce based on reading.

“Mm...Why’s he red? Are there red dragons?” Reya sighed inwardly. It would have been too much to ask for Eridan to simply agree and ask his name.  

[Princess_Feylin]

“Not much room,” he admitted, as he relieved their mother of her sack, “but I think everything will fit if this is really everything you’re bringing.”

Do you want to take this one? R’bin asked Huarangith. The dragon made a soft “mrrf” to indicate that he did not.

“His name’s Huarangith,” R’bin answered. “And he’s actually brown. It’s just he’s eaten a lot of badly behaved little boys this morning, so his underside’s all bloody.”

When Eridan’s eyes grew much wider and filmed over with tears, R’bin realized he’d gone too far, and that the child had not realized he was joking. “Hey. Don’t worry. He doesn’t really eat people. Dragons never hurt humans.”

Behind him, Huarangith made a “hrm” that gently pointed out that, in fact, dragons did sometimes hurt humans, but R’bin ignored him. After all, it was rare. Very young dragons, fresh from the egg, could be dangerous on their way to find their bondmates. And dragons that are very afraid or in a great deal of pain might accidentally hurt nearby humans, but basically dragons never hurt humans.

“Actually, see how his eyes are green? That means he’s in a good mood and he likes you. Any dragon with blue or green eyes is a happy dragon. If you see a dragon whose eyes aren’t blue or green, give them some space.”  

[Princess_Feylin]

Reya barely stopped herself from scolding her brother for scaring his nephew. Instead she reminded herself of the favor he was doing them. The enormous favor he was doing them. And she also stored away the information about dragon eye colors. She did remember now that Huarangith’s eyes had been a deep garnet color when he R’bin brought him along to threaten Joha to keep away, and made a mental note to learn what all the eye colors were and what they meant.

“Huarangith helped us before when you were very little and Joha tried to steal us away,” she told Eridan. “And he fights Thread. He’s a hero-dragon. And you’re going to get to ride him as soon as we get our bags tied on. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

She directed a smile toward the brown dragon. It was easier, somehow, to offer thanks to a dragon than to a human. Perhaps because dragons existed to protect humanity, and so being helpful was simply a fulfillment of their purpose, rather than a favor. It was a relief when Eridan offered Huarangith a watery smile to the large creature as well, and more of a relief when Huarangith didn’t return it. She doubted that the sight of all those sharp teeth would make a good impression, and obviously the dragon shared her reservations.

“Can I help?” she asked as her brother returned for the first of their father’s bags.  

[Princess_Feylin]

I’m a hero-dragon, Huarangith repeated in R’bin’s mind, deeply amused by the designation. Did you hear? I’m a hero.

Huarangith did his best to hold still and look unimposing while R’bin climbed over him, securing satchels which were much lighter than they looked. Compared to the firestone he was accustomed to carrying, bundles of clothing felt like nothing. Of course, he would soon be taking on human passengers, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done that. R’bin had had to ask another rider about modifying harnesses to accommodate extra riders and children, guessing that his sister would demand every precaution.

Thank you for saying that, Reya, Huarangith said to R’bin’s sister. She jumped at his mindvoice, and he wondered if perhaps he’d made a mistake in not speaking to her though his human instead, but if they were going to be sharing a weyr, he thought it would be more expedient if everyone just spoke to everyone else. I’m sorry it was necessary.

In truth, he didn’t really remember much about the episode, it was so many turns ago, but R’bin remembered it well, albeit through a haze of fury. He could remember it via R’bin’s memories, if he cared to, but he really didn’t care to. Huarangith did not like to think of himself as a dragon to be feared. He would much rather make friends and have a good time.

“I think that’s everything except our passengers,” R’bin said aloud. For a moment Huarangith wondered why he’d announced that verbally, rather than in mindspeech, but then the dragon remembered that R’bin couldn’t address his family that way. “Reya?”  

[Princess_Feylin]

It took Reya a moment to realize that the hand her brother was holding out was to help her onto his dragon. She’d never ridden on a dragon before. She’d never ridden on a runner before. The enormity of what she was about to do dawned on her very suddenly, and she nearly had to take her brother’s hand to stabilize herself just standing. Eridan seemed to have overcome his trepidation about the dragon and was tugging on R’bin’s tunic, asking if he could get on first.

“Sorry. It’s got to be your mum, hatchling,” R’bin said, continuing to proffer his hand. “She’s going to need to help you strap in up there.”

Reya took a deep, steadying breath, pushed a curl out of her face, and placed her hand in R’bin’s, aware that it had been more than a decade since she’d done so. More than two decades, possibly. She’d never been one for hanging onto hands as a child, and R’bin hadn’t been much for dragging a kid sister around with him. As her brother hoisted her up with far less difficulty than she’d expected, she murmured an all-encompassing, “Thank you.”

The smile on R’bin’s face at her thanks made her think that he’d understood she wasn’t just thanking him for the hand up, and somehow his smile brought out a smile in her, too, which she directed toward Eridan, who looked as if he was beginning to have second thoughts about all of this.

“Everything looks different from up here,” she called down to him as he watched the goings-on with suspicion and squirmed in his grandfather’s arms.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Strapping his sister onto Huarangith was an odd thing for R’bin. He had never been a searchrider, and so had minimal experience in carrying passengers, so he was nowhere near as quick as he would have been with his own harnesses. When he went back to add his squirming, nearly-five-turn-old nephew, he went even more slowly, even though this meant that Eridan had ample opportunity to attempt to squirm out of the harness. R’bin did not want to make any errors when it came to securing his tiny nephew, who was much smaller than any candidate searched would be, and for whom there simply were no ready-made harnesses.

Finally R’bin strapped himself in so that Eridan was pressed against his back, sandwiched between the two adults. “Hold on,” he instructed both relatives firmly. “I mean it.”

He could tell that Reya was taking him at his word, locking her arms around Eridan and then tucking her fingers into R’bin’s belt. Eridan was still trying to get a look at everything, since this was the highest he’d ever been from the ground. His heels drumming on Huarangith’s hide were clearly beginning to bother the dragon though, who shrugged his shoulders and made both passengers gasp.

Eridan! Can you count to twenty? Huarangith asked as R’bin gave the signal for him to rise. He sensed the boy’s awe and his nod. I bet I can get you to the Weyr faster than you can do it quietly, in your head, if you start after we’re in the air.  

[Princess_Feylin]

When Huarangith shifted suddenly beneath her, Reya nearly swallowed her own tongue. It had been a struggle to hold Eridan while her brother strapped him in, but she felt certain that the harness would hold, and having him pressed between her and R’bin did more to ease her mind. Her son would not fall off this dragon or be lost to Between. It was harder to convince her body that she was equally safe when the brown dragon gathered his legs beneath him and launched himself vertically, only to immediately sweep his wings downward with powerful strokes that propelled him above the rooftops.

Aloft, she wanted to marvel at the sight of Rivercrest laid out beneath her like a map, but R’bin and Huarangith seemed to have other plans, for no sooner had they cleared the rooftops then R’bin called back a warning to hold her breath, and everything vanished around her. She could no longer feel the heat of Huarangith beneath her, nor her fingers trapped between R’bin’s belt and his tunic. Most frighteningly, she could not feel Eridan within her arms, and so, forgetting that she was supposed to be holding her breath, she cried out for him, only to realize that she could not hear in this cold, grey place either.

“Eri! Eridan!” she sobbed again with the last of her breath as they burst into the sky above Western Weyr.  

[Princess_Feylin]

He is here! He is here! Feel him in front of you, Huarangith insisted to Reya, whose panic more or less drowned out his attempts to soothe her while they were Between. Only when the sun struck them again and the last syllable of her son’s name escaped her mouth did he sense her panic subside.

“What’s going on?” R’bin asked, reaching back to make sure both passengers were still there. One chubby child, babbling something about fast. One sister, completely rigid and sobbing. Wonderful. “Seems like everyone’s still here.”

You didn’t warn them about Between, Huarangith said reproachfully. She was afraid she’d lost her son. We should make it right somehow.

R’bin gave the mental equivalent of a headshake. Best not to call attention to it. Reya doesn’t like people to see her upset. You wait, she’ll be acting as if nothing happened by the time we’re on the ground.

Huarangith gave the impression of skepticism, but didn’t argue. Instead he bugled a greeting to his siblings sunning themselves and began a much more leisurely descent than he’d been able to manage at Rivercrest. It was a relief to be somewhere dragon-shaped.  

[Princess_Feylin]

The Weyr was an appealing-looking place, Reya had to admit, and their slower descent gave her time to recover herself and appreciate the view, but inwardly she was fuming and forming the beginnings of a righteous scolding for her brother’s failure to warn her.

“Everyone’s here,” she confirmed. “Did you know it would be like that, by any chance?”

Eridan was squirming again, trying to reach into his knapsack to grasp his toy firelizard’s soft tail, possibly for comfort, possibly to drag it out and show it the sights. She tightened her grip on his waist and hissed at him to sit still. She was not laid back like her parents and brother, and she had been pretty thoroughly frightened, although she was reluctant to admit it. This meant, in her opinion, that she could be excused for being a little sharp tempered.

It was only as Huarangith neared the final portion of his descent that she thought to check on her own satchel, hanging over her right thigh. It seemed to still be in place and intact, with nothing lost, but she would have to check more thoroughly once they landed. She’d stashed most of the marks she’d made selling her possessions there, along with a folio of precious paper and a boiled leather box of writing implements. She wasn’t sure if there would be any opportunity for her to put her accounting skills to use at the Weyr, but she wasn’t going to be parted from her supplies, just in case.  

[Princess_Feylin]

“Sorry,” R’bin said. He didn’t want to get into an argument with Reya right this minute. He’d rather not get into an argument with her at all, to be truthful, but if he could put it off long enough, there was always a slim possibility she’d forget.

You don’t really think that, Huarangith told him, reading the thoughts behind R’bin’s thoughts. And I think you owe her a better apology than that.

R’bin nodded and began to unbuckle his harness while Huarangith brought them down to the ground. He was so used to this part of being a dragonrider that it didn’t occur to him that what he was doing might seem dangerous to someone else until he heard his sister’s sharp intake of breath. Since she couldn’t see his face, he felt free to scowl briefly into the air, but he paused in his unbuckling until all four of his dragon’s feet were on the ground and his wings had stilled.

As soon as he could, though, he twisted around and released both Reya and Eridan’s harnesses, then slid down Huarangith’s side to land with an easy thud on the sand. He held his arms outstretched in an invitation for someone to follow him down, fully expecting it to be Eridan, but his nephew shook his head resolutely, so R’bin shrugged and directed his gaze to Reya with an apologetic smile.

“I’ll catch you,” he promised.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Reya had been watching R’bin, and also receiving some secret mental instruction from Huarangith. At her brother’s promise to help her, she cast him an arch look and mimicked his motions fairly closely to slide down the dragon’s brown hide and land unaided. Her tunic had ridden up in the back while she did so, and her leggings had buried themselves halfway up her rear, but she had dismounted by herself.

“I’ve got it,” she informed him once she stood on her own two feet. A part of her wanted to let Huarangith support her weight just a little longer, because she felt a bit shocked by everything that had just happened, but she was too proud for that.

She held R’bin’s eyes just a little longer before turning around and opening her arms for Eridan. “Come on, Eri.”

He shook his head, still unwilling to leave his perch. She could definitely understand that. To be honest, it had been exhilarating to fly, as irritated as she had been with R’bin at the time, and she hoped she’d have another opportunity when she wasn’t feeling peevish. Even so, her son could not live on her brother’s dragon, and they still had to move their belongings to the weyr.

“Eri,” she called warningly. “Now.”  

[Princess_Feylin]

It impressed R’bin the way his nephew seemed able and willing to stand up to his mother. Being eight years her senior had more or less rendered R’bin immune to her disapproval, but there had been times when she’d been so authoritative, even as a child, that R’bin found himself complying with her directives, which often involved cleaning up after himself when he didn’t feel like it, or taking her somewhere he wouldn’t have otherwise gone.

R’bin, Huarangith sent to him. Get the child down, and the bags. Quickly.

R’bin glanced up at Huarangith, startled by the urgency in his tone. Even his eyes had changed from their usual placid green. As he surveyed his nephew and the luggage and the dragon, R’bin realized why Eridan was so adamant in his refusal to move, and he found himself biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to hurt.

“Rey,” he murmured, close to his sister’s ear. “He wet himself. I think he’s too embarrassed to come down, but you really need to get him down. He’s upsetting Huarangith.”

Get him off me, Huarangith repeated, distressed by the sensation of warm urine seeping down his side. This isn’t funny!

It is, a little, R’bin replied as he began removing sacks of items, doing his best to avoid his nephew, who had begun to smell like what he’d done. For that, Huarangith shifted so that R’bin and Eridan ended up rolling down his one side. Instinct kept R’bin beneath his nephew, protecting him, but also earning him a piss-stained tunic.