You thought it was over...

[Lark]

...the garnets were the least of your worries

Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark, mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart

I'm in the details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you out of the cage
I'm a young lover's rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite

It was the kind of night that should have been a good one. It was the kind of night that was warm, but not overly so. It was the kind of night where lovers would sleep under the stars, and children would play in the dark. It was the kind of night, that for so many reasons, it should never have ended up as it did...

Among the shadows a form slid, its expert care to not be seen obvious to none, not that anyone was up save for the sleepy guard or two. Most of the fools did not even need to be bribed, in fact, it was almost too easy. Who would expect such a thing? Certainly none on The Island would. They were soft, protected, weak. There may be killers and rebels in their midst but they forgot them in the darkness they slunk in and out of. No, it was not like other places on Pern where beneath the surface a whole other world coiled and churned.

They were idiots, mere children playing at a game that the adults knew far too well. Beneath their noses things were already being put into place, and all around them it was closing in, but the shadow cared little for the politics behind its meaning. It was here only to do someone else' bidding, and as the inky darkness following the shadow's origin paused outside of a door, it split off. One part waited while the other slipped inside, and the one left flickered to and fro among the candlelight caused by the torches on the walls.

The drudges had yet to come back and extinguish them, and the second shadow mimicked the exotic dance the posed. This way and that the second shadow turned, tendrils flaring out to whisper along the flame's edges. It wanted to play with the bright light, to hold it and love it, to watch it burn and control. A glistening smile flickered as the shadow crept closer to the intoxicating embers....

My songs know what you did in the dark

So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
I'm on fire

Burning! It was all burning!

There was panic all around, the dragon on watch at Apolla hold screamed, cutting the air with its loud trumpet, waking the few that still remained asleep. A few twisted bodies lay among the flames that roared and ate at the tapestries and other organic materials, while live brethren fought against the orange light with water. Sizzling could be heard over the screams, but there was no organization, no anything. There was only panic. Again the dragon on watch called, but this time to the Weyr where it was heard first by its Queens.

Majoriith picked her head up from the sands, coiling her body around her eggs tighter and sending a warning message to Rikula before turning to the Weyr and waking each dragon up.

FIRE! THERE IS A FIRE AT APOLLA HOLD!

Throughout Trelis there were riders and candidates, weyrfolk and crafters and drudges all alike getting ready with buckets of water and buckets of nothing to be filled at the hold. Children cuddled in the nooks of the caverns, the elder ones cuddling the younger and whispering hopeful promises that their parents would return alright. Whatever had caused the flames, surely it was an accident. There was no chance of it being a flame caused by a drought though, there had been enough rain. That was the thought that went through Rikula's mind as she climbed onto a dragon's back taking passengers to the Hold, a bucket in hand. Even if her own dragon could not help, she would try.

At the hold the Holdsfolk were equal parts terrified and helpful, and the riders and Weyrfolk were met with cautious looks. No one knew what was going on, and the Lord Holder finally lumbered over toward the first of the Trelis people to arrive. Noir huffed for breath, the large and tall man aged too much to help much with the physical aspect but trying anyway. His ward, and only heir was already in the thick of it, the young man biting his usual sarcasm away to focus more on aiding those in need. Wiping his brow, Noir shook his head as he spoke softly to the riders who had arrived, telling them that no, he did not yet know what had caused this, and yes they needed the flames under control first.

It was then that he noticed that his little blue firelizard had grabbed onto the tray that had been left by a drudge for his evening meal. He had not even touched it yet, just finishing bathing when it had been brought, and by the time he had finished the fire had started. For a moment he figured he would just let the blue be and let him eat, at least he was staying away from the fire and out of trouble. However, after a few moments, he felt a pang through the bond and then the creature shrieked and writhed in the air before betweening to its death.

"The food...it was poisoned!"

Writers keep writing what they write
Somewhere another pretty vein just died
I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see
That you’re the antidote to everything except for me

A constellation of tears on your lashes
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes
In the end everything collides
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see

[Kitsuneko]

If Laila had ever thought about the way in which she might have returned home, it certainly hadn't been like this. She had been woken suddenly by a scream from the gold on the Hatching Sands, and very quickly, she was getting dressed and being called with other candidates. She managed to hear enough to know that a fire was burning at Apolla Hold and the Weyr were sending whoever they could to help extinguish the flames and care for the injured.

The sixteen-turn-old grabbed a large bucket full of water and waited for a dragon to take her to the Hold. She was desperately trying not to think about what she might find when she got there. Her parents probably weren't in much danger; they lived on the outskirts and had most likely avoided the worst of the disaster; she was more concerned with her siblings and the friends she'd left behind. She barely noticed the color of the dragon that she climbed onto, paying just enough attention to keep from spilling her bucket as she took a position behind the rider, and they went between.

Chaos reigned at Apolla Hold; Laila looked down at it all with sick dread. She didn't see anyone she really knew, but there were far too many withered bodies down there. She did recognize the Lord Holder as he came over to talk with some of the riders, but she didn't pay much attention to their discussion. The fire was still raging, and she wanted to help. Laila rushed to the closest flames, which were steadily consuming a tapestry in the direction of the new arrivals, and threw her bucketfull of water to douse them. She craned her head around, wondering where she could go to refill it and continue dousing the fire. She had no experience or talent at healing; there was little she could do for the injured, but she could at least help to stop the flames.

[Zero]

K’ien was slow to wake; his dreams had been too pleasant, too peaceful. He was reluctant to break them. But the frantic shouting was growing louder by the second, echoing through the halls. Finally with a loud bellow from Hyorinmarth, his dreams came crashing down around him as his eyes snapped open. Fire! Instantly the bronzerider was awake, alert, and scrambling around his room trying to get dressed. Pants, check. Boots, check. Shirt… “Shirt, shirt…where’s the bloody shirt?!” Hyorinmarth roared again and K’ien could see the dragon anxiously pacing the length of his ledge. No time it seemed. No time for riding straps either. Running across the room, he leapt up behind the bronzes neck and tightly taking hold of a neckspike, Hyorinmarth dropped from the ledge and instantly disappeared into the cold of between.

When they popped back into existence, they were over the burning Hold and quickly spiraling down to where other riders and dragons were already gathered. Sliding down from Hyorinmarth’s back, K’ien took in the situation; the word chaos really came to mind. He took note of the flocks of people throwing water on the flames and rushing back to the well to refill their buckets and start again. They seemed to have a handle on the situation, besides he had forgotten to grab a bucket from his weyr in his rush to leave. Go and help bring others from the Weyr. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. Then we’ll see about moving the injured. The large bronze gave an uneasy rumble. Be careful, K’ienMine. The darkhaired man flashed his companion a grin and gave a small, comforting pat to the end of his snout. “I’ll be fine. Now go!” With that he rushed off into the Hold itself, dodging flames and leaping over fallen debris. He had to first make sure no one was trapped inside any burning rooms before assisting with the injured.

[/font]

[taylor]

Kariss was awakened by a bronze firelizard landing on her chest and lightly nipping her neck. She'd been about to swat it off and swear at it a bit, but then she recognized it. This was Bubbly, Rineska's flit. She was up in an instant, throwing off the blankets the second she recognized tones of concern in the firelizard's eyes. Not bothering to get dressed, she sprinted barefoot through the halls, out of breath by the time she arrived at her child's sitter's room. She burst in without knocking to see her child cuddled against the woman's - Heklet's - chest, sobbing her heart out.

"Oh Ness...what's wrong? What happened?" Kariss ran to the side of the bed and dropped to her knees at Heklet's feet.

Rineska pulled herself free of Heklet's arms and twisted towards her mother, almost falling to the ground before Kariss could grab her and pull her tight against her. The girl had had a really bad nightmare, it seemed, in which her mother had died. When she'd refused to go back to bed until she saw Kariss alive, Bubbly had been sent for the candidate.

Just as Kariss was getting her daughter calmed down, the call came out that there was a fire and Kariss needed to go help with it. She bit back a curse, instead pressing a kiss to her daughter's temple. "I have to go, Rineska. I need to help put out the fire at the hold. You'll be safe here with Heklet."

Rineska had just stopped crying and now the tears came back full force. "You're going to die! Mom, don't go! Don't!"

Kariss shook her head. "I'll be okay. I will. I'll come back and you can sleep with me tonight so you don't have any more bad dreams, okay? But try to get to sleep while I'm gone. I love you." She kissed Rineska once more and handed her to Heklet, untangling herself from her daughter's clinging arms and legs. "Take care of her." Heklet just nodded solemnly and Kariss turned and ran back out the door.

She didn't bother getting dressed properly - her pajamas covered her decently and it wasn't like there would be fashion awards handed out at the fire. She did put on shoes, though, grabbing her medical supplies and then ran out to the weyrbowl, flagging down the first dragon she saw. She climbed onto the green with her rider and was swiftly brought to Apolla.

Her expertise was in healing animals, but she wasn't needed to treat complicated diseases or anything. She just had to treat burns and head injuries and such. She could do that. Spotting an area which was clearly being used as a temporary infirmary - people were being dragged over there or helped to hobble, as the case may be - she headed right there. After a brief discussion with someone who looked like they knew what she was doing, she knelt down at the side of a man whose left leg showed significant fire damage. "Hi there. Everything's going to be okay, I'm just going to cut off your pants and fix you up." He groaned, clearly in shock and likely not too present.

She opened her bag and pulled out a knife, carefully cutting the fabric away from the burn and grimacing at the sight of so much charred flesh. This was going to be a rough night, she could tell.

[Akira]

Pandora was thrown awake by the screaming of a dragon. At first she thought it was just a bad nightmare, but then why hadn’t it gone away when she opened her eyes? What’s going on Guar? She could hear people yelling, but her mind couldn’t comprehend what was going on just yet. There is a fire at Apollo mine Pandora, they need our help. There was fear in her brown dragon’s determined voice. It will be alright Guar, nothing bad will happen to us. She started to throw on her gear as she listened to her dragon speak, and made her own reply. At least now she could understand all the yelling and screaming that was going on. But what had happened to cause the fire in the first place?

After she made sure all of Guarximuth’s straps were nice and secure, she climbed up and prepared herself for the trip to Apollo. With an unspoken agreement, the two of them headed for the hatching sands first. We are off to see how we can help at Apollo. Please, help take care of those that returned injured. That was all the female brown rider had to say, fore she couldn’t think of anything else but helping those that were in dire need. Take care mine Queen, the riders and dragons of your Weyr will do their best to help those at Apollo. And with a soft croon, the brown and his rider took to the skies. Guarximuth beat his large wings as he made his way into the skies above Trelis, and with one final call to his Queen, he took his rider Between.

Three heartbeats, three heartbeats of the bitter cold of Between, and the two of them were in the skies above Apollo. Guarximuth landed far enough away from the turmoil so that he wouldn’t be in the way while he let his rider dismount. Pandora quickly patted Guarximuth’s extended leg before running to see how she could help. She didn’t care if it meant flying the severely injured to Trelis, or hauling buckets of water back and forth to try to put out the fire. In the meantime, Guarximuth had gone Between back to Trelis so that he may bring others to Apolla to help. Pandora ran as quickly as she could to where a group of people were gathered who were carrying people further away from the fire, and offered to help in any way she could.

(((OOC: All of my other availible riders are there waiting to transport anyone IC.)))

[Lark]

NPC to Laila

The young man was tired already and he had hardly been working. Some would chalk it up to emotional exhaustion, but right now he didn't have time to worry about that. Shaking his head, the ward of Apolla Hold cleared his throat from the scratching smoke that he inhaled, pausing to look toward a girl who seemed to be a bit lost. She was not one that he knew, but that didn't mean that she was not of Apolla. Heading over to Laila, the ward placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, the well is this way. It's good that you're able to help....this isn't going to be easy."


NPC to K'ien

The old lady was coughing up a lung, and sharding no one could hear her?!? Narrowing eyes and wobbling on unsteady feet, the woman curled inward away from the flames that licked at tables and paintings nearby, giving an almost inhuman hiss as she backed away and into the bronzerider. "Dimglows, don't just stand there when someone needs help. Get me outta here!" Except another voice was quickly joining her own, a little boy pulling on K'ien's tunic with a scared, wide-eyed horror.

"Where's Momma? Where's Papa? Gram-Gram....." the rest was forced to nothing in a fit of coughs as he looked imploringly at the older woman who patted him on the head and then swatted non-to-gently at K'ien. "You going to do anything or just stand around there? Come on, I could have gotten help sooner." Of course with how much she was wheezing and coughing herself only half of her rant was heard, but the message was clear in the tone and look in her eyes. On a normal day she would be stern and full of scolding words, today...no one wanted to mess with her today.

NPC to Kariss

The man nodded his head weakly as the young woman approached him and began to work, though half way through he looked worriedly around them and shook his head just as quickly. "You sh..shouldn't be worryin' 'bout me miss. Others need y'more." The end trailed away partially as he wheezed out a breath, the movement jogging his injured leg and making him wince in pain. Head swimming he struggled to keep conscious, still set on getting the young woman out of the way and out of the danger. There were more people to help, people that were not so close to the fire and ruin.

Rikula to Pandora

The Junior Weyrwoman pulled on the broad shoulders of a man passed out, muscles working hard to drag him out and across the floor. The fire was slowly starting to die out thanks to the efforts of the hold and weyrfolk, but it was still strong enough to be an issue. Looking over her shoulder, the goldrider eyed a familiar shape, and she shouted above the chaos hoping to get the brownrider's attention. "Pandora! I need help over here. This guy's a deadweight, shards!"

Pausing for only a few seconds to catch her breath after her shouted words, she started pulling on the man again, ignoring the grumbling protest that came half-aknowledged from the man through his delirium. Right, he needed out of here quick. Blinking against stinging, dry eyes Riku pushed her shoulder under his, getting his weight partially on her back to be distributed more easily and hopefully with less impact on the man.

Objectives

• Put out the fire (6 posts)
  
• Save the people (4 posts)
  
• Get information about the Poisoning attempt

[taylor]

Kariss tsked, dismissing the man's words. As she spoke, her voice was calm and soothing, like when she was working with a frightened herdbeast or trying to settle an upset Rineska. "Nonsense. You're just as important as anyone else, and your leg needs attention." A lot of attention. In fact, she was pretty sure it was going to need to be amputated if it wasn't expertly cleaned and seen to right now. No pressure, right?

As she started to slather on numbweed, she looked around for a dragonrider. Catching the eye of a greenrider right as he touched down, she called out to him. "Hey! Greenrider! This man needs to be transported to the weyr. He needs to be cleaned up more thoroughly." There was only so much you could do, after all, if you kept him laying on the dirt with ash and embers filling the air and settling down on him.

The greenrider nodded and stepped over to her. "I'm going to do a quick bandaging job and then the healers will see to you better once you're there." The man nodded, barely conscious but clearly working hard to stay awake. "You're being so strong. You're doing great. Just stay with me a little bit longer." As she'd said she would do, Kariss quickly bandaged him. It was good enough to hold the numbweed there and protect the wound somewhat, but it certainly wasn't her best work.

That done, she met the greenrider's eyes and nodded. Silently, he moved to the man's other side and together they pulled him upright. He gasped in pain but let them half-carry him over to the green dragon. Once he was up on her back, with the dragonrider behind him holding him, Kariss stepped back.

As her patient was lifted into the air and taken between Kariss turned back to the medical area. She jogged back to her bag, only to stop as she heard the nearest building give a creak. It was probably going to collapse soon. Logic would dictate that she avoid it and help pull the injured further away from it but...what if someone was inside? Turning and grabbing a bucket of water, she ran to the building, throwing the water on the flames. It was probably too late to save the building or much that was in it, but if she could at least make a little damp path of safety, she could edge in and see if anyone was inside.

As she turned away to fill her bucket again, she heard another groan and then a loud crack. She spun towards the building in shock, only to be struck down. While some of the house was still standing, a major support beam had just snapped, sending part of the roof sliding down. A thick beam hit Kariss' head and the world went instantly black as she collapsed, flaming debris falling down on top of her unconscious body.

[Thorn]

Jisene had jerked upright in the bed when Majoriith roared, and just as fast as she would have been at home when a fire was announced, was out of bed and dragging her trousers and boots on, tying her hair up in a messy knot and dumping her blanket in a bucket of water that had just been shoved in her hands.

Running out to the Weyr bowl, she was just in time to see J'lan and Granzth preparing to leave. Little Galen was tugging on Granzth's leg, however, as best he could, pleading with his father not to go. Without saying anything, Jisene set her bucket down and pulled him away to the side.

"Galen, listen to me now. A lot of very badly hurt people are going to be coming here, and the women in the lower caves will need your help. Can you fetch and carry anything that they might need?" Galen hesitated, and she gave him a quick, light shake. "Answer me, Galen! Can you do it?!"

A tiny nod, and she sighed in relief. She pushed him back towards the tunnels with a smile. "Good lad. Do the best you can, and if your father says yes I'll take you hunting with me in the forest!" She didn't wait to see how his face lit up, instead grabbing her bucket-still with the blanket inside-and grabbed J'lan's hand, quickly climbing up Granzth's leg to sit behind him.

"Nicely done. I thought I was going to have to carry him back in." J'lan's face was tight with worry as Granzth took to the air, his wings beating heavily as they went.

"Best way to distract them is to give them something small but useful. Father used to do it to me all the time." Jisene's face was just as grim as Granzth took them Between.

"By the First Egg's Shell!" J'lan swore at the sight below them, of the collapsing buildings and... the Candidate that Jisene recognized as Kariss underneath one. Granzth immediately dropped into a dive, angling for the building itself, landing heavily, but not so heavily as to knock the two humans off.

Jisene jumped straight down as he started pulling the debris out of the way, dragging the blanket out of the water as J'lan grabbed more buckets and threw it onto the stuff that was burning nearby. With the debris out the way, Jisene rushed in and threw the blanket over Kariss as J'lan roared for someone to come and help them get her to safety, but was stopped when Granzth took things into his own hands and leveled the nearby wall that had been leaning towards them.

J'lan blinked, but then decided not to say anything. Granzth would have made sure that no-one was standing behind it, and it did deal with the problem they'd been faced with until then. With that done, he strode away, knowing Granzth would keep the two women safe from harm-well, as safe as they could be in a raging inferno, at least.

Running up to Noir, he grabbed the youngster's arm firmly as he yelled above the noise going on around them. "Have you seen anyone, anyone at all, that could have started this, Noir?! If you have, we can try to track them down!"

[Kitsuneko]

Laila jumped, startled, when someone laid a hand on her shoulder. It had been gentle, and she had heard someone approaching beforehand, but she had largely ignored the people around her, and anyway, the smoke and crackling from the fires made it difficult to make out details, so she had been taken by surprise. Seeing it was only someone trying to help her, she quickly relaxed and gave him a nod. "Thanks," she said.

She was too distracted to think about who he was, but she decided it didn't matter, anyway. It was unlikely she would have recognized him as the Lord's ward even at the best of times; they were people she had never had reason to speak to personally. He led her over to the well; once it was in sight, it was obvious what it was; she was far from the only person rushing back and forth for water to throw on the flames. True, this wasn't going to be easy, but somebody had to do it. She filled her bucket and made her way back to the buildings that were still on fire.

Laila let out a small gasp of shock when she saw someone struck by a falling beam, and realized she recognized them. Wasn't that Kariss? She was a candidate, too. Others were already rushing over to help her, and Laila left them to it, convinced she'd be of limited use there. Instead, she started throwing buckets of water onto the building itself. If it did collapse further, at least the debris would not spread the fire further. Laila breathed in and started coughing, doubling over, and she nearly dropped her bucket. The smoke was much thicker over here, close to the fire, and the air was thick with it. It was clouding her vision.

[Zero]

Hunched over with a torn cloth pressed against his mouth, K’ien made his way deeper into the burning Hold. He searched room to room but the movement was slow going and rough. Though the deeper he ventured the thicker the smoke became and the harder it was to breathe. Flames licked at his heels and singed the hairs on his arms but still he continued onward. Just a few more rooms, he told himself. Just a few more rooms then I’ll turn back.

So it was luck really that he soon stumbled upon, or rather, was stumbled into by an elderly woman and a young boy. K’ien smiled despite himself at the old womans words. Even in their current situation, as ash and embers fell on them like a sick rain, she still had the strength to scold him for supposedly being late in saving them. “Now don’t worry, I’m gonna get you both out of here. Now here…” The cloth he had been using to cover his mouth and nose, K’ien forced into the old womans hands in the hopes she would take the hint. “It’ll help.” Unfortunately the bronzerider didn’t have anything to offer the boy, but the child was small, he had height on his side, and wasn’t coughing nearly as badly as the woman was. They just might make it out of this.

Only now the rider had nothing to help him breath and that first lungful of smoky, noxious fumes nearly had him retching. Doubling over with hands on his knees, he coughed up black phlegm and blood before a nearby lit tapestry finally burned free of its pins and landed on his bare shoulder. He cried out in pain and frantically shook off the burning cloth. Clenching his jaw against the pain and smell of burnt flesh K’ien grabbed both the kid and the old woman by the hand and headed for the exit. “Move it!”

However, as they inched their way to the exit a sickening crack sounded from up ahead. K'ien swore through the smoke and the coughing. That wall, Granzth so casually swatted aside? Had set off a chain reaction through the hallway the bronzerider and his two companions was currently navigating. Another quivering shake ripple through the walls and then the hallway came crashing down around them. "Shit! Hyorinmarth!" Screaming for his dragon, K'ien forced both the old woman and the child to the floor and tried to shield their bodies, as best he could, with his own.

From outside a enraged bronze bellowed and roared, scattering the frightened nearby holdsfolk. With a growl, Hyorinmarth leapt at the broken pile of rubble Granzth had so carelessly torn down. Snarling, eyes a swirl of red and orange, he began to tear at the bricks with a careful, yet, frantic manner. His was under this mess, weak and hurt, but Hyorinmarth could still feel him. He would get him out. He needed to get to him.

[/font]

[kite]

Screaming, someone was screaming. Malta struggled out of a deep sleep, confused, trying to pull her thoughts into some semblance of order. Her dreams kept tangling with the reality around her, and she roughly pawed at her eyes, as if that could force her to full awareness. The screaming was high and terrified, but it stopped abruptly. In the darkness, she couldn't see Shale's black frame, and he startled her into a smothered exclamation as he flew directly into her arms, tucking his small head into her chest. The screaming had been him, she gathered, sorting through the frantic images he was pelting her with, trying to soothe him with quiet words and gentle hands. Fire. There was a fire.

Malta pushed an unwilling Shale to his usual perch on her shoulder, where he clung with rare disregard for her skin. Battered by the emotions of the dragons all around them, he was very afraid, and very not his usual self. Malta had no choice but to ignore him for now, finding clothes to tug over herself, grabbing an emergency kit to deal with injuries. She always had a pair of these stocked, and after she pulled on shoes, grabbed the other. Someone could use it. Burns were easy to treat.

Running outside, she forgot Shale entirely. There was a confusion of dragons milling in the 'Bowl, and she mounted a Brown who was patiently extending a foreleg, not noticing there was no Rider on him until they were in the air. Had she been less focused on the emergency at hand, she might have recognized Guarximuth as the Brown that had Flown Majoriith and fathered the Clutch she'd be Standing at. Instead, she was distracted by the freezing cold of between; she had not dressed for that, and came out of it shaking against the dragon's warm hide. Ignoring her own discomfort, she vaulted off of the Brown's back with minimal use of his help and rushed into the tangle of people.

Apolla was a horror of chaos and tragedy, lit in uneven splashes of ragged firelight. There were some signs of order, in the people filling buckets and dumping them on the flames, and even a small area seemed to have been set up to cope with medical emergencies, but most of the Hold was incoherent with the unexpected catastrophe. Malta headed determinedly towards the infirmary area, but the sudden anguished roar of a Bronze dragged her attention aside.

A dark-hided dragon with splashes of brighter bronze along his underside was tearing at a pile of new-fallen rubble, his desperation to get beneath it at war with his need to be careful. Malta grasped the situation at a glance and ran to join Hyorinmarth, careful to stay clear of his frantic movements. Her dark eyes scanned the mess critically, looking for the best place to begin, and quickly directed her to a lower area, one that looked to have somewhat less debris. At least the flames had been smothered by the mess, but she had little doubt that there was a Rider underneath all of this, in the same danger.

Malta seized hot bricks and threw them aside, ignoring the sharp edges of the stone and the heat. All but burrowing two-handed, she shouted into the rubble, though she had little hope she'd be heard. "Shout if you can! We're coming for you!" she shouted it over and over, working steadily closer to where the Bronze dug. She knew that whoever was down there was alive, as long as the Bronze was still here. Her gut was a mass of tension; was this minute the one the Bronze would keen and throw himself between in despair, or would it be the next one?

Her dark eyes constantly scanned for signs of movement, and she thought she might have seen something. Redirecting her efforts, she knew she was dangerously close to the frantic dragon. If he didn't pay attention, he could easily swat her to her own death. Somehow that seemed less important than finding the man he sought so desperately. It was a good thing Malta had no time to stop and consider that, for the shock of her own selflessness might have killed her anyway.

[/size]

[Akira]

Pandora quickly ran over to Rikula, and grabbed the man’s other arm and put it over her shoulders so that she was helping the other woman support the man. Why do they always feel heavier than they look?! She groaned slightly as she spoke, cursing herself for not realizing that a man that can’t support himself would be heavier than he looked. Ra had never been a particularly kind person, but she did her best to make sure that she didn’t jar the poor man too much and cause him extra pain than what he had already had to deal with. At least Rikula didn’t have to try and drag the poor man all by herself anymore, and Ra had something to do to keep her mind off of turning and bolting into the fire in an attempt to find anyone else that might be trapped.

Guarximuth was more than happy to take a particularly helpful appearing candidate Between to Apolla, since it appeared that would be all the brown could do. That is, until he heard another dragon roar. He turned his attention then to helping his fellow dragon carefully dig his rider out from beneath a pile of rubble. This was an injustice done to dragon and rider alike, and that was not something Guarximuth could tolerate. He might not have known Hyorinmarth and his rider all that well, but that didn’t matter. A fellow dragon was in distress and needed help, which apparently he found in another dragon and a human candidate. Guarximuth wasn’t helping for any other reason except that he would want someone to help him if he had been in the same situation with Pandora.

[Lark]

Between a few humans and two dragons, as a green settled down to help aid the brown, it was quick work to get K'ien and the other select holdsfolk who had fallen under the debris. Nearby, the ward of Apolla went forward to Laila and Kariss, aiding the former to grab the latter up and out of the ash and smoke. "Careful, a lot of the walls around here are still unstable, follow me exactly." He coughed once before handing the conscious girl a handkerchief to cover her face with so that she would breath in less of the ash.

Alyara pushed her hand through the widening debris toward K'ien, grabbing a hold of the man and pulling along with another who was pulling on her own shoulders to help her. Before they knew it the bronzerider was free, and Avirith was crooning gently to the man's dragon to keep him calm. Rikula looked around at the frightened faces, the coughs ringing through the air like dark bells. The fire had been taken out now, only a few small smoldering flames remained and those were being quickly taken away.

A few people were still being pulled out of the rubble, but even that seemed under control finally. Noir collapsed onto a nearby chair that was still good, eyes dull and glazed over. How could this have happened. His hold was ruined, his people injured, and someone had tried to kill him! Were the rumors true? Could this be...no, it was best not to jump to conclusions quite yet. Gulping, he readied himself for people to come to him, doing his best to help his holds folk at the same time.

Getting off the chair, and handing it to a mother with her children, he headed over to the injured riders, checking over K'ien and Kariss to make sure that they were still okay. "You may want to have them stay here. I don't know much about riding dragons, but someone a trip between doesn't seem a good idea. Could you get more people to the Weyr Rikula? The ones that are safe to travel?"

The gold rider nodded her head and turned to her own weyrfolk, looking at them each in turn. "Alright, get the people that are not too badly injured, or suffering from head trauma to the Weyr. Set them up in the lower caverns and tell the cooks if you see anyone to start making food. It'll be needed soon since we're feeding more in the morning." Looking toward Pandora, the Junior sighed and placed a gentle hand on the brownrider's shoulder.

"Noir, do you have any idea what happened?" The man however just shook his head and was still too shocked to quite properly say anything at all. Sighing, Rikula fanned out to the candidates and weyrfolkthat were there. "I want you all to talk to the holders and look around. Be careful. Try and find clues."

OBJECTIVES

• Put out fire- Complete
  
• Save holders- Complete
  
• Find information (3 clues)
  
• Get holdsfolk back to Trelis (6 posts)

Malta, Laila and Jises and anyone else joining in with candidates/weyrfolk check together or in various directions. I will post with options for your character to do....

Candidates, do you stay together or separate? If you separate, what direction do you go toward?

[Kitsuneko]

Events were still chaotic around Laila, but at least the majority of the flames had been put out, now. Still coughing, the girl dropped her bucket on the ground, now that she didn't need it any more, and she went to check on Kariss and the other injured people, who were still being carried out into the open. That was how the ward found her once again, and she accepted the handkerchief he handed her gratefully. That did make it easier to breathe.

She joined the rest of the candidates and Weyrfolk who had come from Trelis, who were gathered around Rikula and few other dragonriders. She listened carefully to the Junior Weyrwoman and nodded. Looking for information? She could do that. She glanced at the Weyrfolk around her, and decided they could gather information more quickly and easily if they split up.

Laila's throat was still a little sore from the smoke, but she did her best to ignore it as she tried to find some Holders who were still healthy enough to talk to her. She headed off toward the Southern end of the Hold, not checking to see if anyone else followed her. The first people she came across who were not injured or Weyrfolk were a young man and woman sifting through the debris, searching for anything that could be salvaged. "Excuse me," Laila caught their attention with a slightly hoarse greeting. "Did either of you happen to see anything earlier tonight? How the fire started, perhaps, or anything else strange? Was anyone acting suspicious?"

[taylor]

Kariss had remained completely motionless as Jisene and Granzth freed her from the debris and threw a wet blanket on top of her. Blood was oozing out of a gash on her head, wetting her hair down into a crimson matt. If not for the shallow movement of her chest, the pale woman might look dead.

Once she was lifted and moved, however, she shifted slightly. She groaned as she was set down in a safer location, was still for a moment, and then rolled onto her side in a quick lunge, retching. She'd not eaten anything particularly recently, and so nothing came up. Nausea swept through her in waves, though, and she was sure it wasn't going to go away any time soon. The world was swimming before her eyes, blurry shapes and dim shadows fading in and out of existence. She couldn't really see, and that was terrifying to her. She squeezed her eyes shut, as the flickering lights dancing through the shadowy world were making her headache worse. "Anyone there?" The second word was much quieter than the first, as just the sound of her voice was loud enough to hurt. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she almost wished it would just go ahead and get it over with.