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Sunday nodded at Reet's short recap, snapped her wings downward and stood.

"Kismet, are you alright?" she shouted into the back room.

Things were unravelling before they'd all been ready. It was time to let them all know.

((I'm ignoring walktime and whatnot; Taranis, Pir, and Martina are enough days behind everyone else has it is, and I may as much catch up now as later))

((continued from East (Talking Rock) Lake ))

Taranis dragged himself into the infirmary, and leaned gratefully against the doorframe. He was cold, he was wet, he was sore, and he was utterly exhausted. He'd just gone from (futily) practicing flying, to fighting with Reet, to running all the way from the East Beach to the West Woods, to fighting the Rock, and then jogging from the Lake to the Lairs. Even the best athlete would have been feeling it by now.

He saw Kismet and Sunday standing around a bed, and Kismet was chewing something. There was a dragon in it, but without much looking he just as soon assumed it was Celeste. With some of the wounds she'd taken, she was bound to be bedridden for weeks, the poor girl. Taranis looked at Sunday and launched straight into his report.

"Pir and Martina are safe," he told Sunday, "I brought them back, myself. Reet never laid a finger on them, although something else did--more on that in a bit. First, I wanted to know the latest on Reet and Celeste. Is she okay? Is everyone else safe? How goes the hunt?"

Sunday rubbed the back of her neck, frowning at a spot on the wall. This wasn't a moment she had looked forward too, although in the months that they had been here, she'd never quite been sure of whether keeping her silence or sharing her worry for their future were desireable. You couldn't put the past away, not when it could very well come back to harm you.

"Taranis. You've timed it well. Reet is fine, as you can see, and Celeste is good as new. I think she might be in the hatchery."

She dropped a heavy hand on Reet's shoulder, gently pushing him toward the door as she moved toward it herself, talking to him in a somewhat distant tone.

"No hunting yet, but after we talk with everyone about something important, we'll go to the dead woods, just you and I."

Sunday paused at the doorway. "Kismet, Ivorn put a tracking spell on me, and I've felt for days now that he and the others are near. It's time to let everyone know."

There was a flicker of weary emotion on Sunday's face, fear and affection and relief and pain all at once. "I'm not surprised that you chose to remember."

"Come to the communal fire chamber, all of you, and gather who you can. I have something to show you."

With that, she headed out, first going to her lair to retrieve the chest of scrolls.


((I'm sorry for taking so goddamn long. I'll take this RP straight to the main lair.

Here's something for Kismet, who has already remembered. All of the twenty who had remained behind to investigate the enemy are dragons who had been struck with the madness. They chose to go to redeem themselves, but it wasn't necessary for all of them to go, and some were forced to leave because they were still needed by the group who left for Orchestra. Kismet is a powerful healer, I suppose they thought it best that he went with the group who were to rebuild their society.))

Taranis was dissapointed. Here he'd gone like Sunday had told him to to find Pir and Martina, and now that he was back she wouldn't let him report in. He'd been so proud of himself for being so important, but maybe he was wrong to. After all, wasn't he supposed to be fast when he went to get them? He let himself be distracted by the rock, and it took him longer.

He'd wanted to report in about the rock too, but Sunday didn't seem interested in that either. But then, she was Sunday--she could do all sorts of amazing things, and a talking rock was probably nothing to her. She might even think he was weak for letting it get to him. He tucked his tail between his legs at that thought.

No, he'd still tell her, but later. Maybe she could take on dragon-eating rocks, but not everyone else could. It'd taken all three of them to get away from the rock that one time, and Taranis knew that compared to most dragons he was no weakling. She just seemed to have a lot of things on her mind, that was all.

Now Reet, on the other hand, that surprised him--especially since he'd been expecting Celeste. Maybe it was just him, but Taranis wasn't sure he was ready for Reet being back to his ever-ready-to-hunt self. But it beat the alternative, he supposed.

"I've had enough hunting for one day, Reet," Taranis said, tiredly slouching against the wall at the memory of it. "You may have killed a sea-monster, but today I beat a talking rock."

"Ugh, no killing for me, thank you," Taranis groaned at the suggestion. "I've had more than enough fights to keep me busy for a long time, even without killing."

But Taranis wasn't so quick to let Reet get away with the invitation--he considered it. After all, Taranis had always been so busy digging, he'd always missed out on the hunting on Orchestra. And then even when he had the chance, like at the shark hunt, he'd sat on the sidelines and watched while Reet dove right in. The idea was tempting.

Taranis had never hunted before, but then he'd never mated before either. He'd always heard that mating was supposed to be good, but when he saw Reet and Celeste in the forest... there was just so much... blood! And hunting--no, Reet didn't say hunt, Reet said kill. Killing would mean even more blood...

Taranis shook his head. Reet could hunt all he wanted, but after what he'd seen in the forest, Taranis decided he'd stick to digging for a while. If he had his way, it'd be a long long time before Taranis had any blood on his hands...

"C'mon, you can hunt, er... kill later," Taranis said, making his way towards the door. "Sunday sounded like she had something important to say."

Taranis walked out the door behind Reet. He wasn't sure Reet really cared what Sunday had to say, but Taranis did.

((Just to prove Taranis can make short posts too. xp It's not like I had anything better to add, anyway.))