Sionnach (closed)

[KieranSoares]

Jani sighed, knowing Riley wouldn't like her answer. "He saw us safely down and left to find Soma and Brogan before I realized what he was doing. I don't know where they are now." She was ready to grab Riley if the young Fox tried to go off searching, but added, "We aren't going to find them in this blizzard. Andre probably won't find Soma and Brogan, but he's stubborn like you."

 

[heartofcourage]

“That bastard.” Riley murmured as she placed her head back down on the ground and closed her eyes. “He knew I’d stop him otherwise.”

 

[KieranSoares]

"Yeah, that's what I figured." Jani sighed again and sat back against Avfairn's side. "Get some sleep. You probably have a minor concussion. Avi said you hit the saddle pretty hard. The boys will keep watch." Pulling her own cloak tightly around herself, she buried her face in her scarf and closed her eyes, but she was too worried to fall asleep.

Come morning, the storm began to blow itself out as a warm front hit, and the freezing sleet turned to warm rain and cast the entire island in impenetrable fog. It was even harder to see than in the blizzard, and the white-blanketed ground made it difficult to find landmarks.

When Avfairn and Marth woke and folded up their wings after shaking ice and water off, Jani managed to get some grass and moss dried for a fire, making a simple breakfast.

"Alright, kiddo," Jani announced when she stood, finishing her food. "I'm gonna get above this fog and see if I can figure out how close to the coast we are. You stay here in case Andre comes back. Don't move- it'll be hell to find you already if the sun doesn't burn off the mist."


At the same time, Sam and Fiona were woken abruptly as Invah moved, sheets of ice falling off her back as she gasped in relief.

"Andre!" She called, blowing a long gout of flame til Gia came in to land by the overhang with a frozen Andre and Soma on her back. Andre helped Soma down, before Andre carefully slid off and landed on one leg, protecting a twisted ankle.

"Found one, lost the other," Andre muttered, nudging Soma forward to his parents. "Ri's with Jani, had a bad landing but they're okay. We lost Brogan in the storm, but he's somewhere along the coast. Not sure if it's north or south of here. We got really badly lost while we were trying to find shelter."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona wrapped Soma up tightly in a hug as soon as she saw her boy. She let out a long sigh as Andre told them that they had lost Brogan again and that Riley and Jani were alright but lost in the fog.

"There's no sense in going back out there right now. Come in and get warm." Fiona said as she ushered both of them into the cavern.

 

[KieranSoares]

Gia approached to join Invah, the two dragons able to share the task of blocking out the cold and making the area inside a little bigger. Sam made Andre sit down and take off his boot, checking his ankle to make sure it was just twisted and not worse.

"Sorry," Andre muttered.

"Don't apologize for gettin' hurt," Sam muttered, wrapping up Andre's ankle to keep it stable.

"No... For leaving Riley. She got knocked out. But I left her with Jani."

"She was secure there. You went t'make sure everyone else was okay," Sam said with a shrug. "Yer a damn fool fer no' talkin' shelter, but I appreciate you tryin' to look after my boy too. Brogan can manage on 'is own okay. He's been through worse weather. It's Dzana an' Sveri I'm worried about now."

 

[heartofcourage]

"They're faster than a normal dragon. I can only hope that they've made it much further south than we were able to." Fiona said as she offered Andre and Soma a portion of their rations. "Riley managed to get hurt in all of this? How did Marth fair?"

 

[KieranSoares]

"Marth lost his balance in flight and I think his wing gave out. He corrected in time but he had a rough landing. Riley got knocked out on impact, but Marth was okay, Andre explained. "Jani said it wasn't too bad, Riley just needed to get her senses back."

 

[heartofcourage]

"She's hardheaded. I just hope that Jani wasn't wrong." Fiona said as she looked over at Soma and drew him tightly against her side. "If either of them are too badly injured, we might be stuck here for a while."

 

[KieranSoares]

Soma didn't mind leaning into his mother's side at all, glad to be getting warm and glad to know they could account for more of their group.

As noon drew near, sunlight suddenly pierced the grey sky and the fog began to burn off. A couple hours later, and the sky looked as if not a speck of rain or snow had fallen, clear and brilliant blue, with the blanket of snow on the island all but melted off.

Just as Sam was getting ready to go out and find Jani and Riley, Gia perked up and said, "I hear someone."

Coming down the coastline, unable to see the other group hidden under the overhang, Avfairn was searching from the sky while Jani occasionally gave a whistle blast in the hopes someone would respond.

Sam stepped out into the open with Gia, signalling back with his whistle and Gia's flame, til Jani and Avfairn came in to land on the stony beach. Jani was out of the saddle in a moment, clearly exhausted with little real sleep the night before.

"Fuck, you people are hard to find," she sighed, stepping up to hug Sam immediately. Looking over to see Soma and Andre there, her shoulders finally seemed to relax. "Alright, so now Fiona and Dola won't hang me for losing their kids... Now I'm just worried about Kate and Rissa."

"No sign of Brogan at all?" Andre asked as Jani came to join them.

"None at all. I've been back a couple times to check on Riley and Marth's been watching out, but no hide nor hair of him and Osman. Either they found a cave I can't see and they're oversleeping or hurt, or they got really damn lost. Of course, there's no way to track them after that storm and the melt."

"I think we need t'get to Riley, set up proper camp, and make ourselves easy t'find. They we can split off in different directions. Brogan may be a good navigator, but he doesn't know Svalbard an' if Osman's hurt, they won't be able t'move with speed. And it'd be damn easy fer a dragon to hit a cliff or mountain or get taken down by a big wave. Tha's my biggest worry- tha' they crashed at speed."

"No point speculating," Soma insisted, standing from Fiona's side. "Andre and Riley can rest, I'll take Gia, and you, Ma, and Jani can split the search with me. If we all spread out in opposing directions, we'll cover the most ground. We'll get camp set first, and head out."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Jani, go bring Riley back here. Let's get as many of us together as possible." Fiona said, agreeing with Soma's plan of attack.

 

[KieranSoares]

Jani nodded, rising and trotting out to Avfairn. It didn't take her long to fetch Riley and Marth, the young Fox already recovering fairly quickly, though she'd be dizzy for a while.

As Jani brought Riley into the cover of the overhang, Andre stood with a limp to meet her. "Hey, you're looking better," he murmured, drawing her in to hug her even though he knew she'd be mad at him.

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm not speaking to you at the moment." Riley muttered as Andre hugged her tightly. "And you know why."

She pulled away from him and moved closer to the fire, her eye swelling shut from where she'd wacked herself hard against the leather saddle when they landed. "Either I'm losing my mind or I could see smoke rising from one of the nearby island. One of the smaller ones that's barely big enough to be anything but a landing spot."

 

[KieranSoares]

Andre turned to look along with everyone else, and Soma was the first out and on Gia's saddle, gone before anyone could stop him.

"Soma!" Sam yelled after him. "Goddammit... Invah, come on." He was up onto Invah's saddle in an instant, looking back to see if Fiona would come, just in case they needed her, knowing wild dragons were about.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Marth." Fiona called, leaving Sam to ride alone on Invah. "You're about to be put through your paces, young one."

She climbed into the saddle and attached the bare necessities of her harness, pushing him into flight behind Sam and Soma. Riley said next to the fire and looked around with a frown.

"What is going on? Why were they in such a rush?" Riley asked.

 

[KieranSoares]

Jani, who'd remained to look after the two injured Riders, sighed annoyedly. "It's your damn brother mostly. He's been trying to take as good care of Bo as Bo's done for him. But from the looks of that smoke signal... it's a damn big fire. It's worth being cautious about. If it's Osman, he's making one hell of a signal."


Gia and Soma were far ahead of Sam and Fiona and their partners, speeding across the water to a small island that was really little more than a few huge rocks sticking out of the ocean. Half the entire outcrop was on fire, the grass and moss burning ferociously alongside the flame signals of the slim black dragon, who was clinging to dry land and looking absolutely exhausted. A half-sheared off horn and broken teeth told of a crash landing, and his saddle's harness points were a bit worse for wear.

Gia came coasting down, scooping up a handful of water to put out the fire so she could land on the little remaining rock, the outcrop only big enough for the two dragons. She quickly inspected Osman and then scooped something out from under his protective stance. It was Brogan, waterlogged and just as tired and beaten up as Riley had been, but still holding it together.

Gia took off again, speeding back toward the shelter with Brogan to get him dry and safe, while Marth landed on the outcrop and Invah landed in the water and coasted up beside it. Osman was draped across the rocks uncomfortably, but hardly caring if it was a hard and uneven surface.

"Good afternoon, your Majesties," Osman greeted somewhat dryly, one eye half-open. "I hope your night was more restful than ours..."

 

[heartofcourage]

“Well, if the both of you had stayed put like you’re trained, perhaps you wouldn’t be in this position.” Fiona said as she climbed from Marth’s saddle and made her way to Osman. “What are your injuries? Do you think you can fly to the island so that we can work on your injuries?”

 

[KieranSoares]

"I can take off and fly, I'm just a little unstable." Osman picked himself up, but protected his right arm. It didn't appear broken, but definitely swollen. "We landed too hard, that's all," he shrugged it off, though he seemed to be a touch dizzy himself, likely having hit his head too. "It won't keep us here too much longer, hopefully."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You're in no condition to fly." Fiona said as she looked over at Invah and then at Marth with a long sigh. "Between all of us, we're going to float him back to the main island. From there, we'll figure out something. Marth, you need to dig deep for this."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I can fly," Osman insisted, unfolding his wings only for Invah to pull him into the water.

"Come along, young one," she scolded as Marth joined them, each on either side of Osman to help him along in case he got dizzy. Invah let Fiona and Soma climb on, and they began the long swim toward shore.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona had a grim look on her face as she and Sam held on for the ride to the other shore. This wasn't ideal and she was itching to get back home with Tati. They had been gone for too long. She let out a long sigh as she looked over at Sam and silently shook her head, knowing that he would empathize with her about the entire situation.

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam wrapped an arm around Fiona as they went, pressing a kiss to her cheek in silent support. Thankfully the surf wasn't too rough and they reached shore nearly a half-hour later. Marth was already exhausted, so the others helped him and Osman to reach a flat space to lay down.

"Bo?" Sam asked as they stepped under the overhang, finding a dizzy, soaked Brogan undressed down to his trousers, letting his clothes dry in the sun while he got warmed up. Like Riley, he had a fair sized lump on his face and one eye was slightly swollen. His nose had been smashed but thankfully not broken, and he'd cleaned the dried blood off his face.

"I'm okay. Bruised, but alright," Brogan answered, sighing as Soma came to inspect him and make sure he was telling the truth. "Soma, I'm good, buddy. I appreciate the concern. Just a little roughed up."

"Shut up. You look after me, so I'll look after you," Soma insisted.

 

[heartofcourage]

“Soma, stop fussing and go take care of Marth and Osman. Osman will need teeth extracted and a good looking over.” Fiona said as she watched Brogan getting annoyed with how Soma was hovering. “Now, son.”

 

[KieranSoares]

Soma sighed and stood, heading toward the dragons. Brogan smiled lightly to himself, and simply curled up by the fire. "Well. We royally fucked that whole night up," he muttered.

"You kids need to learn to shelter in place and not go off getting lost," Jani commented. "Hopefully the weather stays clear long enough for us to recover and get back out there."

 

[heartofcourage]

As Jani laid into Brogan for his antics the night before, Fiona turned from the cavern to go and find Soma. She was livid at her son and did her best to not lose her cool completely. All of them could have died for running around in the middle of the storm in the way that they did. They were lucky that they didn't suffer more than a few bumps and bruises.

"Soma." She called before he could make it to the dragons. "We need to talk."

 

[KieranSoares]

Soma paused, taking a deep breath and turning to face his mother with a neutral expression. "I hope you're not about to start yelling at me for something you would've done if Da wasn't here to stop you," he muttered a bit defensively.