Scala's eyes barely pushed themselves open. Her last thought had been...the Carmors! No...not, not them...this was different. These were here to help...her saviors. But where am I now? The Melcey lifted her head, and nearly put it down again. She knew the world wasn't supposed to be spinning like that...but she had to know where she was. She might be back...with them... Again she tried lifting her head, and after a moment was able to look around. It was like a hospital. White beds lined both sides of the walls with tables and the like. Doctor's tools were everywhere and it smelled of...medicine. And...something...humans? People? Had people found her? Yes...a woman, dark and exotic looking. With the Carmor that...wasn't a Carmor. Down at the other end a woman dressed in brown sat beside another...creature. Looked like a feline halfling. As the amber eyes of the creature met hers, it smiled and motioned to her. The lips moved, but Scala heard nothing...she supposed the halfie was alerting the nurse that she had awakened. "So, you're awake," came the calming voice as the nurse walked over. "You gave us quite a scare, little girl. Well, I suppose you're not little...but you scared us, nonetheless." The woman checked a clipboard, then sat by Scala's bed. Scala looked at her, playing the mute...and the woman laughed. "I know you can speak...you're quite vocal in your dreams. So how are you doing?" Scala's ears drooped a little...and then she settled her head into the softness of the pillow. "Better than I have in many years, quite honestly." The dark haired lady smiled, and nodded. "Such we gathered. Your dreams aren't exactly the happiest of ones. I am Headwoman Ikara, I do alot to help run things around here. Here being Ryslen Weyr." Scala merely watched her. "Yes, well...you, my friend, are quite interesting. We've never seen the likes of you...and I can promise, you'll have many questions to answer, and ask, undoubtedly...but these are for later times. No rush for you to heal. Simply rest..." And the woman smiled as she got up and left. Scala, after giving another glance to the halfie, laid her head down onto the pillow again...and did just that. Scala wasn't bed bound for very long. Her disappearence from the hospital "wing," as she learned it was called, made quite the uproar. When Ikara found her again, Scala got a stern talking to like she hadn't recieved since her cub years. "You've got to let someone know where you're going before you do these sorts of things. You may feel fine, but we're still healing you. And if you go through a dizzy spell, we won't know where to find you to help!" Scala merely nodded...but respected the woman's wishes and from that point on made sure someone knew where she was going everytime she took a trip. So she explored the kitchens and the classrooms. Many people stopped to stare...others merely did a quick double glance and went on their way. Children wanted to "pet the pretty doggy!" and one braver young lady even managed to break away from her mother and toddle over the where Scala sat, warming in the sun. It had taken only a moment for the child to be scratched by Scala's sharp, quill like fur...and run screaming in pain back to her mother. Scala merely offered an apologetic shrug as the woman stormed past, glaring until she rounded the bend in the hall. Quite surprisingly, this "weyr" thing was a busy little hive of activeity. Like Tower, it supported itself, the hundreds of beings who lived within plus dragons (not Carmors, dragons) and "flits" (yay! Off Faidian Neccos! The thought made Scala sick), and who knew what else. It was rather amazing, actually...she had never seen off Faidian techinology working so well it what looked like a primative world. Sadly, though, since her awakening Scala had not met the young woman or the dragon who had brought her to such a place. She wanted to...what, thank her? Yes. She supposed she wanted to thank her, and the dragon. After all, they had saved her, hadn't they? I owe them a great deal... she mused to herself during one of her many treks through the halls. Plus, there were so many questions she wanted to ask them. Like who was in charge of all of this? Ikara had clearly explained she was more like a den mother than an alpha member. And surely that girl, for she was only a girl, wasn't the leader of all this either. She kept hearing the name Prima Jeyann and Primus Ke'l, and assumed those were the two who kept everyone in line. Why she didn't ask Ikara, she didn't understand. The woman was perfectly happy to answer any other questions she had. But there...there was something about this girl who had saved Scala. She was special for some odd reason...and Scala wanted to make sure she saved her very important questions for her. Or...Prima Jeyann, was it? Yes...Prima Jeyann would do nicely too. One day Scala was following a hall which she had never walked through before. There seemed to be so many of them she was almostsure she'd never get through them all before she was ready to leave this place. Leave...the thought saddened her some. This place was so...very interesting...but then again, it wasn't the slave world which she had become so adjusted to in five years. It was...free. And the thought of going back...to possibly be placed into that horrible factory again. Scala shuddered, lost in her thoughts, before she realized there was the scent of freshness in the air. Did this tunnel open to the outside? Scala had never managed to find a tunnel to the outside. Not even the small windows in the hospital wing gave her a good look at the world of Ryslen, and everything else was so deeply packed into this mountainous earth. Picking up a light trot, she made her way onward...blinking back the bright light that shined down on her as she found the door to the hall. And outside...oh, outside it was absolutely beautiful! Snow...a blanket of clear and clean snow had covered everything! She stepped out onto the ledge, feeling the cold melt under her pawed feet, and gave a bright grin. Under her, dragonesses moved and shifted...what were those, eggs? Yes...yes, eggs. Hadn't she heard talk about how there were...several batches of eggs ready to hatch? It was that whole Impression thing Ikara had told her about. A Flurry it was called, wasn't it? Because of the snow...they had dubbed this their Annual Flurry. Lovely, isn't it? said a voice in Scala's head. It suprised her some...not the voice itself, but the fact that it was talking directly to her. Often she had heard the voice of the dragons...sometimes even the flits...relaying messages back and forth. But this...this was meant directly for her. She looked around, trying to find the source...and was drawn up to a ledge several feet above her head. The dark green dragon sitting there seemed to grin, those great wings shifting against the sleek back. Minaeya will be there shortly... it...well, she? She spoke, shifting about some more. I'd join you...but that ledge is a tad too small for the three of us. "And we don't want to crowd you..." came a voice from behind her. Turning around, Scala lifted her dark eyes up to meet the familiar face of her rescuer. "Hello, Scala. I'm Minaeya." |
| Text (c) Jennifer, yr. 2003 & beyond Characters of Faidia (c) M. Janda. Characters of Ryslen (c) Ryslen Weyr. |