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Xira
Tiyanni rubbed her cold hands together and walked into the fields. She smiled, letting the cold winter air hit her face. Winter had come more quickly then usual, probably because of the recent visits of Gyo, the one with that odd gift. She liked freezing the lake over for the kids to slide over, and some had fashioned some sort of shoes out of bones to skid over the cold surface. She was dressed in a long, dark blue cloak, her face pleased. Litayth, why did you want me to come down this way? she asked her dragon again curiously. It was the third month into winter, and the weather had not even given the slightest hint of the spring to come. Instead, it was freezing, so cold that none of the animals came out. At her queen's chuckle, she frowned before walking much more into the feild. They were probably to the east of the Rock Territories, not so far from many villages. She had heard of an escaped criminal, but that didn't bother her. Someone would have to be crazy to attack a Weyr full of dragons!
Just then, she spotted a dark pool in the middle of the snow white fields, and headed towards it. So a plant did live still... she murmured to herself. Upon closer inspection, so saw thin, silky strands of black fanned across the snow... and then she came upon a hand.
"Holy shi---" she stopped, remembering her manners. -You pick up alot from the earthlings!- she bent down to feel the hand, and realised it was rock hard. How long had it been down here?! As she vainly pulled at the hand, snow scattered off a body, and she saw a face. The lips had gone a deep shade of blue, and the face had tinges of blue as well. "Is it... dead?"
No rider, she isn't. She almost is, but she's just passed away...she tried burying herself in snow, don't know what that stupid chit did it... I thought I sensed something out here, but couldn't be sure... come now, one of the healers must be free... you don't want to leave this poor girl out here alone do you?
Xira let out a soft moan when she felt something warm touch her forhead. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she blinked slowly to see a vision blur infront of her. Upon closer inspection, she saw a young girl leaning over her with a warm towel, and her hand snapped up to catch her wrist. The girl let out a surprised squeak.
"What are you doing?" she said softly, her voice hoarse from unuse. "Where am I? Why am I here?" she stopped. "And where are my weapons?!" she demanded. She got up then, then let out a moan when the room seemed to sweep her off her feet.
"Hush now girl... the Weyrwoman found you in the middle of the fields collapsed, she saved you and brought you back here... you be grateful, we know the likes of you, waundering around like that... your lucky that the miss even bothered trying to save you! Your in Ryslen Weyr, and those little shiny objects?" she wrinkled her nose. "I was going to give them to be thrown away..."
"WHAT?!" she bolted out of bed, ignoring the fact that the room had gone upside down, and tried to walk through the door.
"... but I saved them." the woman finished, her eyes just as hard. "Now you sit down and drink your broth. You need to get color back into those cheeks!" she said. "Besides, you don't want to walk around naked do you?"
Xira looked down and realised she had nothing on except for a scrap of towel.
"So, how is our patient?" Tiyanni asked as she walked into the infirmary. She paused to see the healer giving her a disgusted look. "What? You told me she woke up three hours ago... this was the best I could make it!"
The healer wrinkled her nose. "Not at you ma'am." she said. "That chit! Not grateful at all. Why, she should have been left to die! First thing she asks for when she wakes up is for her weapons! What sort of girl does that? Then I feed her broth, and turn my back on her for one second do see her searching for them dangerous things! Had to chain her down and pour it down her throat for all it did! Left her chained down with rope as well." she cringed. "Not the best thing to do to a sick person, but she's mad!"
Tiyanni chuckled at this, and entered the room with a bemused expression on her face. The smile fell when she found that the ropes were untied, and that the girl was dressed in the clothes she had been found in, and strapped on her weapons. She slid the samurai into its original position and tied her hair into a pony tail.
"Surely you must not be well enough to do that." Tiyanni said softly. "You have been asleep for two weeks! You can't expect to make such a speedy recovery."
Xira stilled, and turned. "Thank you for caring for me, but I can take care of myself." she said stiffly.
"Like you did in the woods?" Tiyanni retorted sharply. She stopped. "Its still winter, and will be for a couple of more months to come. You haven't healed yet, so the most you could do is stay until spring."
Xira hesitated. "I don't think you'd want to keep me here that long..." she said softly, and looked away.
Tiyanni looked at the girl, curious. "Yes?"
For the first time, Xira broke down and told her the story.
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