The Wake II (was: [RP] The Dark Tide: Distress Signal!)
Rasha
<reposted--I know Rexalc saw these, but have no idea if anydrak else
did, outside of the Dark Tide e-mail.>
As she hovered above the gathering, Rasha felt a wash of conflicting
emotions buffet her like a colorless aurora. These were her true
siblings--not the scaly worms she had been born with in her current
lifetime, the vicious insensitive brutes who she could never accept as
companions or equals, but the dragons who she should have grown up with,
known for hundreds of years, supported in difficult times. She felt a
deep love for all of them welling up from within herself. If she hadn't
died...but that speculation was useless, for there she was, with the
human companion who should not have taken her along when she passed.
Suddenly, Rasha experienced a surprisingly strong pulse of resentment
against Erin, who had locked her into a link which she could not escape
in this distant past, and dragged her, bodiless and still a child, into
the strange existance she lived in now. But the anger faded, to be
replaced by a weary warmth. How could she hate the being who was her
life-partner, in this lifetime and who knew how many others? It would
be like hating your tail, or your wings.
By some unseen signal, the dragons in the inner ring all raised their
heads at once, looking at each other. Then they turned to Ly'Tarin, who
rose up to stand. Leaf and Manorranth let her go, and she stood
unaided, taking a deep breath.
"As all of you know, we are here to mourn the passing from this life of
my daughter, Firelight," she said, looking down at the pair on the rock
before her. "I'm sure you are all aware of the circumstances of her
death...that she was linked with a human companion, but for some reason,
that link was too strong. Instead of surviving the loss of her
companion, mourning, and moving on, as is normal, Firelight was taken
with her. Though her companion had a full life, and a very long one for
her species, Firelight was fatally crippled and died while still a
child..." She stopped for a moment, closing her eyes to steady herself,
then began speaking again, this time with a slight quaver. "Most of you
have experienced this bond, and the passing of your companions. You
know it is unusual to have their passing affect you so strongly that you
are dragged into death after them. Unsual, but not completely
unexpected." A ripple passed through the circled dragons, as they
reacted to Ly'Tarin's statement, but she gave them no time to think
about what she had said. "I was very afraid that this would happen,
though I did everything I could to prevent it. But ultimately, I must
take responsibility for her death. I am the one who made their link so
strong; I am the one who made the decision to allow their spirits to
unite, knowing full well that this was one of the dangers they faced."
She bowed her head again, and this time the assembled creatures were
absolutely still. Leaf and Manorranth glared around them, daring any
dragon to challenge Ly'Tarin. "If I had let this human die, at the time
appointed to her, I would not have lost my daughter so young." The
golden dragoness looked up, half defiant, half pleading.
Now the murmuring began in earnest, and some of the dragons stared at
Ly'Tarin angrily, growling under their breath. But before the muttering
could find a focus or a voice, an ancient dragon, huge and stately,
lumbered foward through the rings. On her back was a lithe, dark woman,
holding one of the elder dragon's neckspines. The dragon settled her
massive, deep red bulk just outside the innermost ring, and raised her
head. Although her gaze was somewhat timeworn and bleary, every dragon
who caught it turned away.
"Ly'Tarin, with the help of her mate, did indeed allow this human to
bond with her daughter, still in the egg, to save the human's life," she
said in a clear, deep voice that seemed to make the stones tremble.
"And I do not doubt that she knew that the bond was stronger than it
should be. I also do not doubt that she did everything she could to
save her daughter." The dragon paused, staring around the company.
"This," she gestured at the two creatures coiled on the rock, "is her
loss. Do you not think it punishment enough?" Her look became more
intense, picking out individuals. "Do you perhaps think that it was
wrong of her to love a human, who she had barely met, so much that she
was willing to risk sacrificing her own child? That you should censure
her, or forbid this act from ever taking place again?" She craned her
head around, ponderously, to look at the human on her back, and smiled,
a radiant joy that was echoed in her companion's face. "They teach us,"
she said, and now her voice was the quiet rumble of approaching
thunder. "They care for us in ways in which it can be difficult for us
to care for each other. They humble us, without which we would become
too proud. Their frailty gives us strength. Their loss forces us to
mark the passage of time, to cherish, to remember. And our love for
them helps us to be the truly noble creatures we are." The dragon
looked around the circle one more time, and now the dragons who had
muttered the loudest shuffled their feet and fidgeted their wings. "I
think that, rather than considering judging, we should do what we have
come here for--to remember a life that has passed. Two lives. And
honor them both."
With that, the dragon sat back on her haunches, and rose into the air,
towering above the other dragons as she extended her neck and sang. One
pure, almost impossibly deep base note vibrated through the gathering.
Moments later, other notes joined it, as each dragon contributed their
own tone. Somehow all the seperate sounds blended together until the
chorus was a single, static melody. Then Ly'Tarin began to chant, and
the tones began to dance and sway, the music swooping in amazing spirals
and patterns, always underscoring the sound of the golden dragon's
voice.
Listening to this glory, Rasha knew that her mother, from a lifetime or
more ago, was chanting her name...and, woven into that chanting, was the
litany of a mere human who had shared her life. It was unprecedented,
the first time that anything of the sort had happened, but all the
dragons lent their voices to the song. Rasha felt as though her heart
would burst, or tears would spring to her eyes, but she had neither
heart nor tears. Instead, she began to soar closer. For a moment she
was terrified that her journey was taking her into the body of her dead
self; Rasha knew that she would not want to return to life in such a
way, and struggled. But then her path turned aside, and she found
herself looking at the black, silver-spangled dragon who she now knew to
be her brother Midnight. As she stared, he blinked, and looked around,
startled, hopeful, and grieving. But before he could do more than that,
she dropped like a stone, into nowhere, falling through empty blackness
again...
...and then she broke through.
--
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
......... ...and Erin Lynn, Beleagured Typist
\ / \ (Tested at 76% Dragon Pure!)
/|\ / Rasha \ \
/ | \| the \ \ / "Roads?
/| | | Really ( |/ Where we're going, we don't need roads."
/ | | _| Real | 0| ~ Doc, Back to the Future
| | |/ | Red | |
| |/| | Dragoness | @| "Verbosity leads to unclear,
|/| V \ (TM) \ \/ inarticulate things."
| V \ _____\\ ~ Vice President Dan Quayle
V \_______/
DC.D f+ s++ h++ CR^K a- $ m d+++ WL++* Fr++^ e+++ g- i!
ENFP CDC SDS L<14>f <4.25>m BF Harshanna Listkeeper
Adopted Daughter of Karrie and Naz
<dragon*SPAMLESS*@nwlink.com> Remove the obvious...
Dragons on the Web! http://www.dragonfire.org/
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~