It was hot and that meant it was probably going to be a busy shift. Heat exhaustion, heat exhaustion, sun burn, even early labour tended to be brought on when the temperature got too much. And all of

#heatwave

Already it had been a warm summer. People had sweated through the Gather, sunburned through the dancing, grumbled quietly about drills in the heat. And then the day dawned that was a step above even t

#heatwave

"Thank you." And T'baran got a quick kiss to thank him for that as well. "I can lend you both clothes. They'll -- well, they might be a bit big but they'll do."

#stabbing

"You're not a suspect." Even Bl'by could squash that one, even with his brain darting about in a panic. "But--but--" He came to a stop for a moment sounding calmer but resolute, conscious that soundin

#stabbing

"I want to go home." Bl'by said under his breath once they were safely heading away. The alcohol that had added to the fun earlier was roiling around his stomach now. Finding somewhere quiet to throw

#stabbing

Bl'by licked dry lips and made the effort to find his voice. "Bl'by. Of blue Traynth. But he can't-- they won't question Traynth, will they?" That question was addressed to Andronda direct and had a n

#stabbing

Bl'by's mouth opened and shut again, but no sound came out. This was how it started, this was where it went wrong, this was the path you headed down which ended in another gold questioning Traynth and

#stabbing

Bl'by hadn't been listening, hadn't really absorbed what T'baran had said before, was not in any way ready for a pair of guards to approach them. It was fortunate that his automatic action if approach

#stabbing

It helped. It helped because T'baran sounded calm and had a clear idea what to do at a point where Bl'by was caught between getting away and pushing back through to find Cuylar. Just..get out, work ou

#stabbing

This time R'tal did turn to her, gently lifting her hand from his arm. "This part is my job," he told her frankly. "I don't get to leave right now. You go - I need to work out what's going on."

It made sense, it just didn't calm Traynth down. He pressed closer against Elphith's side, tail twitching anxiously. ((He's afraid that if we leave yours we might not find him again.)) You fled once a

#stabbing

"Yeah, look - I'd go back to the Weyr if I were you," R'tal didn't seem to realise she was trying to stick with him. "It's-- it'll probably be fine, I need to go find Kass though." It might not be fin

((It's not safe--)) He could feel Bl'by's heart banging against his ribs, hear his rider's background panic, the chant of 'not safe, not safe, NOT SAFE' echoing at the back of his mind. Bl'by might be

#stabbing

"I can't find Cuylar." You couldn't fight Fall if you let yourself lose your head and panic and Bl'by was trying hard to keep his, was trying to act as bulwark to stop the smaller two in front of him

#stabbing

And B'lin had forgotten that his job had been meant to be to fetch Sh'ain, had forgotten it the moment he realised the person hurt was Sina. "What happened?" He wasn't sure if he was asking Sh'ain, th

No-one was keening. That was always a good start. R'tal had stopped when the keening started, head turning as he tried to work out just where Kassia was. He was at the wrong side of the dancefloor was

((No, he shouldn't be there, that's dangerous.)) Traynth's voice had a squeak of panic in it; back in the crowd Bl'by had stopped for a moment, still anchoring V'rex and Andie, to swear quietly and fi

#stabbing

"Getting you there." Bl'by's voice was grim; he was trying very hard to control his own panic right now. "V'rex, get over here." He reached with the arm that wasn't around Andronda to grab V'rex, prac

#stabbing

It was all fun and games right up until someone got stabbed. And then suddenly it wasn't fun any more. Bl'by might usually be the gentlest man you might be likely to meet but he was also big, an he'd

#stabbing

"Bl'by." He grinned at her, slipping his arms around her lightly. "Got a lovely blue somewhere other end of that field called Traynth. Asleep right now though."