Quote:
I started writing this immediately following the Disney/HP hatch when emotions were very high, and never got around to posting it in full due to waiting for a certain cue in the feast thread that never came because we all needed a bit of a break, LOL! I’m actually a little embarrassed to post it because it’s quite melodramatic (hence this note), but it’s meant to be a “Big Disney Number” tribute to the Disney clutch theme and the bosses’ hard work, stress and massive emotional expense for our benefit. ICly, it may not have happened as dramatically as written here and was probably embellished by harpers after the fact. If any of your dergs or humans would be the type to join in, please feel absolutely free to assume they did! heart
Le’x and Brown Kratoth
After watching helplessly from the stands when Karou and Karone had come face to face, witnessing Karou’s terrible rejection and Karone being left standing once again with no dragon at the end of it all, Le’x was almost afraid to seek out his cousin. It wouldn’t be easy to weather the obvious rage Karone was no doubt still feeling, but he knew its source was a twice-broken heart. And he wanted to make sure Kar didn’t hit the tap too hard this time. It had been an accident the time that Le’x Impressed his Kratoth, but he suspected if it happened this time, it would be deliberate.
He found Kar in the candidate barracks, sitting on his cot with a piece of parchment in his hand. He was staring off into the distance, so lost in thought that he appeared not to notice Le’x standing right in front of him until the brownrider actually touched his shoulder. The look in Kar’s eyes was less angry and more forlorn than he’d expected… almost devoid of emotion.
“You okay?”
“I’ve… I’ve got something I need to do. At the feast.”
Le’x’s brown eyes flicked down at his cousin’s sand- and blood-stained candidate robe. “Uh… you might want to change first.”
Kar looked down at himself and started as if noticing his ruined clothes for the first time. “Oh. Yes. I guess I should do that.”
So it was that, after a few minutes of dressing and freshening up for Kar, the two boys entered the dining hall together. Le’x followed his cousin as he quickly moved into the crowd, clearly on some sort of mission.
Karone
There was one Harper he knew of who could help with this. One who was always at events, who always carried his gitar, who seemed to be gifted with improvisation. He was unusually difficult to spot this time, for all the brightly-colored clothing and general cheer he was known for. So Kar began looking for the pale woman Ink, whose white skin was practically a beacon in a rainbow of gather finery. Ah. So that’s why Lucayr had been so hard to find. He was dressed in dark, muted colors today, his face far less lit up with mirth than was his custom.
The tall Harper bent to listen to the candidate’s whispers, his golden eyes going bright with somber delight at the boy’s request. At Lucayr’s firm nod, Karone turned to his cousin. “Le’x, we’re going to need Kratoth, too.” Then the three of them left the feast together to find a quiet place to prepare.
—————
It was a little over an hour before they returned to the celebration, the three males milling about the hall until the gathering around gold Fianth, blue Krahsujunth, and their lifepartners had grown small. They went out to the bowl to collect Kratoth, then waited patiently until the opportunity came for Karone to approach Fianth to offer his regards and condolences for what had happened to her precious green daughter. His heart broke to look at her; she seemed so, so tired.
The diminutive boy was so small next to her bulk that if not for the somberness of the occasion it might have seemed almost comical, his bowing so low before the golden queen. But this was anything but funny to him; his face was solemn as he craned his neck to meet her gaze, the scrap of parchment still clasped in his hand. “A special request for you, Queen Fianth.”
Then he began to sing, his voice airy and delicate as a downy feather.
With great care, Kratoth reached out to Kiri, K’din and K’ell wherever they were in that moment. Very softly, he began to transmit the song he was hearing to them, ready to withdraw instantly from anyone who might reject his touch.
Remember me
Though I have to say goodbye
Remember me
Don't let it make you cry
For even if I'm far away, I hold you in my heart
I sing a secret song to you each night we are apart
Remember me
Though I have to travel far
Remember me
Each time you hear a sad gitar
Know that I'm with you the only way that I can be
Until you're in my arms again
Remember me
Though I have to say goodbye
Remember me
Don't let it make you cry
For even if I'm far away, I hold you in my heart
I sing a secret song to you each night we are apart
Remember me
Though I have to travel far
Remember me
Each time you hear a sad gitar
Know that I'm with you the only way that I can be
Until you're in my arms again
Remember me
Already a few dragons had begun to hum softly along with the boy by the time he’d sung through the second verse. A few warm strums from Lucayr’s gitar, and Kar went back to the first verse to begin again. Now familiar with the melody, the dragon voices swelled and nearly drowned him out, their telepathic harmonies linking from everywhere in the weyrbowl.
With so many voices drawing the attention away from his own, Karone felt free to shut his eyes and sing for himself, the pain of his own losses and loneliness surging up from his heart. His home. His brothers. His father. The emptiness of being left standing, of witnessing the loss of both a dragon and a fellow candidate… of being separated from Karou a second time after believing he’d been dead for so long. He stood straight and tall until the final high, clear note, dozens of echoing mental tones swirling and blending around it like a rainbow of colors in a dragon’s eyes.
When it was over, the boy broke down into raw, stomach-wracking sobs, bending almost double before slumping to his knees.
K'rou and bronze Cadereth
When he saw his brother heading out toward the bowl with Le’x and an older man, K'rou excused himself and followed with Cadereth at a distance, stopping just at the mouth of the tunnel that led outside. He stood with arms crossed and a shoulder leaning against the stone wall, watching as the event unfolded.
As the final notes faded and his brother fell to his knees, he turned his face toward the wall, concealing it in shadow.
There was something going on inside his rider and in the thoughts of others in and around the bowl that Cadereth found himself unable to scoff at, though he had no desire to concur. Instead, he curled himself about K'rou's legs, waiting in yellow-eyed silence until the man would be ready to move again.
The lyrics on Karone's parchment had been purposely scrawled as if written by a small child, but somehow, he'd still known who'd written them... and he'd done with them exactly what the writer had hoped he would.
”Uta”
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”Mr Cheri
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”ShinosBee"
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