Sinister Whisperings

[**Auria (etc)**]

Baryn, cowl pulled as always over his face, wandered the darkest and most narrow corridors, Bask as always by his side. The bronze wher was growing at an amazing rate, his handler certain that young whers must grow even faster than dragonets. He ate almost constantly ... and Baryn was quick to note that meat stations had been set up in the Wher Caves, as well as in connecting corridors between those half-finished, dank niches and the lower caverns of the main Weyr.

The discovery had brought him a smile. The drudges apparently didn't want the whers visiting the populated regions for meat all too often.

His intent was still, eventually, to leave this place with Bask, and return to the life he'd known. With a wher to lead him through the darkest places, he would have access to halls and holds that he'd never been able to pilfer before, and his standing amongst the hidden nefarious societies of Pern would rise considerably. The fact that Bask was a wher, and not a dragon, had ceased to bother him the moment he'd felt the connection with the beast. He refused to call that connection anything but "an understanding", although his heart could not help but feel the protectiveness, the companionship ... the affection.

Still, though, a wher was better than a dragon. After all, one can hide a wher, and he knew many vast networks of caverns fit for temporary quarters where a wher could fit. Dragons, though powerful, are far too conspicuous for his tastes.

He leaned against the wall, smiling his crooked glinting grin, as he watched his own young companion scarf down a rather large tunnel snake. For his bulk, Bask was amazingly quick, and he'd nailed the pest just before its tail had vanished into its escape hole. For all their grumbling about the young whers wandering the caverns, Baryn was sure the stores drudges must at least be happy that their goods weren't going to be ravaged by vermin quite as much as before.

Drudge grumbling....

The thought brought him back to a puzzle that had bothered him, and he was certain the other handlers as well -- although he wouldn't go so far as to question any of them about what they'd heard.

Niesk was gone. No one was sure when she'd left, but the queen wher had simply vanished after the hatching, along with her handler. Several days later, Baryn had come upon a whispered conversation in the storage caverns under the kitchen, while allowing his charge to play at chasing down the 'snakes. He'd hidden around a corner, so skilled at blending with the shadows, Bask already having learned to freeze in silence at a mental command (not that Bask was actually obeying, but subterfuge was as fun a game for a wher as chasing tunnelsnakes).

Baryn had initially smiled at what he'd heard, but the more he learned about Sitareh, the more he had to wonder just how much of the mutterings were actually true. These particular drudges were heeding the version of the rumor ... though he'd since heard other versions as well ... which said that Sitareh had murdered the handler, and the bond-less queen wher was now wandering the lower caverns, hungry, half insane from her loss, and without anyone to control her.

Baryn, of course knew ... or at least strongly trusted ... otherwise. He himself had explored miles and miles of half-finished tunnels and caves, dusty and piled with debris. He'd fought through thick hangings of crawler webs (the big crawlers seemed to be a young wher's favorite snack), and even found caves that might be worth enlarging for wher quarters some day. Nowhere had he seen, heard, felt, or smelled (with the help of Bask) any trace of a lone wher grieving in the darkness.

But still, this was Sitareh they were talking about.

A sound, a thought, a feeling caused Baryn's mind to lurch suddenly, shaking him from his reverie. Bask had left his side, and was barreling down the narrow hallway in front of him. The half-spent glow at the very end of the corridor revealed his bulky shape as it made a 90-degree turn into deeper darkness. The image of a tunnelsnake even fatter than the last snack hit Baryn's thoughts as he jogged after the beast.

He rounded the bend in the wake of his wher, and stopped ... there was no sight of Bask, only a long corridor dotted with black spaces that indicated other hallways or caves along its length. He could feel the beast ahead, but which of these turns had he taken?

Bask! Come!

Denial, refusal, defiance, all clearly sending the message: "I'm way too busy right now".

Shard it -- he really disliked it when Bask got out of sight. Where had his bronze disappeared to? And if that wasn't annoying enough....

Through his fragile, but growing, connection to the wher, he could sense that the scent of human was strong up ahead. Bask would go and blunder into another wherhandler, wouldn't he? Though Baryn did all he could do to avoid people, the bronzewher had no innate desire to remain hidden from his own kind, and in fact seemed inclined to show off his size and strength to his clutchmates. More than once, had Baryn been forced, by his own paranoia, to pull Bask back to his side when other whers were near.

[Cilnah]

Raina had never been afraid of the dark. Actually, it was her companion, sometimes even her friend. Especially when she wanted to get away. For though her skin was so pale that it nearly glowed in the shadows, the girl had the innate ability to turn into a ghost, rather than a solid flesh and blood person. And the dark was where she had taken to after the Hatching of the whers had ended. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with the other Handlers and their new companions. It was more the fact that she didn’t want their attention, as they were giving it now. So she’d Impressed a Gold. That didn’t change anything! She was still Raina. But she’d heard the rumors running around the caverns. Now that she was a Goldhandler, they expected her to be snotty and self absorbed, just like the Queenriders that inhabited the Weyr.

All of it caused a low growl within the girl’s chest. Did her fellows know nothing at all about her? How could they possibly believe that she would be anything like Sitareh, or even Penna? Not that she had anything against the late Weyrwoman. She simply had the air of authority that all Queens seemed to have. And now that she thought about it that brought up another point to worry about. As she watched the form of the young Gold lopping in front of her, Raina wondered just how she was going to deal with being in charge. She’d never been one to command anyone at anything, and it was already becoming apparent that the Whers were developing a social order separate from that of the rest of the Weyr. Which was to be expected, of course, as they were an entirely different mindset; two tribes that shared the same place, one ruling during the day, the other at night. And somehow she was expected to be in charge of it, all because of the color of little Raisk’s hide.

A squeak from somewhere in front of her brought the girl out of her mental grumblings. The image of a rat being snapped up into golden jaws hit her full force. Raina’s stomach roiled at the thought of eating a rat, for she remembered their taste from her days of growing up on the farm, and that was one of the staples when times were hard. At the same though, she was amused, for Raisk was definitely proud of her latest accomplishment.

"Good job, little one," the girl commended, and in return felt the glow of pride within her companion. Raisk didn’t really have the authority that most Golds held either. She was looking more for attention and compliments then she was trying to make ruling decisions. She chuckled again as the little Queen took off in a fast paced jog, quickly disappearing from sight as the scent of an alarmingly fat tunnelsnake hit her mind. Raina wasn’t worried, Raisk did that often, running far ahead of her and with her taking the night vision that Raina had come to depend on. The Wher was always careful to leave a careful map of where she went, however, and her handler followed at an easy pace, a grin playing at her lips.

Until Raisk turned a sharp corner. An impact. Flailing, hissing, annoyance that her prey was now slithering away as she tried to untangle herself from the sudden obstacle. And then all of it stopped, the Gold taking on the seductively sweet personality that she held when one of the other Whers was nearby. Raina felt her stomach lurch for an entirely different reason. They were fairly deep within the caverns now, why would there be anyone else out here? And the more pressing question: Just who was it that was exploring so far from the main corridors? The image of a coal-faced bronze flickered through her mind, and the girl winced, though she did not slow her step until she turned the corner and came into view of the two Whers.

Oh, dear… Her head shook slowly as she remembered the boy that this Bronze had Impressed to, an ominous man who always wore a cowl over his face and hid his features. Since their introduction at the hatching, where she had stammered a greeting to him, dipping her head in a bow and quietly reciting both her name and Raisk’s, she had watched him covertly. Baryn, as she now knew his name was, seemed to be just as good at blending into the shadows and avoiding attention as she was. It was a fact that both impressed and intimidated her. "It would be him that you would lead me to, wouldn’t it Raisk?"

The Gold ignored her; she was too busy flirting with Bask. After a few futile attempts to gain the little one’s attention, Raina sighed and resigned herself to meeting the Bronzehandler, who she could smell now through Raisk’s senses.

“This ought to be interesting.”

[**Auria (etc)**]

Bask, to me! Baryn hovered in the shadows just around the corner from where he'd finally found his wher. Bask was just ahead, he could sense him strongly, and the bronze was sending him 'come here' emotions.

Defiance, pride, resistance, command. Here!

The blasted beast was countermanding the order, calling Baryn to HIM! The dark man growled in the dim light. He must do something to get this creature under better control. Oh, Bask was fine, and obeyed relatively well, when there was nothing major at stake. Baryn scowled, for he had certainly called him away from other whers without this strong a refusal before. That could only mean one thing.

And as the connection was made in Baryn's mind, the connection between man and beast strengthened, and he suddenly saw, for a split second, the brilliant golden hide and slender form.

He groaned and held back for a moment, but as much as he detested the company of other humans, Baryn wasn't about to let the presence of a mere girl--

The retort came like a slap across the face, and Baryn reeled back a step. Queen! Fierce emotion nearly overpowered him, and Baryn found himself fighting the ridiculous urge to bow!

He struggled for a moment to catch his breath, then inhaled deeply, squaring his shoulders. Pulling his cowl back just enough that he could clearly see what awaited him, he stepped around the corner.

"Bask," he said aloud, his deep baritone tunneling through the dark like the slither of a 'snake, "Don't be an annoyance."

The bronze ignored him, for he had something far more important on his mind. It took Baryn only a moment, as accustomed as his eyes were to the barely lit hallways, to realize what was happening. The glistening trail of ichor that followed Bask was gory, but Baryn couldn't help a half smile despite the mess. There stood his wher, massive head, even for a fledgling, held high and proud, the fattest tunnelsnake he'd ever seen dangling, headless, from his jaws. Ichor dripped out, tick-tick-tick, into an ever-widening pool on the cavern floor between the bronze and golden Raisk.

The blasted beast was offering his kill to the Queen.

No, Hers.

Baryn stepped closer, trying to disentangle the emotions of the wher. The gold had made the kill?

RIGHTFULLY Hers. Bask turned, eyes glowing in the dusky light, a look of reproach on his face as he glared at Baryn.

The man had come up beside his charge, and laid his hand on the coal-black stripe that ran the length of Bask's spine. The beast let out an odd sound, almost like the purr of a feline, but with a strange metallic echo. Baryn was slightly startled -- he'd heard this sound, which seemed to indicate affection, before, but never when anyone else might overhear. It was something private between the bronze and his handler.

Taken slightly aback, and realizing that he was allowing this strange silence to go on for what was an inappropriate long time, he finally spoke. "Raina, isn't it? It appears our whers might have shared a take-down."

[Cilnah]

A growl, a groan from around the corner. At first Raina had thought that Raisk’s senses were wrong, that perhaps it was another of the Whers that was hiding around the corner from her. But no, she quickly realized as there was a deep intake of breath and from the darkness came his form, only a slightly darker black then his surroundings. Raina bowed her head in greeting, a habit she had always had, even among her own family. Though now it seemed to simply get her odd looks.

She couldn’t really see him until he was next to his bonded, chiding him about being a nuisance. That made the girl laugh softly. “He’s no annoyance,” she assured, her nearly purple eyes fixed on the Bronze and her own Gold flirting with him madly. After a moment of a silence that was, to her, awkward, she added “He actually seems rather sweet.” And she meant it. After watching the horrific mauling of his Brown brother at the Hatching, Raina had gotten rather used to Bask’s presence, and had come to realize that, though he was rough and rather coarse, that didn’t mean he had a bad personality. It just meant that he needed some understanding when it came to things. Like with the tunnlesnake that was now hanging from his jaws.

As he began to purr, a grin stretched over Raina’s lips and she pushed off of the wall she had been leaning against, brushed off a crawler that had worked its way onto her shoulder, and stepped forward until she was next to her own Raisk. As soon as she was there, the little Gold butted her head against her handler’s leg, then turned and snapped up half of the snake dangling from the Bronze’s jaws, her hide brushing teasingly against his as she ate the offering. If she had been a human, she would have been batting her eyelashes like crazy.

But Raina was confused. “Why didn’t you take all of it?” she questioned, and instantly an image of Bask snapping up the snake hit her along with an amused and yet humbled mixture of feelings. “Ah, I see.” Here she turned to Baryn. “It’s not that they shared the kill. It’s that they were hunting the same snake, and Bask snapped it up before Raisk could. I’m not sure about his intentions, but I believe he was trying to offer the kill to her as apology. She’ll take half, but not all of it since it’s rightfully his.”

The girl shrugged, trying not to let her nervousness show as she knelt down, the snake’s life force lapping around her shoes. She rested against her heels, not bothered by the ichor, but not wanting to create more difficulty for the drudges who would have had to wash the sticky stuff from the clothes. Though she appeared to be studying the Bronze, she was actually peeking at his handler from under the veil of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes. She was wondering why he always wore that hood over his features. Surely he couldn’t be that insecure in his appearance?

Trying to divert her thought, she focused fully on the Bronze. “May I?” she asked the creature, which may have seemed like a silly thing. But as she asked it, she held out her hand to him. Not close enough to be a threat, but also close enough to let Bask know that she wanted to touch him, if it was alright.

[**Auria (etc)**]

Baryn, completely unused to polite conversation and human kindness, was rather taken aback by Raina's tone. He blinked and stepped backwards, just a small reflexive step, and tightened the pressure of his hand upon the spine of his wher.

And then, at being called sweet, Bask began to chirr more loudly, obvious to all who knew whers that he quite liked this girl.

Indeed, her voice was soothing, and she was, in her own almost ethereal way, quite attractive. The man stopped his thoughts abruptly, and scowled from deep within his hood -- not at her, but at himself for his reactions. Surely the emotions of his wher were affecting him.

When the gold then only took half the 'snake, Baryn felt a wash of pride and chivalry. Most definitely Bask's emotions, though it occurred to him to wonder why, suddenly, he was having to think to sort the beast's feelings from his own.

"--I believe he was trying to offer the kill to her as apology," she had said. Baryn had to pull his gaze from the sight of the two whers, so close together and so obviously in pleasant communion, to register that her words were not for them, but for him. She was making conversation.

Oh, shards.

He coughed to clear his throat, and nodded. "Bask is, if nothing, a noble beast," he couldn't help the smile as the words slipped out of him, "I'm not at all surprised that he'd want to share his kill. Especially with such a lovely gold--"

Shards again, the blasted beast's emotions were indeed influencing him. That last statement was certainly not something Baryn would have normally said.

To increase his discomfiture, he was nearly certain he kept seeing her glance at him, rather than the whers. For the first time in many turns, he became self-conscious of his ever-present hood: his security, his hiding place, his safety zone. Suddenly, it was conspicuous, betraying and revealing him rather than hiding his deformity. Relief washed over him as the girl then reached toward his bronze.

Before he could answer, though not sure if she was asking him, or the wher, permission, however, Bask responded. He lunged forward, butting against Raina's pale hand, and let out a deep, whirring purr. Intense emotions washed over the dark man: pride, honor, loyalty! The human of the Queen had reached out to him!

Baryn found himself bowing deeply to Raina, and at the ebb of the bow realized what he was doing. This confounded wher, the emotional attachment was far more than he'd been prepared for! Did dragonriders go through things like this? Or was it just the excitement of the chase of that snake and suddenly finding himself snout to snout with the gold that made Bask's feelings suddenly so powerful?

Baryn stood abruptly and his cowl flew back off his head....

[Cilnah]

There was something in the way that the Bronze began to purr that put Raina at ease, something that hadn’t happened much lately. Somebody was excepting her for being herself, and it seemed rather liked her for it. She found her fondness for Bask, and by attachment his handler, growing noticeably from within her mind. Even if the man had shrunk back from her when she tried to be polite to him.

She’d been so wrapped up in her own thoughts and feelings that she hadn’t even noticed that Baryn had not been paying attention to her as she spoke, but she wouldn’t have really cared even if she had. At the moment her attention was focused securely on the two creatures in front of her, getting along well despite the trivialities of life. Why couldn’t humans be more like that?

At the clearing of a throat, Raina looked up and turned her gaze to the man, smiling slightly at his complement. As Raisk heard it, the purring that echoed throughout the caverns became two-fold, as the sound now emanated from the little Queen as well. But as if she could feel his scowl, she quickly returned her attention to the Whers, and offered out her hand to the Bronze. Long gone was the time when she would have let out a yelp in terror. Now, when he bounded forward, her reaction was to laugh, even as the sudden force he used to press against her hand pushed her backwards. She landed squarely on her bottom in the pool of ichor, all that remained now of the tunnel snake that had sparked the meeting. “So much for saving the drudges the bother of cleaning the blood off,” she muttered with amusement.

Her arms had circled unconsciously around the Bronze as she fell, and now she held Bask in a tight ‘hug’ of sorts, her head resting against his neck. Raina patted him affectionately, and continued to chuckle under her breath as Raisk came up and nuzzled into her side, not one to be left out of the affection of the moment. It wasn’t until a moment later when a slight movement to the side caught her attention that the girl even considered loosening her grip on the Bronze. And only then, it was out of surprise and curiosity, not distaste or fear of the little Wher.

She watched as at first Baryn bowed to her. She didn’t know why he was doing such a silly thing, but the action in itself stole all of the humor that she’d had a moment before, and her mouth pulled down in a frown. Her usually dancing eyes flickered with betrayal and sadness, but that was quickly wiped away as the man stood up rather suddenly. So suddenly in fact, that his hood fell backwards. As it came to rest against his shoulders, Raina’s eyes widened slightly, and her arms fell away from Bask’s neck as she slowly stood, her gaze never leaving Baryn’s face.

For a moment she just stood there, studying him, but then she moved slowly, almost afraid that she would scare him off, until she stood just in front of him, probably closer than he was comfortable with. Slowly, so very slowly, her hand lifted, and lightly traced the scarring that marred his face, her fingers just barely brushing against his skin. Her face no longer held surprise, but neither did it have worry or pity in it. From the looks of the scars, this had happened long ago, and was long since healed. Both of those would have been an insult to him now. No, instead she looked frankly curious. And, as her fingers followed the lines across his jaw, a small second of anger crossed over her face, as she wondered just what had happened to him. Then she realized that what she was doing might be considered rude, and she hastily dropped her hand back to her side with a swift look of apology. “So that is what you’ve been hiding…” she whispered, though in the silence it was clearly heard, as her eyes moved from the old wound to meet his eyes.

[**Auria (etc)**]

Baryn was torn, and found himself wishing he'd stayed around that bloody corner when his wher had chased the tunnel snake. He was unused to dealing with the strange linked emotions, and having to do so in a ... social situation ... had him beside himself.

It occurred to him that his ugliness was showing clearly -- obvious even in the barely lit corridors so far beneath the Weyr. What tormented him even more was a bizarre combination of feelings -- the pride and pleasure emanating from his wher combined with a sick, and very uncharacteristic, tinge of jealousy.

Why was his own Bask coddling up to that girl?

She Of The Queen!

Not words, but emotions -- clear and commanding! The same emotions that had caused him--HIM, BARYN--to bow! Baryn bowed to no human!

Fury began to bubble up inside, pushing out the confusion, smothering the jealousy. He suddenly cared not that his mangled countenance was exposed, and was about to snatch his bronze around the neck and haul him away from this girl, She of the Queen or no!

And then she fell.

There she sat, looking utterly ridiculous in the shining pool of ichor, and actually seemed to be amused by it. Baryn was lost -- any sense of false equilibrium he'd begun to regain, thanks to the familiar feel of anger, left him. She joked about her position. The humans Baryn had dealt with in the past, however rarely that was, would have leapt to their feet and attempted to plunge a dagger into his heart for witnessing their shame.

Yet this Raina was finding humor in her position.

He opened his mouth, as if to speak, not knowing what the proper thing to say was in such a situation. Bask was still rubbing against her, his normally dominant personality having given way to pride and pleasure over having gained the favor of the Queen and Hers. Should he ask if she was alright? Should he offer a hand to help her?

Him, Baryn, reach out to help another human?

But before he could make any kind of coherent choice, the girl was again on her feet.

And Baryn was frozen to the spot in fear.

Confused emotions came from the bronze wher, for this feeling from His was foreign, and could not be overriden by the delight of the Queen's presence. Bask began to rattle his wings in concern and wrapped himself behind his human's legs. The effort to support effectively trapped the man in place. Baryn could not have stepped away from Raina's curious touch if he'd wanted to.

And that was the most bizarre thing of all....

He didn't want to.

This made him angriest of all, and he was one breath away from slapping down her hand, when her expression changed.

“So that is what you’ve been hiding…” She said it so softly, the look on her pale face one of apology, as she seemed to realize she'd overstepped some personal boundary.

And, as if possessed by some spirit far gentler than Baryn, he found that his dark voice was saying, "No. The scars on the outside wouldn't be worth the effort to hide, but for the scars in here." Then, not caring if she also saw his missing finger, he pressed his right hand to his heart.

Bask rumbled deeply, tilting his head in a fashion that, were it on a less rough beast, would have almost been cute. The tender feelings from the wher, combined with the moment of gentleness which the girl had stirred within himself, caused Baryn to suck in his breath and narrow his black almond-shaped eyes.

He stepped away from her, not far enough to shun her, but just to let her know that he was not ready for such social closeness.

But he did not replace his cowl.