Diva stayed with Carrolyne (well, Carol stayed in Diva's hut) for the whole night. They would sleep over anyway, switching off, but this was different. Diva found herself mothering the other girl, ticking her tongue whenever Carol would bring up how thin she should look and this and that.
"You think I must be a total tub of lard, then," Diva announced, dressing for bed. She waggled her (admittedly rounded, but not fat by any means) rear end at Carol. Carol giggled.
"You're ... healthy?" Carrolyne said, trying so hard to be better.
"You still actually think I am fat," Diva said, sliding into her night dress. It would be a windy night, if not cold. "Well get over it. You're way too skinny to judge. When you're a little healthier, girlfriend, you can tell me if I'm a blubber butt."
Snorking a laugh and throwing a pillow at Diva, Carol and she went to sleep - and for the first time, Carol didn't make herself throw up the contents of her stomach before doing so.
Diva said nothing about that. It was tacky, and besides, it was gross! She knew she wasn't fat, in fact the way the boys would look at her said volumes otherwise.
"Did you get FUR in my BED?" Diva laughed.
Diva helped Carol up, she was still quite weak. But at least her dress was still in the hut. "You look fine, now," Diva said, lying a little. Carol's eyes were sunken and dark, and as always she was a little gaunt. But she was up and smiling and that was good.
"Thanks," Carol said, "do you hear something?"
"Other than wind? Yeah, it sounds like breakfast." Diva nudged the skinny girl and then had to drag Carrolyne out to the center of the caravan complex. It was breakfast, yes. Smoked meats and scrambled eggs... Carol couldn't stomach more than a little bit of it, before she actually started looking a little green. So Diva made sure that she was at least halfway fed, and then they began their daily chores.
The woman whose jug of broth had been stolen glared at Diva the whole time, but said nothing. Diva didn't shoot her the glances of anger that she could have - she was so totally justified and they'd all heard Dean's speech. Diva had to put to memory where the caravan was, though, so she could replace the jug when they were done with it. She estimated that would be tonight, if anything.
Carrolyne had sewing to do, thread to spin. Diva washed dishes and clothing. Until the mid morning rest period, they did these things without comment and apart from one another. Diva hoped that Carol didn't backslide quickly and upchuck her breakfast.
She needn't have worried. When they caught up with one another, Carol actually complained that her stomach was full and she could hardly bend over with the food in it. "So that's what it's like," Diva suggested. "And when you're used to it, you'll probably be able to put some muscles on those bones." She pinched the soft-down covered skin on Carol's arm, "I didn't mean any insult, you know that. I mean, you need to get strong."
"Lookit," Carrolyne said, her eyes drifting upwards. Over the trees there was movement. Dragon shaped movement. So Dean had been right - there was a dragon coming!
How he'd known was something to think about later. Maybe someone else told him. But for the moment, Diva and Carol cleaned themselves up and bolted down to the flats where the dragon had landed. Near the little pond, the ground was almost perfectly flat - it was muddy but dry right now, as the winds from the savannah dried out all these small watering holes. A large blue dragon had landed, and some other clan members had started to arrive. Carol and Diva were the first on hand.
A bellow of another dragon caught everyone's attention, and it was bronze Saoith, Dave's big dragon. He was curious, apparently, about the search. And naturally, Dave would want to know which of the Triptych Clan were to be carted off to Mystrach, right?
Dean conferred with his dragon riding son, apparently at a distance. How he could do this was a mystery, but that was fine. For the moment, Diva and Carol were both entranced by the blue dragon.
"What's his name?" Carol asked, finally curious about them instead of self-conscious.
"Karlan," answered the dragoner, "say, why don't you two come closer. He certainly won't bite." The girls did so, as Dave and Dean watched in half-smirking silence. There were other young clan members around, but they were all but ignored by the dragons.
"If it's all right with your clan leaders," the rider whose name was Tremlin tossed his head toward them, "I'd like you two to get packed up for a trip to Mystrach. There are eggs on the sands and it'll be a quick wait - they've been there for a while, and the dam of the clutch is rather eager to get some candidates there."
"Who wouldn't want to go?!" Diva excitedly said, clutching her friend's shoulders. "Come on!"
With a little more reluctance Carrolyne agreed, and they went to stand before Dean and his son. Though Dean wasn't the only elder who could say they could go, he was certainly the only one who had no trouble in saying yes. Though the girls provided their skills, they were still young and one of them a thief, after all.
"Then they will hopefully return to your clan on dragons of their own," called Tremlin, "I'll be back tonight, if that's all right? I might find other bonders around the countryside."
"They'll be ready," Dean called back, and the blue dragon took off. Dean smiled a very fatherly expression toward the pair. "You see, I told you you would be needed up and well."
Diva went to her hut, while Carrolyne to her own. Both of them wanted to pack essentials - but only Carol really HAD any. Almost everything Diva owned had been taken inadvertantly from someone else, after all. Diva packed the goblet that she'd lifted from the lordlings. She'd easily be able to actually sell it at the Caer, no one would ever know where it came from anyway.
So that evening, with a bit of a teary farewell and sternly given instructions from Dean about Carol's eating, they waited for the dragon to arrive.
It would be a long, somewhat precarious ride, without assistance. The other search rider from Mystrach was called upon to take one of the girls. So two dragons, blue and green, went off with a shapeshifter and a thief...
(continued a little on Carol's page again...)
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