Mine, are you sure we should be out here?

"You heard what the healer said, there's nothing wrong with me now. He just kept me in the infirmary for a few days to be certain the poison hadn't damaged me in any ways they hadn't seen yet. Besides, I needed ot get out of the Weyr."

I know that you are not physically hurt, Mine, but you do not seem to be well in your heart.

"I'm fine, Egreth," Eirina staunchly asserted. Egreth knew she was lying, but not just to him, she was also lying to herself. His rider had been hit very hard by her brother's death. Her parents had come to the Weyr as soon as they had heard that their children had been attacked. Her mother had burst into tears at the sight of Meripan's body, all covered with blood still. Eirina herself was only just recovering from her poisoning when they had arrived, thanks so much to the Barkrider and her own dragon.

Since her parents had returned to Blue Orchid Hold, though, Eirina had begun to withdraw into herself, barely speaking to anyone, even her beloved Egreth, though she did try to put on a brave, sometimes happy face when she needed to. That was why she had needed to get away. She needed to get away from the concerned looks and the "I'm so sorry"s, but most of all she needed to get away from the "I understand"s. They did not understand. Unless they had had their own brother killed not ten feet away from them they had no idea.

It pained Egreth that he could do nothing to ease his bonded's pain other than just being with her. Even the Dew's typically calming presence did not seem to help his depressed rider. Eirina sat down at the water's edge, gazing mournfully out across the choppy grey waves, letting the cold salty water tug at the end of her thin grey dress, so unlike her usual fashionable gowns, another manifestation of her inner emptiness.