2024-07-12 - A Sandy Adventure

As the days went on, Kanyoth's consternation over the fact that the weyrfolk wouldn't get a bigger tent that Gwillanth could also fit in only increased. Why was this not a priority? Gwillanth was hurt! She deserved shelter! She got cold at night!

That was the most significant though Kanyoth had about the weather. They were aware on some level that they were experiencing weather for the first time, to an extent - it's not as if the clutch was just being left exposed to the elements, after all - but they didn't find this to be particularly significant. The adult dragon minds that had been around Kanyoth throughout their development thought of flight a good deal, and when thinking of flight one inevitably thinks of the sky, and when one thinks of the sky one inevitably thinks of weather. So Kanyoth, who had been eager to get out into the world and learn about it basically this whole time, had already conceptualized that weather was a thing before the events of the earthquake. Which wasn't to say that Kanyoth didn't find the sensation of cold to be novel and interesting (and uncomfortable), it just wasn't a primary concern of theirs when there were a bunch of very busy weyrfolk were diligently working on keeping the entire clutch warm 24/7.

The day that the sand became weather was quite surprising, however. Kanyoth could sense the fear of the hurrying weyrfolk, and Gwillanth disappeared - to seek shelter elsewhere, maybe? But they didn't catch where exactly she went, and they definitely couldn't ask the humans around where she'd gone, they were even less telepathically sensitive than the dragons, and there was absolutely no possibility the humans could hear and understand them.

So Gwillanth was suddenly just gone, there were frantic preparations that involved closing up the tents even though it was daytime, and then all the weyrfolk were gone too, and it was just the clutch, as far Kanyoth could tell. How strange! At least it provided an ideal situation for another escape attempt, if nothing else. They could probably figure out what was going on while they were doing that - or even better, if they finally got out!

So off Kanyoth rolled, straight to the edge of the tent, and they found themself wiggling under a tent flap as they tried to find one of those sturdy tent poles to smash their confines against. But then they collided with a rush of sand. So much sand! It was kind of like the earthquake again, except the earth definitely wasn't moving - they'd feel it if it was. No, this was just the wind blowing a lot of sand across the landscape, enough sand to bury someone alive.

Kanyoth wasn't familiar with the phrase, "discretion is the better part of valor," but that is what they decided as they wiggled and then rolled back to their spot in the clutch. There's too much sand out there, they grumbled to nobody in particular. The wind shouldn't be able to blow all that sand around like that.