Checking In On You

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 4th July 2016

Characters: Corran, K'ran, Theris
Description: K'ran drops by Amber Hills to visit his brother and finds out Corran was injured.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 5, day 5 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: Karhal

Note: Backdated because Avery has been on LOA forever.

K'ran

It was a happy coincidence that there was a Threadfall at Amber Hills and
at River Bluff on the same day. It meant a peaceful day after for both,
which meant K'ran felt slightly less bad about taking time away from his
new River Bluff responsibilities in order to visit his brother. He hadn't
heard from Corran since he'd shared the news with his family, so he was
looking forward to hearing how things were.

It was storming at Amber Hills when Rogueth came out of /between/, high up
as the pair preferred. K'ran flinched at the loud crack of thunder.
Immediately the bronze dove downwards towards the Hold's main buildings,
getting out of the clouds and the rain. He landed in a suitably unoccupied
spot to let his rider off.

Once the bronzerider was inside, he went up to the guard's barracks. In a
hope to not attract attention, he'd left his new knots behind. He figured
people at Amber Hills obviously knew Corran, and they knew he had a
brother. Possibly they'd heard gossip about a Weyrleadership change out
here. But he just wanted to visit his brother without it seeming like a
formal political event, like a Weyrleader visiting a Hold would usually
be.

**I may not be able to get away with this for very long,** he realized.
Maybe he'd have to figure out alternative ways to visit with his brother,
but maybe he could have anonymity for now…

When he got to the guard barracks, he found no Corran there. Asking about
his brother's duty shift, he discovered that he was in the Infirmary. The
guard who let him know was a garrulous man who was happy to give K'ran the
details of the issue. (The bronzerider wondered if the man was always so
loquacious about guard business with outsiders, or if it was the part
where they were twins that made it seem okay to tell all that news to
K'ran.)

Rather than worry about Corran's health, the bronzerider occupied himself
with thoughts about what the other guard had said. The information that
there had been bandit raids was very concerning. He started to worry about
what the Weyr would do, before reminding himself that River Bluff had no
jurisdiction over Amber Hills. There was nothing _he_ could do about it.
But he hoped Dragonsfall was aware of any potential issue.

When K'ran arrived in the Infirmary, he was greeted by a Journeyman Healer
who looked very confused to see him walk in the door. The young man's eyes
widened and his mouth opened. K'ran beat him to whatever he was going to
say - probably some variant of 'you're not supposed to be up right now' by
saying, "I'm Corran's brother, and I'm looking to see how he is. Can he
receive visitors?"

"Oh. Of - of course!" the young man said, looking relieved. "He's in a cot
in the back. You can come talk to him. I'm Theris, by the way."

"Hello, Theris. How is he doing?" K'ran asked.

"Much better than before. When he came in he had a concussion and a
cracked bone in his wrist. That's still healing but his head's
straightening out. He should be released soon," the Healer explained.
"Perhaps even tomorrow, if he behaves."

"Has he not been?"

"He's tried to go back to work twice already," Theris said. "I hope you
don't cause this much trouble to your Healer."

"I try not to," K'ran said seriously. "But stubbornness is a family trait.
Our father's worked through broken bones before."

"Faranth save us poor Healers from determined men who don't listen to
their bodies," groused Theris, with a roll of his dark eyes. He stopped
before a room and gestured in. "Go on in. You have a candlemark before his
next dose of meds. But if he starts to fall asleep, leave him alone."

"Understood," K'ran said, parting the curtain and stepping inside.

Corran was sitting up in the bed, with a glow on the table beside him and
a sheaf of hides. He looked pale and had circles under his eyes, and one
hand was covered in a cast. "It's good to see you," he said with warmth in
his tone despite his exhausted look. "How are you and Rogueth?"

"We've been fine," the bronzerider said. "I can't say the same for you, it
seems."

"It was unfortunate," the guard acknowledged. "The head's doing better but
they say the bone will take another few sevendays."

"That's awhile to be recovering," K'ran said sympathetically. "Will you be
off duty the entire time?"

"The Healers say the concussion is nearly gone and I can go back to light
work."

"Please tell me by 'light work' you don't mean confronting more bandits,"
K'ran said as he went and settled into a seat.

"I didn't plan to confront the first set," Corran protested. "I ran into
them on my normal patrol. And I'm not going to be going back to patrolling
immediately. I thought I'd do hide work, but I'm having more trouble
concentrating on this than I thought I would." He gestured at the hides.

"You haven't had a concussion since that time when we were boys, have
you?" K'ran asked. When they had been 7, Corran had climbed a tree and
fallen out, suffering a blow to the head. It had given their parents quite
the fright.

"No, and I'd forgotten how terrible they were," the guard said with a
grimace. "You?"

"Not since the second Turn," K'ran said, meaning of the Pass. "But I
remember it being awful."

"It is," Corran grumbled. "People drop by to keep me company, though. It
could be more boring. And I've had help caring for Warden."

"I imagine many people stop by to look at a firelizard. Speaking of, why
didn't you send him to me to let me know what happened?" K'ran asked.

"I think he doesn't know where to find you now," Corran said. "He's good
at finding people around The Hills. He knows Rogueth and you but he
doesn't know much about River Bluff, so maybe you're too far to find. And
I didn't think it was worth paying a dragonrider messenger since they tell
me I'll recover."

"If it was marks, I could have paid you back," K'ran insisted. "I would
have wanted to know when it happened, not over a sevenday later." Whether
it was their parents or his brother, he would want to know immediately if
they were injured. They were family.

"Don't worry. It makes you sound like an old auntie." Corran pushed aside
the hides and sat up straighter. "How long are you spending here?"

"The Healer said I could have a candlemark, less if you fell asleep."

"I'm not going to fall asleep," the guard scoffed. "Maybe I did the first
few days, but not now."

"Well, that sounds like an improvement."

"It is. It'll be more so when I can get out of the Infirmary and back to
any kind of work. Even if it's just reviewing schedules and reports, or
watching who comes in the front doors, something else." Corran was sure
Karhal could find him something the Healers would approve. The idea of
_even more_ bed rest seemed like a nightmare.

Before his brother could keep worrying, he decided to be a distraction.
"But enough about me. Tell me some of the River Bluff gossip. You led your
first Threadfall, right?"

"Yes. It went well…" K'ran began.

Last updated on the July 6th 2016

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