*Early afternoon, day 5*

A'Rillia nibbled a sausage as she wandered across the green. While her hair was even now, it was so painfully short that she was afraid of sunburning her scalp. However, it seemed like the world was conspiring against her finding a hat and five minutes to sit down.

The very instant she was done with T'lant - who she had to admit was pretty good to salvage much of anything at all from her head - someone had popped their head in the door and told her she was needed at the Warren meeting. She didn't recognize the runner, and didn't remember anyone telling her about a meeting, but had concluded that she might get some questions answered if she went.

And so, here she was, skulking around the edges of the green until she got close enough to the podium to hide under a shady tree. She considered telling Carie they needed more shade trees down here. This had never been an issue when she had hair.

Only about half of the populace had turned out so far, so she stood absently watching the youngsters play. She knew so few, and the ones who had been children before she left wore flight colours. How had they grown so much in a year and a half?

The healer nodded a silent hello to the familiar faces in the crowd; David, D'nar, Carie, Touth, Z'lec, G'lar... they didn't seem to see her, which was just as well, she mused as she rubbed at her eyes with one gloved hand. Less explaining that way, really, explanations she wasn't willing to sacrifice before she figured out what was going on.

The more she talked to people around here, the more confused she became. T'lant had been mumbling something about magic waste pockets and dragons being severed from their riders' minds. The low conversation around her spoke of an evacuation vote, but she couldn't see anything specific that was wrong with the Warren. Waylene had gone and gotten herself with child and was holed up in a warren somewhere else because they were afraid to transport her back.

<You ever get the feeling that every time we leave, this place falls to bits?> Arri mused to her sleepy dragon.

<:Shush, I think Carie's going to start soon.:> replied her dragon, opening one groggy eye and looking down from her ledge. 

<Pfft. Half decently warm day and you'd SLEEP through an evacuation, I think.>

<:I would do no such thing,:> spat Daetyn indignantly <:I'm just resting. I'm sure if we have to leave there will be plenty of time.:>

Carie hushed the crowd and began to explain the events of the last months. She told of the first sicknesses, of the warped plants, of dragons losing their bonds to their riders and how the wastes were getting close enough that they might actually come into the warren and begin affecting their home.

There was a long moment of rustling as the denizens of Marrid considered that thought. For many of them, this was the only home they had ever known. For the non-riders, an evacuation would be a lengthy and dangerous process, since not all of them would be fit to ride a-dragonback. Arri's heart wept as she looked around her.

Knowing didn't make it any easier, but Carie was right. They had to leave the warren, if only for a while, until things passed over.

The healer stepped out of the shadows, hair reflecting the sunlight, and opened her mouth to voice her support for the move.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

A stranger standing next to her - no, not a stranger, the runner from the hairdresser's shop, shoved her to the ground as a dragon came careening through the crowd, out of control. 

The healer lay on the ground for a long moment, staring up at the sky in bafflement. Dragons were keening everywhere, taking off in whatever haphazard fashion they could and disappearing.

<Dae, what's going on?> Arri looked around for the little silver.

<:Arri, I'm sick, we have to leave now... We have to get out... There's a horrible accident... The wastes are coming in and dragons are forgetting... I know where to go. Arri? Arri where are you - I can't hear you...:>

The healer took off at a dead run in the direction of her dragon's fading voice. Daetyn dropped to the grass and looked around, dazed. 

<:Arri... Arri...?:>

<I'm here.> She was within mere feet of her dragon when it hit.

<:A'RILLIA!!!!!??? A'RILL...:> Daetyn's voice let off one last panicked deafening scream before dropping off into absolute silence.

Where A'Rillia's dragon had been was merely the thundering rush of a void she never dreamed she would have to bear. Daetyn's eyes finally found Arri as she clambered onto her back in a most unceremonial fashion, wincing through tears of pain. 

Arri's hand touched her ear and found blood. 

But worse, when her mind touched her heart as the dragon took off into the air and winked out, she found a desolate emptiness. 

=============================================
NRPG: I was hoping for something better but didn't want to hold anyone up. :( Oh well. Don't worry, it's temporary. They'll be okay when they land, really. Just kind of putting the fear of god into her, as it were. And sorry about stealing your thing, Justin, but I figured anyone could get hurt if their dragon yelled loud enough. Oh yes, and I imagine anyone with any telepathic ability within a county mile probably heard her - it was directed at one person, but there's still a little broadcast bleed. Save me a spot at the picnic table and don't hog all the fried chicken. :)