The bonding ceremony was crowded, and Rumi stayed well back from the audience and tables and candidates, standing by the courtyard gate in the rain. Brullera sheltered her with one upheld wing, not minding being soaked, herself. The water just ran off of her like off of an umbrella or rubber boots, where it might have clung and soaked into Rumi's clothes and hair. Besides, Brullera wasn't about to catch a cold.

However, standing so far back meant it was hard to see what was going on.

"So what's going on?" Rumi asked. Despite the rain, and the rumble from the river, and the rumble from the crowd under the awnings, her dragon heard her perfectly well.

::Just a lot of milling around. Heh, look at that, the water-light halfbreed bonded a pair of hatchlings. Demulcei is hopping mad.::

"I'm surprised she let her stay for the ceremony, after everything she's done to anger her," Rumi commented. Even she could hear the lull in bondings-- and the lack of flashes of light-- that marked the hostess Demulcei exploding at Frada Meredia for her audacity and trickery. "She was pretty unhappy with her, before."

::Maybe she needed her for something,:: Brullera said with the sense of a shrug to her mental voices. ::But I doubt she'll be allowed at the third ceremony, next autumn.::

"Probably not. See Lant'ien anywhere?"

::Of course. I've kept an eye on him. He's not been approached yet-- but that little blue one who spoke with him at the meetings is looking his way. He and the white one are talking.::

"I liked those two," Rumi mused. "I wonder if one of them is thinking of bonding him."

::The blue one is getting a scroll. He looks quite happy.::

Rumi grinned. "Him, then. He was sweet. Maybe he'll lighten our little boy up some."

::He needs it.::

"I know."

::Uh oh.::

Rumi looked up at Brullera's heads with a frown. "Uh oh, what? What's going on?"

::Bipedra approaching, too. She has a scroll, just like the blue guy. They're arguing, I think; I can't hear either of them, it's too loud.::

Standing on her toes and craning her neck didn't help her see any better, but the double flashes of light was obvious even when she couldn't see the sources. "They didn't--"

::They did. Both of them.::

"Do you think that's good?"

::We'll find out. You know, I don't think either child actually asked him what he wanted. I can't see Lant'ien's face to see what he thinks, though, he's turned away from me.::

"Well, no one's slitting their wrists around him, so it can't be that bad, right?"

There was nothing left to do but wait. Brullera gave a running commentary. ::He's just standing there-- ah, there he goes, going to give back the scrolls. Still can't see his face. Ugh, Demulcei is going to give a speech, isn't she.... Can't we just collect the boy and go home?::

"It'll probably be short. I bet she's still mad."

::Well, that she is, yes. She looks it. Can't hear what she's saying, though. Probably a good thing. Lant'ien's still over with the scrolls-- aha, there, he's turned around. Well, he doesn't look unhappy. Sort of dazed, I think.::

"Well, I would be, too, I think," Rumi snorted. "Two bondings, one someone I knew and one a bipedra?"

::Or two demanding xenodragons, one with two heads?:: Brullera said, one head tilting to look sideways down at her.

"Something like that," Rumi replied dryly.

::I think-- yes, Demulcei's done now. People are getting up. Probably going to head inside and out of this rain.::

"And Lant'ien?" Rumi asked, a little anxiously.

::Headed this way, two dragons in tow. You can probably see him in a minute-- there he is.::

She could. Lant'ien was making good time through the crowd, though his newly bonded pair weren't quite as quick-- the bipedra, a fluffy brown and green creature who looked more creepy than friendly, was snapping at people who got in her way; the little blue one, Zentiel Puchre, was slithering in his haste to keep up with his bond. Lant'ien paused long enough to scoop the now sopping wet serpent-dragon up, letting the bipedra catch up in the same moment, then darted across the last of the distance to the gate, through the rain. Rumi didn't think she'd seen him move so fast since the day of his guardian's death. He'd moved like he was fragile-- or being very, very careful, at least-- and that didn't leave much room for speed.

The expression on his face was, as Brullera had said, a little dazed. But, as he splashed to a stop in front of her-- Brullera stretched her wing a little further to cover him and his dragons, as well-- he broke into a surprising smile.

"It worked!" he exclaimed, hugging little Zentiel to his chest. The serpentine dragon looked a little breathless, but wasn't protesting in the slightest. The bipedra behind him didn't seem the least bit jealous or even unhappy at being largely ignored.

"It worked?" Rumi repeated with a small smile of her own.

"Yes!" he cried, uncharacteristically beaming at her. "I was afraid it wouldn't for a minute-- when Satasha bonded me, it reached for her-- but then Zentiel did, too, and it just stopped! It's like it doesn't know which way to go, so it's-- balanced, between them! I'm not even thinking about it, and it's not doing anything!"

Seeing the boy actually happy just drove home how unhappy he must have been, before. Rumi never thought she'd see him excited about anything, much less smiling.

"Good!" she told him.

"And it was all your idea," he continued. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Officer Beotoli." He let go of little Zentiel with one hand to put it on Rumi's shoulder, stood on his tip-toes, and planted a kiss on her cheek.

And time stopped.

Rumi couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. It felt like the world had suddenly turned on its side and been mixed up in a blender, then vanished entirely for one, sickening moment. She thought she recognized the feel of Lant'ien's power, but there was no horrible despair or hopelessness, just-- a sense of something missing, that had been there before. An emptiness, filled temporarily with something from inside herself. Even as she realized something was gone, she had no idea what that something could possibly be.

But before she could try and figure it out, time started again, and she took a shuddering breath. What had just happened?

Lant'ien fell back into his heels, and blinked at her expression. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Uh." She blinked at him, back, and put a hand to her head. "Yeah. Just got a little dizzy, there."

Brullera curled one head down under the umbrella of her wing, rumbling with concern. ::It is too cold out here, and you are still wet from the arrival. We will all go home, I think.::

"Yeah," Rumi agreed, feeling like she'd forgotten something. "Yeah, let's go home. Show your little friends where they'll be staying, at least until they get too big to fit," she added with a smile. Zentiel smiled tentatively back, and the bipedra-- Satasha, Lant'ien had said-- just huffed at her. Lant'ien nodded, hefting Zentiel, and smiled, too.

That was a good thing to see: Lant'ien smiling.

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