Breathe

Writers: Sia
Date Posted: 11th November 2025

Characters: K'valas
Description: K'valas has a different experience during Sazikoth's first feeding
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 14 of Turn 12
Notes: CW for a poorly written panic attack

K'valas was out of earshot of the main group of weyrlings. He'd all but dropped Sazikoth once he got close enough, and the hard landing didn't stop her from trying to rush away again. He'd bullied her backwards with his legs and distracted her with her first meal. She'd nearly choked by diving at the bucket with the same intensity she had dove at Aegaryn, but after that she'd settled into being impatiently fed by hand.

He should’ve felt relief in the moment of calm. He felt the sting of scratches on his chest and legs and looked down, barely registering the torn fabric and the small rivulets of blood from Sazikoth's claws. Minor. Not enough for him to worry after turns of making do with nothing.

Instead, as the adrenaline drained away, he felt the weight of everything crashing down-- the enormity of it, the permanence. Dragonsfall was his home now, whether he liked it or not. He'd live and die here. He'd have to fight Threadfall. There was no going back.

And it was becoming increasingly obvious that Aegaryn wasn't following him. His chest ached. His breath came shallow. The edges of his vision blurred, narrowing until the world tilted sideways.

Sazikoth's eyes whirled fast again and confusion stalked along the edges of his mind. }: Your hands are shaking. Who did this?: {

He couldn’t answer. He couldn’t breathe.

"Easy," a man's voice said beside him. K'valas flinched, head snapping up to see M'thos standing next to him.

Sazikoth's eyes flashed red-orange again. She hissed, crouching low, and before K'valas could try and muster a response for her, she lunged.

M’thos caught her by the muzzle with one hand, the motion smooth and firm as if he’d done it a hundred times before. “Whoa there, little one,” he said calmly. "He's safe. You're safe. It's ok.” Sazikoth stumbled when her front feet hit the ground, but it didn't stop her from lunging again. This time she caught M'thos' hand in her mouth and she gnawed on it ineffectually, wrapping her forefeet around his arm both for balance and to hold him in place. Her claws dug into his leather jacket, but he paid her no mind.

M'thos' eyes unfocused briefly as he alerted Fianwyth, who'd been watching the bulk of the weyrlings with curiosity. She slowly walk-hopped along the edge of the group to come up to the pair.

}: Come here, Sazikoth. :{ Fianwyth said. M'thos shifted his arm and the green dragonet had to dislodge herself or fall over, and she bolted towards Fianwyth with a wail. }: He's not hurting him, see? He'll be all right. You'll be all right. :{ She drew the dragonet close with one forepaw and got to work cleaning the wet egg membrane from her hide. Sazikoth hissed through it, but the red slowly faded from her eyes.

The taste in the back of M'thos' throat was _disgusting_. It'd surprised him the first time Fianwyth had done that, but it seemed to help calm the most emotional of new dragonets. "SIt down, Kavalas-- there you go. Less damage if you faint. Head between your knees. Deep breaths."

K’valas obeyed automatically, folding in on himself, knuckles white against his knees.. He tried to draw air in through his nose, out through his mouth, the way M’thos said, but it came in shaky bursts.

“There you go,” M’thos murmured. He joined the young man on the ground, sitting cross-legged next to him. His hand absently went to K'valas' back, warm and solid. “That’s just your body catching up to what just happened. It’ll pass.”

K'valas drew in a ragged breath, then another. Gradually, the spinning slowed. "I don't--" He swallowed hard, "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have--"

M'thos' voice stayed calm. "You should. Because she chose you. Whatever came before, it's done. Right now you just need to focus on caring for Sazikoth. One step at a time. She feeds on whatever you're feeling. If you're calm, she's calm."

The top of K'valas' head tilted in a nod.

"Good. Keep your head down a few more minutes. Let your heart catch up. Sazikoth, sweetheart, will you let me feed you?" M'thos reached a hand into the half-empty bucket and offered a strip of bloody meat to her. Sazikoth scrambled out of Fianwyth's grip and raced for it. "Gently, please. Thank you. There you have it."

M'thos fed her piece by piece until K'valas reached for the bucket, then sat a few minutes longer to watch them both. "Fianwyth is going to sit nearby for a while longer. You have a feisty little one."

K'valas managed a small nod. "Yeah. She's…she's something." His voice cracked halfway through, and he shut his mouth before it could betray him further. He leaned his elbows on his knees again, watching Sazikoth gnaw on another mouthful. There was no going back now. He’d killed a man once trying to protect someone he loved-- and now he was bound for life to something even more fragile, more dangerous, more precious.

}: You're not breathing right again. Breathe right. You can do it. :{ Sazikoth said and nudged his arm.

The sound that left K'valas' throat was half a laugh, half a sob. "I'm trying." he whispered.

}: I don't need a bath now. :{ Sazikoth said in an attempt to be helpful, even though she definitely did.

Last updated on the November 28th 2025

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