[OPEN]

[dracobin]

Characters: Temeraire and YOU!
Date: April 26
Location: Outside the Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: Following the attacks, Temeraire calls the nascent Keeliai Aerial Corps to investigate the palace.
Warnings/Rating: Probably injuries as a result of encountering the barrier? Other exciting developments? WE SHALL SEE.

It was at once obvious something was wrong with the palace; in hindsight, he ought to have looked to it sooner. It was only that there were so many other things to occupy one's attention, when one's friends had been injured, and one's apartment had been converted into a makeshift shelter for one's kedan neighbors, and one's console flickered alarmingly, at the edge of one's vision, so one was never entirely certain if one was seeing it or not--

But now he kept the monstrous, spiky form of the palace firmly in view as he flew, with as many of his crew as he could carry clipped onto his harness. If there was anything that could be done, he resolved to find it; it was the least he could do, after his lapse in attention.

Comments

[dracobin]

Temeraire twitched in surprise at the bang, but he recovered quickly, leaning forward to inspect what he could see of the barrier. It seemed entirely unaffected, which was a great pity, although not entirely unexpected.

Glancing down, he selected what he thought was a small stone--very nearly the size of a fist to anyone else--and tossed it carefully, in turn. There was no explosion, this time, but it bounced harmlessly back at Temeraire, landing on the ground almost exactly halfway between him and the barrier.

"Well," he said slowly. "It will not kill us if we fling something at it, at the very least."

[fearlessherosheart]

"It would be unfortunate to die in such a matter, before the enemy has even appeared outside its walls," Tazendra agreed. "Do you think it would, had we more to throw?"

[dracobin]

"We could certainly try something larger," said Temeraire, momentarily caught up in the spirit of scientific pursuit. "It does not seem like our enemy, to build such a simple barrier, which does not do anything at all."

[fearlessherosheart]

"Just so. Surely it knows that some of us are gifted in sorcery. Or other arts," Tazendra said, magnanimously including everyone else with special abilities. "So, it would build a barrier that takes that into consideration."

[dracobin]

Temeraire took the comment in stride: of course he was gifted, after all, and it was very kind of Tazendra to notice.

"A spell, perhaps, or a larger rock," he offered, eyeing a boulder some two feet across. "I do not doubt our enemy is cunning, but it cannot hurt to test the barrier's limits, all the same."

[fearlessherosheart]

"I quite agree. If you do the honor, I will make observations."

[dracobin]

Temeraire bobbed his head once and pulled the boulder upright with a little effort. It was not terribly heavy, to his mind, but it was bulkier than he had thought it would be, and he wobbled a little and put out a wing for balance as he hefted it in his claws.

The boulder described an impressive parabola through the air when he threw it, grunting slightly with the effort, but in the end, it, too, only struck the invisible wall and rolled back toward him, sending up a brief cloud of dirt and grass as it landed.

"I do not suppose there is very much to observe," he said sourly, "only that a larger rock has much the same effect. Do you know any spells of note?"

[fearlessherosheart]

"Certainly!" Tazendra said. "If you will stand back. If the spell reflects, I would not wish to hit you."

She considered. "It would not be cowardice if I were to take cover as well."