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 Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 12:49 pm
The feast had been going on for quite some time, and where the crowds were thickest it was stiflingly hot. L'thor - finally tired of being trodden on, bumped into, and having drunks tell him they loved him - had moved away from the pressing masses, and had found himself a nice quiet spot to sit out in the Weyrbowl with a skin of wine. Usually he was one of the ones in the thick of things, but hatching feasts were a bit different.
"Ten turns now, eh Raith?" he commented to his dragon. "Seems like it was just yesterday... but, at the same time, I can't remember what life was like without you."
"Probably boring," Raith responded, her tone amused, "but containing a lot less time spent rubbing oil into things."
L'thor grinned and sipped at his wine. "Probably so," he agreed, feeling her loft off her ledge and begin to spiral down to join him. "I do love to pamper you though. Gives me an excuse to pamper myself too for one thing, and for another I just love that happy expression on your face." He loved everything about Raith. She was the best dragon in the Weyr, in any Weyr, the best dragon that had ever been or ever would be! She was landing now, almost on top of him, with the same easy grace as ever.
Raith settled herself down with a rumble, and L'thor lent back against her warm smooth flank. None of his flitts were in evidence, they were all buzzing around the food tables still despite being almost too heavy to fly, but he was sure they would come to him when they wanted to be fussed over. So long as none of them were sick on him, he didn't mind that at all. This was of course pretty much the same attitude he had towards drunken friends as well. Chuckling to himself at the mental image of intoxicated riders flying unsteadily around the place, L'thor drank more wine and settled himself more comfortably against Raith.
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 5:12 pm
She'd told him she was going up to bed.
Merya ducked out of a crowd and headed for the quietest, most out-of-the-way spot she'd seen all evening, as far as possible from the tables and festivities. The cup of klah was pleasantly hot to the touch, and she carried it two-handed with care: she wasn't about to risk spilling it. After today she needed every last drop.
With any luck, Saren wouldn't find her. He tended to want to share. He thought it was romantic, she supposed. She just mourned the loss of her stolen klah.
"Sqrrr... sqrrr... sqrrrrrrrr..."
At the soft growls of effort, she turned to look at the flit perched on her shoulder. Beru had a large piece of cooked meat held in both front claws and was tugging at it desperately, failing to tear off a bitesized piece. Merya sighed, smiling fondly, and sat down by the wall of the Weyrbowl. "Here, you silly so-and-so," she murmured, transferring her cup to the ground, "let me."
She took the meat from Beru and began carefully tearing off small chunks. The flit gave a "squeep!" of delight as she handed the first one over, and munched contentedly. Merya watched her little companion silently. The klah could wait a while. It wouldn't cool that quickly.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 10:07 am
"...L'thorMine?"
"Eh?" L'thor blinked and roused himself from his half doze. Raith had raised her head, and was looking intently into the gloom, her eyes swirling blue. "What is it m'love?" he asked, getting to his feet and squinting in the same direction. His poor human eyes detected nothing at all, so his borrowed Raith's. A girl... Oh! That was... err... "Her name's Merya, I saw her at the hatching... What about her, Raith?"
The green rumbled deep in her chest, gaze still fixed on the slight young human flitt. "She would be good for a dragon," she said decisively after a moment. "You should go and tell her Mine. This may well be the easiest search you ever carry out!"
L'thor grinned and blinked, bringing himself back to his own vision. It got rather disorienting when you saw yourself walking away: tended to make one trip over and fall on ones face. Especially after quite a bit of wine. He lingered by his dragon's side long enough to yawn and stretch and then set off in Merya's general direction.
He spotted her before too long, and smiled in greeting though she probably couldn't make the expression out too clearly at such a distance. "Good evening Merya," he said, still smiling, as he drew closer. "I hope you're having a pleasant evening." She really was a tiny little thing. Life as a candidate wouldn't be easy on her at all, but she'd toughen up quickly. They all did. There wasn't really a lot of choice.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 10:30 am
Oh. It was the rider man from the Sands. Merya mustered all the energy she had left and offered him a brave sort of smile. "Honestly, not really," she answered, feeding Beru another piece of meat. Little teeth neatly avoided her fingertips. "Apparently flits aren't allowed on the Hatching Sands - I didn't hear a peep about that, so now I'm stuck cleaning toilets with the bad Candidates for a sevenday. And Saren doesn't know. And he's not going to know, either. He'd laugh and tell me it was a good life lesson." Thread scorch him. She was starting to get thoroughly sick of him.
...And in L'thor she might have a suitable replacement. Perhaps also, given he was a greenrider, one who wouldn't keep trying to steer her into bed with him. Time to play this carefully.
"...Sorry. I didn't mean to ditch all that on you. I hope things are going better for you."
"Squeep," said Beru between mouthfuls, which probably meant so do I.
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Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 10:40 am
L'thor smiled sympathetically at girl and flitt, shaking his head slightly. "All these rules you should automatically know, eh? They tell candidates of course, but not the spectators, apparently you are supposed to be able to read minds... Speaking of candidates," his smile became a grin, "my dragon Raith tells me that you could be one, if you want to."
She had that man, Saren, so maybe she wouldn't want to stay when he left... Or maybe she would; plenty of people were happy to leave everything behind in exchange for a chance at a dragon, he certainly had been. The man was too old, too stuffy, and too patronizing for her anyway. Not that he was usually one to judge, but she looked about fifteen, and he looked easily old enough to be her father: ew. Age difference didn't matter so much once the younger partner reached their early twenties, but below that it made him gag a little.
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Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 3:59 pm
Just as L'thor said the word candidates, Merya caught sight of Raith out of the corner of her eye. From this distance, she looked very much like Beru - a different pattern, of course, but still noticeably distant kin. His following statement, therefore, sunk in more slowly than it might otherwise have done: Merya was already occupied watching the dragon. When she realised what he'd said, though, she turned slowly back to him with a stare of disbelief.
This was her chance.
Keeping up the illusion of further speechlessness - in truth, the paralysis of shock had lasted only half a second - Merya thought fast. Could she pull this off? She was coming up on eighteen Turns now; that gave her three Turns to Impress, and everyone here said Thread was coming soon. That meant there'd be more dragons hatching than usual, didn't it? All right, there were a lot of candidates, but she still had a good chance. Okay. Good start. And even if she didn't Impress, perhaps she could impress-with-a-little-i some craftsman or other enough to get an apprenticeship somewhere. Or perhaps get work here. Either way, she wouldn't have to go back to the Hold.
...Saren, what about Saren? He'd been talking about leaving soon after the Hatching feast - well, perfect. He could go, and she'd have an excuse to stay without him. Best way to assure that this went to plan was simply not to tell him until the very last possible moment. ...Would she have to move in with the other Candidates? Very little space, outbreak of lice, ugh... She could do it. She'd put up with anything for a shot at a dragon. Dragons meant power. That was worth any price.
Right. Decision made. Now to formulate a suitably stunned and incoherent response for L'thor - who, incidentally, might make a rather nice mentor.
"...She really - How did she - you - ...oh, listen to me, I don't even know where to start... How does she know?"
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Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 10:45 am
Good! She was enthusiastic, and rather shocked by the look of her! He didn't blame her, he'd been rather stunned when the searchrider had picked him out and told him he could Impress. "I don't know," L'thor said honestly with a grin and a shrug. "Dragons can just tell, I suppose it's like another sense or something? They can sense potential in someone just like we can see colours I suppose. No dragon has ever been able to say how they know, I suppose it's so basic a thing to them they don't even consider it."
Capping his wineskin and hanging it from his belt, L'thor made a sweeping gesture in Raith's general direction. "Would you care to come and meet my Raith? Just tell her she's the most beautiful dragon ever and she'll adore you, she's just as vain as I am."
Raith gave a rumble of amusement and made a show of preening one wing. "It isn't vanity if it's true, Mine!" she commented to her rider. The green might only be able to remember a few days back in general, but her memory for in-jokes between her and Hers was almost impeccable.
L'thor chuckled and nodded. "Yes, alright Raith, thank you." Grinning, he turned to Merya. "She says she isn't vain, she's just aware of the truth." It was the truth. He supposed that made him vainer than she was; he might preen and fluff up his metaphorical feathers like the big show-off wherry he was, but he did know he wasn't universally attractive. Nobody could deny that Raith was beautiful though. Other riders would think their dragon better of course, but none would try to deny that Raith was a gorgeous specimen. Well, some might, but they were just jealous.
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Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 2:49 pm
"I'd love to," Merya answered with a grin, and meant it as fervently as it sounded. Today was shaping up after all! "After all, I can't appreciate her loveliness so well from all the way over here, can I?"
On that last statement she did her best to sound just serious enough - a light tease, but also recognising that Raith was beautiful. She was bound to be. Dragons were. It was a silly, girlish reason for wanting to ride one, but it was there nonetheless.
Despite her obvious excitement, which wasn't feigned, she didn't forget to pick up her cup of klah before following L'thor back towards his lounging lifemate. She sipped at it cautiously, trying to get it low enough in the cup to safely carry one-handed. "Ow, hot. Beru, come on - hold the meat, love, I'm short on hands..."
"Squeep!" Beru obliged, snatching the meat with both front claws as she swooped by and tearing at it with some more success. Unfortunately, the piece she pulled free was just a little too big for her jaws. "Sqrrmff - "
Merya laughed, and laughed even more when the flit gave her an admonishing look. She couldn't help it. A good thing she didn't really need to. "Oh, Beru, you daft little darling... Are yours this amusing to watch, L'thor?"
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 9:20 am
Excellent! Better and better. L'thor grinned back and turned back towards his dragon. "Well quite," he nodded, "she is much easier to appreciate close to." As they drew near to the green, L'thor could see her swirling blue eyes smiling at him warmly. She loved to be complimented, but she loved him much more. The feeling, of course, was mutual.
Meyra's voice pulled him back out of silent communication with his lifemate, and he laughed as he turned and saw Beru struggling with a rather large piece of meat. "River is," he grinned as the little green struggled, "but Dusk is expert at putting food away in the most efficient fashion possible, and Rust has rather more sense." Oh! Rust, or River, or Dusk? All three promptly appeared in the air before him, rather struggling to stay aloft. The sight made him laugh again and shake his head. "Well, they might not all eat quite as amusingly, but as you see they do have their moments." One of them needed to go to the weyr for him, and make sure the egg was alright. Dusk squeaked assent that he might be able to cope with that, and then vanished again. This left two fat tired flitts flapping their wings like mad. Conveniently, L'thor had two shoulders. They landed gratefully, and River cheeped a greeting to Merya, Beru, and of course Raith.
The dragon responded with a soft rumble, and nuzzled L'thor's face once he was close enough. "Welcome back Mine. I would like it if you'd rub my eyeridges."
L'thor smiled softly and reached up willingly to caress the sleek dragon's face. "Merya, this is Raith," he said as the green's eyes swirled with pleasure. "She's pleased to meet you," he added with a grin, and Raith rumbled happily to emphasize the point.
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