Welcome to Gaia! ::

The air hummed with steady conversation as people jostled and pushed their way through the busy market area. Eron hold was always busy on market day. The majority of the sellers were called out for customers to buy their fresh catch, their booming voices cutting through the murmured conversations.Good weather had ushered a larger number of people from their homes but it also kept the mood as bright and warm as the suns rays.
Light streamed down into the square and beaded into a hundred colours as it was reflected through flapping coloured fabric that created awnings over each individual pitch.
It was a beautiful clear day but there was just enough of a wind pushed from the sea to prevent it becoming stifling.

Teedee was part of the thong, melding with the chaotic swirling sea of humanity. Practiced with the ways of the busy market crowds over many years Teedee let herself be directed by the unnatural flows while maintaining her general course. As she walked she reached up to push a few stray hairs from her eyes that had been plastered to her forehead by sweat.It was a rare day off for the apprentice woodsmith and there was really only one thing she wished to do on such occasions. At last she found the stand she was looking for with the clear white covering that almost blinded in the bright sunlight.

"Ho Mikail!" Teedee called forcing her way through the last of the press of bodies so she could lean on the front of the wooden display table. It was covered in stacks of paper, older hide parchment mixed in with ink, pencils of chalk and charcoal and even a few of the more rare and expensive colours. "Teedee" Mikail exclaimed clapping his hands together in glee. "Now what can I do for my best customer." Teedee smiled brightly a twinkle in her eyes. "Don't say it like that Mikail, you almost make it sound like you arn't planning to rob me blind again. I need a new sketch book, and a few charcoal pencils "
"Used up the last one already?" Mikail asked incredulously while he gathered the items she had asked and laid them out betweem them. "That will be five marks."
Teedee's mouth fell open. "You really are a thief! It was only 3 and a half last time." Mikail shrugged. "What can I say, the paper makers had a bad month." he offered rolling his shoulders. "Do you want the sketch book or not?"
Teedee growled. "Four marks, that's all I've got."
Mikail considered the offer for a moment then nodded. "Fine, but you put in a good word for me with your uncle."
Teedee rolled her eyes but noddded her agreement and handed over the four marks. "You're still a thief Mikail." The trader just grinned and mockingly tipped a non- existent hat. "Well since you have swindled me out of my last mark do you mind....?" She trailed off pointing a finger upwards as she did so. Mikail waved his hand to signal the girl to go ahead.

Teedee thanked the trader and slid behind the stand where she was easily able to use the raised set up to haul herself up onto the building beyond, using the lip of the high window sill to transport herself up onto the buildings roof. Above the crowds the noise and hustle and bustle died down, their was a line of hush somewhere, a cushion of air where the human chaos met the calm of the open sky. Teedee found it and let herself be enveloped by it. Opening her sketch book she let her hand find its way and started to draw furiously with short quick aggressive scratches of the pencil.

Teedee's first signal of the arriving queen was a tickle of cold air at her back which did not belong to the salt laden breezes of the sea and the waves. It was the lingering cold of between. The young girl gave an involuntary shudder and instinctively turned to see the queen burst out of the sky. Her body quailed at the sight. Even scarred the golden dragon was beautiful. Her magnificent colour shone bright in the clear sky and Teedee wasted no time. She stuck her pencil between her teeth as she flipped to a new page and furiously stated to sketch to catch the Queen in flight.

Her position on the roof gave her an excellent vantage point as the queen ducked and banked over the square. In the distance she heard the solid sound of a drum announcing the dragon sighting. Perhaps picking up on her excitement a blue fire lizard suddenly popped out from between and settled onto her shoulder. "Oh, nice of you to join me little lord." She told the creature sarcastically. The fire lizard just yawned and preformed a lazy stretch. He had clearly been napping somewhere in the sun and his hide was warm against her cheek.

Unable to hold onto her indignation at loosing out over a nap she gave the blue a scratch under his chin while her eyes flicked over to the area the queen had landed. She could no longer make out the dragon due to taller buildings blocking her line of sight but when the Gold jumped artfully back to the sky it was clear to see that she had no rider.

"Come on Squirt." She told the blue (The name had stuck thanks to the other woodsmith apprentices dubbing the tiny blue at birth)
"I want to see if I can find the rider and get a sketch of her so I have the set." She sent a mental image to her companion of what she knew the rider uniforms looked like, so he could join her quest. Squirt huffed and grumbled at being put to work but after a little prodding he launched himself back into the air and glided down over the crowds.

For her part Teedee climbed back down the side of the building, waved to Mikail and waded back into the traffic of bodies.

Squirt zipped over the crowd on light agile wings that were the boon of his colour. Though the blue had been suitably named as he was closer to a green in size than his average peers. His eyes peered over the heads of the people below the image of the dragon riders uniform still burned into his head. Teedee had also tried to make it clear to the flit that the rider would be a women but human genders were beyond the blues scoop of comprehension. They all looked near enough the same in the little firelizards eyes.

Being the creature he was it didn't take Squirt long to be distracted from his task by the smell of cooking meat. He banked sharply turning towards the tantalizing smells. It was pure luck that he caught sight of the very person he had been looking for mid turn. He winged his way lower settling right infront of Vosin's face with a demanding chirp for her to stop while he looked her over. He chirped again satisfied that he had completed his task before he flashed between to locate his owner. A job well done surely deserved a suitable treat in return.

Teedee had been sticking to the edge of the crowd, hoping to spot the rider of the golden queen through the mass of people, unfortunately her height did her no favors and even on tiptoes she was unable to see past the nearest line of travelers. Sighing she was almost ready to give up when she felt the familiar weight of her flit alight on her shoulder and flash an image of the rider into her mind. "you actually found her?" Teedee was incredulous. Squirt was so often useless it was a marvel when he did anything she asked. The blue chirped and opened his mouth pointedly. Teedee chuckled and offered him a strip of dried wherry meat from a pocket on her tunic. Happy the blue leaned forward to snatch the offered treat only to have it whipped away. "No you don't, first you are going to show me where she is." The blue made a sound of distressed protest before reluctantly launching himself into the air to lead the way.

It didn't take the pair long to find the gold rider again with the blue's guidance. "She's pretty." Teedee noted to the blue with mild appreciation. The blue huffed and landed on her arm where he at last got his desired treat. Teedee settled into a gap between the stalls where she could sketch without being run over and still keep half an eye on the women.

Teedee had been watching Vosin, tracking her with her eyes so it was not really possible for the goldrider to sneak up on the young artist but Teedee made no attempt to back away or even deny what she was doing when the women eventually stood before her. "oh." She started casually. "Just drawing the prettiest gold rider at the gather." The fact that Vosin was the only gold rider at the gather was neither here nor there.

Teedee added a few lines to the sketch and held it up for inspection. "What do you think?" The basic outline and all her features were set correctly though Teedee had not had the time to add shadow or more intricate details so it was no true show of her talent. "And this is the one I did of your dragon when she landed, though I didn't get the best look." She told her flipping the page to show her the sketch of the scarred dragon in flight. She paused and cocked her head curiously at the women. "Should I be calling you My lady or Weyrwomen or something like that? I'm never sure with you riders."