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 Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:35 pm
"Mine, one day that will be us."
The young rider standing at the edge of the weyrbowl raised his head, and shielded his eyes from the sinking sun; a massive bronze with his wing the tow had just appeared from between. He didn't know the wingleader, or really anyone in the particular wing but despite that and despite the fact that the gesture would probably go unnoticed, he threw the returning riders a salute. Whether they had just returned from a sweep or a drill, he hoped it had gone well for them. He hoped too that Naedreth was right. Wingleaders. It was a little hard to imagine right now with his bronze's shoulder the same height as his, but he believed both in himself and in his lifemate. It could quite well happen; he was smart, and Naedreth was powerful, and both of them were driven. Why not?
As the wing dispersed, the stocky young man lowered his eyes once more and looked about himself with a slight sigh; this Weyr needed people like him in the lead, that was to say people with brains. Things had gone from bad to worse some time ago, and now quite frankly the situation stank worse than an overfilled latrine. Stank of sabotage, too. He was, as most people were, aware of the movement to make life even worse than it would otherwise be. What he didn't know were names. He wished he did, if he ever found out who was deliberately burning food and leaving mess and ruining clothes he'd... Ah, well, he'd be a good responsible boy and report them and watch nothing at all be done about it.
"We need a new start Naedreth," he said softly to his lifemate, "a new start and leaders who are worthy of their posts. This can't go on." He had been saying that for more than two turns now. How utterly disheartening it was to see things grow worse and worse, and to see the Weyrwoman sit on her hands. Pathetic.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:52 pm
There were all sorts of reasons that she would be up on the weyrbowl near the ridiculous heights waiting to slip and die. At the moment, Uuni could not think of none.
Oh. Wait. There was one.
Fancily silhouetted by the sun, even. Picking up the pace a little, she made her way along the edge towards the young bronzerider staring off out into the great area of space and saluting some distant rider. She glanced out as well, and squinted with a little less 'monumental pose'. Eh, it was all for show half the time anyway.
Making her way up the rest of the distance, she passed the small dragon a bit of a wary glance. He wasn't that big of a creature yet, thankfully, but some of them got mighty possessive of their riders. Could she blame them? Nah.
"Kind of gloom out here by yourselves, isn't it?" she asked them as she settled down on the edge and let her feet dangle down. There was no need to ask for permission, right?
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:04 pm
C'mor started slightly at the unexpected voice, but turned with a grin as soon as he realized the tone wasn't threatening. "It's quite peaceful to be alone sometimes," he replied with a shrug, "but we appreciate company as well. I'm C'mor, this is Naedreth... I've seen you around these last few turns now but I don't think we've ever really talked, so nice to meet you." There were just too many people to know everyone these days, and it wasn't as though he much associated with people of his own age in any case... Though by the look of her this girl, this woman, had a couple of turns on him.
Giving a sigh and pushing his worries aside for now in favor of company, C'mor sat down on the edge too. Naedreth chose to remain sitting upright, looking as regal as he ever did which was just exactly as regal as it was possible for a still very young weyrling to look. He needed to lose a lot of awkwardness before he would be really majestic, but in C'mor's eyes at least he was already a marvelous specimen of his colour.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:09 pm
He sure was formal, wasn't he? Uuni looked over at him with a cocked eyebrow but then shrugged.
Peaceful wasn't the word she would have used, but she enjoyed her solitary days just as much as the next person. She didn't need to write an emo-essay on it.
"Nice to meet you, then, C'mor," she said with a grin and bumped their shoulders. She raised her hand and wiggled her fingers in the weyrling's direction. With a little critter like that, it was no wonder her little friend here was so uptight.
"You don't have to be formal if you don't want. I'm not going to shove you and Naedredth off a cliff out of jealous spite." She gave him a wink and a smile and looked over to watch his face for a little while.
"But as long as we're doing introductions, I'm Uuni. You come up here often, C'mor?" His name amused her. If you said it just right it turned into something very, very naughty.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:19 pm
Uuni, C'mor decided, seemed like good fun. He gave her a grin and a shrug; "Sorry, can't help it; I tend to come off as a bit..." he shrugged again, "formal. I was looking for a different word, but it didn't come to me. Gald you're not going to give me a push, he can't fly yet to come and save me, but I can tell you he'd way too heavy to push anywhere, knocks me over in his haste to get dinner from me all the time."
"I need to eat a lot so that I may grow big and strong and so that we may be worthy leaders. Isn't that cause worth a few bruises?" the young dragon asked of his rider with an amused rumble.
C'mor snorted and shook his head, not bothering to turn to look at his lifemate. "He said I should be happy to get knocked around in order to feed him up big and strong. Thanks a bunch Naedreth, thanks a bunch... I used to come up here a lot," he went on with a nod, "but it's only recently I've started coming up with his-regalness; he wasn't sure enough on his feet for me to feel happy bringing him up the narrow stairs and such before. Like I say," he chuckled and gave his dragon's flank a slap, "he can't fly yet. Last thing in the world I want is for him to slip off and go splat."
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:26 pm
Uuni would have been willing to give him quite a lot of good fun, but his dragon was a bit too young. As tempting as the young man was, the consequences of any sort of action of that sort were far too much. She didn't need the whole weyr hating her. Nor did she need her hating herself.
"Serious? Uptight?" she suggested with an ever-growing grin.
She tapped her finger to her nose and chuckled. "Ah, I only have to push one of you to pop the other. Watch out, I'm deadly." She snorted at this. Yeah, right. With her luck, had she the spite enough to even do such a thing, she'd go right over the edge with him. It was not a type of death she would enjoy.
"You know, I don't really blame him. Actually, I'm not really quite sure why I'm up here. Some day, when Your Naedreth is all grown, you're going to have to rescue me from some of these stupid situations I get into." With a sigh, she slowly leaned back into the earth below. It was a weird feeling; she was almost sure she'd fallen off the edge and hit the ground below, but she was safe and sound on the dirt and looking up at the tiny spots of clouds in the distant sky.
Another storm tonight? Probably. Goodness, it was hot out here on these days.
"Y'know, people come up here for not very many things. One I won't mention because of youngling here, and the other is because they're thinking. So, what's on your mind?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:42 pm
C'mor gave a lopsided smile and nodded. "Serious, uptight, studious, bookish, all that sort of thing. I don't really mind though; somebody has to be the slightly geeky one and if people don't want to associate with me because I'm too, well all of those things, then it's no loss to me..." He had been about to respond to her comment about getting stuck with another laugh, and a promise that they would do just that, when Uuni decided to be perceptive. C'mor sighed again and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Was a time when I just came here for the view, the peace, and a place to think about either nothing very much or about whatever I'd just read. Lately I come up here to try to think of ways to make a difference to people's lives here and now rather than in a few turns. In a few turns one way or another the problems we're having will have been solved but right now I'm doubtful that anything will get done before we have a serious disaster like two Queens rising at once or violence springing up thanks to the packed space, the bad food, and any more controversial decisions our fearless leaders make. I want to get things moving before anything like that blows up, but I don't see what I can do. When your leaders show no apparent interest in making the changes and decisions that blatantly need to be made, there isn't much you can do as anyone but a mature bronze or gold rider, and honestly none of them seem inclined to act either."
That had been quite a lot of serious talking to do at a total stranger, but she had asked and he had never been one to skirt around with what he thought. Things needed to change, any fool could see that was so but there was nothing, nothing at all he could do to force people's hands right now, couldn't even request a transfer to escape the madness. Until Naedreth was mature, they were stuck where they were and with the leaders they had. If only there were some kind of intelligence and morality test you had to pass before you were allowed to stand on the sands, and then before you could become a Weyrwoman or Weyrleader a lot of big issues in history and the issues they had in the present wouldn't have come about.
"We will make up for them all when we are grown. We will lead as leaders should, because we are the best and because we strive," Naedreth rumbled; he knew he often said things like this - though he did not specifically remember doing so - but he didn't feel he couldn't say it too often. He and His had to keep up their hope and their determination if they were going to grow into the kind of people that fixed messes such as this after all.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:51 pm
Oh, oh. He was one of those. High stress levels; fix the world's problems.
Quite unfortunately for the little bronze rider, he was also too smart to not see the shortcoming in his plan. He would have better luck if he was a bit more dumb, but then his plans would be that same intelligence level. Kind of a Catch 22, really.
"Well, what would you do about all that, then?" she asked him after a while and raised her hand to look at the paleness of her nailtips.
"Tell people to have less kids? One Flight will screw that one over." And it would be hard to ban dragons from those. Honestly, she didn't know. It was serious business she was never inclined to deal with fully.
"Maybe I should seduce one of those bronze riders and start whispering things in their ear. I've always wanted to try, you know. Be kind of funny." Especially when she left them in the dirt for someone else. Everyone got boring after a while. Many more quickly than others.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:04 pm
That would be quite funny actually; he had to give her at least a lopsided grin. "That would be fun to watch. A lot of them think that having Impressed a bronze automatically makes them the the best thin since Klah. As to what I'd do, easy, new Weyr. First," he ticked a point off on one finger, "find a site. The west on the southern continent doesn't have a Weyr yet and there are other places that would be worth looking into. We should be sending out several wings every day specifically on such a search. Second," another point, "cut Ista down to slightly below ideal numbers. The rest move into the new Weyr, and if there is still space riders from the other crowded Weyrs could be invited. Then tithes would need to be organized of course. Until territories could be redrawn, or if the new Weyr was in the southwest where there isn't much population yet the new Weyr would take a proportional share of Ista's current tithes on the understanding that the Weyr is prepared to serve Ista until things are finally sorted... There's more," he went on with a sheepish grin, "but it's all more shaky and far too far in the future to think about seriously. Where the new Weyr was would affect so much that there's no point thinking of anything too solid past that point."
Uuni, he suspected, hadn't wanted to head all of that in the least but once again she had asked and therefore he had told. He didn't see what the idea wouldn't work; if the new Weyr was established somewhere unpopulated, it would become populated before long. People settled in places protected by Weyrs, simple as that, and southern continent with it's untapped opportunities and abundant food was an attractive prospect indeed.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:05 pm
Klah was in fact good. It was a must in the morning. There were times, in fact, when she liked the Klah better than any ramblings of the person that went off at her in the morning. It was easy to ignore a guy's ego with a cup of Klah.
Moving her arms back behind her head, she shifted so she could watch the workings of his fingers. Her eyes were lightly lidded and an amused smile lingered over her lips. He was going to find a new site, was he? It would take many, many turns to get it suitable, she assumed. Then again, if they enslaved the candidates - of which she got the joy of being a part of - it might just be more efficient than she assumed.
There was only one, obvious question. "It's going to be dangerous to move into a new area so quick. Sink pits, the fact that young teenagers are often inclined to explore and if they're not used to the type of environment. . . there's a good chance people will die doing this. And what do you do after that Weyr fills?" She frowned and rolled her eyes.
"Oh look at me, I sound like my sister. Tell me to shut up, would you?" Taking a deep breath as a breeze went by, she closed her eyes. "I'm sure you've considered all of that already in any case," she added as she tickled her fingers up the side of his arm in absence.
"You had, hadn't you?" she asked him to affirm as she opened up her eyes and sat up once more. Sitting up so quickly made her disoriented, and the sudden glance at the far-reaching ground left her head spinning. She grabbed onto C'mor's shoulder for support to keep from leaning forwards into the feeling and shook her head.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:24 am
He wasn't too sure about the arm tickling. He wasn't a standoffish person, quite happy to hug friends and such, but having his arm tickled by a rather attractive woman he didn't know was a bit disconcerting. As she grabbed his shoulder however, he forgot his feeling of discomfort and poised an arm to steady her if she wobbled again.
"Shut up," he said with a grin once he was sure she wasn't going to topple off the edge. "I had thought about things like that, this is why the search for a new Weyr should have been started long ago, before they started forcing riders to share weyrs. There's hardly going to be a safe, pristine place just waiting for us to move in, and that should have been considered. As to filling up, by all rights the Thread should return soon. Riders die during passes far more often than during intervals; provided the new place was of a decent size, problems shouldn't arise until the near the start of the next pass as the clutches will get smaller and less frequent once Threadfall stops again. Might not be too nice a thing to think about but it's true; especially in the early days of Thread fighting there will be a lot of casualties. Drills are all very well, but I can't imagine they compare to the real thing."
A sudden cheep, and flash of golden hide caught C'mor's attention, and he turned his head just in time to see Gilden preparing to land in his lap. As the flitt alighted, he made a squashed 'oof' noise; she was none too light these days, especially when moving at speed. "This is Gilden," he informed Uuni as the flit in question trilled a happy greeting, "she's pleased to meet you as well." The gold was indeed happy to meet a new person, and happy to find him! When she had woken up he hadn't been there, and so she had come to find him and she wanted fuss! C'mor grinned and rubbed the tiny queen's eyeridges; it was always refreshing, how glad she was to see him after any length of time apart.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:57 am
Uuni snorted at him. It wasn't very often you came across a guy with enough brawn to tell a girl to shut up; nevermind the fact said girl might have asked.
The news of the Thread caused her to quiet again. There was a tiny part of her that never wanted to Impress because it would mean facing the thread. Her only free route out would have been the Gold dragons, but she certainly wasn't Impressing one of those, and assuming she did Impress, the Thread would be waiting.
"No; they wouldn't," she agreed and busied herself with tapping her feet together.
She waved her fingers at the new greeting when it came and was thankful for the distraction. She did not, however, make any move to pet or touch it. It was hardly on her agenda.
"You, Yours, and your friend wouldn't want to escort me back down the treacherous, deadly path, would you?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:08 am
C'mor smiled and got back to his feet. "Sure, we should be heading back down anyway, I'd like to give Naedreth a quick scrub before we have to return to the dorm. Would you lead the way, 'Dreth? I''ll come down at the back." If Uuni did wobble, it would be a lot nicer to be caught by him than by his dragon; that would probably involve teeth, which would be better than splatting, but hardly good news.
Naedreth rumbled his agreement to the plan and rose to his feet."I think you have made a new friend Mine," he said as he set off down the narrow path, "she seems nice, and intelligent, and she is quite pretty too."
Well, yes, that was true; close to his own age as well, it would be nice to have more friends his own age... Well, more like it would be nice if more people his age were in possession of a working brain and were a deal less self-important. Asking that of most adolescents however was rather like asking a watch-wher to fly: utterly pointless.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:15 am
That was another thing she'd have to get used to if she ever Impressed. It sure beat working in the kitchens, though. That she was sure of.
Had she been able to hear their conversation, Uuni might have laughed at them both for every single thing. They might get away with the nice, but the rest of it? Goodness no.
And once they'd gotten back into the safe, non-deadly Weyr, she thanked him, gave him a wink and was on her way again. She, quite unfortunately, had an enormous amount of chores to do. Like always.
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