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Although it had been mentioned to her, Mercy had already decided she would make a trip out to visit with the newly impressed goldrider and her hatchling. She had merely had to find the time, between the hatchlings back at the Weyr and working with the healers again...well she was being spread a little thin. None the less she felt this was important and so she made sure to make the time for it.

It was around mid-day, not too long after the midday meal when she and Aerith arrived, the little white bugling a cheerful welcome when they came out of between before they wheeled down to land neatly at the hold. It had been a long time since Mercy had visited a hold and after dismounting with the small pack she had brought she honestly wasn't entirely certain where she ought to go. Patting Aerith's hide she glanced around a little bit. 'Should I just go up to one of the buildings and knock?'

'I doubt they are going to attack you if you do' Aerith responded with an amused rumble before pushing her rider forward with her muzzle.

'I know that Aerith,I just don't want to be rude...I'm sure they've had lots of visitors since she hatched. They're probably tired of them by now.'

'Maybe so, but you think this is important and I'm sure they won't be irritated when they find out why you've come.' Aerith assured her.

'Your probably right' Mercy replied before shouldering her pack and starting off for the closest building. Even if it wasn't the right one she was sure they would point her in the right direction.

'There you see they are perfectly friendly' Aerith stated, warbling a happy greeting towards the shy women who ran up to her rider.

'I see that' Mercy replied in a half distracted manner as she direction most of her attention towards the person coming up to her. "Yes I was looking for Natai, thank you." She told the young women, flashing her a brilliant smile of thanks before heading off in the direction she had been pointed. She didn't have to look very far..as soon as she got close to the building the women who could only be the newly impressed goldrider rounded the corner.

"She giving you a hard time?" She asked sympathetically. "The more playful ones will do that." She added with a small chuckle, recalling the antics of many young dragons she had seen during lessons. It was probably harder here with none of her siblings to help take the play burden off Natai. "I can have Aerith try and lure her out if you want? Most of the young ones are fairly curious about her." She added, making a motion with one hand towards her waiting white.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you" Mercy stated with a sheepish look. Sometimes it was hard to remember the way the bond kind of took over when an impression was new. It took a while to learn how to balance paying attention to your dragon and paying attention to what was around you at the same time. Turning her head she watched as the little gold made an appearance, bounding across the ground like a glittering streak and heading straight for Aerith who was watching her approach with whirling green-blue eyes.

"Don't worry." She assured Natai "Aerith loves Hatchlings." Turning her gaze back to the other women she held out her hand. "I'm Mercy, and yes I suppose I am the white rider you heard about,I can't believe anyone even remembers anymore given everything else that has happened lately." She added with a slight smile while she contemplated how to answer the remark about Aerith's gender.

"She works as well as anything I suppose, whites are neuter..but Aerith's mind tends to lean to the more feminine side of things and I've always thought she sounds better then it given that." Mercy had never been fond of calling Aerith an 'it' even if it was accurate when speaking of gender.

'No I am as large as I will ever get' Aerith told the young gold 'Someday you will be as large as the others who have visited. Perhaps even bigger. I am Aerith and you are very pretty as well.' The white paused slightly when the gold shared the distress of an earlier visit. there were no images shared however and even a brief consult with Mercy did not garner any further information. 'Mercymine never says mean things.' She assured the youth.

Mercy nodded somewhat, glancing at the little gold for a second before looking back to Natai. "I'm sure she's not helping though, impressing when you've had some time to adjust to the idea and find out what to expect is jarring enough, impressing by complete surprise is likely even more so. It always takes a little while for the newly impressed to get a handle on it." She sympathized. "But she looks healthy and happy so you must be getting along all right so far."

She wasn't all that surprised to hear that it was traders whom had passed along the information of Aerith's hatching - traders were notorious for spreading such news, they were perhaps topped only by the news spread at gathers. "No worries, Aerith likes all young, dragon, human or otherwise, she lets the Weyr kids crawl all over her. I do recall some traders in the stands at Malvren during Aerith's hatching. No doubt they spread the word far and wide amoung each other and those they visited afterwards." A wistful expression flickered across Mercy's face at the memory of Malvren but it quickly passed as she turned her attention back to the present.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Natai." She responded warmly when the other officially introduced herself, although Mercy had already known her name from the news other riders had brought home of her. "Ah yes..I brought you some things, I wasn't sure if anyone else had or if you had anything here at the hold that would work..but I figured with a hatchling there is never such a thing as too much oil anyways. They grow so fast at this age." She went on, pulling her small pack off her shoulder and opening it to reveal the jars of oil she had brought along. "And if you have any worries or questions about things I'd be more then happy to help." She offered.

'A bug-dragon?' Aerith questioned with a touch of amusement as the little one came closer. 'I suppose that I might fit in your barn..if I kept my wings tucked in and my tail curled up.' She mused, glancing at the barn in question before turning her attention back to the little dragon. She had to confer with her for a second to answer the tag question, as she herself couldn't quite recall if she had or not. 'Mine says I played tag when I was younger..but it has been a while now. Mine will not upset yours on purpose. I am sorry that others did, you musn't let it upset you too much. Humans argue sometimes, it is part of their nature.' She assured the little dragon, somewhat worried that in her young age she might take the upset a bit to hard. Very young hatchlings could become confused and between when upset to terribly and Aerith certainly wouldn't want to see that happen.

"On the plus side, even hatchlings can easily tell you what they want, no guesswork involved." She pointed out with a slight laugh. Human toddlers could be trying at times she recalled and until they learned to talk it wasn't always apparent just what it was they wanted. Dragons at least did not have that problem.

The next topic touched on made Mercy inwardly wince just a little bit, her smile fading slightly. "So was I, Aerith was almost killed, we tried to help fight for our home but it didn't turn out very well and we barely got away."

Thankfully the topic did not stay on that subject for very long and Natai's interest in the oil she had brought was a welcome change. "Mad? No...Of course not." She assured the goldrider. Mercy was never angry at someone for expressing an opinion, but as she had only heard very briefly about the encounter she couldn't say much else to either side of it. "I'm not going to be angry over something I wasn't even there to witness and don't know the details on. That would be silly of me, All I know is that you and N'mol didn't get along."

Aerith lowered her head to nudge the tiny gold affectionately. She was a sweet little thing, active but sweet and Aerith was sure she would grow to be a good leader when the time came. "That is why ours remember for us." She told the small dragon fondly with a slight humm of welcome at the golds thank you.

"That sounds about right." Mercy agreed with a laugh "Aerith was always wanting to play little games when she was a hatchling, sometimes I miss her being that small...well...not that she's particularly large now, for a dragon I mean, but it was nice to be able to hold her."

Mercy shared, pausing as the other women went on to give out more details on her experiences with N'mol and Kindra. Listening quietly until the other had finished. While she still wasn't sure what exactly the other two had said she was fairly certain that she could piece together the gist of it. "I can see why you might have been upset..Kindra can be a bit hot headed and N'mol well, he's quite stuck in Benden's traditions. I'm not going to give you any excuses for them or whatever their behavior might have been - but I will say that they were both under a great deal of stress. They too lost their homes, have been forced to embrace new traditions and policies that they are not yet completely comfortable with, they have been made to give up the beliefs they were raised with and while the rest of us may not agree with those beliefs...they were raised to do so and perhaps they did not appreciate what they were giving up with those beliefs. To them Atypicals were just..unhatched eggs. They have been in Trine for a hatching now, they have seen Atypicals broken free..have watched the hatchlings grow and play and prosper...I honestly find it hard to believe that they will continue to have such thoughts towards the Atypicals now that they have been exposed to them. But it will take time and they are understandably still greatly angry and grieving the loss of their homes...that wound has to heal I think before they can start to find truth in new ways. It is not an excuse for ill behavior...but perhaps a reason behind it." Mercy told the other women quietly with a soft smile. She hoped Natai wouldn't consider her words an excuse, she had merely wished to offer a different point of view on the matter..perhaps soften the wedge seemingly thrust between them by the ill meeting.

"I can say that some of thier fears were not entirely misguided though. You seem to be safe here and for that I am immensely grateful but you really must be careful..the handlers clearly have no regard for the hatchlings. Stealing them so close to hatching was foolish and dangerous. Imagine if your girl had broken free of her egg while still on the road in the middle of nowhere...with no one to impress too. It would have been a very sad end for a very beautiful mind and Aerith tells me she has a heart to match her hide. They should not have stolen the eggs in the first place..but if they truly cared for the hatchlings, had wanted to raise them themselves they ought to have taken them earlier..when they could have been taken to safety and whoever they planned to offer as Candidates. I don't think the handlers took the eggs so much to benefit themselves as they did to hurt us and if that is the case then I fear they would have no qualms about hurting her still....I don't want to frighten you but I do want you to be watchful."

'I do like flowers.' Aerith allowed with a amused chirp before the golds second question came around. Aerith had to pause and consult with Mercy for a moment to recall the last lesson. 'They are playing formation games and learning to communicate well with each other and theirs, they practice sending pictures to one another and following the directions theirs give them in a large field with different objects in the way, mine says it is called an obstacle course.' Aerith shared with the little gold and plucking a memory from Mercy she shared an image with the gold of the field and her siblings.'